Switching Tables (Jumping from Android to Apple) - My Story

While I never though this would actually happen its coming to that way sadly. Just my observation over the past years.

Originally some many years ago (7-8 years) I originally jumped into the smartphone market. Got myself an HTC Desire (Android) at the time. I was following the android system and liked the possibilities of more openness than the evil Apple empire. Time went on still got Android devices, new phones, new tablets, got family members onto the Android system. Over the years things have changed. For work I was granted a phone and was swapped to the iPhone 5S, and shortly after got the iPhone 6. At first I was like... eeeh not cool. Really disliked it. About 3 years in now, sad to say I like it considerably better than android.

While I agree android devices, since there are many manufactures competing against each other, seem to have more technological advances. Apples at least partially seems more refined of the advances that do come out. Not totally knocking android at what they are doing. I think their phones they are manufacturing are good, just wish it would catch on more because I think that would overall help their market. Their tablets while getting better could use a little more work which looks like they are taking into consideration. The big thing that Android is lacking is having the manufacture control the updates to the OS... they have none so getting new features to phone/tablets is almost 100% dependent on the manufacture to decide if they want to waste time upgrading to the new OS. Apple at least it works, day 1 here is the update, boom everyone is happy.

I still own a few Android tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0, Galaxy TabPro 8.4 and an another one for my daughter 8" as well). Had one that was using for my son as well but that broke down due to age some time ago (about 1 year ago, the tablet was roughly 4-5 years old at the time). I do enjoy the my Tab S2 as its the one I use the most but its sad that my phone, when using the same apps, or games is considerably faster than my powerful tablet. Its slow, jerky, just very unfortunate. I've cleaned it a few times so I know having a fresh install isn't the issue. Now on the tablet I do some web surfing, light reading, social apps, movies, and gaming. Movies for the most part work nearly flawless, few quirks here and there but not bad. Web surfing for the most part it works decent, though it can get really slow. Reading has worked perfectly fine, social apps, sometimes it can be slower than dirt and other times its fast, response times can be iffy when trying to click on things, as with most other apps too. Gaming... while I do like the portable gaming aspect, Android sadly lacks a little here for their market share. Almost all new games come to iOS first due to its tight, and limited amount of devices. Though when games do come to android, sometimes it works great. And even in some cases its the exact same to the iOS counterpart, but I have found out that majority of them are not equal. There is a few I play, I've complained to the devs about it but has fallen on def ears. One game the actual viewing perspective is different between Android and iOS where it limits the abilities to get things on the screen on Android, for having the exact same aspect ratio on both devices! Games on iOS overall seem more smooth, very responsive (unless crashing of course) but overall great experience. Android though like I mentioned above, sometimes its flawless but otherwise it can be jerky, slow going, not responsive at all. Its almost like Android versions have a memory leak and chews up all the ram and is using swap file (similar to that of a PC).

While that might be an issue my Android tablet Tab S2 has 3GB of ram, older one has 2GB of ram and my daughters has 2GB of ram if not mistaken as well. My iPhone has 1GB... when I had older Android phones 1GB of ram seemed like a slow death sentence to the device. Different OS different way of handling memory totally understand the differences. I know originally when I bumped up memory size on my Android devices during upgrades, I could tell heck I could feel a difference in the smoothness of the device. Sadly comparing Android vs iOS there is still a difference and I will be really testing the waters on this one when I pick up my new device.

So now I decided well at very least to try the waters once again. Getting an iPad Pro. At first I tried some years back the first version of the Air, disliked it with its low memory for the price point. This time well on sale, getting a 128GB version for the exact same price I got my Tab S2 at just about 1 year ago which only has 32GB of space + 64GB SD card for movies, music, pics, etc. The iPad Pro is vastly superior to my current tablet spec wise so it should perform flawlessly but we'll see. I looked at the smaller Mini4 or even the Air2 but for the power of those are, while I can't disagree is similar to my iPhone 6 spec wise, Air2 is a wee bit faster but overall eeh, older tech figured if I was to get something, I'd get something that should last a while.

I'll update this post with results of the feeling between the two. Its a small section here on the forums but its more natural compared to the other forums talking about tablets so I can share experiences.

Tablets I'll be comparing... I'll try to find common tests and just overall snappy ness of the OS.
(New, open boxed item) iPad Pro 9.7 w/ 128GB
(Own) Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 w/ 32GB and 64GB SD Card (Stock and will Root/Custom OS)
(Own) Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 w/ 16GB and 32GB SD Card (Rooted/Custom OS)

Not that it's a solid defense for Android phones, but rooting them solves most issues. Allows you to remove bloatware, run cfw or ofw that the carrier isn't releasing (US Cellular is notorious for releasing updates months later), overclocking, etc.
Every Android phone I've owned, from the OG Droid to my new Note, has worked great on day 1 but eventually had issues with slowness, loss of signal, crashes, etc. Sometimes is the phone getting old, sometimes it's a bad update. Every time I've ended up rooting my phone and running a cfw. Solves all the issues and the phone usually is faster than it was on day 1.

Yeah I use to do that very heavily. Rooting the phone, custom firmware, custom OS, etc. Along with the headaches that go with that, sometimes that is.
I know my Tab S2 is the first one I haven't actually rooted, because at least at the time there was very little benefit of doing it besides the extra tweaking function which I know I didn't use to its fullest extent. I know my older tablet/phones I've loaded customer firmware/OS's on them and even overclocked them. Pluses and minus's to all of it. Guess disliked basically having to wipe my whole tablet and re-downloading everything, every single time there was a worthy update to the OS. Got cumbersome and took a bunch of time to do, depending on the OS brand used at least. Since I travel a bit reloading the tablet all the time with what I want when traveling isn't cool

Guess more or less these days, exception of my computers, when I buy something I want it to work flawless from the get go. If I can improve upon it, we'll its all gravy.
Phone wise yes... its horrible amount of bloatware, custom apps running in the background with the manufactures apps, then the cellular networks apps. Thankfully at least the only Android phone we have in the house is a Nexus 5X. Really does lack the bloat that all the others come with, much better phone. Stock Android is where it shines, though still minor issues. I know if I look at a future android tablet for the kids or something it would be a google branded one again.

That being said, once I get my iPad loaded, I'll wipe clean my Tab S2 and root the tablet and give it another fair shot in comparison. Corrected above but I know my Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 did well at first, rooted and overall updates really didn't help it at all except fix, GPU issues, WiFi issues, etc.

Time to start reading up again on the S2 to root it over at XDA forums.

FYI above I noted that the iPad im getting is opened boxed. So not as bad to return it if it doesn't play as intended but noting I'm not attempting to abuse a return policy for my advantage.

I too was excited about the 'new' droid phone 'openness' and eventually got the flagship sony z3 purchased unlocked and rootable. Needless to say rooting it and then delving into twrp and all the nonsense involved with attempting to control the abscess of leaky, data mining bs , that google has become, was tiresome to say the least. The problem with smartphones is not how nice they are or easy to use, it's the TOTAL lack of privacy that they bring. Used to be you could dial a # and be very aware you were on a private conversation. Not anymore.

In light of the recent disclosure of ATT's recording EVERYTHING that passes through their systems for decades now, along with them owning more than a 1/3 of the landline infrastructure in the US, it is clear that privacy is what is at stake, NOT useability. ATT now sells this metadata down to the words spoken or text typed to pretty much anyone with the coin, no warrant required. The US govt/law enforcement is not allowed to gather this info so they can now, and have been, legally buying it at the taxpayer's expense. As much as I try to tell people to stop using facebook, whatsapp, twitter, etc., people are only interested in ease of use and ignore any privacy issues. This means that without an agreement there simply is NO privacy. The aps are free and are so easy to use, a 5yr old or grandma could start using them immediately.

The S5 I have now I bought late in the game and incorrectly assumed it was rootable. I donated to NetGuard dev (the only way to get the pro features without using the playstore buy me button) so I could use it to block individual ip addresses on my phone. Other than disabling and blocking all the garbage, NetGuard is my only other option to privacy. TG actual web browsing on phones is a joke. As for apples to oranges, I see no difference at all. For privacy I recommend using Silence for im's/texting, ProtonMail for email (even though it consistently tells me to update the playstore-f the playstore- it still works), and Ring for calls. All which I have but cannot use fully as no one I know gaf about real security or privacy.

My next phone would have to be a oneplus or the type where I can just root with a keypress, remove the garbage, install a few aps like a fw with a dns changer, twrp etc. Google? Not on your life. Anything that require it will be permanently deleted and blacklisted. Iphone is at it's core cloud based and I will never own one unless I'm payed to use it. Besides, who wants to go through the hell of rooting an iphone? Not me, it's the same linux as is droid just using different servers to deliver the same aps. Business first (err ease of use/datamining), privacy second.

I uninstalled protonmail. It desperately tries to connect to amazon servers which is not required to access the protonmail.ch server. From now on if I want to check my email acct on my phone I'm using the protonmail interface via browser.

What your talking about is more cell phone related. I know there are plenty of issues associated with that. This pointing out... hopefully un-biased differences between Android/iOS for its performance. If anyone else has noticed little differences between the two OS's. Pluses/Minus... just the overall.

So got the iPad Pro, and have had roughly a day to play with it give or take a little. From well tests, yes the iPadPro by far annihilates my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0. There is no question Apple took the time to make the tablet perform, and perform well at that. Games so far flawless, certain apps that I've tried, perfect, movies I'll be trying soon enough (early next week). Speakers, give a thumbs up to Apple for the quad speakers on this makes it sound really nice. The tablet basically performs like a suped up phone of what I have. Downside, size with its 9.7" screen. Guess its a double edged sword on that actually. Its great don't get me wrong but it is also not the easiest to handle, two hands are required almost all the time vs an 8" tablet. Weight, can't say to much on it but its heavier I haven't really felt an issue yet... but its early and haven't held the tablet for an extended period of time yet.

My older tablet, finishing getting the major things reloaded onto my other tablet and making sure its solid (got a trip early next week) before I do a full wipe of this one. Hopefully by weekend I'll do a nice clean wipe of the Android one, get it flashed and loaded with somethings at least for testing. Least the few games I can compare which I'll get into more later.


Minor rant so far... Its Application Based, Not iOS/Device Issue
Though and its not a hit to the device itself but now I remember the main reason why I disliked the iPad vs most of Android tablets. Me I like to use Facebook to keep in touch with friends/family. Though the iPad.... makes everything so LARGE on the app. There is no way to scale it down to allow to show more information. Sort of a shame in that respect but again its not a device issue its an app issue. Sadly I know it wasn't just with Facebook app but other ones as well. There is so much screen real estate, if its allowed it should be utilized to show more information.

Well new update - Wrote this up approximately 20 days ago, sorry just posting this.

Been a few days of playing with old and fresh install and rooted tablets

First up the iPad Pro 9.7”
As mentioned previously it’s snappy, fast, and has power. Of course being Apples premiere tablet you shouldn’t expect less. The screen on this is wonderful looking, I’d say it slightly edges out the S2 with its OLED display. Though that being said, while I do use my tablet to watch movies while traveling, with this great display has a downfall with an app for videos. Vudu app and service on Apple devices I’ve found out only allows for SD content At first I was amazed how many videos I could stick on here with using little space. Well, turns out I know why now. Even if they had HD option (720p) and not the HDX (1080p) that be worthy.
Over time the tablet does get a little heavy but that’s a 9.7” tablet for you. Typing this portion of the report on the pad using the touch screen. Feels odd that the keys are so large. Doesn’t make for a very comfortable typing environment. I’ll have to check out other keyboards to see if they give more options. I use SWYPE on my phone and it worms great but doubt for a pad this size that would be ideal. Course could spend $150 and get the official keyboard and drag that around as well.

Overall it’s impressive tablet. Power and functionality is there though a few small quirks with apps seem to be an issue. Video playback stinks with the service I use which might be a deal breaker right there. Going round be thinking on this the next few days.

Next up the Tab S2 8.0”
So after getting it rooted and stated to turn off and disable a few things it started to work better. Snappier in games and overall UI was working smother like it use too. Though going back to the movie side of things since it was rooted my Vudu app wouldn’t play content. My guess is because it was rooted. I couldn’t find a specific reason behind it but further investigation is required here. That being said with trip at hand I reloaded the device back to stock, fresh install. After 10 hours the device is fully reloaded just in time for the trip. Videos play normally and back in action to do comparisons. So far it feels like it was rooted. Things are fast but time will tell once I get things back to normal. More on this later. Might be due to just reloading the stock OS vs factory reset. Not sure. Gaming seems more responsive but the aspect ratio is still different to that of some iOS games, and I’d put the performance slightly better but have to run the tests when reconnected to the network. Typing this on here right now and it’s working very well, with music in the background and a YouTube video going on the screen. While a smaller tablet overall the screen has a nice split keyboard making typing this portion very easy and not stressful on the hands. Image below showing this.



Approximately a month after reset it still feels very snappy, games you can tell its not nearly as fast/smooth like as it was on the iPad or even my iPhone but only certain ones. I've also had a OS update on this a few bug fixes and such which seems to have made it for the better. I still have yet to look into the rooting issue with Vudu Video player but still looking into that as the last tablet I was playing with works with this rooted.

Last one Tab Pro 8.4”
So this is rooted as is and running CM13. Slightly different to that of the Tab S2 with a 16:10 screen ratio vs 4:3 and slightly higher resolution. Reason I upgraded from this was to get more power on the tablet. Sadly this was lacking considering Samsung months after release came out with Tab S which basically put this tablet into the not great category. Did OK and was a vast improvement in responsiveness over a previous tablet. The slight hindrance on ram hurts, since Android loves ram and 2GB just wasn’t covering the need anymore. Not going to get too much into this one as it’s similar feature wise as that of the S2 OS wise, just older tech in it. The slightly larger screen over the S2 is well barely noticeable. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference unless you measured it.

Overall it is nice, perfectly fine for Video watching but the nice 4:3 screen is nicer for reading and websites which I do seem more and more to use now so a hit there. Also the smaller 16GB of internal memory is a killer with these larger apps. Everything takes up so much space and having basically only 10GB free of that considering the OS / OS Recovery / Boot Loaders take up a huge amount of space.


Final Note
Yes I did return the iPad. Yeah I can say that having the iPad yeah just isn't my thing. Mind you I don't mind the iPhone I use actually if it wasn't for work putting me on one I'd never of touched it. Though now if I needed a new phone personally I would potentially consider just getting the iPhone.

Right now keeping the Tab S2 8.0" right now, though I hear a S3 is potentially around the corner and will weigh in on that once it comes out I believe early next year. Still its a nice tablet and I could probably just get by with it but only time will tell, and how the funds are handling if I decide to push for the upgrade.

As for my last one the Tab Pro 8.4" I should probably sell this off, its legitimately good and probably a very suitable tablet for majority of people.

All my non Wintel PC devices are apple. There are two ipads and two iphones in this house. We love the ecosystem. Also we have so many purchased apps in the app store that switching would be like setting $1000 on fire so we're pretty locked in.