Wow...Android has improved!

[T-Mac]

Just got a Nexus 7 for Christmas. Here are my early impressions.

My device background...I've been a Mac user at home for several years. First smartphone was the original HTC Droid Incredible on Verizon (they didn't have the iPhone at the time). It was OK, but I really wanted an iPhone. I waited the 20 months for my upgrade then switched to the iPhone 4s. I've really enjoyed it for the last two years. It's been a much more refined experience on a device that screams high-quality.

With my two-year upgrade due in early January, I've been researching phones like a mad man. I've been very impressed with the Moto X and the Note 3. Thought it would be good to get a Nexus 7 to play with before committing to a phone for 2 years.

After a day and a half with the Nexus 7, I am thoroughly impressed. Android has come a long way in the last few years. Everything from the interface, to the Google Play store, to the hardware feels so much better than my previous experience. I think that Android has improved much more than iOS has and I'll likely purchase the Moto X in the coming weeks.

Sorry to be so long.

 

[pdqgp]

Congrats! As a long time several generation iphone user I can relate. It wasn't until just recently that I felt android was up to the task of replacing my 4s. However the operating system has finally come to the standards I'm looking to have.

 

[Chevelle]

I went from an IPhone 4 to a Note 2, and now to a motox. I also have a nexus 7. You'll love the motox. The note 3 is too big if you have a nexus 7. No point in having both IMO. I think 4.5-5" is the perfect screen size.

 

[T-Mac]

Good advice and exactly what I was thinking! Thanks.

The note 3 is too big if you have a nexus 7. No point in having both IMO. I think 4.5-5" is the perfect screen size.

 

[2298754]

Welcome to 2011 OP

 

[Jschultz]

Welcome to 2011 OP

To be fair, the Droid Incredible was released with Eclair, and only ever made it to Gingerbread. I had always thought Android 2.X to be weak compared to iOS; I don't think Android became truly awesome until at least Ice Cream Sandwich.

 

[iMacFarlane]

I'm interested in switching, I think.

I've been with iOS since the Gen 1 iPod Touch. Don't even know what the version was, 2.1? Bought iPhone 3GS, 4S, 5. Loved every one of them.

And then iOS 7 happened.

My son has an LG Thrill. I always thought the Android OS was ugly, hard to use, difficult to interact with.

But that was over a year ago. I'll take the OP's word for it, and try an Android based phone next time I'm due for an upgrade, I think.

The only major thing holding me back now is the loss of the ecosystem. I've switched to buying content from iTunes to Amazon, as they typically have better deals and give me DRM-free files. But what to do with all those AAC files? Crap . . .

 

[mclld]

I know google play music will play the aac files
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1100462

You can have google play music scan any music on your hard drive and it will add them to your collection on their servers and you can stream/download the songs from any device(web browser, ios android etc)

Im sure there are other music players that will play those files as well

 

[Lloydbm41]

To be fair, the Droid Incredible was released with Eclair, and only ever made it to Gingerbread. I had always thought Android 2.X to be weak compared to iOS; I don't think Android became truly awesome until at least Ice Cream Sandwich.

Perfect summation of my thoughts. Google got the ball rolling with ICS, and then kicked into overdrive with JB.

 

[Shanghaichica]

It has come a long way especially in the past year. I went from a iPhone 4 to a galaxy note. I felt that the note and android had a lot of potential but was still lacking in comparison to the iPhone. I decided to give android one last try this year when I upgraded to the galaxy S4 and wow what a difference. All the rough edges had been taken off, the play store has improved massively. When I first started using android last year in my country we only had apps. Over the past year books, movies and TV shows, music and magazines have now become available. Whilst there are still some apps that are exclusive to ios, the gap is shrinking all the time.

 

[2298754]

To be fair, the Droid Incredible was released with Eclair, and only ever made it to Gingerbread. I had always thought Android 2.X to be weak compared to iOS; I don't think Android became truly awesome until at least Ice Cream Sandwich.

IMO, the first truly awesome Android device was the Galaxy S2. No lag or shuttering. Buttery smooth, even on GB.

 

[b166er]

I think Google, as well as the hardware makers, **** a collective brick back when the iPhone 4 was introduced. That was a game changing design, and at the time iOS was insanely more stable than Android. Android has come a long way since then.

I think from now on, when using Android, I'm going to stick to Nexus/Google Play editions. I really don't care for the modifications that are being done to Android.

 

[Dontazemebro]

I went from an IPhone 4 to a Note 2, and now to a motox. I also have a nexus 7. You'll love the motox. The note 3 is too big if you have a nexus 7. No point in having both IMO. I think 4.5-5" is the perfect screen size.

Speak for yourself, I have a Note 3 and Nexus 7 and think it's the perfect combo. I honestly couldn't go any smaller on an android device after owning the Note 3.

 

[pdqgp]

I've switched to buying content from iTunes to Amazon, as they typically have better deals and give me DRM-free files. But what to do with all those AAC files? Crap . . .

You can easily strip out the DRM from iTunes files. I download all my music through other sites but my wife tends to use iTunes and the first thing I do is run them through Sound Taxi strip off all the BS and create regular MP3's.

----------

Perfect summation of my thoughts. Google got the ball rolling with ICS, and then kicked into overdrive with JB.

x100.

 

[Fanaticalism]

Speak for yourself, I have a Note 3 and Nexus 7 and think it's the perfect combo. I honestly couldn't go any smaller on an android device after owning the Note 3.

I struggle with any phone after using the N3. Typing on my wifes phone gives me finger cramps (doesn't help that I don't have small hands). I will certainly be getting my wife the N4 for her next upgrade as I am tired of her hogging my phone when we are together.

 

[rhinosrcool]

Speak for yourself, I have a Note 3 and Nexus 7 and think it's the perfect combo. I honestly couldn't go any smaller on an android device after owning the Note 3.

Yeah, my Note 3 is simply the best there is. Recently, I got to use a nexus 7 2013 and found it to be a great small tablet. It would complement my iPad 3 and Note 3 very we'll.

 

[WhackyNinja]

I do agree Android has improved a great deal from when I first had my brief experience with it in 2011. I am going Android from iPhone because I think Android is a really great OS and I am not too happy with iOS 7. Both great OS but Android finally won me over and especially with stock Android 4.4 <3

 

[Stuntman06]

I think Android 4.1 Jellybean was a huge improvement over previous versions in making the UI so much smoother. I just got 4.3 on my SGS3 and it was an even bigger improvement.

 

[gkarris]

I didn't start liking Android 4.x better than iOS until iOS7 came out...

 

[janitor1999]

I think android is nearly there, maybe kitkat will do it, unfortunately I have galaxy s4, which is full of Samsung bloat ware, and samsung haven't seen fit to allow me to try kitkat yet, also I'm tied to apple maps, as it seems better than google maps. So not quite there yet.

 

[ceva321]

You can always convert them to mp3s

 

[jk111]

Just got a Nexus 7 for Christmas. Here are my early impressions.

My device background...I've been a Mac user at home for several years. First smartphone was the original HTC Droid Incredible on Verizon (they didn't have the iPhone at the time). It was OK, but I really wanted an iPhone. I waited the 20 months for my upgrade then switched to the iPhone 4s. I've really enjoyed it for the last two years. It's been a much more refined experience on a device that screams high-quality.

With my two-year upgrade due in early January, I've been researching phones like a mad man. I've been very impressed with the Moto X and the Note 3. Thought it would be good to get a Nexus 7 to play with before committing to a phone for 2 years.

After a day and a half with the Nexus 7, I am thoroughly impressed. Android has come a long way in the last few years. Everything from the interface, to the Google Play store, to the hardware feels so much better than my previous experience. I think that Android has improved much more than iOS has and I'll likely purchase the Moto X in the coming weeks.

Sorry to be so long.

If you like the Nexus 7, definitely check out the Nexus 5, unless it's not available for your carrier. The Android experience on the Nexus devices is so much different than on devices where the carriers and manufacturers load their crap onto the devices.

 

[mrjohny]

Android always is improving I like more than iOS
For me is very easy to use and very friendly

 

[mac00l]

I must agree with pretty much everyone in here.

My last experience with Android was around 2 years ago, and it was kind of horrible. Now going from an iPhone 5 with iOS 7 to a Moto X (still running Jelly Bean) doesn't feel like a huge difference in the interface as it used to. Quite the opposite, Android feels really smooth.

TBH iOS still has the upper hand in native games, but if you ignore that, Android is a much more appealing ecosystem thanks to the openness.

The only app that I miss from iOS is Tweetbot, it really grew into me. Specially because my twitter remained sync between my ipad, iphone and mac. The only app that comes really close in Android is carbon.

Besides that, right now I don't feel like going back to iOS. At least not for my phone.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

also I'm tied to apple maps, as it seems better than google maps. So not quite there yet.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone on the internet write this before.