Background: Skip to Android impressions if this part doesn't interest you.
Work in IT and love gadgets in general. One of my duties is being in charge of MDM (Mobile Device Management) which requires me to be knowledgeable in all major OS (mobile and desktop).
Used Windows Phone going back to WP7, added an Iphone 6+ in 2014 and used the Iphone the most since then. My last Android phone was a Samsung Galaxy Vibrant (2010) which was a pretty bad experience. The worst battery life I've ever had on a phone (by far) and remember thinking the Android experience being sub-par at the time. I currently have the entry level Galaxy Tab at work (Tab A ?) which is a cheap build but only use it when I really needed since it is shared.
Last month I was craving a new piece of hardware. Was debating an Android Phone or Ipad Pro. I started leaning towards an Android phone because I wanted to get more knowledge with Android again. Security is important to me and I felt like a Nexus device was the logical choice. I was really un-impressed with the styling of the 6p. I just didn't like the look of phone. Things came down to the HTC10 and Galaxy S7/S7Edge. HTC was quickly ruled out because I couldn't get an unlocked version on Verizon right away so I went and startedl ooking at the Galaxy phones.
I wasn't considering the Note when I went to look, but that was the phone I kept gravitating to. It was the nicest piece of phone hardware I ever held. The stylus was a big draw to me for quick notes at work and in general. Screen size was perfect and I wasn't too sold on an edge screen.
Main reasons I went with Samsung:
-My favorite phone hardware / styling
-Stylus
-Screen
-Samsung Pay
-Quick charging
Found a great deal on swappa and was giddy happy when it came.
Android Impressions / Experience
I played with it two days before putting my SIM card in to get the layout I liked along with my apps downloaded. It took a little tinkering to figure out what default programs I wanted. I went mainly with google products such as photos (which is freaking great!), chrome, and a few others. I picked Textra as my default text message because it seemed the best and don't know anyone that uses hangouts on purpose. It definitely required some more knowledge and effort to get things set up compared to ios/wp, but wasn't hard for me. I can definitely see it overwhelming for non-techies.
I popped in my SIM card when I went to bed and woke up to find a bunch of un-wanted apps installed over night. Definitely Verizon's doing. Strike against the Android, but carrier's fault and quickly uninstalled.
My impressions are favorable at this time. All the apps I want are there and work fine with the exception of Rotoworld which didn't update news regularly and often crashed. The only widgets I use are time/weather and Google search bar. I find myself preferring Live tiles of Windows Phone OS, but not a big deal. The widgets I do use add some spice and less boring than ios static icons. I installed pushbullet and use it for texting and notifications on my computer. I do like this feature a lot. The OS performs great with zero lag and no performance issues.
Android as an OS definitely needs some more work, specifically with the battery management, which has been the only problem I've been having. Almost daily, there is an app that should be dormant that decides to take up battery resources. The app culprit differs from day to day. I feel like I have to baby-sit the phone constantly to ensure the battery doesn't drain on its own. After a typical work day with light usage I'm usually 25-40% battery life much worse than my Lumia 1520 and Iphone 6+. Today has been my best day on battery by far. Heavier usage than normal and am at 60%; some 20-35% better than normal. This is closer to what I feel like I should be experiencing. Also feel the notification bar at the top is very cluttered. It would go a long way moving the time to the middle with long term notifications (cell service / wifi, etc) to the far right with temporary notification to the left. Would be much cleaner.
I think I'm going to keep the Note 5 as my phone of choice through the summer. I still really enjoy the cutting edge hardware it brings and will get plenty of use with the Stylus. I find the camera better than the over-rated one in the Iphone. I can really go either way as I have things running in parallel.
I'm due for a phone upgrade on my contract come fall. I think it will come down to Note 6+ vs Iphone 7+. I have high hopes for Note 6. I really hope the laptop docking rumor comes to fruition as I think this would be a great feature for me. Looking forward to what it brings.
Work in IT and love gadgets in general. One of my duties is being in charge of MDM (Mobile Device Management) which requires me to be knowledgeable in all major OS (mobile and desktop).
Used Windows Phone going back to WP7, added an Iphone 6+ in 2014 and used the Iphone the most since then. My last Android phone was a Samsung Galaxy Vibrant (2010) which was a pretty bad experience. The worst battery life I've ever had on a phone (by far) and remember thinking the Android experience being sub-par at the time. I currently have the entry level Galaxy Tab at work (Tab A ?) which is a cheap build but only use it when I really needed since it is shared.
Last month I was craving a new piece of hardware. Was debating an Android Phone or Ipad Pro. I started leaning towards an Android phone because I wanted to get more knowledge with Android again. Security is important to me and I felt like a Nexus device was the logical choice. I was really un-impressed with the styling of the 6p. I just didn't like the look of phone. Things came down to the HTC10 and Galaxy S7/S7Edge. HTC was quickly ruled out because I couldn't get an unlocked version on Verizon right away so I went and startedl ooking at the Galaxy phones.
I wasn't considering the Note when I went to look, but that was the phone I kept gravitating to. It was the nicest piece of phone hardware I ever held. The stylus was a big draw to me for quick notes at work and in general. Screen size was perfect and I wasn't too sold on an edge screen.
Main reasons I went with Samsung:
-My favorite phone hardware / styling
-Stylus
-Screen
-Samsung Pay
-Quick charging
Found a great deal on swappa and was giddy happy when it came.
Android Impressions / Experience
I played with it two days before putting my SIM card in to get the layout I liked along with my apps downloaded. It took a little tinkering to figure out what default programs I wanted. I went mainly with google products such as photos (which is freaking great!), chrome, and a few others. I picked Textra as my default text message because it seemed the best and don't know anyone that uses hangouts on purpose. It definitely required some more knowledge and effort to get things set up compared to ios/wp, but wasn't hard for me. I can definitely see it overwhelming for non-techies.
I popped in my SIM card when I went to bed and woke up to find a bunch of un-wanted apps installed over night. Definitely Verizon's doing. Strike against the Android, but carrier's fault and quickly uninstalled.
My impressions are favorable at this time. All the apps I want are there and work fine with the exception of Rotoworld which didn't update news regularly and often crashed. The only widgets I use are time/weather and Google search bar. I find myself preferring Live tiles of Windows Phone OS, but not a big deal. The widgets I do use add some spice and less boring than ios static icons. I installed pushbullet and use it for texting and notifications on my computer. I do like this feature a lot. The OS performs great with zero lag and no performance issues.
Android as an OS definitely needs some more work, specifically with the battery management, which has been the only problem I've been having. Almost daily, there is an app that should be dormant that decides to take up battery resources. The app culprit differs from day to day. I feel like I have to baby-sit the phone constantly to ensure the battery doesn't drain on its own. After a typical work day with light usage I'm usually 25-40% battery life much worse than my Lumia 1520 and Iphone 6+. Today has been my best day on battery by far. Heavier usage than normal and am at 60%; some 20-35% better than normal. This is closer to what I feel like I should be experiencing. Also feel the notification bar at the top is very cluttered. It would go a long way moving the time to the middle with long term notifications (cell service / wifi, etc) to the far right with temporary notification to the left. Would be much cleaner.
I think I'm going to keep the Note 5 as my phone of choice through the summer. I still really enjoy the cutting edge hardware it brings and will get plenty of use with the Stylus. I find the camera better than the over-rated one in the Iphone. I can really go either way as I have things running in parallel.
I'm due for a phone upgrade on my contract come fall. I think it will come down to Note 6+ vs Iphone 7+. I have high hopes for Note 6. I really hope the laptop docking rumor comes to fruition as I think this would be a great feature for me. Looking forward to what it brings.
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