What are something's you can do with Android that you can't with iOS?

[kevinof]

Nope Ios can't do that. that's why when I travel I take my Android tablet and leave the ipad at home. One of the neat tricks is to plug a usb stick into the tablet and it shows up as a drive and you can copy to/from the stick.

Really handy for travelling.

Any takers on this? Or will I need to carry an Android device just in case, if I do decide to get a 6 Plus?

I'm not asking this to criticise anything BTW, I honestly want to know. Google is giving me tons of conflicting answers so I thought this thread would be a good place to ask.

 

[I7guy]

Nope Ios can't do that. that's why when I travel I take my Android tablet and leave the ipad at home. One of the neat tricks is to plug a usb stick into the tablet and it shows up as a drive and you can copy to/from the stick.

Really handy for travelling.

When I travel I take the laptop for ultimate flexibility. I need the laptop anyway and I also take the iPad.

 

[hollandog]

- drag & drop
- disable passcode when connected to home wifi and car bluetooth
- seamless integration with Google services
- Google Now
- No loading screen with Google apps (gmail, drive, maps, chrome ,etc)
- wireless charging
- on screen widgets
- photo sphere/tiny planet

* wish to have touch ID on my nexus

 

[Oohara]

Nope Ios can't do that. that's why when I travel I take my Android tablet and leave the ipad at home. One of the neat tricks is to plug a usb stick into the tablet and it shows up as a drive and you can copy to/from the stick.

Really handy for travelling.

Yeah this is what I figured I'd do (if I go 6 Plus), I'd just keep my old Note 2 and use it for this purpose. Kind of a bummer though to carry two phones when out on the town without a bag etc.

When I travel I take the laptop for ultimate flexibility. I need the laptop anyway and I also take the iPad.

I also bring my laptop when I travel, but the particular situation I'm on about is when I'm out somewhere at my travel destination and happen to not have the laptop along. I don't want to carry my laptop at all times even when traveling... Hence needing to transfer files from phone to laptop.

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I haven't tried specifically what you're looking to do but off the top of my head, the only solution I could think of would be to use Airdrop between your iPhone and a Mac.

Yeah this is what I figured the solution would be, I can't seem to pinpoint exactly which kinds of files can be transferred though. However, I've just updated my mother's iPad to iOS 8 so the experiments are about to begin

 

[Lloydbm41]

- drag & drop
- disable passcode when connected to home wifi and car bluetooth
- seamless integration with Google services
- Google Now
- No loading screen with Google apps (gmail, drive, maps, chrome ,etc)
- wireless charging
- on screen widgets
- photo sphere/tiny planet

* wish to have touch ID on my nexus

1. Google now is on ios
2. Photo sphere camera is on ios

Loading screens? Seriously?

 

[jrswizzle]

Any takers on this? Or will I need to carry an Android device just in case, if I do decide to get a 6 Plus?

I'm not asking this to criticise anything BTW, I honestly want to know. Google is giving me tons of conflicting answers so I thought this thread would be a good place to ask.

Should be able to be done via AirDrop if you have a Yosemite Mac. AirDrop requires having wifi and bluetooth turned on, but doesn't need a live connection.

I'm pretty sure it would allow for the transfer of pretty much anything though I haven't tested every file type.

 

[Oohara]

Should be able to be done via AirDrop if you have a Yosemite Mac. AirDrop requires having wifi and bluetooth turned on, but doesn't need a live connection.

I'm pretty sure it would allow for the transfer of pretty much anything though I haven't tested every file type.

I've done some thorough testing now for three hours and I can get it to work MBP 2013 > iPad Air, but not the other way around. I've tried every measure suggested on forums, logged out and back in to iCloud, on/off bluetooth and wifi, restarted devices, looked for updates etc, but the iPad just won't find the Mac. There must be some bugs left to iron out.

If anyone else would like to give this a shot iOS device > Mac, I'd be very grateful!!

The good news is that it worked very well from Mac to iPad, and docx, Pages and PDF were all doable, so hopefully it'll work just as well the other way around as soon as the bugs are fixed.

 

[jrswizzle]

I've done some thorough testing now for three hours and I can get it to work MBP 2013 > iPad Air, but not the other way around. I've tried every measure suggested on forums, logged out and back in to iCloud, on/off bluetooth and wifi, restarted devices, looked for updates etc, but the iPad just won't find the Mac. There must be some bugs left to iron out.

If anyone else would like to give this a shot iOS device > Mac, I'd be very grateful!!

The good news is that it worked very well from Mac to iPad, and docx, Pages and PDF were all doable, so hopefully it'll work just as well the other way around as soon as the bugs are fixed.

Ya, my testing was from Mac to iPhone.

I have seen my MBA in the AirDrop section of my iPhone though so it does work. Though I've had issues with it detecting other iPhones sometimes.

I'll check it out when I get home.

Here's something else to try - since the phone can to set to detect all or just contacts, maybe there's something you have to set on the computer.

 

[tbayrgs]

I've done some thorough testing now for three hours and I can get it to work MBP 2013 > iPad Air, but not the other way around. I've tried every measure suggested on forums, logged out and back in to iCloud, on/off bluetooth and wifi, restarted devices, looked for updates etc, but the iPad just won't find the Mac. There must be some bugs left to iron out.

If anyone else would like to give this a shot iOS device > Mac, I'd be very grateful!!

The good news is that it worked very well from Mac to iPad, and docx, Pages and PDF were all doable, so hopefully it'll work just as well the other way around as soon as the bugs are fixed.

Oohara...I just successfully moved a Pages doc and a Word doc from my Mac to my iPhone, both opening in their respective apps. FWIW, I transferred from my 2013 rMBP to my iPhone 6+.

Update: Nevermind, just re-read your post and saw you need to test the other direction. I'll give that a go and report back later.

Update #2: Just successfully Airdropped a Word doc and a PDF (both were email attachments) to my rMBP--deposited the file in my Downloads folder, took about a second to complete.

 

[Oohara]

Ya, my testing was from Mac to iPhone.

I have seen my MBA in the AirDrop section of my iPhone though so it does work. Though I've had issues with it detecting other iPhones sometimes.

I'll check it out when I get home.

Here's something else to try - since the phone can to set to detect all or just contacts, maybe there's something you have to set on the computer.

Hm yeah I fiddled with all the settings I could think of on the Mac including Firewall and the 'Allow me to be discovered by' options, but no dice. The only difference was that the iPad user's profile pic showed up only when I had set the latter to 'contacts only'. But the file tranfer from the Mac worked with both that and 'everyone'.

Awesome if you check it out too, thanks!

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Oohara...I just successfully moved a Pages doc and a Word doc from my Mac to my iPhone, both opening in their respective apps. FWIW, I transferred from my 2013 rMBP to my iPhone 6+.

Update: Nevermind, just re-read your post and saw you need to test the other direction. I'll give that a go and report back later.

Update #2: Just successfully Airdropped a Word doc and a PDF (both were email attachments) to my rMBP--deposited the file in my Downloads folder, took about a second to complete.

Yo thanks! So you got it work from the 6+ to the Mac then? Damn...why not with my iPad Air. Did you have to wait long until the Mac's user symbol appeared in the sharing bubble in the iPhone app?

 

[jrswizzle]

Hm yeah I fiddled with all the settings I could think of on the Mac including Firewall and the 'Allow me to be discovered by' options, but no dice. The only difference was that the iPad user's profile pic showed up only when I had set the latter to 'contacts only'. But the file tranfer from the Mac worked with both that and 'everyone'.

Awesome if you check it out too, thanks!

Just did it and my MBA popped up really quickly. Transferred a pic in 0 seconds flat lol.

What's the profile on your Mac set to? When I checked the AirDrop share spot on my iPhone 6+, my MBA appeared as "James" with my picture.

There's gotta be some profile setting - check iCloud settings maybe? I'd fiddle around but I don't have wifi access on my Mac here at work.

EDIT: Looks like its tied to iCloud. When I have both my 6 and MBA awake, AirDrop shows the same picture with my name and then identifies the device type. The picture is one I use for my iCloud profile.

 

[tbayrgs]

Yo thanks! So you got it work from the 6+ to the Mac then? Damn...why not with my iPad Air. Did you have to wait long until the Mac's user symbol appeared in the sharing bubble in the iPhone app?

No, my share bubble popped up in about 2-3 seconds. I tested it on both Airdrop with everyone and with contacts only with identical results. Not sure if it makes a difference in discovery and speed but both devices are signed into my Apple ID.

To expand the test, I pulled out my wife's iPad Air and had the same results transferring a Word doc from her email to my rMBP. My Airdrop bubble popped up on her iPad almost immediately and the transfer was done in a second.

 

[Oohara]

Just did it and my MBA popped up really quickly. Transferred a pic in 0 seconds flat lol.

What's the profile on your Mac set to? When I checked the AirDrop share spot on my iPhone 6+, my MBA appeared as "James" with my picture.

There's gotta be some profile setting - check iCloud settings maybe? I'd fiddle around but I don't have wifi access on my Mac here at work.

EDIT: Looks like its tied to iCloud. When I have both my 6 and MBA awake, AirDrop shows the same picture with my name and then identifies the device type. The picture is one I use for my iCloud profile.

What do you mean about the profile? The user name is just my name. I see nothing at all in my share spot on the iPad.

I have checked iCloud settings but I just don't know what I could toggle there that would make any difference. The weird thing is that the first time I logged out and back in from iCloud on the Mac, my mother's iPad showed up with her pic that I see in Mail etc. But at some point the pic disappeared (both with the iPad awake and not) and now it's just her initials on a gray background. Weirder still - before that initial log out/in I did on the Mac, her iPad showed up as an iPad silhouette on gray. So, three different avatars...

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No, my share bubble popped up in about 2-3 seconds. I tested it on both Airdrop with everyone and with contacts only with identical results. Not sure if it makes a difference in discovery and speed but both devices are signed into my Apple ID.

To expand the test, I pulled out my wife's iPad Air and had the same results transferring a Word doc from her email to my rMBP. My Airdrop bubble popped up on her iPad almost immediately and the transfer was done in a second.

Ah crap I was just going to suggest that maybe it only works between your own devices atm.

The only logical alternative I can see right now is that it's an issue with Yosemite on the MBP 13" 2013.

Unless your wife's iPad Air is still on iOS 7?

 

[tbayrgs]

Ah crap I was just going to suggest that maybe it only works between your own devices atm.

The only logical alternative I can see right now is that it's an issue with Yosemite on the MBP 13" 2013.

Unless your wife's iPad Air is still on iOS 7?

Nope, her iPad is on 8.1--wouldn't work on iOS 7 as Airdrop between Mac and iOS devices was added with iOS 8, I believe.

Update: Airdrop on the Mac does seem to be a little flakey. While testing both my wife's and now my daughter's iPad Mini (1st gen), the Mac disappeared from everyone's Airdrop. Simultaneously, all of the iDevices no longer appears on the Mac Airdrop Finder window. Turning on/off wifi and bluetooth on the devices/Mac had no effect. I restarted the Mac and voila, everyone was back connected.

I generally find Airdrop pretty reliable but as this scenario indicates, it's far from perfect. However, the vast majority of the time where it does work, it works remarkably well and is super quick.

 

[jrswizzle]

What do you mean about the profile? The user name is just my name. I see nothing at all in my share spot on the iPad.

I have checked iCloud settings but I just don't know what I could toggle there that would make any difference. The weird thing is that the first time I logged out and back in from iCloud on the Mac, my mother's iPad showed up with her pic that I see in Mail etc. But at some point the pic disappeared (both with the iPad awake and not) and now it's just her initials on a gray background. Weirder still - before that initial log out/in I did on the Mac, her iPad showed up as an iPad silhouette on gray. So, three different avatars...

That's odd. So when you open iCloud on your Mac, does it show your picture and login address? The picture seen there is what shows up in the share sheet on the device from which I'm sharing.

This is different for me recently. Before Yosemite and 8.1 officially released I would see different pictures for each of my devices. I wonder if they did something behind the scenes to streamline the process.

I also have all my devices listed as trusted devices on my AppleID profile at appleid.apple.com. I don't know if that has anything to do with it?

 

[Oohara]

Nope, her iPad is on 8.1--wouldn't work on iOS 7 as Airdrop between Mac and iOS devices was added with iOS 8, I believe.

Update: Airdrop on the Mac does seem to be a little flakey. While testing both my wife's and now my daughter's iPad Mini (1st gen), the Mac disappeared from everyone's Airdrop. Simultaneously, all of the iDevices no longer appears on the Mac Airdrop Finder window. Turning on/off wifi and bluetooth on the devices/Mac had no effect. I restarted the Mac and voila, everyone was back connected.

I generally find Airdrop pretty reliable but as this scenario indicates, it's far from perfect. However, the vast majority of the time where it does work, it works remarkably well and is super quick.

Doh sorry it doesn't work on iOS 7 of

Ok sounds like we're on to something with the flakey behaviour there. The weird thing is that the iPad is showing up very reliably on the Mac - the icon even disappears/appears within a second of me closing/opening the cover on the iPad - but the Mac never shows up at all on the iPad. Anyway BRB going to try restarting a few times.

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That's odd. So when you open iCloud on your Mac, does it show your picture and login address? The picture seen there is what shows up in the share sheet on the device from which I'm sharing.

This is different for me recently. Before Yosemite and 8.1 officially released I would see different pictures for each of my devices. I wonder if they did something behind the scenes to streamline the process.

I also have all my devices listed as trusted devices on my AppleID profile at appleid.apple.com. I don't know if that has anything to do with it?

Bolded: yep.

I don't have any trusted devices listed, hopefully the error doesn't like there because it feels like a chore to get into that at the moment especially with my mom's iPad. And ultimately one shouldn't have to get into that level of finagling with AirDrop anyway tbh. I'll test that as last measure if nothing else really works.

Anyway off to restart a few times and seeing if something happens o/

UPDATE: I tried restarting both devices several times, also logging as my mother on the Mac and logging into iCloud but it wouldn't find the Mac even when they were logged in as the same Apple ID. Bah, I'm at wits end now Must be an issue with Yosemite on the MBP, or with the laptop itself.

 

[tbayrgs]

Doh sorry it doesn't work on iOS 7 of

Ok sounds like we're on to something with the flakey behaviour there. The weird thing is that the iPad is showing up very reliably on the Mac - the icon even disappears/appears within a second of me closing/opening the cover on the iPad - but the Mac never shows up at all on the iPad. Anyway BRB going to try restarting a few times.

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Bolded: yep.

I don't have any trusted devices listed, hopefully the error doesn't like there because it feels like a chore to get into that at the moment especially with my mom's iPad. And ultimately one shouldn't have to get into that level of finagling with AirDrop anyway tbh. I'll test that as last measure if nothing else really works.

Anyway off to restart a few times and seeing if something happens o/

UPDATE: I tried restarting both devices several times, also logging as my mother on the Mac and logging into iCloud but it wouldn't find the Mac even when they were logged in as the same Apple ID. Bah, I'm at wits end now Must be an issue with Yosemite on the MBP, or with the laptop itself.

Oohara, FWIW, all of the iOS devices I tested were on some version of iOS 8 and my rMBP is running Yosemite--has been since the first beta.

 

[Oohara]

Oohara, FWIW, all of the iOS devices I tested were on some version of iOS 8 and my rMBP is running Yosemite--has been since the first beta.

Yep thanks, and sorry I accidentally left out the 'course' after 'of' - only meant to say that I was a dope for forgetting that AirDrop between OS X and iOS was introduced with 8.0.

Anyway I've posted all over about this incl. Apple's support forums so let's see what comes of it. Apparently at lot of people are having similar issues.

 

[tbayrgs]

Yep thanks, and sorry I accidentally left out the 'course' after 'of' - only meant to say that I was a dope for forgetting that AirDrop between OS X and iOS was introduced with 8.0.

Anyway I've posted all over about this incl. Apple's support forums so let's see what comes of it. Apparently at lot of people are having similar issues.

That's bummer. For the most part, it's really worked well for me though admittedly best between iOS devices. As mentioned, I have had hiccups on occasion but nothing that I haven't been able to resolve relatively quickly.

Hope it works itself out for you as well. I have to admit considering most of your posts recently that I figured you were likely all in on either the Note 4 or possibly the Nexus 6. You would admittedly have fewer issues going that route considering the extra flexibility offered by Android.

 

[Oohara]

That's bummer. For the most part, it's really worked well for me though admittedly best between iOS devices. As mentioned, I have had hiccups on occasion but nothing that I haven't been able to resolve relatively quickly.

Hope it works itself out for you as well. I have to admit considering most of your posts recently that I figured you were likely all in on either the Note 4 or possibly the Nexus 6. You would admittedly have fewer issues going that route considering the extra flexibility offered by Android.

Aye, I have been pretty all in on the new Android beasts since I tested the 6 Plus the first time and being a little disappointed by it. And I love the Note series. But my passion swings back and forth lol... I recently had a go at the 6 Plus and 6 again and no matter how much I love the raw power of Android, there's always a part of me that pines for the cleanness and uniformity of iOS.

Also I am new on the MBP and gradually discovering just how awesome it is, after years of being forced to use Windows for work, and then Yosemite came and I kind of fell in love (It also prompted me to go on an Apple trip, actually re-reading parts of the Jobs bio and getting nostalgic over my Apple II/Classic/LC 475/Quadra days lol don't tell anyone....).

So I'm really, really on the fence now. I do want a 6 Plus at this point. I might even be able to put up with the odd grievance that Android wouldn't have given me, by having my old Note 2 or some tablet as backup... And I'm sure this AirDrop business will be sorted and running smooth with an update or two. I mean, it works beautifully from the Mac to the iPad.

Then of course I have not actually handled the Note 4 yet, and of course not the N6........ LOL. To have the cake and eat it.....

Um, I also feel a bit guilty for hijacking this whole thread lol.

 

[hollandog]

1. Google now is on ios
2. Photo sphere camera is on ios

Loading screens? Seriously?

Google Now on iOS is not as integrated as Android.
Photo Sphere is not on stock iOS

Loading screen, yes. They are on my iPad and 5S. On my iPad it takes ~2secs to load Gmail app and ~1 to load Maps.

 

[TechGod]

Google Now on iOS is not as integrated as Android.
Photo Sphere is not on stock iOS

Loading screen, yes. They are on my iPad and 5S. On my iPad it takes ~2secs to load Gmail app and ~1 to load Maps.

Guess what? I also have loading screens on my Nexus!

Swiftkey isn't native to Android yet Android fans touted it as a feature for years!

Also using Gnow in conjunction with Siri is amazing..

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Aye, I have been pretty all in on the new Android beasts since I tested the 6 Plus the first time and being a little disappointed by it. And I love the Note series. But my passion swings back and forth lol... I recently had a go at the 6 Plus and 6 again and no matter how much I love the raw power of Android, there's always a part of me that pines for the cleanness and uniformity of iOS.

Also I am new on the MBP and gradually discovering just how awesome it is, after years of being forced to use Windows for work, and then Yosemite came and I kind of fell in love (It also prompted me to go on an Apple trip, actually re-reading parts of the Jobs bio and getting nostalgic over my Apple II/Classic/LC 475/Quadra days lol don't tell anyone....).

So I'm really, really on the fence now. I do want a 6 Plus at this point. I might even be able to put up with the odd grievance that Android wouldn't have given me, by having my old Note 2 or some tablet as backup... And I'm sure this AirDrop business will be sorted and running smooth with an update or two. I mean, it works beautifully from the Mac to the iPad.

Then of course I have not actually handled the Note 4 yet, and of course not the N6........ LOL. To have the cake and eat it.....

Um, I also feel a bit guilty for hijacking this whole thread lol.

Oh wow first Mac? especially the rMBP? Yeah those beasts are amazing.

I myself am considering the 6+ although I will miss the sharing menu and the custom ROM's which allow amazing functionality, not to mention better third party keyboard support but as I have mentioned, the continuity and the iCloud syncing plus iMessages is just too good to pass up. The we have the over 400 I've spent in the App Store:O

 

[kepler20b]

2 huge things for me


1) drag and drop over wifi with PC/Mac
2) torrents

 

[Lloydbm41]

Google Now on iOS is not as integrated as Android.
Photo Sphere is not on stock iOS

Loading screen, yes. They are on my iPad and 5S. On my iPad it takes ~2secs to load Gmail app and ~1 to load Maps.

Google Now on iOS is identical to Google Now on Android. Both are downloadable apps and show the same info. Google Launcher adds Google Now/Search into the launcher, but even then you still have to download both apps to get the functionality.

Google Camera is also a downloadable app and incorporates PhotoSphere within the app. Google provides the same PhotoSphere camera as an app on iOS. Google Camera is not part of stock Android

You do realize that Google has essentially stripped every core app from within Android and made them individual apps, right? These same core apps are available on iOS. There is no advantage for Android here.

 

[TechGod]

Google Now on iOS is identical to Google Now on Android. Both are downloadable apps and show the same info. Google Launcher adds Google Now/Search into the launcher, but even then you still have to download both apps to get the functionality.

Google Camera is also a downloadable app and incorporates PhotoSphere within the app. Google provides the same PhotoSphere camera as an app on iOS. Google Camera is not part of stock Android

You do realize that Google has essentially stripped every core app from within Android and made them individual apps, right? These same core apps are available on iOS. There is no advantage for Android here.

Everything on point. Plus using Siri in conjunction with Gnow is great.