What Happens When an Android User Moves to iOS: Part 4

Mihir Fadnavis tries to act as a mediator in the Android Vs iOS war.

Representative image. (Photo: iStock)

Welcome to Part 4 of an Android user’s journey towards becoming a full-fledged iOS user. By now we’ve covered user-interface, display and notifications, and the camera and battery experience.

This week we talk about a massive void between both camps — the customisation.

iPhones Don’t Evolve Much

To the untrained eye, an iPhone from 2010 looks the same as in iPhone 6, except in size. Apple’s Jonny Ive talks a lot about changing Apple’s design language and delivering “a completely new iPhone” every two years, but the fact remains that there’s really not that much difference between an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 6.

Apple iPhone 4, 5, 6 Plus and iPad 2. (Photo: iStock)

The iPhone 6 is not a radically different product — it’s rectangular, it’s got the same home button and the same giant bezels. The addition of colours and curves at the bottom don’t really make that much of a difference if you compare it to older phones.

As loathsome as the battery life is, the Galaxy S6 was indeed a complete redesign compared to its older Galaxies (even if it borrowed the design liberally from Apple). Even LG keeps making interesting changes to designs with their flagship phones, but Apple doesn’t. If anything, the iPhone has been getting uglier since the iPhone 4.

Every iPhone Looks the Same

No matter which iPhone you buy, there’s little you can do to make it stand out. Your friend’s iPhone 6 looks exactly the same as yours, and so does the iPhone of the guy sitting next to you in the train. You turn the iPhone screen on, and it’s the same row of icons and the same font everywhere.

You can’t change anything on the home screen or lock screen besides the wallpaper. There’s nothing in an iPhone that makes it your own personal device.

iPhone 4s, 5s, 6 and 6 Plus. (Photo: iStock)

It just stares back at you as if it’s saying “look man if you want to use me then do so quickly, don’t waste my time”.

The only thing you can do is add a case cover of your choice so that there’s some semblance of personality and character in your phone.

With Android Things Get Personal

Android phones become your friend, your buddy, your pillow, your agony aunt, your soul mate. It even becomes your Barbie, because you can dress it up any way you want. You want to change your home screen icons? No problem. You can even place icons anywhere you want.

HTC One M8 (Photo: iStock)

You can make stuff completely disappear from your home screen, including the battery, network and Wifi indicators. You can design the entire look, feel and sound of your phone in a million different ways. The only thing you can’t change in Android is the smell.

Android Customisation (Photo: iStock)

Ultimately your Android phone reflects your personality. The old saying was judge a man by the look of his shoes, now you can judge his character by the look of his Android. Google’s moto for Android is be together, not the same, and it holds true.

If you lose your Android you feel like you’ve lost someone close to you. When you lose an iPhone it just feels like you’ve lost your bank account. Shifting to an iPhone after having such a wealth of customisation in Android for years feels like being in jail — a very luxurious jail.

Apple’s Hates Innovation?

Does all this mean Apple does not innovate? Certainly not. Apple makes subtle changes with every iPhone, like improving the camera. The thing is they don’t need to change things — their sales figures indicate their model is working very well. Ironically, Android needs to constantly show something different to sell products.

Customisation will be continued in much more detail in Part 5 of this series, so do watch this space.