Some Background:
I have been an iOS dev for about 3 years maybe. Previous to that I was a mobile HTML5 tech lead for e-commerce software company. I moved onto iOS from there working on native commerce libraries for mobile stores. I currently work for a leading digital media company working on streaming video SDKs(no local playback, mostly just HLS, PD, Widevine, etc) for android and iOS. I have been spending more and more time recently focused on android, as more of our customers start to invest in that space.
I will be heading to Google I/O next week, so I thought I should get used to using an android phone full time. I have been an iPhone user since the iPhone 3G S. I used a Samsung Galaxy(Running 2.3) for a couple months after I dropped my iPhone 4 in a lake. That was really the last time I used an android phone full time. Since then most of my use has just been during development.
I have access to most new phones and tablets. The only phone I don't have yet is a GS4, which I should have within the week. I am not a fan of the plastic though, so I decided to start off with the HTC One.
So here goes:
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I received an unlocked HTC One yesterday. This is the ATT model, purchased from HTC US website. This isn't the developer model.
I attached the phone to my google account and started setting everything up while I was at work. Most of the apps I use are available one both platforms except for some games. For apps that aren't available, there seem to be comparable replacements. I mostly use my phone for games, camera, facebook, browsing, messaging, maps, pod casts and spotify.
The first thing I noticed, which is specific to HTC Sense 5, is that I can't remove the blink screen thing from from one of the home screen panels. Pretty lame since it takes up 3/4 of the screen. I was at least able to make that panel the non default panel and I will just ignore it.
One annoying thing about using a phone that isn't from ATT directly, is that the Play store wouldn't let me download the ATT Messages app directly because it said that none of my devices were compatible. I was able to find the latest APK and side load it, but I would have rather gotten it from the play store without having to worry whether the apk I got was tampered with. Either way, I now have all my visual voice mail and everything imported.
I have a pretty consistent routine. It's about a mile walk to the subway from my apartment, and mile walk home. On my iPhone, I use TuneIn radio to listen to a local sports radio stream over LTE. As I was walking home yesterday with this new phone listening to the stream, I noticed that I wasn't using LTE. It took me a while to find, but for whatever reason the default setting on the phone was WCDMA only. I turned on LTE and continued on my walk. The next 5 minutes the audio kept cutting out. Not a good sign. I tried it again this morning, and it had buffering issues the entire walk to the subway. I have never had a buffer issue on my iPhone. It seems to perform fine when forced to WCDMA, but not on LTE. I noticed consistently worse reception on LTE with this phone so that might be a deal breaker. I am in the Boston market, which has some of the best ATT coverage in the US, so this should be working perfectly.
One plus is that the headphone amp seems much more powerful than on the nexus 4, which I sometimes use to watch movies on the subway. The nexus 4 volume I always found pretty weak, needing to put the volume up almost all the way.
Google now widget is pretty cool. A card popped up telling me my letherman from amazon shipped, and I was able to track it right from there.
It's only been 24 hours, so I don't have a solid testing of battery life, browsing, podcasts, or the camera yet. That will come.
If this LTE thing keeps being an issue, I might switch to the GS4. For future reference, I can't change roms or root these phones, because that interferes with testing widevine.
I have been an iOS dev for about 3 years maybe. Previous to that I was a mobile HTML5 tech lead for e-commerce software company. I moved onto iOS from there working on native commerce libraries for mobile stores. I currently work for a leading digital media company working on streaming video SDKs(no local playback, mostly just HLS, PD, Widevine, etc) for android and iOS. I have been spending more and more time recently focused on android, as more of our customers start to invest in that space.
I will be heading to Google I/O next week, so I thought I should get used to using an android phone full time. I have been an iPhone user since the iPhone 3G S. I used a Samsung Galaxy(Running 2.3) for a couple months after I dropped my iPhone 4 in a lake. That was really the last time I used an android phone full time. Since then most of my use has just been during development.
I have access to most new phones and tablets. The only phone I don't have yet is a GS4, which I should have within the week. I am not a fan of the plastic though, so I decided to start off with the HTC One.
So here goes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I received an unlocked HTC One yesterday. This is the ATT model, purchased from HTC US website. This isn't the developer model.
I attached the phone to my google account and started setting everything up while I was at work. Most of the apps I use are available one both platforms except for some games. For apps that aren't available, there seem to be comparable replacements. I mostly use my phone for games, camera, facebook, browsing, messaging, maps, pod casts and spotify.
The first thing I noticed, which is specific to HTC Sense 5, is that I can't remove the blink screen thing from from one of the home screen panels. Pretty lame since it takes up 3/4 of the screen. I was at least able to make that panel the non default panel and I will just ignore it.
One annoying thing about using a phone that isn't from ATT directly, is that the Play store wouldn't let me download the ATT Messages app directly because it said that none of my devices were compatible. I was able to find the latest APK and side load it, but I would have rather gotten it from the play store without having to worry whether the apk I got was tampered with. Either way, I now have all my visual voice mail and everything imported.
I have a pretty consistent routine. It's about a mile walk to the subway from my apartment, and mile walk home. On my iPhone, I use TuneIn radio to listen to a local sports radio stream over LTE. As I was walking home yesterday with this new phone listening to the stream, I noticed that I wasn't using LTE. It took me a while to find, but for whatever reason the default setting on the phone was WCDMA only. I turned on LTE and continued on my walk. The next 5 minutes the audio kept cutting out. Not a good sign. I tried it again this morning, and it had buffering issues the entire walk to the subway. I have never had a buffer issue on my iPhone. It seems to perform fine when forced to WCDMA, but not on LTE. I noticed consistently worse reception on LTE with this phone so that might be a deal breaker. I am in the Boston market, which has some of the best ATT coverage in the US, so this should be working perfectly.
One plus is that the headphone amp seems much more powerful than on the nexus 4, which I sometimes use to watch movies on the subway. The nexus 4 volume I always found pretty weak, needing to put the volume up almost all the way.
Google now widget is pretty cool. A card popped up telling me my letherman from amazon shipped, and I was able to track it right from there.
It's only been 24 hours, so I don't have a solid testing of battery life, browsing, podcasts, or the camera yet. That will come.
If this LTE thing keeps being an issue, I might switch to the GS4. For future reference, I can't change roms or root these phones, because that interferes with testing widevine.
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