100 PCWorld MARCH 2020

FEATURE I SWITCHED FROM ANDROID TO iPHONE

skeptical when Apple decided to make

gestures mandatory for navigating its phone,

but its gesture scheme is a significant

improvement on a physical button. In fact,

Apple’s gesture approach is the best I’ve

seen. The gestures are all incredibly smooth

and don’t require long swipes—it feels like

you’re flinging the UI around. I also appreciate

that the gesture pill at the bottom of the

screen doesn’t take up too much space.

There’s a reason Google straight-up copied

some of Apple’s gestures in Android 10.

Battery performance: Apple prioritizes

battery life on the iPhone, and that’s a

refreshing change for me. The early days of

Android were a free-for-all in which app

developers could do almost anything, and

many apps siphoned off battery power with

impunity. Google has tamped down on the

I

hopped on the Android bandwagon

early: I sold my iPhone 3G in 2009,

bought an HTC Hero, and never looked

back. I’ve been using Android every day

since then, writing about Google’s platform

as a tech journalist. Nonetheless, I’ve tried to

keep pace with iPhone developments, and

recently set aside a week of my life to get

reacquainted with Apple’s smartphone.

I put all my Android phones in a drawer

and settled into life with the iPhone 11 Pro.

Admittedly, the iPhone does some things

extremely well, even for a long-time Android

user like myself. However, there are also

plenty of things I hate with a fiery passion.

WHERE THE iPHONE WINS

Apple’s Taptic Engine: Haptics are an

under-appreciated but important aspect of

interacting with a smartphone, and

Apple understands this. The “Taptic

Engine” is essentially a giant

vibration motor bolted right to the

iPhone’s frame, and it’s fantastic. The

haptic feedback is tight and

powerful, surpassing all Android

phones on the market. It can almost

feel like you’re pressing physical

buttons on the screen sometimes.

Google’s Pixel phones have by far

the best haptics on Android, but

even those devices are far behind

Apple.

Gesture navigation: I was iPhone gestures beat Android phone gestures. They just do.