Thinking of Jumping from iPhone 7 to Pixel 2. I have some questions.

[Dan_B1979]

Huge Apple fan here; but hate the iPhone

Easy enough to work around though IMO

I've an N6P and will be buying the XL 2 when it's physically in stores here in the UK

I use Google Photos for all pictures; MS Outlook email app (and Gmail apps etc), iSyncr for moving music from my itunes onto my N6P (great app) and I use that with Poweramp (best music app IMO)

It's a very easy ecosystem to work around and IMO, much better and more customisable than iOS (ie. you can have apps where you like on your homescreen etc) whereas with iOS, you've to do as you're told!

Plus Nova Launcher is very smooth/slick, if you fancied changing the launcher that is!

Swiftkey is a superb keyboard app, crap on iOS but perfect on Android etc

This is my home screen set up on my N6P running Android Oreo and using Nova Launcher with DCIconz

 

[ChuckG73]

That makes sense now....I had a friend video a bday party for me of my FIL and he sent it to me and it was awful quality. I was shocked because he used an iPhone and sent it to my Android phone. So now let me reach back out to him and have him email the video.

 

[sangs]

That makes sense now....I had a friend video a bday party for me of my FIL and he sent it to me and it was awful quality. I was shocked because he used an iPhone and sent it to my Android phone. So now let me reach back out to him and have him email the video.

Bingo. And try being the only person in an 10-person thread not using iMessage when the video of the 15-month old nephew doing something cute is shared. And because you're the only person using text, the video sucks for everybody, and you get verbally reamed in the next 8 messages. Followed by 8 more asking the original sender to send it again and not include you. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

 

[Inders99]

Geez...such hostility. I don't think I've ever had an issue between my iPhone family and my Android regarding texting, but then we don't get into sharing vids or stuff, pics are no problem.

Is that were the iMessage thing becomes an issue, sharing vids?

Anyway, I have an iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, Apple Extreme, Apple TV, Airport, but a Samsung S7. Don't think I'd have it any other way.

BTW...my next device will be a Pixel, but I'm going to wait until my S7 starts to go bad. Just done with Samsung at this point.

 

[Jtshurtleff]

I can tell you that there will be adjustments and not just from not having iMessage or FaceTime but not having the clean interface between the watch and phone. I use a Huawei Watch 2 Classic with my phone and it is awesome, probably the closest thing to Apple Watch and iPhone is an Android Wear 2.0 watch with an Android phone. You get Assistant, Android Pay (with the models that have NFC), and music integration plus some models have LTE. Google also has swappable bands, but they seem to be kind of phasing out and Google doesn't seem to care as much about Wear as Apple does with WatchOS. The main thing for me was that Apple seems to be losing their focus when it comes to continuity. They want to say they're courageous for removing the headphone jack but then the iPads and Macbooks all have them instead of a lightning port on the Mac to support your new headphones. They released iOS 11 which seems to be the biggest adjustment between devices. iPad now resembles more of a Mac interface with the new dock and multitasking, but the iPhone is where it gets more fragmented. Want to access control center on the iPhone 8 or below? Swipe up. What does a swipe up do in the X? Goes to your home screen. To access control center on the X you swipe down from the right, it's just very confusing for people who have been using it the other way. FaceID is a joke to me, please give me options Apple, not what you think I want. The switch will be a bit of a cluster at first but once you have moved and have your cloud and google services switched over it's simple.

 

[anon(10092459)]

OP, if you're that deep in the Apple ecosystem you really need to think this out. As it's already been posted, getting out of the walled garden is no easy task, especially if you're using iMessage. Even once you climb out, if everyone in your world is on iMessage/Facetime it can be tough.

 

[Golfdriver97]

The biggest thing for me is my Apple Watch.

What do you use the watch for?

 

[drone3]

I bought a Note 8 two weeks ago. With that, I turned off iMessage and FaceTime, and now simply use WhatsApp. Thus I can still communicate with all my regular peeps, and thus can swap devices on the fly...

What's app is really the best replacement for iMessage and FaceTime.

 

[sangs]

I bought a Note 8 two weeks ago. With that, I turned off iMessage and FaceTime, and now simply use WhatsApp. Thus I can still communicate with all my regular peeps, and thus can swap devices on the fly...

Yup, tried that. Unfortunately about 95 percent of the people in my circles have no interest in using a second messaging app, since the one they use works perfectly fine. I have sent so many unread WhatsApp messages that I don't even bother anymore.

 

[Almeuit]

Yup, tried that. Unfortunately about 95 percent of the people in my circles have no interest in using a second messaging app, since the one they use works perfectly fine. I have sent so many unread WhatsApp messages that I don't even bother anymore.

Yep. I would never be able to get friends to swap. They're too lazy and they like the regular text message app since.. it works. It is just easier for me to accept sending a link if I truly want to send a video .

 

[stang6790]

I'm currently using an iPhone 7+, and I don't care one way or the other about iMessage. It's just a text messaging system with features I don't care about.

I'm about to switch (back) to Android, and the one thing that I WILL miss with Apple is the media management integration between the device and iTunes on my desktop. I have been using iTunes/iPod for mobile music since the original iPod, even when I had an Android before, so this will be a major shift for me.

iSyncr for android works very well to sync your itunes. Syncs wireless or with a cable. I've been using it for years.

 

[Inders99]

Yup, tried that. Unfortunately about 95 percent of the people in my circles have no interest in using a second messaging app, since the one they use works perfectly fine. I have sent so many unread WhatsApp messages that I don't even bother anymore.

So you send text messages to an iPhone user and it doesn't show up? Not understanding this dynamic. Every single person I text to on iPhones receive and respond. Guess I'm missing something. BTW...I just use the stock Samsung text messaging app.

 

[cyndie1030]

I was going to suggest this very app. I only used iTunes for iPods but this app has worked great for every Android phone I've had.

 

[dsignori]

So you send text messages to an iPhone user and it doesn't show up? Not understanding this dynamic. Every single person I text to on iPhones receive and respond. Guess I'm missing something. BTW...I just use the stock Samsung text messaging app.

In general there are no big issues. However, as stated above though, lower quality media is transferred when sending via SMS/MMS. If you don't care about that, there really is no issue. I text iPhone users all the time, and no one has ever complained. I guess it depends on the users..

 

[sangs]

So you send text messages to an iPhone user and it doesn't show up? Not understanding this dynamic. Every single person I text to on iPhones receive and respond. Guess I'm missing something. BTW...I just use the stock Samsung text messaging app.

No, it's strictly a video thing. There are some weird hiccups with group messaging every now and then, for whatever reason, but on the whole messaging itself works fine. It's when videos are involved that the issues arise. The videos are terribly compressed and down-rezzed in regular text messaging. However, the doesn't happen with iMessage. For instance, if you use iMessage and send a video to six people in a group message, all of which use iMessage, the video comes out great for all involved. However, if only one person in that chain does not use iMessage, but uses regular text messaging, the video will be of terrible quality for everybody. (If I'm not using iMessage, I'll just send a video link, that way everybody can view it at full resolution.)

iMessage - and to a lesser extent, FaceTime - may literally be the only thing(s) keeping me tied to iOS. With family spread from NJ to Florida to Cali to Japan, it's a very powerful bond that keeps us in contact. I held out hope for a while - due to many unfounded rumors - that iMessage would come to Android, but I doubt that will ever happen now.

 

[Inders99]

No, it's strictly a video thing. There are some weird hiccups with group messaging every now and then, for whatever reason, but on the whole messaging itself works fine. It's when videos are involved that the issues arise. The videos are terribly compressed and down-rezzed in regular text messaging. However, the doesn't happen with iMessage. For instance, if you use iMessage and send a video to six people in a group message, all of which use iMessage, the video comes out great for all involved. However, if only one person in that chain does not use iMessage, but uses regular text messaging, the video will be of terrible quality for everybody. (If I'm not using iMessage, I'll just send a video link, that way everybody can view it at full resolution.)

iMessage - and to a lesser extent, FaceTime - may literally be the only thing(s) keeping me tied to iOS. With family spread from NJ to Florida to Cali to Japan, it's a very powerful bond that keeps us in contact. I held out hope for a while - due to many unfounded rumors - that iMessage would come to Android, but I doubt that will ever happen now.

Thanks, I understand better now. I guess I nor friend or family send many vids so it wouldn't be an issue with me.

 

[aggie]

Yep. I would never be able to get friends to swap. They're too lazy and they like the regular text message app since.. it works. It is just easier for me to accept sending a link if I truly want to send a video .

This is what I currently do. While I do miss the convenience of iMessage/Facetime at times it's not a deal breaker at all. I send a link from Google Photos to share videos, or, if the person I'm sending to has Facebook it's easy to share through Facebook messenger. Facebook messenger is also the main video calling solution I use since most of my family has Facebook. The only time I really use video calling is with my parents so they can see my kids when they are on vacation or vice versa when the wife and I decide to get away and want to do a video chat with the kids.

 

[gmermel]

I've looked at a few Android Wear watches, and with some of them it's a form factor thing for me.

https://www.tagheuer.com/en-us/watches/tag-heuer-connected/watch-selector"

Tag Heuer Modular 45. Can choose a ceramic case color, steel to ceramic to gold to diamond bezels, rubber to leather to metal bands, and side lugs in titanium to steel to gold. Something like 500 possible combinations.

Form shouldn't be an issue. Price, yeah for sure. $1600 in steel. Up to $7000 with ceramic, gold and diamond accents.

To take the sting out, as the tech obsolesces Tag will take the body of the watch back in trade for a traditional mechanical movement that you can use to replace the smart module........

 

[ronin_cse]

https://www.tagheuer.com/en-us/watches/tag-heuer-connected/watch-selector"

Tag Heuer Modular 45. Can choose a ceramic case color, steel to ceramic to gold to diamond bezels, rubber to leather to metal bands, and side lugs in titanium to steel to gold. Something like 500 possible combinations.

Form shouldn't be an issue. Price, yeah for sure. $1600 in steel. Up to $7000 with ceramic, gold and diamond accents.

To take the sting out, as the tech obsolesces Tag will take the body of the watch back in trade for a traditional mechanical movement that you can use to replace the smart module........

I hope you have never criticized Apple products for being expensive while suggesting a smartwatch that starts at $1600

I understand spending that much on a mechanical watch but I really have no idea what makes this watch $1600 since the internals are basically the same as a $400 smartwatch and it doesn't even have LTE

Well at least it has a sapphire screen so there's a little extra cost

 

[gmermel]

I hope you have never criticized Apple products for being expensive while suggesting a smartwatch that starts at $1600

Never did. Use Mac exclusively since 1984, but do not like iPhone at all......

But go look at the link. The cost is in the design options. It presents itself as a quality mechanical watch in terms of materials and design. That's where the money is, not the smart component. I'd certainly agree if it was made out of the typical materials used in the segment......

I certainly ain't buying one or advocating anyone do so. Obsolescence alone, you'd have to be nuts. My post was tongue in cheek to the guy commenting on the form factor.