Phones Andy Ihnatko - Why I switched from iPhone to Android

[Tinmania]

I completely agree on Swiftkey. The only thing I dislike is the fact that you have to long-press to activate the voice-to-text. That's it. Otherwise, it's the best keyboard out there for an Android device. (I'd use Swiftkey in a second over Jellybean Keyboard Pro if you could change this).

I'm actually surprised they don't have an option to make the voice-to-text key tap to activate. For me, that's the only thing missing from Swiftkey.

I set the activation time for "long" press to just 250ms and it makes it much better for me. In my case it is more so for numbers and punctuation. But it also affects the text-to-speech button reaction time. Might help for you. It's under the Advanced settings.



Michael

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I'm starting to get a little weary of seeing all the I-just-saved-$100-on-my-insurance-by-switching-to-android articles.

At this point it is mostly intellectually dishonest hypocrites and fansters who are more concerned with their appearance (i.e. not looking like a backwards luddite) than what OS their smart phone is running.

Articles such as these get a 'meh'.

That is an odd reaction, considering the forum this is in.

But "intellectually dishonest hypocrites and fansters" was just downright weird. If anything was "meh" (as overused as that is) it was that odd comment.

By the way: Saving on insurance claims are advertisements, not articles. Advertisements are not generally watched/read intentionally but rather as a consequence of "free" television or other content. The "article" in question here was entirely of your own choice to read or not. Why you would choose to read it is a question for another day...



Michael

 

[KentuckyHouse]

I set the activation time for "long" press to just 250ms and it makes it much better for me. In my case it is more so for numbers and punctuation. But it also affects the text-to-speech button reaction time. Might help for you. It's under the Advanced settings.



Michael

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That is an odd reaction, considering the forum this is in.

But "intellectually dishonest hypocrites and fansters" was just downright weird. If anything was "meh" (as overused as that is) it was that odd comment.

By the way: Saving on insurance claims are advertisements, not articles. Advertisements are not generally watched/read intentionally but rather as a consequence of "free" television or other content. The "article" in question here was entirely of your own choice to read or not. Why you would choose to read it is a question for another day...



Michael

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to give that a try.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Android is attractive to two types of people: 1.) those looking for a bargain and 2.) those who like to tinker with their devices.

Yeah, the world is black & white. Sure.

I do not belong to group 1, 2 or 39.

 

[NewAnger]

Yeah, the world is black & white. Sure.

I do not belong to group 1, 2 or 39.

It's entirely possible that many of us just want a phone to do what we want it to do without having to jump through hoops (jailbreak) to get it done.

I have an app called Blacklist that blocks calls not in my contacts. On the iPhone side, I had to JB in order to buy an app called iBlacklist.

I've been able to install an app that gives me visual voicemail. I can BT or NFC pictures and songs from my computer and back and forth to my Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 plus, I can download files from Firefox and unzip them right on my phone/tablet.

It's just so full of things that I can and want to do on my devices. I could not do much of this on an iPhone/iPad.

 

[ChazUK]

Another interesting switcher read:
http://gizmodo.com/5990142/why-i-ditched-the-iphone-my-very-own-protocol-droid

I've been a die-hard "Apple evangelist" for over twenty years - first an avid Mac user, then an early adopter of both iPod and iPhone. In the 90s, when everyone I knew used Windows, I tried to switch them to Mac. In the 2000s, when everyone had Creative-brand MP3 players, I tried to switch them to iPod and iTunes. A few months ago I switched from iPhone to Android. Now the running joke is that I've become an Android evangelist....

An interesting read. I know for one that Google Now has intelligently stopped me being late for one doctors appointment at least.

 

[cuzo]

It's entirely possible that many of us just want a phone to do what we want it to do without having to jump through hoops (jailbreak) to get it done.

I have an app called Blacklist that blocks calls not in my contacts. On the iPhone side, I had to JB in order to buy an app called iBlacklist.

I've been able to install an app that gives me visual voicemail. I can BT or NFC pictures and songs from my computer and back and forth to my Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 plus, I can download files from Firefox and unzip them right on my phone/tablet.

It's just so full of things that I can and want to do on my devices. I could not do much of this on an iPhone/iPad.

I blacklist is freakin 15 bucks too.....

 

[sentinelsx]

I'm starting to get a little weary of seeing all the I-just-saved-$100-on-my-insurance-by-switching-to-android articles.

At this point it is mostly intellectually dishonest hypocrites and fansters who are more concerned with their appearance (i.e. not looking like a backwards luddite) than what OS their smart phone is running.

Articles such as these get a 'meh'.

But the drivels from Gruber and many others are oh so fascinating to read.

 

[Tarzanman]

"Meh" all you want. I'm fairly certain no one in the "Alternatives to iOS and iOS Devices" section of this sight really cares that articles like these don't get you all charged up. What are you doing here anyway?

And to call the author of this article an "intellectually dishonest hypocrite and fanster" (that's a new one, by the way...usually it's "fanboy") is just silly and proves you didn't read all three parts (or even one part) of the article. He was an iPhone user from the first one...he'd tried all sorts of Android devices over the years, but none could pull him away from the iPhone...until the S3. He didn't disparage the iPhone or iOS but was simply stating clearly (over and over throughout the articles) that Android just worked better FOR HIM. He wasn't trying to persuade anyone to switch, only giving the reasons why Android now does more FOR HIM than the iPhone or iOS can.

The author of the article is the same kind of fanboy that has completely disparaged android for years. I came to this forum as an android user, so I am all-too-familiar with the mindset. A good bit of what he says 'works for him' are features that Android has had for a few years, albeit with different window dressing.

If the author were really interested in the most adaptable, and featured mobile OS then he would have switched back in 2011. He's yet another johnny-come-lately whose observations have already been made ad infinitum by other sheep like him who only decided to ditch iOS after seeing which way the mob was going.

Simply put, it WAS interesting to read the details and context of an iOS user discovering android.... about 8 months ago and before the eleventy-thousand tech writers who have written the exact same article since "seeing the light" (sic).

Nowadays, its just tedious. If he'd had some original perspective to add then the article might have been more interesting. He didn't. It wasn't. Old hat.

 

[Tinmania]

The author of the article is the same kind of fanboy that has completely disparaged android for years. I came to this forum as an android user, so I am all-too-familiar with the mindset. A good bit of what he says 'works for him' are features that Android has had for a few years, albeit with different window dressing.

If the author were really interested in the most adaptable, and featured mobile OS then he would have switched back in 2011. He's yet another johnny-come-lately whose observations have already been made ad infinitum by other sheep like him who only decided to ditch iOS after seeing which way the mob was going.

Simply put, it WAS interesting to read the details and context of an iOS user discovering android.... about 8 months ago and before the eleventy-thousand tech writers who have written the exact same article since "seeing the light" (sic).

Nowadays, its just tedious. If he'd had some original perspective to add then the article might have been more interesting. He didn't. It wasn't. Old hat.

Ahhhh.... I can see what you meant now. Cleared up the original post nicely. I don't agree with your assessment though.

There are many of us like Andy. In my case I saw Android improving but it was just not quite there yet. When the S3 came out it caught my eye but I wanted to wait to see the iPhone 5. When that turned out to be a big disappointment to me I decided to start looking around for alternatives and the S3 was at the top of the list. One thing that worried me was the add-ons by Samsung and carriers.

When the Nexus 4 was announced, "pure Android," I figured that would be the best way for me to check out the platform. I got in on the initial batch of orders. Loved the phone and it got me up-to-speed on the platform. Rooted it manually and all that too. But its battery life sucked, the camera was sub-par, and it was generally not "great" at anything (other than seemingly built well). While I liked the Nexus 4 I felt I could go back to my iPhone easily enough (iffy on that).

It was when I got a Note 2 that I really decided I might as well sell my iPhone because I was not going back to it in its current incarnation.

What I am saying is that to me it is not that I suddenly "noticed Android" and am jumping on some kind of bandwagon. I didn't change. Android, and more importantly, its flagship devices, did--and have gotten to the tipping point for me.

I believe the S4 will bring a lot more people to the tipping point. Time will tell...



Michael

 

[NewAnger]

I blacklist is freakin 15 bucks too.....

It's $10 through Cydia. On the Google Play store even though it is not by the same dev, theBlacklist app was $4.99 I believe.