Upgrade soon, iPhone or Android?

[echomango]

I am new to the iphone forum. I usually hang out in the imac forum and love my new imac. I also have an ipad.

This leads me to my present dilemma. I am due to get a new phone and have an android at this point. I am wondering if a switch to an iphone 5 would be best for me. I worry that all I can transfer to an iphone is my contacts and there may be apps that I use daily that might not be available for iphone. ie a voicemail-to-text-to-email app that sends your voicemails directly to your email. This has been a very helpful app for me and I don't see it as being available on the iphone. ugh. maybe I missed it?

I have heard talk of how helpful it is to have your phone be synched with both ipad and imac and wanted to ask this forum if that is the case and how it is helpful.

Are there apps that allow notification on your imac/ipad that your iphone just received a voicemail message?

The samsung s3 is so tempting since I could likely transfer my present phone directly into it and be good to go.

Any feedback on this would be very much appreciated!

Tom

 

[matttye]

I am new to the iphone forum. I usually hang out in the imac forum and love my new imac. I also have an ipad.

This leads me to my present dilemma. I am due to get a new phone and have an android at this point. I am wondering if a switch to an iphone 5 would be best for me. I worry that all I can transfer to an iphone is my contacts and there may be apps that I use daily that might not be available for iphone. ie a voicemail-to-text-to-email app that sends your voicemails directly to your email. This has been a very helpful app for me and I don't see it as being available on the iphone. ugh. maybe I missed it?

None that I know of.

I have heard talk of how helpful it is to have your phone be synched with both ipad and imac and wanted to ask this forum if that is the case and how it is helpful.

Your photos, mails, notes, etc, can be synced to all of your devices. You can use iMessage on all of your devices (so you can start a conversation at home on your Mac/iPad and carry it on on your iPhone when you go out).

Are there apps that allow notification on your imac/ipad that your iphone just received a voicemail message?

Not that I know of. I hope that Apple will one day allow us to access voicemails, text messages and make calls through the iPad, which in turn uses the iPhone.

The samsung s3 is so tempting since I could likely transfer my present phone directly into it and be good to go.

Any feedback on this would be very much appreciated!

Tom

You could pretty much do that, I'm sure. Some Android apps only work for certain devices, but most devs support the flagships so I don't think you'll have much of a problem.

I think you need to decide whether the apps you have on your Android phone are more important to you than integration with other Apple devices and the Apple ecosystem.

At this point you may wish to wait and see what the S4 brings, as it's rumoured to come out this quarter. Samsung's own slide at CES 2013 showed a 4.99" 1080p screen with a release date of 'Q1 2013.'

The other screens of course relate to previous Galaxy S and Note devices.

 

[Beeplance]

I find it kinda funny that people are asking other people's opinion regarding the purchase of a phone they themselves will be using.

Head down to a store, try the phones out and see for yourself. At the end of the day, you'll be using the phone, not other people, so it's best that you see which phone you yourself prefer.

 

[Bear]

I find it kinda funny that people are asking other people's opinion regarding the purchase of a phone they themselves will be using.

Head down to a store, try the phones out and see for yourself. At the end of the day, you'll be using the phone, not other people, so it's best that you see which phone you yourself prefer.

That's good advice to check things out in person. However while many people ask questions that would be best answered by going to a store and playing with the devices in question, the questions asked here were actually worthwhile.

 

[jalamb86]

I'm not due for an upgrade until November. I will be watching developments closely. My 4s still runs like the day I got it. I left Android a while ago, frustrated with Gingerbread, fragmentation, and the general PC-like qualities of the OS.

I recently bought a Nexus 7 and was stunned at the advances that have been made in the OS since I left. If Android devices continue down this path, I might have to give them another look once it comes time to get another phone.

However, I LOVE the Apple ecosystem and the lack of fragmentation. As someone said in an article, Apple is a walled garden, but a beautiful walled garden. My next computer purchase will also influence the decision, as I am considering replacing my current laptop with a Macbook Air. If I do that, I'll probably stick with the iPhone.

I am glad I am not due an upgrade for a few months, though. I am anxious to see what is beyond the rumored 5s model, and also what the next iOS updates will be like. That too will go a long way in helping my decision.

Tough choice indeed.

 

[barkomatic]

OP, wait until the Mobile World Congress (Feb 25th-28th) before making a decision. Samsung is rumored to announce the Galaxy S4 just prior to that event. After Samsung and other mobile companies announce their new products, make your decision then. I have a feeling that we'll see some amazing new handsets.

 

[matttye]

I find it kinda funny that people are asking other people's opinion regarding the purchase of a phone they themselves will be using.

Head down to a store, try the phones out and see for yourself. At the end of the day, you'll be using the phone, not other people, so it's best that you see which phone you yourself prefer.

I think it's a good idea to take both into account.

Existing users of the device will be able to tell you about pros and cons you might not notice yourself in a preliminary try of the device.

 

[iHailCarlo]

iPhone of course. The i5 is a beast of a device.

 

[aleni]

For phone, sms, music, browsing and basic tasks, s3 is fine. But once you tried the playstore compared to appstore, you'll regret it.

 

[3bs]

For phone, sms, music, browsing and basic tasks, s3 is fine. But once you tried the playstore compared to appstore, you'll regret it.

In your opinion. I actually think the Play Store is better than the App Store and especially after iOS 6. I'm talking about the actual app not the content. I think content is generally better on iOS but there are apps that obviously can't run on iOS because of it's closed nature and that means resorting to Cydia on iOS. In my opinion.

That doesn't really matter since the OP already owns an Android phone and says he has apps which he's worried won't be available on iOS.

 

[matttye]

In your opinion. I actually think the Play Store is better than the App Store and especially after iOS 6. I'm talking about the actual app not the content. I think content is generally better on iOS but there are apps that obviously can't run on iOS because of it's closed nature and that means resorting to Cydia on iOS. In my opinion.

That doesn't really matter since the OP already owns an Android phone and says he has apps which he's worried won't be available on iOS.

The new search screens on iOS are pretty awful, can only see one app at a time it is however pretty good at searching and I usually find what I want in the first page or two.

 

[3bs]

The new search screens on iOS are pretty awful, can only see one app at a time it is however pretty good at searching and I usually find what I want in the first page or two.

I don't have much experience with iOS 6 since I sold my 4S so it might not be as bad as I think. I definitely look forward to iOS 7 and if they decide to change things a bit.

 

[The Game 161]

I would personally wait to see what S4 has to offer.

 

[Fernandez21]

You mail is one that you could use for voicemail, though you have to pay a subscription. Not sure of others since I haven't bothered looking. Is there a particular one you use on android?

 

[dmelgar]

a voicemail-to-text-to-email app that sends your voicemails directly to your email. This has been a very helpful app for me and I don't see it as being available on the iphone. ugh. maybe I missed it?

You can setup google voice. Used instead of visual voicemail. Msgs appear in google voice app. It can attempt to convert to text and email. Same as on android.

I have heard talk of how helpful it is to have your phone be synched with both ipad and imac and wanted to ask this forum if that is the case and how it is helpful.

Can sync a bunch of stuff via iCloud. Contacts, photos, apps, music, documents such as notes, pages, numbers documents. Overall pretty useful.

Are there apps that allow notification on your imac/ipad that your iphone just received a voicemail message?

If you have your ipad, iMac notify in email messages, then you'll know when you received a voicemail via google voice.

 

[echomango]

Thank you all for the feedback. Much appreciated and very helpful. Important to know that the apps I am using may not be available on the iphone. Also very helpful to know that the S4 may be coming out. Thank you Matttye for your helpful post and your reference to the S4 and also to barkomatic (great screen name!) and The Game 161 for pointing out a short wait may bring dividends. After waiting how many months for the new IMac to come out it seems like a short jump to wait till the end of february.

Thank you Dmelgar for pointing out the possibility of google voice. That may be a way to work around this.

Fernandez21 - Thanks for bringing up youmail. I'd never heard of this and will check it out.

I'm not really sure why this post was moved. My original intent was to hear from Iphone users about their experience with their apps and phones not to debate OS's. Oh well. I hope I didn't ruffle too many feathers.

Oh, and Beepants, I have already visited the stores and played with each phone. I hear Dear Abby died on wednesday.

 

[JummpyXMPP]

non-fanboi response

android at this point. ...if a switch to an iphone 5 would be best for me

nowhere in your OP do you provide a use case to determine 'best for you'

transfer to an iphone is my contacts

yes. though not all fields line up with default android contacts app [gingerbread, jellybean]. Find yourself a third party android contacts app [avoid the 'go' brand like a zombie apocalypse as they do unpleasant things like playing not-well with others]

I strongly recommend licensing

Contact Editor PRO
http://dmfs.org/editor/


now might be a good time for you to explore android CalDAV apps / options

Funambol cloud might help you allieviate some concerns especially if you can touch both iPhone and android devices AND they both have data (carrier or wifi)

http://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.funambol.androidsync

apps that I use daily that might not be available for iphone

true. But now would be a good time to write to those app developers requesting an android version. Sure, you might not immediately gain traction but if no one requests such it is unlikely to happen

voicemail-to-text-to-email app that sends your voicemails directly to your email.

Youmail personal edition
https://store.youmail.com/store/home.do

Youmail is almost RDNIS savvy (OCN) allowing you an additional level of filtering above unique announcements per callerid: unique default announcements per DID. (I feel like I'm selling youmail but as I detest affiliate urls more than spam rest assured I gain nothing but your happiness and continuance of youmail -- except as I point out free PBX alternative to youmail)

I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone patronize the developer of an app using a malware model (third party internet ads divert the COST from money to privacy violation). For similar reasons I implore you to avoid "free" googlevoice

The native youmail app sucks-less in version 3 than previously. I suggest licensing

BetterYoumail
http://bestitguys.com/android.html

Unfortunately the "best" it guys are not business savvy. They reject paypal licensing for those not able to participate in google market for whatever reason (android fully functional without gmail)

there are other voicemail transcription services but I have found machine-only transcription to be abysmal. If anyone is aware of a human-edited transctiption voicemail service which ALSO has an adroid app I would be delighted to escape my ignorance

Are there apps that allow notification on your imac/ipad that your iphone just received a voicemail message?

In OSX land you might want to explore

• growl

for everything else there is

• XMPP

XMPP can user ZeroConfig (Bonjour) without a data network. Specifically available in GibberBot on android.

http://guardianproject.info/wiki/Always_Secure_Messaging
http://wiki.xmpp.org/web/OTR

The samsung s3 is so tempting

it is extra tempting as one can replace BOTH/EITHER

• bootloader
• kernel

refer to wiki for more info and usage. To that end I stronlgy recommend replacing the native ROM with MIUI
http://wiki.rootzwiki.com/Main_Page
http://miui.us

Miui adds the polish to android that google couldn't be bothered with and hardware developers were too lazy. It is NOT complicated and very-worth pursuing.


And while easily rooted (highly recommended) you can benefit from an app/technology exclusive to android

• PDroid

summed in the concept

• My data is mine

Be sure to immediacy replace whatever SDHD card in your android with a Class 6 card of a reputable brand. Class 10 is "faster" but not for the kind of file system operations common to android. Thourougly explore the phone model AND android version for SDA version compatibility as in some instances cards 32gigs and larger have horrible file system issues -- especially using archaic FAT partitioning. As android is linux based (yes, and java) it would behoove them to use at least EXT partitions. (Would not be a trauma for sheeple given USB as the card per se would not be mounted)


Hope that helps


disclaimer: I have an android device now, but I have used iphone in the past.

 

[sentinelsx]

For phone, sms, music, browsing and basic tasks, s3 is fine. But once you tried the playstore compared to appstore, you'll regret it.

Depends if they are using the phone to unload all their tasks and using it for tons of gaming too.

I find a phone screen to be too cramped to do all that and would rather keep a tablet, hence an android phone makes tons of sense due to being a more flexible communications and light entertainment device.