The thing that bugs me the most in switching from iPhone to Android....

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204 posts

Master Geek

#688445 19-Sep-2012 21:04

I'm about to make the leap to the S3 after having an iPhone 4 for 2 years. I dont have an iEcosystem, so hopefully the switchover will be painless.

I agree with the poor gmail app, but no revamp to iOS in and lack of widgets is swaying me to android jelly bean.
Im holding off for the titanium grey colour to be released in the next few weeks and will try to have a play wiht the iPhone one last time.

I know that the build quality on the iPhone will be phenomenal, but I dont plan on having a phone for more than 2 years before upgrading.

Dratsab

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#688459 19-Sep-2012 21:51

Agree - the gmail app is fairly pants...I use K9 mail instead. It has pinch and zoom.

lchiu7

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#688480 19-Sep-2012 22:12

Dratsab: Agree - the gmail app is fairly pants...I use K9 mail instead. It has pinch and zoom.

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the stock email client on Android have pinch and zoom? It does for me. I don't use the Gmail app much - see my Gmail in the stock email app.

And I am finding NFC tags quite useful on my GN. I have a few tags around the house in the car that I can tag my phone to and initiate specific services and apps.

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numfarr

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Ultimate Geek

#688516 20-Sep-2012 01:22

Try some alt lockscreens like GOTO Lockscreen or WidgetLocker.

Malingo

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Master Geek

#688686 20-Sep-2012 11:18

lchiu7:
Dratsab: Agree - the gmail app is fairly pants...I use K9 mail instead. It has pinch and zoom.

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the stock email client on Android have pinch and zoom? It does for me. I don't use the Gmail app much - see my Gmail in the stock email app.

And I am finding NFC tags quite useful on my GN. I have a few tags around the house in the car that I can tag my phone to and initiate specific services and apps.

Where did you source yours from? Keen to know some of the practical applications you are using it for already (over and above quickly changing profiles e.g ringtone louder, bluetooth on when in car.

DoggNZ

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#688727 20-Sep-2012 12:01

lchiu7:
Dratsab: Agree - the gmail app is fairly pants...I use K9 mail instead. It has pinch and zoom.

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the stock email client on Android have pinch and zoom?

Yep, works fine on my S3

lchiu7

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#689222 21-Sep-2012 08:52

Malingo:
lchiu7:
Dratsab: Agree - the gmail app is fairly pants...I use K9 mail instead. It has pinch and zoom.

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the stock email client on Android have pinch and zoom? It does for me. I don't use the Gmail app much - see my Gmail in the stock email app.

And I am finding NFC tags quite useful on my GN. I have a few tags around the house in the car that I can tag my phone to and initiate specific services and apps.

Where did you source yours from? Keen to know some of the practical applications you are using it for already (over and above quickly changing profiles e.g ringtone louder, bluetooth on when in car.

There is a good discussion here on the use of NFC tags

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=97&topicid=108769

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dclegg

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#689242 21-Sep-2012 09:21

scuwp: The handset if only part of the story. It's letting go of all the other tentacles that Apple has created that makes the divorce very messy. iTunes (yes I do like it), and all the hundred of $$$ spent on apps that I would need to start buying again. The integration across other "i" devices in the household also makes it extremely difficult to leave the iflock.

It is possible though. I was able to migrate from an iPhone 4 to a HTC One X, in an ecosystem largely dominated by Apple tech. There are some pain points, but most of the important stuff is working OK. The one thing that I've not got working seamlessly yet is AirPlay to my Apple TV. I do have an app that is supposed to give me that (DoubleTwist), but its not very reliable.

Thats probably the one thing I miss from iOS. When things work, they generally work well. Whilst Android usually wins in the feature matrix stakes, often some of these features can be quite cumbersome to use. I also miss the uniformity that the iOS experience brings. And the autocompletion for entered text seems to work better. I've just switched to using Swype on my Android, and thats improved things a bit from the stock HTC keyboard, so hopefully I'll be able to eat my words on that last point.

Thats also probably the number one feature I'd like to see Apple bring to the table. The ability to either customize my input method (best case scenario), or failing that, an implementation of the Swipe to type style of input. I find it quite a bit quicker than using a standard keyboard. Widgets would also be nice, but aren't a must have for me.

Linuxluver

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#689249 21-Sep-2012 09:32

BuffyNZ: I am mostly happy with my switch, but there is one thing my iPhone did that I cant get my roid to do.

On my iPhone, when a text or email came in the screen would turn on and a preview of the email or Txt would show.

That means I could sit my phone on my desk, on silent, and the screen changing would be enough to catch my eye for a quick glance to see if it was something I needed to deal with.

I can not for the life of my find out how to get this functionality into my Galaxy S III.

Any suggestions?

Handcent SMS has a "popup" window that appears on the lock screen. It should light up.

I don't like it as it means anyone standing nearby can read your incoming texts.....whatever they may be, including wrong numbers from people who found 'your' number on a dating site.... A couple of years ago some guy named "Nick" used my cell number as his contact on a gay dating site. I got dozens of texts from interested persons....many of an explicit nature about activities Nick and the person concerned had engaged in. I had to contact the site and ask them to remove my number from Nick's profile.

While it was kind of funny and we had a good laugh in the office as the texts rolled it......popup is not enabled on my phone.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

TheUngeek

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Ultimate Geek
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#693399 29-Sep-2012 15:41

kiwigeek1:
but theres also another app that can notify and turn on the phone and play different sounds
for any notifications for emails sms other apps
missed message flasher

I use it to repeat every 10 min a reminder you missed a call or sms

Mostly a good app, but I'm finding it very very frustrating to set up as it is not at all clear how you do it.
I want it every now and then to flash for say 5 seconds. So far it flashes non stop :/

Batman

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#693405 29-Sep-2012 16:06

so... how's the s3 compared to apple?

DrStrangelove

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#693832 1-Oct-2012 00:05

TheUngeek:
kiwigeek1:
but theres also another app that can notify and turn on the phone and play different sounds
for any notifications for emails sms other apps
missed message flasher

I use it to repeat every 10 min a reminder you missed a call or sms

Mostly a good app, but I'm finding it very very frustrating to set up as it is not at all clear how you do it.
I want it every now and then to flash for say 5 seconds. So far it flashes non stop :/

On my XPERIA X10i I have Kaiten Mail which is the next step up from K9.
It allows you to set colours for the LED to flash... problem is I have so many email accounts I forget which colour is for which email, at least I know the red one is important email or the phone battery is about to die.

There is an app called blinker that flashes the LED or illuminated button for SMS, missed calls and etc, but it's not compatible with my phone even thought it does work it displays system error messages too.

The knobs! the knobs. the flashing knobs!!!

I read on the iPhone their is native structures to allow configurable 'quiet time' where mail and SMS notifications are suppressed. You can even set exceptions to the rule.

You can do the same on Android, but it's via a per application basis. Kaiten Mail has it, MailDroid has it and you can get an app to schedule airplane mode each night with a restart in the morning.

So all these Android apps are very disjointed. See, I didn't even say fragmented... Doh!!!!

joker97: so... how's the s3 compared to apple?

SGS3 has MriaCast and the iPhone 5 has AirPlay. :-)

Intel is mooted to be support MiraCast as well as Broadcom and others. If all TV's support MiraCast given that Samsung, LG and Sony already have Phones that do...Bo Ja!

Elpie

1304 posts

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#693844 1-Oct-2012 01:45

DrStrangelove:
TheUngeek:
kiwigeek1:
but theres also another app that can notify and turn on the phone and play different sounds
for any notifications for emails sms other apps
missed message flasher

I use it to repeat every 10 min a reminder you missed a call or sms

Mostly a good app, but I'm finding it very very frustrating to set up as it is not at all clear how you do it.
I want it every now and then to flash for say 5 seconds. So far it flashes non stop :/

On my XPERIA X10i I have Kaiten Mail which is the next step up from K9.
It allows you to set colours for the LED to flash... problem is I have so many email accounts I forget which colour is for which email, at least I know the red one is important email or the phone battery is about to die.

There is an app called blinker that flashes the LED or illuminated button for SMS, missed calls and etc, but it's not compatible with my phone even thought it does work it displays system error messages too.

The knobs! the knobs. the flashing knobs!!!

I read on the iPhone their is native structures to allow configurable 'quiet time' where mail and SMS notifications are suppressed. You can even set exceptions to the rule.

You can do the same on Android, but it's via a per application basis. Kaiten Mail has it, MailDroid has it and you can get an app to schedule airplane mode each night with a restart in the morning.

Or you can get Llama for Locations and set the phone to do pretty much anything you want. It's also free.

I've got mine set to automatically fire up mobile data and sync every 10 minutes for one minute when the screen is off, between certain hours, when I am in one location. It also automatically starts mobile data whenever I unlock and turn the screen on.

In the early evening, notification sounds are set lower. Late evening the phone goes to silent (muted) but any calls or messages from family members come through with sound. In the morning when my alarm goes off it connects and syncs the weather so I know how cold it is before I get out of bed.

I haven't done a whole lot more with it yet (still experimenting) but the more I do with Llama the less I see myself using NFC tags. I bought a bunch but have yet to use any.

Regs

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Snowflake

#693845 1-Oct-2012 01:48

allan: Assuming this is a general thread about the thing that bugs me most, then....

The inability to sync multiple Contacts folders or Calendars from an Exchange server account via activesync. Actually Windows Phone 7.5 suffers from the same issue, IOS "just does it".

(edited for grammar)

not wanting to hijack the thread, but i have multiple exchange accounts on my WP and see contacts from them all, and see calendar appointments from them all. Appointments are shown on single calendar in different colours. I can also limit a contact search to either of my exchange accounts, or my google contacts.

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stevenz

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#693910 1-Oct-2012 09:46

joker97: so... how's the s3 compared to apple?

You mean an iPhone? Which model?

S3 is bigger than all of them and does more "stuff".

@KnightNZ

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