Ditching iOS for Android
- Thread starter chilango
- Start date
editor
hiraethified
The stay with iOS then, I guess.I've got some really expensive ones which aren't available on other platforms
Out of curiosity, what are they?
BigTom
Well-Known Member
I'm an android user but use an iphone/ipad at work and no, the experience is very similar ime.
Settings is laid out differently which is confusing when you need to do something there, otherwise i just find advantages in androids back button and widgets which are great. (I imagine the back button functions are easily accessible on ios, i just don't use it enough to know what multi touch command it is).
Also you can use other keyboards on android (though ios may have changed this?), I love gesture typing, which is now part of the default android keyboard, though part of me thinks i should still install swype out of loyalty/respect.
sim667
All aboard the 303 bus.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
After trying both for a while, the google version is better IME. Seems to learn my common words more reliably.
Throbbing Angel
this is no longer a place of honour
Yeah, I'd agree on that.
You can install Gboard onto iOS devices y'know. I use it on my iPad. Much prefer it. iPad seems to forget every couple of weeks though and defaults back to the standard one.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
That is the difference between Android and iPhone ,The exterior feature of the iPhone was a home button,But not on the iPhone x.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Oh
Not the end of the world, but I'll need to look at that....
Just saved all the photos I wanted out of WhatsApp onto Drive. Fairly pain free process.
editor
hiraethified
Going for a pre-emptive ban here., given that (a) your post is gibberish and (b) you're posting from a Chinese IP address.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Get all your contacts into google too
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
was already using Google for contacts (and most calendar stuff).
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Google one consistently fails to recognise "I'm" or "I'll" and has issues often with apostrophied words. I'm hoping it learns (I think one of those two has got better), we'll see.
8ball
Decolonise colons!
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Sounds like it's going to be a very easy switch then!
I'm sure you know, but you can use different apps as the front end for most Google services. I find aCalander displays far nicer then the default one for example.
editor
hiraethified
I can forward him your email address if you're that keen on reading some spam.
editor
hiraethified
ACalendar is a fantastic app - the way you can swipe to scroll through day/week/month views is brilliantly intuitive. The dev gives away 10% of his revenue to a tapir charity too.
aCalendar - Android Calendar – Android Apps on Google Play
8ball
Decolonise colons!
I didn't see any spam. It didn't make much sense, but nothing flogging anything or providing a link to click on etc.
Have you been getting lots of spam from Chinese IPs or something?
editor
hiraethified
You can't be this naive can you? It is a hugely common tactic for BB spammers (and bots) to sign up to boards and make a few token posts before delivering their filthy payload of spam.
So when someone signs up from China to make an unintelligible post about an iPhone, my experience tells me it's about 99.9% certain that spam will shortly follow.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
So far, so good.
No real difference in experience tbh.
Almost all my apps transferred over fine.
The Google Apps are notably "zingier" plus there's bonus stuff like Google Trips which (for me) is ace.
Forgot that'd I'd lose Apple Health and all my step count etc. data. Not too bothered really though. Google Fit is a pretty good alternative - it doesn't seem to have the "flights climbed" data which i liked, but does chuck a little map of where I've walked each day which is nice.
Will need a FaceTime alternative and keep an eye on whether my wife's iCal is syncing nicely with my Google Calendar (they were before, as that's what i used anyway, so fingers crossed).
Lost my WhatsApp conversations, but having been pre-warned (thanks Fez909) had saved the photos i wanted from them.
Only managing a Google Account rather than an Apple and Google account is a lot less hassle.
I miss the physical home button and don't really like the back button.
Multitasking is actually useful.
Not much else to say as far the OS is concerned. It's really not that different in everyday use for me. Which is good.
Seamless, aside from a minor EE hiccup with the sim.
I like the phone too.
No real difference in experience tbh.
Almost all my apps transferred over fine.
The Google Apps are notably "zingier" plus there's bonus stuff like Google Trips which (for me) is ace.
Forgot that'd I'd lose Apple Health and all my step count etc. data. Not too bothered really though. Google Fit is a pretty good alternative - it doesn't seem to have the "flights climbed" data which i liked, but does chuck a little map of where I've walked each day which is nice.
Will need a FaceTime alternative and keep an eye on whether my wife's iCal is syncing nicely with my Google Calendar (they were before, as that's what i used anyway, so fingers crossed).
Lost my WhatsApp conversations, but having been pre-warned (thanks Fez909) had saved the photos i wanted from them.
Only managing a Google Account rather than an Apple and Google account is a lot less hassle.
I miss the physical home button and don't really like the back button.
Multitasking is actually useful.
Not much else to say as far the OS is concerned. It's really not that different in everyday use for me. Which is good.
Seamless, aside from a minor EE hiccup with the sim.
I like the phone too.
souljacker
innit
I find whatsapp better than facetime for video calling personally. Google Duo also works well but everyone, no matter what OS, uses whatsapp so it will work for pretty much everyone.
Fez909
toilet expert
I think this will change for you.
I had to use an iPhone recently for the first time (loaned from a mate while my Android was getting repaired) and the single most frustrating thing for me was the lack of a back button. I didn't have a clue how to get between various screens in apps, and each one seemed to manage it slightly differently.
Not that Android apps are 100% consistent with how they manage the back button, mind. It's much better these days but in the early days the back button was confusing sometimes.
Now it's mostly:
back one -> Take you back a screen
back twice -> take you to the top menu of the current app
back three times -> take you to the last opened app, or to homescreen if you didn't come from an app
One nice thing Android does is allow apps to share stuff between themselves. It's on iOS now, but I reckon Android does it better as it's been baked in since day 1.
Hit the share button in an app and you'll see which apps are configured to receive data from that app. The "clipboard" is usually one of those, and I find that handy.
But for things like sharing a dropbox link with a friend on WhatsApp:
Open dropbox and go to your file/folder -> hit share -> choose WhatsApp -> pick your friend.
As you can imagine, there's lots of different combinations of shares depending on the apps and they all seem to Just Work.
Facetime doesn't really have a decent alternative on Android. There's skype (meh), WhatsApp itself (still a bit meh), or Hangouts - which is actually really good, but no one uses it.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
This, 100x. I dunno how I'd survive without a back button tbh. I continually get lost in iOS when I need that functionality.
I also miss having physical buttons though like on the first smartphones I had.
Fez909
toilet expert
I didn't care for the physical buttons, but I did miss the ball thing when it was first removed from most Androids. It made selecting text much easier and without it, it was almost impossible to put the cursor in the right place. Then Android added tap and hold to zoom in and I no longer missed the ball.
I was anti soft-keyboard for ages. Hated them because they were so slow and had no feedback, so mistakes were common. Then swipe came along and now it actually doesn't matter than you're accurate when typing. As long as you're close enough, the software will (mostly) figure it out. And so I no longer miss physical keyboards.
Never been that bothered about the rest of the physical buttons - they just take up space that could be used for screen/smaller phone.
Why do you miss them?
The only one I've ever cared enough about to notice/would miss, is the hardware camera button I have now on my Sony. It makes a lot of sense to have a hardware button for that. I don't know why more phone manufacturers don't have them.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I think Samsung did right making the buttons appear from the bottom of screen. No space lost, but back and home are still in a constant place.
souljacker
innit
A lot of phones are using the double-tap of the power button method now, which is just as good.
cybershot
Well-Known Member
Now I'm on an X without any kind of buttons. I love it, just swooshing my finger around to move around. Using my iPad Air and having to use the home button now grinds my gears. A back button would just puzzle me, but like the X, I'd probably just get used to it after a bit. I guess it comes down to preference, but I think you easily re-train your brain on how to use the device within just a few days.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
I just like the tactile feedback of an actual button.
