Nexus nerd picked up an iPhone 7 Plus

Z

Zorachus

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
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You all know my history of smartphones; long ago had several Blackberry's, then the iPhone 3G, and then my main stay on Android, with every Nexus phone, and a dozen or so other flagship Android phones in between. Current Android phone is the Nexus 6P. But I get bored easily, and with the latest iOS 10 Jailbreak out ( beta only ) and a stable full JB due soon, I thought best time to pick up a new 7 Plus now, and be prepared and ready for it. I am on T-Mobile ( JoD ) plan, meaning I get 3 upgrades to any phone I want a year.


Short story: Running a fresh new 7.1.1 ROM on my Nexus 6P, and I have to say that Nougat feels like an OS from 2017 ( the future :) ) and the iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10.1.1 feels like something from 2009, very dated, very cumbersome and extremely frustrating and painful to use.

Comments / Questions;

- iPhone 7 Plus is a beautifully designed well crafted device. But it seems awfully heavy, weighs a heck of a lot more than it should IMO.

- Home button thing, I am very confused with it. I understand it no loner is a true press down button anymore ? Which is fine by me, by then why does Apple force it to behave like one still ? I'd rather it act like a touchpad, something like the HTC 10, or OnePlus 3 have, where you barely tap it and it works, but with the 7 Plus home button, you still need to sort of press it hard or firmly, you can't just lightly tap it like you would software keys on a Pixel or Nexus, or even a trackpad.

- How do I rearrange the icons around ? I don't want the Music app icons in the dock on the bottom, but every time I press to hold down, to get the icons to dance and have the little x's, it 3D Force Touches on me, not allowing me to x out an app or move them. How do I get the icons to rattle and allow me to move them where ever I want ?

- Weather widget, I set my home city, but the widget keeps showing me Santa Clara, how do I force it to keep my home town ? I don't have Location enabled, I always keep that off, only use GPS when actually running Navigation, but that shouldn't matter ? There has to be an option to force the city you choose ?

- Is there a way to setup a Google Calendar widget ? Or a better calendar widget than stock ?

- Animations and fluidity of iOS 10 feels janky and clunky. Not at all smooth as hot butter and warp speed fast like my Nexus 7.1.1 ROM, which is super smooth and ZERO lag, but iOS 10 seems a little slow or just weird acting. If I am in app, then press the home button, it will hiccup for a second, then show the home page of icons fade in slowly.

- G Board keyboard is GREAT on this phone, that is super cool :)

- iMessage is also great, best texting app around

- No Back button, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD NO FREAKING BACK BUTTON !!! This is just brutal, just insanity using a phone with no back button, fuk swipe or gestures, you MUST HAVE A BACK BUTTON ON A SMARTPHONE OS. Blackberry has a back button. Windows Phone has a back button, Android has a back button. ( rumors are that the iPhone 8 will mimic Windows Phone software key type setup ) The no Back Button on the iPhone is borderline a deal breaker for me. I can get used to the change of OS from Android, but no back key is truly a kick in the nuts, and something I can't get comfortable with.

- Phone / Dialer app. Maybe I'm too used to stock vanilla Android's way of how the phone works, but on the Google phone's it's very fast and fluid to use, you have you page of favorites, then you easily swipe to the right to go to your contact list, or if you need to make a call right away, the little dial pad circle button is right there at the bottom easy and fast to access. Point being, on the iPhone you need to tap in and out of separate phone screens, one is the dialer, one is the contacts list another is recent calls. Just too many tabs and different screens to come in and out of on iOS to go through your phone. I feel stock Android's phone app is way faster, less things to tap to get around missed calls or making calls.
 
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You didn't know any of this before getting the phone? Sounds like you're just too used to Android. Either acclimate or go back to it. There's only a fraction of customization available on iPhones compared to Android even when jailbroken, it's always been that way.
 
Thanks for the replies I like to try something totally different once in awhile. See how different OS operates and compares to stock vanilla Android.

I'll be fair and at least give it a solid week of testing it and using it exclusively, see how it goes ?
 
Zorachus said:
Comments / Questions;

- iPhone 7 Plus is a beautifully designed well crafted device. But it seems awfully heavy, weighs a heck of a lot more than it should IMO.

- Home button thing, I am very confused with it. I understand it no loner is a true press down button anymore ? Which is fine by me, by then why does Apple force it to behave like one still ? I'd rather it act like a touchpad, something like the HTC 10, or OnePlus 3 have, where you barely tap it and it works, but with the 7 Plus home button, you still need to sort of press it hard or firmly, you can't just lightly tap it like you would software keys on a Pixel or Nexus, or even a trackpad.

- How do I rearrange the icons around ? I don't want the Music app icons in the dock on the bottom, but every time I press to hold down, to get the icons to dance and have the little x's, it 3D Force Touches on me, not allowing me to x out an app or move them. How do I get the icons to rattle and allow me to move them where ever I want ?

- Weather widget, I set my home city, but the widget keeps showing me Santa Clara, how do I force it to keep my home town ? I don't have Location enabled, I always keep that off, only use GPS when actually running Navigation, but that shouldn't matter ? There has to be an option to force the city you choose ?

- Is there a way to setup a Google Calendar widget ? Or a better calendar widget than stock ?

- Animations and fluidity of iOS 10 feels janky and clunky. Not at all smooth as hot butter and warp speed fast like my Nexus 7.1.1 ROM, which is super smooth and ZERO lag, but iOS 10 seems a little slow or just weird acting. If I am in app, then press the home button, it will hiccup for a second, then show the home page of icons fade in slowly.

- G Board keyboard is GREAT on this phone, that is super cool :)

- iMessage is also great, best texting app around

- No Back button, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD NO FREAKING BACK BUTTON !!! This is just brutal, just insanity using a phone with no back button, fuk swipe or gestures, you MUST HAVE A BACK BUTTON ON A SMARTPHONE OS. Blackberry has a back button. Windows Phone has a back button, Android has a back button. ( rumors are that the iPhone 8 will mimic Windows Phone software key type setup ) The no Back Button on the iPhone is borderline a deal breaker for me. I can get used to the change of OS from Android, but no back key is truly a kick in the nuts, and something I can't get comfortable with.

- Phone / Dialer app. Maybe I'm too used to stock vanilla Android's way of how the phone works, but on the Google phone's it's very fast and fluid to use, you have you page of favorites, then you easily swipe to the right to go to your contact list, or if you need to make a call right away, the little dial pad circle button is right there at the bottom easy and fast to access. Point being, on the iPhone you need to tap in and out of separate phone screens, one is the dialer, one is the contacts list another is recent calls. Just too many tabs and different screens to come in and out of on iOS to go through your phone. I feel stock Android's phone app is way faster, less things to tap to get around missed calls or making calls.
Click to expand...

To address your questions in order:

It would be neat if the iPhone 7 home button behaved like a touchpad, but I think right now Apple is more interested in reliability and feel (it's nice how you can customize the intensity of the response) than anything. My guess is that Apple is against the sensitivity because of its position -- you could easily quit a game or video by grabbing the phone the wrong way.

To rearrange icons, you have to hold your finger on the screen without applying significant pressure. It's a bit confusing, but makes sense given that the command was always based around duration, not pressure.

You might need to enable location to have the weather widget accurately reflect where you are. I would dig into the weather app preferences to see what's up.

I don't see a Google Calendar widget, but you could try Fantastical. The app costs money, but the widget is supposed to be top-notch.

Did you update to iOS 10.2, by the way? Animations shouldn't be janky even on 10.1, but might as well make sure you're on the latest OS.

On the back button... have you tried swiping from the left edge to the right to go back? That only works in apps where you have a typical hierarchical menu, of course (it won't work in a game), but it's handy. I don't think Apple needs to copy back buttons exactly, but it does need to acknowledge the problem of putting app back buttons at the very top in a standard app layout (where it's hard to reach on larger phones).
 
Sounds like you are just way too used to Android and expecting the same UX/UI interface to be present on iOS. Good luck!

I personally could never go back to ndroind from using iOS. IPhone just work and no tweaking involved.
 
Commander Shepard said:
Haven't you gone down this road before? ;)

https://hardforum.com/threads/android-nerd-switched-to-iphone-6-plus.1846874/
Click to expand...

Yep, it's been almost two years to the date :) I will say iOS and Android seems to be closer in operation than before. At the the end of the day, I use a a smartphone to Text, and watch YouTube, make Phone calls, E-mail, surf the web, and use it for Sports scores. Yeah I feel Android does it a faster, and has a cooler OS, but iOS 10 especially Jailbroken isn't far behind, and practically does all those same tasks very similar now. I will say this iPhone 7 Plus is so far giving me extremely stellar battery life, like way better than my Nexus 6P.
 
I remembered that old thread from my time as an anonymous lurker back in the day. :p

I agree that the differences between iOS and Android have narrowed in recent years. In fact, I think Android does more better, at this time. Battery life still keeps me in the iPhone camp, however. I'm keeping hope alive for a full untethered jailbreak soon...ish.
 
Ok now that I've owned this Silver iPhone 7 Plus 128GB for a week now, here's my review so far, compared to my most recent phone the Nexus 6P;

As you all know I'm a big stock Android guy, I root every phone I get the first day, and typically install ROM's within the first week to really get the full potential out of each phone, unlocking better battery life, smoother performance, and even more features and customization. Custom rom's and kernels can give you substantially better battery life than stock.

iPhone 7 Plus pro's;

- Battery life = Outstanding, really unbelievable so far. And the standby time is just off the charts great. I don't know how to tell the Screen On time for iPhone's ? I know it doesn't display the info the same as Android, but with my many years on Android, I have a very good feel for for battery life. My tweaked Nexus 6P would give me 5.5h Screen On time at best, that was the max, I would guess this 7 Plus is giving me 7.5h to 8h Screen On time, which would maybe comparable to the Exynos version of tweaked and ROM'd Galaxy S7 Edge's. Point being the 7 Plus battery life is a champion.

- Speakers = This was not expected. I wasn't even thinking of good sound with the 7 Plus beforehand, but holy cow, the speakers are very loud, and crisp clear. They blow my dual speakers from the 6P out of the water. The sound on this 7 Plus is really good. And shocked at how loud it goes.

- Display = This is a weird one for me. I typically like AMOLED high res screens for their deep blacks and punchy colors. But the 7 Plus is very bright, and super good outdoors, and is surprisingly a very pretty display. But over the years of phones I've owned, for some reason I did prefer the HTC LCD displays, I liked the real world colors on them, and you can do white or light wallpapers without a battery hit. My Nexus 6P screen is way too dim outdoors, and almost too deep in colors. The 7 Plus looks very nice. And 1080p doesn't seem to be so much worse than 2k, I can barely tell a difference. And watching videos, wow the 7 Plus's colors look fantastic on videos, whereas my Nexus 6P people seem too reddish and not right.

- Accessories = I do like how there a million different types of cases to choose from, and screen protectors galore. With my Nexus 6P it was very limited.

- Home button = This things all the time, every time,. Wet finger, no problem, it works. I like just barely laying my finger on it to activate the screen so quickly.

- Water resistance = It's not a must have, but is a nice piece of mind. As I have lost one phone before due to dropping in the sink doing dishes a few years ago. It dropped in a full sink of water, and submerged to the bottom, was in there maybe a few seconds, and was wacky and goofy acting and never worked the same again.

- Jailbreak = I am on 10.1.1 and I will for sure be JB'ing this phone, once the stable release is out next month.


iPhone 7 Plus con's;

- iOS 10 is nice, but I still think stock Android 7.1.1 is far superior. THE NO BACK BUTTON IS A BIG DEAL. Swipe left to right is ok, but not the best for such a large phone, plus it's not available on everything. And then the menu buttons in iOS all seem to be way up on top in each app or system, again where a real back button would come in extremely useful.

- Notifications = Wow, does stock Android do this much better. Just too long of a laundry list to go into, but bottom line is, iOS is really behind in the Notifications area for a smartphone. Apple needs to really overhaul how iOS handles notifications system wide for everything.

- No notification light = I really miss not knowing if I had a missed call or text come through. On Android you have two great things, the LED notification light blinking blue for a missed phone call, or flashing white for a missed text. And then on top of it, your screen itself wakes up in intervals showing the notification with Ambient Display. With the iPhone it almost feels dead, and needs to be resurrected from the dead to check on it. Whereas Android feels more alive and breathing.

- Stock apps = Why am I stuck with Apple's apps as default ? I want the option to maybe use Chrome as default, and I like the Gboard keyboard a lot, but sometimes for passwords or replaying to a text from the lockscreen, the default Apple keyboard is only sued.

- Customization = Holy cow Apple, dude you can at least allow some base theme's in 2016 already, WTF ? The stock app icons are from what, iOS 7 ? Why can't we at least have the option for icon packs ? And also let us place app icons anywhere on the homescreen ? Maybe I'd like 2 app's to be down towards the bottom of the screen, and not forced to be in a row one after the other. Like wow, that is just unbelievable they don't allow even that most basic and simple of customization yet.
The homescreen looks like someone left the app drawer open. It's 2016, not 2007 anymore.


Ok, so now what ?

My list of pros and cons are up, and I have always stated over the years some of the most important features on a smartphone to me, have been;

#1 = Battery life
#2 = Display
#3 = Fast and smooth running OS, that I can tweak to my liking.
 
One other thing I am surprised at, all the Google apps on the App Store for the iPhone. I have them all installed now, and they work just as good, if not better on my 7 Plus, than they do Google's own 6P, which I find really strange. Google's apps on the iPhone are very polished and well supported it seems.

Even Duo the FaceTime like thing Google released earlier this year, it works perfect on the iPhone. I use it to call my Wife, and she has an Android phone. Duo works seamlessly and perfectly between the iPhone and her Note 5 with zero issues. I did not expect Duo to even be released on the iPhone.

Allo is on there too, but I don't use that.
 
Google ain't stupid hence all the popular Google apps being available on the iOS platform just the same, basically just as Microsoft never decided to just give Apple a proper finger and dump 'em hence Office for Mac still being a major cash cow for Microsoft courtesy of Apple. Android's biggest problem, the really serious biggest problem and not just the fragmentation of so many versions and so many devices from so many manufacturers, is that it's designed to run in a virtual machine layer and not on the native bare metal hardware. If it did actually work that way it would perform vastly better and it's the primary reason for lag when it happens on an Android powered device.

iOS is so tuned and optimized because of the narrow profile and just 4 or 5 devices using it that all are basically the same hardware with very little differences between them and when that happens it's also something they can optimize against. The hardware an iPhone is made from isn't all that spectacular and yes it's missing some aspects (proper NFC being one, expandable storage being another, and so on) - it's the fact that the OS can be so tuned and optimized for that hardware that makes it run so well.

Even in spite of everything that Apple does with iPhones, and even if I could get the flagship model for free every year I'd still choose Android because it allows me some more freedom as long as the hardware manufacturer doesn't go all fucking "Hey let's lock this fucker down..." which is the case with most flagship Android devices sadly. I currently have a Droid Turbo 2 I got for a pittance and while it literally is nearly indestructible for the most part (yes the display really is shatterproof) the fact that Verizon and Motorola agreed to lock it down so tightly with no hope for an unlocked bootloader and the chance we'll never see an actual root for it I'm still using it because I do find it to be a fantastic device overall. It's missing the removable battery aspect that I typically demand from my devices but it does offer expandable storage, thankfully, and the price I got it for was just not something I could pass on.

I've used an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 7, and 7 Plus and I just don't find them particularly interesting but that's the personal aspect I suppose. Some people think they're the greatest things since sliced bread but I'm just not one of those people.

As for that top 3 I suppose I'd say basically the same for the Droid Turbo 2:

1) Battery life - no issues there, typically 1.5 days between charges, Wi-Fi always on, 4G LTE on T-Mobile, Location services on High Accuracy, usually hit the 15% battery level at 36-40 hours depending on usage.

2) DIsplay - 5.4" quad HD (2560x1440) POLED (that's Plastic OLED) and it looks fantastic, the shatterproof display isn't even something I have to give a shit about anymore (I've actually thrown the phone across a room into a brick wall to demonstrate it on occasion), bright enough in daylight to still be useful, I'm ok with it overall

3) Fast smooth running OS - it's powered by a Snapdragon 810 (yes, that one that did have problems in the first revision of the SoC), has 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage internal (about 23GB of that available to me for use), running Android 6.0 (not even 6.0.1 but that's Motorola for you) without many problems and fully updated. I suppose it could run better but that's because of the situation I mentioned above: Android doesn't run on the bare metal hardware unfortunately, and ART has helped the situation but it's still a run-time (literally) and not the true native bare metal hardware level functionality.

Everything lags, it's just that the majority of people don't notice and I happen to be one of those rare ones that do. I've seen the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus lag consistently in demos, in Apple stores, in the hands of people that are staring at exactly the same device when it happens and I point it out and they're like "What, I didn't see anything..." which happened to be my point but they missed it just like they miss the lag. :D
 
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One thing I can say, I am almost positively getting a Pixel XL 2 next Fall. As long as Google puts in a little bit larger battery, and it gets water resistance, and then the SD835 chipset is supposed to be much more efficient while also faster. I think that would be my near perfect phone.

But...if the iPhone 8 is truly the beast it rumored to be, I may stick with Apple. But I am more interested in iOS 11 then the actual phone hardware. I am sure the phone itself will be really cool, but for me iOS needs a major overhaul. Add icons packs or basic theming. Add software keys like Windows Phones have. Add a notification light like BlackBerry phones have.

There's no upcoming phone release I care about, until the iPhone 8 and Pixel 2 release late Summer / early Fall next year. Right now I have the iPhone 7 Plus, and Nexus 6P, so I'm good to go. IMO on Android it's only the Pixel and nothing else. Samsung sucks, yeah they make great hardware; amazing displays, and good cameras, but it still runs Touchwiz, which I see ZERO reason for anymore. Google has stock Android 7.1.1, and that's what Android is, not Touchwiz, not Sense, not LG UI. All of those are not needed today, Google has finally matured stock Android to be great. So I can care less about the Galaxy S8, or the LG G6, or HTC Eleven, unless they brought back the GPE program. But for me it's stock Android and nothing else. Or the iPhone maybe.
 
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Zorachus said:
One thing I can say, I am almost positively getting a Pixel XL 2 next Fall. As long as Google puts in a little bit larger battery, and it gets water resistance, and then the SD835 chipset is supposed to be much more efficient while also faster. I think that would be my near perfect phone.

But...if the iPhone 8 is truly the beast it rumored to be, I may stick with Apple. But I am more interested in iOS 11 then the actual phone hardware. I am sure the phone itself will be really cool, but for me iOS needs a major overhaul. Add icons packs or basic theming. Add software keys like Windows Phones have. Add a notification light like BlackBerry phones have.

There's no upcoming phone release I care about, until the iPhone 8 and Pixel 2 release late Summer / early Fall next year. Right now I have the iPhone 7 Plus, and Nexus 6P, so I'm good to go. IMO on Android it's only the Pixel and nothing else. Samsung sucks, yeah they make great hardware; amazing displays, and good cameras, but it still runs Touchwiz, which I see ZERO reason for anymore. Google has stock Android 7.1.1, and that's what Android is, not Touchwiz, not Sense, not LG UI. All of those are not needed today, Google has finally matured stock Android to be great. So I can care less about the Galaxy S8, or the LG G6, or HTC Eleven, unless they brought back the GPE program. But for me it's stock Android and nothing else. Or the iPhone maybe.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't count on getting what you're asking for from iOS. You might get a dark theme, but icon packs and Samsung/HTC-style themes? Nope. It took ages for macOS to get a dark theme, and that's about as far as Apple usually goes. And I'm definitely not expecting a BlackBerry-style notification light, especially since those tend to annoy some people (myself included) even as they help others. Yeah, it's good in some situations, but not if you have the phone constantly in view on your desk and have to ignore a constantly blinking LED (and if you get a lot of work email, this light will be on most of the time).

Admittedly, my experience of iOS and the iPhone 7 is influenced by owning an Apple Watch... don't need a notification light when you get a thump on your wrist with new work email (at least, using the Gmail app).
 
The thing that really kills me (in a humorous sense) about how Apple does things is the incredibly short memory lifespan of the Cult of Mac followers: Apple will consistently not do what consumers want over and over again and the users aka Cult members (yes I'm being stupid but it's a joke, go with it) will rant and rave about it - "Why didn't they add <insert feature here> with this latest version of iOS..." "Why doesn't the iPhone 7 do <whatever Android devices have been doing for years>..." and many many other complaints.

They'll hate on Apple in social media, post more rants and raves about how Apple is failing them by not giving them what they want for the cash they're forking over, ad repeat each new edition of iOS or each new iPhone release.

But then Apple actually does something the Cult members have been wanting for a long period of time and suddenly it's "WOW, REVOLUTIONARY... APPLE IS AWESOME..." or words to that effect and many many more. :)

Makes no sense to me, it really doesn't, but then again neither does the cult mentality I suppose. I'll just never understand it. :confused: :p
 
Zorachus said:
One other thing I am surprised at, all the Google apps on the App Store for the iPhone. I have them all installed now, and they work just as good, if not better on my 7 Plus, than they do Google's own 6P, which I find really strange. Google's apps on the iPhone are very polished and well supported it seems.

Even Duo the FaceTime like thing Google released earlier this year, it works perfect on the iPhone. I use it to call my Wife, and she has an Android phone. Duo works seamlessly and perfectly between the iPhone and her Note 5 with zero issues. I did not expect Duo to even be released on the iPhone.

Allo is on there too, but I don't use that.
Click to expand...


So you've found that one of your initial complaints about chrome and the calendar were incorrect right? I made this switch a couple weeks ago too. But I checked that Inbox and Google Calendar were iOS apps first. I can handle missing a back button. But I preferr Chrome, Inbox etc to apples software. Have not once touched safari or apple mailbox or the like since Ingot this phone.

Oh for weather get Weather Underground app. Much better app and widget than stock weather on either platform.

And another suggestion. Get Workflow. Great for people who came from Android. But really just a useful app.
 
Another great option for mail is Spark. Much better than the stock mail app.

My preferred weather app is Weather Live.

I'm not overly impressed with any of the mobile browsers. I use Dolphin or just the Google app.
 
Spark routes your email through their servers and datamines you. It's a privacy nightmare, and yoour IT dept might get you in shit for it if it's a work email.
 
Wasn't aware of that privacy crap with Spark. Don't use it for work e-mail, but I don't like being datamined. :mad:

Guess it's back to stock for me. :arghh:
 
There's more than a few good clients out there that actually act as a normal mail client. Dispatch and Mail Pilot are the way to go right now, as Outlook mines your info for microsoft, Cloudmagic/Newton are chock full of fuckery, and Alto mines for AOL/Verizon. Good news however, Nine email is coming for iOS soon. If you haven't used it on Android, it's HANDS DOWN the best exchange client out there.

Edit - Dispatch is really limited, only supporting IMAP (no pop or exhange) and have no plans to even integrate push notifications. Seriously?
 
Update after having my 7 Plus for a few weeks now, compared to being on Android mostly the past 5 + years, specifically Nexus phones or flagships running CM ROM's;

- iMessage, I really don't get what all the fuss is about ? I am not impressed. I mean I guess it works well enough, but don't see the big deal, it's just another text messaging app IMO. But actually I really don't like how it works, or maybe it's just the crappy way iOS does Notifications. If I am surfing the web and get a text, and swipe it away, there's no easy way to go back to it. With Android I can just pull the notification shade down while still on the web page and reply from the drop down, and continue on with my page. Without having to close down anything.

- If I want to send a web link, I press forward, then press Message, then I have to type in the specific people again to send it to. WTF ? This is 2017, I should be able to see a list of people I normally send to, or a list of recent sents, and be able to quickly forward. Why do I have to start typing in a name first ? I much prefer Google Messenger or even Textra over iMessage.

- The phone app, it seems like a lot of presses and clicks to move around, and not so fast and better setup like stock Android's. And this isn't in style or speed wise, I mean the Google phone app just is easier and much quicker to navigate calls and contacts.

- But everything else I do like on the iPhone. The battery life is off the charts amazing, great. Blows my Nexus 6P out of the water for battery, no comparison. The speakers are loud and clear on the 7 Plus very impressive. The overall smoothness of the OS is just SMOOTH, and very constantly smooth ALWAYS. Where Android can be warp speed super fast, and much faster than iOS, but with Android every once in awhile I'd get a 1/2 second micro stutter, or little hiccup here and there, but I have yet to see that on the 7 Plus.
 
And thus you see the difference between bare-metal code as iOS is from the ground up since day one and virtualized code as Android is in the same respects. It's crippling to know that such decent high end hardware in Android flagships will suffer from lag vastly more than it should because of how Android's foundation was created. I get why it was done that way but it'll always be the one thing that holds Android back from the same type of smoothness you'll get with a device powered by iOS, that's just the way it goes.
 
And still no real jailbreak for iOS 10.1.1!! :mad::mad::mad:

I don't count that unstable semi-tethered Yalu thing.
 
iMessage is only good when the people you're talking to are also on iMessage.
 
you're simply never going to see an untethered JB anymore. Won't happen.


Zorachus said:
- But everything else I do like on the iPhone. The battery life is off the charts amazing, great. Blows my Nexus 6P out of the water for battery, no comparison. The speakers are loud and clear on the 7 Plus very impressive. The overall smoothness of the OS is just SMOOTH, and very constantly smooth ALWAYS. Where Android can be warp speed super fast, and much faster than iOS, but with Android every once in awhile I'd get a 1/2 second micro stutter, or little hiccup here and there, but I have yet to see that on the 7 Plus.
Click to expand...

Even if it's not stock, I'm still liking the S7 and HTC 10 more, especially with the Nougat update. I have a feeling I'll be trading my 7 Plus for a Pixel XL as soon as the value on it drops enough to make it a straight swap.
 
Zorachus said:
Update after having my 7 Plus for a few weeks now, compared to being on Android mostly the past 5 + years, specifically Nexus phones or flagships running CM ROM's;

- iMessage, I really don't get what all the fuss is about ? I am not impressed. I mean I guess it works well enough, but don't see the big deal, it's just another text messaging app IMO. But actually I really don't like how it works, or maybe it's just the crappy way iOS does Notifications. If I am surfing the web and get a text, and swipe it away, there's no easy way to go back to it. With Android I can just pull the notification shade down while still on the web page and reply from the drop down, and continue on with my page. Without having to close down anything.

- If I want to send a web link, I press forward, then press Message, then I have to type in the specific people again to send it to. WTF ? This is 2017, I should be able to see a list of people I normally send to, or a list of recent sents, and be able to quickly forward. Why do I have to start typing in a name first ? I much prefer Google Messenger or even Textra over iMessage.

- The phone app, it seems like a lot of presses and clicks to move around, and not so fast and better setup like stock Android's. And this isn't in style or speed wise, I mean the Google phone app just is easier and much quicker to navigate calls and contacts.

- But everything else I do like on the iPhone. The battery life is off the charts amazing, great. Blows my Nexus 6P out of the water for battery, no comparison. The speakers are loud and clear on the 7 Plus very impressive. The overall smoothness of the OS is just SMOOTH, and very constantly smooth ALWAYS. Where Android can be warp speed super fast, and much faster than iOS, but with Android every once in awhile I'd get a 1/2 second micro stutter, or little hiccup here and there, but I have yet to see that on the 7 Plus.
Click to expand...

iMessage really shines if you have multiple iOS devices or a Mac. It's a bit like having Facebook Messenger or Hangouts built into everything you own. The stickers/sketches/secret messages/animations are a bit gimmicky, but it's definitely more than just an internet-based take on SMS.

And if you ever have a feature complaint/request: apple.com/feedback. You probably won't get anything if you say "make it like Android," but you might just influence future iOS releases if you have intelligent, thorough concerns.
 
Aurelius said:
iMessage really shines if you have multiple iOS devices or a Mac. It's a bit like having Facebook Messenger or Hangouts built into everything you own. The stickers/sketches/secret messages/animations are a bit gimmicky, but it's definitely more than just an internet-based take on SMS.
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It is nice to text on my MBP instead of tapping on my iPhone's screen (even a 7+). With Chrome remote desktop on my computers, I can text via my PC, too.

Of course, Mighty Text lets Android users do the same thing across devices.
 
I'm obviously disappointed in the lack of PC or Android integration, but I kind of hate Apple for not releasing full iMessage integration for older Macs/Macbooks. My MacBook Pro 15 is late 2011 model, and iMessage is not fully supported for bullshit reasons. Apple like to suggest it's because Bluetooth, but my phone is connected to the MacBook by wire and Apple could easily support a Bluetooth dongle. I kind of refuse to upgrade my MacBook for reasons like this because they don't deserve my money if they are forcing me to upgrade despite the system having plenty of abilities to make it work. (They also don't deserve my money for giving out such a small amount of free iCloud storage. And with that money, I'd rather get Office365 with the storage.)
 
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Wouldn't it make much more sense to use WhatsApp instead from the get-go? iMessage doesn't seem to be very popular where I live and since WhatsApp is available on everything people prefer it. with WhatsApp you can also send crap from your PC too.
 
My understanding of WhatsApp is that everyone you contact must use it, too. Maybe I'm wrong?

iMessage converts to standard SMS for those who don't use an Apple device, so you still can text to anyone on other platforms.
 
Only other messaging focused app that has integrated SMS support is hangouts, but on iOS, it's only the Google Voice number. Apple made it impossible for third party SMS replacement app. Hopefully Apple will follow the new RCS standard and no one would have any problems.
 
CHANG3D said:
Only other messaging focused app that has integrated SMS support is hangouts, but on iOS, it's only the Google Voice number. Apple made it impossible for third party SMS replacement app. Hopefully Apple will follow the new RCS standard and no one would have any problems.
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Apple follow a standard? That'll be the day...
 
Vermillion said:
Apple follow a standard? That'll be the day...
Click to expand...

Apple follows plenty of standards. It's just they also pick and choose which ones they follow. While to some it may seem as though their choices are arbitrary, as far as I can see it really falls into one of two categories:

1.) The standard is what is deemed (as qualified by Apple) as the best. (One of the most notable was to support HTML5 and to completely drop support of Flash)
2.) The standard was created internally (as in by Apple themselves) and helps to control their platform(s).

While your response may be facetious, it is entirely intellectually dishonest to say Apple doesn't follow standards.
If they didn't, then obviously they'd have no forms of connectivity ever. (USB, Thunderbolt, DVi, Displayport, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, SATA, etc)
And obviously it wouldn't be able to interface with anything on any platform. (IE: the internet due to lack of being able to interpret html and web languages such as php and ruby, etc. Any coding language in general. Any and all file formats in general. Any and all APIs in general).

Message is of course an internally developed standard that Apple themselves want to have complete control over. They have little interest in moving it to an open standard or giving up control over it. This has pros and cons. And whether or not the cons are a big enough deal or the pros are a big enough deal, is of course up to the end user.
For most, the pros far outweigh the cons. And obviously most people don't care. Only the 1% of highly developed tech-enthusiasts that look at cell phones as a hobby are going to think that any of this stuff matters. The Hardforum of course is weighted disproportionately towards the 1%, giving a very skewed view of what the 'average' user would care about. Moving to RCS being one of them.
 
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Tup3x said:
Wouldn't it make much more sense to use WhatsApp instead from the get-go? iMessage doesn't seem to be very popular where I live and since WhatsApp is available on everything people prefer it. with WhatsApp you can also send crap from your PC too.
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Nobody in the US uses WhatsApp though.
 
NA android fan will find it hard using the iPhone first. time. iPhone is a complete package which you can't compare with. You will get used to it.
 
Ok back to report on this thread of mine.

I have had the iPhone 7 Plus for over a month now, and here are my impressions after long term use;

Pros;

- Battery life = AMAZING BEST EVER, out of almost 20 flagship phones I've owned the past ten years. This 7 Plus is jaw droppingly great on battery.
- Screen is super bright and great for outdoor use, which is not typical for a smartphone.
- Speakers are shockingly very loud and also very clear.
- OS is super smooth, like hot butter, no hiccups, no lag, always smooth.
- Lift to wake is nice
- Fingerprint scanner is near perfect

Con's;

- Notifications just suck balls, wow really bad implementation from Apple. Terrible. Compared to Android Nougat 7.1 there's no excuse for Apple to have such piss poor Notification in iOS 10
- No back button and no software keys is still hard to get used to.
- Widgets are ok, but really wish I could put a widget on my main homescreen, and wish there was a Google Calendar Widget, exact same version as on Android
- No customization is just sad. I'd love to have icon packs and a dark theme option at the least.
- iMessage is good, but not some killer awesome text app I heard about. It's ok. I don't like how it works compared to Google Messenger. Sending messages to a group, it's far easier and faster on Google Messenger to chose a previously sent thread, etc...


Bottom line there is no perfect smartphone, that's a white unicorn that doesn't exist. But I do like this iPhone 7 Plus, more than expected. But I also do not love it either. If the Google Pixel XL was available at T-Mobile I would 99% have gotten that instead. But I also wanted a change and try something different. At this point I'd rather wait for a Pixel 2 with the SD835 + 6GB RAM + Waterproof, then just get a Pixel XL right now.
 
Zorachus said:
Ok back to report on this thread of mine.

I have had the iPhone 7 Plus for over a month now, and here are my impressions after long term use;

Pros;

- Battery life = AMAZING BEST EVER, out of almost 20 flagship phones I've owned the past ten years. This 7 Plus is jaw droppingly great on battery.
- Screen is super bright and great for outdoor use, which is not typical for a smartphone.
- Speakers are shockingly very loud and also very clear.
- OS is super smooth, like hot butter, no hiccups, no lag, always smooth.
- Lift to wake is nice
- Fingerprint scanner is near perfect

Con's;

- Notifications just suck balls, wow really bad implementation from Apple. Terrible. Compared to Android Nougat 7.1 there's no excuse for Apple to have such piss poor Notification in iOS 10
- No back button and no software keys is still hard to get used to.
- Widgets are ok, but really wish I could put a widget on my main homescreen, and wish there was a Google Calendar Widget, exact same version as on Android
- No customization is just sad. I'd love to have icon packs and a dark theme option at the least.
- iMessage is good, but not some killer awesome text app I heard about. It's ok. I don't like how it works compared to Google Messenger. Sending messages to a group, it's far easier and faster on Google Messenger to chose a previously sent thread, etc...


Bottom line there is no perfect smartphone, that's a white unicorn that doesn't exist. But I do like this iPhone 7 Plus, more than expected. But I also do not love it either. If the Google Pixel XL was available at T-Mobile I would 99% have gotten that instead. But I also wanted a change and try something different. At this point I'd rather wait for a Pixel 2 with the SD835 + 6GB RAM + Waterproof, then just get a Pixel XL right now.
Click to expand...

Kind of curious: what do you think about the camera? It's the 7 Plus' signature feature, but you've hardly touched on it! The impression I get is that it's the first to make dual camera tricks truly accessible, especially portrait mode (read: shallow depth of field mode). Not that Huawei and others haven't made interesting use of it, but they tend to tuck it away alongside the other novelty features.
 
The camera is on par with the S7. The dual camera setup is basically unusable indoors, without a glaring amount of light. Outdoors it does well though.

I've had my 7 Plus since October, and I can live with it. But every time I turn on my S7 or HTC, I miss Android tremendously. I should have just gotten the Pixel instead.
 
So how does Apple use those dual cameras?

At least on my Honor 8 the benefits are really obviously. Dynamic range is great and it clearly lets in more light. It's not possible to take pure bw shots since no Leica branding but still. Sharpness is great from center to corners but the dual camera thing has hardly anything to do with that.

There's that fake dof thing too but fake is fake and never as good as the real thing.
 
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