Just looking for guidance on some android operation

[AC Question]

Hi,

I'm contemplating the switch from an ios to android. I'm hoping the community would be able to answer some operational questions I can't seem to gather while using the phone in stores or around the web.

How much can you do with the notification center? I notice that when you swip down from the top of the screen, you get lots of functions to turn on and off, such as wi fi, you can swip down again for more. Then I see app notifications and emails, but is there anything else? For example, on an iphone, I have a full month calendar. Each day has visual indication if there is an appointment. I can tap the day and get the events below the calendar. I can have another section in the same pull down for 5 stocks. I see their current price and market cap. I have another section for Onenote. I can add new notes or view the five most recent notes. I'd like to understand if the notification center is extensible at all.

I have seen there is a Onenote widget for the homescreen. Does anyone use it? What can I do with it other than create a new note? Display notes? Can I pin a specific section to a homescreen? I'm sorry, I'm a heavy onenote user, so it would be helpful to understand this.

How do you search for stuff on your phone? Example on an iphone. I can just pull down anywhere on the homescreen. I get a text entry box at the top. I can start typing to find an app or person. Is there something similar? Is it another widget that I have to specifically use?

What about maps? Often I look up a spot ahead of time. Can I then pin this location onto the screen of the phone for quick access?

What about os updates? I know they are a bit more sporatic than what Apple does. I would be looking at the new galaxy. Is there some kind of timeline where Google releases the OS and then say within six months Samsung pushes out the update? Is it typically just a big os update or are smaller point releases also done?

Thanks,

I appreciate any thoughts and opinions people will share.

 

[sydneycooper1979]

Ok. In the notification shade, there are quick toggles for settings and every app notification you get is actionable. There are home screen widgets for almost everything else you have had a question about. You can have your full calendar on the homescreen, notes, stocks, you can search using the Google search widget. Google maps is fantastic. It will do everything you are wanting. There's a widget for map directions. Any android phone that is not a Nexus will have sporadic updates. Samsung will update their flagships, but those updates also have to go through the carriers. So it is kind of a crapshoot. They have been pretty good about pushing security updates on a regular basis.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. Android is very flexible in how you set things up. I can show my 3 home screens and why I have them that way.

The first is my left most screen, reserved for Google Now, due to the widget being so large. Gives me a synopsis of some things I have upcoming for the day or the next few days.

Second is my primary screen. This is where my most common used apps reside.

Last is my weather widgets, and this is also my 'experimental page. If I need to quickly see what a widget looks like, I can do so here, or quickly create another page depending on the widget.

The notification shade allows some interaction with apps, along with persistent notifications, or, say in the case of an email, you can get a little bit of a preview, decide if you want to address it now or not. If it's something you need to come back to later, the best thing is to not swipe to dismiss. The notification stays until you look at it, or in the case of email (depending on the client) read it from any device.

 

[linear2202]

Thank you both for your time. It sounds like the notification center's functionality is pretty fixed. That's for the screen shots and ideas, it helps.