Hacker News Reader

Comment by roymurdock | Hacker News Reader

None of the other companies have a repeatably successful flagship phone that comes anywhere close to the iPhone in terms of brand recognition and prestige.

Some might argue the Samsung Galaxy, but the image associated with the galaxy is not one of luxury, but of practicality and a sacrifice in usability in exchange for for customization; the general Android vs. IOS argument.

Luxury breeds profit by turning users into silent evangelists/role models. Combine this with Apple's extremely strong ability to [1] set prices (Android is not a direct competitor, it's a whole different marketplace with its own internal competition) and [2] force costs onto partners (who wouldn't want to work with Apple and see that volume of business with those nice margins?) and it's no surprise that the iPhone is destroying competition on the profitability metric.

View on HN

I don't understand why people say that IOS is more usable than android. Android phones tend to have a much better "phone" usability in my mind. For instance, I can go to my recent calls on an android device and just swipe to the right to send a text to someone. In IOS, I have to click the i icon to go to that contact, click send a message, then click the phone number. Or the built on "swype" keyboard on my old note 2 is much better than the default apple keyboard on my current i6+. Really, the only thing that I would call noticeably better on my iphone over my note 2 is the camera functionality.

Not arguing that one is more usable than the other (although I have an iPhone so I suppose that is a tacit argument), just stating a general opinion.

I got a nexus 6 last night-simple things like pinch to zoom and animations tend to stutter, tapping small touch targets in chrome is very hard (iOS has a nice assist there), Firefox freaks out and fails to render HN with nontrivial frequency, etc. Android does seem to support more customization but iOS but iOS's existing features actually work.

I had a Nexus 6 for about 6 months, it's pretty terrible, as you describe. I just bought an LG G4, it's great. No lag, it just works.

I have none of these issues on my Nexus 6. Firefox on Android is rather buggy, but that's not the fault of the OS. A real Firefox on iOS doesn't exist and likely never will other than the Firefox-ish browser they're working on that will be stuck using Mobile Safari for rendering.

Maybe before, but the S6 screams luxury IMO, and is very clearly attacking the iPhone head-on.

But roymurdock's point about Android not really being a direct competitor to iPhone is pretty much true. It is EXTREMELY rare, outside of the tech/developer set, for someone who has an iPhone to consider switching to Android, especially once they have a decent app investment.

I see a lot fewer iPhones among the non-tech/developer set than I used to. A lot of them are former iPhone users who have switched for one reason or another. I'm not saying they are a majority (they are not), but it is far from rare.

I would still argue that Android does not compete directly with IOS. People who are purchasing the iPhone are buying into more than just a phone: they are buying into the Apple lifestyle and joining the iPhone/Macbook/Apple Store experience.

People who are purchasing the S6 aren't buying into any lifestyle as far as I can tell. Maybe they'll share a common bond with some other S6 users, but I wouldn't call the Samsung ecosystem (what is the Samsung experience even?) luxurious. It takes more than just one product to build luxury and desirability.

In this case desirability is tied to fashion, people buy an iPhone because they see other people with an iPhone.

None of the Android phones has ever really gotten the same cachet that the iPhone does (Samsung nearly got it right with the S3) but it's down to perception and marketing.

In terms of device capability Android phones are considerably higher spec and just as usable (5.x is a big improvement) but it doesn't really matter, fashion and marketing wins out.

You see this in other areas, Sennheiser headphones are demonstrably higher quality (in sound and construction) than "Beats by dre" but if the difference is small enough then fashion wins out again.

Such a tired, tired argument.

More cores != better usable specs.

If you prefer security and privacy, there's a strong case for iOS.

If you prefer day-of-release software updates, there's a strong case for iOS.

If you prefer robust photography solutions, there's a strong case for Apple's camera hardware and software.

If you want to create audio, there's a strong case for the low latency of Apple's stack.

Who said anything about cores?

Android phones equivalent to the price of an iPhone have higher resolution screens, more storage and RAM.

Android phones half the price of the iPhone have equivalent screens, storage and RAM.

I have Nexus devices so I get day-of-release software updates (even my Nexus 7 2012 is running 5.1.1)

I couldn't care less about photography solutions or audio so that really doesn't apply.

Privacy, agreed, Android is a data hoover out the box.

... and yet, with all that horsepower, they still stutter and lag like crazy. An iPhone might be a less powerful computer, but you wouldn't know it from the UX (if you are upgrading every 2 years and running the iOS release that was designed for your phone - running too many versions ahead can produce a similar experience).

My Nexus 4 doesn't stutter or lag and it's two generations back, other manufacturers do seem to have more issues depending on what they did to the stock ROM.

I guess it's different for different people. My wife's Nexus 5 that she purchased a couple of months after I got my iPhone 4S has held up much, much better than the iPhone did. I was so frustrated with how laggy and crash-prone my iPhone was (especially next to my wife's still-awesome Nexus) that I ended up buying a G4.

It may be worth noting that the Nexus 5 came out more than two years after the iPhone 4S (Oct 31, 2013 vs Oct 14, 2011), and as of now it hasn't even been 2 years since the Nexus 5 was released.

That said, it has been less than 4 years since the iPhone 4S was released; they shouldn't be failing yet, and that reflects poorly on the iPhone (as well as iOS) in your case. However, I'm also not yet convinced that the Nexus 5 will be operating well in late 2017 - that's yet to be determined.

Interesting, I didn't realize that. We bought both of them new from the carrier a few months apart. We each just asked for an inexpensive model of the respective brands, so I guess that is largely down to the Nexus 5 being crazy cheap and Apple keeping the 4S in circulation for a long time.

"Fashion" http://www.cultofandroid.com/74560/iphone-6-outpaces-galaxy-...

I see people switch or contemplate switching pretty regularly. There are a lot of people that don't really buy into the whole Apple experience or even run mixed environments (iPad + Android smartphone being the most common one that I see).

>People who are purchasing the S6 aren't buying into any lifestyle as far as I can tell.

Nothing wrong with it, of course, but the perception that you "aren't buying into a lifestyle" is EXACTLY the lifestyle you're buying into.

Maybe not S6 users in particular, but buyers of high-end Android phones in general absolutely are: that of being too smart for Apple and better than all those iSheeple. That's just as much a part of the Android experience as cult membership is of the iOS experience.

Whenever I see people use ios devices near me it's pretty funny. Androids voice command abilities makes Siri look like a Speak & Spell from the 80s.

edit: agreed with sibling comment that camera appears to be the only technically superior offering.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com