I am an ex-iPhone user who recently switched to the Droid world. While there are many great features on the Droid, the feature I miss most -- and in my opinion the most frustrating weakness of the Droid -- are earphone controls.
For non ex-iPhone users, here is what the freely-included apple earphones let you do from a 3 button control on the earphone wire:
1. The earphone has a mic (not a bulging mic, but frankly, at this point anything would be fine)
2. A middle button to accept a call or drop a call
3. A middle button pressed once to pause/play audio
4. A middle button pressed twice to forward a track, pressed thrice to rewind a track
5. A middle button pressed held down for voice commands
6. Volume controls via the top and bottom buttons
Now, as I complain about these missing features, Droid users keep telling me, why would you need this? Well, you just don't understand until you lose the features. Here are the enormous features I gained when I entered the iPhone world:
1. You don't need to take out and unlock your phone to play/pause. Great if you are walking outside and dont want to take your phone out on a busy street. Great if someone randomly asks you something...just pause and unpause without taking your phone out. For NYC subway users, great when a loud announcement breaks your concentration on an audiobook
2. You dont need to take out and unlock your phone to forward/rewind - great if youre on a treadmill and dont want your phone flying into the gears of your treadmill/elliptical. Also great not to have sweat all over your phone. Ditto on volume control, very very common requirement when in the gym, on the street, etc.
3. Note, say your in an NYC subway or bus, seated or standing like a sardine -- you cant just pull your phone out of your pocket each time just to do a simple play/pause/volume/fwd-rwd operation.
4. Note that when you take your phone out, unlock, use it, it consumes battery. Do this a hundred times and you've used up quite a bit. Droid users just seem to bear with it and dont play/pause/volume/fwd-rwd because they just cannot. But once you've used an iPhone you cant live without it.
Now, it seems like the Pure Gear mic has a mic/accept-drop/voicecommand feature, but no play/pause/fwd/rewind/volume features. Also, the Pure Gear mic is one of those ear canal buds that you need to shove half-way into your ear canal just to listen to (and even then, it flies off all the time on the treadmill.) I need to shove it so deep into my ear that I think pieces of my brain have stained the rubber on the earbuds. And it gives you an under-water feeling that is really uncomfortable.
Help Me!!! I am seriously considering dumping the Bionic and returning to an iPhone.
For non ex-iPhone users, here is what the freely-included apple earphones let you do from a 3 button control on the earphone wire:
1. The earphone has a mic (not a bulging mic, but frankly, at this point anything would be fine)
2. A middle button to accept a call or drop a call
3. A middle button pressed once to pause/play audio
4. A middle button pressed twice to forward a track, pressed thrice to rewind a track
5. A middle button pressed held down for voice commands
6. Volume controls via the top and bottom buttons
Now, as I complain about these missing features, Droid users keep telling me, why would you need this? Well, you just don't understand until you lose the features. Here are the enormous features I gained when I entered the iPhone world:
1. You don't need to take out and unlock your phone to play/pause. Great if you are walking outside and dont want to take your phone out on a busy street. Great if someone randomly asks you something...just pause and unpause without taking your phone out. For NYC subway users, great when a loud announcement breaks your concentration on an audiobook
2. You dont need to take out and unlock your phone to forward/rewind - great if youre on a treadmill and dont want your phone flying into the gears of your treadmill/elliptical. Also great not to have sweat all over your phone. Ditto on volume control, very very common requirement when in the gym, on the street, etc.
3. Note, say your in an NYC subway or bus, seated or standing like a sardine -- you cant just pull your phone out of your pocket each time just to do a simple play/pause/volume/fwd-rwd operation.
4. Note that when you take your phone out, unlock, use it, it consumes battery. Do this a hundred times and you've used up quite a bit. Droid users just seem to bear with it and dont play/pause/volume/fwd-rwd because they just cannot. But once you've used an iPhone you cant live without it.
Now, it seems like the Pure Gear mic has a mic/accept-drop/voicecommand feature, but no play/pause/fwd/rewind/volume features. Also, the Pure Gear mic is one of those ear canal buds that you need to shove half-way into your ear canal just to listen to (and even then, it flies off all the time on the treadmill.) I need to shove it so deep into my ear that I think pieces of my brain have stained the rubber on the earbuds. And it gives you an under-water feeling that is really uncomfortable.
Help Me!!! I am seriously considering dumping the Bionic and returning to an iPhone.
