6 reasons why you should stay with the iPhone (and not defect to Android)

I recently ditched my Apple iPhone 4 in favor of a brand new Samsung smart phone. The Apple iPhone 4 was outdated and starting to creak, and having little faith that the new iPhone 5S / 6 will be as fundamentally groundbreaking as I think it needs to be, i decided to bite the bullet. In many ways, the move has been a great joy, and made me realise that the iPhone 4 really is a very dated smart phone in 2013.I figured there has to be a good reason why so many people are defecting to Android, and why Samsung have been able to build a 75% market share in mid 2013. However, a week after biting that bullet, i have already discovered 6 big reasons why you should stay with the iPhone – at least for now – and not defect.

Too many native apps

I had grow thoroughly tired of certain apps that you simply can’t get rid off on Apple devices. Their utterly hapless attempt to take on Google maps, the almost entirely useless newsstand (on the iPhone at least – i don’t mind it so much on the iPad) and their stocks app, which is far too niche (if i wanted stocks, then i would happily find and download an appropriate app).

However, the Apple native app scene is positively serene at the side of the junkyard presented by Android. Google apps are so omnipresent that they feel like an unrelenting spam campaign – there’s seemingly a play app for everything, when surely Google could easily have condensed this down.

Then there is the thoroughly annoying mobile network carrier apps, all of which Apple seems to have entirely eliminated. Finally, there are up-sell apps, that come per-installed but which are constantly trying to fleece you.

Apple has been known to annoy plenty of people with their native apps, but compared to Android, they are very understated.

Apple maps has had its critics, but Apple are light on native apps compared to the bombardment you get on Android.

Microsoft Office 365

Love them or hate them, when it comes to productivity tools, Office rules supreme. Having the Office 365 toolkit on the iPhone was a real boom, allowing me to read and edit important documents whilst on the move. I bemoaned the lack of support on the iPad – although that’s no surprise when Microsoft have the Surface to sell, with just productivity as a USP – this is no hardship compared to having to deal with want-to-be productivity tools on the Android OS. However hard they try to make them work well, and there is a decent attempt which comes per-loaded, unfortunately it just doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

Searching your whole phone

Considering Android is made Google, who are the most successful search specialists that the world has ever seen, this may come as something of a surprise: The default Android search is pants. You have to dive into the menus and manually adjust it to get the simple device wide searching functionality. This is yet another area where the iPhone performs seamlessly well, to the extent where you don’t waste any time thinking about it.

The easy scroll left off the homepage is something that you really come to miss after wasting half a lifetime messing around in different settings apps on Android. There really are some areas where Apple have done a stunning job of making everything really dammed simple. Android can definitely learn from this.

Hardware accessories are usually only available on iOS

The iPhone has built up a cult following of devout accessory makers, from simple cases to serious pieces of ad-on technology, like blood pressure monitors and fitness technology gear. Android users simply don’t get access to the latter accessories, as most have only been designed for iOS. The health and fitness sector comes to mind particularity, where forward thinking companies like ihealthlabs.com have spent a lot of money and time developing great products. Its a real shame that these products are limited to iOS.

Customer service

The whole Apple experience is second to none, from their ground breaking stores to their dedicated and knowledgeable staff. If you ever run into a problem with an Apple device, you know that you’re never far from a store which will go out of its way to put things right ASAP. You don;t get this level of care and attention from your local carriers store, and frankly this makes any other device feel like a step down.

Viruses and threats

Many people, myself included, often bemoan the lack of freedom within iOS. Apple run a closed shop, and they rule by their own whim. If Apple doesn’t like something then it does not get featured. If Apple falls out with you, whoever you are, then you are liable to lose top billing. Just look at how ruthless they were in ditching Google maps and bringing through Apple maps, despite the latter being nowhere near market ready.

The problem is that this cut of freedom provides an effective layer of security, meaning there are very few security breaches within iOS. Sadly the same can;t be said fro Android, where scores of Android powered devices have been known to spread viruses quicker than school children.