• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

iPhone -> HTC One X

B

berkeley

Member
I intend this thread as a general introduction for somebody like me coming from an iOS background, with no previous experience with Android. Yesterday I got my first Android phone, the AT&T One X. I love the new hardware, but am having some difficulties getting accustomed to the software. I will be posting questions here in the hope that answers by other forum members or from my own experience will help others make this transition.

1) What are some important Android apps people would recommend for this phone?

2) What's the best way to sync photos and movies to the HTC/Android?

3) The best way to sync Music to the HTC/Android?

4) Are there better keyboards than the stock one? I find it harder to type on without errors than the iPhone one, despite the keyboard being bigger due to the bigger display.

I'll keep adding questions as they arise. Please others feel free to add questions as well! Thanks!
 
1)Riptide GP, Titanium Backup........(welcome to the world of rooting :D)

2)

3) iSyncr is recommended by some.

4) Turn the phone on it's side, keyboard becomes much bigger.
 
1) Titanium Backup, MyBackup Pro, apart from those which are perfect for backing up everything then unless you're rooted any other apps are just down to personal use.

2) Plug your phone into your computer and drag and drop them to your phone, what could be simpler?

3) iSyncr I suppose, I don't sync photos/videos etc, I just connect my phone to my computer, much easier.

4) There's loads of keyboards on the Play Store, some may allow you to customise the size of the keys, have better autocorrect etc, personally I just use the Stock keyboard, just try getting used to it. You don't have to be rooted either to use another keyboard and it's easy to setup, just try the free versions and see what you like.
 
Same here, just upgraded from my 3Gs to the One X this weekend, and loving it so far.
Like you I am discovering the apps, I would suggest reading the sticky thread and the apps section of this forum, you might get some good suggestions already.
Regarding music, I uploaded all my library to Google Music player. Pros: songs are all available without taking any storage on the phone (I uploaded 3,200 songs, about 17Gb
 
gibbs1984 said:
I assume you mean in the browser? Doesn't look to have that option, you could just double tap to zoom out and then scroll to the top?

I use Opera anyway which has a button when you start to scroll which takes you straight to the top of the page.

If you're just scrolling to the top to use the address bar then you can just swipe down and it appears, you probably already know that though but just in case :)
Click to expand...

No didn't know the swipe trick for the address bar, thanks ;)

And it's not only in the browser, but mostly in Twitter, as the app open where you left off, and I like to read tweets from most recent to older.
So on the iphone, just a tap at the top and you're done. On my One X, need to scroll all tweets manually. I checked there's no setting in the app to fix that either.
 
One thing that you may miss coming from an iPhone is quick access to your music controls from within any app.

You can get that and a lot more with a multitasking enhancer like SwipePad. I use a similar app for Gingerbread but my ICS rocking friends recommend SwipePad.

If you use OS X, it's like getting the Dashboard.

Single swipe from within any app and you get your customized panel of favorite widgets, shortcuts or an app quick switcher.

I've used this sort of thing for two years and consider it Android's missing link.

As for keyboards, HTC has done a good job but you can do better. I recommend SwiftKey or Flex T9, the latter includes swiping, the former includes predictions - and it's scary good at that. Not word completion, but predictions for what your next word(s) will be.

Both are better at speech recognition. SwiftKey will give you 3 choices of what it thinks it heard, while Flex T9 includes the Dragon engine, best there is. If you live in the UK, especially Scotland (assume that you've seen the elevator youtube if so) then you may want to check out Evi or Vlingo.

To sync photos and videos, consider Dropbox -

https://www.dropbox.com/help/4

PS - I consider Google Gesture Search a must-have. If keeping a calendar of all calls is important, you want CallTrack.
 
For a keyboard, can't recommend SwiftKey enough.

I'm using SwiftKey 3 beta at the moment and as EarlyMon says, it is scary good at word prediction.
 
danyfra said:
I'll look at the Swipepad app.
And already setup the dropbox for the pictures and videos, it should be handy for sure :)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Unfortunately I couldn't get the Dropbox 25 GB. I must have done something wrong during the sign-up process and so my account only has 2.5 GB.
 
Once you install the software (Dropbox) on your HTC, and log into it, within a few hours or so, you'll receive an email giving you 23GB...

That's how it works.

berkeley said:
Thanks. Unfortunately I couldn't get the Dropbox 25 GB. I must have done something wrong during the sign-up process and so my account only has 2.5 GB.
Click to expand...
 
Cool folks thanks for everything so far (I finally managed to get my Dropbox upgrade).

5) How about contacts? How can I get them from OS X to the phone?
 
berkeley said:
Cool folks thanks for everything so far (I finally managed to get my Dropbox upgrade).

How about contacts? How can I get them from OS X to the phone?
Click to expand...

El Presidente said:
What format are they in on OSX? You can import them to your gmail account if they're in .csv/.vcf format.
Click to expand...

Yep.

Address Book, File, Export... to vCard, creates a VCF file. Then log on to Gmail on the web, Contacts, there's a tool there to import. If you have groups in Address Book, they'll come through on Google and then to your phone.

Depending on your OS X version, Address Book, Preferences may give you the option to sync to your Google account. But import the whole book via the VCF file before turning that on.

Hope this helps! :)

PS - if you get duplicates, manage those on the Google web. They have a tool to search for them.
 
It's funny, the only thing I don't like so far about the phone is how I have to find and press the small button on the top of the phone to activate it every time I want to use it. The big obviously visible iPhone front button is much easier to find and access. I wish there was a faster way with the HTC. Especially with a case like the Case Mate on, that button is not straightforward to locate and compress.

Which leads me to question

6) Is there a better way?
 
I have to agree wholeheartedly...


berkeley said:
It's funny, the only thing I don't like so far about the phone is how I have to find and press the small button on the top of the phone to activate it every time I want to use it. The big obviously visible iPhone front button is much easier to find and access. I wish there was a faster way with the HTC. Especially with a case like the Case Mate on, that button is not straightforward to locate and compress.
Click to expand...
 
Question about the Google address book suggestion: will this only work if I use the dedicated Gmail app, or also if I use the Mail app that comes with the phone?

Btw, which of these two apps is better?
 
berkeley said:
Question about the Google address book suggestion: will this only work if I use the dedicated Gmail app, or also if I use the Mail app that comes with the phone?

Btw, which of these two apps is better?
Click to expand...

That process will end up basically syncing your Address Book on OS X to People on your phone (iow, your contacts). Anyone in your contacts list ought be recognized by mail and sms apps.

I prefer HTC mail, but I'm still on Gingerbread - really, it's a matter of preference whether to use that or Gmail, so far as I know.

PS - If you look at Gmail permissions, you'll see that it's allowed to access contacts, and all of the HTC stuff talks to each other.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gm
 
berkeley said:
It's funny, the only thing I don't like so far about the phone is how I have to find and press the small button on the top of the phone to activate it every time I want to use it. The big obviously visible iPhone front button is much easier to find and access. I wish there was a faster way with the HTC. Especially with a case like the Case Mate on, that button is not straightforward to locate and compress.
Click to expand...

No idea if this applies to you or if they work with ICS, but I used to use these extensively when I was constantly phoning.

First, no lock screen -

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.jraf.android.nolock

Second, specify which apps won't allow the screen to go dark -

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gr.androiddev.ScreenOn

Like I say, I'm still a generation behind you cats, so no promises on those apps. ;) :)
 
berkeley said:
It's funny, the only thing I don't like so far about the phone is how I have to find and press the small button on the top of the phone to activate it every time I want to use it. The big obviously visible iPhone front button is much easier to find and access. I wish there was a faster way with the HTC. Especially with a case like the Case Mate on, that button is not straightforward to locate and compress.
Click to expand...

+1 how many times did I try to press the home button on my One X and nothing happened :o
I guess it's just a new habit to get, probably the home button on the One X would be too sensitive anyway, unless this could be tweak in a way...
 
For Twitter I use TweetCaster, much better than the official Twitter app, has many more features (longer than 140 tweets), which includes tapping a button to go straight to the top of your tweets.

With regards to having to press the power button, if you root there are mods out there that allow you to use the Volume Up, Volume Down buttons to unlock the phone, the new Bricked kernel allows you to swipe across the back, home and recent apps buttons to unlock the phone too.

Rooting and flashing a custom ROM really unlocks the power of the phone! ;) :D
 
I have two more questions having to do with things I miss since the transition:

7) What text messaging apps do people recommend? I was using iMessage before. Many of my friends don't want to pay for text messages anymore so it has to be something like iMessage that is free for the person on the other end as well.

8) The synced reading list in Safari is incredibly useful: I see something I'm interested in while at work, simply add it to the reading list, and can look at it on the phone while on my commute home. Any Android alternatives that I can use in conjunction with my Mac?
 
1. Look at something like whatsapp or Viber. The othe person needs either app installed for the messages to be free though.

2. Google Chrome will sync bookmarks etc up nicely. There's also chrome to phone which will send pages you've read on your PC as a bookmark to your phone and open in the chrome to phone app.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom