Phones Convert to android and loving it?

[DDustiNN]

Personally, I don't know how anyone who texts or emails a lot can live with iOS' keyboard. It often misses keys (as in unregistered taps), autocorrection is often off, there's no suggestion bar, and no long pressing for secondary keys, etc. The keyboard is so poor that it's given rise to numerous websites that make fun of ridiculous and unintended autocorrections.

ICS' keyboard is now leagues ahead of iOS'. The autocorrection is phenomenal, it's more responsive (hardly ever misses taps), and little features like auto-separating typos (e.g. accidentally hitting the 'b' button instead of the spacebar when typing two words: "hibthere" will auto correct to "hi there") just makes the keyboard feel smarter and more user friendly.

There are things I miss about my iPhone, but as someone who emails and texts a lot, the switch to ICS was logical. I'm keeping a keen eye on iOS 6, and hoping improvements will finally be made to the keyboard.

iOS keyboard does the auto-separate thing you mentioned. Mine does it all the time, in fact.

However, I do miss the longpress from Android, for quick ? and ! typing, as well as numbers. But on my iPhone, I've found that you can press the "123" key, which instantly changes the keyboard to numbers and charactes, then you just drag to your desired key and release. It will type whatever number/character you released from, and automatically switch back to the letters layout. It can actually be faster than Android's longpress, since it's just a quick swipe with no waiting.

 

[ABadSanta]

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I love Apple products, got hooked when I decided to buy an iMac instead of a new PC. I also own an AT 2 and an old iBook (someone was giving it away, I let my 6 yr olds play on it). I also plan on getting an iPad this year and wouldnt consider a different brand tablet.

All of that being said, I LOVE my Android phone. It's not cutting edge at all (original HTC incredible). I use a bunch of Google services and it ties in nicely to those, the navigation can't be beat, and its UI is pretty customizable without jailbreaking it. I occasionally have a minor bug, but for me its well worth the trade off.

I had the same phone. Did you get it when it came out in 2010?

 

[onthecouchagain]

iOS keyboard does the auto-separate thing you mentioned. Mine does it all the time, in fact.

Does it separate words that are stuck together? For example "likethis" will autocorrect to "like this" on ICS. I remember iOS doing one or the other, but not both stuck words and accidental-space words ("likebthis"). I don't quite remember which.

More importantly to me, though, is that the iOS keyboard does not keep up with the speed at which I thumb. Writing even a simple email or text was too frustrating for me. Again, we need only look at the slew of websites dedicated to iPhone autocorrect failures to recognize this isn't an isolated experience.

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However, I do miss the longpress from Android, for quick ? and ! typing, as well as numbers. But on my iPhone, I've found that you can press the "123" key, which instantly changes the keyboard to numbers and charactes, then you just drag to your desired key and release. It will type whatever number/character you released from, and automatically switch back to the letters layout. It can actually be faster than Android's longpress, since it's just a quick swipe with no waiting.

The same can be done with ICS keyboard. Users have the option to long press or switch to the secondary keyboard.

 

[-aggie-]

Believe it or not, I had actually been considering getting a Note after all the hype, but after a lot of research, I'm seeing MANY people stating the battery is great (they get 14 hours or so of "use"). However, when you look at the stats they post (Androids do have a cool app for the battery usage), they're only getting 3 hours of "screen use," and they think that's great?! That's pretty pathetic, IMO. The same could be said for the Galaxy S2, which was also one I considered....no more than 3 hours of screen use. So, it looks like the reviews stating you can't browse much more than 3 hours are accurate.

 

[SurferMan]

Believe it or not, I had actually been considering getting a Note after all the hype, but after a lot of research, I'm seeing MANY people stating the battery is great (they get 14 hours or so of "use"). However, when you look at the stats they post (Androids do have a cool app for the battery usage), they're only getting 3 hours of "screen use," and they think that's great?! That's pretty pathetic, IMO. The same could be said for the Galaxy S2, which was also one I considered....no more than 3 hours of screen use. So, it looks like the reviews stating you can't browse much more than 3 hours are accurate.

Depends (setup, settings, use, if they have tons of widget running etc), I don't know about the Note, but we use our phones heavily from browsing/talking/texting/emails etc... same use, I'd rank ours as 4 > SGII > 4S for battery life during use.

 

[-aggie-]

I've got to laugh at whoever downgraded my post above. All I did was go to the battery life threads of the several Android forums out there. If you've got evidence those threads are inaccurate, please respond like the poster above me. I've never liked the size of the iPhone, but I'm not going to deal with 3 hours of battery life, UNLESS I decide to carry an extra battery (another peeve I have with the iPhone...no replaceable battery).

BTW, it was enlightening to see there weren't "I've Got the iPhone 4" or "I'm Leaving the Samsung/HTC/Other Android" threads in those forums.

 

[cynics]

I've got to laugh at whoever downgraded my post above. All I did was go to the battery life threads of the several Android forums out there. If you've got evidence those threads are inaccurate, please respond like the poster above me. I've never liked the size of the iPhone, but I'm not going to deal with 3 hours of battery life, UNLESS I decide to carry an extra battery (another peeve I have with the iPhone...no replaceable battery).

BTW, it was enlightening to see there weren't "I've Got the iPhone 4" or "I'm Leaving the Samsung/HTC/Other Android" threads in those forums.

I noticed people down rate a lot when someone claims something so matter of factly but doesnt post links or pics. Especially if you say it had 3 hours of screen use. We all know it shows time and then each individual think like screen on is a percentage. So unless it was 100% screen use with 3 hours and the battery was about to die its impossible to know that without guessing quite a bit.

That's not a notes battery just an example of the display.

 

[rjohnstone]

For what it's worth, my last battery stat is 8 hours 6 minutes with a little over 4 hours of screen on time (52% of total battery time) and I'm sitting at 57% battery. Pretty typical day for me.
This is on my Skyrocket with the LTE radio on. (I never turn it off as I have no WiFi at work)

 

[Lindenhurst]

I guess there is no such thing as a "typical" day when discussing battery usage. Some will use their phone a lot more than others. I too have seen the posts claiming 14 hours on battery, and doubt those very much unless they are talking about not using their phones at all except to answer calls.

My opinion is that my Note lasts about as long as my IP4 did, maybe a little less, but it's hard to say because after a couple of years with iPhones, I didn't do too much with the phone other than the basic stuff.

Battery life is not an issue at all for me because I carry a spare charged battery in my wallet.

Comparing battery life between a phone with no replaceable battery and a phone with one just isn't worth the time.

 

[tanboom]

Recently, I am using galaxy note. I am quite happy and never miss iphone. If I keep the iphone app store aside, galaxy note is years ahead if not decade.

 

[-aggie-]

You want links, I got links:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note/515571-amazing-battery-life-really.html#post4074637

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-t/470000-2-3-6-battery-life-sucks.html#post3744558

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-skyrocket/495361-wow-5-hour-battery-life.html#post3920240

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note/502947-battery-performance-wow.html#post4039232

http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-galaxy-note-battery-life-test-over-matches-the-nokia-n9/

The last link is what concerned me the most, and I saw results like this elsewhere. Like I said, I saw people claiming their battery lasted the whole day, but then their screen usage was some small number, like 30%.

 

[onthecouchagain]

As a current Nexus S owner, my sentiments are more or less in line with this article: http://androidandme.com/2012/03/opi...upport-why-should-i-buy-a-nexus-device-again/

A little more info:
I'm also a former Blackberry and former brief iPhone user. And honestly, I have/had plenty of complaints to go around with all that I've used, included Nexus S and ICS.

I'm keeping a close eye on iOS 6 and the future Nexus/Jelly Bean device. I'm really hoping one or the other will solve the different woes that have with both respective OS-es.

 

[feleciadenise]

Went from 3 past Android phones (Droid, Droid X and Droid 2) and Blackberry (Storm)...then stopped being an IPHONE hater and got one...I think it's the best phone ever...however I wish I wouldn't have updated it so I could unlock it and personalize it more. That's the only thing I miss with Android phones. I just turned on my Samsung Galaxy S Sprint phone to take pics and sell on Craigslist..while the screen was larger and bright...it seemed too bulky in my hands.

Edited to add...Plus the battery life was AWFUL...AWFUL on all 3 Android phones

 

[patent10021]

McDonalds has the same slogan. Lovin' It.

McDonalds is sheit.

 

[DDustiNN]

Does it separate words that are stuck together? For example "likethis" will autocorrect to "like this" on ICS. I remember iOS doing one or the other, but not both stuck words and accidental-space words ("likebthis"). I don't quite remember which.

More importantly to me, though, is that the iOS keyboard does not keep up with the speed at which I thumb. Writing even a simple email or text was too frustrating for me. Again, we need only look at the slew of websites dedicated to iPhone autocorrect failures to recognize this isn't an isolated experience.

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The same can be done with ICS keyboard. Users have the option to long press or switch to the secondary keyboard.

Yes iOS does separate double words, just checked. I guess I never really noticed, heh. I don't even remember how the Android did it, but I did find the suggestion bar to be helpful sometimes.

My Android was an HTC which has a different keyboard than stock Android, but when I switched to iPhone I actually felt like I typed faster for some reason. I only use one thumb and in portrait mode, but I can type pretty damn fast like that... people tend to comment on it a lot for some reason, haha.

How is the new ICS keyboard different? I greatly preferred the HTC_IME keyboard over the stock one, but I haven't seen the new one of course.

 

[onthecouchagain]

How is the new ICS keyboard different? I greatly preferred the HTC_IME keyboard over the stock one, but I haven't seen the new one of course.

Give it a shot on a Nexus S or Galaxy Nexus. It's quite impressive how responsive it is. It can keep up with fast two-finger thumbing, hardly ever missing presses -- it's actually very rare to see a missed key. The autocorrection is the best I've seen and the suggestion bar and edit features are intuitive. I will say, however, that its cursor system is still a tad flaky; nothing beats iOS' magnifying glass.

 

[-aggie-]

More links:

This one shows the Note lasting 250 minutes, compared to 302 minutes for the iPhone 3G:

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-Review-/?page=4

This link shows the S2 (at a whopping 503 minutes!) far exceeding the iPhone 3G (at 302 minutes):

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II-Smartphone-Review/?page=4

Engadget review of the S2...no browsing test, but did do a test of video only:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/30/atandt-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review/

S2 (264 mins....1/2 of what hothardware got) and Note (215 mins) versus the iPhone 4S (416 mins):

http://blog.gsmarena.com/our-samsun...e-test-is-complete-check-out-how-it-did-test/

 

[jeffe]

It's important to note how widely battery life can vary greatly depending on things that users can control. Some of these tests that have been linked might have had a different result by just changing one setting on the phone. In fact, just displaying the color white on an amoled screen will use the battery much quickly than displaying black.

 

[Darthdingo]

Moved to Android long ago, and could not be happier. Just got sick of the wristwatch sized iPhone screen, and fisher-price toy like icons. Plus iOS has the same look and feel as it did since 2007.

My Galaxy-Nexus feels like a phone that Commander Data built in the 24th century.

 

[-aggie-]

It's important to note how widely battery life can vary greatly depending on things that users can control. Some of these tests that have been linked might have had a different result by just changing one setting on the phone. In fact, just displaying the color white on an amoled screen will use the battery much quickly than displaying black.

I totally realize tests can have different results, just based on the "seems like a million" iPhone battery threads. The main link (in the first post of links I posted) that concerns me is the one where browsing was directly compared to other phones. I mainly use my phone for browsing, and that (and gaming) is the best way I find to really tell how good a battery is. The posts where people say they have "moderate" use and use the phone for "some" talking, "some" texting, "some" browsing, etc., really don't let someone know much of anything because it's hard to compare to something that uses ambiguous terms like "moderate" and "some." However, even if they give hours for each, it's still difficult, unless you've done the same tests under the same conditions for another phone.

Edit: I just noticed the Note link from GSMArena was not for the AT&T version. Here's AT&T's:

http://blog.gsmarena.com/here-is-th...xy-note-i717-performance-in-our-battery-test/

MUCH better battery life (browsing only). Not as good as the iPhone 4S (416 minutes), but not too bad at 324 minutes.

More Links for my own research and being able to find them here:

http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...amsung-galaxy-nexus-ice-cream-sandwich-review

 

[kaielement]

Why do people want a bigger screen. Have you looked around at the phones with bigger screens I mean they are so huge that they are hard to get in and out of my pocket and most have honorable battery life. If you want a bigger screen and I can really only imagine for watching movies and word docs buy a tablet enough said. My iPhone is the right size for me. Plus I worked at Best Buy And so many people would come in and complain about there android phone and be buying an iPhone, even some of my coworkers too!!!!

 

[jeffe]

I get by all day with my browsing usage. What kills my battery like no other is streaming radio and that is with the screen off.

Anyways - if you are looking at android and don't mind getting your emails every 15 minutes or so, you can get an app like juice defender that can help increase battery life when you are not using the phone. I used to use this until switching to CM7 which does well enough without it.

I totally realize tests can have different results, just based on the "seems like a million" iPhone battery threads. The main link (in the first post of links I posted) that concerns me is the one where browsing was directly compared to other phones. I mainly use my phone for browsing, and that (and gaming) is the best way I find to really tell how good a battery is. The posts where people say they have "moderate" use and use the phone for "some" talking, "some" texting, "some" browsing, etc., really don't let someone know much of anything because it's hard to compare to something that uses ambiguous terms like "moderate" and "some." However, even if they give hours for each, it's still difficult, unless you've done the same tests under the same conditions for another phone.

Edit: I just noticed the Note link from GSMArena was not for the AT&T version. Here's AT&T's:

http://blog.gsmarena.com/here-is-th...xy-note-i717-performance-in-our-battery-test/

MUCH better battery life (browsing only). Not as good as the iPhone 4S (416 minutes), but not too bad at 324 minutes.

 

[-aggie-]

I get by all day with my browsing usage. What kills my battery like no other is streaming radio and that is with the screen off.

Anyways - if you are looking at android and don't mind getting your emails every 15 minutes or so, you can get an app like juice defender that can help increase battery life when you are not using the phone. I used to use this until switching to CM7 which does well enough without it.

What did you mean about "getting your emails every 15 minutes or so?"

 

[ChazUK]

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I get by all day with my browsing usage. What kills my battery like no other is streaming radio and that is with the screen off.

Anyways - if you are looking at android and don't mind getting your emails every 15 minutes or so, you can get an app like juice defender that can help increase battery life when you are not using the phone. I used to use this until switching to CM7 which does well enough without it.

What did you mean about "getting your emails every 15 minutes or so?"

I believe Juice Defender can be configured to enable background data at 15/30/60 minute intervals rather than being connected 24/7 to save battery looking at the screenshots on the Play Market.

I've never used it myself so I can't be entirely sure.

 

[Jimmy James]

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It's funny to me how many people praise android for integration with google's services and criticize apple's inability to do email attachments from within the mail program.

I downloaded the gmail app for ios and it does attachments. However, I otherwise dislike that program and am happy to use the native mail program most of the time.