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former iphone users, can we be frank?

AngryHatter said:
Androids are tied to Google the way iPads are tied to iTunes.
Wait until you try to use email or some service that should "just work."
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I have yet to experience what you describe. I can access any e-mail account I want to with my Captivate - and everything else does 'just work'.

As for eye-candy, I may be older, but I still enjoy decorating. That's one way I've learned Android, by theming, tweaking, etc.

ETA I eat applies, I don't use them.
 
reinbeau said:
I have yet to experience what you describe. I can access any e-mail account I want to with my Captivate - and everything else does 'just work'.
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The only issue that I have is with HTC's mail program and IMAP. This sometimes causes errors where an email says "email on server," but it cannot be retrieved. It's a tradeoff, as I can fix this by switching to the generic email client from AOSP ROMs, but then I lose the Email widget functionality from Sense.

But as much as my wife lovers her iPhone 4, I hear her complain almost daily about a new glitch or bug. The alarm issue about a month or so ago almost caused her to be late to work (my alarm was set to go off about the same time, which is what saved her).
 
My fiance has had 5 iPhones. All but the first were given to her either by friends sick of at&t or the pos iphone its self.
As far as i can tell the thing locks up once you remove the similar card. We have two iPhones at the house now with broken screens that i wouldn't mind using as an itouch (i can have The screen replaced for $20) but how can i essentially free my over priced paper weights from the grimy grips of apple/att?
 
I've read a couple of comments about people hating how iTunes automatically syncs your content. You do know you can turn sync off within iTunes, right? This effectively allows you to "drag and drop" your media files on to your iPad/Touch/Phone. Granted, you have to drag and drop within iTunes, but the program does not require you to sync your content automatically. I used to manage my first iPod this way, and found that the only drawback is that it does not allow for your play counts and "last played" stats to be updated. Also, on my Touch, I was able to delete media files from the device to free up space, so I'm not sure where that criticism is coming from. I assume the iPhone is the same way?

I happen to think iTunes is a great piece of software. As another commenter noted, iTunes/iPods are an environment. Managing my iPods within iTunes is painless for me because it's a closed system. I know if I ever get a new Apple device, it will sync the same way every time. This has been the case since my first iPod back in 2005. I enjoy my Fascinate, but the one thing I hate about it is the fragmentation among devices, hardware, and apps.

There are a few things here and there that I would change about iTunes, but it's the most powerful software I've come across for managing my library of 4,000+ media files. You just have to take the time and learn how to use it effectively to get the full benefits.
 
novox77 said:
And let's not fall in line with Apple's marketers so easily. Not everything just works, and their hardware and software is not flawless.
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I agree. My father-in-law has recently purchased an iPhone. I have an Android. My Android does not work flawlessly 100% of the time. You know what? Neither does my father-in-law's iPhone. Based on his reports of his iPhone and my experience with my Android, I do not believe that the iPhone is any more stable than other phones.

A colleague of mine also had similar experiences with many different phones. They all have their flaws and instability. Most of them are stable enough that the odd problem is no big issue.
 
It's a really bad time to make a leap because there is a lot waiting to be shown next month for android, and Apple hasnt yet shown iPhone5 which is the 800lbs that can rock Androids world in the USA if it drops on Verizon and AT&T at the same time
 
I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer me! WOW!
So yesterday I went to at&t to grovel about upgrading a bit early and getting the HTC inspire. Well when I told the at&t guy why I was considering switching (my constant issues with iTunes, sync issues and that I just feel itunes needs too much attention) he talked me out of switching! The at&t guy said Android requires way more attention then an Apple device and does not flow as seamlessly as iTunes/Apple.
I dont know that I believe him ;)
I do know that I called iTunes yesterday afternoon and calmly explained every single issue I have had with the phone/iTunes/syncing and they helped me go in to straighten some things out... for now. But what usually happens is everything works as it should until the next software upgrade, then I will go to sync my phone and all my crap will be gone again. iTunes will not be able to locate the files (which are in the exact same place they were in an hour before) and therefore I will have to fix it again...and godforbid we dont back something to external hard drive.
What to do, what to do? lol

Thanks so much for the feedback. Much appreciated everyone :)
 
I only owned an iPhone 3G and GS but the move to the Android device was a breath of fresh air. I love gadgets and had gotten bored with jailbreaking the iPhone and tweaking the layout. I was doing things with the Stock Cappy that required a jailbroken iPhone. One thing I love is the removable battery. Might be a little thing but I hang on to gadgets till they die on me. And replacing the iPhone battery is a pain in the butt without the right tools. Most Apple owners end up paying over $100 dollars for something that should be user friendly. But its just Apples way of making extra money.

Basically there is a replacement for every app I had on my iPhone and funny thing is I barely play any games on it now. I'm to busy playing around with layouts and designs for the desktop on it when I have time. So much fun being able to change icons easily and desktop launchers. I'm hooked. I doubt I'll get another iPhone and not sure what Android manufacturer I'll go with next either. Samsung seems to drop the ball really bad on updates. Motorola locks their devices. As well as HTC I think. As bad as Samsung is with updates I must say there is a lot of ROM development for them since they are easily Rooted and Flashed. Right now I'm enjoying the change and see more and more people jumping ship on Apple. There are the diehard Fanboys that will never give up due to pride but thats their loss.
 
Rootmepls said:
Basically there is a replacement for every app I had on my iPhone and funny thing is I barely play any games on it now. I'm to busy playing around with layouts and designs for the desktop on it when I have time. So much fun being able to change icons easily and desktop launchers. I'm hooked. I doubt I'll get another iPhone and not sure what Android manufacturer I'll go with next either. Samsung seems to drop the ball really bad on updates. Motorola locks their devices. As well as HTC I think. As bad as Samsung is with updates I must say there is a lot of ROM development for them since they are easily Rooted and Flashed. Right now I'm enjoying the change and see more and more people jumping ship on Apple. There are the diehard Fanboys that will never give up due to pride but thats their loss.
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HTC one of the best records for dev development :
G1
nexus 1
hero
eris
evo

in all instance.. better activity than the samsung counter part.
 
dan330 said:
HTC one of the best records for dev development :
G1
nexus 1
hero
eris
evo

in all instance.. better activity than the samsung counter part.
Click to expand...

HTC is a top contender especially with they way they roll out their own updates for phones. Hell, they are out selling iPhones in the UK right now. HTC ended up with the top 3 spots. I've got about a year before I'm eligible for an upgrade anyway. See what happens by this time next year.
 
with all the extra stuff the are doing with sense and sense.com
and the quality of the hardware
the ease it all works together
the dev support
htc support

i might be stuck with htc for a long time
 
southrncomfort said:
I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer me! WOW!
So yesterday I went to at&t to grovel about upgrading a bit early and getting the HTC inspire. Well when I told the at&t guy why I was considering switching (my constant issues with iTunes, sync issues and that I just feel itunes needs too much attention) he talked me out of switching! The at&t guy said Android requires way more attention then an Apple device and does not flow as seamlessly as iTunes/Apple.
I dont know that I believe him ;)
I do know that I called iTunes yesterday afternoon and calmly explained every single issue I have had with the phone/iTunes/syncing and they helped me go in to straighten some things out... for now. But what usually happens is everything works as it should until the next software upgrade, then I will go to sync my phone and all my crap will be gone again. iTunes will not be able to locate the files (which are in the exact same place they were in an hour before) and therefore I will have to fix it again...and godforbid we dont back something to external hard drive.
What to do, what to do? lol

Thanks so much for the feedback. Much appreciated everyone :)
Click to expand...


Carriers are not interested in getting existing users to change their smartphones midway in their contracts.

They want their new smartphones sold to new customers coming from other carriers or to upgrade from their existing base of featurephone customers to more expensive smartphone contracts. They do this especially if these new smartphones are in limited supply. So they're prioritizing. An existing customer already with a smartphone contract trying to upgrade early is not a priority.

If you want to change, don't let the sales personnel persuade you otherwise.

I've nearly had it with iTunes when for some reason after the latest update, my iTunes no longer drag and drop to the main Music page.
 
I've had an iPod touch for 2 years, and Android just felt incredibly liberating after dealing wth that software (both iTunes and iOS) in fact, Apple has continually made Itunes worse. I started on iOS 2, it worked fairly well. then, they introduced several errors and glitches in the music app with iOS 3. they've never been fixed, working around them requires some stupid formatting problems that have taken me many hours. they just did the same thing with iOS 4, I am not pleased.
 
falkner09 said:
I've had an iPod touch for 2 years, and Android just felt incredibly liberating after dealing wth that software (both iTunes and iOS) in fact, Apple has continually made Itunes worse. I started on iOS 2, it worked fairly well. then, they introduced several errors and glitches in the music app with iOS 3. they've never been fixed, working around them requires some stupid formatting problems that have taken me many hours. they just did the same thing with iOS 4, I am not pleased.
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It's good to see validation of my gripes with iTunes/iOS. iTunes is at heart a music manager. That's all it should have been. Having never used it through its evolution, I can tell that the ONLY thing it does somewhat well is manage music. All the other crap (store, sync, etc) is very sloppily added. Settings for each of these features are scattered all over the place.

If a piece of software only works well when you use it in a specific way, that's the classic definition of bad software. User friendly software works the way you think it should. Which is why I said earlier that it's so surprising that the company that champions ease-of-use could release such a piece of crap like iTunes.
 
southrncomfort said:
...the at&t guy ... talked me out of switching!
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Of course he wants you to believe that your current device is fine and not give you an early upgrade. But iTunes won't get better. It's one of the biggest reasons I left iPhone. It is the most un-Apple product that Apple has ever produced. It just... doesn't... work. And what's aggravating is that most Apple products are trouble free.

Android has a few nice advantages over iPhone (flash support, notification bar, widgets, better open source support) but not having to deal with iTunes is the biggest one. I don't even have a computer any more.

The one and only advantage I think the iPhone had were the apps. Not only are there more, they are of better quality. Before I don a flame suit and the Android fanbois unleash - I will say Android apps are growing by leaps and bounds and I forsee them surpassing Apple in the next year. Right now, though, Apple holds this one very slight advantage.

If you do talk them into switching, why wouldn't you get the Atrix?!! It's completely revolutionizing computing, the way I see it. Like I said - I don't even have a computer any more. If I had that Atrix docking station, I wouldn't even need to borrow the company laptop on occasion.
 
SamXp said:
The one and only advantage I think the iPhone had were the apps. Not only are there more, they are of better quality. Before I don a flame suit and the Android fanbois unleash - I will say Android apps are growing by leaps and bounds and I forsee them surpassing Apple in the next year. Right now, though, Apple holds this one very slight advantage
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I don't necessarily agree with this. My experience with the App Store via the iPad is that, yes, there are a ton of apps, but if you look at the customer ratings, the vast majority of them are rated very low.

To make matters worse, most apps are paid apps, so there's even less incentive for me to try an app with medium rating. In the end, I feel like I have LESS choice on the App Store.

Apple supposedly has 350k apps atm. Android Market has about 120k. I wouldn't give Apple any points for having such a high number. After all, I don't plan to try out 350k apps on my device. 200 at most. And given that those numbers are inflated with low-ranked apps, I'd argue that a store with 2000 5-star apps would be suitable for a given platform.

To me, a "quality" app is one that does what it says and doesn't crash or lag the device. I've been able to find "quality" apps for all my needs on Android. And most of them have been free. Call me a fanboy, but I believe the Android Market is already better than the App Store. Better for developers? Maybe not. Yet.
 
^^^

so a system that has 10000 - 20000 apps to choice from will be ok?

like blackberry or webos or windows or symbian
 
Obviously the quality of an app is subjective, so it's not likely anyone will come to a consensus on this issue. Prospective end users need to take what they read with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, the total number of apps doesn't mean much, as a huge number are garbage. Apple went through and cleaned house a few years ago and got rid of hundreds of thousands of garbage apps. When I say they of better quality - it's beyond the bare minimum of not crashing or lagging. It involves intangible items such as look/feel, user interface, etc. To each their own, and to some - form follows long after function. To me, form is a huge part of the experience. These are way beyond purely functional devices.
 
I love my Samsung Captivate!!! I love the Android OS compared to the iPhone OS!

You do not need to be attached to your computer like the iPhone is with iTunes.

You can drag and drop music into files. There are many apps and more coming. I have more apps now with Android then I had with the iPhone.

There are apps out there that you can download to customize your screens. It did take me about a week to go through the phone and get it to how I want it. It is so worth it!!! I have never had a problem with speed, music or calls. I will not trade this phone for any other. (until a newer model comes out that is. :)

Marianne
 
falkner09 said:
I've had an iPod touch for 2 years, and Android just felt incredibly liberating after dealing wth that software (both iTunes and iOS) in fact, Apple has continually made Itunes worse. I started on iOS 2, it worked fairly well. then, they introduced several errors and glitches in the music app with iOS 3. they've never been fixed, working around them requires some stupid formatting problems that have taken me many hours. they just did the same thing with iOS 4, I am not pleased.
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I share your frustration with Apple products. I got my wife an iPod a few years ago. Then one day, she wanted to charge it, but her PC was off. I told her to just plug it into mine (which does not have iTunes). Well, it seemed that it screwed up the iPod and I ended up having to do a hard reset. It had a few problems where her PC doesn't seem to recognise her iPod for some reason. It seems to be working now, but it is still flaky sometimes. I'm just surprised you need to have a PC with iTunes in it just to charge the iPod. It just doesn't make sense to me.
 
SamXp said:
The one and only advantage I think the iPhone had were the apps. Not only are there more, they are of better quality. Before I don a flame suit and the Android fanbois unleash - I will say Android apps are growing by leaps and bounds and I forsee them surpassing Apple in the next year. Right now, though, Apple holds this one very slight advantage.
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Personally I think that only applies to games. IOS does seem have a better supply of games...

Apps I do believe that Android blows away IOS. When I think of apps I don't just compare base apps (say Apples facebook app with Androids). I look at all the apps in general. Android marketplace lets us have apps that Apple would never allow. Add alternative markets and sideloading and we can pretty much have anything we can dream up.

Plus we can have better functioning apps. A perfect example of this is a GPS app. Apple only allows the app to have the GPS co-ordinates. An android GPS app could tell me how many satellites it sees, where they are in the sky, what signal strength they have, etc etc... I am sure there are plenty of other examples of where Apple gives basic info, whereas Android lets you have detailed info.

Android gives developers much better tools and freedoms to create much better apps. And that makes Android Apps better.
 
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