I know this is a minefield and everyone has their personal favourites but could some kind person outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of ios over Android?
I've had an iPhone since they came out, have iPad/Macbook Air and love the Apple design. However other makes have made giant strides whereas Apple remains much the same. I'm fed up with the battery life and the camera seems less good than so many others. I love my apps - especially gaming but the screen is way too small for my ancient eyes so I was going to wait and see what Apple produces with the iPhone 6.
A girl in the O2 shop was banging on about her Sony Z2 which looks amazing but don't know whether I'll be able to cope with Android after using iOS for so long. Battery life seems wonderful and loads of pixels with camera etc....
Any ideas?

If you have a lot of other Apple products then the integration is a lot easier with the iPhone although there are Android apps that make it very easy to do things such as sync your Android phone to iTunes.

The iPhone is a lot easier to use out of the box but the way you can customise your Android phone to suit to how you want it is endless with widgets and you can even change the launcher very easily so you can change everything from how many icons on the screens to transitions when you flick between pages. You can even change the keyboard and ones like Slide-It, Swype and SwiftKey are so innotive.

Also there is so much variety with Android so you can pick the phone that suits you.

The only things that I would like on my S5 from the iPhone is that it has better speakers and also the fingerprint recognition is better (although not sure I would like the extra bezel to house it).

And also many Android phones you can just add a 64gb card for extra space for only £30 not to mention the option of being able to have a spare battery.

Wow - thanks for that Mark! Will have to give it more thought - I'm wondering if I'm too old to learn a whole new os! Android does sound amazing though. I have an iPhone 5 which I haven't been at all impressed with. Apple are going to have to up their game!

I used Android 2.1 on the HTC Desire in the past; I soon found myself going back to an iPhone 4.

At the time you could only install certain apps on the SD card which soon meant the HTC's ROM became full....

However it's changed an awful lot since then... and with Google rumoured to be tightening up on the updates to the latest versions of Android (so that more phones have it, rather than select handsets getting it before others) I can see it becoming even more popular...

Apple really need to pull out all of the stops to make iOS 8 and iPhone 6 amazing... They've rested on their laurels too long and become complacent!

To be fair, all you need to do on an Android phone to get up and running is log on with your Google account.

All the customisation can wait until you've used it for a while and found the bits you don't like.

Android phones can be:

As easy or as complicated as you like
As Basic or as functional as you like
As customised or as plain as you like
As big or as small as you like

If you like the build quality of the iPhone, you may be a tad dissapointed in how some android phones feel. If thats the case, the Sony Z2 or the HTC One M8 would be a good choice (although they dont have removable batteries).

Most phones that have a removable battery tend to be more plastic based, like the Galaxy S5 and its predecessors.

I have a mix of devices and although I dont use iTunes, I dont really have any issue syncing stuff between them as I use a google account on all of them and that tends to do most the work. (I have a macbook pro, ipad, Xperia Z2, Windows 8 PC, Windows 7 Laptop)

Have fun choosing..... take your time and visit some stores to test them out in hand. Many stores will have demo models that arent tied to the desk you can feel and use in your hand properly. Admittedly, there is something about the iPhones that make them very tactile in the hand, thats hard to beat

My advice is to get down to a store and try them both out. Latest Android has got some many little tweaks that you really need to see it in action.

And chance you can borrow a handset from somebody for a day or so ?

I think you should wait for iphone 6 and hopefully a bigger screen.
If you have a spare £100 go and buy a Motorola Moto G this will give yu a good taste of android.If you dont like it you can easily sell it on and wait for the iphone 6 (sept-oct)

Thanks all you guys for some very useful and sensible comments!
I'd love to play around with a Sony - the girl on the 02 desk was a bit iffy about my handling her own phone!!! I do need to get to know Android before I decide. I love mobile phones but I'm not a real techie and in the past have found all phones boring after a while till I got the iphone.... but that was a loooooong time ago! iOS is so intuitive and you don't need to read instructions which is a plus! But unless the 6 is a whole lot better than previous iPhones I might well go for the Sony! Thanks again for your input!

The good thing about Android is that you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like.

I would say not to give up on any different OS straight away as iOS and also Android have different ways of doing things so it's worthwhile giving it a proper go for at least a couple of weeks before giving up on it. They might do some things different from the iPhone, but once you get use to it it's great (such as widgets and direct contacts/direct call icons on the home screens where you just touch an icon of a photo of your contract and it will either call them or bring up options to call/text/Whatsapp/EMAIL them instead of having to press several buttons).

I have just made the switch from IOS to Android and don't regret it one bit. You are never too old to learn a new os. I have the HTC M8 on 02. If I was you I would make the jump and go with thé M8 or Sony Z2.

Always liked Sony phones myself having owned a few previously, like the way they just have that all black monolith look to them.

I am presently taking the z ultra for a spin, now that is big have to say though it is very good so i would expect the z2 to be better. just do it

Personally I've always found android to be much more intuitive, and certainly more logical than apple os.

You don't have to know it off by heart to use it. Things are where you expect them to be.

For example if you ever need to adjust your mobile data settings,........ Then you press the mobile data option (in the settings menu).......
...... On my mums iPhone I was looking for ages, I eventually had to Google it, to find out it was in some other random sub menu .... Under something called my profiles or something.

Another thing.... There is always a back button. Its always there. Its always in the same place, and it always does the same thing ......
...... The amount of times I've sat there with an iPhone in my hand, searching for an option to go back to the previous screen (which often varies, depending on what app you're using, etc)

Another thing which I love is that you can make your own home screen (s) ....

You can just have the icons for the apps you use most frequently..... Obviously you can click a button to see every app you have installed (ala apple) ....... But why spend time scrolling through a list of apps most of which you seldom use.

Want weather updates on your home screen? Or news updates? Or football updates? You can, very easily if you wish to do so.

Those are just a couple of things that I prefer..... It probably is worth borrowing an android phone or tablet to play with to see how you get on first.

Like others said.... You can just start off easy...... Import your contacts etc ( android has an option to automatically import content from an apple phone) ..... Install whatever apps you want .... Google play store is probably easier to use than apples app store to be honest.... And there you go.

As you get more comfortable with it you can ( and probably will ) start experimenting with ways of customising your phone that you could never do with apple.

And if you ever get stuck...... You're already in just the right place to pop a question into the forum!

When was the last time you used an iPhone? Settings > Mobile, can't get much simpler than that.

It's not that difficult on iOS, it's a simple process of dragging your finger from the left side of the screen to the right.

You don't need to scroll through lists of apps you seldom use on iOS either, you can always move your most used apps to the first couple of screens or even put your most used apps into one folder and then place that on the first screen.

I like both, they're both simple to use but I feel you can do more on android in terms appearance & customisation than I could on apple. Like that horrible apple keyboard that I never got used to. Swiftkey ftw.

You lot are just great!
So...... anyone got an Android phone to lend me for a few weeks? Yes?
And I love that I can come back on here for more advice. Again, thanks to all of you.
I've had a love affair with mobiles since they first came on the market but have so often been disappointed in them. Like the time I went to Blackberry and missed my iPhone so much! So I just didn't want to make that mistake again.
I'll prob go to Sheena at o2 and ask if there's a way I can get to know an Android.
(Money is a bit of an issue) I think it's a case of what you're used to mainly - I love the poster who said we're never too old to learn a new system! I'm 62 and my brain isn't anything like as sharp as I'd like! I'm so impressed with how young people are brilliant with anything technical - am aiming to turn my brain into a 20 year old!
I-must-get-over-Apple!

There was the Motorola Moto G on Amazon for £99 at the moment if you wanted to try Android out for a while to see if you like it.

You could always then just sell it on EBay and I recon you could virtually get most of the cost back.

It was only the 8gb version but good enough to see if you like it.

There are better Android phones out there at the top end, but a lot of the reviews are comparing it to some phones costing £400 as it was heavily subsidised by Google when they owned Motorola.

Doh it's gone up again now on Amazon but Tesco have it now for £115 but you would have to pay a couple of quid on Ebay for an unlock code (did my wifes one for £1.60).

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mo...k/454-8906.prd

Just had another look and th there might be a code you can use on Tesco (on the Web page under the phone on that link) to get £10 off. Also if you know somebody that works for Tesco they can get an extra 10% off.

They also do a 16gb version as well. No option to upgrade the memory but I guess it depends how much you use and that should be ok to just try Android out.

If your switching to Android treat yourself to the best and get the Z2 or M8. The reason I say that is because if you are used to iPhones then anything less than the lastest flagship won't give you a true up to date expérience of what Android can offer. If you buy an older or cheaper Android and struggle with it you may return to IOS without truley experienceing Android. As far as adopting a new OS,learning and experimenting with it is all part of the fun.Also upgrades with Android are much more enjoyable as there Is a larger range of handset to choose from.

^ I think that also. It would need to be a high end android device to get the same or better experience as you did on Apple.

I am in a similar position to the OP - I have been using iPhoe since the first one but last year before upgrading I was seriously considering android but stuck with the 5S in the end. This year I have decided to do as has already been suggested by someone else - get a Moto G as a secondary phone for a few months just to get a bit of a feel for Android to see if I would like it as a main phone. Had it a few days so far but already beginning to find plenty of pros and cons - plenty of which have already been mentioned.

For me personally these are my initial impressions.

Android can be quite varied between manufacturers, even before you start tweaking yourself. For example some manufacturers will have already altered stock android to include things like notification counters on icons (the moto g has pretty stock android and doesn't show the number of unread SMS or email on top of the appropriate icon, for example - but this can be added relatively easily via 3rd party apps).

There is loads of customisation available for android just simply within the Google play store, and that's even before You consider things like rooting and custom rom.

Main downside so far I would say is music. To be fair so far I have only been dabbling with Google music, but already seems lacking compared with the iPhone music app, plus less integration with external equipment like cars etc. as so many things support the iPod control protocols which the iPhone also uses. Sure you can use bluetooth streaming if it is supported, but that has much less control than the iPod-style. I'm sure newer cars will be improving support for android in terms of music but at least for now the iPhone works better for me.

Overall I am certainly open to the possibility of Android as my next phone, but think I will continue to play around with the moto g and then wait to see what iOS 8 and the next iPhone bring to the table. Certainly very tempted by the Oneplus One at the moment as it is very difficult to fault for the price.

Hi, ACL - I was considering the Z2!
What I might do now is wait till Oct and iPhone 6. But I think it's an excellent idea of Mark in Essex and others to try out a cheaper version of Android first. Trouble is, I'm crap at selling. Bloody good at buying but have never sold anything on eBay which scares me to death!
My o2 girl did say I could 'upgrade' to the Z2 and then again in the autumn if I fancy the iphone 6 - she can do good (staff) discounts for me which is v tempting!!!! She's a v bright girl so I don't know how long she'll be at o2!

Good idea of yours to wait and meanwhile play around with the Moto. I would miss my iTunes too but apparently there's an app to transfer your music?

Yes there are loads of apps that will allow you to sync your Android phone to iTunes. I have one called iSyncR and that even syncs to iTunes over the wireless so you don't have to connect it to the computer.

Also there are so many very good music apps for Android - I use one called Poweramp.

If you were going to try a cheap Android phone make sure it's the Moto G as other cheap ones are not as good. Even at that price or will offer the same experience as the iPhone 5C (minus the 4G capabilities but there is another Moto G coming out soon that will support 4G, but that's if you are bothered about 4G anyway as 3G is good enough for most people).

If you are with 02 you get the refresh deal which allows you to pay off the handset without the contract should you want to change during your two years. I say go for the Z2 or M8 but I am biased and I appreciate it is a big and potentially expensive decision.