Nexus 4 Questions from a Future Android Convert

[attguy]

Hi all,
I'm hopefully making the jump to Android in the near future (more specifically, one I can get a Nexus 4 ), and I have a few questions. If you don't want to hear my mobile background, you can just skip to the last set of questions. Thanks!

But first, a bit of a background. Back in January 2011 my family, then on Blackberry, decided to make the jump off the RIM train, as it was clearly a sinking ship. Back then, the only good phone on AT&T was the Motorola Atrix, and I'd heard to avoid Motorola like a plague, so I opted for the iPhone 4, while the rest of my family pushed strongly for the Atrix, since the iPhone was "a toy," and "fragile and breakable." When I got my 4, my family immediately fell in love with it, and bought them a week after I got mine. This past summer, as the end of my contract was approaching, I planned on getting an android, because:

1) As a tech-savvy person who feels the need to tweak their phone constantly, I was very annoyed by the dumbed-down interface of iOS, and felt like it was intended for people who had no clue how to use a computer.

2) Being unable to set my default apps is very annoying. I use Chrome as my browser (even though it's significantly slower than Safari, apple's purposeful doing), gmail for mail, and now google maps instead of apple's atrocious half-baked effort.

3) I didn't like the one-size fits all idea, I like my options in phones; I did't want to be forced into a tiny 3.5 inch screen, when I could easily operate my friend's 4.8 inch Galaxy SIII

4) There was a total lack of innovation from the "Think Differently" Company. iOS 5 was a complete ripoff from Android, and iOS 6 was a step backwards with maps.

5) Apple was behind with the tech, with a minuscule screen, no LTE, and a vastly outdated CPU.

Then the iPhone 5 came out. The only big deal was an extra 1/2 inch on the screen, and finally LTE. I couldn't make the change, since my family was connected with "Find my Friends," and everyone else was reluctant for changing to other services, and didn't want one member on that "toyish" "confusing" and "virus-ridden" platform. So I broke down and got the 5. After a month, and treating it like a rare gem, it was scratched all over, and parts of the anodizing was chipped off. And, the battery life was atrocious, to the point where I had to limit my usage all the time so I could use it through the day. I would go down 5% in less than 5 minutes on minimum brightness reading Flipboard. I later found out that restoring from an old backup caused the problem, but I was never able to restore it, since I would lose tons of data.

Anyways, those are my iPhone gripes. The Nexus 4 was a godsend for me. $300 off contract for 8gb, and with a $1.12 adapter, I could have my very own android phone as soon as I can order one (hopefully Google and LG can sort out the whole stock issue.) Before I pull the trigger, I'd just like to ask a few questions, so here they are:

1) I love the Google Apps on iOS; Apple's stock apps don't even compare to what Google offers. However, I've heard that Google apps on iOS are actually better designed and more functional than on their own platform. Is this actually true, or do their apps across platforms compare well?

2) How do Google's Stock Apps work compared to Apple's overall? Apple's Phone, Messages, etc. apps all feel very well organized and usable; do Android's compare well?

3) Albeit my complaints with iOS, I really enjoy my MacBook. I've heard Android is horrible syncing with Macs, though I assume everything will sync and be chained to my Gmail account.

4) I've heard that Android is asesthetically unappealing, but after playing with a Gnex and a Nexus 7, it doesn't unappealing at all. What's the genreal consensus on Android's visual appear these days?

5) Viruses. Are they as big a deal as mobile security companies and Apple Fanboys claim they are?

6) I'm used to AT&T LTE, and I'm switching down to HSPA+ 21 now. I watch YouTube a lot, stream Hulu sometimes, and surf the net a lot. Should I see any significant speed changes?
Thank you so much for the help, thanks in advance!

 

[DROZ]

1/3. Google's apps for android work better than on iOS because they don't have restrictions from apple for things such as chrome browser not able to be default. The stock apps on a vanilla android phone work just fine. On a nexus phone, you might find that some basic apps may be missing such as a stopwatch and notepad, but there are many of those apps in the play store. There can always be a better app for everything , such as texting (I personally use handscent).

3. There isn't much syncing to be done with a computer. You can upload photos straight from your phone to anywhere, and music files can be dragged and dropped.

4. Nexus 4 is one of the best looking android phones out there. Others like the Galaxy Note 2 are also very aesthetically pleasing. In my opinion, only the very old android phones look ugly.

5. I have never had an issue with viruses, but I also have antivirus. Lookout mobile security is free and works like a charm https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5sb29rb3V0Il0.

 

[Kelmar]

5. As a tech savvy user, you'll be aware of what you're downloading and installing to your phone. Tic-tac-toe, as an example, doesn't need access to your gmail account, your contacts nor the ability to send text messages. When you install apps install then from reputable sources (such as the play store) and pay attention to the permissions the apps are asking for. I've been with android going on 4 years and I've had NO issues with viruses.

6. What are your current LTE speeds with the iPhone?


Fwiw, I LOVE my nexus 4!!

 

[Crashdamage]

You really should read this, particularly for his remarks about the smoothness, speed and stability of Android...

http://m.gizmodo.com/5973073/an-iphone-lovers-confession-i-switched-to-the-nexus-4-completely

And yes, my Nexus 4 is every bit that good!

Also, there are NO Android viruses in the wild. Antivirus is not needed. Just be careful what you install and where you get it so as to avoid other types of malware.

I get excellent speed on T-Mobile HSPA+, typically as good or better than AT&T LTE. HSPA+ on AT&T will not be that fast but should be very acceptable.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0

 

[Davdi]

I too, have never had a virus problem on Android (Thank it's Linux roots for that) BUT... I've got Avast security installed for the remote location & remote wipe capabilities if the phone ever goes AWOL. I just send it a text or, if the SIM's changed do it from the Avast website from a PC or tablet. If all else fails, your carrier will block the SIM and phone via it's IMEI.

 

[runekey]

0) Get the 16GB version. The OS alone takes up 6GB. Can you live with a phone that has only 2GB internal storage? I think not.

1) That is untrue

2) Personally, I feel as if Android is less stale, and very aesthetically pleasing. Green and gray bubbles quickly becomes painfully old to look at.

3) It's made to work with the Google ecosystem, so your GOOGLE music, GOOGLE drive (doccuments), GOOGLE currents (news), and GOOGLE contacts all sync flawlessly on whatever device you're using, but no, generally most of your Mac files won't sync automatically without some ground work. Although, syncing my music from my iTunes to Google Music automatically imports iTunes playlists, so I guess that's a plus

4) See question 1. Plus, pretty much everything about the UI is customizable, so if you don't like something just get rid of it. Want to have weather updates in the notification bar? There's an app for it. Never want to see your Google Play library on your homescreen? Get rid of it.

5) Just like with PCs only stupid people download viruses to Android phones. As long as you don't download apps like "FREE MONEY PRINTER" or "UNLIMITED BATTERY LIFE" you will be just fine.

6) Yes it will be slower than LTE, but your battery will thank you.

 

[Rush]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Just to let you know...I've moved your thread to the Nexus 4 section.

Thanks for joining.

 

[Thats]

You really should read this, particularly for his remarks about the smoothness, speed and stability of Android...

An iPhone Lover

And yes, my Nexus 4 is every bit that good!

Also, there are NO Android viruses in the wild. Antivirus is not needed. Just be careful what you install and where you get it so as to avoid other types of malware.

I get excellent speed on T-Mobile HSPA+, typically as good or better than AT&T LTE. HSPA+ on AT&T will not be that fast but should be very acceptable.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0

There are no viruses, but there is Malware, which also exists on iOS.

 

[NeXuS4]

Anyone who says you only have 2GB of usable space is a liar. I have about 5.65GB.

I mostly use spotify and YouTube for streaming.

 

[spriteboost]

Anyone who says you only have 2GB of usable space is a liar. I have about 5.65GB.

I mostly use spotify and YouTube for streaming.

agreed though with the 16gb one I believe its 12.5 or 13 something thats what I opted for but that's the beauty of options . Also I like to keep things on my phone I only have 5 gb left so I'm glad I got the 16 lolz

 

[SiempreTuna]

1) Don't know who told you about Google apps working better on iOS, but they're wrong: they work way better AND have more features on Android. As you'd expect.

2) I guess it depends what you're used to: to me the Google apps are great, however my girl friend is a total Apple fangirl and she hates my phone because it doesn't work in exactly the same way as her iP4.

3) Android doesn't do much syncing with any sort of PC out-of-the-box, however there are plenty of apps for that. I use something called Android Sync Manager which lets me sync over WiFi.

4) That's personal preference: to me iOS now looks horribly dated with the single size only icons and no widgets (unbelievable!), but for my missus it's the Apple way or the highway. There's no accounting for lack of taste.

5) Viruses are still pretty rare, but they are out there and you can bet there'll be lots more on ALL mobiles in the near future: virus writers follow the crowd and as people do more and more on phones and tablets, there'll be more and more virus written for them.

6) From the reviews I've read, there will be a difference but it may not be as huge as you'd think. Again, this is horses for courses: you need to try going without LTE again to see if you're going to be able to live without it. Obviously, most of the people on the Nexus 4 forum have bought a phone without LTE so almost by definition, they're happy to live without it.

I know a few people who have made the jump from iOS to Android. Most have been pretty happy with the move to Android, but I know know one or two who are considering switching back. That is always an option ..

 

[bprender25]

I came from iOS. Had an iPhone since the first or second day it came out. I made the switch to the Nexus 4. The phone is realy nice BUT...... Here is my honest opinion to your questions...

1) I do not think this is true. Google apps work great on the Nexus. I don't know how they would work on non Nexus phones but that is something I would never buy.

2) Apple's stock apps are better than google's stock apps(Phone, messager, Visual voice mail). They are streamlined, they are simple and they have a good UI design. Also the call by voice works much better with Apple. I miss driving down the road being able to hold the home button and say "call Bill Peters Mobile" and having the phone say back what it thought I said or even if I left out the Mobile part having it ask me "Home, Mobile or Work". I don't know why google voice search isn't as good at calling contacts but it just isn't. That being said google voice search kicks ass in everything else. Seriously it's awesome in so many ways and I use it often. It's great for sending text messages, looking things up on the internet and just about anything else except calling my contacts as well as Apple did.

3) I have not setup a computer to sync to so I can't be of much help. I do not download music or videos to my phone (I use Pandora and Netflix). For my photos I use dropbox to sync my photos. I miss photostream a little bit but I hated that I didn't know where my photos were or when they would be going away so dropbox seems like a better solution the UI is just not as nice but at least I can now share them with anyone.

4) Stock android was pretty good. Custom android screens are very nice. Hopefully you will be able to get to this link [EDIT: Sorry link failed. Please google Kyle Salewski ad look for his nexus screen shots.] If you think these screens are boring then we should probably end our conversation now. This guy did a lot of work but it looks really nice.

5) Have not had a problem.

6) I'm also on ATT but I do most of my streaming on wifi so I'm prob not the best to answer this either. I will say I use Straight Talk that uses ATT's network. $45 a month unlimited everything is pretty good. You might have issues with them throttling your data after a certain amount though.

A side note:
The battery is not as good as my iPhone was. I originally thought it was cause I was looking at the screen all the time but that is just not the case. I can get through the day but that is it. I have had to install batter saver apps to try and get the most of my phone throughout the day. It's sucks but like you said chargers are cheap enough and when the inductive charger becomes available it will be nice.

I would not go back from my Nexus to an iPhone. I think apple still has an edge in a few places but I think it's small and Android is going to pass it soon.

This also might be a stupid question but I assume you know the difference between a Nexus device and an Android device.

Good luck.

 

[aysiu]

1) As a tech-savvy person who feels the need to tweak their phone constantly, I was very annoyed by the dumbed-down interface of iOS, and felt like it was intended for people who had no clue how to use a computer.

I actually don't think iOS is that dumbed down. I do tech support for a living, and most of the people I support have iPhones and iPads, and they're constantly asking me how to do things that should be simple to figure out. Since I use Android all the time, it takes me a while to figure it out, too. Why do app settings live in Settings instead of the settings for each individual app? Why can't apps just auto-update? Why does the App Store search for Adobe Reader come up with nothing, but the search for Adobe will product Adobe Reader? How come one can't find a saved PDF to copy back somewhere (hint: there's no navigable filesystem)?

2) Being unable to set my default apps is very annoying. I use Chrome as my browser (even though it's significantly slower than Safari, apple's purposeful doing), gmail for mail, and now google maps instead of apple's atrocious half-baked effort.

In ye olde days, you could jailbreak your iPhone and then set default apps. Haven't seen a public untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 on the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 yet. Being able to set the default apps is a major reason I stick with Android, even though there are many appealing things about the iPhone.

3) I didn't like the one-size fits all idea, I like my options in phones; I did't want to be forced into a tiny 3.5 inch screen, when I could easily operate my friend's 4.8 inch Galaxy SIII

Funny. I'm the exact opposite. I like the size of the iPhone screen. Unfortunately, I also like Nexus devices, and it appears Google is just going for making larger and larger screens on subsequent Nexus devices.

4) There was a total lack of innovation from the "Think Differently" Company. iOS 5 was a complete ripoff from Android, and iOS 6 was a step backwards with maps.

There do seem to be fewer and fewer innovations. And all the Mac rumors now appear to be true, so there are very few surprises when a new Apple product is released.

5) Apple was behind with the tech, with a minuscule screen, no LTE, and a vastly outdated CPU.

Apple's always behind on specs. Specs aren't what they're going for, and it never has been.

1) I love the Google Apps on iOS; Apple's stock apps don't even compare to what Google offers. However, I've heard that Google apps on iOS are actually better designed and more functional than on their own platform. Is this actually true, or do their apps across platforms compare well?

I haven't seen that to be the case. This is an extreme example, of course, but Google Voice on the Android is much better than Google Voice on the iPhone. Chrome is as well.

2) How do Google's Stock Apps work compared to Apple's overall? Apple's Phone, Messages, etc. apps all feel very well organized and usable; do Android's compare well?

The stock apps are fine, but one of the great things about Android is you don't have to stick with the stock apps. In fact, if I'm flashing a new rom, one of the first things I do is disable the stock apps.

3) Albeit my complaints with iOS, I really enjoy my MacBook. I've heard Android is horrible syncing with Macs, though I assume everything will sync and be chained to my Gmail account.

I have a MacBook Pro and a Mac Mini. Syncing is just fine. For syncing with iTunes, I use iSyncr (much better than DoubleTwist, in my experience). And for other files, I use Dropbox (also use Dropbox for automatic camera uploads, which I later copy into iPhoto).

4) I've heard that Android is asesthetically unappealing, but after playing with a Gnex and a Nexus 7, it doesn't unappealing at all. What's the genreal consensus on Android's visual appear these days?

It's been visually appealing since Gingerbread (2.3)... at least vanilla Android. I can't say much for TouchWiz, Sense, or MotoBlur.

5) Viruses. Are they as big a deal as mobile security companies and Apple Fanboys claim they are?

No, they're not. I haven't read of a single case of malware automatically infecting an Android phone without a user actively installing the malware in question.

6) I'm used to AT&T LTE, and I'm switching down to HSPA+ 21 now. I watch YouTube a lot, stream Hulu sometimes, and surf the net a lot. Should I see any significant speed changes?

No idea.

 

[blahblahyoutoo]

to answer your question about sync'ing to pc/mac...
I'm a PC user and don't recall the last time I physically plugged my phone into the usb port of my pc.
i think the only time I plugged it in was to transfer a very large movie that would've taken forever to do over WiFi.
everything can be done OTA from a browser (installing apps from google play), or remotely (airdroid or other app for management) through WiFi.
I imagine the process to be same for a Mac.

 

[JunBringer]

6. I came from using AT&T LTE to AT&T Hspa+ and sure if you're downloading a big huge file over cellular it won't be as ridiculously fast, it'll just be fast. I've watched youtube and Netflix over hspa+ and I can count to 4 and the video is playing and doesn't buffer. I think you'll be just fine.

 

[andrews317]

I was a heavy iPad used. After I got my N4, I only use my iPad for games like Angry Birds, PvZ, Bad Piggies, etc. because of the big screen. iOS is just to boring for me.

 

[charliecc]

1) Don't know who told you about Google apps working better on iOS, but they're wrong: they work way better AND have more features on Android. As you'd expect...

Actually this isn't strictly correct. Generally it's true, but recently iOS has been getting better features sooner on a few key apps. I'm sure it won't take them long to get round to Android.

iOS has the new GMail, we're still waiting. There was another key app they got first as well,can't remember what it was now.

 

[aysiu]

What are some of the features the iOS versions of Google apps have that the Android ones don't?

Does the iOS Gmail app let you turn off conversation view? I'd love that. Otherwise, Gmail is fine the way it is on Android.

Does the iOS Google Voice app finally allow you to become the default dialer, and integrate Google contacts into the iPhone contact management? Android's already done this for a while, but I don't think (sans jailbreaking) Apple allows Google Voice to do this.

 

[charliecc]

Yep gmail is fine the way it is, but iOS have the new version and we don't. Do a Google or look it up on iTunes to get the details. Has a completely redesigned UI.

 

[aysiu]

Do a Google or look it up on iTunes to get the details. Has a completely redesigned UI.

Yeah, it's not really worth my time to look up what cool features I could be missing, when I'm perfectly satisfied with the ones Gmail on Android has... unless iOS's Gmail has a way to turn off conversation view. Conversation view is annoying!

 

[charliecc]

Yeah, it's not really worth my time to look up what cool features I could be missing, when I'm perfectly satisfied with the ones Gmail on Android has... unless iOS's Gmail has a way to turn off conversation view. Conversation view is annoying!

Well obviously it's not that annoying if you're to lazy to spend 2 mins looking it up.

 

[aysiu]

Well obviously it's not that annoying if you're to lazy to spend 2 mins looking it up.

Obviously the great new features in the iOS Gmail app aren't really that great if no one here saying the Android Gmail app is worse can actually say what the better iOS Gmail features are.

I've heard that Google apps on iOS are actually better designed and more functional than on their own platform.

iOS has the new GMail, we're still waiting.

Yep gmail is fine the way it is, but iOS have the new version and we don't.

 

[charliecc]

Why the reluctance to find out for yourself.

Here you go I've done it for you as you're obviously incapable.

Hands-on: Gmail 2.0 for iOS is more Google-Plus-ified than ever (Updated) | Ars Technica

 

[hstroph]

... 3. There isn't much syncing to be done with a computer. You can upload photos straight from your phone to anywhere,

"Anywhere"? It seems both an absurd and presumptuous supposition, unless you mean anywhere where one has storage space available.

 

[aysiu]

Why the reluctance to find out for yourself.

You're totally missing the point. It's because I'm fine with Gmail on Android as it is.

I didn't come into this thread saying "Hey, I really want to know the features of the new iOS Gmail, but I can't seem to find them. Can someone do a Google search for me?"

Someone else said the iOS versions of Google apps seem to be better than the Android ones, and you keep repeating that iOS has a newer version and we don't (without mentioning any specifics about what you think is so great about the newer version).

I don't see the big deal.

And no one has actually stated in this thread "The iOS version of this Google app has this, this, and that features that we don't have on the Android version, and I want those features," so I don't really care right now whether the iOS Gmail is "newer" or not.