Is it hard switching from iOS to Android?

[Terror-Inferno]

I currently have an iPhone 4 on the network Three in the UK and due an upgrade on my contract.

Since the iPhone 5 came out a few months ago I have been waiting for my contract to finish and hopefully get one. However looking at other phones available, such as the Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Nexus 4 for much cheaper, I was tempted to make the switch.

My main problem is I love how easy it is to sync my iPhone with iTunes, knowing I have all my music, videos, apps, etc all in one place on my PC. Are android phones setup in the same way with googles own software or is it just drag files and drop onto the phone?

Also since Three comes with unlimited data, does the SIII and nexus 4 have the option to make a personal hotspot over wifi like my iphone 4?

Thanks,

 

[Gatecrasher1875]

I currently have an iPhone 4 on the network Three in the UK and due an upgrade on my contract.

Since the iPhone 5 came out a few months ago I have been waiting for my contract to finish and hopefully get one. However looking at other phones available, such as the Samsung Galaxy SIII and the Nexus 4 for much cheaper, I was tempted to make the switch.

My main problem is I love how easy it is to sync my iPhone with iTunes, knowing I have all my music, videos, apps, etc all in one place on my PC. Are android phones setup in the same way with googles own software or is it just drag files and drop onto the phone?

Also since Three comes with unlimited data, does the SIII and nexus 4 have the option to make a personal hotspot over wifi like my iphone 4?

Thanks,

you just drag and drop files, I dont know about the Nexus but you can back up your Samsung with Kies which is a poor mans itunes. I went from iOS to Android a couple of months ago and I think its every bit as good

 

[theluggage]

My main problem is I love how easy it is to sync my iPhone with iTunes, knowing I have all my music, videos, apps, etc all in one place on my PC.

In that case, you might consider sticking with iOS unless you find an Android phone with enough other appealing features to trump this.

People who don't like the monolithic, closed iTunes approach and like managing their own files will prefer the flexibility of Android - you can do 'drag and drop' and there are lots of 3rd-party syncing/file transfer solutions to experiment with (AirDroid, iSyncr, SFTP servers... WinAmp has its own syncing system).

Or, you may be thinking of moving to the cloud, and using a service like Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player or Spotify - in which case iTunes becomes irrelevant (and I really don't like Apple's style in the cloud).

However if you like the way iTunes works I have yet to find anything that offers a comparable 'experience'.

Also, if you have a Mac, there are some annoyances with connectivity to work around, particularly with Samsung phones.

Don't get me wrong - unless you have a lot of iTunes-DRM'd movies/TV shows you can transfer your media files to Android and play them (possibly with the advantage of larger screens and more codec choices).

 

[ChazUK]

As you're on The One Plan with unlimited data, just set up Google Music and never think about syncing music again.

Pictures you take can be auto uploaded to DropBox in the background or Google+ will auto upload pictures to a private album which syncs with the gallery on an Android phone and tablet.

Video can be dragged and dropped on to the phone as normal.

The biggie for me on Three is the personal hotspot which works fine with Three and their unlimited data, as does USB tethering. I use mine all the time and have done over 300gb in some months tethering to my Android phones.

The Galaxy S III will max out at around 10 meg but the Nexus 4 (and iPhone 5) support DC-HSPA+ which means 20 meg+ is doable.

Most I've hit is 24 meg in my house.

I will reiterate that the iPhone5 is just as capable when it comes to tethering.

 

[Terror-Inferno]

As you're on The One Plan with unlimited data, just set up Google Music and never think about syncing music again.

Pictures you take can be auto uploaded to DropBox in the background or Google+ will auto upload pictures to a private album which syncs with the gallery on an Android phone and tablet.

Video can be dragged and dropped on to the phone as normal.

The biggie for me on Three is the personal hotspot which works fine with Three and their unlimited data, as does USB tethering. I use mine all the time and have done over 300gb in some months tethering to my Android phones.

The Galaxy S III will max out at around 10 meg but the Nexus 4 (and iPhone 5) support DC-HSPA+ which means 20 meg+ is doable.
Image

Most I've hit is 24 meg in my house.

I will reiterate that the iPhone5 is just as capable when it comes to tethering.

The One Plan and the personal hotspot is the main reason I'm with Three myself, in the last few months I've used about 100GB, however the connection on my iphone 4 can be slow at times so whatever phone I get out of the nexus 4 and iPhone 5 the extra speed on dc-hspa+ will be useful.

I didn't know about Google's Music service, but from the sounds of it, that would be perfect and I wouldn't need to bother with iTunes if I have all my music online. So this and the cheaper price per month is really tempting now.

 

[Dr McKay]

If you're that reliant on syncing iTunes etc it'll be more challenging, I just used spotify for my music so switching was pretty easy for me. Obviously there are alternatives.

When using Android its important to approach it with a fresh mindset, when I first got it I was trying to find things or do things like I was on an iPhone and it confused me. This is a common hurdle to fall at. People are so familiar with iOS they can't find things and declare that Android is "hard to use" or "not user friendly"

 

[ChazUK]

Well in that case, as you're a big tetherer, the iPhone 5 or Nexus 4 is a must if DC-HSPA+ is available in your area.

Our landline broadband normally maxes out at just over a meg so you can see why I tether so much.

Their coverage map does need updating as it says for me:

Ultrafast Internet
At the moment Ultrafast Internet is unavailable in your area. We're continuing to upgrade our network, so please check back soon to see if your signal and speed has improved.

When my Nexus is using DC-HSPA+.

 

[Tinmania]

I didn't know about Google's Music service, but from the sounds of it, that would be perfect and I wouldn't need to bother with iTunes if I have all my music online. So this and the cheaper price per month is really tempting now.

Google Music works very well. I didn't even do anything with it when it first came out--installed it on my main mac and forgot about. But minutes after turning on my Nexus 4 for the first time all my iTunes music was available to play--including playlists. It did this just by me setting up the Nexus with my google account. It's how iTunes Match should have been. And it is free to boot. Just let my iTunes Match subscription lapse.

Music was about the only thing in iTunes I was still using with my iPhone and iPad. I long stopped going through the effort of converting and importing video into iTunes. That was OK in 2007 but no much today. Now I mainly use Netflix et al. Or stream from a local hard-drive. Still deciding what will be best for me for local video or ripped DVDs.




Michael

 

[irDigital0l]

If your invested into iTunes...

If you only spend a couple bucks then sure. But if its in the hundreds or thousands (music, movies, apps, books, etc) I prefer content.

 

[Terror-Inferno]

Google Music works very well. I didn't even do anything with it when it first came out--installed it on my main mac and forgot about. But minutes after turning on my Nexus 4 for the first time all my iTunes music was available to play--including playlists. It did this just by me setting up the Nexus with my google account. It's how iTunes Match should have been. And it is free to boot. Just let my iTunes Match subscription lapse.

Music was about the only thing in iTunes I was still using with my iPhone and iPad. I long stopped going through the effort of converting and importing video into iTunes. That was OK in 2007 but no much today. Now I mainly use Netflix et al. Or stream from a local hard-drive. Still deciding what will be best for me for local video or ripped DVDs.

Michael

I've just installed Google's Music Manager on my computer and uploaded all my music to it, really easy to setup. Also installed an app on my iphone 4 to access my google music account, so going to spend the next week listening to just my online music to see if I can live with it.

If your invested into iTunes...

If you only spend a couple bucks then sure. But if its in the hundreds or thousands (music, movies, apps, books, etc) I prefer content.

Most of the apps on my iphone are free apps except for a few games, so I'm not that invested in iTunes content wise, I just like having all my content in one place.

 

[tbayrgs]

Most of the apps on my iphone are free apps except for a few games, so I'm not that invested in iTunes content wise, I just like having all my content in one place.

Exactly what you'll have with an Android device--in fact, any android device. As soon as you log into your Google account, any app you've previously purchased will be available for use on your phone--no need to physically connect it to a computer. A cool feature of Google Play is that you can actually log into it from any web browser to purchase an app and it will automatically be downloaded to your phone/tablet.

There is a downside though in that backing up your phone using your Google account saves no app data so it'll be a fresh install of the app whenever you get a new device or reset your existing phone, unless you root and use a third party backup solution like Titanium.

The only limitation you'll have getting your iTunes content to your Android device is if you have iTunes purchased video as the DRM limits its playback to Apple devices.

 

[Eddie Bombay]

Kies with Samsung has an "I have all my **** on iTunes" option and moves it all for you and keeps it sync. Take a few minutes to set up though.