Converted iPhone user- questions

Hello! I was a long-time Android user who wanted to experience iOS... unfortunately it wasn't appealing for me, so I'm on the Android platform...

.. As far as I know, there isn't a way to make all your messages go into one group message the way iMessage does. However, I'm no expert so don't give up hope yet. Keep looking. Maybe you just need to use a particular app such as Facebook Messenger, or KiK to talk to multiple friends at the same time. Best of luck! I hope you end up enjoying your new phone!

biggie862005 said:

Hey guys. So as the title implies, I just got my first android device a Galaxy s3. As far as smart phones go, I have otherwise only used an iPhone. Making the switch over to android was a tough call, but im still not sure it was the right one. I dont understand anything about these phones lol. My biggest gripe right now is that I cannot group text like I could on my old iphone 4. That alone is making me want to switch back. How do I enable group messaging where multiple people can talk in one text group like the iphone? Ive tried the att messaging app, Group me and neither worked. People were able to see what I wrote, but I was not able to receive their responses. Also are there any must have apps? Maybe any threads for people switching from ios to android? Sorry about such a long post lol, just want to give this a fair shot before (If) I decide to switch back to ios. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah its on ATT in the US if that makes a difference.

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Although I've never used it, ChatOn can do group chat. It comes pre installed, (on the international S3). Available in Play Store if not on US versions

i believe your friends have to have the chat on app as well, i tried it last night and none of my numbers besides two showed up do to them having the s3 and checking out what chaton was about, i think the other solution was a root solution that still isnt fully completed, i'll dig around or email my friend to find out

Welcome from iOS. I am a heavy Apple user, but in May 2011 I got tired of having a phone that looked like everyone else's. Plus, Apple's control was just too much for my personal taste. I switched to Android in May 2011 and never looked back. Now, I took the plunge and got me the Galaxy S3. What a phone it is!

biggie862005 said:

I agree! This phone is amazing, just not sure about android. The problem I seem to be having is that my messages in the group message are going through as imessage (they all have iphone 4s) instead of a regular message. I tried handsent as well, no dice. I love this phone already aside from this texting issue and poor battery life, but they are holding a 5 for me. Might have to switch back :-(

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How poor is your battery life?

With all things considered, you must understand that if Samsung put a 3.5 inch screen on the SGS3, the battery life would be amazing(I'm betting 2+ days)! The screen is the biggest drain and with a 4.8inch screen, there isn't really a fix around the large screen draining battery.

Of course there are extended batteries or buying another battery. they are pretty cheap over ebay or amazon.

Define moderate use? You can't use an android as if it were an iPhone. Different system requires different thought pattern. Unlike the iPhone which uses icons solely, you are using a phone now that not only uses icons, but also widgets. Widgets that are live and constantly streaming data. True multi tasking. You actually have to be mindful about what your phone is doing. Trust, I am an android user who at one time went to iPhone to see why it was so popular....only to go back to android because like someone else said, I didn't want a phone that looked like everyone else's. Also did you let the battery fully drain before you gave it a full charge? That makes the battery last longer.

biggie862005 said:

Woke up at 5 this morning at 100% charge, was down to 40 by 9am. This is with moderate use of course. I understand that the larger screen draws more power, but this phone wont last a full day the way I use them. Not bashing, again I LOVE this phone, but the little odds and ends are really turning me off..

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Download GSam (Free) and/or BetterBatteryStats (Paid) from play store and to see whats draining your battery. I've been off charge for just over 10hrs and have 82% left. Ok its only had light usage today, just over 1hr screen on time.

Somethings worth doing, which has helped me,

Menu, Settings, Backup and reset, Turn off backup my data

Menu, Settings, Accounts & Sync, Google account and turn off Sync Picasa web albums ( and any others under google you don't use/need)

biggie862005, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the best android phone I have owned and is arguably the best android phone right now. One app that will work is Google+ Messenger. Similar to how Apple routs iMessage through Apple's servers, Google+ Messenger routs the message through Google's servers. Your iPhone user friends will have to use Google+ Messenger (Part of Google+ or has a standalone app as well so they will need to set up a Google+ account) though to do group messaging with you. I've tested it with friends of mine who use iPhones and it works perfectly, with the exchanged messages seen by everyone in the group text conversation. You can even add another person later on in the conversation. It is not as convenient as how you used it on your iPhone since the iPhone is set up to seamlessly transition from SMS to iMessage whlie you will all have to use an app like Google+ Messenger to exchange your text messages but it works well and you get the message notifications.

For battery saving measures, the biggest battery drain is your screen display setting, Reduce it to half or better yet 1-4 clicks from the lowest brightness setting depending on your tolerance level. The other major drain is having low signal on your 3G/4G, so you may want to switch to wifi when at home (save network data usage as well). Set up the Menu->Settings->Power Saving mode features and turn on "CPU Power Saving" and "Turn Off Haptic Feedback". I did not enable "Screen Power Saving" and "Background Color" as it adversely affects the brightness of the stock browser by overriding my screen display brightness setting (e.g maximum brightness when reading in bright sunlight). Make sure you check your Internet/Browser app->Menu->Color to see if your Internet/Browser is set to Default Color and not one of the power saving modes. Turn off Bluetooth, wifi, and GPS when not using it and manage your screen timeout and email, FB, etc. app data polling and you should not have any problem lasting through the whole day with moderate to heavy usage and almost 2 days with light usage. I use my S3 when playing golf, with a golf GPS shot tracking app and some text messages and it only uses about 25-30% of battery life for about a 4.5 hour round of golf!

I wonder if this group texting is just an issue with the G3, is this an issue for the note or other andriod phones? Just currious because I am deciding between the G3 and the Note and all my friends use iphones and dont want to download an app just to group text

Whatsapp does group chats amongst millions of other things.. Or skype?

rbasusparky said:

Turn off Bluetooth, wifi, and GPS when not using it and

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Myth. Turning these off will have no noticeable affect on your battery life. Just makes your smart phone less "smart".

rbasusparky said:

manage your screen timeout and email, FB, etc. app data polling

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This is good advice.