Questions from an Android user thinking of switching

[kat.hayes]

1. If I open the DropBox app on an iPhone, do I have access to all of my folders in it and all of the files, whether they are documents, photos, videos, etc.? What happens when I click on one? Does it open?

2. Can you view a photo/video directly in the Dropbox app and share it via email or a link? I think in the past you were not able to do this?

3. I have multiple Gmail accounts. Can you download multiple Gmail accounts into the Mail app or do you need the Gmail app?

4. With the new notification center widgets, will I be able to add a widget or whatever Apple is calling it for a list I make in Evernote or Wunderlist? OR is that still not clear?

Thanks!

 

[Zcott]

1. Yep

2. Yep

3. Multiple gmail accounts is fine in the stock mail app

4. That's up to evernote and wunderlist to enable

 

[kat.hayes]

Some more:

1. I use the my main Verizon # and a Google Voice #. What happens when someone calls my Google Voice #? Does it ring on the phone and let me know that I am being called via the other #?

2. Can I access all of my Google Voice messages via the Google Voice app?

3. I use my Android to tether to my Macbook Pro to take advantage of my unlimited data. How can I do this with a new iPhone +?

Thanks!

 

[Unhyper]

3. I use my Android to tether to my Macbook Pro to take advantage of my unlimited data. How can I do this with a new iPhone +?

You go to the tethering settings, set a password and turn it on. Your Mac will see it as a WLAN router, and you just connect to it normally.

In case interested, file types that the Dropbox app can open natively:

 

[0970373]

Some more:

1. I use the my main Verizon # and a Google Voice #. What happens when someone calls my Google Voice #? Does it ring on the phone and let me know that I am being called via the other #?

2. Can I access all of my Google Voice messages via the Google Voice app?

3. I use my Android to tether to my Macbook Pro to take advantage of my unlimited data. How can I do this with a new iPhone +?

Thanks!

1) Yes, you can choose this in settings.
2) Yes.
3) If tethering is part of your data plan, it's easy. Just go to settings > personal hotspot. You an choose what kind of connection you need to use. USB, Bluetooth, WiFi. Very intuitive.

 

[kat.hayes]

1.) tethering is not part of the plan I pay for through Verizon, though I do have unlimited data. How does it work in this case? On Android I have an app that I simply use to tether to my Macbook Pro and iPad. It has been the main reason keeping me on Android, so I'm looking to make sure there is an iPhone solution.

2.) I'm also use to the blinking light letting me know that I have some new activity on my Android, and then across the top of my Android screen I see little icons for Gmail ,email, Facebook or whichever new messages I have. How does iOS handle this? I know there is no blinking light, so you just have to turn on the screen and pull down the notification center to see any new activity? Will it show ALL new activity for emails, chats, Facebook etc. in the notification pull down?

Thanks!

 

[Stuke00]

1.) tethering is not part of the plan I pay for through Verizon, though I do have unlimited data. How does it work in this case? On Android I have an app that I simply use to tether to my Macbook Pro and iPad. It has been the main reason keeping me on Android, so I'm looking to make sure there is an iPhone solution.

2.) I'm also use to the blinking light letting me know that I have some new activity on my Android, and then across the top of my Android screen I see little icons for Gmail ,email, Facebook or whichever new messages I have. How does iOS handle this? I know there is no blinking light, so you just have to turn on the screen and pull down the notification center to see any new activity? Will it show ALL new activity for emails, chats, Facebook etc. in the notification pull down?

Thanks!

1) You would have to jailbreak to get illegal tethering.

2) The iPhone turns the screen on whenever you get a notification that is set to go to the lock screen. You can also get it to flash the LED camera light when you receive a message. But the turning of the screen on is great for me. One thing I wish Android's did.

 

[Armen]

1.) tethering is not part of the plan I pay for through Verizon, though I do have unlimited data. How does it work in this case? On Android I have an app that I simply use to tether to my Macbook Pro and iPad. It has been the main reason keeping me on Android, so I'm looking to make sure there is an iPhone solution.

2.) I'm also use to the blinking light letting me know that I have some new activity on my Android, and then across the top of my Android screen I see little icons for Gmail ,email, Facebook or whichever new messages I have. How does iOS handle this? I know there is no blinking light, so you just have to turn on the screen and pull down the notification center to see any new activity? Will it show ALL new activity for emails, chats, Facebook etc. in the notification pull down?

Thanks!

1. If you are on a grandfathered plan you most likely will not have the personal hotspot.

2. You can set the camera LED to blink for alerts in settings on the iPhone.

 

[dojoman]

LED blink is useless in iPhone. It only blinks once when you get a message, there are no additional reminder blinks.

 

[skywalkerr69]

1. If you are on a grandfathered plan you most likely will not have the personal hotspot.

2. You can set the camera LED to blink for alerts in settings on the iPhone.

For the tethering option. I have a grandfathered Verizon Unlimited plan and added the tethering after i got my iPhone 5. They have it and I believe its $20.00 or $30.00 a month.

 

[Stuke00]

LED blink is useless in iPhone. It only blinks once when you get a message, there are no additional reminder blinks.

Does it not blink again when you get the 2nd reminder? You can set messages to keep reminding you every couple minutes until you check it. I am pretty sure it flashes for each one of those.

 

[C DM]

Does it not blink again when you get the 2nd reminder? You can set messages to keep reminding you every couple minutes until you check it. I am pretty sure it flashes for each one of those.

Only for messages and it wouldn't only blink but actually vibrate and have an audio alert as well and only for the diration of that alert. It's also basically bright camera flash for those short durations, not a little discrete light on the phone that someone can just glance at at any point in time. So basically it's fairly far from what a notification LED does on Android or some other phones.

 

[Armen]

For the tethering option. I have a grandfathered Verizon Unlimited plan and added the tethering after i got my iPhone 5. They have it and I believe its $20.00 or $30.00 a month.

Haven't seen that pricing model in a while. My 6GB data plan just comes with personal hotspot automatically.

 

[bkends35]

1) You would have to jailbreak to get illegal tethering.

2) The iPhone turns the screen on whenever you get a notification that is set to go to the lock screen. You can also get it to flash the LED camera light when you receive a message. But the turning of the screen on is great for me. One thing I wish Android's did.

Totally agree... I would miss a lot of notifications if the screen didn't turn on. I hated that about vanilla android.

 

[kat.hayes]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

1. So you can set the iPhone to turn the screen on when a new email, chat message, etc. comes in? If so, I'm guessing you can choose which apps will enable the screen coming on?

2. What does the screen turn on to? Does it just turn on the lock screen or does it give any notifications regarding what it is turning on for?

3. For clarification regarding the flash blinking, you can set it to blink when a new message comes in, though it only blinks once? It does not continue to blink in case you miss it the first time? Also are we talking about the flash on the front of the phone (if it has one) or the flash on the back?

Thanks again!

 

[skywalkerr69]

Haven't seen that pricing model in a while. My 6GB data plan just comes with personal hotspot automatically.

Ah, maybe it's gone. Well yeah they want you to tether so its a higher change you go over your data. They are very smart business people lol

 

[C DM]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

1. So you can set the iPhone to turn the screen on when a new email, chat message, etc. comes in? If so, I'm guessing you can choose which apps will enable the screen coming on?

2. What does the screen turn on to? Does it just turn on the lock screen or does it give any notifications regarding what it is turning on for?

3. For clarification regarding the flash blinking, you can set it to blink when a new message comes in, though it only blinks once? It does not continue to blink in case you miss it the first time? Also are we talking about the flash on the front of the phone (if it has one) or the flash on the back?

Thanks again!

1. You can control which apps can have notifications on the lock screen.

2. It turns on to the lock screen but with any notifications that have come in so far while the phone has been locked.

3. It's the camera flash (which is on the back) and it flashes once or twice or so only when there's an actual alert--it's more for accessibility purposes for people who might have hearing issues or something like that so that there's a noticeable visible notification for them. It's not the same as a typical notification LED on an Android or some other phones in that respect.

 

[Stuke00]

Thanks everyone for the responses!

1. So you can set the iPhone to turn the screen on when a new email, chat message, etc. comes in? If so, I'm guessing you can choose which apps will enable the screen coming on?

2. What does the screen turn on to? Does it just turn on the lock screen or does it give any notifications regarding what it is turning on for?

3. For clarification regarding the flash blinking, you can set it to blink when a new message comes in, though it only blinks once? It does not continue to blink in case you miss it the first time? Also are we talking about the flash on the front of the phone (if it has one) or the flash on the back?

Thanks again!

1) Yet you can choose which apps do this in Settings > Notification. Anything set to "show on lock screen" will turn the screen on. On your lock screen you will see the notification and any text associated with it. Each app that has notifications will have its own settings.

2) It turns on to the lock screen. Certain things, like text messages you can still set it to not show what was in the message for security reasons. Just disable 'show preview'

3) The camera flash flickers. There is no light on the front of the phone. The camera flash only flashes when the notification occurs. Doesn't continue to blink.

----------

Only for messages and it wouldn't only blink but actually vibrate and have an audio alert as well and only for the diration of that alert. It's also basically bright camera flash for those short durations, not a little discrete light on the phone that someone can just glance at at any point in time. So basically it's fairly far from what a notification LED does on Android or some other phones.

Yeah I understand that.

 

[dojoman]

Does it not blink again when you get the 2nd reminder? You can set messages to keep reminding you every couple minutes until you check it. I am pretty sure it flashes for each one of those.

It would blink again if you receive another message but it will not blink again for same message earlier.

 

[kat.hayes]

Last questions:

1.) I really like the haptic feedback I get when typing on my Android. iPhone had clicking when typing previously, is there anyway to get the haptic feedback in iOS like the pulsating you get on an Android?

2.) iOS was previously limited to only certain sharing options. Has this opened up? If I install Pocket, does it automatically add that as a sharing option OR are you only able to share with the default options iOS gives you for things like Mail, Twitter, FaceBook, etc. On my Android I have tons of options for sharing based on the apps I download, does iOS do the same now?

Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[afsnyder]

Last questions:

1.) I really like the haptic feedback I get when typing on my Android. iPhone had clicking when typing previously, is there anyway to get the haptic feedback in iOS like the pulsating you get on an Android?

2.) iOS was previously limited to only certain sharing options. Has this opened up? If I install Pocket, does it automatically add that as a sharing option OR are you only able to share with the default options iOS gives you for things like Mail, Twitter, FaceBook, etc. On my Android I have tons of options for sharing based on the apps I download, does iOS do the same now?

Thanks for all your help!!!

1) No. It makes click noises that you can disable, but as far as I know the STOCK keyboard doesn't vibrate when you touch keys.

2) Developers have had the ability to add this to their apps since they announced iOS 8 beta. Now that iOS 8 is official, devs should be updating their apps pretty soon to support the new Extensibility API's. Here's a few things developers will have to update their apps to take advantage of: http://www.apple.com.edgesuite.net/ios/developer/

 

[campyguy]

There's more than a few clueless responses to your OP.

Regarding GV, you'll need to check in in a few more days - the GV app and GV were both updated earlier in the day (same as your OP), with new capabilities. Regarding the GV app, the first line of their update leaves me a bit "troubled" - that it was "updated user interface to match iOS 7 guidelines" in the first bullet point when iOS 8 is coming out in less than two weeks. Considering iOS 8 is coming out in less than 10 days - Yikes!!! Google could (should) have waited just a few days to issue a build using Xcode 6, which came out just yesterday, updated to "match iOS 8 guidelines". Sheesh...

Look, Google undermined all developers recently by pulling tie ins for 3 party apps to Google Voice, and Google is just now (literally, today) getting to upgrading services related to GV and Hangouts (which was also updated today). The answer to your question yesterday would be different than today. I tried out the new GV and Hangouts app - on iOS 8, on my iPhone 5 this evening and it seemed to work smoothly, as smoothly as it has on Android phones (which I've owned). It's not just the app - it's the backend that's changed recently as well.

The comments regarding tethering - ignore the other posts. I have UL data, GFed on multiple VZW lines with iOS devices. I use iOS 8. On UL data plans, using an iPhone - MHS is $30 per month, or rated per diem (roughly $1 per day) and you can turn it on and off as needed. MHS on an UL data plan has no limit to the data you can use for MHS - I've used it dozens of times over the past 2 years. Regarding JBing - there's NO JB for iOS 8 - period. $1 per day for UL tethering on LTE is cheap. I have an LTE SIM for my iPad Air and my iPad 3, both on UL data lines in my VZW family plan - there's no extra charge for MHS on either of my iPads. There's no way around paying for MHS on an iPhone yet using iOS 8, given that there's no JB for iOS 8.

About extensibility - iOS 8 isn't out officially yet. The GM came out yesterday, and we couldn't build and submit apps with Xcode until that GM came out. Any feedback regarding extensibility yet is pure speculation (read: BS) until official builds come out.

 

[C DM]

There's more than a few clueless responses to your OP.

Regarding GV, you'll need to check in in a few more days - the GV app and GV were both updated earlier in the day (same as your OP), with new capabilities. Regarding the GV app, the first line of their update leaves me a bit "troubled" - that it was "updated user interface to match iOS 7 guidelines" in the first bullet point when iOS 8 is coming out in less than two weeks. Considering iOS 8 is coming out in less than 10 days - Yikes!!! Google could (should) have waited just a few days to issue a build using Xcode 6, which came out just yesterday, updated to "match iOS 8 guidelines". Sheesh...

Look, Google undermined all developers recently by pulling tie ins for 3 party apps to Google Voice, and Google is just now (literally, today) getting to upgrading services related to GV and Hangouts (which was also updated today). The answer to your question yesterday would be different than today. I tried out the new GV and Hangouts app - on iOS 8, on my iPhone 5 this evening and it seemed to work smoothly, as smoothly as it has on Android phones (which I've owned). It's not just the app - it's the backend that's changed recently as well.

The comments regarding tethering - ignore the other posts. I have UL data, GFed on multiple VZW lines with iOS devices. I use iOS 8. On UL data plans, using an iPhone - MHS is $30 per month, or rated per diem (roughly $1 per day) and you can turn it on and off as needed. MHS on an UL data plan has no limit to the data you can use for MHS - I've used it dozens of times over the past 2 years. Regarding JBing - there's NO JB for iOS 8 - period. $1 per day for UL tethering on LTE is cheap. I have an LTE SIM for my iPad Air and my iPad 3, both on UL data lines in my VZW family plan - there's no extra charge for MHS on either of my iPads. There's no way around paying for MHS on an iPhone yet using iOS 8, given that there's no JB for iOS 8.

About extensibility - iOS 8 isn't out officially yet. The GM came out yesterday, and we couldn't build and submit apps with Xcode until that GM came out. Any feedback regarding extensibility yet is pure speculation (read: BS) until official builds come out.

I think the iOS 7 guidelines reference was as far as UI/design gods, and that part pretty much stays the same with iOS 8. The fact that it took them so long to do it, that's a somewhat different aspect of it.

 

[campyguy]

I think the iOS 7 guidelines reference was as far as UI/design gods, and that part pretty much stays the same with iOS 8. The fact that it took them so long to do it, that's a somewhat different aspect of it.

Agreed. Still, if I treated my clients like that - last year's news - I'd be out of work. Considering that Google cut off 3rd party access several months ago, and updates came out today I'd question the usability of GV. Oh, wait - I did, months ago, and moved on.

 

[C DM]

Agreed. Still, if I treated my clients like that - last year's news - I'd be out of work. Considering that Google cut off 3rd party access several months ago, and updates came out today I'd question the usability of GV. Oh, wait - I did, months ago, and moved on.

For free, it could be worse, like not even be there at all or be completely abandoned.