I'm in the same place. I love my Note2. Best phone I have ever owned. Since AT&T pushed out the last update my phone life has been brutal.

I'm waiting for the September unveilings so I can decide between iPhone 6 and the Note4. I will also be leaving AT&T and moving to Verizon.

There are really clear pros and cons to both Android and Apple operating systems. As well as clear pros and cons to iPhones vs. Note.

I don't think I can go back to a small screen. I used a friends iPhone last week and my poor OLD eyes. I am excited about the potential of a large screen iPhone, as well as a number of the features and improvements rumored in the iphone 6

My Note2 has been a very powerful business tool. I run and edit powerpoint presentations and excel spreadsheets, multi-task etc. Google Now has become very useful for my day-to-day and travel routines. Wish I could financially justify a Note for business and iphone for personal.

The other factor for me is that it is also time for a tablet replacement. Currently have an Ipad. I think my phone choice may effect my tablet choice. I like having an android phone and a Ipad as I get to experience the best of both systems.

I will buy the new iphone if it has NFC and a bigger screen. I know a lot of you don't care about NFC and I used to think that way too until I got my Galaxy S5 a few months ago. Now I pay for most purchases (up to 100$) via my phone (my bank has a Mastercard PayPass app), I use my phone for public transit and to unlock the gate at my girlfriend's aparment complex. It is a great technology and I really want to see it on the next iphone. As for the bigger screen, anything below 5' is too small as far as I'm concerned.

I own a Moto X. Best. Phone. Ever. I'm a huge Android fan but I think competition really helps the smartphone market (everyone wins, the manufacturers and the customers). One thing that I would really want Apple to do is open the phone up and stop locking it down like the Gestapo (sorry, I had to steal that from another poster in FT). That's the one thing that's driven me away from Apple for a long time. For example, to transfer anything to the iPhone (if possible!), you need to go through the piece of sh#t that is iTunes.

Then, every iPhone's homescreen looks almost exactly the same (the biggest "customization" you can do is change the wallpaper). My Moto X is modded with Nova Launcher, Swiftkey, etc and it won't look like anybody else's. Granted they are doing this with iOS 8 but the improvements are miniscule.

This has been mostly about software. For a hardware example, the screws on the iPhone are patented by Apple so anyone who makes a screwdriver to open it can be sued. ...? Make the battery replaceable, let users add a microSD card. Apple probably won't do this though.

====WARNING: These opinions are my own. Slight Apple bashing ahead. If you like Apple, stop reading NOW.====

Most users of Apple products probably won't care about this TBH; and their biggest fanboys will probably complain about the choices if not applaud Apple for their "revolutionary" move.

If Android phones worked with iMessage and FaceTime, I would switch in a heartbeat.

(Oh and Passbook is nice, too, but nowhere near as critical.)

What about PhotoStream? Yeah those are the reasons that I am going to switch back to iPhone 6 from my Note 2. The last 3 years, I had been cut off from my family's photo sharing and group conversation.

Question is, is iPHone just of appeal to Apple eco-system users.

I prefer the iPhone now because having one company responsible for hardware and software provides a tighter more integrated experience.

I'm looking forward to iOS 8 with better third party integrations.

Well there are reports this morning that they will be using an NFC chip from a company called NXP.

Imagine if they got a useful mobile payment system going so that Americans don't have to wait until the banks issue true Chip and PIN cards to use them overseas.

The terms of most of my credit cards say no bonus points when using NFC/mobile wallets.

Every card that I've received in the last 1.5 years has had the chip, and they do work in Europe (and oddly enough at my local Walmart).

But chip and PIN cards are rare, so far.

There are plenty of old and new US credit cards that don't have chips. I'd say they're still the majority, in fact, although they are becoming more common.

Only to Americans.

I was just in Scandinavia and NFC was in use in many places - particularly places that offered paper tickets - Subways, trains, sporting venues - used NFC (so quite a few Android devices observed).

It was also fun without a Chip and PIN card... (Good thing is that my Visa ATM card worked any place that took a card with a magnetic strip)

Jim

You mean like Google Wallet and ISIS have been offering for years now? I made my first contactless payment using my phone back in 2012. But I'm sure Apple will be able to "reinvent" it.

Yeah but those things never took off.

Google caved to Verizon, keeping off Google Wallet off Verizon Android phones for awhile at least.

There were MP3 players before iPod and smart phones before iPhone.

And tablet PCs before iPad.

Merchants value iPhone users more than Android users.