Windows Phone user switched to Android... deciding whether to stay

[Yogi76]

So I'm a longtime Windows Phone user. The last time that I used an Android phone full time was the original Galaxy S (the Vibrant on T-Mobile). Since then, I've used a string of Windows Phone devices with the most recent being an unlocked Lumia 930 on T-Mobile. I was planning on getting a Lumia 950 or 950 XL as a replacement, but seeing the writing on the wall for the future of Windows phones I decided to give Android another try. I went ahead and bought a Nexus 6P and have been using it the past 10 days. Here are my notes:

1. Why can't I sync Facebook contacts to my phone or at least the Facebook profile pictures to my existing contacts? From what I've been able to find online, it's due to a change in the Facebook API, but it still works fine on my Lumia 930.
2. Bluetooth music controls are frustrating and inconsistent. Listening to podcasts using the Pocketcasts app while using the Waze app, the skip back or skip forward controls work fine, but the play/pause control doesn't. However, using the same app while using Google Maps allows all the controls to work fine.
3. I disabled Google Now in place of the Cortana app and changed the default search engine in Chrome to be Bing. However, there appears to be no way to change the search provider for the box at the top of the recent apps switcher.
4. Enabling "Hey, Cortana" breaks the speech-to-text feature of the Android keyboard. I chalked this up to the Cortana app being in beta and since I seldom use voice searches I simply disabled "Hey, Cortana."
5. The Android speech-to-text functionality is light years ahead of the same feature in Windows Phone. However, the shape writing feature and ability to edit text after typing on the Microsoft keyboard is much, much better than on the Android keyboard.
6. I miss being able to type a word and have a bunch of corresponding emoji appear in the autocorrect space.
7. Swiping either way on an email from my Exchange accounts in the Gmail app does a "delete." I would prefer one direction to delete and the other direction to mark with a follow-up flag.
8. The Outlook app doesn't have the ability to sync contacts to the phone. Having the accounts syncing in both the Outlook app and the built-in Gmail/Contacts/Calendar is a waste of bandwidth and, more importantly, battery.
9. I love having a dedicated button for the recent task switcher.
10. I like having integrated access to Google Voice as my voicemail provider.
11. I miss wireless charging way more than I though I would.
12. The phone seems slow and choppy at times for a device with such high-end specs, especially in Chrome.
13. The battery life is terrible.

As far as the big reason that everyone gives for why Windows phones are dead and to move to Android, namely apps, I really haven't found that to be that big of a pull. The apps I use most are the phone, messaging, mail, calendar, web browser, camera, photo viewer, Pocketcasts, Audible, Groove music, Feedly reader, Weather Channel, MyRadar, MSN News, CNN, ESPN, Fitbit, Facebook, Twitter, TSheets, and Uber. The only one of those that would be lost by moving back to Windows Phone will be TSheets and I would simply need to go back to using the mobile web version. Admittedly, that would be a loss as the app experience for TSheets is better, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. I guess since I don't play games or watch video on my phone, use Snapchat, or care about banking on my phone, I simply don't currently care that much about the apps that are typically cited as "missing" on Windows Phone.

All that being said, I know that the "next big thing" in apps or the next piece of hardware that I buy will need an app only available for Android or iOS, which is why I decided to give Android a try again. But I have until November 21 to return the phone and, as of right now, I'm leaning that way. I just find myself missing the advantages of Windows Phone way more than I like the added apps of Android. Anyone care to tell me what I'm missing?

 

[Laura Knotek]

For #5 and #6, I use SwiftKey, rather than the default Google keyboard. SwiftKey shows emojis. The 'swiping' gestures also work better for me.

 

[Yogi76]

For #5 and #6, I use SwiftKey, rather than the default Google keyboard. SwiftKey shows emojis. The 'swiping' gestures also work better for me.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

[Bkr11]

Too funny Yogi. My 6P is arriving tomorrow and I too was waiting for the 950/950XL. Lifting from a couple of other threads I've posted on here, I ordered the 6P because I have yet to own an Android phone that lives up to the promise of Android. Eventual lag, battery overheating/drain, and general poor performance has been what I've gotten for my money on the OG Droid, Thunderbolt, Xperia Z1s and Galaxy S6 Active. This will be my first "pure" Android phone and I hope it changes things. Went w/ 128GB to ensure that storage space isn't a cause of lag. The great camera feedback sealed the deal.

Compare that to my experience w/ the 920/1020/1520 - always solid, consistent, lag free and responsive. Never needed to do a wipe/reinstall to keep the phone running like new. And the sample pics from the 950...awesome. Between you and me (and the rest of the people reading this thread), I'm pretty confident I'll end up w/ either the 950 or the 950XL - only question is whether the 6P will make the cut ;-)

 

[nibras23]

You're in a situation which I believe most long time users experience when they switch. You're missing your old features, and have no need for the new ones (yet) because you've never used them before so haven't developed a dependency yet.
I think you'll appreciate the switch a lot as you grow into the platform. Without going into detail, I think most of the features you need can be obtained through third party apps.
As well, the fact that you only "need" the few apps you mentioned is a testament to the lack of apps in the Windows platform. There's a whole bunch of apps in the Play Store just waiting for you to discover them, I suggest experimenting a lot for a while, I promise you won't be disappointed.
I hope you enjoy the Nexus 6P because I just got mine delivered and I'm super excited to fiddle with it.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[pseudoware]

Keep the 6P...

...and get the 950 XL too!

I've owned both three times, and it might be a 4th on Nov 20th. Instant gratification when you miss a feature on either platform.

Good luck w/your decision.

 

[Laura Knotek]

You're in a situation which I believe most long time users experience when they switch. You're missing your old features, and have no need for the new ones (yet) because you've never used them before so haven't developed a dependency yet.
I think you'll appreciate the switch a lot as you grow into the platform. Without going into detail, I think most of the features you need can be obtained through third party apps.
As well, the fact that you only "need" the few apps you mentioned is a testament to the lack of apps in the Windows platform. There's a whole bunch of apps in the Play Store just waiting for you to discover them, I suggest experimenting a lot for a while, I promise you won't be disappointed.
I hope you enjoy the Nexus 6P because I just got mine delivered and I'm super excited to fiddle with it.

Posted via the Android Central App

From my experiences, those apps that the OP uses on both platforms are so much better on Android. The Android versions of Twitter, Feedly , etc just are miles ahead of their Windows Phone counterparts. Most of those apps for Windows Phone haven't been updated in months or even years and lack features found in the Android versions.

 

[jojoe42]

First off, I'm in the same boat as you OP, I recently bought a 6P to replace my dying 1020 with a broken microUSB port and am still getting to grips with the different OS

7: Why not disable/uninstall the Gmail app and just use the Outlook app to manage all your mail and contacts? If not, have you considered some third-party inbox apps? Try Mailbox or Inbox by Google on the store - there's quite a few, and they should have customisable swipe actions.

12: Yeah that's a bug with some people on the 6P - I haven't had any issues yet personally. Could try Firefox though! If things are running slow, why not try digging through the settings? Have you checked for apps with memory leaks? (go to settings > memory to see app memory usage) Do you have a lot of widgets on your homescreen? This phone certainly isn't as smooth as a Windows Phone, but I haven't had it crawl...yet.

13: A few people (including myself) have been having issues with the battery life on the 6P, whilst others are supposedly getting fantastic battery life. I think the general consensus is that the battery dies really quickly when you're using the phone. Also, it might pay to trawl through the battery settings, checking usage with apps and also note the amount of times the phone wakes up (tap the battery graph: underneath that will be a few bars for cellular, wifi, screen, awake and charging). Once again, lots of widgets seem to kill performance and battery.

 

[Laura Knotek]

You might want to try GSAM to see what's using the battery. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ps/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm&token=xJ3gVdEo

 

[Yogi76]

As well, the fact that you only "need" the few apps you mentioned is a testament to the lack of apps in the Windows platform. There's a whole bunch of apps in the Play Store just waiting for you to discover them, I suggest experimenting a lot for a while, I promise you won't be disappointed.

The thing is, there have been repeated studies that show that most people only use a few apps consistently, so I don't think it's just me that doesn't need a ton of apps. Yes, having access to the latest and greatest apps is a nice thing in theory, but a lot of times the latest and greatest apps are just fads and games that are, to put it bluntly, dumb. And this isn't sour grapes talking... I simply have no interest in Snapchat, Clash of Clans, Draw Something, Flappy Bird, Candy Crush, or even Instagram for that matter. And other than Google Voice for a voicemail replacement, which works fine by emailing me notifications and transcripts, I don't use any Google services. All that being said, I know that there are little "lifestyle" apps that are nice to have such as, for me, the official Orlando Magic app; but are they enough to give up a platform that seems to just work better?

 

[Yogi76]

For #5 and #6, I use SwiftKey, rather than the default Google keyboard. SwiftKey shows emojis. The 'swiping' gestures also work better for me.

I installed SwiftKey and have been using it for a few days. The "swiping" and word prediction/editing is indeed much better, thank you. However, I still don't see emojis in the suggestions. Is that something I need to enable? If so, where? Because I can't seem to find it.

 

[Yogi76]

Keep the 6P...

...and get the 950 XL too! ?????? ??????

Yeah, I can imagine the conversation now of me trying to explain to my wife why I need two smartphones at $650 each.

 

[Yogi76]

Keep the 6P...

...and get the 950 XL too!

Yeah, I can imagine the conversation now of me trying to explain to my wife why I need two smartphones at $650 each.

 

[Yogi76]

From my experiences, those apps that the OP uses on both platforms are so much better on Android. The Android versions of Twitter, Feedly , etc just are miles ahead of their Windows Phone counterparts. Most of those apps for Windows Phone haven't been updated in months or even years and lack features found in the Android versions.

Sorry, but I would have to disagree. The apps that I mentioned all work fine and are regularly updated. In fact, I would contend the Facebook app is actually better since the Android version inexplicably cannot sync contacts anymore. But I'm not trying to be a Windows Phone apologist. I know that there is a lack of apps and ones that I would have to go without by staying on that platform. It's just that I'm trying to decide whether staying and having what appears to be so far a better underlying platform is worth losing access to those apps.

 

[ezvv]

Yeah, I can imagine the conversation now of me trying to explain to my wife why I need two smartphones at $650 each.

Haha I just sent my wife a text yesterday "I accidentally ordered the 6p" promptly followed by the response "you JUST got that Motorola(MXPE) less than 2 months ago"

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Yogi76]

7: Why not disable/uninstall the Gmail app and just use the Outlook app to manage all your mail and contacts? If not, have you considered some third-party inbox apps? Try Mailbox or Inbox by Google on the store - there's quite a few, and they should have customisable swipe actions.

I tried just ignoring the built-in Gmail, calendar, and contacts apps and just using Outlook. However, other apps couldn't see its data. For example, the messaging app couldn't see the contacts in Outlook and Cortana couldn't see the Outlook calendars. I also tried a few other third party mail apps such as Mailbox by Dropbox and Inbox by Google, but since both of my email accounts are Exchange based, they didn't work.

12: Yeah that's a bug with some people on the 6P - I haven't had any issues yet personally. Could try Firefox though! If things are running slow, why not try digging through the settings? Have you checked for apps with memory leaks? (go to settings > memory to see app memory usage) Do you have a lot of widgets on your homescreen? This phone certainly isn't as smooth as a Windows Phone, but I haven't had it crawl...yet.

The phone itself and most apps seem to work fine. It's mainly the Chrome app which is slow and is delayed/stutters when trying to scroll. Since much of my interaction with the phone is in the web browser, it's very annoying. The Android Central page and forums in Chrome on the phone are basically unusable. I installed the apps for Android Central and its forum and they work fine, but I shouldn't have to and don't want to install apps for every freaking website I want to look at.

13: A few people (including myself) have been having issues with the battery life on the 6P, whilst others are supposedly getting fantastic battery life. I think the general consensus is that the battery dies really quickly when you're using the phone. Also, it might pay to trawl through the battery settings, checking usage with apps and also note the amount of times the phone wakes up (tap the battery graph: underneath that will be a few bars for cellular, wifi, screen, awake and charging). Once again, lots of widgets seem to kill performance and battery.

I don't use any widgets, so it's not that. The battery does great when not being used, so I don't think it's a background app issue. It's simply when I'm using the phone to do anything, the battery drains quite fast. The battery details in the settings would seem to agree, since "Screen" is always the top in usage. I have adaptive brightness enabled, but it doesn't seem to help. I can drain off 10% of the battery just by glancing through my Feedly feed for a few minutes.

 

[bjrosen]

It's a Google phone, use Google services, there is no reason to be using Bing and Cortana when you have Google search and OK Google. The Microsoft services can't possibly be as well integrated as the Google services on a Nexus phone. If you really are that wedded to Microsoft then you should stick to Microsoft phones. It's more likely that Microsoft will pull support for Cortana on Android before they kill WIndows phones. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use Cortana on an Android phone when they have OK Google, eventually Microsoft will look at the numbers and decide it's not worth the expense.

 

[Yogi76]

It's a Google phone, use Google services, there is no reason to be using Bing and Cortana when you have Google search and OK Google. The Microsoft services can't possibly be as well integrated as the Google services on a Nexus phone. If you really are that wedded to Microsoft then you should stick to Microsoft phones. It's more likely that Microsoft will pull support for Cortana on Android before they kill WIndows phones. I can't imagine why anyone would want to use Cortana on an Android phone when they have OK Google, eventually Microsoft will look at the numbers and decide it's not worth the expense.

The reason I was using Bing and Cortana is that is what I use on my Windows 10 computers/tablets so I want all my searches and data to go into the same search engine and virtual assistant. Two days ago, I decided that to give Android a full chance I would go ahead and switch to using Google for search on all my devices and turn on Google Now on my phone and Chrome browser on my computers/tablets. Since I'm using the built-in Gmail, calendar, and contacts apps to access my Exchange accounts on my Nexus 6P and Google for all my searches, Google Now can now see what is going on in my "world" and can now make suggestions, etc. Cortana on my Windows 10 based computers/tablets is now less functional since it doesn't see my Google searches, but I can't really blame Google for that anymore than I can blame Microsoft for Google Now not seeing any Bing searches.

I just checked my Google Store account and it says I have until 11/21/15 to return the Nexus 6P. I'm still undecided.

 

[donkiluminate]

Yeah, I can imagine the conversation now of me trying to explain to my wife why I need two smartphones at $650 each.

lol, I'm trying to come up with a way to broach the exact same subject.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I installed SwiftKey and have been using it for a few days. The "swiping" and word prediction/editing is indeed much better, thank you. However, I still don't see emojis in the suggestions. Is that something I need to enable? If so, where? Because I can't seem to find it.

Please see the following screenshots for the emoji settings.