16 days, 4 countries, 2 smartphones (and 2 tablets) on a Christmas vacation in Eastern europe.
First the good news, then I have 1 burning question at the end about a terrible app that has taken over my phone.
1) My primary travel use case; before and during a trip
2) My background with hand helds
3) What made me try something else besides my iPhone
First I tried Plan A,
Then I realized I needed a Plan B, then C, and D ...
4) Observations from holiday vacation usage
Using both a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and an iPhone 5; the great and the terrible of both.
========== 1) My primary travel use case
Before traveling to a new place, whether two cities over for recreation or a continent away for work or vacation, we use Google Maps to put pushpins on:
- Places we plan to visit (our definite POIs, Points of Interest)
- Places that would be fun to visit if we can make a couple hours free outside of the already determined itinerary.
- Good nearby food options and which to avoid.
Then, in the moment, we just look at the Google Maps "My Places" map and make a very fast decision based on what's closest. ( Or, if we don't have time to research what you specifically might like in advance, Yahoo Time Traveler is handy if in a major city. )
I'd guess that the general need behind this use case is pretty common -
1) Before you go travel to a new place, you look up a couple places where you need or want to go.
2) You try to remember what you found,
or you make a written or online notes on it,
or you add to contacts with tags that makes it easily findable
(example: for things to do in New York City at night, I suffix their business name with "NYC, night" then I can easily search and find the info next month or next year.)
However, even Google does not accomplish the during-travel part of this use case well.
Ex: On our vacation last Christmas, a day tour ended very close to a Franz Kafka thing I wanted to visit in Prague. I didn't look at Maps because I knew the way back, so I didn't realize I was near it.
I needed a little Google Now card or something to pop up and say, "Do you realize you are near a POI you pushpin'd ?"
Just like how Google Field Trip can alert you when you are near a historical place or something that it thinks you might find interesting. I simply want an alert near places I know I find interesting - the ones that I already have pushpin'd in My Places in Google Maps.
The Google Maps blogger says that they have nailed all the Maps use cases. They have not. The above is a very straightforward one. Plus, sharing "My Places" maps with co-travelers is really buggy.
When at home, my primary use case for Maps is that it's the fastest way to add business info to my contact list.
... "Add to Contacts"
========== 2) My history with hand helds
I've been purchasing apps for handheld devices since the Palm III and Palm V. I would file my index fingernail a certain way to scribble notes faster with Graffiti.
Back then, purchasing and installing a simple yet very useful financial analysis app was like an over-the-river-and-through-the-woods series of steps compared to the elegance of Apple's App Store today.
========== 3) What made me try something else besides my iPhone
I never thought I'd consider using anything but an iPhone. And especially not an Android. Android's hyper-masculine marketing "DROID... Razor.. MAX .... Ultra... BAM!" seems silly. I am not a robot I am a human.
As a traveler for work and fun, I am completely embedded in the Apple iPhone app ecosystem. I create one app folder per city, and add at least a couple city-specific apps while planning for the trip. And I don't delete them afterwards. I might only go to Philadelphia once every other year, but I do not want use precious pre-trip minutes to find and re-install those same 5 apps that were great the first time and that are still useful today. One side effect of this + loving Downcast is that I used all the space on my 32gb iPhone 3GS and 4. And yes, I get out-of-space warnings now on my 64gb iPhone5 now too).
We'd been planning a family vacation to occur December 2012 for about 9 months using Google Maps "My Places" feature. Each person added their favorite POIs as a pushpin on each city's map. Grad school exams dictated the trip's timing, but on the good, we saw the Christmas season as expressed in eastern Europe and didn't freeze to death
.
I had assumed we would simply use the iPhone to navigate when needed. Since Mophies weren't available for the iPhone5, I had purchased one of those external power chargers that are vital to have but really clunky to use your phone with at the same time it's charging. While traveling, my iPhones have rarely lasted an entire day.
Plan A: Apple Maps on the iPhone 5
So I heard the complaints about Apple maps but thought they were probably overblown.
However, when I saw that Apple Maps could not properly locate my several of my key Points of Interest (POIs), or worse, it put them in the wrong place, I realized Apple Maps was going to be unusable for us during our first real vacation in 2 years. When you are on vacation in an unfamiliar place, you don't want to spend precious minutes being lost. Moreover, when you are on vacation in the winter, you really don't want to spend minutes lost in frozen Eastern Europe, especially when daylights ends at 4pm-ish.
Plus, since Apple Maps assumes driving directions, it would have routed us on a 20 minute journey when it could take 5 min by foot. Even if Apple Maps had all the POIs right, not having walking directions meant a lot of wasted time and more risk after dark, since most of our city exploring was going to be mostly on foot, especially in Prague.
Plan B: Google Maps via a link to the website from my iPhone5 home screen
No biggie, I thought, I'll just put a Google Maps icon on my main screen and use it like that, like Tim Cook suggested. However, using Google Maps via a web link instead of a real iOS app was a lot clunkier than I ever expected. Plus some navigational functionality seemed to be missing or harder to do.
In the moment of realization, I felt deserted by Apple. 9 months of family adding their wishlist of POIs, with notes added on top of the POI pushpins to remember specific things when in the moment, was about to be for naught. I was very happy to hear that exec who made the decision or who was responsible for forcing Apple Maps as the iPhone5 default was fired.
So... what to do.
Plan C: Buy a Garmin
Considered a Garmin with Euro maps. But over the past 9 months, we had labeled all POIs of interest for each city in our Google Maps account. Yes I do realize you can export and import the KML files to a Garmin. I have done this. It creates an extra step, takes extra time, and it doesn't allow for spontaneity during the trip, unless you want to redundantly add each new POI to both Google Maps and on the Garmin.
Plus, I'd have the same battery life problem. The last time I used a Garmin to navigate San Francisco over Thanksgiving a couple years ago, both it and my iPhone ran out of power before the evening ended.
Plan D: See if Google Maps on an Android would work
Within a couple minutes in a Sprint store, I was very relieved to see that google on a Note 2 included "My Maps", and that Google maps could correctly locate and give beautiful walking directions with street view between my Prague hotel and the pub I remembered off the top 10 pubs list. I looked at the Note 2 vs the Galaxy S 3. But bigger really was better.
I now realize that the maximum phone size that I would ever purchase is one that enables me to get a firm, one-handed grip from side to side with the phone in a silicone sleeve while using it. By that metric, the Note 2 can grow a little and that would be fine with me. Any phone that size could also be dropped in my purse easily.
Am I worried about "how it looks holding that big thing against my ear?"
No.
I almost never hold my iPhone against my ear either. I either use bluetooth or the speakerphone while talking on the phone and multitasking. Walking around, away from the screen, while on conference calls or friend calls, helps me focus on the content and not be distracted by my laptop. I especially would not choose to hold the phone up against my ear while walking around an unfamiliar place.
(tangent: Those LeBron James Note 2 commercials cracked me up. His palm-a-basketball hands could make any phablet look normal size.
I thought the iPad Mini would fulfill this use case. However, it does not. I purchased one for the trip and then returned it. It is too big; too wide. I can not grip it securely with one hand.
So I decided to order an AT&T Galaxy Note 2 and take on another contract because I did not want to let the Apple's maps fiasco make us waste time and get lost on a family vacation we'd been looking forward to for a long time. I don't know whether the Note 2 was definitely the right choice vs everything else out there - I only compared the Note2 to the S3 and made a fast decision. But I do know that just trying to make the iPhone5 work would have been a bad decision.
To minimize the monthly cost impact, I abandoned my AT&T unlimited data plan for a family 4gb plan. I should have done this long ago because tethering my laptop with LTE speeds turns out to be VERY handy. It's loads faster and probably more secure than using slow hotel WiFi.
Then, just before I left in December, Google Maps came out for the iPhone5.
========== 4) Observations from holiday vacation usage
Based on using the both my iPhone 5 and Galaxy Notes II to navigate for 16 days in 4 countries and a lot of new cities in the December in Europe and UK, Google Maps on the Note 2 provided a much better navigation tool than Google Maps on the iPhone for the reasons below.
The caveat is that I do appreciate iOS Google Maps overall improved aesthetic - the fonts seem more airy and chic.
All of these reasons are correctable by Apple, which is why I'm taking the time to write this out. Yes, maybe its unrealistic to hope that someone from Apple will read this and make these changes, but here's hoping...
========== Why I preferred the Note 2 for navigation while on vacation
..... 0) A pre-requisite for being 'in the ball park' as a device comparable to my iPhone5 is that I wanted to find all the same apps for each city that I intended on using. Much to my surprise, I could. I definitely had not expected this. I thought I'd miss a lot of apps. I expected the Google Play store to be either sparse or just full of games (it IS called PLAY...)
Example: Google Play had both London Transport apps Journey Pro and Tube Map Pro and others just like Apple's App Store did. The same TripAdvisor apps were there, both for specific cities as well as the general TripAdvisor app. And its usage was almost identical, not at all clunky like Tim Cook showed in one of his pitches.
The only app I really really miss is Awesome Note. It puts a beautiful interface and local syncing on Evernote). But it looks like this is coming to Android soon since Samsung is going to pre-install it on its Note 8. So I used Google Drive on the Note 2 instead.
Why I preferred the Note 2 to the iPhone5 for navigation:
70% of why: 1) It's bigger but still small enough. It has a bigger, just as beautiful screen that is still small enough to confidently grip with 1 hand, even when in a mitton (with conductive thread sewn on the index fingertip area).
The iPhone5 and the Note2 both have beautiful screens. But the Note2 has a bigger screen that lets me see more of everything. More of the map, more of the email, more of the news, more of the video. more of the web page at once.
Also, the Note 2 gives gorgeous directions. Google Maps defaults to a prettier view than on the iPhone5. I could look at these pictures before we left 1 place, zoom in, and never need to refer to directions again. The picture would "imprint" on my brain.
And when I became too fatigued for that,
ex: Day 16 in London - it was raining hard, dark out at 5pm, and I was freezing (winter hat lost somewhere on a Berlin strasse..)
I activated turn by turn navigation and listened for directions as we walked quickly through crowded streets, with 1 hand on umbrella and the other hand in mitton with a death grip on my Note 2 in a silicone case trying to keep it dry near the center of the umbrella. I could not have done that with the iPad Mini (too big for 1 handed secure grip) and the iPhone 5 presents a much smaller picture.
30% of why: 2) Replaceable batteries
Suddenly, this old concept seems like a great new idea again.
I bought 4 (yes, four) spare Samsung Galaxy Notes 2 batteries so that there was no chance I'd run out while using it almost 24x7 on the trip, and I didn't! Notes 2 batteries were $25 each with a 50% off Samsung coupon. Each came with a separate desktop charger. ]
I now never have to worry about not being running out of power while on the road and needing to find a "pay phone" or ask to borrow someone else's cell. No one has ever said no, but still, I'd rather not have to ask. My Mophie for the 3GS worked OK, but the one I bought for the 4 was lame; it seemed to charge only a fraction as well or as much. I made the time to test the next charger I bought, and it charged 25% less than it claimed it would.
But with these little thin Samsung batteries that weigh a couple ounces, I have no worries about needing to find places to re-charge until at least day 3, probably day 4. To me, this is a big deal.
AND
The Note2 removes another small annoyance:
Needing to use the phone to finalize next day plans while tethered and charging.
- Once I get back to the hotel room, I don't have to use the phone tethered to the charger.
Ex: At night when we got back to the hotel, I just inserted the 3/4 used battery into the dedicated battery charger, and put a fresh one into the phone for evening use. Then repeat the next morning at 7am.
I have fallen asleep while using my iPhone to do this while sitting against the wall in a hotel room while it is charging near the only available outlet.
I even had enough power for the Note2 on the outbound to London with:
- A 23 hour layover in Miami. (The joys of booking a flight courtesy of frequent flier mileage, though this day and the same layover back via London was actually really fun.) We spent the final 13 hours before the flight to London touring and on the beach; well away from electrical outlets.
- Then, a full day in London which began the minute we landed, including getting in the middle of a Santa flash mob outside of St Paul's Cathedral.
Mophies weren't available yet before my December trip for the iPhone5, so I bought one of those NewTrent power chargers. Any of those chargers seem clunky when you actually have to use the phone and charge it at the same time.
However, after getting on the Miami flight to London, I fell asleep before I remembered to plug the NewTrent charger into my iPhone. So a couple hours into the London day, my iPhone 5's power ended, and my heavy NewTrent charger was in my luggage at the Left Luggage place at Victoria station. Thankfully I could access all our vacation notes via Evernote and Google Drive on the Note 2 so it didn't matter.
Swapping in a new battery was no problem for the Note 2 - I had 2 very light and thin replacement batteries in my purse.
3) Google Now
Google Now is like having a psychic inside of my phone.
On the way to Miami airport from the beach, it accurately predicted how long it would take. I wasn't going to check because I thought we were too far north for much traffic, but the card popped up and made me realize we'd better leave. Then vivid maps showed exactly where the log jams would be in red/yellow, and when we had 5 seconds to make the "do we take a different route or not" decision at a light, it helped there too. (that was more Google Maps than Google now)
and one fun thing 4) Unexpected feature of Google Translate that prompted "way cool!" responses:
Take a picture of a menu in a foreign language. Smudge your finger over the words on the picture that you want translated. Voila...
Menu in Austria translated by taking a picture of it!
I'd guess that this is possible on the iPhone 5, but the bigger screen makes it more usable.
========== In regular usage, things I like better about my Samsung Note 2
1) ..... The invisible 'back' key creates a significantly improved experience on the Note2
The Note2 provides a better day to day usage experience. For me, mostly due to the back key.
I call it "the invisible 'back' key". It's that invisible area to the right of the home button.
It's not indented like the home button is. It just lights up and is touch sensitive. Its function is to take you back to where you were 1 step ago.
That back key means I enjoy a lot of apps much better on the Note2 than my iPhone.
Example A: If I go from any app to Maps then I want to go back, I just tap "back back once or twice". The same key on the bottom right all the time. I don't have to Home Button out and reload the app.
On the iPhone, Yelp has a "Done" key on the top right. Or, sometimes, I have to home-button out of a browser link, find the folder where app is located, and reload it. (I find myself trying to tap an invisible "back" key on the iPhone in that empty dark space to the right of the home button out of habit now. But on the iPhone, tapping there does nothing.)
Example A: On the iPhone, the back key changes locations from app to app, or even within the same app !!
Example of an annoying same-application change of location of the back key: TechCrunch's back key is sometimes top-most left. Then after the advertisement loads, it's slightly lower. This makes it easy to hit an advertisement instead of the back button. VERY annoying.
Even now when I read, I take the extra step to retrieve my Note 2 from instead my purse, even though my iPhone 5 is in a more handy to reach case outside my purse. (Before I left I didn't find a case with a clip that I liked for the Note 2, so it stays inside my purse.)
2) ..... A slick feature of the Google Play store when accessing it from a PC or Mac on the web
I can load and install apps faster with Google Play than the App Store because Google Play has some very useful and time-saving web features.
The Google Play store has a slick feature where I can tell it to load an app on my Android device the next time that device gets on wifi. I can also specify which Android device to load which app on to, or all of them (for the trip I also purchased an (unlocked) Google Nexus 7 and an iPad Mini to keep everyone occupied on planes and trains - no one checked luggage.)
I can install Google Play apps all while on my laptop when my Google Nexus 7 is at home, or a work 24" monitor in portrait mode that enables me to quickly scan reviews.
The downside of Google Play is that its app reviews are much less useful than Apple's App Store reviews. When all apps in a category are rated 5 stars. and many have lame 1 sentence reviews where its not obvious the user did anything USEFUL, it's not helpful.
Also in the category of "what's old seems new again"
3) ..... I love how EASY it is to move files to my Note2. I simply copy the file from one folder to another, and shazam, there it is.
Example: To move a movie file on my Note 2, I simply
- plug the it in to my laptop via USB,
- it shows up as an external hard drive
- i copy from one folder to another.
I don't have to figure out how to get a movie file there using iTunes. I could not explain to you, off the top of my head, how to do that using iTunes. I'd have to re-read my post asking about it. Then, I'd have to re-read how to find it.
Plus, iTunes' developers sometimes define the word "sync" to mean "delete". Why do they do that? My theory is the developers on the iTunes for Windows team are put there as a punishment, so they do things to us, the users, like tell you iTunes will delete everything when you really just want iTunes to SYNC everything. Even Palm V developers knew the definition of the word SYNC.
4) I can move files to that the Note2 from a folder on any laptop or desktop I have.
I can only move files to my iPhone from my old laptop that has iTunes installed from my iPhone 3GS days. The laptop that I now use only for the purposes of Syncing my iPhone and backing up the contact / cal / music data to Outlook.
Changing laptops used for iTunes syncing is a big deal. I need to re-research how to do this.
Plus, 2 out of 4 times Restore has failed me when I really needed it to work. Changing laptops might cause a future Restore to fail.
========== Here's the one terrible thing about my Note 2:
One of those apps I would flash a full screen ad once a day on my Galaxy Note 2.
When I opened my Note, A screen fulls of apps and the question, "Do you want to download a free app" becomes my splash screen every couple hours. It was maddening. This probably cost me a bunch in extra roaming charges during that trip.
------------- Edit: I used Ad Network Detector to figure it out. It was a Vienna subway app by Illicit Media, if I remember correctly. Name should have been a tipoff.
I don't know which Feral app has done this. Can you tell from this pic ?
The other big problem I have with my Note 2 is that I can't make the security unlock code "stick". I add an unlock code to it. Then it goes away.
To fix these 2 problems, I'd like to take my Note 2 to bare bones - where it was when I received it. Then I'll carefully add apps 1 by 1.
Any suggestions on how to do this?
First the good news, then I have 1 burning question at the end about a terrible app that has taken over my phone.
1) My primary travel use case; before and during a trip
2) My background with hand helds
3) What made me try something else besides my iPhone
First I tried Plan A,
Then I realized I needed a Plan B, then C, and D ...
4) Observations from holiday vacation usage
Using both a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and an iPhone 5; the great and the terrible of both.
========== 1) My primary travel use case
Before traveling to a new place, whether two cities over for recreation or a continent away for work or vacation, we use Google Maps to put pushpins on:
- Places we plan to visit (our definite POIs, Points of Interest)
- Places that would be fun to visit if we can make a couple hours free outside of the already determined itinerary.
- Good nearby food options and which to avoid.
Then, in the moment, we just look at the Google Maps "My Places" map and make a very fast decision based on what's closest. ( Or, if we don't have time to research what you specifically might like in advance, Yahoo Time Traveler is handy if in a major city. )
I'd guess that the general need behind this use case is pretty common -
1) Before you go travel to a new place, you look up a couple places where you need or want to go.
2) You try to remember what you found,
or you make a written or online notes on it,
or you add to contacts with tags that makes it easily findable
(example: for things to do in New York City at night, I suffix their business name with "NYC, night" then I can easily search and find the info next month or next year.)
However, even Google does not accomplish the during-travel part of this use case well.
Ex: On our vacation last Christmas, a day tour ended very close to a Franz Kafka thing I wanted to visit in Prague. I didn't look at Maps because I knew the way back, so I didn't realize I was near it.
I needed a little Google Now card or something to pop up and say, "Do you realize you are near a POI you pushpin'd ?"
Just like how Google Field Trip can alert you when you are near a historical place or something that it thinks you might find interesting. I simply want an alert near places I know I find interesting - the ones that I already have pushpin'd in My Places in Google Maps.
The Google Maps blogger says that they have nailed all the Maps use cases. They have not. The above is a very straightforward one. Plus, sharing "My Places" maps with co-travelers is really buggy.
When at home, my primary use case for Maps is that it's the fastest way to add business info to my contact list.
... "Add to Contacts"
========== 2) My history with hand helds
I've been purchasing apps for handheld devices since the Palm III and Palm V. I would file my index fingernail a certain way to scribble notes faster with Graffiti.
Back then, purchasing and installing a simple yet very useful financial analysis app was like an over-the-river-and-through-the-woods series of steps compared to the elegance of Apple's App Store today.
========== 3) What made me try something else besides my iPhone
I never thought I'd consider using anything but an iPhone. And especially not an Android. Android's hyper-masculine marketing "DROID... Razor.. MAX .... Ultra... BAM!" seems silly. I am not a robot I am a human.
As a traveler for work and fun, I am completely embedded in the Apple iPhone app ecosystem. I create one app folder per city, and add at least a couple city-specific apps while planning for the trip. And I don't delete them afterwards. I might only go to Philadelphia once every other year, but I do not want use precious pre-trip minutes to find and re-install those same 5 apps that were great the first time and that are still useful today. One side effect of this + loving Downcast is that I used all the space on my 32gb iPhone 3GS and 4. And yes, I get out-of-space warnings now on my 64gb iPhone5 now too).
We'd been planning a family vacation to occur December 2012 for about 9 months using Google Maps "My Places" feature. Each person added their favorite POIs as a pushpin on each city's map. Grad school exams dictated the trip's timing, but on the good, we saw the Christmas season as expressed in eastern Europe and didn't freeze to death
. I had assumed we would simply use the iPhone to navigate when needed. Since Mophies weren't available for the iPhone5, I had purchased one of those external power chargers that are vital to have but really clunky to use your phone with at the same time it's charging. While traveling, my iPhones have rarely lasted an entire day.
Plan A: Apple Maps on the iPhone 5
So I heard the complaints about Apple maps but thought they were probably overblown.
However, when I saw that Apple Maps could not properly locate my several of my key Points of Interest (POIs), or worse, it put them in the wrong place, I realized Apple Maps was going to be unusable for us during our first real vacation in 2 years. When you are on vacation in an unfamiliar place, you don't want to spend precious minutes being lost. Moreover, when you are on vacation in the winter, you really don't want to spend minutes lost in frozen Eastern Europe, especially when daylights ends at 4pm-ish.
Plus, since Apple Maps assumes driving directions, it would have routed us on a 20 minute journey when it could take 5 min by foot. Even if Apple Maps had all the POIs right, not having walking directions meant a lot of wasted time and more risk after dark, since most of our city exploring was going to be mostly on foot, especially in Prague.
Plan B: Google Maps via a link to the website from my iPhone5 home screen
No biggie, I thought, I'll just put a Google Maps icon on my main screen and use it like that, like Tim Cook suggested. However, using Google Maps via a web link instead of a real iOS app was a lot clunkier than I ever expected. Plus some navigational functionality seemed to be missing or harder to do.
In the moment of realization, I felt deserted by Apple. 9 months of family adding their wishlist of POIs, with notes added on top of the POI pushpins to remember specific things when in the moment, was about to be for naught. I was very happy to hear that exec who made the decision or who was responsible for forcing Apple Maps as the iPhone5 default was fired.
So... what to do.
Plan C: Buy a Garmin
Considered a Garmin with Euro maps. But over the past 9 months, we had labeled all POIs of interest for each city in our Google Maps account. Yes I do realize you can export and import the KML files to a Garmin. I have done this. It creates an extra step, takes extra time, and it doesn't allow for spontaneity during the trip, unless you want to redundantly add each new POI to both Google Maps and on the Garmin.
Plus, I'd have the same battery life problem. The last time I used a Garmin to navigate San Francisco over Thanksgiving a couple years ago, both it and my iPhone ran out of power before the evening ended.
Plan D: See if Google Maps on an Android would work
Within a couple minutes in a Sprint store, I was very relieved to see that google on a Note 2 included "My Maps", and that Google maps could correctly locate and give beautiful walking directions with street view between my Prague hotel and the pub I remembered off the top 10 pubs list. I looked at the Note 2 vs the Galaxy S 3. But bigger really was better.
I now realize that the maximum phone size that I would ever purchase is one that enables me to get a firm, one-handed grip from side to side with the phone in a silicone sleeve while using it. By that metric, the Note 2 can grow a little and that would be fine with me. Any phone that size could also be dropped in my purse easily.
Am I worried about "how it looks holding that big thing against my ear?"
No.
I almost never hold my iPhone against my ear either. I either use bluetooth or the speakerphone while talking on the phone and multitasking. Walking around, away from the screen, while on conference calls or friend calls, helps me focus on the content and not be distracted by my laptop. I especially would not choose to hold the phone up against my ear while walking around an unfamiliar place.
(tangent: Those LeBron James Note 2 commercials cracked me up. His palm-a-basketball hands could make any phablet look normal size
.I thought the iPad Mini would fulfill this use case. However, it does not. I purchased one for the trip and then returned it. It is too big; too wide. I can not grip it securely with one hand.
So I decided to order an AT&T Galaxy Note 2 and take on another contract because I did not want to let the Apple's maps fiasco make us waste time and get lost on a family vacation we'd been looking forward to for a long time. I don't know whether the Note 2 was definitely the right choice vs everything else out there - I only compared the Note2 to the S3 and made a fast decision. But I do know that just trying to make the iPhone5 work would have been a bad decision.
To minimize the monthly cost impact, I abandoned my AT&T unlimited data plan for a family 4gb plan. I should have done this long ago because tethering my laptop with LTE speeds turns out to be VERY handy. It's loads faster and probably more secure than using slow hotel WiFi.
Then, just before I left in December, Google Maps came out for the iPhone5.
========== 4) Observations from holiday vacation usage
Based on using the both my iPhone 5 and Galaxy Notes II to navigate for 16 days in 4 countries and a lot of new cities in the December in Europe and UK, Google Maps on the Note 2 provided a much better navigation tool than Google Maps on the iPhone for the reasons below.
The caveat is that I do appreciate iOS Google Maps overall improved aesthetic - the fonts seem more airy and chic.
All of these reasons are correctable by Apple, which is why I'm taking the time to write this out. Yes, maybe its unrealistic to hope that someone from Apple will read this and make these changes, but here's hoping...
========== Why I preferred the Note 2 for navigation while on vacation
..... 0) A pre-requisite for being 'in the ball park' as a device comparable to my iPhone5 is that I wanted to find all the same apps for each city that I intended on using. Much to my surprise, I could. I definitely had not expected this. I thought I'd miss a lot of apps. I expected the Google Play store to be either sparse or just full of games (it IS called PLAY...)
Example: Google Play had both London Transport apps Journey Pro and Tube Map Pro and others just like Apple's App Store did. The same TripAdvisor apps were there, both for specific cities as well as the general TripAdvisor app. And its usage was almost identical, not at all clunky like Tim Cook showed in one of his pitches.
The only app I really really miss is Awesome Note. It puts a beautiful interface and local syncing on Evernote). But it looks like this is coming to Android soon since Samsung is going to pre-install it on its Note 8. So I used Google Drive on the Note 2 instead.
Why I preferred the Note 2 to the iPhone5 for navigation:
70% of why: 1) It's bigger but still small enough. It has a bigger, just as beautiful screen that is still small enough to confidently grip with 1 hand, even when in a mitton (with conductive thread sewn on the index fingertip area).
The iPhone5 and the Note2 both have beautiful screens. But the Note2 has a bigger screen that lets me see more of everything. More of the map, more of the email, more of the news, more of the video. more of the web page at once.
Also, the Note 2 gives gorgeous directions. Google Maps defaults to a prettier view than on the iPhone5. I could look at these pictures before we left 1 place, zoom in, and never need to refer to directions again. The picture would "imprint" on my brain.
And when I became too fatigued for that,
ex: Day 16 in London - it was raining hard, dark out at 5pm, and I was freezing (winter hat lost somewhere on a Berlin strasse..)
I activated turn by turn navigation and listened for directions as we walked quickly through crowded streets, with 1 hand on umbrella and the other hand in mitton with a death grip on my Note 2 in a silicone case trying to keep it dry near the center of the umbrella. I could not have done that with the iPad Mini (too big for 1 handed secure grip) and the iPhone 5 presents a much smaller picture.
30% of why: 2) Replaceable batteries
Suddenly, this old concept seems like a great new idea again.
I bought 4 (yes, four) spare Samsung Galaxy Notes 2 batteries so that there was no chance I'd run out while using it almost 24x7 on the trip, and I didn't! Notes 2 batteries were $25 each with a 50% off Samsung coupon. Each came with a separate desktop charger. ]
I now never have to worry about not being running out of power while on the road and needing to find a "pay phone" or ask to borrow someone else's cell. No one has ever said no, but still, I'd rather not have to ask. My Mophie for the 3GS worked OK, but the one I bought for the 4 was lame; it seemed to charge only a fraction as well or as much. I made the time to test the next charger I bought, and it charged 25% less than it claimed it would.
But with these little thin Samsung batteries that weigh a couple ounces, I have no worries about needing to find places to re-charge until at least day 3, probably day 4. To me, this is a big deal.
AND
The Note2 removes another small annoyance:
Needing to use the phone to finalize next day plans while tethered and charging.
- Once I get back to the hotel room, I don't have to use the phone tethered to the charger.
Ex: At night when we got back to the hotel, I just inserted the 3/4 used battery into the dedicated battery charger, and put a fresh one into the phone for evening use. Then repeat the next morning at 7am.
I have fallen asleep while using my iPhone to do this while sitting against the wall in a hotel room while it is charging near the only available outlet.
I even had enough power for the Note2 on the outbound to London with:
- A 23 hour layover in Miami. (The joys of booking a flight courtesy of frequent flier mileage, though this day and the same layover back via London was actually really fun.) We spent the final 13 hours before the flight to London touring and on the beach; well away from electrical outlets.
- Then, a full day in London which began the minute we landed, including getting in the middle of a Santa flash mob outside of St Paul's Cathedral.
Mophies weren't available yet before my December trip for the iPhone5, so I bought one of those NewTrent power chargers. Any of those chargers seem clunky when you actually have to use the phone and charge it at the same time.
However, after getting on the Miami flight to London, I fell asleep before I remembered to plug the NewTrent charger into my iPhone. So a couple hours into the London day, my iPhone 5's power ended, and my heavy NewTrent charger was in my luggage at the Left Luggage place at Victoria station. Thankfully I could access all our vacation notes via Evernote and Google Drive on the Note 2 so it didn't matter.
Swapping in a new battery was no problem for the Note 2 - I had 2 very light and thin replacement batteries in my purse.
3) Google Now
Google Now is like having a psychic inside of my phone.
On the way to Miami airport from the beach, it accurately predicted how long it would take. I wasn't going to check because I thought we were too far north for much traffic, but the card popped up and made me realize we'd better leave. Then vivid maps showed exactly where the log jams would be in red/yellow, and when we had 5 seconds to make the "do we take a different route or not" decision at a light, it helped there too. (that was more Google Maps than Google now)
and one fun thing 4) Unexpected feature of Google Translate that prompted "way cool!" responses:
Take a picture of a menu in a foreign language. Smudge your finger over the words on the picture that you want translated. Voila...
Menu in Austria translated by taking a picture of it!
I'd guess that this is possible on the iPhone 5, but the bigger screen makes it more usable.
========== In regular usage, things I like better about my Samsung Note 2
1) ..... The invisible 'back' key creates a significantly improved experience on the Note2
The Note2 provides a better day to day usage experience. For me, mostly due to the back key.
I call it "the invisible 'back' key". It's that invisible area to the right of the home button.
It's not indented like the home button is. It just lights up and is touch sensitive. Its function is to take you back to where you were 1 step ago.
That back key means I enjoy a lot of apps much better on the Note2 than my iPhone.
Example A: If I go from any app to Maps then I want to go back, I just tap "back back once or twice". The same key on the bottom right all the time. I don't have to Home Button out and reload the app.
On the iPhone, Yelp has a "Done" key on the top right. Or, sometimes, I have to home-button out of a browser link, find the folder where app is located, and reload it. (I find myself trying to tap an invisible "back" key on the iPhone in that empty dark space to the right of the home button out of habit now. But on the iPhone, tapping there does nothing.)
Example A: On the iPhone, the back key changes locations from app to app, or even within the same app !!
Example of an annoying same-application change of location of the back key: TechCrunch's back key is sometimes top-most left. Then after the advertisement loads, it's slightly lower. This makes it easy to hit an advertisement instead of the back button. VERY annoying.
Even now when I read, I take the extra step to retrieve my Note 2 from instead my purse, even though my iPhone 5 is in a more handy to reach case outside my purse. (Before I left I didn't find a case with a clip that I liked for the Note 2, so it stays inside my purse.)
2) ..... A slick feature of the Google Play store when accessing it from a PC or Mac on the web
I can load and install apps faster with Google Play than the App Store because Google Play has some very useful and time-saving web features.
The Google Play store has a slick feature where I can tell it to load an app on my Android device the next time that device gets on wifi. I can also specify which Android device to load which app on to, or all of them (for the trip I also purchased an (unlocked) Google Nexus 7 and an iPad Mini to keep everyone occupied on planes and trains - no one checked luggage.)
I can install Google Play apps all while on my laptop when my Google Nexus 7 is at home, or a work 24" monitor in portrait mode that enables me to quickly scan reviews.
The downside of Google Play is that its app reviews are much less useful than Apple's App Store reviews. When all apps in a category are rated 5 stars. and many have lame 1 sentence reviews where its not obvious the user did anything USEFUL, it's not helpful.
Also in the category of "what's old seems new again"
3) ..... I love how EASY it is to move files to my Note2. I simply copy the file from one folder to another, and shazam, there it is.
Example: To move a movie file on my Note 2, I simply
- plug the it in to my laptop via USB,
- it shows up as an external hard drive
- i copy from one folder to another.
I don't have to figure out how to get a movie file there using iTunes. I could not explain to you, off the top of my head, how to do that using iTunes. I'd have to re-read my post asking about it. Then, I'd have to re-read how to find it.
Plus, iTunes' developers sometimes define the word "sync" to mean "delete". Why do they do that? My theory is the developers on the iTunes for Windows team are put there as a punishment, so they do things to us, the users, like tell you iTunes will delete everything when you really just want iTunes to SYNC everything. Even Palm V developers knew the definition of the word SYNC.
4) I can move files to that the Note2 from a folder on any laptop or desktop I have.
I can only move files to my iPhone from my old laptop that has iTunes installed from my iPhone 3GS days. The laptop that I now use only for the purposes of Syncing my iPhone and backing up the contact / cal / music data to Outlook.
Changing laptops used for iTunes syncing is a big deal. I need to re-research how to do this.
Plus, 2 out of 4 times Restore has failed me when I really needed it to work. Changing laptops might cause a future Restore to fail.
========== Here's the one terrible thing about my Note 2:
One of those apps I would flash a full screen ad once a day on my Galaxy Note 2.
When I opened my Note, A screen fulls of apps and the question, "Do you want to download a free app" becomes my splash screen every couple hours. It was maddening. This probably cost me a bunch in extra roaming charges during that trip.
------------- Edit: I used Ad Network Detector to figure it out. It was a Vienna subway app by Illicit Media, if I remember correctly. Name should have been a tipoff.
I don't know which Feral app has done this. Can you tell from this pic ?
The other big problem I have with my Note 2 is that I can't make the security unlock code "stick". I add an unlock code to it. Then it goes away.
To fix these 2 problems, I'd like to take my Note 2 to bare bones - where it was when I received it. Then I'll carefully add apps 1 by 1.
Any suggestions on how to do this?
