HTC One from an iPhone 4

[daveathall]

I'm liking the phone itself, but the OS seems very un-intuattive to me. I know its a learning curve with Android and its part of this I can see why iOS has done so well as that really does just work. I'm sure (and hope) it does grow on me though. Just need to figure out all these querks.

Am tempted to just wipe the phone back to defaults and start fresh tbh. I would like my message history really but not if its going to insist on loading all the history back to 2007 every time I open the Messages app, causing a 45second delay.

Everything else I can do manually myself really.

It is intuitive out of the box, you are just trying to do everything the "iOS way" both systems are different, neither is wrong, you have used the words "just works" many times over the last couple of posts, so does Android. You say that you are a tech guy, I'm not and I came from an iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 and found it very easy. From what you have typed so far, your new phone is too complicated for you. Stay with your iPhone.

 

[AndyR]

From what you have typed so far, your new phone is too complicated for you. Stay with your iPhone.

LOL, not too complicated at all

Guess I'm just frustrated thats certain things seem to be a lot harder to work than I thought. I will figure them out no worries about that, just surprised how different some of them are. I think my best bet will be to wipe the phone and start from fresh, as the big thing at the minute, the message history is a killer. I just timed it and from when I click on my wife and go to message history it take 51 seconds before it comes up! Oh and the fact the phone has crashed on me twice now and also had several apps crash, weird experience that!

Also a little concerned with the lack of cell signal and also wifi speed on the HTC One compared to my iPhone4. I have lost cell signal a couple of times now while my iPhone is fine. Also I tried to download an Audible book I'm listening too and it reckons 85 minutes on the One?! I deleted it on my iPhone and set it to download its saying 6 minutes, both on the same Wifi network. Hmmmm...

Like I say, maybe I need to do a factory reset and set it up vanilla without the iPhone import from HTC Sync Manager.

Things I do like so far though

• The Screen - Dam it looks good
• Speakers - Too loud at the mo though LOL
• Everything is very snappy and fast (apart from the message history thing)
• Widgets - Very very cool to have these at last
• The free 23gb Dropbox storage
• Hardware in general, probably the best mobile device I've handled.

I'll get used to it. Any recommendations for an Android Newbie then, apart from give it time? I mean like tips for the OS and Apps etc?

 

[TacticalDesire]

Your problems sound really wonky. I would start fresh and try to keep an open mind. Not everything is done the iOS way but I can assure you Android "just works" as well. Been going strong on my Nexus 4 for a couple weeks short of 8 months completely stock.

 

[iPhonemaster5S]

As for tips I suggest that if you don't like the HTC keyboard go and get the app called swipe key, its very intuitive and learns your mistakes and is quite a useful app. Other than that keep an open mind I came from an iPhone 4S and at first it was a little complex but after two weeks with it I am loving it and I can now master both systems with ease. Also I would suggest using chrome over "Internet" it's a better browser fr the phone, it runs smoother for me. Other than that give it time and you will like your new phone.

 

[0dev]

For keyboards I simply recommend using Google Keyboard. It's literally the AOSP keyboard but Google's put it on the Play Store now. It's very good.

Protip: go to Google Keyboard's settings and turn off "block offensive words" and it will actually treat swear words like any other word, including suggesting them when they're obviously what you're trying to type. I find this brilliant after using an iPhone that would refuse to accept the existence of swearing no matter what I did

 

[daveathall]

LOL, not too complicated at all

I have just re read my comment, I never meant it the way it came out. I apologise, sorry about that, Ive sent a PM.

 

[AndyR]

Thanks for the tips all.

Just to update, after playing with the phone for a good 4hrs last night trying to get it working I eventually gave up, put the sim back in my iPhone and went to bed. I couldn't handle the slowness in the messages app or the fact the phone felt sluggish, unlike what I had felt on the store models, and the fact I was getting such slow Wifi speeds and my cell connection kept dropping out.

Anyway, I got up this morning and before going to work I did a factory reset on the phone and set it up from fresh, without using the HTC Sync Manager tool to import my iPhone backup. The difference is night and day! Had the phone setup, syncing mail/contacts from Google, WhatsApp running, Audible downloaded the book I'm on, Evernote and Facebook working all in 20mins! The phone is super fast again and my cell signal / wifi was all fine.

So yeah seems like something was wonky with the build out the box, or the iPhone transfer with HTC Sync Manager totally screwed up the phone, but now it seems fine. Sorry for having a whinge last night now I wonder how many regular users that has happened to and they just gave up as I know I would have it I didn't understand how to reset a phone etc.

So far though I'm liking it. Sure its different, thats what I wanted, but I'm liking it. The size is taking a while to get used to, it feels smaller in the pocket than the IP4, but in the hand it feels great, just have to get used to 2 handing it almost. And I love the customization of Android already, having the options to change jsut notifications within Apps like WhatsApp and having it integrate with the home screen and messages so you get the option of how to message someone is refreshing!

Question though, how do you get the toggles on the notification shade to turn of wifi/3g etc?

 

[Fernandez21]

Thats good to hear. 2 apps i recommend is Control Center by Hi Tools studio and LockerPro Lockscreen by Productigeeky to make the transition easier. Control Center gives you an iOS7 like control center that you get to by swiping up from the HTC logo, and LockerPro will show you your notifications on the lockscreen like in iOS. There are free versions available for both apps to try, and I think each is like $2 for the paid versions.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Thanks for the tips all.

Just to update, after playing with the phone for a good 4hrs last night trying to get it working I eventually gave up, put the sim back in my iPhone and went to bed. I couldn't handle the slowness in the messages app or the fact the phone felt sluggish, unlike what I had felt on the store models, and the fact I was getting such slow Wifi speeds and my cell connection kept dropping out.

Anyway, I got up this morning and before going to work I did a factory reset on the phone and set it up from fresh, without using the HTC Sync Manager tool to import my iPhone backup. The difference is night and day! Had the phone setup, syncing mail/contacts from Google, WhatsApp running, Audible downloaded the book I'm on, Evernote and Facebook working all in 20mins! The phone is super fast again and my cell signal / wifi was all fine.

So yeah seems like something was wonky with the build out the box, or the iPhone transfer with HTC Sync Manager totally screwed up the phone, but now it seems fine. Sorry for having a whinge last night now I wonder how many regular users that has happened to and they just gave up as I know I would have it I didn't understand how to reset a phone etc.

So far though I'm liking it. Sure its different, thats what I wanted, but I'm liking it. The size is taking a while to get used to, it feels smaller in the pocket than the IP4, but in the hand it feels great, just have to get used to 2 handing it almost. And I love the customization of Android already, having the options to change jsut notifications within Apps like WhatsApp and having it integrate with the home screen and messages so you get the option of how to message someone is refreshing!

Question though, how do you get the toggles on the notification shade to turn of wifi/3g etc?

Some OEMs ship their phones with toggles like what you're describing but for the ones that don't I use powertoggles. It's in the play store.

 

[AndyR]

OK, I'm becoming an Android Fan very quickly with this device.

Spent the afternoon getting my iCloud calendar moved to Google, what a pain that was so I put a blog post up about it as it took me a while but its working fine now.

Also for music I did it with Google Play and it imported my iTunes fine and I have to say I really like the abilty to have it all on Google and just tick to keep a playlist on my device. I know you can do this with Match but for free this aint bad and its just working well so far I think.

Pictures, I gave up trying to get it pulling from iTunes and just dragged my Events I want straight to the phone! Happy with that and love the little slideshow it does for the picture folders.

But really its just other things which I could never do, or do easily on iOS that I am really liking! Time will tell but at the minute I'm a happer camper.

Oh and phone is awesome! Not had chance to try out the camera much but everything else is amazing! And battery life is steller, well compared to my old iPhone 4 which was getting long in to the tooth and would need a charge at 7pm after coming off charge at 6am. The HTC One despite being used all day is now at 65% charge

 

[MRU]

OK, I'm becoming an Android Fan very quickly with this device.

Spent the afternoon getting my iCloud calendar moved to Google, what a pain that was so I put a blog post up about it as it took me a while but its working fine now.

Also for music I did it with Google Play and it imported my iTunes fine and I have to say I really like the abilty to have it all on Google and just tick to keep a playlist on my device. I know you can do this with Match but for free this aint bad and its just working well so far I think.

Pictures, I gave up trying to get it pulling from iTunes and just dragged my Events I want straight to the phone! Happy with that and love the little slideshow it does for the picture folders.

But really its just other things which I could never do, or do easily on iOS that I am really liking! Time will tell but at the minute I'm a happer camper.

Oh and phone is awesome! Not had chance to try out the camera much but everything else is amazing! And battery life is steller, well compared to my old iPhone 4 which was getting long in to the tooth and would need a charge at 7pm after coming off charge at 6am. The HTC One despite being used all day is now at 65% charge

good to hear - yep the transition process really takes a week or two - but you soon adjust. Once you get over te 'differences' you will find there is generally an ubderlying similarity in the way all f the smartphone OS's work (i've literally tried them all at this stage... ) oh yep Battery life is stellar indeed, I found similar with my usage.


Question..

How was your google play 'matching' success rate ? Mine hasn't been great with many of my albums not recognised (even though iTunes Match had no trouble) resulting in lengthy uploads (don't exactly have super fast broadband here).

Of my 24,500+ songs I have uploaded via iTunes Match, I have reigned it in to around 3,500 currently with Google Play Music.

 

[AndyR]

How was your google play 'matching' success rate ? Mine hasn't been great with many of my albums not recognised (even though iTunes Match had no trouble) resulting in lengthy uploads (don't exactly have super fast broadband here).

Of my 24,500+ songs I have uploaded via iTunes Match, I have reigned it in to around 3,500 currently with Google Play Music.

Seems to be OK. I don't have many music tracks for some reason, only about 3000 tunes. Its been going most of the day and it reckons it has 2468 as a total upload, but I don't think it has uploaded that much because after the match started, within probably 10-15minutes when I looked on the Play site it had most of music showing already. I think most of the delay in uploading is because its trying to upload some audiobooks I ripped from CD a while back, even though I don't actually need these on Play, it just happened to pick them.

I got told to skip Play completely and go with DoubleTwist, but that won't work with the Mac and HTC One due to the HTC being MST(?) without the pay for AirSync so I gave up and went with Play, and so far I really like it.

 

[MRU]

Seems to be OK. I don't have many music tracks for some reason, only about 3000 tunes. Its been going most of the day and it reckons it has 2468 as a total upload, but I don't think it has uploaded that much because after the match started, within probably 10-15minutes when I looked on the Play site it had most of music showing already. I think most of the delay in uploading is because its trying to upload some audiobooks I ripped from CD a while back, even though I don't actually need these on Play, it just happened to pick them.

I got told to skip Play completely and go with DoubleTwist, but that won't work with the Mac and HTC One due to the HTC being MST(?) without the pay for AirSync so I gave up and went with Play, and so far I really like it.

Yeah personally I bought iSyncr for mac. Works on all android and was relatively inexpensive. I either use that or plain old android file manager.

 

[AndyR]

So I've had the HTC nearly a month now (I think anyway), and its unfortunatly a love hate for me

I'm going to say that I love Android! I really didnt expect to like it as much as I do but its just such a nice refreshing change from iOS. I love the HTC hardware and how everything feels, BUT, and thats the problem, BUT.

The Camera. I read a load of reviews and this was always the BUT point about the HTC One, some said its good, some said its bad, none said its great. Now don't get me wrong, its a step up from my old iPhone 4, but I'm just not that impresed with it. Sometimes it takes great shots, but 90% of the time its not great at all. Shots seem grainly, it has trouble getting the right exposure, it focus hunts a lot and I get a lot of blurry shots. Like this morning example we were at the beach with my little girl, shes just sititng there playing with the sand so I start snapping some shots. I take about 20, I don't move from the spot and they are all coming out blurry or blown out. I try some of the presets (normal, backlight, HDR, Zoe) and try focus locking/AE locking etc and out of about 20 shots, only 2 are decent and these still looks meh. In contrast my wife 2 shots with here iPhone5 are both are brilliant.

Am really gutted by this. I'm now torn what to do. Maybe I really do need to flog it and pick up the S4 instead as although I am loving the HTC, the camera is a bit of a deal breaker for me now. It was never intended to replace my NEX-6R but like the say the best camera is the one you have with you, but as I can't seem to get many decent / none blurry or noisy shots, I'm not sure its the phone for me now.

 

[Savor]

Same here. Went from a iPhone 4 (2010) to HTC One (2013). Last year was a transitional phase for me trying out iOS, Android, and WP all at the same time. Then I decided to stick to Android once I tried out Ice Cream Sandwich and the obvious improvements coming from Gingerbread. I went from liking Android the LEAST during the GB era thinking it lagged more than iOS and WP to making it my primary mobile OS fav after it matured and got polished with ICS and JB. Launchers like Nova and Holo made me speed up the transitional animations even more while locking my desktop and changing icons I dont like.

Very unfortunate the One's cam is a bit subpar. First time I had it, it took nice shots but maybe if the subject is only a few feet away. Close to medium range shots came out good. But from far way, not sharp and noisy. A hit or miss. And macroshots are terrible. Tried taking a shot at my wedding ring and came out blurry. My old Google Nexus One by HTC also took bad macroshots.

But I love the HTC One to overlook the cam's flaws. Android is just more flexible and One is obviously technically better and "arguably" looks better than any of iPhones that ever existed. Only thing I miss from my iPhone 4 was the longer batt for WiFi browsing and standby time. On avg, it is abt the same as HTC One with 4-7 hrs SCREEN ON time depending on what u do with it although to be fair iPhone 4 is 3 yrs old now.

I say S4 is the best alternative if you can overlook the plastic.

 

[AndyR]

Yeah not sure what I'm going to do actually. Everything else on the One I love, think its a brilliant phone and wasn't keen on the S4 due to all the bloatware and plastic back. But yep, the camera on tat does seem to be better so maybe I have to move onto that. I dunno... hmmm

Why on earth did HTC do this with the camera, they could have chucked in a decent camera like the iPhone5 and have hit a home run with the phone!

 

[daveathall]

Yeah not sure what I'm going to do actually. Everything else on the One I love, think its a brilliant phone and wasn't keen on the S4 due to all the bloatware and plastic back.

Andy, how did the bloatware affect your experience with the S4 please? I hear this quite a lot and wonder how it detracts from the phone, if the apps cant be deleted they can be hidden never to be seen again. Just interested and not out to start an argument but what specifically did you find bad about the "bloatware"?

 

[cleanup]

I've just gone from an iPhone 4 to the HTC One. The camera was never a big thing for me as I generally have a P&S with me anyway, but in saying that the camera on the HTC One is better than that on the iPhone 4.

If you are willing to unlock the boot loader then you can have any ROM you want and waiting for a carrier based update is not a requirement. I currently have the Google Play Edition full RUU on there and am thoroughly enjoying it.

The things I miss are:

1. iMessages
2. Unread count on the app icon
3. iCloud integration
4. Familiarity

Of those above item 2 and 3 can be changed with apps fem the Play store. For item 2 I purchased Nova Prime (a different launcher) and just use it very similar to the stock launcher. For item 3 I purchased Smooth Sync which allows me to sync my contacts and calendar with my current iCloud account.

I use my own mail server with push capabilities so that wasn't an issue for me.

Personally I think it is a fun change and recommend it, but then I like learning and playing with new things.

Cheers

Brett

I gotta be honest, I'm not sure why people miss the "unread count" on app icons. It was necessary back when iOS didn't have notifications. And Android handles notifications SO, SO much better than iOS to the point where unread counts are really completely pointless.

If you really, really want unread counts, you can use Nova Launcher and the TeslaUnread plugin. But they really afford almost zero functionality over simply looking at your notifications, which is more useful anyhow.

Yeah not sure what I'm going to do actually. Everything else on the One I love, think its a brilliant phone and wasn't keen on the S4 due to all the bloatware and plastic back. But yep, the camera on tat does seem to be better so maybe I have to move onto that. I dunno... hmmm

Why on earth did HTC do this with the camera, they could have chucked in a decent camera like the iPhone5 and have hit a home run with the phone!

I'm making the same decision at the moment and just have to go with the GS4 for the brilliant camera. The HTC One is a much better built phone but I plan on replacing the back of the GS4 with a metal one, and using a metal case anyways, so it ends up being a bit of a moot point with me. I'm with you on the camera on the HTC One though; if it was anywhere near as good as the Samsung's camera, I would've gone with the HTC for sure.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I went from an iPhone 4S to an HTC One and everything about the phone is fantastic, except for the camera which is just ok.

Agreed. The camera is the just ok. It is the only thing I really miss from my iPhone 4S.

 

[Peterg2]

-snip -

I'm making the same decision at the moment and just have to go with the GS4 for the brilliant camera. The HTC One is a much better built phone but I plan on replacing the back of the GS4 with a metal one, and using a metal case anyways, so it ends up being a bit of a moot point with me. I'm with you on the camera on the HTC One though; if it was anywhere near as good as the Samsung's camera, I would've gone with the HTC for sure.

Be careful what aluminum backplate you use as well as using a metal case. Yes, the HTC one has an aluminum/aluminium back, but as you know it has injected plastic on the back for the antennae. The range with "bars" is way too broad as a comparison. You have to do this comparing dBm.

Any aluminum backplate has to be custom designed for the S4 taking into account the placement of the antennae.

And don't get fooled by some people stating it has no effect as in many instances it does. They are so in love with their metal bumpers/cases that they are willing to ignore RF impairments.

 

[cleanup]

Be careful what aluminum backplate you use as well as using a metal case. Yes, the HTC one has an aluminum/aluminium back, but as you know it has injected plastic on the back for the antennae. The range with "bars" is way too broad as a comparison. You have to do this comparing dBm.

Any aluminum backplate has to be custom designed for the S4 taking into account the placement of the antennae.

And don't get fooled by some people stating it has no effect as in many instances it does. They are so in love with their metal bumpers/cases that they are willing to ignore RF impairments.

I'll keep it in mind! I'll definitely get a regular plastic case at the same time just in case.

 

[AndyR]

Andy, how did the bloatware affect your experience with the S4 please? I hear this quite a lot and wonder how it detracts from the phone, if the apps cant be deleted they can be hidden never to be seen again. Just interested and not out to start an argument but what specifically did you find bad about the "bloatware"?

Nothing major but just trying both the phones out in store I liked how sleek the HTC felt from an os side, but the s4 just seemed to have screens of stuff I would never use and couldn't remove so it put me off.
I can see now after using the one that you can hide apps you don't want which I didn't realize before as coming from ios so yeah its a bit of a moot point to now really.

 

[daveathall]

Nothing major but just trying both the phones out in store I liked how sleek the HTC felt from an os side, but the s4 just seemed to have screens of stuff I would never use and couldn't remove so it put me off.
I can see now after using the one that you can hide apps you don't want which I didn't realize before as coming from ios so yeah its a bit of a moot point to now really.

I must admit that I was between the devil and the deep blue sea when choosing between the HTC One and the S4, I love the look and feel of the One but came down on the S4 mainly because I had previously had an S3 and was used to Samsung. I am of the opinion that we are in a great place when it comes to mobile phones, HTC, Samsung, Apple, LG and Sony all make superb lust worthy phones that would suit any user. (List of makers in random order).

Enjoy your superb new phone.

 

[Dontazemebro]

I must admit that I was between the devil and the deep blue sea when choosing between the HTC One and the S4, I love the look and feel of the One but came down on the S4 mainly because I had previously had an S3 and was used to Samsung. I am of the opinion that we are in a great place when it comes to mobile phones, HTC, Samsung, Apple, LG and Sony all make superb lust worthy phones that would suit any user. (List of makers in random order).

Enjoy your superb new phone.

This is completely off topic but is that a UK saying? Ha ha, I love it and it's much more descriptive than "between a rock & a hard place".

 

[AndyR]

This is completely off topic but is that a UK saying? Ha ha, I love it and it's much more descriptive than "between a rock & a hard place".

I think it is for sure I'm from the UK originally and heard and said it a lot back home, but I've been living in New Zealand for 4yrs now and the first time I said it here, man did I get some strange looks LOL