Back to Apple.

For the past week and a half I have been using the Note 7 as my primary phone. The only thing I used my iPhone for was recording my blood pressure in the morning. During this time I spent roughly $80 on applications. I hate ads and I liked focused products so money spent. I also wanted to try a few games; mostly ended up playing Reigns. Yesterday I returned back to the iPhone.

Dislikes of the Note 7

Warning some of these are nit picks, so be forewarned.

  • Inconsistencies in icon size

I tried three launchers: Google Now, TouchWiz (default) and Nova. I ended up paying for Nova; but yet at no point did I get icon sizes to work correctly.

  • The Recent List only worked half the time

The recent list was very inconsistent. After rebooting it would work for a day or so then stop mysteriously. When accessing the list it would say No Recent Apps even though I had just come from an app. There did not seem to be any significant memory pressure either; that would necessitate closing background applications.

  • Slower Browser

I tried Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Internet (default). None of them were as fast as Safari felt. Chrome felt closest but has no ad blocking for obvious reasons! Internet did allow ad blocking so that is the one I went with.

  • Overall App Slowness and Bugs

Not necessarily a problem with Android but more of the ecosystem. I had several applications that existed on both iOS and Android; in several cases the Android application would occasionally crash or slowdown and stutter. Looking at you MyFitnessPal!

  • Recent Apps button far to sensitive

It is possible with more usage I would have gotten used to not touching the capacitive button. Though it seemed like I hit it pretty often; one of the reasons I noticed Recent Apps malfunctioning so often.

  • AT&T and Samsung Apps

Couldn’t uninstall only delete =(

Likes

  • The screen is fantastic

The screen is gorgeous, the curve looks and feels good. The lack of a bezel slims it down considerably.

  • The device felt good in hand

The Note 7 felt far better than the iPhone 6s Plus has ever felt. I still think the iPhone SE/5 form factor is my favorite but of the big phones the Note is top notch.

  • Edge integrations

The quick tasks on the edge and the blue laser edging that would appear when you got a notification was pretty spectacular.

  • Notifications center

Androids notifications center is light years ahead of iOS

  • Widgets

Having my calendar on the home screen along with weather is pretty cool

  • Ability to swap default applications

Nice to have!

Conclusion

The form factor and hardware of the Note 7 is superior to iPhone Plus. But the browser feels sub par and to be honest that is where I spend a good chunk of my mobile time. I don’t think I would have a problem using the Note 7 permanently. All the applications I need exist, Instapaper, 1Password or comparable exist Press, Poweramp. In the end I don’t think I will end up with either phone. In September if Apple announces an updated iPhone SE I will buy that one. Even if they do not I may. I just really loved that form factor.