Equally part of my job reviewing smartphones for TechSpot, I find myself using Android devices most of the time, purely because the vast majority of handsets released in whatever one year run Google'due south operating organization. I've dabbled in the iOS ecosystem from time to time, but it's been years since I've actually picked up an iPhone and used it as my daily driver.

With the recent launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, I thought now would be the perfect fourth dimension to pick upwardly one of Apple's latest smartphones and utilize it exclusively for two weeks. What follows are my thoughts on the telephone and the ecosystem equally primarily an Android user, how the two experiences compare, and whether long-time Android users should contemplate an iOS switch.

This is my gold iPhone 6s, featuring an awesome wooden skin from dbrand

Apple tree is known to evangelize stellar out-of-box experiences for their products, and the iPhone 6s is no exception. The smartphone is presented in attractive packaging, and the setup utility is very piece of cake to navigate through, more so than what Android and its OEMs provide on almost occasions. Subsequently 5 minutes entering in my Apple ID and another basic data, I was ready to get.

The iOS homescreen has barely inverse since the launch of the first iPhone, and in some ways that'due south a good thing. The iPhone 6s displays a 6x4 grid of apps on each screen, with an additional 4 apps in the dock; no widgets, panels or app drawers clog upwards this area, resulting in a main screen that includes every app you lot've installed on the device. There were some unnecessary apps pre-loaded on the device that I couldn't uninstall (the Watch app comes to mind), merely I quickly hid these away in a binder. Not ideal only does the job.

One of the big changes coming from Android is the lack of widgets. On Android I would usually apply a clock/weather widget and something to brandish my upcoming events, but on iOS you tin can't have this data easily available on the main screen. I'1000 non a heavy widget user, but the lack of information present on the homescreen at a quick glance is disappointing.

Most 'at-a-glance' information is hidden abroad in one of two areas: the lock screen and slide-downwards notification center. Normally data on the lock screen wouldn't actually exist 'hidden', but the speed of Touch ID in unlocking the device often prevents yous from reading what's in in that location. I'd form this as a pretty proficient issue to run in to: the speed of unlocking is one of the many advantages to using Bear upon ID, as it secures my device without slowing down its use.

Coming from Android, the notification center is a fleck of a letdown. Notification snippets are short, and there'due south no interactivity within the center, aside from but opening the associated app. I really miss having the power to archive or reply to emails via Android notification quick actions, which is something you can just do in iOS immediately after a notification is received.

With that said, I did like the 'Today' tab, which shows information ranging from the engagement, conditions and upcoming events, to anything you lot desire tertiary party apps to display, all in an piece of cake-to-read format. This somewhat makes up for the lack of widgets, just it would be more useful if it were integrated into the home screens rather than hidden away in a pull-downward menu.

The iOS Control Center is a decent replacement for Android's quick settings panel, although in some ways it's less flexible. There are controls to switch on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Practice Non Disturb and more, as well as a effulgence slider, music controls and shortcuts to useful utilities such equally the timer and calculator; but what you don't get is the ability to customize this menu in any fashion. On my Galaxy S6, for example, I can set up quick settings toggles for mobile data access, GPS, and ability saving modes, but I tin't hands command these things on my iPhone 6s.

As for applications, I had no problem finding iOS equivalent apps for everything I use on Android, which didn't come up as a huge surprise. About apps I installed were either as expert as their Android counterparts, or slightly amend, though the departure in app quality wasn't equally large as I was expecting. Of the apps that were noticeably better on iOS, many were for niche services; anything that's extremely popular (think Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Instagram) is simply equally good on Android as it is on iOS.

The apps that are included with the iPhone 6s by default generally give a better experience than OEM-developed apps bundled with Android devices. Health, Music and Game Center come up to heed as apps with superior interfaces and ameliorate functionality than their counterparts adult past Samsung, LG and (sometimes) Google. Apple'southward control over their ecosystem allows these apps to be integrated tightly with the iPhone's hardware or the company's other services, oftentimes resulting in more polished experiences.

Apple tree'south apps don't trump Google's every time, particularly if you lot rely on Google services. Android integrates much, much improve with a Google business relationship than iOS, giving apps like Bulldoze, Search and especially Gmail deeper and greater control over the Bone. Google too simply develops better products than Apple in some instances: Maps and Chrome come to listen, although Safari plays far nicer with iOS than Chrome does, even if it contains fewer features.

With that said, I was impressed at how well Google contacts and agenda events get integrated into iOS, considering the Os isn't developed by Google and integration isn't almost as good on Windows Phone. Mail is less well integrated; I tried using Apple'south stock Post app for a couple of days, but I just had to switch to the superior Gmail app (which still isn't every bit good equally Gmail on Android).

One thing I accept missed considerably after switching from Android to iOS is decent search functionality. On Android, performing a web search is as easy as tapping the search bar on the home screen. On iOS, yous tin can use Spotlight to search in the left-most dwelling house screen, but it requires multiple taps to get web search results, and in general this characteristic is more suited to searching the phone and its apps. The other pick is to burn up Safari and search in the address bar, which brings up a Google search as y'all'd look, just this is all the same a multiple tap performance.

I'thou the sort of person who Google searches on my smartphone all the time, and so having web search functionality hidden behind multiple taps slows downwards this process and has already become abrasive after a week of use. Of form I could use Siri to search things, although vocalisation searching isn't always appropriate, and Siri is far worse at agreement my Australian accent than Google Vocalization Search.

Downloading the Google app did improve the search feel somewhat, and the app too brings handy Google Now functionality, merely it'southward clear that search is much faster on Android and much more securely integrated into the operating organisation.

Of the more than random observations during my past calendar week with iOS 9, the operating system loves to throw pop-upwardly notifications at you, especially when launching an app for the first time. Occasionally there are multiple pop-ups in a row, which tin be obtrusive and annoying, particularly when you have to wade through popular-ups for every unmarried app. Android doesn't apply pop-upwardly dialogs nearly every bit ofttimes and that'southward a good affair.

3D Touch is a curious feature that's new to the iPhone 6s. Applying more force to the touchscreen to access new functionality is a cool thought in theory, merely information technology'due south non particularly useful in its early incarnation. On the home screen, hard-pressing app icons reveals context menus that I never found myself using, while in some apps you can hard-press links or items to receive previews, which is slightly more than useful. I nonetheless oasis't quite become accustomed to using 3D Touch though, and in some situations 3D Touching just feels like a faster long press (which has been a feature of Android and iOS for years), though I suspect it volition become more useful when 3rd-party developers jump on board.

Oh, and I'd honey it if Apple made it more obvious what apps support 3D Impact, and how they support it. I establish myself blindly difficult-pressing links, items, and apps to find where it was supported, and then far this seems to exist the just way to learn without looking upward specifically where Apple has used the feature.

And so these are my brief thoughts later using iOS 9 and the iPhone 6s for a week. I'm yet locked in to use the iPhone 6s for the next week, so I'll be posting further impressions, including a lot more on the hardware of the smartphone, in Part two of this serial.