Android for a Windows Phone user

[rchillin]

I'm a long time Windows Phone user. The last time I considered using Android was back in 2009 and I chose a Samsung Intrepid because Windows Mobile 6.5 offered email sync with my hotmail account. Since support for Windows 10 Mobile is coming to an end, I've been looking at replacement devices.

I'm leaning closer towards Android because Microsoft services can tie in closer to the OS; digital assistant, Timeline, and My Phone come to mind. As for the device, I've narrowed it down to Sony Xperia line because it's only device lineup that still uses a dedicated camera button. The only thing it's lacking is OIS so I'm hoping that the Xperia XZ3 Premium or XZ4 will come with this in the camera module.

So my question is this. With the later versions of Android, is it possible to completely remove Google services? Since waiting on Sony to put OIS into their device, are there any roadblocks that would prevent me from removing Google services? Do I have to root? Is it possible to remove all the Google apps (Mail, Calendar, Chrome, etc). I have no need or want for these services or apps.

Thanks all.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. It depends on how you want to take removing Google from an Android device. If it's just a bunch of Google specific apps you can disable them.

Completely removing all traces of Google will require a custom ROM and not flashing Google apps. This does have a few caveats though: no Play store. You would be reduced to Amazon as your only trusted app vendor. Updates could be less user friendly. You may need to update sections of the ROM after updating (had that happen on a custom ROM on my Nexus).

If you are ok with that, I would start researching what the steps are to flashing a ROM on a Sony (I have a general idea, but sometimes different OEMs have different hoops to jump through).

 

[Kayza]

You can uninstall most google apps. And the ones that you can't you can hide away so that they don't get in you way. The one thing you really can't get rid of is Google play services, because that's necessary in order to get at the Play store, and for some basic security. You may think that you don't care about the Play store, but I'm pretty sure that the MS apps you want to use are only available on the play store.

 

[rchillin]

@Kayza, I'm aware of Playstore but I start searching the interwebs and discovered https://www.apkmirror.com/. Could that be used to replace the playstore? I would only need a handful apps like you mentioned MS apps, some social apps, some popular streaming apps, and a banking app.

 

[Byrese]

Go iPhone.

 

[11B1P]

I'm a long time Windows Phone user. The last time I considered using Android was back in 2009 and I chose a Samsung Intrepid because Windows Mobile 6.5 offered email sync with my hotmail account. Since support for Windows 10 Mobile is coming to an end, I've been looking at replacement devices.

I'm leaning closer towards Android because Microsoft services can tie in closer to the OS; digital assistant, Timeline, and My Phone come to mind. As for the device, I've narrowed it down to Sony Xperia line because it's only device lineup that still uses a dedicated camera button. The only thing it's lacking is OIS so I'm hoping that the Xperia XZ3 Premium or XZ4 will come with this in the camera module.

So my question is this. With the later versions of Android, is it possible to completely remove Google services? Since waiting on Sony to put OIS into their device, are there any roadblocks that would prevent me from removing Google services? Do I have to root? Is it possible to remove all the Google apps (Mail, Calendar, Chrome, etc). I have no need or want for these services or apps.

Thanks all.

I'm a former WP user as well. My opinion, forget trying to remove the Google apps and convert to them. You'll find that everything syncs together across devices perfectly.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'm a former WP user as well. My opinion, forget trying to remove the Google apps and convert to them. You'll find that everything syncs together across devices perfectly.

Likewise. I switched from Windows Phone to Android almost four years ago. Surprisingly, I didn't have any issues when I first made the switch. https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=508231&p=4315025&viewfull=1#post4315025

 

[methodman89]

I'm a long time Windows Phone user. The last time I considered using Android was back in 2009 and I chose a Samsung Intrepid because Windows Mobile 6.5 offered email sync with my hotmail account. Since support for Windows 10 Mobile is coming to an end, I've been looking at replacement devices.

I'm leaning closer towards Android because Microsoft services can tie in closer to the OS; digital assistant, Timeline, and My Phone come to mind. As for the device, I've narrowed it down to Sony Xperia line because it's only device lineup that still uses a dedicated camera button. The only thing it's lacking is OIS so I'm hoping that the Xperia XZ3 Premium or XZ4 will come with this in the camera module.

So my question is this. With the later versions of Android, is it possible to completely remove Google services? Since waiting on Sony to put OIS into their device, are there any roadblocks that would prevent me from removing Google services? Do I have to root? Is it possible to remove all the Google apps (Mail, Calendar, Chrome, etc). I have no need or want for these services or apps.

Thanks all.

Your question is an oxymoron. Android is Google, and Google is Android. You can't escape having Google if you want an Android phone, just as you can't escape the Apple store if you want an iPhone.
Don't dl from anywhere other than the playstore, unless you know what you are doing.
Your android will play nice with windows, and you can even remote connect with your phone to your home pc.
Good luck.

 

[Kayza]

@Kayza, I'm aware of Playstore but I start searching the interwebs and discovered https://www.apkmirror.com/. Could that be used to replace the playstore? I would only need a handful apps like you mentioned MS apps, some social apps, some popular streaming apps, and a banking app.

It depends on what you want. I don't know how trustworthy or careful they are, so you would need to research that carefully - Google puts a LOT of resources into making sure that apps are safe. Also, you really have no guarantee that the app you want is going to be someplace like that, especially if you are looking at something like an app from your bank. (I just checked, and the app for my bank - Chase - is not there. The smaller the bank, the less likely the app is going to be there.)

 

[rchillin]

Thank you all for your suggestions. They're much appreciated.

 

[Rukbat]

A final note?

Google Services is a lot of the internals of Android, so you can't run Android without it. Run a Google phone without Google? That's like running a Windows phone without Windows.

The main problem you're going to have (not being able to completely remove Google, or even not removing anything Google at all, is a preference, not a problem) is that Windows phones (and Windows) integrate very tightly with Hotmail and Exchange, because when a change is made to one of them Windows (and Mobile Windows is included) gets an update to match. Android doesn't. One of the big problems we see here is someone with an Android phone having problems with Hotmail (or more often, with Exchange). And only email gets synced with Exchange, even with Microsoft's app. No contact sync, no calendar sync, no appointment sync, that's all gone.

But, as I said, having Google on the phone isn't a problem. (And I say that as someone who ran Windows when it was Windows 2, and I've been running it, either as the only OS, or as a multi-booted OS, on every computer since before the Pentium math problem (early 90s). When in Rome, don't try speaking Urdu. When in Android, don't expect to get rid of Google. Not completely, anyway. Even the "non-Google" ROMs have most of Google's code (and Linux, which is the OS Android runs on) baked in.

 

[Golfdriver97]

@Kayza, I'm aware of Playstore but I start searching the interwebs and discovered https://www.apkmirror.com/. Could that be used to replace the playstore? I would only need a handful apps like you mentioned MS apps, some social apps, some popular streaming apps, and a banking app.

Can it? In theory, yes. However, I don't think they are that diligent in reviewing code, they are just a host site. Imagine if apk mirror was like an open Dropbox account. Anyone can add anything, and anyone can download anything. File X might be fine, but File K might be malicious. You won't know unless you look at the code.

I would suggest seeing if you can get a Nexus device, flash a custom ROM without Google apps, and try to play with it.

 

[Kayza]

And only email gets synced with Exchange, even with Microsoft's app. No contact sync, no calendar sync, no appointment sync, that's all gone.

Huh? You can most definitely sync your contacts and calendar from exchange to an Android phone. My primary calendar is on MS Office 365 and that's showing in the Google Calendar widget just fine. I don't need to to anything to make it happen, once I have the phone set up.