I would love to venture out and try an Android phone like the OnePlus. Just not super-happy with the iPhone. But then there's the fact that I'm immersed in the Apple ecosystem (would want to stick with my iPad and MacBook Pro). Has anyone tried adding an Android phone to your work flow?
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Bringing an Android into my Apple world?
- Thread starter MarkB786
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I'm doing the opposite. I use streaming music, so the iTunes issue was never a problem. Overall, other than buying multiple sets of apps, I didn't find it too bad. Biggest issue was iMessage.
I will say that once you use the Play Store and Google, the App Store and iCloud are incredibly frustrating. Obviously I'm returning to Apple so it's not the end of the world, but I find those elements of Android to be far, far better than Apple.
I will say that once you use the Play Store and Google, the App Store and iCloud are incredibly frustrating. Obviously I'm returning to Apple so it's not the end of the world, but I find those elements of Android to be far, far better than Apple.
I own Mac, PC and Android. But I am not tied to Apple's ecosystem so it works for me. Plenty of third party services out there that work on the three types.
But then, the newest Mac I own is a Snow Leopard only 2006 MBP. All my other Macs are 2003-2005 PowerMacs and PowerBooks. Apple stopped syncing on my devices in 2012 with the launch of the iPhone 5 so I had to find other ways.
I do use iMessage but it's more of a convenience not a necessity.
I use and Samsung phone an iPad pro, there is no issues with this. Just make sure your e-mail, contacts and such are from platform independent. I use google Inbox on both devices, google photos on both, calendar / contacts etc in sync, One Note, One Drive / Dropbox etc. All platform independent. In fact, I like it. I just wish I had a better Android phone than the Samsung S7. I wish I had gotten a clean Android with frequent updates.
That's pretty much what I'm doing. Android for phone. iPad Pro for tablet/mobile computing. I use platform agnostic products, too. Google Photos is huge, contacts in Gmail, etc. Keeps me able to work on both platforms. I'm just waiting for my Essential phone or the next Pixel devices to get away from my iPhone.
Switching over to an Android phone has caused minimal issues for me, if any. When I had an iPhone, most of the services that I utilized (Spotify, Dropbox, Instagram, Snapchat, Amazon Video, my email addresses) were all platform agnostic anyway. I strongly advise using platform agnostic services whether you use iOS or Android -- it's just good practice.
The only thing service that I lost during the switch was iMessage, which honestly is mostly a bunch of hoopla if you want my personal opinion. SMS on Android, though a more primitive technology, does the exact same thing as iMessage -- it sends text messages. I just can't send texts from my Macbook anymore (which didn't take long to adjust to). Note: There is a way to send SMS messages from your computer if you use Google Hangouts as your messaging app. I personally do not.
Unless you exclusively are tied into iCloud storage, iCloud email, and Apple Music (which is available on Android), then the "Apple Ecosystem" isn't as real as it seems. I think it's more of a mind game than reality for most people, though they aren't aware of it.
If you do end up trying Android, I hope you enjoy it! But give it a solid month. Don't go into it expecting it to be iOS. And when things are confusing or frustrating -- learn them. Trust me, I tell you this from experience. Don't just throw the phone against a wall and post on here, "That's it. After two days, I can't take this Android garbage. I'm going back to my iPhone!" There's plenty of other posts like that already.
You might just realize Android is the OS you were waiting for all along.
[doublepost=1503725634][/doublepost]
The only thing service that I lost during the switch was iMessage, which honestly is mostly a bunch of hoopla if you want my personal opinion. SMS on Android, though a more primitive technology, does the exact same thing as iMessage -- it sends text messages. I just can't send texts from my Macbook anymore (which didn't take long to adjust to). Note: There is a way to send SMS messages from your computer if you use Google Hangouts as your messaging app. I personally do not.
Unless you exclusively are tied into iCloud storage, iCloud email, and Apple Music (which is available on Android), then the "Apple Ecosystem" isn't as real as it seems. I think it's more of a mind game than reality for most people, though they aren't aware of it.
If you do end up trying Android, I hope you enjoy it! But give it a solid month. Don't go into it expecting it to be iOS. And when things are confusing or frustrating -- learn them. Trust me, I tell you this from experience. Don't just throw the phone against a wall and post on here, "That's it. After two days, I can't take this Android garbage. I'm going back to my iPhone!" There's plenty of other posts like that already.
You might just realize Android is the OS you were waiting for all along.
[doublepost=1503725634][/doublepost]
Did you preorder the Essential Phone?!
I'm going to have another try with the note 8. I have an iPhone 7 plus, iPad Pro, MacBook Air, Apple TV, Apple Watch and AirPods. So I'd say I'm pretty Apple centric. However I've pre- ordered the note 8 as I want to try it out. I will be keeping all my Apple devices. I used android from 2012-2014 and I also has the S7 edge for a few months last year so I do have some apps and Tv shows that I've bought from the play Store although not nearly as much as I've bought from iTunes and the App Store.
I do have an iCloud subscription but I also play for google drive storage, I'm an amazon prime customer, and have an amazon echo. I also have a chromecast and an android TV box which I was bought as a present but rarely use.
I quite happily used a chromebook for a few years before my husband broke it so I am familiar with google drive and I have a whole ton of stuff stored on my google drive. I'm also using google drive to back up my mac and I use google photos in addition to iCloud Photo Library for backing up my photo library. I don't subscribe to any streaming music services because I don't believe in them. All my music is stuff that I've purchased outright so I can easily take that across. I actually have my music library uploaded to google play music.
So although I'm heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem I do have my feet in other places and have lived quite happily for a while outside. I don't intent to leave Apple or give up any of my Apple devices I just feel like it's possible to try other things out.
I do have an iCloud subscription but I also play for google drive storage, I'm an amazon prime customer, and have an amazon echo. I also have a chromecast and an android TV box which I was bought as a present but rarely use.
I quite happily used a chromebook for a few years before my husband broke it so I am familiar with google drive and I have a whole ton of stuff stored on my google drive. I'm also using google drive to back up my mac and I use google photos in addition to iCloud Photo Library for backing up my photo library. I don't subscribe to any streaming music services because I don't believe in them. All my music is stuff that I've purchased outright so I can easily take that across. I actually have my music library uploaded to google play music.
So although I'm heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem I do have my feet in other places and have lived quite happily for a while outside. I don't intent to leave Apple or give up any of my Apple devices I just feel like it's possible to try other things out.
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Plenty of people using an Android phone with the Apple ecosystem. I use an Android phone, MBA, a Windows Media PC, an Apple TV and a Chromecast. Everything works seamlessly and I'm not locked down to any particular ecosystem. I don't like anything that is locked down and does not give the user control so iOS is a non starter for me, I need power and versatility and Android gives me just that.
Yep between that and the Apple TV I can cast anything from any of my devices. If I'm on my S8 I use Chromecast, if I'm on my MBA I use the Apple TV. Works perfectly. OSX and Android is the perfect combo imo. Both give full customization with nothing dumbed down, perfection.
Its more of a pure casting device, you can cast from any chromecast supported app (Youtube, Google play music, Netflix ect) to the Chromecast. The Apple TV can do more then just cast.
Go with a Roku box or stick. You can cast to it with ease, and it also make a good stand alone product like the Apple TV.