Thinking about totally ditching Android, please provide your input!

[Torn Mind]

Do it. No need to risk borking your tablet because you tried to update the OS. Even if it is a repairable issue, it shouldn't be happening.

 

[WelshBloke]

It's not that. It's the fact that with Android the tweaking is nearly unlimited. You start with one thing and then you go to another, and you can end up spending days and days just setting up your homescreen. And then 1 week later you decide on something new and spend 6 hours setting overlapping widgets up...

You know how I know you are OCD?

Seriously I've had Android devices for awhile and I've been flashing phones since the early days of WinMob devices and I've never been tempted to spend days setting up my homescreen. If you really get off on that sort of thing I would have thought an Apple or Windows device would drive you round the bend within a week.

 

[gmaster456]

It's not that. It's the fact that with Android the tweaking is nearly unlimited. You start with one thing and then you go to another, and you can end up spending days and days just setting up your homescreen. And then 1 week later you decide on something new and spend 6 hours setting overlapping widgets up.

At some point, you just need to enjoy what you have. I'm not fed up with tweaking Android yet, but I can see why some are annoyed. I would be perfectly fine with an iDevice or Windows Phone also.

I haven't spend more than 5 minutes at a time changing my homescreens and can count on one MAYBE two hands how many times I've changed the layout in the past year. Once every 3-4 months. Maybe. Tweaking is an option, and isn't mandatory.

 

[VashHT]

Thanks...you put it perfectly. I know I can tweak and replace endlessly, but I shouldn't have to. I've done that before, I want to spend my time differently now. What's sad is, wanting to step away from all that shouldn't require switching to iPhone. Android is 5 years old, it SHOULD be able to work great out of the box. That's why I switched to Nexus, because I realized LG/Samsung etc. were always going to disappoint in the software department somehow, I wanted a good, clean experience out of the box. Unfortunately we're here with the Nexus 5 now and a great experience out of the box is still a pipe dream. Camera, battery, etc. all require tweaks and fussing to get it acceptable. This puts me in a position of wondering what to do - switch to Samsung and deal with TouchWiz? Only buy Google Play edition devices? Customize the hell out of the N5? Or just give up.

Honestly if you're a really discerning person you're going to find things you don't like about iOS. I've tried iOS, android and WP and there are things I hate about each platform. People like to act like android has more problems but honestly once I stopped worrying about trying to make everything perfect I've enjoyed using my N4. The only advantage to iOS in my mind is you can't tweak as much so you just resign to living with the things that annoy you.

 

[smitbret]

Obligatory BB10 mention here.

Now with the ability to emulate Android .apk means a lot more apps.

 

[wholesalestunna]

Thanks...you put it perfectly. I know I can tweak and replace endlessly, but I shouldn't have to. I've done that before, I want to spend my time differently now. What's sad is, wanting to step away from all that shouldn't require switching to iPhone. Android is 5 years old, it SHOULD be able to work great out of the box. That's why I switched to Nexus, because I realized LG/Samsung etc. were always going to disappoint in the software department somehow, I wanted a good, clean experience out of the box. Unfortunately we're here with the Nexus 5 now and a great experience out of the box is still a pipe dream. Camera, battery, etc. all require tweaks and fussing to get it acceptable. This puts me in a position of wondering what to do - switch to Samsung and deal with TouchWiz? Only buy Google Play edition devices? Customize the hell out of the N5? Or just give up.

I can give you my honest opinion from using both android and iOS devices. I've used the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5s (current phone), the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Razr Maxx.

Honestly I have had high end android and high end iOS phones and I end up going back to iOS every time. It's simple, works well, and has lots of support and great build quality. My phone rarely crashes with iOS when with android it seemed to crash pretty regularly no matter what device I had. The camera software also seems to be far superior to that of the android. While I thought Samsung was the best android phone manufacturer as far as stability and quality, I can't even use their phones at my house because the radio in it isn't as good as a lot of other phones (any of the others mentioned above). My iPhone 5s is superior in every way for my needs.

I have not had a chance to use a windows phone yet and don't know anyone that owns one, but wish I had some experience with it. Im curious to see what it can offer the playing field. I will ask my brother (he works for verizon) for is opinion on them and try to post a follow up.

 

[foghorn67]

I think if you were stay with Android, I would say MotoX. At heart, it's closer to an iPhone than anything else Android. Aside from a few manufacturer-centric goodies, it's stock.
It's also stable with timely updates, minor and major. It's also not locked into the spec war, despite it's responsiveness. Something I always liked about iOS, you don't need oodles of resources. And the build quality is great.
At a distant 2nd, the HTC One. Solid materials, exacting fit and finish.
HTC Sense is still a skin, but doesn't break from stock in function very often.
Limiting factor to most is the camera. At 4MP, it's very regulated to web-only viewing.
I like the trade off, because I love it's true wide angle lens and it's low light abilities.

I think a 5s or a high end Nokia might be worth a shot to try something different.

 

[Oyeve]

Just go back to iPhone. It's obvious you don't know how to use Android.

 

[CA19100]

It's not a lifetime commitment -- just try it out! If you decide you don't like it, you can switch back when your contract's up, or sooner if you forgo the subsidy. It's a few hundred bucks; it isn't like buying a house or a car.

I had an iPhone 3G, then switched to an HTC Droid, and ended up switching platforms back to an iPhone 5. I won't bore you with the reasons, but I'll simply say that the iPhone suited my workflow and tastes better. There's no harm in trying the "other side" out to see if you like it. Unless you have hundreds of dollars in paid apps, it's truly no big issue switching from one to the other.

 

[Jodell88]

My phone rarely crashes with iOS when with android it seemed to crash pretty regularly no matter what device I had.

WTF are you doing for your phone to crash? :hmm:

 

[wholesalestunna]

WTF are you doing for your phone to crash? :hmm:

I would just play games on there and a couple widgets on the home screen. I found android to not be very stable as an OS

 

[dawheat]

I would just play games on there and a couple widgets on the home screen. I found android to not be very stable as an OS

Are you saying an app would crash or the actual OS would crash? I've never had my phone outright crash once in the last year - and this is using my phone 4-5 hours of on-screen a day + a couple extra hours of streaming music.

I have had apps FC every now and then - more a couple years ago when I imagine Android apps weren't as mature. But in the last year, I'd say less than once a month. My wife's iPhone has about the same recurrence.

But I don't play games, so it could be something to do with that.

 

[ghost_willis]

I wouldn't ditch the android, you are fine with it as is just need a different interface of it. You have an unlimited ability with an android and not so much with an iPhone

 

[ChronoReverse]

Opera Mobile is a better choice than Chrome or Firefox if all you want is just web browsing.

To this day, I don't understand why Opera are the only ones who've figured out text reflow in forums (like this one). Well, the stock AOSP browser gets it right too. But somehow all the other major browsers start to go nuts with the font sizes.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

OP says "I switched to Nexus, because I realized LG/Samsung etc. were always going to disappoint in the software department somehow, I wanted a good, clean experience out of the box. Unfortunately we're here with the Nexus 5 now and a great experience out of the box is still a pipe dream. Camera, battery, etc. all require tweaks and fussing to get it acceptable. This puts me in a position of wondering what to do - switch to Samsung and deal with TouchWiz?"

I'm sorry to tell you, but your first problem is that you've been using Nexus devices, instead of actually spending time with other Android models. Because if you think Nexus gives you anything special, you're in for a big disappointment. I won't even mention Google's stubborn emulation of Apple in two directions (microSD and user-replaceable battery), because there's already a long thread dealing with that... But your problem is that you're tossing the whole ecosystem because you have tunnel vision. You only have anecdotal information about Touchwiz, for instance. You seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that there are many alternatives to Chrome.

Guess what? The PC-compatible market was just like that in the beginning (late 80s, early 90s). Look at it now: see how vibrant and multi-developed it is...

You're like a person who only uses Microsoft programs - including IE and that horrible WMP! - then complains that the whole PC platform is broken, and then runs to Apple. But not once did that person bother to explore the rich alternatives available to them...

Good riddance.

 

[Joe1987]

Here's what I use daily.

Note 3
iPad Air/mini with a retina mini on the way
Apple TV

I really hear you about battery life and flagship Android phones. If it weren't for the Note's battery life, I'd be using an iPhone.

 

[poofyhairguy]

To this day, I don't understand why Opera are the only ones who've figured out text reflow in forums (like this one). Well, the stock AOSP browser gets it right too. But somehow all the other major browsers start to go nuts with the font sizes.

I finally figured that mystery out. That is the mobile gods telling you to use Tapatalk. I resisted, but now it uses more internet bandwidth monthly on my phone than Chrome does.

 

[wholesalestunna]

Are you saying an app would crash or the actual OS would crash? I've never had my phone outright crash once in the last year - and this is using my phone 4-5 hours of on-screen a day + a couple extra hours of streaming music.

I have had apps FC every now and then - more a couple years ago when I imagine Android apps weren't as mature. But in the last year, I'd say less than once a month. My wife's iPhone has about the same recurrence.

But I don't play games, so it could be something to do with that.

Apps would crash

 

[zerogear]

I would just play games on there and a couple widgets on the home screen. I found android to not be very stable as an OS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLwAjOGQcHo

Apps would crash

I've had way more crashes on iOS -- it's not just as noticeable since there isn't a prompt that says the application has crashed, it just closes without explanation.

 

[ChronoReverse]

I finally figured that mystery out. That is the mobile gods telling you to use Tapatalk. I resisted, but now it uses more internet bandwidth monthly on my phone than Chrome does.

Well, Tapatalk for XDA forums really hasn't convinced me to drop Opera. And not all the forums I frequent have Tapatalk support. But yeah, if it goes on sale I might consider it.

 

[postmortemIA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLwAjOGQcHo



I've had way more crashes on iOS -- it's not just as noticeable since there isn't a prompt that says the application has crashed, it just closes without explanation.

I've friends that complain about bad iphones: losing connection, locking up skype, crashing apps ,etc. They even have nice crash log for each crash... number of crashes was huge. Now, how do you fix it? You can't. They are already on latest iOS, and that's about it.

There is no OS that can protect you from bad coders.

 

[WelshBloke]

Well, Tapatalk for XDA forums really hasn't convinced me to drop Opera. And not all the forums I frequent have Tapatalk support. But yeah, if it goes on sale I might consider it.

I thought it was free now?

 

[zerogear]

I've friends that complain about bad iphones: losing connection, locking up skype, crashing apps ,etc. They even have nice crash log for each crash... number of crashes was huge. Now, how do you fix it? You can't. They are already on latest iOS, and that's about it.

There is no OS that can protect you from bad coders.

That's exactly my point, appcrashes aren't OS dependent, and people who think otherwise are fooling themselves.

 

[Anonaliss]

Hi, new to the forums but just wanted to pop in and give my (long) opinion. Don't know if the OP is still vacillating between the two but here's my experience. I recently wanted to buy a 10" tablet and nothing in Android appealed to me, especially as Google seems to be very reticent about releasing an updated Nexus 10. I have a Note II and honestly as long as Samsung doesn't do anything unforgivable to the Note series I'll probably remain a Note user exclusively when it come to phones.

I splurged and just got the iPad Air and here's my experience. Google instead of encentivizing devs to create better optimized apps for tablets instead decided to do away with the tablet UI for a more phablet look. But I don't want a phablet UI in a 10" tablet. It works fine for the Nexus 7 (which I own) but I still think Google's approaching the tablet optimized app problem from the back end. On the other hand, iOS have beautifully optimized and generally better polished apps BUT their system UI is also just a scaled up version of their phone UI. Also I've had more random crashes (mostly in browser apps) than I've had using my months old Nexus 7. Low memory warnings and Safari and Dolphin crashes happen a frustratingly large number of times daily.

Also I forgot how criminally bad iTunes is to use or rather the iTunes store. In the one week I've been using it, I've had iTunes crash up 7 times in an hour. It is horribly bloated. I think the first time it hit me how little control I had was when I wanted to save a picture from online and it downloaded into camera roll, which is a horrible place to have downloaded pics interspersed with your own personal pics. No way to change directory folder. I am an artist. The second thing I did after setting up my iPad was to transfer some of my artwork onto the iPad. These are files that have been painstakingly organized and filed. I file my artwork according to the project name so it's easier to find. Except when I go into the photos app, none of my work is categorized by title and there's no way to change how it's sorted because Apple doesn't even bother to give you the option. Online, every reviewer was touting how easy and simple this makes organizing but how about the people who actually take the time to organize their crap? Apple doesn't cater to people who know and prefer a different system of doing things. My 1500+ files are now categorized into random "moments" some with a date of 2005 to 2009 even though I created the files early this year and they were modified as late as last month.

TL;DR

Apple is a beautiful OS designed to meet the needs of people who don't want to necessarily take the time to do certain things themselves. I think if I had never left iOS I wouldn't mind nearly as much because I wouldn't know the freedom available to me on other OS but as someone coming from a more open OS, iOS is positively stifling. This a view point you may come to share depending on how you use Android. The thing is, even if the manufacturer doesn't intend for you to do certain things with your phone as long as the capability is there, then its possible to do them anyway on Android, many times without root. On iOS, if Apple doesn't want you doing it that way then you're stuck unless you jailbreak and even then....

I ended up keeping the iPad for one reason. I do a lot of business, professional and personal, in Japanese and that is where Android is strangely lacking. The best keyboard on the OS doesn't support it and pretends the language is non-existent and the alternative offered by Google is piss poor in comparison. Know the limitations of each. I feel foolish having spent so much money on a device that lets me do so little of my own choosing but all it took was one little thing that it does better than Android, that happens to be important to me, and I decided to keep it.

 

[Anonaliss]

I know I put TL;DR in there but I honestly had no idea it was so long, apologies. I guess I really needed to vent.