But...
It's big.
It's heavy.
And I don't use the physical keyboard.
So I crossed over again.
I found a refurbished carrier unlocked 64GB iPhone 6s on eBay for a great price. I Google-ized it and avoided the iMessage trap (so far).
The phone I got is model A1688. A1688 is known as the "everywhere" phone and supports all the LTE bands that the AT&T variant (A1633) does except that there is no LTE band 30. AT&T uses it as a supplemental band to increase capacity in urban areas.
It has worked fine for me on AT&T even supporting HD Voice. The A1688 also has CDMA so it supports Sprint and Verizon.
I really like:
- Form factor
- OS updates
- Stability
- Apple Pay
- Mute switch
- Not getting nagged about having a Android phone
| BlackBerry PRIV | Apple iPhone 6s | |
| DESIGN | ||
| Device type | Smart phone | Smart phone |
| OS | Android (6.0, 5.1) | iOS (10.x, 9.x) |
| Dimensions | 5.79 x 3.04 x 0.37 inches (147 x 77.2 x 9.4 mm) | 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 inches (138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm) |
| Weight | 6.77 oz (192 g) | 5.04 oz (143 g) |
| Features | Full keyboard | Fingerprint (touch) |
| DISPLAY | ||
| Physical size | 5.4 inches | 4.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2560 pixels | 750 x 1334 pixels |
| Pixel density | 541 ppi | 326 ppi |
| Technology | AMOLED | IPS LCD |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 71.58 % | 65.71 % |
| Colors | 16 777 216 | 16 777 216 |
| Touchscreen | Multi-touch | Multi-touch |
| Features | Scratch-resistant glass (Corning Gorilla Glass 4), Light sensor, Proximity sensor | Pressure-sensitive, Oleophobic coating, Scratch-resistant glass, Light sensor, Proximity sensor |
| CAMERA | ||
| Camera | 18 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Aperture size | F2.2 | F2.2 |
| Focal length (35mm equivalent) | 29 mm | |
| Camera sensor size | 1/3" | |
| Hardware Features | Optical image stabilization, Autofocus (Phase detection) | Sapphire crystal lens cover, Autofocus, Back-illuminated sensor (BSI) |
| Software Features | Touch to focus, Face detection, Digital zoom, Geo tagging | Touch to focus, Face detection, Self-timer, Geo tagging |
| Camcorder | 3840x2160 (4K) (30 fps), 1920x1080 (1080p HD) (60 fps) | 3840x2160 (4K) (30 fps), 1920x1080 (1080p HD) (120 fps), 1280x720 (720p HD) (240 fps) |
| Features | Optical image stabilization, Continuous autofocus, Video calling, Video sharing | Time-lapse video, Continuous autofocus, Digital image stabilization, Video calling, Video sharing |
| Front-facing camera | 2 megapixels | 5 megapixels |
| HARDWARE | ||
| System chip | Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 MSM8992 | Apple A9 APL0898 |
| Processor | Hexa-core, 1800 MHz, ARM Cortex-A57 and ARM Cortex-A53, 64-bit | Dual-core, 1840 MHz, Twister, 64-bit |
| Graphics processor | Adreno 418 | PowerVR GT7600 |
| System memory | 3072 MB RAM | 2048 MB RAM |
| Built-in storage | 32 GB | 64 GB |
| Maximum User Storage | ||
| Storage expansion | microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC up to 2000 GB | |
| BATTERY | ||
| Talk time | 14.00 hours | |
| Stand-by time | 10.0 days (240 hours) | |
| Capacity | 3410 mAh | 1715 mAh |
| Not user replaceable | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless charging | Built-in (Qi, Powermat) | |
| MULTIMEDIA | ||
| Music player | ||
| Filter by | Album, Artist, Genre, Playlists | Album, Artist, Genre, Playlists |
| Features | Album art cover, Background playback | Album art cover, Background playback |
| Speakers | Earpiece, Loudspeaker | Earpiece, Loudspeaker |
| YouTube player | Yes | Yes |
| INTERNET BROWSING | ||
| Built-in online services support | YouTube (upload), Picasa/Google+ | YouTube (upload), Picasa/Google+ |
| TECHNOLOGY | ||
| CDMA | ||
| GSM | 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz | 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz |
| UMTS | 800, 850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz | 850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz |
| FDD LTE | 700 (band 12), 700 (band 17), 700 (band 29), 800 (band 20), 850 (band 5), 1700/2100 (band 4), 1800 (band 3), 1900 (band 2), 2100 (band 1), 2300 WCS (band 30), 2600 (band 7) MHz | Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29 |
| Data | LTE-A, HSPA (unspecified), HSUPA | LTE-A Cat 6 (300/50 Mbit/s), HSPA, HSUPA |
| micro-SIM | ||
| nano-SIM | Yes | Yes |
| Positioning | GPS, A-GP | GPS, A-GPS |
| Navigation | Turn-by-turn navigation, Voice navigation | Turn-by-turn navigation, Voice navigation |
| CONNECTIVITY | ||
| Bluetooth | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac | 802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac |
| Mobile hotspot | Yes | Yes |
| USB | USB 2.0 | Yes |
| Connector | microUSB | Proprietary |
| Features | USB charging | USB charging |
| HDMI | ||
| Other | NFC, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync | NFC, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync |
| OTHER FEATURES | ||
| Notifications | Service lights, Haptic feedback, Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone | Service lights, Haptic feedback, Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones, Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass | Accelerometer, Compass, Gesture |
| Hearing aid compatibility | M3, T4 | M3, T4 |
| Other | Voice dialing, Voice commands, Voice recording | Voice dialing, Voice commands, Voice recording |
| AVAILABILITY | ||
| Officially announced | 25 Sep 2015 | 09 Sep 2015 |
| FCC Approval | 22 Oct 2015 | 09 Sep 2015 |
While my BlackBerry PRIV supported Android Pay my bank didn't support my debit card on Android Pay. Apple Pay is supported and works great.
As I mentioned before I struggled to get my photos off the iPhone. What I'm doing this time is letting Google Photos back up the photos. Google Photos actually seems to upload sooner on iOS than on Android. I can't explain that.
I use Air Transfer to download the photos to my PC from the Camera Roll then delete them from the Camera Roll. More on Air Transfer in a future post.
Given that Google is fumbling their messaging solutions I had already separated my carrier's SMS messages from my Google Voice text messages. I still can't set a custom notification tone for Google Hangouts.
GasBuddy updated their Android app and made it less friendly than on iOS. No loss there.
Google has ported their keyboard to iOS so that's familiar. Apple still is insistent on not using an alternative keyboard for password or lock screen widgets but it's better than the Swype problems I had before.
I found Call Friends to create direct dial icons This works fine. If you hit the limit of 2 free icons just uninstall and reinstall.
The iPhone 6s' Touch ID works much better than the iPhone 6's.
In the above chart, notice in Camcorder Features the iPhone has Digital Image Stabilization. Here's an example of that.
As I related my iOS experiences with a friend who is making the same journey I shared with him my boss' statement:
iPhone users just don't understand what they're missing.My friend laughed and said "Yes I do!"
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