Windows Phone to Android: Need help adjusting

[zakurydwalters]

Hi everyone, I'm sorry if this has already been asked, I haven't been able to find it.

I'm a long time windows mobile user. Never had android or iOS in my life. I decided to switch recently but I'm having a hard time adjusting. I wanted to see if anyone could give me some tips.

On windows my calendar and outlook were build in practically and it just seemed smooth. Also cortana was a great speech assistant. I wanted to know if a Galaxy S7 edge has the capability to display specific notifications on the lock screen.

Also, the s7 edge seems to drain battery at an alarming rate. I'm not sure if it is normal or not, but I don't even use it while at work, and at lunch time its been drained by 30% it seems.
The facebook app doesn't always update, and sometimes says it can't connect. And the wifi pick up is terrible compared to my windows phone.

Are these common? Is it just the phone I have, or even the model?

It would mean a lot if I could get some help adjusting to this new platform.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I would imagine these problems need to be solved for battery issues:

disable background apps from running
Remove unneeded apps
Disable wifi/cellular when not needed
Look at the battery monitoring app to see which apps/service uses the most battery

For wifi issues - readd the network
For Facebook: reinstall the app maybe

If none of this works - get a replacement or come back to windows mobile devices

 

[jean15paul]

Welcome to Android Central, zakurydwalters.

There's a lot going on in your question. I'll try to help where I can.

First you mentioned Outlook and your calendar on Windows. What are you using now on Android? You Galaxy is going to have 2 Calendar apps, one is the Samsung app and the other is the Google Calendar. Similarly, there's the Samsung built "email" app, and probably also the Gmail app. (This issues exists on pretty much. There are also TONS of 3rd party calendar and email apps in the Play store. In my opinion, to get the best Android experience, you could go all-in with Google's services (gmail, google calendar, etc) and use the Google apps. This ensures that your data will be accessable everywhere (web, any android phone by any manufacturer, etc). I suspect this would give you that "practically built-in" feeling you had on Windows. Similarly Google Now could would be your first-party voice assistant. It does some things better that Cortana, but Cortana is definitely more capable in other ways.

That being said, this definitely is not necessary. If you don't want to change your email address or don't want to use Google's services, you can definitely exist on Android with any other service provider. In fact you're probably already aware that Microsoft has a ton of apps on Android (including Outlook, Cortana, OneDrive, etc) https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pps/dev?id=6720847872553662727&token=sWJyQ51i You may not get that first-party built-in feel, but Android's sharing intents make any app able to communicate where it needs to. (You can hit the share button, which is sometimes hidden in the overflow menu, and send data to any app able to receive it.)

Regarding Lock Screen notifications. Yes! Go to Settings, Lock screen and security, Notifications on lock screen. There you can to show notification with content, show notifications but no content, or don't show notifications. Also you can turn this on or off for each apps individually.

Regarding battery life, that's a pretty big topic all on it's own. I don't think the s7 edge is know for bad battery life the way the s6 was. Chintan Gohel suggestions of disabling background app and data connection are effective, but I don't like to do that. I don't want to turn my smartphone into a dumber phone. I'd prefer to get real time notifications.

Another thing you can do to improve battery life is to reduce your screen brightness. I've even heard of people using wallpapers that are all black or mostly black since amoled screens display black by actually turning off the black pixels, but that's kind of extreme and finding something that "true black" is not as easy as it sounds.

The strength of your cell signal can also have a big effect on battery life. Weak signals kill batteries fast. Not sure if that's part of the issue.

I'd recommend Googling, or even better searching these Android Central forums, for battery life tips. But ultimately, I just keep chargers everywhere (home, car, office) and charge whenever I can. Quick Charge (Samsung implements the same tech as "Adaptive Fast Charge") make charging SO much faster that I personally am less concerned about a low batter than I used to be.

I hope this helps. If you need anything else, the Android Central forums are the best place to ask.

 

[pkcable]

I have a friend who made the same switch, I'm gonna get her to try and help you! Or find the thread she did about this! Standby!

 

[zocster]

I have had no issues with any samsung products, I'd suggest a download of firmware from sammobile and reload your device. Make sure you clear cache partition and do a factory reset afterwards. Do you know the model number of the device you have? Sammy is terrible for having so many variants.

I use outlook.com accounts on various android devices, and it syncs fine with my hackintosh and windows 10 alike. It sure is a huge learning curve migrating, but Android works quite nicely with Microsoft products and services.

 

[pkcable]

I have a friend who made the same switch, I'm gonna get her to try and help you! Or find the thread she did about this! Standby!

I found her thread! She might be along herself also, BUT in the meantime it's a GREAT read!......

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ph...ft-user-tries-android-guess-what-s-great.html