iPhone6 will kill high end Android phones in the US

[blairharrington]

How do you transfer local media to your iDevice without iTunes (serious question)?

If the answer is some third party program, then that's a half solution. I found those always stopped working with major iOS updates which meant I was back to using iTunes until people figured a way around the system.

Google Music for music. Upload it to their cloud. Pin what you want for local use.

Videos have several options. MP4's can use Infuse. Other video formats work with Air Video HD. There are other apps too for video but these two cover all formats.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Google Music for music. Upload it to their cloud. Pin what you want for local use.

Videos have several options. MP4's can use Infuse. Other video formats work with Air Video HD. There are other apps too for video but these two cover all formats.

Google Music is pretty awesome. If you have a directory with WMA or MP3 files that aren't copyright locked, you just point the Google Music Manager (download for Windows and Linux available). It syncs your music library on your PC/Laptop to the cloud and looks for new folders/files regularly. I have my whole library in the cloud for free...I think they do 20k songs?....there is a limit.

With Google Play Store, you can buy/download music the same way you do with iTunes and it ends up in your Google Music Library....and can be downloaded to a local system.

I pair that with Pandora and TuneIn Radio apps and don't need an XM Subscription.
<--still on unlimited data plan with Verizon

 

[ControlD]

I have Google Music (unlimited) but I have to admit I have never used the cloud features. Might be time to start looking into that.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I have Google Music (unlimited) but I have to admit I have never used the cloud features. Might be time to start looking into that.

20,000 song up to 300mb a song. Even FLAC files work. That's how I got started with GoogleMusic. The streaming came along later.

 

[Red Storm]

The only thing I don't like about Google Music is the inability to manage my cloud library from my mobile device. Last I checked I couldn't add or delete songs from my phone/tablet, which would really be useful IMHO.

 

[blairharrington]

The only thing I don't like about Google Music is the inability to manage my cloud library from my mobile device. Last I checked I couldn't add or delete songs from my phone/tablet, which would really be useful IMHO.

You can delete songs. Yes I'm sure.

 

[sm625]

My phone has a 5" screen. But it costed $150. Apple is never going to replace that. Anyone dumb enough to spend $700 on a phone may as well buy the apple though. But phones like the moto G for under $200 are the mainstream. Apple has absolutely no place there. A $200 phone today is more powerful than a $700 phone from 2 years ago. But what really has changed in the last two years? Not much, not that much, not enough to justify a 4 fold increase in price.

 

[Zaap]

My phone has a 5" screen. But it costed $150. Apple is never going to replace that. Anyone dumb enough to spend $700 on a phone may as well buy the apple though. But phones like the moto G for under $200 are the mainstream. Apple has absolutely no place there. A $200 phone today is more powerful than a $700 phone from 2 years ago. But what really has changed in the last two years? Not much, not that much, not enough to justify a 4 fold increase in price.

Flagship phones always cost a pretty penny. I'm not sure why this outrages some people. Anyone think a Note 4 will retail for $299?

 

[HumblePie]

Flagship phones always cost a pretty penny. I'm not sure why this outrages some people. Anyone think a Note 4 will retail for $299?

OnePlus One is a flagship phone that does.

 

[tdawg]

Google Music is pretty awesome. If you have a directory with WMA or MP3 files that aren't copyright locked, you just point the Google Music Manager (download for Windows and Linux available). It syncs your music library on your PC/Laptop to the cloud and looks for new folders/files regularly. I have my whole library in the cloud for free...I think they do 20k songs?....there is a limit.

With Google Play Store, you can buy/download music the same way you do with iTunes and it ends up in your Google Music Library....and can be downloaded to a local system.

I pair that with Pandora and TuneIn Radio apps and don't need an XM Subscription.
<--still on unlimited data plan with Verizon

I have Google Play Music on my phone, but never use it because it can't correctly sync files from my PC to the cloud. Always ignores files in artist directories so I get 2 tracks for an album, and it's not fun to work with once music is on the cloud.

I just end up paying for Spotify instead.

 

[dawheat]

OnePlus One is a flagship phone that does.

OPO has stated they're selling at cost to reach outside of their home market. That's not sustainable either. But I do think the market will eventually equilibrate in a couple years to something between that number and the current flagship prices.

Also the OPO isn't a bleeding edge flagship like the Note 4 will be - so it shouldn't cost as much either. The Note 4 will have a superior screen, digitizer, faster SOC, better camera and less of the issues I and other owners have faced (yellow screen, touchscreen issues, not reconnecting to network) as well as carrier support (vs having to do PayPal chargebacks to get any attention).

 

[Deeko]

Haven't really read the thread, but just going to jump in that the OP is a ridiculous assumption. I know a lot of people (regular people, not phone geeks like us) who absolutely hate Apple, the iPhone, and everything about it. They don't really understand what they're talking about enough to really explain why, but still - those types of people aren't going to be swayed just because the iPhone has a bigger screen.

 

[Phokus]

Thanks to iPhones fiasco they literally killed Android high-end phones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0-3fIs2jQs

No, seriously. This is like Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will kill Volkswagen Group's Subsidiary. Nep, not gonna happen.

Consumer reports used a 3 point bend test. A 4 point bend test is a more accurate measure of weak points in a phone.

 

[zerocool84]

Apple has made zero use of the larger screen. I'm sure maybe next year they might make some improvements to the OS to make use of the larger screen but they've done nothing now. Also iOS notifications still lag behind Android.

 

[purbeast0]

Apple has made zero use of the larger screen. I'm sure maybe next year they might make some improvements to the OS to make use of the larger screen but they've done nothing now. Also iOS notifications still lag behind Android.

they are doing more. they have a new api where you can make split screen apps. you can also view the homescreen in landscape mode now. and the obvious, having more icons on each screen due to the size being larger.

so there are differences, but nothing ground breaking or anything.

 

[podspi]

Eh, I got to play with the new iPhone today and... construction and OS-wise I was not impressed.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD (in fact, one might even call it good) -- but I didn't see anything that'd make me consider replacing my N5. I know a few people with MotoX's (OG) who have no particular brand alliance who feel the same way.

I do think the bigger screens are going to win Apple some customers who would already have preferred ios but just couldn't deal with the teeny-tiny screens, but Android is mature enough at this point that it has deservedly won over fans for the experience, not because hodor.

 

[Commodus]

Eh, I got to play with the new iPhone today and... construction and OS-wise I was not impressed.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't BAD (in fact, one might even call it good) -- but I didn't see anything that'd make me consider replacing my N5. I know a few people with MotoX's (OG) who have no particular brand alliance who feel the same way.

I do think the bigger screens are going to win Apple some customers who would already have preferred ios but just couldn't deal with the teeny-tiny screens, but Android is mature enough at this point that it has deservedly won over fans for the experience, not because hodor.

I use both, and while I wouldn't trade up from a Nexus 5 if I only had one phone to use (I'm more than a little spoiled), I would say the iPhone 6 has the lead. Faster performance, noticeably better camera, nicer-feeling materials... and most importantly, tangibly longer battery life.

 

[Crono]

This is going to sound odd, but if Apple created an entirely new mobile OS not designed by Jony Ives, I would probably like it. I don't like the look of the menus which carried over from Mac OS, or the home screen which is and has always been pretty much a shrunken version of the Mac OS desktop. Take a look at the iPhone 1 and then compare it to an iPhone 6 - not much has actually changed regarding the fundamental look of the OS.

Even in 2007 I didn't really like iOS, but at least as far as multitouch smartphones, it was pretty much the only game in town. But even then I preferred Linux-based mobile OS' like Maemo, and devices like the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet (2005) which was way ahead of its time.

The redeeming quality of iOS is that purely from an app platform standpoint it's perfectly fine. But I still hate the OS, don't like navigating around it, I hate the static home screen and icons, and the zooming animations and color scheme change of iOS 7 just made it a bad mix of old, Mac OS-derived and skeumorphic elements with the new flatter design. I especially hate the white and grey menus that still remain the default.

Windows Mobile had a similar problem with a legacy interface, which is why I'm glad it died, even though it was kind of "Android before there was Android" in the customization department. But the tiny touch targets designed for stylus clearly wasn't very good for touch, besides how clunky and buggy the OS overall was. Windows Phone, on the other hand, is fantastic for touch. And there is nary a holdover in the UI from the Windows desktop which preceded it (whether the "Metro"/"Modern" UI belongs on the desktop is a different story, and is being partly addressed with Windows 9, anyway).

Android, too, is better than iOS, and like Linux it comes in so many customized flavors from different manufacturers that there's one you are almost guaranteed to like, if you don't like "vanilla" AOSP Android. For instance, I love HTC's Sense UI. Others like the look of the various custom launchers. On iOS you still can't change the underlying look and feel of the OS, except for the recent introduction of custom keyboards.

The fact that they took so long to introduce just that feature, though, is precisely why I think iOS will end up like Mac OS: successful enough, but only controlling maybe 5 to 15% of the market share, and always behind on flexibility. Apple can make decent hardware and software, but personally I've always preferred its competition. The iPhone 6 isn't going to kill Android flagships, and I doubt the iPhone 7 will, either. At this point they are playing catchup, and Google is more than capable in making advances with material design, the speed and fluidity of Android, and a ton of interesting features in each new version. Right around Jelly Bean is when I think Android became dominant, and Apple really hasn't done anything to spell Android's imminent doom since then.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

I'm going to necro this thread b/c damn it feels good to be so right

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...ples-iphone-6-devastates-premium-galaxy-sales

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I'm going to necro this thread b/c damn it feels good to be so right

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...ples-iphone-6-devastates-premium-galaxy-sales

Some people call me an Apple fanboi, but I honestly think that's more of just Samsung losing marketshare to the other OEMs.

Without a doubt the iPhone 6/6+ did very well this year and certainly captured some marketshare in terms of those who were jumping to Android for large screens.

 

[jpeyton]

I'm not a fanboi of either. I've owned high end Android and Apple handsets. I had a G3 two months ago and now I have a 6+. Apple still has the best overall camera experience hands-down, but I think any iOS user can agree that their notification system is absolute garbage compared to Android (Kit Kat, Lollipop, doesn't matter really, Apple is really far behind). Google Apps also suck on iOS, but that's Google's fault.

Samsung's profits were decimated because of the S5. It had good internals but absolute shit design (a step backwards from the S4).

The market is very fickle. Hundreds of millions of people entering the smartphone market or upgrading every year, you need a blockbuster release every 12 months. The S3 and S4 were steps forward and the S5 was a clear step backward.

That said, Samsung still moved 70+ million units last quarter, so a strong change in their design language and they will be right back to fighting form.

Also, the hardware numbers won't affect the software numbers. Android is, and will always be, the mobile OS of the masses.

 

[Anubis]

I'm going to necro this thread b/c damn it feels good to be so right

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...ples-iphone-6-devastates-premium-galaxy-sales

the GS5 came out 7 months before the IP6 and sucked then nothing to do with apple. samsung dropped the ball on it hard
the note 4 on the other hand is still the best phone on the market

also apple almost always dominates the 4th quarter because of when they release phones, someone else wins the rest of the year

samsungs numbers for this year are more indicative of smartphone saturation at the mid to low tier than anything else

growth in the market is about to stagnate across the board

 

[MrSquished]

i think both apple and android will both do fine. i am an android guy and find the super simple iOS interface so limiting an annoying.

but i recommend iphones as well. mostly to people like my parents and older or less tech oriented people. that simplicity is best for them. i think they both have a place in the market. there is only one thing that i consider apple the hands down winner on and that is the camera. the consistency amongst cameras on android phones needs to step up

 

[Commodus]

Some people call me an Apple fanboi, but I honestly think that's more of just Samsung losing marketshare to the other OEMs.

Without a doubt the iPhone 6/6+ did very well this year and certainly captured some marketshare in terms of those who were jumping to Android for large screens.

It's a combination of things. A lot of it is pressure on the low- to mid-range, particularly in China, but there's no doubt that Apple was squeezing Samsung at the high end. It's safe to say that only some of Samsung's 74.5 million (estimated) phones shipped this fall were premium models like the GS5 and Note 4; all of Apple's were premium. Heck, Apple even grabbed 33% of South Korean market share in November, according to Counterpoint:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DGB-40018

South Korea! You know, Samsung's home turf, the one place where you would expect it to have an overwhelming advantage due to its ubiquity in daily life. Samsung is still in front, but it went from 60 percent to 46 almost overnight. Apparently, that's the first time any non-Korean brand has ever gone past 20 percent in the country, and it was enough to overtake LG.

 

[Radeon962]

Google&#8217;s entire year couldn&#8217;t beat Apple&#8217;s blowout holiday quarter

I assumed that the iPhone 6 would hurt Google/Android but did not think it would be this bad. Granted this from one of if not the biggest fanboi in BGR, but that's an impressive quarter.

You can read the whole article at the link below but this shocked me:

And here&#8217;s a really mind-blowing fact: Google&#8217;s revenue for all of FY 2014 was $66 billion, while Apple&#8217;s revenue for the holiday quarter alone was an astonishing $74.5 billion. This means that it took Apple just three months to generate more revenue than Google generated in an entire year.

http://bgr.com/2015/01/29/google-q4-2014-earnings/