Update: It has now been two months since I switched from an iPhone 7+ to the Razer.
To give you a better idea on how this is working for me, here is an overview of how I use my devices.
- ThinkPad X260 - This is my daily work machine. Heavy encryption and lots of other stuff. Work.
- Retina MacBook 2015 - This is my daily personal use device. Also use for my financials.
- Ipad Pro 12.9 G2 - Let's call this my consumption device. Email, blog, TV, Movies, basic document review, light gaming, etc... I use the Keyboard and Pen. Yes, I tried it as a laptop. Didn't work for me.
- Razer (Android) - My current personal / work phone. Work involves a lot of regulatory and confidential stuff. This kind of bridges my Mac (personal) and my Thinkpad (work). Google and Outlook for email, calendar, and contacts.
In the past (before Android), all my personal info and activities was shared between my Apple devices. Airdrop, iMessage, and personal calendar/email would be handled kind of seamlessly. (NOTE: iOS 11 made this a bit more difficult. Hence a big reason to change) My work stuff was sort of shared between my ThinkPad and my iPhone. There was a bit of a "gap" as email, calendar, and contacts would not always indicate on my iPhone. This process used the default Apple apps. I could do most basic activities but some had to be done on my Thinkpad.
Today, it has changed a bit.
My personal information is shared between my Apple devices and for the most part with my Razer. My activites pretty much include Google in everything. Email. Calendars. Photos. Cloud. Etc. All the apps I used on my iPhone are available on Android. If I do it on my rMB or my iPad, I can see it realtime (pretty much) on my Razer and vice versa. Like the iPhone, the Razer is encrypted by default. The apps work the same with the same security.
My work stuff is handled a bit differently. On my iPhone, it used default apps. On my Razer, I use Outlook and Skype for Business (same as on the Thinkpad). There is a seperate document handling ability that has higher encryption. The itegration between my Thinkpad and Razer is better with what I had with iOS. I suspect that is due to the apps used.
When I switched from iOS to Android I did a bit of research and performed some up front maintenance. I moved my contacts from iCloud to Google. There are a couple of apps in the App Store for this. I let my critical contacts know I was switching. I backed up all my data to my GDrive.
It turns out that this was good but pretty much unneeded. Still glad I did it.
When I activated the Razer, it asks if you want to import from another device; iOS or Android. Having everything on my GDrive and in Google, I declined and allowed it to pull all needed info from Google. It was quick and painless. On the Android side - more later. I connected to work, installed Outlook and Skype. Work did its magic and I was off and running. One really nice aspect, with Outlook, Skype, Sharepoint, and the MS Office suite, in many cases I can work on the run without having to boot up my Thinkpad. A serious improvement. The Razer has a 256GB micro SD card added. Also note that my Razer is stock. I adjusted some settings and work installed Airwatch. Outside of that, no alternative launchers or major setting changes.
What did I miss moving from the iPhone? iMessage and to a point, the camera. I am now using Skype for Business IM and Google Messenger instead. The camera continue to improve but is not close to the iPhone. Overall not bad. Took a bit of getting used to. Still, a very workable solution.
What headaches did the switch cause? Contacts.... no, iCloud. Keep in mind I use Google as my primary data system and iCloud strictly for my Apple stuff. As part of this change, my personal contacts, email, and calendar now are fed from Google. I pretty much turned off those features in iCloud. (Work continues to feed from Exchange.) However, I have noticed that contacts and other data that resides in my iCloud, even if deleted, will randomly show up on my iPad and rMB mixed in with the Google stuff. A pain. Especially contacts as this will tend to replace the existing contact on the device. Most frequent after an iOS or MacOS update. Ugh.
So, a typical day.
Get up and check my Razer during breakfast. Quick look at notifications, calendar, texts, email, and reminders. Log into Skype.
BTW, Skype syncs with Outlook. Nice feature. Go to my office and sign onto my iPad - news, etc... Boot up the Thinkpad and off to another work day.
In the end, the Razer for me has been an improvement from a work perspective - better integration. Example: Outlook on the Thinkpad and Razer can run the same rules and handle email / attachments the same. From a personal use perspective, it was a bit of a downgrade due primarily to bugs / issues I am experiencing with iCloud on my Apple devices. Issues with iOS 11 and High Sierra have added to that.
Overall, this has been great! The Razer has shown no issues, no slowdowns, and has a better battery life than the iPhone 7+. What has been the biggest benefit(s) in my eyes after two months? Notifications and the lack of bugs. There are some other things I like but these have to be the big ones at this time.
I am interested in syncing and integration. Are you able to sync calendars and address books between iOS and Android? I have read there are apps that allow you to airplay with an android device.
Basically I'd like to know how it is going as you move between Apple products and your android phone. FaceTime at all?
Good timing
- Syncing calendars. I have moved to Google for my personal calendar and this syncs between all devices. I have found that some iOS calendar invites will not work properly with the Google calendar. Usually it is ics invites that give me an issue - just some. Most work fine.
- Address Books. I have moved all my personal address books to Google and have removed them from the iCloud. This works great except, especially after an iOS or MacOS update, I seem to end up with some legacy iCloud contacts over-writing the Google contacts on the device (iPad, rMB). I think this has to do with the iCloud.
- Airplay between iOS and Android - I have tried this just a little bit. So far I can mirror, usually, from iOS to Android via my home wifi network. I have not been successful from Android to iOS - then again, I have not put much effort into it.
