That Android "feeling"

[discoian]

As a long time iOS user I felt a bit let down by the announcement of the i5, it's not different enough to keep me as a user and as a long time user of Apple products (over 15 years) it was a GIANT leap of faith for me to walk away from iCloud and the Apple eco-system to my Galaxy S3 that I picked up last week.

I really like the handset, there are some annoyances such as the power button on the side, I keep touching it by accident...really annoying but apart from that i'm very pleased.

One little niggle is that...even to do just some basic tasks I have to install something to either root the device or some other hack. I just get that feeling that Android isn't complete.

There's pretty much no interface standard. I really want to use K-9 mail as it has a lot of features I need...but I really dislike the stupid pink checkboxes, who decided somewhere that those would be a good idea? What's wrong with a standard checkbox for christ's sake?

I want to be able to plug the S3 into my mac and drag and drop songs onto it...but I can't...I have to install a hack-app to enable that, and I really don't feel comfortable with doing this.

Some of the icons I have for apps, they're different sizes. For example, the camera app icon is a lot bigger than twitter app icon, or the spotify icon. Some icons have a really low resolution such as Adobe Photoshop Express and alongside something like Instagram or Doubletwist...they just look naff.

But it's not all bad, there are some features I REALLY like such as widgets, a way of having LOADS of apps on my handset but not have all the icons cluttering up my home screens. A way of quickly being able to turn on/off wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, etc, etc. these are all good things.

I guess I really got spoilt with a lot of "standard" things on iOS, and I understand totally why Apple did it...to keep control in a way, to keep the interface fluid for example. It's just that with Android, it's a free for all...and I think this really affects the fluidity of Android a great deal.

I'm sure i'll get used to it.

 

[streetkilln]

As a long time iOS user I felt a bit let down by the announcement of the i5, it's not different enough to keep me as a user and as a long time user of Apple products (over 15 years) it was a GIANT leap of faith for me to walk away from iCloud and the Apple eco-system to my Galaxy S3 that I picked up last week.

I really like the handset, there are some annoyances such as the power button on the side, I keep touching it by accident...really annoying but apart from that i'm very pleased.

One little niggle is that...even to do just some basic tasks I have to install something to either root the device or some other hack. I just get that feeling that Android isn't complete.

There's pretty much no interface standard. I really want to use K-9 mail as it has a lot of features I need...but I really dislike the stupid pink checkboxes, who decided somewhere that those would be a good idea? What's wrong with a standard checkbox for christ's sake?

I want to be able to plug the S3 into my mac and drag and drop songs onto it...but I can't...I have to install a hack-app to enable that, and I really don't feel comfortable with doing this.

Some of the icons I have for apps, they're different sizes. For example, the camera app icon is a lot bigger than twitter app icon, or the spotify icon. Some icons have a really low resolution such as Adobe Photoshop Express and alongside something like Instagram or Doubletwist...they just look naff.

But it's not all bad, there are some features I REALLY like such as widgets, a way of having LOADS of apps on my handset but not have all the icons cluttering up my home screens. A way of quickly being able to turn on/off wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, etc, etc. these are all good things.

I guess I really got spoilt with a lot of "standard" things on iOS, and I understand totally why Apple did it...to keep control in a way, to keep the interface fluid for example. It's just that with Android, it's a free for all...and I think this really affects the fluidity of Android a great deal.

I'm sure i'll get used to it.

and the rest of the apple iphones was different from each other lol?

what tasks are you trying to do that u have to install something??

to change the apps icons you can always install themes that will change your home screens and what not.

try out go launcher

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex&hl=en

 

[chanchan05]

1. The app developers decide what they want their apps interface to be, Its sort of part of how it is.

2. Not sure how different it is for a Mac, but on a Windows PC you can just drag and drop, no need for any hack app. I believe it should work the same for a Mac, all you need is to connect it in MTP mode.

3. Its a bit easy to "standardize" things actually, just customize the Android. I for one replaced the icons of apps on my phone to make them more standard and of the same sizes.

 

[zuben el genub]

You can drag and drop to the external card in Ubuntu, too. If Chanchan says Mac -then you probably can. Ubuntu and windows just see the ext. card as a device like a USB stick or external drive. You have to enable USB on the phone or you will just charge the phone. There should be something in the notification bar about turning on USB storage.

Check out different launchers. Some, (I use ADW) let you pick the icon size, lettering, etc. You would have to read here and find one YOU like. I should think that most good ones would give the icon size option. There's plenty of posts on what is the best launcher.

You can always get other icons and use those. I happen to like Ubuntu icons, so I use those.

You can't change what the dev. has programmed, but some apps have other color schemes. I used K-9 for a while - didn't notice the pink boxes. I had other issues.

Read everything in the menu. Someone here can translate almost any item for you as to what the item does.

 

[BigPeanutHead]

One little niggle is that...even to do just some basic tasks I have to install something to either root the device or some other hack.

Very interesting post this. These are concerns and queries I have, as IOS is all i've known. Please elaborate on the above and any other issues. How about general smoothness compared to IOS?

 

[Crashdamage]

These are concerns and queries I have, as IOS is all i've known. Please elaborate on the above and any other issues. How about general smoothness compared to IOS?

Not true that rooting is necessary for most customization, etc. In fact, the opposite is true - most customizations and apps do *not* require root. I haven't bothered to root my daily driver for years and recommend against it for most users.

As for smoothness, any decent Android device running Jelly Bean or later versions of Android are every bit as smooth as anything from Apple.

 

[jefboyardee]

My unrooted has over a dozen utilities to make the Android experience more appreciable. Several of them I believe should have been included in the OS, others are mere personal preference. I had the same experience with Windows and Mac.

 

[Digital Controller]

I love my Galaxy Nexus, just because for once it doesn't take like 18 steps to unlock/root my phone. It was very simple to unlock it and put whatever i wanted on it.

And to be honest something that always bugged me was that i could never find a standard power widget, one with GPS, Brightness, Wifi controllers and such with one that would control 3G/4G LTE, luckily with Cyanogen they have a separate controller for both 3G and 4G LTE so i can 4G off at times i dont really need it.

I LOVE the functionality of Android!