Which Android phone should I buy?

[AugustVance]

Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Hello All,

I have been a lurker here for quite some time now. I am looking at picking up the s6. I have tried a few android phones here and there (iOS user) and I have always been "that" guy to switch back. Well I have watched a few reviews and played with the device here and there and I think I have made the decision to switch over.

I know this would be the best place to start and ask for directions. So here it is. Can anyone point me in the right direction to switching over.

Articles over best apps? best launchers? best way to transfer information?

Thanks everyone for the help. Go easy on meh.

 

[dougie1792]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

I used smart switch. It works really great and fast

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Almeuit]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

I used smart switch. It works really great and fast

Posted via the Android Central App

This works really well - I haven't used it but friends have and said it was very painless.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Welcome to the forums. Let's try this a slightly different way: What are you afraid to lose? Perhaps we can offer alternatives.

 

[jcp007]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Hello All,

I have been a lurker here for quite some time now. I am looking at picking up the s6. I have tried a few android phones here and there (iOS user) and I have always been "that" guy to switch back. Well I have watched a few reviews and played with the device here and there and I think I have made the decision to switch over.

I know this would be the best place to start and ask for directions. So here it is. Can anyone point me in the right direction to switching over.

Articles over best apps? best launchers? best way to transfer information?

Thanks everyone for the help. Go easy on meh.

First, give the TouchWiz interface a chance before trying out a third party launcher.

 

[AugustVance]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Honestly the only thing I am wanting to transfer over would be my contacts/music from itunes. Im not worried about my imessage/sms messages or pictures as I use cloud storage for pics.

 

[mush10]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Best launcher is Nova in my opinion, but plenty of over great ones out there. I enjoy it because I can set gestures.

As for switching, the main thing is mail, contacts, and media. I would use the Google Apps. Gmail and Music should help get that on your device.

Smart switch is a nice Samsung app to help as well.

I use both Android and iOS still so feel free to ask questions and I will try and answer as best I can.

Posted via Galaxy S6

 

[droidguy1964]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Hello All,

I have been a lurker here for quite some time now. I am looking at picking up the s6. I have tried a few android phones here and there (iOS user) and I have always been "that" guy to switch back. Well I have watched a few reviews and played with the device here and there and I think I have made the decision to switch over.

I know this would be the best place to start and ask for directions. So here it is. Can anyone point me in the right direction to switching over.

Articles over best apps? best launchers? best way to transfer information?

Thanks everyone for the help. Go easy on meh.

Nova, action or even gnl. TW is not worth the time.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AugustVance]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

This was a reply to JCp007

I def will be giving stock touchwiz a try. its been awhile since I have given an android device a fair chance. Usually I would get one, then return it within a day or two without giving it a fighting chance.

I am going all in this time.

 

[AugustVance]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Best launcher is Nova in my opinion, but plenty of over great ones out there. I enjoy it because I can set gestures.

As for switching, the main thing is mail, contacts, and media. I would use the Google Apps. Gmail and Music should help get that on your device.

Smart switch is a nice Samsung app to help as well.

I use both Android and iOS still so feel free to ask questions and I will try and answer as best I can.

Posted via Galaxy S6

Is TW that bad?

I will still keep my 6plus. Wanting to dable in the world of Android. I figured this phone would be a good way to start.

 

[droidguy1964]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Is TW that bad?

I will still keep my 6plus. Wanting to dable in the world of Android. I figured this phone would be a good way to start.

Well its bad when compared to the other options out there. Nova and the others are also noticeably faster. If anyone says that TW doesn't stutter on the s6 they are either in denial or have never tried another launcher. People also change Dev animation settings to compensate for TW. TW is just plain ugly and inefficient.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

my contacts/music from itunes

Switch to Android

I think that will be a good start.

 

[cwise222]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

TouchWiz is pretty good this time around. At the very least give it a spin and go from there. I refuse to use launchers on my phones, if I pay $700+ on the phone I'm gonna be sure I like the experience out of the box before I buy it dang it, but Nova and the Google launcher are fairly popular. I have only run into lag and stutter in a few very limited situations and most of those have cropped up on other Android phones. I'd say TouchWiz has been stable and lag free for me about 99% of time while I've had it. Launchers are all about subjective taste and it is real easy to experiment and try stuff out and see what works for you

Smart Switch works great but I didn't much to move over from my old phone. It should be able to pull most everything over pretty well and I am pretty sure you can use it for firmware updates, like how iTunes does it, if you don't want t or can't do an OTA update.

For text messaging the stock app is ok if not a bit meh. I use Google Messenger and it's quite nice in my opinion and I have yet to have any issues with it. Google Hangouts and Textra are also popular, but if you go with Textra spring for the 99 cent premium version when it comes out. Ads in your messaging ad would undoubtedly get old fast.

If you use Chrome on your computer then I would recommend using it on the S6. Everything will sync over if you other signed into the same Google ID on both. Otherwise the Samsung browser is quite nice and has a very light touch, plus you can use the fingerprint sensor with it.

For e-mail I would recommend the GMail app but most of the major email providers have their own app. The stock email app is pretty meh in my opinion but Europe just got a software update that changed it's look apparently but it's a crapshoot as to wither the US will get that same update.

Your battery life will be a bit wonky for the first week or so. That tends to happen on Android devices as everything sets up and syncs. Once you are set up and have a general idea of what services and stuff you will use on a regular basis there are posts here that go over how to turn off syncing and stuff for features you never use to get a bit more battery life. What carrier do you plan to use? T-Mobile and Sprint are having some big cell standby issues that are affecting battery life. Android 5.1.1 is looking like it's on its way in the next 60 to 90 days and it's hoping that will take care of some of the smaller outstanding bugs and address the big ones like the cell standby issues and the Lollipop memory leak.

 

[player22]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Tuchwiz or whatever they call it seams to work just fine on my phone. I have no problems with it.

 

[bullittmustang]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Is TW that bad?

I will still keep my 6plus. Wanting to dable in the world of Android. I figured this phone would be a good way to start.

I did the same thing last night. Bought a GS6 and keep my 6 plus. Loving it so far.

 

[warpdrive]

TouchWiz is pretty good this time around. At the very least give it a spin and go from there. I refuse to use launchers on my phones, if I pay $700+ on the phone I'm gonna be sure I like the experience out of the box before I buy it dang it, but Nova and the Google launcher are fairly popular. I have only run into lag and stutter in a few very limited situations and most of those have cropped up on other Android phones. I'd say TouchWiz has been stable and lag free for me about 99% of time while I've had it. Launchers are all about subjective taste and it is real easy to experiment and try stuff out and see what works for you

Smart Switch works great but I didn't much to move over from my old phone. It should be able to pull most everything over pretty well and I am pretty sure you can use it for firmware updates, like how iTunes does it, if you don't want t or can't do an OTA update.

For text messaging the stock app is ok if not a bit meh. I use Google Messenger and it's quite nice in my opinion and I have yet to have any issues with it. Google Hangouts and Textra are also popular, but if you go with Textra spring for the 99 cent premium version when it comes out. Ads in your messaging ad would undoubtedly get old fast.

If you use Chrome on your computer then I would recommend using it on the S6. Everything will sync over if you other signed into the same Google ID on both. Otherwise the Samsung browser is quite nice and has a very light touch, plus you can use the fingerprint sensor with it.

For e-mail I would recommend the GMail app but most of the major email providers have their own app. The stock email app is pretty meh in my opinion but Europe just got a software update that changed it's look apparently but it's a crapshoot as to wither the US will get that same update.

Your battery life will be a bit wonky for the first week or so. That tends to happen on Android devices as everything sets up and syncs. Once you are set up and have a general idea of what services and stuff you will use on a regular basis there are posts here that go over how to turn off syncing and stuff for features you never use to get a bit more battery life. What carrier do you plan to use? T-Mobile and Sprint are having some big cell standby issues that are affecting battery life. Android 5.1.1 is looking like it's on its way in the next 60 to 90 days and it's hoping that will take care of some of the smaller outstanding bugs and address the big ones like the cell standby issues and the Lollipop memory leak.

I could not agree more and it was like your reply pulled every word right out of my mouth. As such, I have nothing else to say.... Ok, I'll try to say something. Lol

I'm loving this phone and touchwiz has drastically improved. I don't think I'll even try a launcher on this phone for at least 6 or 7 months as like the author I quoted, if I don't like the UI then I won't buy the phone. Feel free to come back and we will give you a few tips and tricks to help you improve battery life as the out of box experience is far more demanding then say with an iPhone... Google now alone if you don't use it can kill off about an hour of SoT. So for things that you will never use, don't be afraid to disable or turn them off. Way too many things are left turned on by default on most Android devices, and the tips we will give work for almost every Android device.

What carrier or provider are you using again?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AugustVance]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

TouchWiz is pretty good this time around. At the very least give it a spin and go from there. I refuse to use launchers on my phones, if I pay $700+ on the phone I'm gonna be sure I like the experience out of the box before I buy it dang it, but Nova and the Google launcher are fairly popular. I have only run into lag and stutter in a few very limited situations and most of those have cropped up on other Android phones. I'd say TouchWiz has been stable and lag free for me about 99% of time while I've had it. Launchers are all about subjective taste and it is real easy to experiment and try stuff out and see what works for you

Smart Switch works great but I didn't much to move over from my old phone. It should be able to pull most everything over pretty well and I am pretty sure you can use it for firmware updates, like how iTunes does it, if you don't want t or can't do an OTA update.

For text messaging the stock app is ok if not a bit meh. I use Google Messenger and it's quite nice in my opinion and I have yet to have any issues with it. Google Hangouts and Textra are also popular, but if you go with Textra spring for the 99 cent premium version when it comes out. Ads in your messaging ad would undoubtedly get old fast.

If you use Chrome on your computer then I would recommend using it on the S6. Everything will sync over if you other signed into the same Google ID on both. Otherwise the Samsung browser is quite nice and has a very light touch, plus you can use the fingerprint sensor with it.

For e-mail I would recommend the GMail app but most of the major email providers have their own app. The stock email app is pretty meh in my opinion but Europe just got a software update that changed it's look apparently but it's a crapshoot as to wither the US will get that same update.

Your battery life will be a bit wonky for the first week or so. That tends to happen on Android devices as everything sets up and syncs. Once you are set up and have a general idea of what services and stuff you will use on a regular basis there are posts here that go over how to turn off syncing and stuff for features you never use to get a bit more battery life. What carrier do you plan to use? T-Mobile and Sprint are having some big cell standby issues that are affecting battery life. Android 5.1.1 is looking like it's on its way in the next 60 to 90 days and it's hoping that will take care of some of the smaller outstanding bugs and address the big ones like the cell standby issues and the Lollipop memory leak.

Thanks for the reply. Some very good info there. I will be using it on Tmobile and have been researching the battery life problem. I really dont want to wait for this battery bug to be fixed (but will if need be). Im not around a charger most of the day so that may be a problem.

Thank you for the info, I started actually using the search function of the forum to see any issues with the tmobile variant and I see that battery life is the big issue with cell standby causing it.

 

[drone3]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

Here's my main setup of lanucher & apps if you're interested.

Nova Launcher (make sure you setup gestures)

Apps
Google - keyboard, Inbox, messenger, chrome, keep, maps, calendar, snapseed, music, timely, drive, playstore

Samsung - phone/contact dialer, camera, gallery

Others - Whatsapp, instagram, pushbullet, pocket casts, jotterpad

That's most of it. Hope it helps.

dreaming of electric sheep

 

[cwise222]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

5.1 or 5.1.1 looks like it is coming in June and T-Mobile is usually first out of the gate with updates along with Sprint. A working 5.1.1 build apparently got pushed to a T-Mobile customers phone by accident a few weeks back so it's we know it's out there in testing. So depending on how quickly you want the phone it might pay to hold off a month and see if 5.1.1 takes care of the cell standby issue.

Granted, like all Android updates, the next update could slip to July or August. That's the wonderful world of carrier controlled Android updates.

 

[jcp007]

Re: Afraid to Ask, But here I am....

5.1 or 5.1.1 looks like it is coming in June and T-Mobile is usually first out of the gate with updates along with Sprint. A working 5.1.1 build apparently got pushed to a T-Mobile customers phone by accident a few weeks back so it's we know it's out there in testing. So depending on how quickly you want the phone it might pay to hold off a month and see if 5.1.1 takes care of the cell standby issue.

Granted, like all Android updates, the next update could slip to July or August. That's the wonderful world of carrier controlled Android updates.

http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-s6-edge-android-5-1-update-607950/

Posted via My Samsung Galaxy S6 Handheld Device