Need advice: Android after iOS

[JeffDenver]

That minimalist trend is a backdrop to a thing I doubt any mass consumer is aware of or cares for. As it is minimalism is just something that is happening without consumer noticing just like how smart phones have gotten so big or how specs of smart phones have gotten near laptop levels.

I think consumers intuitively recognize these things as gimmicks...I know lots of people with Samsung phones...I don't know anyone who uses the touchwiz features. I do know many of them are confused or annoyed by Samsung's UI alterations. This is why, IMO, consumers will embrace the minimalism.

The only exception is the iconography...Google's iconography is often cryptic and hard for people to understand without it being explained to them. At least in my experience. Email forwarding in Gmail is a perfect example of that...NONE of the Android users I know has gotten this immediately. I've had to explain it lots of times. Even tech nerds get confused by it.

 

[A895]

I think consumers intuitively recognize these things as gimmicks...I know lots of people with Samsung phones...I don't know anyone who uses the touchwiz features. I do know many of them are confused or annoyed by Samsung's UI alterations. This is why, IMO, consumers will embrace the minimalism.

The only exception is the iconography...Google's iconography is often cryptic and hard for people to understand without it being explained to them. At least in my experience. Email forwarding in Gmail is a perfect example of that...NONE of the Android users I know has gotten this immediately. I've had to explain it lots of times. Even tech nerds get confused by it.

The not using of Samsung native Touchwiz features is not a clear indication of consumers preferring a more minimalist UI.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[MDMcAtee]

Joe

I guess by now you've had a chance to research the phones a little more,and have looked at what is available to you. It's not a easy decision to make with all of the really great phones out now and what is rumored to be soon.

Once you get a idea of what you want,then you have to figure out if you are going to keep it like it comes or change it around to suit your taste.

I know you said you were bored looking at the same screen with your iPhone,and understand where you're coming from with that. You won't be bored so quickly with most Android phones,and you won't have to worry about rooting or jailbreaking it to really change the look and feel of it for a long long time. You can just download new launchers and change everything around on it really easy.

Your worry about having to reset the phone once in awhile while a inconvenience may be necessary depending on how you use it or change on it and it may only take a soft reset instead of a full hard reset to clear the issues. From the way you said you have never had to do that with your iPhone sounds to me that you don't change much on your phone so I don't see this as a problem for you.

Most people I know that have or wanted to switch platforms always said what you have,they just wanted their phones to work,and I get that completely,but as with any changes sometimes issues come up that are unforseen.

My biggest gripe with the iPhone was the signal reception in my area. While this may not effect you where you are at on your carrier,it has a profound effect on me here. That is something you should research with friends and family or coworkers where you are. Both with normal cell calls and also with Wi-Fi on the different phones your looking at.

The led alerts have never been a issue with me on any Android phone I have owned. They all have worked and I have never had to download apps to correct it. I guess I'm very lucky in that according to some.

I'm like you in just wanting my phone to work properly,and with my m8 it has been flawless so far. It syncs well with my iMac and my Windows 8 laptop and transferring my music collection was ok. I did download a album art grabber at first to fill in some missing covers so that is not a issue anymore. 2 good music players to check out if your stock player is lacking is n7 and Power Amp both work great and have very nice features to use . Both are different than iTunes music and have different functions and looks to change around to keep you from being bored.

My iPhone friends that switched were scared of the transition,worried about learning something new and different and how bad Android phones really are. I can tell you this,some are worse than your iPhone,but most are just as good as it is in all regards. It takes time to build up confidence,and if you choose to,you'll be able to find fault with everything,or you can decide to learn how to use your phone so it does what you want it to.

See,with freedom comes a greater responsibility to be more self sufficient. That's what Android is really about underneath all the different skins that has been put on top of it. It makes you think about what You want,if you choose to.

Sorry to sound so philosophical but most people who have been on the Apple iPhone for so long don't fully understand this fact.

Good luck on your phone choice

Posted via Android Central App on my HTC M8

 

[joe watson1]

Thanks for the reply. That's good advice and after reading and researching I have learned a lot. I still want to change it want to wait to see what all the new phones are about in the next few months then decide.

 

[MDMcAtee]

Thanks for the reply. That's good advice and after reading and researching I have learned a lot. I still want to change it want to wait to see what all the new phones are about in the next few months then decide.

Good idea and will give you time to sort it all out.

Posted via Android Central App on my HTC M8

 

[Wildo6882]

Thanks for the reply. That's good advice and after reading and researching I have learned a lot. I still want to change it want to wait to see what all the new phones are about in the next few months then decide.

You've received some great advice in this thread, so I won't reiterate it all here. I'm the type of tech junkie that jumps from iOS to Android and back around again. I've finally settled on Android now that my wife and I switched to AT&T and I can use basically whatever phone I want.

Android just gives you that extra bit of freedom that makes me like it over iOS. For the most part, it does the same things that iOS does, just with a different looking skin on it. Apps, games, music, shows/movies are all basically the same between the two OSes. The place where Android wins is choice. You have hardware choice where you could pick a stock device like Nexus or GPE or Moto, to an extent. Or you could pick a skinned device like S5, M8, G3 that all have top of the line specs, but do have their own "skins". Of those skinned devices I'd go with the M8 first, as long as you're ok with a slightly worse camera. If not, go with the G3. If you don't want skins, then a Nexus 5 is an incredible piece of hardware.

The other choice that Android gives you is with the software. You can keep your phone as bare bones as you want. But you can also make it "yours". And make the phone work just how you want it. That, to me, is the number one reason to use Android. You can make them do nearly anything you want. But you don't have to. With iOS, I had to do what iOS would let me. Simple things like not being able to turn off vibrate for the stock alarm drove me insane. I liked my phone to always vibrate for notifications, but that also meant my alarm had to vibrate. That's just such a simple and pointless thing, that it seemed obvious to me. Yet Apple told me that's how it had to be.

If you really want to change, then give it a shot. But make sure you give it a real shot. I've seen so many people change for three days and then go back to what they're used to. The possibilities with Android are endless. And it will be much different than what you're used to. But if you want to make the change, jump in head first and give it a shot. You can be more than happy with Android. It's a great OS.

 

[alinescoo]

I am using both iOS and android. To be honest 95 of the time I use the OS to launch an app that I need... so launchers and stuff do not impress me. I still find iOS to be more smooth and somehow polished.

For android side, OnePlus One seems a pretty good deal so far, I would wait for Note 4, Moto X+1 and Nexus 6 before doing an upgrade.