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Iphone user needs insights from droid users.

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hk.chill

Lurker
Need some insights into the android OS. I have been using apple products for over 10 year now. I love tech but don't have a programming bone in my body and have found OSX to be beautiful, stupid-proof, and easy-to-use. I have owned several iPhones since the first model simply because apple products play nice together and the iphone was straight forward to use. (I tried jail breaking my iPhone once
 
Looking at the SmarTone website it looks likw thw Sony Xperia Z Ultra 4G best suits your needs hk.chill. That 6 inch screen should make reading a joy. I have no Mac experience unfortunately so I cannot even begin to advise you there. One thing though I think it will be hard to simply transfer over your previous iBook purchases because of Apples draconian DRM scheme. There is software that would strip the DRM but that defeats he simplicity concept you are seeking. Other than that though the Android OS is fairly simple to use and modify without any programming experience. I haven't used Sony's User Interface personally but I see very few complaints about it in the forums.
 
Since you wish to read a lot so anything around 5" screen will do for your. You also wish to have a nice camera so HTC One mega, Xperia Z1, and Note 3 are some of the best devices that fulfill your needs.
 
If you aren't afraid of the size (which they aren't that big anyway) either the Sony Z Ultra or the Galaxy Note would fit the bill real nicely. As someone who reads often I know how useful a larger screen can be. I currently use a Nexus 7 as my reading device but if I had to choose one device for phone, reading etc.. it would be one of those two phones.
 
I must also note that for certain iPhone features which you may find useful, like universal search and others, may not be available on Android out of the box and you may need a third party app because of Apple patents preventing manufacturers from natively installing such features. One of the most common encountered missing feature is smart links.
 
Great suggestions. dontpanicbobby - I have always abhorred apple's DRM and have avoided ibook and iTunes purchases as much as possible and have preferred to use the Calibre application on my mac - I am not too concerned about the change, but the ibook application was a great reader.

The Sony Xperia Ultra Z seems like a good option. There are a couple of new android models to be released here in HK this month- Sony xperia Z1, Samsung Note 3. I think my only dilemma will be to decide between a 5inch or Phablet size.The 5 inch models seem to have better cameras and fit better in your pocket, but the phablets seem well suited to reading.

chanchan05 Universal search is indispensable on my mac, but I rarely use it on my phone - because apple makes it so difficult to use and store files on a phone. I will miss smart links though - I didn't realize that this apple had a patent on these.

thanks again.
 
you can get iOS style badge alerts with the paid app Nova Launcher Prime and Missed It! plugins. it's pretty easy to set up, you install the launcher as you wound any other app, and then hit the same 'home' button as in iOS, and it asks you which launcher you want default. you choose Nova Prime and hit 'always'. then you launch the other app Missed It! and add in any apps that you want notification badges with. then in Prime's settings you enable unread counts, enable accessibility, and that's it.

for books, i recommend Play Books as the best alternative to iBooks. Play Music in place of iTunes. Play Music has a unlimited access deal vs. iTunes' per-song price, which means you can literally save any number of songs available on your device or in the cloud with one low monthly fee. Google has done a similar ecosystem as iOS in their newer setup, which you might find useful. keep in mind that iBooks will not transfer to Play Books, and you might have to repurchase them and find out which page you're on by getting that info from your iPhone and simply turning to that page in Play Books. it seems a bit of a shaky start but worth it in the end. i myself came from a lifestyle around Apple products.

the one thing you might have to get used to is a status bar clogged with icons, unlike your iPhone's more sterile bar with notifications needing to be pulled down to view. the other thing is the lack of banners on your lock screen when a message or such comes in. you will need to pull down the notification bar in Android to view details on them and swipe them away to dismiss. personally, i still think iOS is superior in that regard.
 
hk.chill said:
Great suggestions. dontpanicbobby - I have always abhorred apple's DRM and have avoided ibook and iTunes purchases as much as possible and have preferred to use the Calibre application on my mac - I am not too concerned about the change, but the ibook application was a great reader.

The Sony Xperia Ultra Z seems like a good option. There are a couple of new android models to be released here in HK this month- Sony xperia Z1, Samsung Note 3. I think my only dilemma will be to decide between a 5inch or Phablet size.The 5 inch models seem to have better cameras and fit better in your pocket, but the phablets seem well suited to reading.

chanchan05 Universal search is indispensable on my mac, but I rarely use it on my phone - because apple makes it so difficult to use and store files on a phone. I will miss smart links though - I didn't realize that this apple had a patent on these.

thanks again.
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I'd pick the Note 3 from your choices.

Anyway, try Mantano Reader, Aldiko Reader or MoonReader as alternatives to iBook. Also, you can still get smartlinks, but you have to use third party apps. For example, I prefer to use Handcent instead of the default messaging app. It has the ability to use smart links because apps aren't covered by the patent.
 
nickdalzell said:
you can get iOS style badge alerts with the paid app Nova Launcher Prime and Missed It! plugins. it's pretty easy to set up, you install the launcher as you wound any other app, and then hit the same 'home' button as in iOS, and it asks you which launcher you want default. you choose Nova Prime and hit 'always'. then you launch the other app Missed It! and add in any apps that you want notification badges with. then in Prime's settings you enable unread counts, enable accessibility, and that's it.

for books, i recommend Play Books as the best alternative to iBooks. Play Music in place of iTunes. Play Music has a unlimited access deal vs. iTunes' per-song price, which means you can literally save any number of songs available on your device or in the cloud with one low monthly fee. Google has done a similar ecosystem as iOS in their newer setup, which you might find useful. keep in mind that iBooks will not transfer to Play Books, and you might have to repurchase them and find out which page you're on by getting that info from your iPhone and simply turning to that page in Play Books. it seems a bit of a shaky start but worth it in the end. i myself came from a lifestyle around Apple products.

the one thing you might have to get used to is a status bar clogged with icons, unlike your iPhone's more sterile bar with notifications needing to be pulled down to view. the other thing is the lack of banners on your lock screen when a message or such comes in. you will need to pull down the notification bar in Android to view details on them and swipe them away to dismiss. personally, i still think iOS is superior in that regard.
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I personally much prefer Android's notification system. I hated the app badges on my ipod.
 
Hmmm .. while all those big screens would help with readability, I have to wonder if the battery life might not be an issue with reading and long daily commutes. Have you considered a reader?

Also, it might be worth waiting to see what apple announce today. Surely they're going to increase the size of the screen - whenever I use the missus' iP5, it's like looking through a letterbox :D
 
The iphone update came and the screen size stayed the same. I understand some prefer it, but clearly lots of others want something bigger. I think it was about time I explored a new OS anyhow!
 
You say you endure long commutes. Around how long? A big screen size will hit the battery out pretty much. Will you consider an ereader? I have an eink kindle and it's great and easy on the eyes.
 
Well, the Note series phablets do have huge batteries compared to the regular run of phones, so I don't think battery would be too much of an issue.
 
hk.chill said:
The iphone update came and the screen size stayed the same. I understand some prefer it, but clearly lots of others want something bigger. I think it was about time I explored a new OS anyhow!
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Yeah - I was completely wrong there. Won't be the last time.

Have to say, what I've heard about the announcement was a total meh!

wyndslash said:
You say you endure long commutes. Around how long? A big screen size will hit the battery out pretty much. Will you consider an ereader? I have an eink kindle and it's great and easy on the eyes.
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My thoughts exactly.

I guess the alternative is to make sure the phone is fully charged before you leave in the morning and fully re-charged before you leave in the evening ..

.. or you could get a spare or external battery.
 
My Commute is around 80 minutes on a train(probably not a long commute by some people's standards). Usually, I can charge my phone once I arrive on campus - so I am not too worried about the battery.
 
I personally think you should start off with something like a Nexus 4. Uncomplicated and straight to the point. I've also experienced no lag in my experience in it and if you are coming from an iPhone you may quickly get irritated with a phone that stutters.
 
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