From Apple to Android

For those of you who know me, I am an Apple girl through and through. I bought my first Macbook when I was 11 with the earnings from my bread business, I had an iPhone 3GS at 14, then upgraded to the iPhone 5 last year and bought a Macbook Pro Retina before college. I loved Apple. Don't get me wrong, I still do love Apple, but there are several things that have turned stale in our relationship.

Lately, I have really noticed the many shrewd business practices that Apple uses in order to ensnare their customers. Changing charging cables so you have to buy new accessories, updating a software so that an older iPhone is not able to use said software, but most of all Apple has been slowly losing the innovation that they have pioneered for so long. Ever since Steve Jobs has died, Apple has been falling behind in the smart phone wars and leaving out key features that the newest smartphones have.

Enter Android. My boyfriend got a Samsung Galaxy s3 in the beginning of the summer, and being an apple girl I hated everything about Android...until I actually got to play with it myself. The large screen was especially awesome, but what mainly got me were the many features that Android had that the iPhone did not (going back to the lost innovation of Apple) NFC capabilities, LED lights to light up depending on what notification you got, the ability to change your lock screen and launcher, different icon packs. The list goes on and on. I realized that I was missing out on something awesome so about a month ago I switched to the dark side and got a Samsung Galaxy s5.

Here are a few reasons I love my Samsung Galaxy:

1.The big screen. The Galaxy s5's screen is 5.1 inches, that's a whole 1.1 inch bigger than my iPhone 5. It's a big difference. I can watch Netflix and read blogs very comfortably on the Galaxy. Trying to use my Mum's iPhone 5 now is so hard. I can't type, my eyes hurt after reading a little bit, and it would not be fun to watch a show on that small of a screen. For this reason alone, I could not switch back.

2. Customization. I have gotten to the point in my smartphone career where I wanted to customize beyond just my wallpaper. Android facilitates that beautifully. I can go and download a different launcher from the Play Store, and it changes the way my home screen looks, feels, but even how it acts. Currently, I am using Aviate as my launcher, and as you can see by the first picture, I can choose which apps I want to see, put them in different banks, and arrange them how I wish. This is even separate from my app bank, where I can look at every app. The other great thing about Aviate is that it changes what is on the one screen based on what I am doing. If I am at school, Aviate can tell my location and will pull up the second picture so that I can easily access the apps I need, see my calendar and write quick notes. My iPhone could never do this.

                             

3. I can use my phone as a TV remote. That's right. I am so lazy that I don't even need to use our TV remotes anymore. I can control the actual TV, the cable box, the DVD player and my Chromecast all from my phone. The Samsung Galaxy s5 has an IR sensor built right in, so I can technically control any and every TV if I really wanted to. 

Those are definitely my favorite features of the Android system and specifically my Samsung Galaxy s5. One thing I do miss just a little bit about Apple is how seamless all of their apps work together. When you have one way that a phone looks and feels, you can make that near perfect, and Apple's seamlessness in switching from app to app, opening up a message and calling the person, and even playing music are quite perfect. 

Many people after doing this sort of post makes a final verdict as to which system is better. Honestly, both of these systems are great. In having experience with them both, I would say Android works better for me at this point in my life. For someone who wants a simple, intuitive interface, Apple is just what you need. Everything makes sense, there is little to tinker, change and potentially mess up. Android is for when you want more customization, which can be very daunting and confusing at first. It takes a lot of time to make your Android phone be what you want it to be, but it gives you the option to do that which is what I wanted. 

I have a Macbook and I have an Android. I'm one of those weird ones in both camps, and I like it that way, it makes me different :) 

--GeneticGinger