Do you own an iPhone?

[Kompresshun]

I have to rely on my phone for absolutely everything. Work and personal phone calls, work and personal e-mail, editing documents, logging my bike rides and runs, taking photos and video, texting, wireless tethering, video conferencing, banking, appointments, alarms, and more that i'm probably forgetting. It does everything exceptionally well and set me back $148 when I bought it over a year ago.

I didn't even root my phone for six months, because I didn't feel the need. The only reason I finally did it was I was impatient and didn't want to wait for them to release the next OS update for my phone. Nexus phones and Samsung phones are certainly damn good out of the box and don't really need anything done to them. The option is there, which is what I appreciate.

Yes, it's there for an iPhone too but it's pointless to jailbreak because the tweaks you gain are novelties at best. Trust me, I have appreciation for Apple products, but I still don't get the point of owning an iPhone. Heck, I even finally dumped my trusty iPad a few weeks ago for a ASUS Transformer tablet with Android and haven't regretted it one bit.

The EVO 3D was junk and even my original EVO was junk. HTC used to make quality products, but these days I wouldn't waste my money.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

im done with apple after this phone s*** out on me. Id rather have a prepaid flip phone then deal with another s*** fest with Verizon and apple.

Come back to the dark side. We've been waiting.

It's what the man DOESN'T want you to do.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Unless you're launching space ships, there's not much worth customizing unless the preexisting configuration is terrible,

I don't agree at all. To make a car analogy again: is your car only worth modding if it's garbage from the start? NO! You can always make fine tweaks. Sway bars, LSD, tires, brakes, little things that make a BIG difference. There doesn't need to be anything wrong in order for there to be room for improvement. It's not about fixing what's broken, it's about making it work exactly the way you need. It's about personalization and customization. Phones (like cars) are designed for "everyone." No one is "everyone" so being able to make the most of the features you need in exchange for features you don't, rather than being stuck with a bit of everything is highly desirable. Nobody wants a jack of all trades. They just settle for it because they think they can't do better.

Most of the tweaks to my phones/tablets are usability and convenience tweaks, NOT star-trek scifi fancipants craziness. Yes, I do undervolt and mess with clockspeeds and governors to optimise battery life, but mostly I find a good home screen, a good lockscreen setup, and a ROM that allows me to change minor things like quick access to screenshots, adding the effing SEARCH BUTTON back to the system bar where it gorram belongs (in place of the stupid and reduntant appswitcher button), and that kind of thing. And then there are useful utlities that don't fully function without root access (like cache and system cleaners and other maintenance tools). This isn't akin to putting an LS9 in your Aveo. It's like fine-tuning the suspension on your Mustang. It already worked pretty well, but now it's JUUUUUST RIGHT.

[szh]

Why is that?

Im an GS4 owner. Nothing bad about it, I just dont like Apple.

Isn't the Galaxy S4 just becoming available? Did you mean Galaxy S3 perhaps?

Z

[Jesda]

Unless you're launching space ships, there's not much worth customizing unless the preexisting configuration is terrible,

I don't agree at all. To make a car analogy again: is your car only worth modding if it's garbage from the start? NO!

The mod frenzy with Android was inspired by horrible factory UI layers and unremovable crud. Like a magazine that's so chock full of cologne, perfume, video (yes, there's video in print ads now), and talking ads you can't even find the article you're looking for. That's when you start ripping things out so you can finally enjoy it.

With the iPhone, jailbreaking was motivated by Apple's incessant need to lock everything down rather than any major failure of the software to work as designed.


Most people who swap powertrains either wear out their old ones or start out with something lacking in talent because they had to make a compromise, usually with cost. Rooting might be the equivalent of a strut tower bar or stiffer springs.

[Dattebayo]

The mod frenzy with Android was inspired by horrible factory UI layers and unremovable crud. Like a magazine that's so chock full of cologne, perfume, video (yes, there's video in print ads now), and talking ads you can't even find the article you're looking for. That's when you start ripping things out so you can finally enjoy it.

You're just guessing that. There are and have been OS mods for iPhone if you happen to both like Apple products and want to customize your phone. Either way your warranty is bust. Some of what you say is based on fact, but androids generally appeal to people who like to customize things anyway. I thought it was more because the file system was easier to access, personally. Maybe it's just not for you?

[MinisterofDOOM]

The mod frenzy with Android was inspired by horrible factory UI layers and unremovable crud. Like a magazine that's so chock full of cologne, perfume, video (yes, there's video in print ads now), and talking ads you can't even find the article you're looking for. That's when you start ripping things out so you can finally enjoy it.

I'm with Dave: this comment is pure speculation. As someone who's been an Android user from the start (my first Android phone was THE first Android phone, running the first public release of the OS) I have not seen this to be the case AT ALL. In fact it's the opposite. The modding frenzy started BEFORE the factory UI and bloatware trends began. It started with the G1, a pure-android-equipped phone. That's where CyanogenMod started. There was no bloatware or factory UI to remove from the G1. There were only tweaks and optimisations to be made. Of course, once the Magic came along with the first versions of Sense, there were inevitably buyers who wanted to switch to stock Android.

But let's be honest here: early Android was pretty ugly. A lot of people WANTED Sense in those days, for the shiny widgets and other improved homescreen features. In fact, anyone active in the Android community is aware that there's a demand for PORTING these manufacturer UI features to other devices. Some people want root and an optimised ROM but still want Sense or Touchwiz (again, certainnly not my cup of tea but the demand is ABSOLUTELY THERE). When the Magic hit with all its Sense additions, there were just as many people clamoring for ports of its features to the Dream as there were people desperate to make their Magic as pure as their friend's Dream.

And then there's the fact that, as much as I hate these manufacturer UIs, beyond the "choice" benefit I mentioned earlier, they provide two other great strengths to Android as a whole:
1: They drive innovation. Many of the little features that make newer versions of Android so much better are derived or adapted from stuff seen in Sense or other similar skins early on.
2: Some of their features ARE better. For instance, HTC's recent phones are known for their excellent cameras, not only because of the hardware, but because of the SOFTWARE. And because the term "skin" is very much a misnomer (Sense is, again, a whole different version of Android...like Ubuntu vs Fedora) these software features can't be ported to AOSP, "pure Android", or any other versions without the Sense frameworks in place. Which is part of the appeal of Sense-based ROMS even amongst very experienced hackers.

The ability to get rid of unwanted UI mods and bloatware is certainly a big beneft of modding. But it is neither the sole point, nor the origin of the mod enthusiast community within Android. It is, again, a Linux-based operating system. There was a hacker community ready to play with it before it even hit the streets. To argue that Android only gets modded to remove stuff like Sense is just silly. My first two phones didn't even have Sense, and I hacked the crap out of them.

It is worth nothing, though, that one of the strongest driving forces behind CUSTOM ROMS specifically (and thus by extension the mods that enable using them) is the fact that these same maligned manufactuer UIs mean that even very new phones often wait a very long time before being upgraded to the latest version of the OS. That's the real reason I hacked my One S. It came with 4.0 out of the box but, shortly after that, 4.1 was released with major improvements. Since there were already active hackers out there like xkonni working to mod CM to support our phones (even despite HTC's obnoxious resistance to following GNU licensing and release their code to the public) I just had to unlock my bootloader and I was up to date again.

[WDRacing]

I've never "modded" my Droid and I love it. Sure it's got some apps on there that I can't remove but IDRGAF about them and they don't hinder me in any way.

Has to be a Samsung though.

[Jesda]

2: Some of their features ARE better. For instance, HTC's recent phones are known for their excellent cameras, not only because of the hardware, but because of the SOFTWARE.

OMG no their cameras are awful. WTF bro. Only in heavy lighting do HTC's cameras come close to Samsung or Apple. When there's any situation with limited light or lots of motion, images come out blurry and washed out turning human skin into a zombie-like tone. See my Facebook account for several examples.

-----

Remember also that HTC Sense was much slicker before version 3.x. It made some functions easier to get to and added missing features. As time went on, HTC admits that things went awry and will have to be dialed back in future updates. My HTC dialer freezes and hangs constantly.


The primary purpose of a mobile phone is to communicate. With halfass call quality, a shoddy dialer, crummy battery life, and flaky software, it means a lot of Android phones come out of the box as jam-packed with garbage as a Packard Bell PC from 1997, incompetent at their primary function.


If I ever buy another Android device, it will be a Samsung. The rest of the manufacturers apparently churn out trash that requires modification. I refuse to go beyond rooting just to extract basic use out of something I paid a lot of money for.


For the rest of you, it's a fun hobby. I get that as I've owned PDAs and MP3 players where I've gutted the stock OS and installed linux variants just to see if I could do it. However, having to vastly modify something I purchased just to reliably and smoothly perform basic tasks is the opposite of being consumer-friendly or primetime-ready. I have productive needs that require stability, security (lots of sensitive customer info is on my phone, as well as boobies), and reliability. Being able to stick clever widgets in my phone's orifices doesn't contribute to that.

I'm willing to mess around with devices that are non-essential to my living, scouring ROMs and upgrades from the far corners of the internet to push the capabilities of hardware, but a phone is kind of serious. I can't be messing around with incomplete software developed by kids on Reddit. It needs to be polished and perfect out of the box.

Maybe a landline really is the way to go, in my case.

[MinisterofDOOM]

OMG no their cameras are awful. WTF bro. Only in heavy lighting do HTC's cameras come close to Samsung or Apple. When there's any situation with limited light or lots of motion, images come out blurry and washed out turning human skin into a zombie-like tone. See my Facebook account for several examples.

I actually completely agree with you, here. But every high-end HTC phone I've read a review for over the last couple years has made comments about the fantastic camera software. In fact, I know a lot of other One S owners who have avoided custom ROMs because you lose the Sense camera. A lot of that is the FEATURES (burst mode, etc.) rather than image quality, though. I sure didn't mourn the loss of my Sense camera's features. AOSP camera has intuitive pinch-zoom combined with touch focus which is really slick. Plus you get the mostly-useless-but-fun PhotoSphere feature.

And yes...earlier versions of Sense were much less confused. My mother and I have the same phone, and I just can't stand using hers because for every convenience tweak Sense adds, it makes something else more difficult. My brother's phone has 2.3 with Sense and it took us 45 minutes of hunting through menus to find where HTC had decided to hide the battery stats--a HUGELY important setting menu that has its own category under stock Android, but is buried obscurely in About Phone with Sense.

Supposedly Sense 5 (on the new HTC One) is a step back in the right direction. I haven't used it, but I've read that it's more in tune with recent (4.0+ "holo") Android design language (flat, high-contrast, and clean, with lots of black, blue, and white) and doesn't mess with what wasn't broken. But I'd still prefer to go without.

The earliest versions of Sense were actually for Windows Mobile (another OS I have personal experience with on multiple devices). Since WinMo had a kind of archaic approach to home screens and did not support multitouch, Sense was a GODSEND. It enabled multitouch and provided a much more iphonelike desktop setup rather than the ancient (and never really very good) PC-translated-to-handheld look.

Heh...there's an interesting observation. MS's mobile operating systems didn't really work very well when they were adapted from their desktop design ideas. And Windows 8 has shown that things work just as poorly the other way around. I really wish they'd stop being so obsessed with "consistency" across non-similar device formats and just do what works for each device.

[Jesda]

True, the Sense camera has a lot of very cool features that you wouldn't expect on a phone. I've tried different camera apps hoping to improve image quality but all they seem to do is remove features while leaving behind the same poor color reproduction. Unfortunately, I guess the problem comes down to the lens.

Strangely enough, my low end Blackberry Curve from years back took some unusually nice photos... when it wasn't freezing up.

[Ace2cool]

I LOOOOVE My Evo 4G LTE's camera. It's the only reason I refuse to flash CM10. Even low light, it's decent. No zombie skin or anything. Only complaint would be the flash washing stuff out up close in really really dark situations, but that's only if you're like less than a foot away.

[Jesda]

As for iPhone 5, I know three people who have had to exchange their (some twice!) because of dark spots and purple hazing in their photos. Apparently it's due to a manufacturing defect.

iPhone 4S seemed to be fairly defect-free.

[darylzero]

As for iPhone 5, I know three people who have had to exchange their (some twice!) because of dark spots and purple hazing in their photos. Apparently it's due to a manufacturing defect.

iPhone 4S seemed to be fairly defect-free.

Manufacturing defects will happen when people are forced to live 10 to a room and abused by higher ups.
Their "campus" which Foxconn calls it consists of 190,000 people!! That is not a campus, it's a city.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/busi ... wanted=all

[Jesda]

Manufacturing defects will happen when people are forced to live 10 to a room and abused by higher ups.
Their "campus" which Foxconn calls it consists of 190,000 people!! That is not a campus, it's a city.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/busi ... wanted=all

They could always pull their rickshaws back to the village and return to their former, simpler way of agrarian living.

[darylzero]

Manufacturing defects will happen when people are forced to live 10 to a room and abused by higher ups.
Their "campus" which Foxconn calls it consists of 190,000 people!! That is not a campus, it's a city.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/busi ... wanted=all

They could always pull their rickshaws back to the village and return to their former, simpler way of agrarian living.

or Foxconn could treat them like human beings

[Dattebayo]

They could always pull their rickshaws back to the village and return to their former, simpler way of agrarian living.

I doubt that anyone except for the people who live in that region could really know what the consequences of that are...

Also, you could find an android phone that works better instead of making this post about how crappy they are.

[Jesda]

or Foxconn could treat them like human beings

I doubt that anyone except for the people who live in that region could really know what the consequences of that are...

Also, you could find an android phone that works better instead of making this post about how crappy they are.

The reason Foxconn can treat people that way is because people are willing to accept those conditions as an alternative to their previously agrarian lifestyle. They aren't "slaves" because they aren't forced to work there. As Chinese society opens up to education and the market grows further, so will competition for labor, thus incentivizing the improvement of work environments and compensation.

This isn't an Apple-specific issue either. Foxconn supplies hardware to Sony, HP, Apple, Nintendo, Dell, Intel, Acer, Motorola, Nokia, Google, and Microsoft among several others. Apple was the only Foxconn client to initiate an evaluation of working conditions.

--------------

As for Android, the openness of the OS is what invites so many imperfections. The advantage is that you can enjoy a system where you can do whatever you want to your hardware. Unfortunately, manufacturers feel the same way and do what they want as well, usually with less than favorable results.


Most importantly, I don't want a tech toy to nerd around with. I want a stable, reliable, and secure business tool. I don't need to "do whatever I want" whether its booting up an alternate OS or fancying up the UI with widgets and animations. I need the basics it was designed for to work flawlessly. The telephone is how I make money.

HTC can eat a d***.

[Jesda]

Their "campus" which Foxconn calls it consists of 190,000 people!! That is not a campus, it's a city.

How do you think mines and major manufacturing centers work in the US? There are entire towns in this country that exist because corporations founded them and built housing, infrastructure, medical treatment centers, and schools. Henry Ford did the same. The results weren't always favorable, however, and as mining and manufacturing moved overseas many of these towns became incorporated with democratically elected councils. Some thrived while others became ghetto sh!tholes in the absence of industry.

Even former slave quarters in the south are occupied by residents, not by slaves of course but by renters and home owners.

[Dattebayo]

I think it's important to remind you that China is not a free country where you can just go and do as you please anytime you like...

Once again, I'm going back to cpnsequences. Im sure that their contract is gonna find some way to really screw anyone over who decides to bail out like that. We have the benefit of laws that protect individuals like that, but they do not.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

hey if it's the best gig in town, it's the best gig in town.

[Jesda]

I think it's important to remind you that China is not a free country where you can just go and do as you please anytime you like...

Once again, I'm going back to cpnsequences. Im sure that their contract is gonna find some way to really screw anyone over who decides to bail out like that. We have the benefit of laws that protect individuals like that, but they do not.

You're making stuff up. China is -not- a free country , but you can indeed quit your job and go back to your village. There's clean buses that will gladly take you back. No rickshaw pulling required!

A few years ago, China passed the equivalent of a workers bill of rights requiring coverage for healthcare. When companies reached out to temp firms to get around those regulations, China responded by making it harder to hire temporary labor. So, contrary to what you believe, no one is forced by Foxconn or by the Chinese government to work in those plants.

That isn't to say that China's prison population isn't used to produce commercial goods. There is indeed slave labor and the bulk of it is from people who were convicted and sent off to camps and gulags. We of course know that the Chinese government is happy to arrest people for unfavorable political speech, unapproved religious activities, and any kind of dissent.

But that doesn't apply to Foxconn.

I know this because I strongly considered Chinese sourcing for a small chain of mall kiosks years ago.

[darylzero]

Their "campus" which Foxconn calls it consists of 190,000 people!! That is not a campus, it's a city.

How do you think mines and major manufacturing centers work in the US? There are entire towns in this country that exist because corporations founded them and built housing, infrastructure, medical treatment centers, and schools. Henry Ford did the same. The results weren't always favorable, however, and as mining and manufacturing moved overseas many of these towns became incorporated with democratically elected councils. Some thrived while others became ghetto sh!tholes in the absence of industry.

Even former slave quarters in the south are occupied by residents, not by slaves of course but by renters and home owners.

Yeah, I understand how it worked in the US at the turn of the century. I know how it works for a developing nation. I just wish things could be better for people, that is all I was getting at.

[elwesso]

I've had my iPhone 4 for about 2.5 years now since it came out in 2010 and it still works great. Battery life is fantastic, I've never used a screen protector and the screen has no scratches on it, and I can probably count on one hand how many times it's had to reset or reboot. The best part about it is, the regular iPhone 4 are still selling for ~$200 used, so if I renew my contract I can sell my old phone (that still works great) for basically no loss, which is fantastic!

I understand why people say they're the "Toyota corolla" of the cell phone world, and frankly, that's exactly what I want. I can do everything I want to do on it, I can't think of any nerdy features I'm missing out on, and it's worked well for the last 2.5 years. I did jail break my phone a while ago, just so I could play Wolfenstein 3D, but that was just for fun.

Let me also say that I generally do not like apple, and I like the people who like apple even less. I will say their products are good quality, but they're way over priced for what you get. The iPhone is an exception though, in my opinion, and that's probably the only apple product I'll ever own.

HOWEVER, I've noticed that the OS doesn't seem to be as stable as it was back in the day. When I first got my phone, everything was fast and smooth but now it seems like it has more "hiccups" than before. When the apple maps feature came out it was a disaster, however with the new google maps app (for free), that works really well. Anyway, seeing how the OS has evolved in a negative direction in my opinion, it makes me want to consider an android.

My ex-girlfriend has a galaxy S3 and seems to work pretty well.

[maxhopper]

I picked up a 4S a little less than a year ago (my first ever Apple product). I use it for phone, text, web, camera, music and logging while running, and reading books (if I have no other platform handy). It's been dependable, and done everything I've needed it to do.

[Jesda]

My ex-girlfriend has a galaxy S3 and seems to work pretty well.

Biggest thing I'm looking forward to with S4: used S3s flooding Craigslist.

I don't think I've met anyone who didn't like theirs. My brother ditched his Evo for an S3 and most of his Android nuisances went away. His Evo was replaced 3-4 times under warranty. The worst was when he was at the airport waiting for me and I was trying to coordinate where he was when suddenly his Evo froze and refused to reboot. He ended up using a pay phone near the baggage claim to call me.

That's right. Landlines saved the day.

Sprint gave him a refurb as a replacement which died not long after that.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I hate Touchwiz even more than Sense. At least sense was designed with intent of improving ease-of-use in Android. Touchwiz was just designed to make your sammy phone look like an iphone.

Some of the Samsung apps (especially the Premium Suite) are pretty neat. But not neat enough to put up with Touchwiz.

[Jesda]

I hate Touchwiz even more than Sense.

Does it replace the default dialer like Sense does? That's my #1 gripe with Sense. HTC's dialer crashes, freezes, hangs up on people, and lags when I try looking up contacts.

[Gold Digger]

Wife has an iPhone 4S and likes it.

I have a Sony Ericsson Xperia IS11S ACRO. Love it! It does everything I need it to do, although my cell provider packages a metric s***-ton apps I'll never use and can't take them off. Not rooting my phone as it voids my warranty, which I still have 8 months left.

I may root it after my contranct expires and the phone is paid off. I probably won't need anything else as the only thing I use my phone for is music, bluetooth, internet and e-mail.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I hate Touchwiz even more than Sense.

Does it replace the default dialer like Sense does? That's my #1 gripe with Sense. HTC's dialer crashes, freezes, hangs up on people, and lags when I try looking up contacts.

It does. And that dialer is usually pretty high up on the list of things people hate most about it. Especially these days where the stock ICS and JB dialers are pretty dang well designed, offering great functionality but with a much cleaner look.