I never thought after I got my first Motorola Droid that I would ever use anything but an Android phone. I had played around with the iPhone 3 before, and I was impressed. But as a Google user, I didn’t see much that would sway me to buy one. I fell in love with the Droid from the moment I got it. Yes, there were some operating glitches here and there to start out with, which I expected, but it was a great overall experience. The abundance of free applications, ease of integration of all the tools that I use constantly and the smooth touch screen had me using this phone all the time. Then, after two years of faithful service to me, it died. I was dismayed because I really loved the phone and everything I could do with it. I felt completely lost without it. However, about a month of being without my Droid, I tuned into the Apple product announcement for the iPhone 4s and became very intrigued by the idea of actually owning an iPhone. In the interim of my upgrades, I was using a BlackBerry Storm. I loathed it, every single bit of it, and I would take anything to get a better phone. The iPhone 4s was appealing for not only the new Siri application but also the 8MP camera and ease of use. I’ve always known that Apple products were superior, but I wouldn’t find out exactly how much until I actually got the phone. So I took the chance and pre-ordered the iPhone 4s.
When my iPhone 4s came, I was ecstatic, mostly because I could chuck the useless BlackBerry I was using out the window and actually have a real phone. From the moment I took the iPhone 4s out of the box, the amazing abilities of this phone were apparent. The phone was exceedingly simple to set up and activate on the Verizon network, and I instantly fell in love with how smooth everything went. I created an iCloud account, set up my email, set up iTunes, imported my contacts and then set up my personal preferences in fewer than 20 minutes. It was ridiculously easy, so easy in fact that I was waiting for something to go wrong. When I originally received my Droid, it took me an hour to set up everything and so the iPhone 4s was a breeze in comparison.
The two major aspects of the iPhone 4s that make it superior to any Android phone are iCloud and Siri. The iCloud allows you to back up documents, photos, music and so much more. While the Android does the same with Google, it isn’t swiftly done or integrated into the system. The iCloud is an automatic backup of your media and stores it securely. It’s a great asset to users like me who do a great deal of work on their phone. But let’s not forget about Siri. She’s definitely the best assistant you will ever have. Simply by pressing the home button and speaking to your iPhone 4s, you can have Siri do things instantly and easily. I can tell Siri to text my husband “I love you,” and since I’ve identified my spouse to her before, she automatically sends him that text. I can even ask her to remind me to pick up toothpaste at the Walmart near where I live and when I reach that location, I will receive a reminder to pick up toothpaste. Pretty cool eh? Now, it should be mentioned here that all the bugs are not worked out with either the iCloud and Siri. Siri was unable to connect, and I had to manually disable and then enable it before it would work properly again. Siri also relies on the network heavily, and when it’s overloaded it can be a bit annoying. However, even with the glitches these aspects blow any Android phone out of the water.
In addition, the iPhone 4s has a crystal clear screen with an automatic brightness that adjusts to your environment. Even after a few demonstrations of the newer Android phones, I haven’t found a display that is quite as crisp and clear as the iPhone 4s. The user interface is smoother, and, unlike my Android phone, I have never had to forcefully quit an application because it stopped working. That, in itself, is enough reason for me never to switch back to an Android phone. I never thought I would ever say that I’ve converted to Apple, but with the iPhone 4s’ superiority to any Android phone that I’ve used, I have to admit I’m impressed and will probably use an iPhone and its successors for the rest of the time I have a phone. If you are wondering whether or not making the switch is for you, let me assure you that you will not be disappointed.