5.1 Can't Come Soon Enough

While I've been complaining about Apple's quality problems lately, other manufacturers seem to have equally hard time with early versions of a new major version OS. In this case I'm referring to Android 5, i.e. Lollipop.

I've now been running Lollipop for quite a while on my Nexus 5, and while I do like the enhancements it brings to the Android experience, it's starting to be rather obvious that there's quite a bunch of issues to fix. At first everything seemed to be running more or less on KitKat stability level, but lately I've been experiencing some really annoying issues.

The most annoying issue is a screen redraw lag that occurs when exiting an app. Whenever I start seeing just a blank screen without any icons for a noticeable while after exiting an app, I know it's time to reboot my Nexus. The problem is that those occasions occur increasingly more often. Today (actually it's the previous day as it seems to be past midnight when I'm writing this) alone I've had both a redraw reboot and a more or less forced reboot as my screen wouldn't wake unless I tried various key combinations to trigger a reboot.

So as Android 5.0.1 seems to be more and more problematic, I'm definitely looking forward to 5.1 (which should be released in February 2015) fixing at least some of the issues. My Nexus is ready for the update, so I hope Google makes it available soon.

Android Wear - (Almost) One Month In

I've had my Android Wear device - an LG G Watch - for a few days short of a month now, so this is good time for the first checkpoint. Do I still use it? Oh yeah. Every day and almost everywhere. Do I like it? Yes I do. In fact, I like it to the point that the phone I typically use around the house is my Nexus 5 as I can't (at least not yet) tether the watch to my iPhone.

With this newfound wearable addiction I'll be looking closely at the release of the Apple Watch. That one would solve my phone dilemma as the iPhone is still my go-to phone for most things, but I'm somewhat concerned about its battery life and it being a first-gen Apple product (they don't quite often get things right on the first attempt). If this 9to5mac article is accurate, going from the G Watch to the Apple Watch would be a downgrade regarding the traditional primary use of a watch, i.e. telling time. If the Apple Watch can really do anything with the screen on including telling the time for only three hours, I'm rather inclined to stay with my G Watch which displays the time all the time and I have absolutely no problems making it through the day with one charge. I know the Apple Watch is supposed to detect the motion of turning your wrist to look at the time. However, with the G Watch's always on screen (which I can actually switch off to save even more battery) I only need to look at my wrist without moving the wrist in any manner to see the time in most situations. Of course there's a possibility that the Apple Watch has other awesome features to make up for that shortcoming, but with the somewhat limited initial SDK that possible awesomeness would most likely have to be a built-in feature. We'll see.

This information is there all the time

Oh, I also like the fact that my G Watch is water and dust proof for virtually all cases where I might be wearing a watch with its IP67 rating. In addition, having iFixit's repairability rating of 9/10 is also a plus in my books. It'll be interesting to see how the Apple Watch compares to these. But apart from the phone mismatch, I'm a happy camper with my G Watch for now.

The Stuff I Use RIght Now

I really should pick up my blogging pace, yet another long gap between posts. I'm sorry about that and try to do something about that in the future. I had one half-finished post hanging here for a few weeks now, and after reading it again today I ended up deleting it. Some posts are just not meant to be. So instead of finishing that failed post, I'll do something completely different and take a brief look at the mobile gear I use now.

What comes to phones, I still carry an iPhone 6 and a Nexus 5. The iPhone 6 is a nice device, but I'm somewhat concerned about Apple's current software quality and more than concerned about their handling of the App Store. I really hope they'll get their act together before frustrated developers jump to Android which has been making nice progress (Lollipop, Material Design, Android Studio 1.0) lately, but which has its own issues as well (e.g. WebView vulnerability leaving millions of relatively new devices unsafe with no fix in sight).

The Nexus 5 is also a nice phone, but its camera is no match to its iPhone 6 counterpart. Even more irritating is the poor battery life, which unfortunately wasn't improved as much Project Volta promised. However, it's my only phone that can read the balance of my travel card for the local public transportation so it's nice to have at hand when I'm out and about in public transit. If iOS 9 opens NFC access to 3rd party developers as well, I think that part gets solved, though.

My latest piece of mobile tech is the LG G Watch I have on my wrist. As it's an Android Wear device, it's naturally tethered to my Nexus 5. However, there have been some rumors about Google possibly bringing Android Wear support to iOS as well. If that ever happens, I'd definitely give it a go just to see how the experience compares to having it tethered to an Android phone. It would be a nice stopgap solution before there's a good version of Apple Watch available in Finland. Based on the current information the first generation Apple Watch might not fit the definition of good, but naturally we'll know only when the device actually gets released and the reviews appear. I'm particularly concerned about the battery life. If it really can have the screen on for only three hours including showing the time, then I'm not quite impressed as my G Watch shows the time all the time and I've had no problems whatsoever getting through the day with it. But the killer feature of the G Watch is that it's a Bluetooth device that I'm very likely to have where also my phone is, so I've set it up as a trusted device for my Nexus, so I don't have to be typing in my passcode all the time while not making any major compromises to my security.

I also have my Windows Phone devices (a Lumia 620 of my own and a Lumia 925 from work), but those are currently just backup devices for emergencies and testing out web stuff. Of course I could pick up my 925 for active use (for after all, Elisa Wallet SIM does work in both of my Lumias), but that would require Windows 10 for phones being really awesome, the app selection improving and having some way to avoid constantly inputting my passcode without disabling it altogether. Having Touch ID on my iPhone and the watch as a trusted device for my Nexus, I'm becoming really allergic to constantly inputting my passcode. I'm not sure if the Microsoft Band allows something like this, but it wouldn't be a fix anyway as it's not available in Finland yet and it's somewhat unclear if it's even coming here at all.

I would really like to scale down the gear I carry to just one phone and a watch to accompany it. However, that would require getting an Apple Watch or Google adding iOS support to Android Wear. If I could pair my iPhone with the LG G Watch, I could actually leave my Nexus 5 home most of the time as I can have it forward both the calls and SMS's (thanks to Tasker!) that come to it to my iPhone, while SMS forward is a much trickier thing to pull off on an iPhone without at least jailbreaking it. Another possibility is to get an Android phone that beats or matches the iPhone 6 in camera (not just specs alone but the whole experience of getting good pictures quickly and consistently) and battery life and replace my iPhone with that, but that would require a larger investment and maybe dealing with a phablet-sized Nexus 6. From cost perspective Google adding iOS support to Android Wear would be most optimal as I could achieve my goal with my current hardware, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for that.

App Store Review Does It Again

Yours truly a few days ago:

Another thing that could make me jump to Android full-time is me finally getting too fed up with Apple's douchebaggery related to iOS App Store review system. Marco Arment sums up my thoughts about the App Store quite perfectly with this piece. I hope Apple gets its act together before my patience runs out. At least they've sorted out the Transmit and Drafts issues already, so I hope there's not more to come and developers haven't abandoned the idea of making innovative iOS apps.

And here we go again: http://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/31/goodreader-removes-icloud-drive-apple-policy/.

When will this madness end? Weeding out malware is one thing, but making legit apps less usable due to strict policies is detrimental to the platform. I'm getting really tired of this crap.

iOS or Android - Which One Suits Me Better?

So, I've been now running Lollipop for a while on my Nexus 5 (I got impatient while waiting for the OTA update and flashed a factory image instead), so it's time to check whether the problems I had with KitKat have been addressed and what are the current strengths and downsides on the latest revisions of both platforms I'm actively using.

What comes to changes in Lollipop, I'm liking them in general. Material Design was a welcome refresh and I'm already making use of some of the new features that arrived with Lollipop. Smart Lock is especially nice as I no longer need to type in my passcode if I need to change what's playing in my car. This is also something that makes getting an Android Wear device much more enticing as I'd naturally add that device as a trusted device for smart lock and enjoy a mostly passcode-free life without making any major compromises to my device security.

What comes to Bluetooth, I'm happy to report that so far it's looking quite good. Connection times and reliability are close to iOS and the only complaint I'm having right now is the occasional stutter that's sometimes present in the first half a minute or so. So while iOS is still better in this regard, the gap has narrowed quite a bit and I could actually use my Nexus for podcasts without any showstoppers, so unless there's a major deterioration after a couple of months of use, I can scratch Bluetooth from my list of Android problems. Jury's still out regarding the streaming issue, but to my delight I noticed that Sonera Viihde's app on Android didn't have a block for casting CHL games to Chromecast while the iOS app blocks both AirPlay and HDMI out. While occasional choppiness was present in the stream, it was perfectly watchable and that choppiness was a small price to pay for getting the game on a proper screen instead of watching it on the iPad's small display. I'll have to see whether the regular Liiga games work better now when casting from Lollipop.

With at least the other major gripe seemingly tackled, it's time to look at what I need to do on my mobile devices and how both iOS and Android perform that function.

IRC (irssi on a remote server connected via SSH)

Admittedly IRC as a protocol is far from optimal to smartphone use, but it's still my primary communication channel with quite a lot of people. This category is something where Android wins hands down. I'm using Juice SSH with a pinned shortcut for the actual SSH part and Irssi Notifier for getting informed about highlights and private messages. There are decent iOS SSH clients as well (my current favorite is Prompt), but as connections themselves cannot be pinned to start screen as shortcuts and there's the 10-minute limit for background activity, I hardly ever use SSH+IRC on my iPhone as it's just too clumsy. I can also get the notification functionality via prowlnotify on iOS, but it's much clunkier to set up than Irssi Notifier.

However, I've recently picked up IRCCloud for my mobile IRC needs. With IRCCloud both platforms are served equally well. I just need to have my SSH available as well for times when someone DMs my nick running on Irssi, but even a clumsier solution is sufficient in those cases as it's not needed that often.

Camera

Having a toddler in the house (and knowing he's a child only once) puts quite an emphasis on having a good and quick to use camera readily available most of the time. I don't think it comes as a surprise that my iPhone 6 has a major edge here. While the Nexus 5 packs a decent snapper, it's no match to the iPhone which is surprisingly good even in not-that-well lit situations. However, there are Android devices with a better camera than the one on the Nexus 5 so this is hard to judge in general level. Software-wise I'm somewhat disappointed with iOS 8's changes as the camera roll is now harder and slower to access than it was before, so with better camera hardware I might end up preferring Android here. Because of this, I'm keeping a close eye on Sony Xperia Z4 rumors. I'm skipping the current Z3 generation as I would've preferred wireless charging instead of having to deal with those flaps covering the ports. Some rumors suggest that Z4 has both of those issues addressed, so it might end up being a really interesting device for me.

Exchange

At work we have Exchange in use and especially the calendar is crucial to have available on my phone so that I know where to be and when. At least on KitKat this support was somewhat disappointing and approving meeting requests was rather flaky. Jury's still out for Lollipop, but so far iOS has the edge in this category as it's been working reliably with Exchange for a few years now.

Music Apps

By music apps I refer to apps dealing with making and playing music especially on the guitar. For listening to music both platforms are well covered, but music creation apps have been an iOS show for quite a while. For a long time this was due to the fact that it wasn't simply possible to create apps like AmpKit or others that rely on real-time audio due to the audio latency caused by the Android architecture. However, Google has been tackling that problem and there were additional latency reductions in Lollipop, so technically it should be now feasible to port some of these apps over to Android, but naturally it's up to each developer to determine whether the port is feasible for them. Algoriddim already made the jump with their djay 2 app for Android. It'll be interesting to see whether anyone else will follow. But currently points go to iOS.

Dual SIM

This is something that I don't currently use, but I'd like to use as I don't quite like carrying two phones with me all the time. I'd rather stick both of my sims into one good phone, but so far the dual SIM phones they sell over here have been mostly in the low end or midrange at best, and I'd like a dual SIM flagship with all the flagship goodies. HTC One M8 Dual Sim is actually available here in a dual SIM format, but unfortunately that phone's camera has turned out to be quite lackluster in various camera shootouts I've read. LG seems to have a dual SIM version of their G3 available in Asia. That one looks like something I'd buy in a heartbeat if it was available here, so it seems like I have to hope they make that model available in Europe as well. What comes to iOS, I give better odds to Finland making it to a major tournament in football (soccer to you people over at the other side of the big pond) than Apple ever coming up with a dual SIM device, so this is clearly Android stuff.

Wireless Charging

Another point for Android. My Nexus 5 supports Qi charging and despite it being slower than wired charging, it's convenient as I just have to put my phone down on the charger to give it a quick top-up charge. I have chargers at home, in my car, and at the office, so there are plenty of locations where I can use this fine feature. Back when I had the iPhone 5 I got a Qi charging case for it, and that worked quite OK apart from the fact that the case itself was of poor quality and I ended up returning it after part of it broke off with me just sticking the phone in my pocket. As the Apple Watch supposedly supports some kind of wireless charging, seeing that capability on the iPhone is not quite on the hell freezes over probability level, but I'm not going to hold my breath for seeing it in the 6S generation yet.

Notifications and Notification Center

This one is a complicated one. iOS 8 added actionable notifications which I've already used e.g. for replying to text messages, but the actual notification center in iOS is somewhat underutilized for me as I don't know if there's anything worth looking at there. Android populates the bar at the top of the display with icons related to new notifications, so I can immediately see that there's something for me to look at and I already get an idea about what it might be. However, Today widgets for the notification center in iOS have made it somewhat more useful for me. Especially Authy's widget is surprisingly useful.

NFC and Payments

As a Finn NFC is currently an Android show. I have the NFC hardware in my iPhone 6, but as of the time of writing this it's even more useless than Windows Phone's NFC as it's completely tied to Apple Pay, which is not available in Finland yet. On Android I can use NFC for various automation tasks and e.g. for checking the balance on my travel card for the Helsinki region public transport. However, there are already rumors about Apple Pay coming to Finland in 2015, with the rumors coming from a rather reputable payments processor. This could be a game-changer for me, and I'm also hoping that in iOS 9 Apple does the same for NFC as they did for Touch ID on iOS 8, i.e. introduce the new hardware in ultimately locked-down manner one year and open up the API for external developers the next year. With Apple Pay and the travel card reader I could do quite well without the undeniably nice Android automation capabilities. Currently the score goes to Android hands down, but iOS has some potential according to rumors. Unfortunately there's no information about Google Wallet's possible introduction in Finland. To add insult to injury, my Nexus 5 isn't compatible with the new Elisa Wallet SIM a local operator Saunalahti introduced recently. Nexus 4 would be, but as Nexus 5 opts for the host card emulation instead of utilizing the SWP support it has in the hardware, it can't be used with the Elisa Wallet SIM right now. That's a shame, as I currently have the NFC sticker version of Elisa Wallet in use with my iPhone and that insanely huge and ugly sticker leaves much to be desired, especially when the companion app is equivalently clunky and doesn't even support Touch ID despite being too eager to ask for my password every chance it gets.

Touch ID or Equivalent

This is where Apple shines. Touch ID has been really convenient although with the Finnish climate it's of limited use outdoors for quite a large part of the year. At least Samsung offers fingerprint readers on the Android side of the fence, but based on what I've read about the implementation it's not a match to Touch ID neither in reliability nor in ease of use.

User Interface and Apps

This is a mixed category. The main launcher UI on iOS is getting somewhat stale and unnecessarily restricted. Why exactly still in iOS 8 we're restricted to filling all app positions starting from top left with an early page break as the only customization option? Android is much more flexible here and widgets can be used much more freely. However, when we get off the launcher part into actual apps, a quality gap becomes evident. Even though many Android apps are typically good enough and some of them even great, especially the multi-platform titles often seem to be better on iOS. It'll be interesting to see what happens to the gap now that Android Studio hit 1.0 a little while ago.

Conclusion

While Android offers some highly enticing flexibility for my use, with my current hardware the iPhone is still a better overall package for me especially now that I use IRCCloud for IRC. However, the most annoying failures I've encountered with Android have been more or less eliminated in Lollipop, so with proper hardware I could live with Android just fine although I could be missing my music apps unless Android developers step up with that app category. Another thing that could make me jump to Android full-time is me finally getting too fed up with Apple's douchebaggery related to iOS App Store review system. Marco Arment sums up my thoughts about the App Store quite perfectly with this piece. I hope Apple gets its act together before my patience runs out. At least they've sorted out the Transmit and Drafts issues already, so I hope there's not more to come and developers haven't abandoned the idea of making innovative iOS apps.

Apart from the App Store issue, I think the next major checkpoint for platform selection comes when Sony Xperia Z4 is released. That camera should have a potential to give the iPhone a real run for its money. However, there are rumors of the next iPhone getting a monster Sony camera sensor too. So let's see what happens with Z4 and the 6S generation.

I'd also like to emphasize that the conclusion above applies to me and me only. Your mileage may and is highly likely to vary. Civilized discussion in the comments is welcome regardless of whether you agree with my points or not, but please spare your energy and troll elsewhere.

Keeping iOS and Android in Sync

As I'm currently living with two phones and two active cellular subscriptions (one personal and one from work) and the phones are of two ecosystems -- iOS and Android -- you'd think that one would have to be the primary phone and other the backup. However, that's something I'm trying to avoid and this post details some of the apps I'm using for that.

Notes are one essential thing to keep in sync, and thankfully there's lots of options available in that department. Evernote is hugely popular and I've given it a fair try, but so far it hasn't quite caught on for me. I'm actually using OneNote right now as it's supported on all platforms I'm actively using and I like the app nowadays. It's quite a turnaround from the crash & burn failure I encountered with an older Windows version a few years ago.

As an avid podcast listener another priority is keeping my podcasts in sync. On the podcasts I regularly listen episodes are typically over an hour long, and as my commute is (thankfully) much shorter than that, I end up listening to most episodes in fragments. That brings a requirement of having my list of unplayed episodes and playback position in sync between my devices. Fortunately Pocket Casts does just that and I've been a happy user for quite a while now.

There's one more app category that would make life painful if things weren't in sync, and that's authenticators for 2-factor authentication. Back when I hadn't discovered Authy, it wasn't only once or twice when I was doing something requiring a login on my phone, only to realise that the phone with the authenticator configured for that account was charging in another room. Now that I have Authy up and running, I don't have to think about possible authentication needs when choosing the phone to pick up.

After reading the paragraphs above it should be obvious why Windows Phone is out of the picture. While there are Windows Phone apps that do more or less the same function as the apps I use on iOS and Android, very few of them sync between the WP and non-WP versions. Microsoft apps plus a few others are a nice exception to the rule, but something like Authy or Pocket Casts don't exist on WP, so that makes WP a non-starter in my current use.

Bring on Lollipop!

So, as it turns out, Android L stood for Android Lollipop. I know for a fact that for the next (hopefully not too many) weeks I'll be abusing the Check for Updates functionality on my Nexus 5 way more than I should. It'll be interesting to see how Lollipop performs on my Nexus 5 and whether it solves the issues that drove me back to iOS.

If it does indeed solve the Bluetooth and streaming issues, then I have some hard decisions ahead. The newly announced Nexus 6 has Qi charging, a good (as far as the specs go) camera, water resistance (according to Motorola site, but suspiciously missing from many other spec listings), and vanilla Android, something that Samsung devices that match the other specs don't have. That combination sounds like something I could really use, although I'd miss the Touch ID I've grown to love on my iPhone 6. The size of the Nexus 6 is also somewhat concerning, especially when you keep in mind that I chose the regular iPhone 6 over the 6 Plus as the Plus turned out to be a little too large. However, with the recent announcement of Android Wear devices becoming available also in Finland, the size wouldn't be that much of an issue as I wouldn't have to take my phone out all that often since the necessary information would be available on my wrist.

But I guess I have to wait for Lollipop to land on my Nexus 5 to see if my main gripes have been addressed. I think I've mentioned how much I hate these staggered rollouts where you can't be sure when the new version is available for you. That's one more part where iOS still has a major edge in my books.