Did anyone switch to Nexus 5 from the Galaxy S3?

[jdot104]

I came from a rooted S3 and my experience with the N5 has been exponentially better. For my usage, battery life is about twice as long with the Nexus. I thought I would miss the hardware buttons, but I don't. I do wish stock Android had just a few more customization options, but I definitely had no second thoughts about getting a Nexus. For what it's worth, I likely would've gotten a Sony phone if they had released the Z2 stateside.

 

[virnuls]

I have an S3 work phone and my own Nexus 5. It was the S3 that made me think that I should swap from my old iPhone 3GS to Android, but the Nexus 5 is better than the S3 in every respect.

It's much faster, it feels lighter and smaller (even though the size is virtually identical), I like the fact that the gone button is on the screen - also the physical buttons have a more positive action on the Nexus 5.

The biggest benefits are the battery and the screen, though - the Nexus 5 lasts easily twice as long on a charge, and the Samsung screens are terrible for photos and videos - they're over-saturated with an in unnatural colour balance.

I'm a keen photographer, so I've never really used the camera in either phone, other than to compare them (unfavourably) with a real camera.

 

[LeoRex]

I thought I would miss the hardware buttons, but I don't

Heh.... the lack of buttons is one of the reasons I MOVED to the Nexus 5. I jacked up my thumb pretty good in HS, and the home button on the S3 was a bit of a pain (literally and figuratively) to use.... When I loaded Paranoid Android and discovered PIE controls, it was like a light shown down from the heavens. Then I started to get annoyed at all the lost real estate due to the room in the bezel needed for the HW and capacitive buttons on my 3... I thought "Man, I wish it was like my wife's Nexus 7".... well, how about a 5 inch version then!

Now I loves me some on screen soft buttons.

 

[jdot104]

Now I loves me some on screen soft buttons.

I'm fully converted too. They significantly improve the time it takes to switch between apps, especially with ART enabled.

 

[Cheetah Alexandru]

Hey , I am new here , i just wanted to ask:
I am moving from Galaxy S3 to Nexus 5 , and i wanted to know how can i have a smooth transition, meaning back up the S3 and restore to Nexus5 , or at least the contacts.
Very noob, so if anybody has the patience to walk me throu it ,

Thanks

 

[LeoRex]

Hey , I am new here , i just wanted to ask:
I am moving from Galaxy S3 to Nexus 5 , and i wanted to know how can i have a smooth transition, meaning back up the S3 and restore to Nexus5 , or at least the contacts.
Very noob, so if anybody has the patience to walk me throu it ,

Thanks

Well... if all your contacts are Google contacts and not local phone contacts, then you won't have to do very much at all. I know that when I had my S3 (Verizon), you had the option of having your contacts either locally (meaning Verizon might back them up) or on Google (which get stored in your google account). I converted all my stuff to Google to avoid any porting issues...so when I got my 5, once I logged into Google for the first time, all my contacts showed up once it sync's up.

App data... that's different. Apps can store stuff in several places. Some use 'cloud' storage.. whether it be your Facebook account (Candy Crush, for instance) or they store your progress in Google Games, etc... Apps that store in the cloud will be recovered once you get the app back and logged in. Other apps store stuff locally. Here is where it can get messy. Not only will that data be coming from a different phone, it will most likely be coming from a different version of Android (between the S3 and Nexus 5). There are apps, like Titanium Backup, that can store your app data, but there is no guarantee that that app data backup will work between the two devices.

Now, one more thing....Google Play can get set up to automatically 'restore' your apps... If you log into a new phone, or log back into your current phone after doing a factory reset, Google Play will look and reinstall all those apps you had installed previously. If those apps had data stored in Google (more and more are doing this), then you'll get the app AND your data restored. But in a lot of cases, you'll just get the app back automatically (watch out if you are on a mobile data connection and don't have unlimited data!!!!). When I bought my Nexus 5.... I turned it on and went back to my car.... I noticed that it was downloading apps like mad!

 

[alhadee12]

Well... if all your contacts are Google contacts and not local phone contacts, then you won't have to do very much at all. I know that when I had my S3 (Verizon), you had the option of having your contacts either locally (meaning Verizon might back them up) or on Google (which get stored in your google account). I converted all my stuff to Google to avoid any porting issues...so when I got my 5, once I logged into Google for the first time, all my contacts showed up once it sync's up.

App data... that's different. Apps can store stuff in several places. Some use 'cloud' storage.. whether it be your Facebook account (Candy Crush, for instance) or they store your progress in Google Games, etc... Apps that store in the cloud will be recovered once you get the app back and logged in. Other apps store stuff locally. Here is where it can get messy. Not only will that data be coming from a different phone, it will most likely be coming from a different version of Android (between the S3 and Nexus 5). There are apps, like Titanium Backup, that can store your app data, but there is no guarantee that that app data backup will work between the two devices.

Now, one more thing....Google Play can get set up to automatically 'restore' your apps... If you log into a new phone, or log back into your current phone after doing a factory reset, Google Play will look and reinstall all those apps you had installed previously. If those apps had data stored in Google (more and more are doing this), then you'll get the app AND your data restored. But in a lot of cases, you'll just get the app back automatically (watch out if you are on a mobile data connection and don't have unlimited data!!!!). When I bought my Nexus 5.... I turned it on and went back to my car.... I noticed that it was downloading apps like mad!

I've only experienced it downloading mainly Google and apps associated with the carrier. Google Play has never reinstalled my downloaded apps.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[LeoRex]

I've only experienced it downloading mainly Google and apps associated with the carrier. Google Play has never reinstalled my downloaded apps.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

That's odd... might be in your settings. I've been rom-jumping lately, checking out the latest and greatest KK roms... and when I start up the new ROM I've learned to NEVER log into Google at first.... It got to be a royal pain in the **** as it started to reload all my apps once I connected.... I bring up the ROM, load in my apps via Titanium Backup, THEN log into Google.

 

[alhadee12]

That's odd... might be in your settings. I've been rom-jumping lately, checking out the latest and greatest KK roms... and when I start up the new ROM I've learned to NEVER log into Google at first.... It got to be a royal pain in the **** as it started to reload all my apps once I connected.... I bring up the ROM, load in my apps via Titanium Backup, THEN log into Google.

I am not rooted.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk