I'm having doubts about android, need guidance

[SiempreTuna]

I left iTunes and tried some of the alternatives. Then I went back to iTunes because once you bother to learn how to use it, the program works well. In my opinion, people hate iTunes because they do not understand how to use it.

True, I'm a very occassional iTunes user and I'm sure you do get used to its foibles.

Still, it's ironic that the first piece of software most people will come across from the company who bang on about how "it just works", has such a steep learning curve

 

[nickdalzell]

I just don't see the big deal with iTunes...I search, click buy and download. Simple as music search and download on Android but legal. Their desktop software is easy. Plug in. Sync. Done. What's the problem? If you don't like iTunes, try copy trans or tons of other iTunes replacements...

I only used desktop iTunes to move my android music collection of 379 songs to my two iDevices then I just use the app now to download legally then it syncs via wifi...couldn't be easier...

Mike, I never left, I may use an iPhone now but I still play with Android tablets...wish there were google play gift cards so I could set up a wallet without a credit card or Paypal. iTunes has 'em

 

[Stuntman]

I have rooted every android device that I have owned, and am just kind of tired of the maintenance required in getting my device to work the way I would like it too. At the same time I am grateful for all of the devs and members of the community that make this possible.

<snip>

TL;DR I am kind of tired of having to tweak phones to get them to work properly, and need convincing to stay with android.

My main concerns with tweaking and reasons for rooting involve battery life and overall performance of the phone. Most of the crap that comes with verizon phones is just terrible, including their silly wifi notifications and whatnot, and then the touchwiz bloat is also terrible. Just sometimes AOSP is too bland for me. I enjoy the widgets and some features of touchwiz and various other versions of android like HTC's Sense, but at the same time I do not need the useless features like all of the motion features that samsung packed in.

A lot of the things I do with a phone can be done without rooting, especially with some of the newer backup apps such as carbon, and I always switch my keyboard and add widgets from various extra apps. basically when updates for the phone come out verizon is so slow at pushing them out that this is why I root. That and the development community does a lot better job at making polished ROMs than most of the manufactures do.

At this point i may just be ready for something new, and don't get me wrong, I could always try apple and if I do not like it come back to something else, money for phones is not the biggest concern of mine, especially buying one off contract.

<snip>

Most people that use iPhones seem to love them, I just want to know what the fuss is about and if they are on par with android.

If you do switch to an iPhone, you will be more limited in your ability to make the phone work the way you want to. Although you can jailbreak an iPhone, my understanding is that what you can do with a jailbroken iPhone will likely seem limited compared to what you can do with an Android phone rooted or not.

I am with Bell and it does have its own apps included in the phone along with other preinstalled apps. They don't bother me. I just don't put them on my home screen. Not sure about Verison, but why would not using them or hiding them not be a viable option to you?

From all of the complains you have listed, I can see that different Android phones will satisfy some of your complaints, but with each one, you will have different ones. You do like some features of TW, but not all. Then stock Android will be missing some features you like from TW. With all your issues you have with different Android phones, I don't see how an iPhone will be able to address all of these issues.

In any case, if you are ready to try something new, then I suggest you go for it. See if the grass is greener for you elsewhere. There are many people who are happy with their iPhones or Windows Phones or BlackBerrys.

 

[WBMc36]

I have been really wanting to try an iphone for some time now, but I guess with me current contract it is kind of out of the question at the moment.

I also posted something similar to this on the iphone forums, and noticed something.
The android community, i.e., you guys, came back with wonderful responses and very valid points about how the OS is more of a preference than actually being better than one another.

The iPhone community on the other hand legitimately told me just to switch, gave no reasoning or concern for how I use my current smartphone and if the iPhone would suit those habbits and work well for me.

For now I am sticking with my s3, and will probably only ever buy a flagship device from any manufacture regardless of OS ever again. The Thunderbolt left a sour taste in my mouth, but the S3 was a wonderful and welcome upgrade to almost the most current version of android. I really wish verizon wasn't so terrible with nexus devices because I love my nexus 7, and it is much easier to root and maintain than any phone.

 

[jmar]

Thanks for pointing out how we do things here at AF. I can't speak to other forums but I know I stayed on AF because of the way members communicate with one and other. I would have left if it wasn't such a friendly place full of knowledgeable people who take pride in helping those who are just learning.

Something struck me about you most recent post...you mentioned that you have an N7. I am typing from one right now and it is my second favorite device. N4 is my favorite. I wonder...does the N7 meet all your needs, aside from telephony? By no means do I think it is perfect but I have to say it is a really nice piece of hardware+software. And with a Nexus the possibilities are truly endless, as you know.

Maybe wait for the next Nexus or the X Phone? I see a lot of great things on the horizon for Android.

As for iOS, I do have some people in my family who have iPhones, some of whom want to switch to Android for its versatility. One I specifically told to wait to switch until the feature set checks all the boxes on your wish list. The reason I said this was that she would be leaving an ecosystem of paid apps. And also an ecosystem with which she is familiar. And while Android isn't all the way there for her, it will be. And even as a long time, owned every iPhone to date, iPhone user, she agreed. And we also agreed on something else...we didn't see iOS reaching the same level of flexibility and versatility any time soon.

*Disclaimer: I don't hate iOS. It just doesn't suit my needs.

jmar

 

[WBMc36]

Something struck me about you most recent post...you mentioned that you have an N7. I am typing from one right now and it is my second favorite device. N4 is my favorite. I wonder...does the N7 meet all your needs, aside from telephony? By no means do I think it is perfect but I have to say it is a really nice piece of hardware+software. And with a Nexus the possibilities are truly endless, as you know.

Maybe wait for the next Nexus or the X Phone? I see a lot of great things on the horizon for Android.

jmar

Yes I really like the nexus 7. I think if it were a phone I would be in love, I just wasn't a huge fan of the nexus 4 because it wasn't on my carrier, so I may end up having to switch. I have been keeping a close eye on the x-phone, or google's next nexus. I would also love to try one of those out. I used to run Cyanogenmod on my two HTC devices, but recently didn't want to go through the hassle because they update almost too often for me.

On another note, I have loved AF since I bought my Incredible. It stays away from the drama at xda, and isn't as hardcore as rootzwiki. Definitely a welcoming community.

 

[unnamedny]

With qualifying plans, it's really not much more or less than a top line Android Phone. You can even get a 4S for $99.

I'm probably miss informed, but I'm not willing to pay more than $50 a month for unlimited everything with my Android.

 

[mikedt]

I just don't see the big deal with iTunes...I search, click buy and download. Simple as music search and download on Android but legal. Their desktop software is easy. Plug in. Sync. Done. What's the problem? If you don't like iTunes, try copy trans or tons of other iTunes replacements...

Problem with iPhones etc. there isn't an alternative to iTunes, unless the iOS device is jailbroken. i.e. going outside of the Apple way of doing things. As a music management and player app, I found it too be too heavy and bloated, plus it has serious problems with some Chinese ID3 tags I've found, they're garbled and unreadable. Plus some of my music is in Ogg Vorbis and FLAC, iTunes can't play them. I do have iTunes on one computer and only for one thing, iTunes U, which I find to be a great resource of materials to help me in my job.

I only used desktop iTunes to move my android music collection of 379 songs to my two iDevices then I just use the app now to download legally then it syncs via wifi...couldn't be easier...

Mike, I never left, I may use an iPhone now but I still play with Android tablets...wish there were google play gift cards so I could set up a wallet without a credit card or Paypal. iTunes has 'em

I'm happy you stayed. That's good.

I think Google still needs to get few things sorted out with Play. With Play where I am, it's free apps only, nothing else. iTunes has paid apps and games available here, although there's NO music, movies, TV shows, e-books etc, in the iTunes Store here. There's NO wireless music syncing for iOS in China either, which I'm sure is down to RIAA restrictions. Even though it might be my music on my devices.

 

[trophynuts]

there are ignorant people in both camps. It really frustrates me when I see an Android Fanboy flaming an Iphone fanboy and visa versa, only because most of the time it seems they're doing it just for the heck of it and not for legitimate reasons.

OP you said in a previous post that you "use a lot of data" have you looked at your last 3 months bills and gotten kind of an average of what you use per month? Just asking. The wife and I used far less than i thought when i really started looking at it. We actually saved money by going to the shared data plans. For individuals though it is not a great deal $$ wise. If you're wanting to really give an Iphone a try maybe buy a used one instead of a new one. One good thing about Iphone's is they have a very good resale value. You could buy a used one. Use it for a few weeks and see how you like it. Once you come to a decision which to keep either resell the Iphone or sale your GS3.


I guess i'm an oddball. I use a lot of diff platforms. I have all Apple products at my house. Use Win7 at work, I have a Virtual Machine of Linux and Windows8 installed on my MacBooks and i've used and like Android it's just not fitting my needs as a cellular device at the moment.....oh and the worst...lol I have a Blackberry for work......blah

 

[DirtyDee]

there are ignorant people in both camps. It really frustrates me when I see an Android Fanboy flaming an Iphone fanboy and visa versa, only because most of the time it seems they're doing it just for the heck of it and not for legitimate reasons.

OP you said in a previous post that you "use a lot of data" have you looked at your last 3 months bills and gotten kind of an average of what you use per month? Just asking. The wife and I used far less than i thought when i really started looking at it. We actually saved money by going to the shared data plans. For individuals though it is not a great deal $$ wise. If you're wanting to really give an Iphone a try maybe buy a used one instead of a new one. One good thing about Iphone's is they have a very good resale value. You could buy a used one. Use it for a few weeks and see how you like it. Once you come to a decision which to keep either resell the Iphone or sale your GS3.


I guess i'm an oddball. I use a lot of diff platforms. I have all Apple products at my house. Use Win7 at work, I have a Virtual Machine of Linux and Windows8 installed on my MacBooks and i've used and like Android it's just not fitting my needs as a cellular device at the moment.....oh and the worst...lol I have a Blackberry for work......blah

You are all kinds of amazing no bs I mean that. To have the ability to not be baised on it. A great thing.

Sent from my batcave.

 

[Bob Maxey]

there are ignorant people in both camps. It really frustrates me when I see an Android Fanboy flaming an Iphone fanboy and visa versa, only because most of the time it seems they're doing it just for the heck of it and not for legitimate reasons.

Exactly. I am constantly amazed at those that cannot tell me why iOS is better/worse than Android. Or the other way round.

I think because Android has some feature(s) that iOS does not have, the idea many people seem to want to promote is Android is better. They are often confused.

Both are great and I will give Android its due . . . there is no shortage of options or models to choose from.

 

[Bob Maxey]

If you do switch to an iPhone, you will be more limited in your ability to make the phone work the way you want to. Although you can jailbreak an iPhone, my understanding is that what you can do with a jailbroken iPhone will likely seem limited compared to what you can do with an Android phone rooted or not.

I jailbroke my iOS devices for one specific reason: I can use the Apple Camera Connection Kit and my Flash Drives/MicroSD Cards to access Word documents and text files.

When you JB, things drastically change and everything Apple will not let you do is now possible. You must JB to do things you can do with Android out of the box. Some say this is why Apple sucks and Android rules. I say, it takes a few minutes to JB and because it opens the device up, it is worth it.

Then again, most people will never JB/Root their devices.

 

[WBMc36]

Then again, most people will never JB/Root their devices.

This.

I always tend to forget, that although to me it seems like it, rooting/jailbreaking is not the norm. I have done it on every phone, and probably will continue to do it, even if its just for backing up purposes. That's what drew me in in the first place, and I haven't had many issues with the nexus 7, it is rooted running a stock-ish style software that I really love, it just has that extra layer of messing with internals.

As an engineer I tend to like to tinker with things, I am just always worried about them not working correctly when I do. Usually while in school I don't have much time to keep up with all of the changes and features, all I care about is that my phone works for important calls/text for school/work related items.

I am hoping that wherever I get a job, they will provide some sort of financial supplement for buying a work related phone. That way I could have an iPhone that I know would work when I needed it to for work, and an android for me to play around with and have the latest and greatest software/hardware.

 

[Stuntman]

Then again, most people will never JB/Root their devices.

I have never rooted my devices. I am satisfied with what I can do with my Android device as is. The only time where I feel some incentive to root is when I found there was a feature on Nova Prime launcher that required root. It was a nice to have, but wasn't something that I could do without. It was previewing widgets in the launcher before moving them to the home screen. I get the impression that rooting is not something that would be beyond my abilities. It's just that I can already do so much on my Android phone that I don't feel the need to really open it up any more.

 

[trophynuts]

i've rooted all of my past android devices. I've thought about JB'ing my I5 but honestly there isn't enough positives for me to want to take the time to do that. The biggest things is being able to use a few cool apps and set things like Google Maps as the default mapping application.

 

[nickdalzell]

The customization in iOS isn't so much the home screen, but the apps themselves. For one i got some nice retro apps to play videos, music, and turn my iPhone into a retro flip desk clock with alarm...on Android, no such apps exist except widgets, which are great if you stare at the home screen full of them which to me is cluttered. I also prefer iOS's badge notifications over Android's always-full, cluttered with icons status bar. While (limited) badge alerts can be done in Android, they still require the status bar icons for a counter reference or the add-on doesnt work. To keep my status bar iOS like with just the signal, battery, and carrier status means turning off all notifications entirely...there is no full-screen stuff like a full-screen Nixie tube clock or a full-screen retro boombox music player, it's either custom widgets or apps which just don't cut it for me. However, I still like Android in tablets, which excels in gaming and plan to, later on, buy a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 which has a rather impressive clone of the retina display (anything else gives me eye strain or migraines) and in the demo display was pretty darn fast. For some reason it is $100 cheaper than the Galaxy Tab 1 despite having the same things (16GB, ICS, whatever Google calls the retina display....) which was odd...but for a phone I still prefer the iPhone...

Battery life. Still Android's Achilles heel, only 40 hours per charge. No good. This is another reason I use an iPhone. I need to be able to receive calls without being tied to an outlet. With Android, I could literally watch the battery drain with the screen on, and to get through a day meant turning everything off which defeated the point of having a smartphone in the first place. I never liked having a warm thigh from a phone's always-active background apps running the CPU up.

Then there is Google's admittance to not making Android fast enough, but instead of actually fixing the problem (which they claim requires rewriting the OS from scratch along with every app made) they treat the symptom by slapping tons of RAM (which gets used up regardless of the amount due to the half cocked memory management that no matter what, cannot be entirely controlled by the user even with root) and multiple cores which would make a pretty decent gaming desktop but still means Apple could make a system not only responsive, but fast given the limited spec...some can ignore that but not I.

 

[mikedt]

The customization in iOS isn't so much the home screen, but the apps themselves. For one i got some nice retro apps to play videos, music, and turn my iPhone into a retro flip desk clock with alarm...on Android, no such apps exist except widgets, which are great if you stare at the home screen full of them which to me is cluttered. I also prefer iOS's badge notifications over Android's always-full, cluttered with icons status bar. While (limited) badge alerts can be done in Android, they still require the status bar icons for a counter reference or the add-on doesnt work. To keep my status bar iOS like with just the signal, battery, and carrier status means turning off all notifications entirely...there is no full-screen stuff like a full-screen Nixie tube clock or a full-screen retro boombox music player, it's either custom widgets or apps which just don't cut it for me. However, I still like Android in tablets, which excels in gaming and plan to, later on, buy a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 which has a rather impressive clone of the retina display (anything else gives me eye strain or migraines) and in the demo display was pretty darn fast. For some reason it is $100 cheaper than the Galaxy Tab 1 despite having the same things (16GB, ICS, whatever Google calls the retina display....) which was odd...but for a phone I still prefer the iPhone...

Battery life. Still Android's Achilles heel, only 40 hours per charge. No good.

What's wrong with 40 hours? You know that's nearly two whole days? I assume one is actually using the phone, doing making phone calls, doing IM, browsing, etc. 40 hours is good enough for my uses.

This is another reason I use an iPhone. I need to be able to receive calls without being tied to an outlet.

You can't go for two days without finding a power outlet? Are you on a camping trip or something?

If you're browsing, playing Facebook, listening to music, doing IM, making phone calls, etc. I'd be surprised if an iPhone can go that long TBH. And with an iPhone you can't change the battery anyway, you'd have to use an auxiliary USB battery pack.

With Android, I could literally watch the battery drain with the screen on, and to get through a day meant turning everything off which defeated the point of having a smartphone in the first place. I never liked having a warm thigh from a phone's always-active background apps running the CPU up.

What particular phone are you talking about, some $60-$100 budget thing - and comparing it to a $650 iPhone 5?

Then there is Google's admittance to not making Android fast enough, but instead of actually fixing the problem (which they claim requires rewriting the OS from scratch along with every app made) they treat the symptom by slapping tons of RAM (which gets used up regardless of the amount due to the half cocked memory management that no matter what, cannot be entirely controlled by the user even with root) and multiple cores which would make a pretty decent gaming desktop but still means Apple could make a system not only responsive, but fast given the limited spec...some can ignore that but not I.

That still sounds typical of many cheapo Chinese devices, and you're comparing them to expensive iOS devices. The sort of things that I'm well familiar with.

It's been mentioned before, try comparing Google's showcase Nexus Android devices to iOS. And NOT the garbage that floods out of Shenzhen. The kind of crap that often gives Android a bad name.

 

[Rxpert83]

40 hours is plenty for the 95% of people who charge nightly

 

[trophynuts]

He touched on something that does always have me wondering "why"....why must android devices approach QUAD CORE processors....QUAD CORE PROCESSORS PEOPLE....why is that necessary? I could see for gaming....MAYBE.

Example...Lets say the SGS4 is faster than the new Iphone5...idk if it is (which i would expect it to be) and don't really care but i'm just using this as an example.

Compare the processors and ram....you can't tell me the SGS4's tiny extra boost in speed is worth the massive hardware they're trowing at it. It just doesn't make sense. It really has me questioning optimization of the OS in Android. Which leads to one of the Main reasons people Rom. How many Roms have you seen that didn't advertise "custom optimization"...

meanwhile the I5 has just a dual core 1ghz processor and keeps up pretty well.

 

[trophynuts]

40 hours is plenty for the 95% of people who charge nightly

i agree with this. ..heck 24 is plenty for me. I have to sleep every night. which means the phone will be on the charger over night. For extended needs i carry a 10000mah external battery pack to charge my mobile devices

 

[huh]

there are ignorant people in both camps. It really frustrates me when I see an Android Fanboy flaming an Iphone fanboy and visa versa, only because most of the time it seems they're doing it just for the heck of it and not for legitimate reasons.

OP you said in a previous post that you "use a lot of data" have you looked at your last 3 months bills and gotten kind of an average of what you use per month? Just asking. The wife and I used far less than i thought when i really started looking at it. We actually saved money by going to the shared data plans. For individuals though it is not a great deal $$ wise. If you're wanting to really give an Iphone a try maybe buy a used one instead of a new one. One good thing about Iphone's is they have a very good resale value. You could buy a used one. Use it for a few weeks and see how you like it. Once you come to a decision which to keep either resell the Iphone or sale your GS3.


I guess i'm an oddball. I use a lot of diff platforms. I have all Apple products at my house. Use Win7 at work, I have a Virtual Machine of Linux and Windows8 installed on my MacBooks and i've used and like Android it's just not fitting my needs as a cellular device at the moment.....oh and the worst...lol I have a Blackberry for work......blah

ha! not such an odd ball I have the exact same platforms!! only no BB..

 

[Rxpert83]

meanwhile the I5 has just a dual core 1ghz processor and keeps up pretty well.

Everything I've seen puts it at 1.3.Beside the point though.

Android has 2 strikes against it.

Apples software is optimized and designed specificaly for the hardware. Androis is designed to run on many setups. That's how the custom kernel devs make a living.

Android apps run in the dalvik virual machine

To make up for it? More cores, faster clock speed

 

[trophynuts]

Everything I've seen puts it at 1.3.Beside the point though.

Android has 2 strikes against it.

Apples software is optimized and designed specificaly for the hardware. Androis is designed to run on many setups. That's how the custom kernel devs make a living.

Android apps run in the dalvik virual machine

To make up for it? More cores, faster clock speed

that is a very fair and agreeable explanation. The only thing i can come up with is that drives phone costs up. But if you're buying on contract i guess it doesn't matter. It still doesn't make it any more expensive than the Iphones for sure.

 

[jmar]

I'd like to compare apples to apples for a second. Here are two screenshots from my 1.5Ghz Quad-Core Snapdragon S4 Pro Nexus 4, capable of true dynamic multitasking, like all Android devices.

RAM available at boot:

RAM available after personally launching 25 apps and running each app for a bit:

I am posting this from my phone while those apps use up my RAM. Yes, not all Android phones are created equally and have these capabilities; but let's compare flagships' and reference devices' capabilities to that of an iPhone, Apple's only flagship/reference device.

The iPhone is a great smartphone choice for those of whom find it meets their needs. But it currently doesn't multitask dynamically the way Android does; and with a Nexus or flagship Android smartphone, you can experience what that feels like if you take one for a spin.

I'm not bashing the iPhone or its users. I'm merely calling a spade a spade.

jmar

 

[trophynuts]

lol how is that apples to apples when that phone has a 1.5ghz Quad core processor?