QOTW: Why do you own an iPhone?

[zdn1042]

Efficient OS that offers a great user experience. The camera. But mostly since I'm already quite invested on Apple's ecosystem.

[burble]

I've been using iPhones since the 3GS and despite dabbling Android a few times I keep using iOS and currently have an iPhone 6. I use an iPhone because it does everything I want and it does it well. I'm not interested in rooting my phone or mucking about with it, I have to mess about with tech stuff at work so don't have any interest in doing it at home.

For work I've got an iPhone 5S and I absolutely hate it. They had to almost prize my BlackBerry from my hands for me to switch to the 5S. Why do I hate it? Because I travel a lot and send a lot of emails when I'm on trains, at airports and so on and I absolutely hate the on screen keyboard. So much so that rather than use the iPhone I dig out my laptop and use that instead. For personal use the on screen keyboard is absolutely fine, but as a professional tool I think it's awful. The BlackBerry was pretty much devoid of apps but it did the things I needed it to do very, very well - make & receive phone calls and send & receive emails.

[Mattus]

I used to own an iPhone 4, now own a Nexus 5, but am seriously thinking about picking up an iPhone 6. Two main reasons:

* Apps. People say that all the apps you need are available on Android, and they're right - but this doesn't account for the quality of the apps. Too many Android apps feel like a miserable afterthought, hacked together on a shoestring after the vendor has had some success with the iOS version. The worst suspects are games and banking apps.

* Android Lollipop. This is the buggiest OS I have ever used (and I bought a copy of Windows Me). The battery life sucks, the memory management sucks and the notifications suck. These aren't just glitches, they are core usability issues. I am pretty peeved about being co-opted as a beta tester for Google's unfinished software. It should not have been released in this state and Apple would not have released it in this state. You might say that I could just go back to KitKat, but frankly the experience has put me off Google products. If they care so little about user experience then I will buy a phone from a company which cares more.

[Darth Sidious]

because its sexual chocolate

[Darth Sidious]

LOL. Only 3 replies. Sums it up very well I must say

no it doesnt funboy

[Dareos]

I am currently (finally) learning to use an iPhone. This is not exactly by choice, but as my mother lost her nokia brick (at least 10 years old) and my older brother very kindly donated his old iPhone 5. This however does create some problems, mainly because my mother and technology don't interact particularly well. She isn't too bad, just nervous about things popping up when she presses the wrong button etc etc.

Couple of things to note. itunes is one of the reasons I dislike the iPhone system. I find it has issues with Windows and I am not changing to a mac OS simply because of the phone I own. The phone had to be completely restored, so it could be unlocked. I followed the instructions on that, had to be logged in as my older brother in order to restore it.
It gave me the option of backing up the apps on the phone, I did so, restored and unlocked it. I then signed in to my mothers icloud/apple id and it told me it was an American ID and took me to the US itunes (i can see problems here in the future). Once i had done this I restored the backup, which immediately logged me out of my mothers account and back into my brothers.... grrr, but minor. TBH this is going to cause problems for non techy folks. (this was following the apple guide btw).
Ok, all sorted out (american itunes store aside), but it does give the lie to the old "it just works" cliche, maybe it does until you need to change something, then its a pita.
Now onto the phone and ios.

The phone itself is pretty solid, it feels good in the hands and it appears well built. The lack of physical buttons annoys me, the home button and the power button are all very well, but I do like the back button and menu button to be available. My only gripe is the same as its always been, size. I have large hands and im not particularly dexterous, I like a bigger unit...ooer missus.
IoS is really not my thing. I don't find it intuitive. Scrolling through 4 or 5 menus to get to a single option I find tedious and frustrating. The lack back and forward options bugs me. The front screen interface is simple enough and as this is for my mother, thats a good thing.
Battery life is woeful. The phone has nothing on it bar bbc app, it drains seriously quickly.
Not messed with the camera yet but my mother has used it, no complaints there, if she can use it then its gotta be pretty decent and simple to use.


All in all, its not a bad device, but it wouldnt be my choice for the reasons above. I also want the freedom of choice of handset that several manufacturers give me. I currently am on the S5 and think the G3 is the better choice overall.

So, i "have" an iPhone to use, simply to teach someone else how to use it.

In Apple's defence, Android would have been probably a little too complicated, but I would probably have stuck it in ultra power saving mode with messaging and voice calling left on and left it at that

[Heisuro]

I've used Windows phones (Nokia Lumia 925), Android phones (Sony Xperia Ray), and iPhones.

Problem with Android was at the time when Android 2.3 was out, software was very buggy and frequently my phone crashed, despite using different Android ROMS. Phone battery was terrible too so I just sold it - bad experience with the whole Android system.

Then I get my first iPhone, the 4. Loved it as app support was amazing and battery lasted long, the phone also had a premium feel to it. My 4 was stolen so replaced it with a 4S, and subsequently upgraded to the 5 when the 5's were becoming pretty cheap used.

I then managed to get the Lumia 925 for quite cheap, and I would have made a profit if I sold it on if I didn't like it. The UI was nice, smooth and slick, and I really like the features like double tap screen to wake. Problem with Windows is lack of app support, and websites that utilise webkit does not display properly on browsers on Windows phones, so I sold it for a profit and stuck with my 5 ever since.

Now I have an iPad mini and Macbook Pro, everything syncs nicely without being giving a headache. I do have my phone and iPad jailbroken to give it the custom feel I like, and even when jailbroken I feel they're still more reliable than Andoids i've used in the past.
Android has come a long way now, and I really like the look of it. What is stopping me from giving up my iPhone for an Android phone is because I've already bought into the Apple ecosystem, and it will be too much effort to switch. If I find a cheap Android tab / phone then I might purchase it to play around with.

[genkifd]

LOL. Only 3 replies. Sums it up very well I must say

Thank-you for your useful input to the thread...

I have an iPhone 5 as:

- They just 'work' (I feel the hate rising in you all) I pretty much browse the net and listen to podcasts. For this it's prefect, any previous Android I owned has always had issues with browser crashes/audio stopping when a browser was open and general crashes. This is with both stock ROM and CM etc

- The camera is fast and takes good photos.

- The resale value of my 'overpriced' phone in 2years time will dwarf the resale value of it's Android equivalent so TCO is probably the same.

- I and my wife previously owned iPhones and we have investment in the app ecosystem.

- They are (IMO) very well built, they feel far more premium than all but the high end Android handsets (which tend closer towards the same price anyway than they used to) The comparison is no longer a £600 iPhone is the same as a £150 Android.

Now, before you answer please do not see the above as a defense of £700 iPhone 6+s or any other phone priced more than some cars. android is certainly guilty of that too.
I'm sick to the back teeth of people using false arguments to hate on Apple when they're just the same as any other slave-labour using/ tax avoiding phone manufacturer, they're just more successful, hell Samsung isn't exactly a shining example. People love to side with the 'little guy' who in this case is actually not the little guy at all.

I await someone telling me I'm a teenager or a clueless soccer mom with delight

what a generalisation - my HTC M8 is built better than any iphones to date.

[Rob_B]

And that is a generalisation...

[Dareos]

not sure i get your point there genkifd. Rob quite clearly states that the iphone feels more premium than all but the high end Android devices and you then go on to state its a generalisation because your very high end android HTC One M8 is better built.

HTC One M8, LG G3, Sony Z2 and Samsung S5 would all be included in the term high end imo.

[realstock]

I own an iPhone due to having a significantly more positive experience with their technology, than any others. Recent personal phone history starts with Blackberry Curve, iPhone4, Samsung S3, iPhone 5s.

After owning the S3, I can understand the desire to root phones and customize in very finite detail, but after multiple OS upgrades, including trying custom roms, it was clear that I don't want to 'play' with my phone or indeed tablet in that way.

To reiterate what has been stated before, I hate the iPhone/iTunes Windows integration, but after a little bit of persistence you get through it.

I would consider myself a techie, I work as an IT consultant and have been in the industry for 15 years but I want to leave that at the office... family comes first.

Technology shouldn't alienate people, it should be intuitive and easy to 'figure' out, which Apple do pretty darned well.

Can't we all just get along?

[DavyJ]

My company phone is an iPhone. (Definitely not my personal phone!!) We have it for the same reason most people I know have one. The apps which are either exclusive to iOS, or just work better on iOS.

[crossy]

I don't own an iPhone, but I've got to say the genuine responses have been interesting. From what I've read your iPhone reasons are:
a. I already have Apple products, so an Apple phone is a no-brainer.
b. There's an iOS app that's needed, or iOS "just works better" for them.
c. The owner likes (/gets) the iOS way of working.

Now as someone who has zero intention of getting an iPhone, these seem like pretty reasonable, (and supportable), reasons. Although I'm perhaps slightly saddened to see no one saying that they iPhone because they like the physical design - I thought the pre-4 models were pretty slick and the 5 has some nice aspects.

To me, the biggest attraction of an iPhone would definitely being that I'd know that the "use experience" would be as good as it could be made. Problem with Android phones is that I suspect that there's a strong desire to add features merely to be different from the guy down the road. So you end up with unnecessary software bloat, which also slows down the speed with which the OS can be updated.

[virtuo]

I've got an IP6 from work. I still use a 1+1 as my main phone (and will always use android for my main).

The iPhone is a nice bit of kit hardware-wise. The OS is simplified down to the "just works" brag by hiding the tasty things that might make it not work right away. Fair enough if that's what the users want.

I find it annoying that people on both sides claim a big reason is "The apps keep crashing or are full of bugs on [rival OS]. These opinions are either based on hearsay or based on out-of-date opinions/experiences.

I really don't see much between the 2 now. And if you have an app that's built for both, it's rarely better on one than the other.

I also think the "Android store is full of garbage" argument doesn't hold much water either, the Apple store is equally bogged down with low quality apps. And that's supposed to be curated.

So on topic, I own one because it was given to me. It's a nice phone, but I prefer the competition.

[peterb]

LOL. Only 3 replies. Sums it up very well I must say

That iPhone users don't feel the need to justify their purchasing decisions?

[Biscuit]

That iPhone users don't feel the need to justify their purchasing decisions?

God, if only this was the case!

I think in reality it just means Hexus users are not generally Apple users. Nothing more, nothing less.