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Help Very difficult time transitioning from iPhone 5 to the S4

avi8tir

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May 16, 2013
3
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I know that the S4 is an amazing phone. But this transition is about to drive me CRAZY!

The simplcity of syncing an iphone is great. Unless I am missing something (like, missing a train wreck right in front of my eyes) syncing the S4 is a nightmare.

FYI I have the 32GB with a 64GB mem card installed.

I have downloaded Kia and Smart Switch. Kia crashes 90% of the time... I cannot get it to load anything properly onto the phone....

I have about 18,000 photos on my PC... about 30GB or so. All organized into folders by date or event. Nice and neat. Yet when I transfer them to my phone, I lose all organization and it just throws all of them into one folder called "PICTURES"... so all of the structure from my PC is lost.

Music.... again.... about 30GB.... Kia crashes every time.

Then I discovered Smart Switch.... this program is even better! I am able to select certain sets of data from my iPhone backup... awesome! Except that it gets to 1% during the transfer and freezes EVERY TIME.

Itunes and iPhone is plug and play... no headaches. I have 12 more days in the window for returning the S4 and if I cant get this sorted, its going back.

Anyone have any tips or advice?
 
Sadly, syncing Android phones with a Mac (I have no experience of Windows) sucks utterly compared to using an iPhone.

I had an iPhone 3GS before I bought my previous phone, an S2. I went through what you are going through now and it was pretty painful.

The fact is that you will not find anything that works even half as well as iTines and an iPhone. Apple has this nailed, Google/Samsung aren't even close. The fact that I went on to buy an S4 shows that it wasn't a big enough issue to put me off Samsung phones but you won't find a good solution because there isn't one.

I use Syncmate to sync calendar and contacts and iSyncr to sync my music. It's not pretty though.
 
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If you have things in iTunes, you have to remember that it has its own way of doing things. That's where things are getting screwed up I think. It doesn't play nice with others. Android phones, when connected to a PC, are basically flash drives, simple as that.

When you hook up your S4, does it say it's connected as a media drive or as a camera? In this instance, I would think you'd want it connected as a media drive. If you want all of your pictures copied over from your computer, right click on the main folder, click 'Copy', then paste it where you want it on your phone, either the internal or external memory. It should copy everything over as-is, folders included. Unless, of course, they're in some sort of Apple format. It's difficult sometimes getting Apple software to work on non-Apple devices. They have their own formats and way of doing things. For example, if you have any iTunes movies or TV shows you've purchased, forget trying to put them on an Android device. There are ways, but it's not easy, and it may not be legal because you have to start by removing the copyright protection. I gave up trying. Luckily, syncing music is very easy.

For syncing your iTunes music, I've been using TuneSync and have been very happy with it. You download the app and a small program on your computer. It then allows you to sync your iTunes playlists wirelessly over your home WiFi network. It's super simple and the easiest way I've found. Others like DoubleTwist (and DoubleTwist Air), but I found it confusing.
 
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I have experienced both and I truly feel that Google's integration amongst platforms and devices is much more seamless than Apple. I would try to find someone you know that is halfway versed in Android to show you some things in person and they can get you comfortable in a short amount of time.
I am absolutely baffled as to how you could claim this.

With iTunes I just plugged my iPhone in, clicked a few buttons and everything synced and backed up reliably and quickly. It was easy, elegant and reliable.

With Android it is a horrible pig's ear. None of the solutions works smoothly and none did everything that iTunes did so easily and for free. I liked my S2 and I like my S4 but syncing is an absolute joke compared to the Apple ecosystem.
 
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I am absolutely baffled as to how you could claim this.

With iTunes I just plugged my iPhone in, clicked a few buttons and everything synced and backed up reliably and quickly. It was easy, elegant and reliable.

With Android it is a horrible pig's ear. None of the solutions works smoothly and none did everything that iTunes did so easily and for free. I liked my S2 and I like my S4 but syncing is an absolute joke compared to the Apple ecosystem.

Different strokes for different folks I suppose. Ease of use is subjective.

I actually prefer the ability to have everything synced without having to push any buttons. Have my files, apps, and all data backed up automatically. Syncing to cloud based accounts wirelessly without having to wait to get home or office on wifi. I have delved enough into both OS's to feel personally that iOS's integration, while easy to use for the average person, is hardly comprehensive for someone who uses many apps across multiple platforms.

But then again that's why I bought an S4 and not an iPhone. I say anyone who loves the iPhone should buy keep and stay with it. It's a great product and will satisfy the needs of most people. Just not mine!
 
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I am absolutely baffled as to how you could claim this.

With iTunes I just plugged my iPhone in, clicked a few buttons and everything synced and backed up reliably and quickly. It was easy, elegant and reliable.

With Android it is a horrible pig's ear. None of the solutions works smoothly and none did everything that iTunes did so easily and for free. I liked my S2 and I like my S4 but syncing is an absolute joke compared to the Apple ecosystem.

Syncing is application-based. Apple has iTunes, Android has Double twist & other apps. If you want to sync to iTunes, there's iSyncr. Syncing is just as easy on Android once you d/l the right apps. I sync my phone wirelessly and can sync both ways.
 
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Syncing is application-based. Apple has iTunes, Android has Double twist & other apps. If you want to sync to iTunes, there's iSyncr. Syncing is just as easy on Android once you d/l the right apps. I sync my phone wirelessly and can sync both ways.

The S4 is my third Android phone and I only connect them to a computer to "root" them. I use google music for my music and I use google+ for photos. My phone automatically sends my photos to google+ and I can them create folders on google+ to organize them. It is almost too easy, but it just works. It is just a new way of doing things, google is all about the cloud!!
 
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Syncing is application-based. Apple has iTunes, Android has Double twist & other apps. If you want to sync to iTunes, there's iSyncr. Syncing is just as easy on Android once you d/l the right apps. I sync my phone wirelessly and can sync both ways.
Part of the issue is that you do need more than one application and you have to find them first. iTunes syncs calendar, contacts, music, photos and performs backups without any setup and at the click of a single button. There is no equivalent in the Android world and I think that is a big drawback.

I prefer the freedom I get with Android, which is why I never went back to Apple but iTunes does it all and is already installed on the computer of any Apple user. With Android you have to spend ages (it literally took me a couple of weeks to find apps that I could even tolerate - I never found one that I was happy with) just trying to find something that sort of works.

I have far too much music and photos to store them in the cloud (about 120GB of music and 600GB of photos) and I would like to have a single application that I can sync to my computer with. I don't think that's unreasonable (after all Apple users have that out of the box) but so far, I haven't found anything that works half as well in the Android world.

I love my Android phone but I hate my Android syncing software.
 
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Part of the issue is that you do need more than one application and you have to find them first. iTunes syncs calendar, contacts, music, photos and performs backups without any setup and at the click of a single button. There is no equivalent in the Android world and I think that is a big drawback.

I prefer the freedom I get with Android, which is why I never went back to Apple but iTunes does it all and is already installed on the computer of any Apple user. With Android you have to spend ages (it literally took me a couple of weeks to find apps that I could even tolerate - I never found one that I was happy with) just trying to find something that sort of works.

I have far too much music and photos to store them in the cloud (about 120GB of music and 600GB of photos) and I would like to have a single application that I can sync to my computer with. I don't think that's unreasonable (after all Apple users have that out of the box) but so far, I haven't found anything that works half as well in the Android world.

I love my Android phone but I hate my Android syncing software.

Music - Download and install the sync app from the google music website. It will sync your music to/from itunes with google's cloud. Then use the built in google music app, set it and forget it.

Photos - Google+, built in app and web access from an web connected device.

Contacts - Built into GMAIL

Calendar - Built into GMAIL

I understand you have a lot of music and photos, but it can be done pretty easily.

I have all my photos going automatically to Google+ and to Dropbox. I also wrote an Automator script on my iMac to monitor my Dropbox camera folder and when a new photo arrives it Automator picks it up, starts (if necessary) iPhoto and places it into a folder named Android. I then at my convenience move those photos to an appropriate folder in iPhoto. But, I am getting ready to stop this as I am finding Google+ much more appealing and the fact they now allow up to 15gb of data in your google "cloud" (email, photos and drive), and if you need more you can buy it.

Once you buy into this ecosystem like you did into Apple's ecosystem, you will like it just as much, especially if you lose your hard drive on your computer :)
 
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LOL. Like I said before, just use iSyncr. It syncs directly with iTunes. That's only one of the many solutions. I don't understand people who complain about something and do nothing about it. Even when the solution is right in front of them.
You clearly didn't read my posts very carefully.

As I said earlier, I am already using iSyncr to sync with iTunes and SyncMate to sync my calendar and contacts. Neither is a patch on iTunes but they do more or less work.

I am complaining with good reason but I have done something about it. The solution wasn't in front of me though. It took a couple of weeks of testing crap applications as well as having to de-dupe my calendar about 5 times before I found any solutions that were even remotely tolerable.
 
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Once you buy into this ecosystem like you did into Apple's ecosystem, you will like it just as much, especially if you lose your hard drive on your computer :)
You are quite right that some of this would have been easier were I just to hand over all my data to Google but I don't want to do that.

With Apple, the option to use iCloud is there but I haven't taken it. I am reluctant to trust anyone with sensitive information unnecessarily so I want my data to be stored on my Mac, not on either Google's or Apple's servers.

The difference between Apple and Google is that Google will only help if you give them your data. Apple doesn't require that. Also, the 50GB Dropbox account I now have (actually 55 as I already had a 5GB Dropbox account) and 15GB for Google+ (which I don't want to join) will only store half of my music let alone all my photos.

I never said any of this couldn't be done with an Android phone, but iTunes works seamlessly and a single program did everything I need. In the Android world it's a ragbag of ugly (and they are ugly) programs plus total surrender to the Googleborg before any of this can be done and we have barely touched on the issue of backing up, which opens a whole new can of worms.
 
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It's a major switch over. Apple owns people and that is the reason I will never use them. I was done when I spent a week removing DRM from their music so I could play it on a Zune. How the hell is right that I legally purchase music and Apple says I cannot play it on another music player? I even got an Ipad for xmas and and gave it too my daughter.

I have 1 ipod for my car and use Media Monkey as I refuse to even load itunes on my cpu.

I get that right now going back to iphone seems easier for what you are trying to accomplish but remember it is Apples controlling that is causing the issues. Not Android. Hope you stick with it. You will be happier in the long run.
 
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Please explain to me using google+ for photos as I have not tried that yet. Most importantly what about photos you dont want the world to see? I dont want every photo public. Is there any control there? Thx



Music - Download and install the sync app from the google music website. It will sync your music to/from itunes with google's cloud. Then use the built in google music app, set it and forget it.

Photos - Google+, built in app and web access from an web connected device.

Contacts - Built into GMAIL

Calendar - Built into GMAIL

I understand you have a lot of music and photos, but it can be done pretty easily.

I have all my photos going automatically to Google+ and to Dropbox. I also wrote an Automator script on my iMac to monitor my Dropbox camera folder and when a new photo arrives it Automator picks it up, starts (if necessary) iPhoto and places it into a folder named Android. I then at my convenience move those photos to an appropriate folder in iPhoto. But, I am getting ready to stop this as I am finding Google+ much more appealing and the fact they now allow up to 15gb of data in your google "cloud" (email, photos and drive), and if you need more you can buy it.

Once you buy into this ecosystem like you did into Apple's ecosystem, you will like it just as much, especially if you lose your hard drive on your computer :)
 
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You clearly didn't read my posts very carefully.

As I said earlier, I am already using iSyncr to sync with iTunes and SyncMate to sync my calendar and contacts. Neither is a patch on iTunes but they do more or less work.

I am complaining with good reason but I have done something about it. The solution wasn't in front of me though. It took a couple of weeks of testing crap applications as well as having to de-dupe my calendar about 5 times before I found any solutions that were even remotely tolerable.

No, I didn't. Your posts are very long, so who can blame me. I just read the "I love my android phone, but I hate my syncing software"
Now I see why you're having problems. Mac is not as compatible as Windows. Also, you are one of the few android users who doesn't use Google to sync your contact & Outlook for your calendar (I guess u don't work @ a office). If you did, problem solved.
 
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Please explain to me using google+ for photos as I have not tried that yet. Most importantly what about photos you dont want the world to see? I dont want every photo public. Is there any control there? Thx

https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1304818?hl=en

At the bottom it explains that photos are uploaded to your private album. Then if you want to share it out you would do it throught google+.
 
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