
Ask HN: Android or iPhone? - cfarre
I want to buy a smartphone for my wife. Android or iPhone?
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matt_s
Either way, go with prepaid if you are in the US. Those "plans" the big
carriers have are insanely costly. Over 10 years you are going to spend
roughly $6,000 to $8,000 per cell phone.

If you go iPhone, they have iMessage for texting which costs $0 on pre-paid
but you both need to have iPhones. Use WiFi where you can (home, work) and
find a pre-paid option for other times. iMessage is handy if a lot of her
friends have iPhones.

If her usage pattern doesn't involve lots of streaming movies or streaming
audio then you really don't need a costly plan.

My wife is non-technical and the iPhone is wife approved. Her mom (in her
sixties) just got an iPhone and she can use it too.

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Snowalker
I switched to Blackberry one year ago after a lifetime of iPhone and I will
never go back. BB kills it with the UI and BB Hub- best experience I ever had.
I know BB is not hip but who cares. My 2 cents.

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Grazester
Yes.

Serious answer. As suggested why not let your wife decide what would fit her
needs best?

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apryldelancey
I agree - let her decide.

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Gustomaximus
If you're buying your wife a phone I'd assume she is not overly technical. If
that's a fair assumption + you've got reasonable income and are time poor I'd
suggest an iPhone as it tends to be the more user friendly product (at a
price). That said Android is deliver an ever increasing similarly good
experience.

For someone that likes to tinker, or has a lower income I'd suggest Android.
Android is more flexible to customisation + the phones are at a significantly
lower price point either saving you money overall or allowing for more
frequent phone updates.

I currently run an Android as my personal phone then tend to run a second ever
changing OS on my work phone out of general tech interest. Currently I'm on
Windows as the second phone but am getting Sailfish and Ubuntu curious so I
feel an upgrade coming. I wouldn't recommend the Windows phone from an
experience POV (though prices can be great). It's maybe 80% as good as iPhone
and still needs polishing. Windows 10 might change this as the phone will
become your PC on docking which I believe will be an increasingly popular
category for phones.

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GFischer
Too many data points lacking to consider a suggestion :)

As most said, unless it's a surprise gift, let her decide.

If it is a surprise, try to get her feedback in more subtle ways (I'm pretty
bad at that, but I guess asking about her girl friend's phones or something).

In general, it depends on your money availability, general use case, IT
ecosystem at your house or where she'll be using it, etc.

If money is no objection, she won't be using it for programming-related stuff
or obscure hobbies, can afford apps, etc. or you have a heavy Apple ecosystem,
then the iPhone is probably the best bet.

If money is a concern, then it can be either an Android-based system or
Windows Phone.

For the very low-end smartphones, I recommend Windows Phone, some Android
smartphones are terribly underpowered and deliver an awful user experience.

Personally, I have an Android device because it's the one that fits my needs
the most (but I do use it for programming), and my country is 90% android
smartphones so I'll have every app available.

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gchokov
iPhone. Interested to see how my karma will change. Please vote :)

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Avalaxy
Why not a Windows Phone? They're very decent.

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lucozade
They also have secondary benefits.

My teenage son was playing rugby and while the game was going on the changing
room was robbed.

The only thing the robbers took were phones. Interesting, only iphones were
taken and the only phones left were a badly cracked iphone and my son's Nokia
Windows phone.

What made my son particularly happy was that, the reason he has a Nokia is
that he had his iphone stolen while on holiday and didn't have enough to buy a
new one.

So, if you have a habit of leaving your phone around, the conclusion is to
either smash it or buy a Windows phone!

~~~
mcintyre1994
The UK Home Office published data in 2014 about phone thefts [0], it's pretty
interesting. Over 50% of thefts in London were iPhones, they were the only
ones with a higher share of thefts than of the market (by miles - their market
share was <15%) (page 13).

I can't find a newer analysis, but probably worth pointing out that they
mention manufacturer security improvements reducing thefts, and iOS has
obviously had some of those since 2014.

[0]
[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...](https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/390901/HO_Mobile_theft_paper_Dec_14_WEB.PDF)

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ing33k
why don't you let your wife decide ?

its just personal choice in the end

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eecks
I would go for an iPhone purely because Apple seem to be taking privacy more
seriously. Google learns everything about you and I am not okay with that.

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Someone1234
Have your wife go to a shop, try both, buy whatever she likes best. It is HER
phone after all and should suit HER needs/tastes/sense of style/etc.

But if I must answer: iPhones seem to be extremely popular amongst women in
particular (if you look at the demographics, women like iPhones, Samsung
Android phones, and then everything else is a distant third).

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MalcolmDiggs
I've been pretty satisfied with my Androids, but I have noticed a number of
apps getting released for iOS way before (6 months to a year before) coming
out for Android. (Robinhood, EveryDollar, ShakeLaw, for example).

That can be a drag if you like having the latest and greatest apps. Other than
that, Android is awesome.

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christopherDam
iPhone is best. All other sucks really. Though it is my opinion and
experience.

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MWPH
Windows Phone :D

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chrisBob
What do you use? If your wife has no preference it probably makes sense to use
similar devices.

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miguelrochefort
iPhone if you want to feel first class.

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aliwiki
If you have much money you can try with an iPhone, if not, an Android is fine.

