Nice to see sensible thread, what do you think about android on tablets I'm thinking of getting the new nexus 7 ?
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5s first impressions from a long time android guy
- Thread starter JoeG4
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I think the ability to run android on practically anything is the best and worst thing about it - the best thing was that it made HP TouchPads usable for more than just browsing the internet and running a couple dozen apps, for example. I installed CyanogenMod on my bro's Nook Tablet and it went from being a gimpy eReader tablet with an awesome screen, to being a pretty competent tablet.
I'm speaking off something I have very little experience on here - but I think part of the problem is that many android apps are built to be universal by default, so when you run them on a huge tablet screen they're just scaled up phone UIs. There's nothing wrong with that, but they aren't pixel perfect tablet-sized UIs.
Of course, there's also quite a few apps out these days that are "made for tablets"... just don't expect it to be as perfect, nor as tailored as the iPad experience.
I've been hearing a lot lately that the most frustrating thing is you can get tablet hardware that perfectly matches what you want from a tablet - be it a 6", 10", or 15" tablet.. stylus with wacom digitizer or not, slider keyboard or not. The problem is that with a stylus you still don't have the utterly fantastic drawing/editing apps the iPad has.. despite the iPad not having a good stylus option.
Funny how that works haha.
I've been hearing the same things about how it's a shame MS didn't make OneNote better because it would be awesomeness on the Surface Pro if it was. Granted, my TabletPC using friends looooove oneNote. It's so good I constantly envy their ability to take notes in engineering class when I'm stuck doing it on paper lol.
Truth is I used to have a tablet - an hp touchpad running android, lol. When I got my macbook air it started gathering dust because the air got similar battery life - better, in fact, and was still light enough for me to carry everywhere.
I'm speaking off something I have very little experience on here - but I think part of the problem is that many android apps are built to be universal by default, so when you run them on a huge tablet screen they're just scaled up phone UIs. There's nothing wrong with that, but they aren't pixel perfect tablet-sized UIs.
Of course, there's also quite a few apps out these days that are "made for tablets"... just don't expect it to be as perfect, nor as tailored as the iPad experience.
I've been hearing a lot lately that the most frustrating thing is you can get tablet hardware that perfectly matches what you want from a tablet - be it a 6", 10", or 15" tablet.. stylus with wacom digitizer or not, slider keyboard or not. The problem is that with a stylus you still don't have the utterly fantastic drawing/editing apps the iPad has.. despite the iPad not having a good stylus option.
Funny how that works haha.
I've been hearing the same things about how it's a shame MS didn't make OneNote better because it would be awesomeness on the Surface Pro if it was. Granted, my TabletPC using friends looooove oneNote. It's so good I constantly envy their ability to take notes in engineering class when I'm stuck doing it on paper lol.
Truth is I used to have a tablet - an hp touchpad running android, lol. When I got my macbook air it started gathering dust because the air got similar battery life - better, in fact, and was still light enough for me to carry everywhere.
Gmail used to be able to be pushed using exchange until google removed it this year. So blame google here that they want you to use their crappy gmail app. Also forget the youtube app and just use youtube from the web. Google apps are half assed in iOS.
They certainly would prefer you use a free app over paying to use exchange. Can't blame them. I'm certain Apple would do the same in a similar situation.
I'm still using my HP Touchpad for reading, note taking and highlighting and running the latest android and working great w/ all the apps. Had to replace the screen last week though, because the digitizer failed in the area of the second row of the keyboard.
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Is a risky move, is making people leave or transfer back to hotmail/outlook
I have both and I created gmail long ago because it was better than my hotmail account relating to functionality and used it as a my main... Now that they are half doing things thinking they have a big enough base will certainly reconsider making my hotmail/outlook my new main account. Giving functionality is what made many move, but taking away is what makes many move.
Great thread.
In a perfect world we'd all have a wardrobe of gadgets because there are use cases where Android is better or iOS is better and others where the OS matters little.
Two use-cases for Android I can never get entirely over on the 5S or any iOS device are...
1. notifications are a big deal if you're used to Android. I have been able to relegate most of my important apps to the app drawer since I rely on the notification center to direct me in to the app. Eg I took the Gmail app off my device because I don't open it unless it's through notifications. Same is true for many other things from boarding passes for airplanes to sports scores to voicemail.
2. Intents. I don't know how Apple has gotten away with setting intents for as long as they have (seems no different than the lawsuit over Microsoft making IE the default in windows). If you don't want me to uninstall maps, at least let me set google maps as the g'damn default. Or Mailbox as the mail app. Etc etc etc.
IMO I've found having the largest possible android phone/phablet + an iPhone is the best combination, as Android overall is a better experience on phones than tablets, even at this point in 2013. I carry around a HTC One but I'm thinking about the Note 3 for the bigger display.
I don't have an occupation or use case which necessitates a tablet though (other than keeping kids occupied) and they're just as happy to use my iPhone or HTC One for netflix/gaming.
I'm with the other poster who said a good laptop still trumps a tablet, even an iPad. Most of the things for which a smartphone is too small are faster and easier on a laptop - like bill paying, writing and editing documents, etc.
I will say in my experience, Android tablets are throwaway devices. There is a focus on the lower end of the market and as such you run into build issues, component quality issues (Eg the first gen Nexus 7 and TRIM related memory issues) which will drive you insane (b/c you never know if it's the fragmentation, the quality of your device, or compatibility with the latest android version).
In a perfect world we'd all have a wardrobe of gadgets because there are use cases where Android is better or iOS is better and others where the OS matters little.
Two use-cases for Android I can never get entirely over on the 5S or any iOS device are...
1. notifications are a big deal if you're used to Android. I have been able to relegate most of my important apps to the app drawer since I rely on the notification center to direct me in to the app. Eg I took the Gmail app off my device because I don't open it unless it's through notifications. Same is true for many other things from boarding passes for airplanes to sports scores to voicemail.
2. Intents. I don't know how Apple has gotten away with setting intents for as long as they have (seems no different than the lawsuit over Microsoft making IE the default in windows). If you don't want me to uninstall maps, at least let me set google maps as the g'damn default. Or Mailbox as the mail app. Etc etc etc.
IMO I've found having the largest possible android phone/phablet + an iPhone is the best combination, as Android overall is a better experience on phones than tablets, even at this point in 2013. I carry around a HTC One but I'm thinking about the Note 3 for the bigger display.
I don't have an occupation or use case which necessitates a tablet though (other than keeping kids occupied) and they're just as happy to use my iPhone or HTC One for netflix/gaming.
I'm with the other poster who said a good laptop still trumps a tablet, even an iPad. Most of the things for which a smartphone is too small are faster and easier on a laptop - like bill paying, writing and editing documents, etc.
I will say in my experience, Android tablets are throwaway devices. There is a focus on the lower end of the market and as such you run into build issues, component quality issues (Eg the first gen Nexus 7 and TRIM related memory issues) which will drive you insane (b/c you never know if it's the fragmentation, the quality of your device, or compatibility with the latest android version).
sports score notifications are a lot better on ios. ESPN and others show up on the lock screen so i don't even have to unlock my iphone to check the scores
on my S3 i have to go into the notification center and most times the text is cut off because its only a single line per notification
on my S3 i have to go into the notification center and most times the text is cut off because its only a single line per notification
My buddy just got a 5s yesterday and brought it to dinner, so I got a chance to play with one. I came away from it completely underwhelmed. TouchID is freaking cool, but it's just an iPhone 5 with a slightly better camera. People are wetting themselves over this phone for no reason.
iPhone is a mature product. New versions are evolutionary growth, especially when on the "tock" of the tick-tock product cycle Apple's been on since the iPhone 3G. Same thing happened in the DSLR world; initially each generation was big leap, but soon the 1-gen steps were very evolutionary and users were better served waiting to perform two or three generation jumps.
Anyone with a 5 that's expecting to be blown away by the 5s has their hopes too high. Same was true with the 4S w.r.t. those who owned a 4. Siri was cool, but not a "gotta have it" feature. Same for TouchID; it's very convenient if you already used a passcode but not an overwhelming feature add at this point. Certainly I imagine some games will take advantage of the cpu increases, but for general everyday stuff the 5s is not a major jump from the 5.
I suspect if you dig deeper you may find many who are "wetting themselves" are actually doing multi-generation upgrades such as from a 4 or a 4S.
The Gmail app supports push just fine.
That's how I had my 5 setup and now my 5S. My iPad still has Exchange access as I had it before the Google cutoff but the experience on both my iPhone and iPad is the same - when I get an e-mail, I get a pop-up notification immediately.
That's how I had my 5 setup and now my 5S. My iPad still has Exchange access as I had it before the Google cutoff but the experience on both my iPhone and iPad is the same - when I get an e-mail, I get a pop-up notification immediately.
Not everyone gets every device. A lot of us who are excited about 5S jumped from 4s or 4.
Hey everyone
- in android everything is black.
The one thing I wished iOS had more of.
You know what, you're so right. I apologize for being so harsh. I actually ended up picking up a 5s earlier today to try it out in my own daily life (coming from a HTC One) and I'm actually eating my words because it's freaking awesome. TouchID is absolutely mind-blowing, it's super smooth, the space grey is STUNNING in person, and both cameras have received pretty significant upgrades over the previous generation. I'm loving being back on team iPhone
I have and love my Note 2 but I've had and loved iPhones. I'm gonna upgrade and I'm very torn between 5s and Note 3. I need the 3 to come out so I can fiddle with the darn display model!
That what I love the most about the tech industry in 2013. There are so many options and great choices to choose from. You don't have one OS dominating all the others
Ever since we got our new car, I thought its radio was defective because connecting my phones to it via Bluetooth resulted in audio that would have fits of skipping and stuttering like a CD player being violently shaken.
Turns out it's my Note 2's Bluetooth possibly being defective, because with the iPhone there's no issue whatsoever. Nice going Apple! WTF samsung?
Then again, my bro's SGS3 running stock Touchwiz can't connect to the radio at all lol.
Turns out it's my Note 2's Bluetooth possibly being defective, because with the iPhone there's no issue whatsoever. Nice going Apple! WTF samsung?
Then again, my bro's SGS3 running stock Touchwiz can't connect to the radio at all lol.
hmm I don't have my phone yet but I have google apps with my own domain and in my settings I still have an option for google sync, which is enabled. It still tells me to use m.google.com to set up email. So why do I have that setting if its disabled?
Says it still works if you have google apps for business which u have to pay for https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/138740 but my account was grandfathered in when they had a free version.
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Slightly off topic but I haven't seen someone us IE is years, do you actually use it as your main browser?
It's funny because I came from the other direction with Android. I'm a MacBook/iPad/iPhone user. But because of some great deal opportunities (and curiosity) then for one month I did an experiment and used a Surface RT / Samsung GS4. (Spoiler: I didnt last a month because of the 5s release and ridiculously high Ebay resale value)Hey everyone
So yeah, I haven't hidden the fact that while I've been a proud mac owner for over a decade, I've never owned an iPhone before. Yesterday changed that, and with it I felt like reflecting and sharing a few first impressions haha. The iPhone started off as a curiosity for me, I've always wondered what all of the rage was about, so here we go:
I wont go into the Surface stuff since thats not what this forum is about. But what I will say is that anyone who thinks touchscreen on Macbooks wont work is nuts.
As for the GS4 and Android. Wow! It's really sad that so many misconceptions about Android and Samsung exist because if you love technology then an interesting product should be admired regardless of who makes it.
Samsung: It's a shame that Samsung hate is so strong in the Apple community because if you actually use the product then those little "Apple-inspired" things people still talk about are trivial or generations gone (packaging, design, icons, power plug etc). But the Samsung exclusive stuff is amazing and way underrated. IR / Air Gestures / Wake by Voice / Tons of Camera Features / Face Unlock / Eye detection / Split Screen Apps /etc. It really was feature overload and I was so overwhelmed that avoided the "gimmicks". But by the end of the month I learned to use most of them and felt it improved the overall experience.
Android: I never intended to switch forever, but using Android full time for a month opened my eyes as to what a mature mobile OS it is.
- Notifications that make sense
- Apps. (Their library is much more complete than I thought)
- Keyboard Options (Swype and Swiftkey really increased productivity for me)
- NFC. Way underrated. (Car settings, custom setups, sharing etc all at a tap)
- Google integration is stellar (Not a "duh" statement. Google really has both the plan and execution that Apple lacks in web services)
Again, in the end I always intended to stick with Apple and I sold the stuff on Ebay once the 5s came out. Overall I left impressed and I have a higher respect for Android/Samsung and I truly believe that a bigger screen will improve the iOS experience without crippling it the way some people claim. In the past I used to think an Android user was missing out on things but times have changed and regardless of which platform you prefer then they're both pretty phenomenal.
(BTW. I also used a Galaxy Tab 7" for the month and hated it. The only thing I liked is that it fit in my back pocket so I didnt need to carry my iPad "purse". I do miss Android though so I'm heavily considering a used Note 2 just to carry around without service.)
I've got to agree with you. Android is especially terrific for anyone who is heavily dependent on google services. I would switch if a company offered a premium device with a build similar to the iPhone and stock android.
I tried a nexus 7 (2013) and loved it. At the price point I found it to be a very good value. My positive experience actually convinced a few friends to try it and they love it. Not everyone is wiling to spend 330+ for a tablet for basic tasks.
What gets me at the end of the day is the ecosystem, huge list of accessories, and the ability to walk into an apple store if my phone is acting up or damaged.
I'm
Samsung has always failed woefully in this regard. My SG4 always beduddles me when I it comes to bluetooth compatibility & rental cars but anytime I bust out the 4s, it's smooth sailing.
Funny thing, I've never had problems with past HTC android handsets.
Samsung has always failed woefully in this regard. My SG4 always beduddles me when I it comes to bluetooth compatibility & rental cars but anytime I bust out the 4s, it's smooth sailing.
Funny thing, I've never had problems with past HTC android handsets.