The great Android experiment

Euell Gibbons

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All,

After 2 years as a WP user, I've decided to give Android another shot. There are several reasons for this, but mainly because MS has been far too long with the new phone releases and because I can't get any custom streaming radio stations to work properly with the current slew of radio apps available on WP. So when I found a brand new LG G2 for just over 2 bills on Amazon, I decided to take the plunge.

Now for some background/history on me. I started in the smartphone world with a WM 6.5 HTC XV-6900 handset, which I flashed to Android when it became available. I then later bought a Droid 2 and a Droid X2. Early on it was fun playing with and flashing custom ROMs to these "phones", but I was always bothered by the general lack of utility from them. They never worked reliably enough, the constant freezing, lagging, and need to reboot just became irksome. I'd always assumed that newer hardware would eventually fix the problem, until I bought my first tablet, the Google Nexus 7. Unlike the phones, this tablet was made for Google, with modern specs, and I assumed it would finally show me the kind of performance I'd wanted from Android. But, NOPE! The official ROMs are slow and buggy, the myriad of custom ROMs were somewhat less slow and just as buggy.

So I decided to make my next phone a WP, since Android has apparently got inherent issues with performance. I bought a Lumia 822, which I had for a year or so before it went toes up. I then replaced it with an ATIV S Neo. Both phones gave me the kind of usability that I needed from my smartphone, so I was a convert.

But as much as I love WP, there are still gaps that are frustrating as well. Youtube, Facebook, Snapchat, etc., and frankly I'm not sure W10 will be enough impetus for the developers to create the apps sorely needed for WP to be viable long-term. Plus, it will be another 6 months before we start to see any interesting new hardware in the WP world.

So I will chronicle my experience here. The G2 ostensibly has more than enough horsepower to run Android lag-free; if it doesn't, then I will not accept the fandroid's standard excuse of "Wahhh, you need a newer/faster phone!" And WP will likely be in my future again.

My G2 arrives tomorrow, and the experiment will begin.
 

Laura Knotek

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Please let us know how you like your G2. I've been using a 2013 Moto X for the past 4 months since my Lumia 920 became unusable due to the constant "resuming".

I just got Lollipop today, and it's running great. I didn't have any lag on this device using KitKat.

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
 

2uiam

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I am also considering to change because at work we will start using Google apps. I will be reading about your experience first.
 

tgp

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The LG G2 will give you a good comparison of how the devices age as well. The G2 and the ATIV S Neo were released within a month of each other in 2013.
 

mary beth hale

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Coincidently, I use an LG G2 as a work phone( for almost a year now). My personal use phone is a Lumia 930. Ativ S as a personal phone prior to the 930 and a Samsung Focus prior to the Ativ S. . Looking forward to your observations.
 

tangledW

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I'm trying to figure out why people make posts on a Windows site to announce they're using something else. What purpose does it serve to the community? Shouldn't it be posted on an Android site?
 

mary beth hale

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I'm trying to figure out why people make posts on a Windows site to announce they're using something else. What purpose does it serve to the community? Shouldn't it be posted on an Android site?
This is the "android" section of WC site so the OP is entirely appropriate.
 

Euell Gibbons

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I'm trying to figure out why people make posts on a Windows site to announce they're using something else. What purpose does it serve to the community? Shouldn't it be posted on an Android site?

I'm doing this as a way of providing information to people that they would not get anywhere else. I am not a zealot for or against any OS, so I will give unbiased observations. I am not tied to an eco-system, and I am not somebody that just HAS to have the very latest app/game. I use my phone as an appliance, and expect it to perform as such. That is a perspective that I have never seen anywhere else. All other comparisons factor in the app count/ecosystem, which is fine for what it is, but tells me NOTHING about whether I'll be rebooting my phone twice a week, or missing calls due to app crashes.

I have previously left Android for very valid reasons, reasons that I'm certain other people have experienced, and I think it's important for folks to know if those issues still exist today. Please don't interpret my post as an indictment of WP, it is not meant as such.

If you have no interest in my observations, feel free to ignore them.
 

b0blight

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I am not a zealot for or against any OS, so I will give unbiased observations. I am not tied to an eco-system, and I am not somebody that just HAS to have the very latest app/game. I use my phone as an appliance, and expect it to perform as such. That is a perspective that I have never seen anywhere else.

Thank you. Someone who share the same view with me. Frankly speaking, there nothing wrong with using different devices. I mean, its not like we are going to burn you on a stake and sacrifice you to the gods living in the OneDrive cloud and the Azure clouds for leaving Windows Phone... right ? ;p
 

TrueMetalGeek

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Funny. I got my daughter a used G2 for T-Mobile which I thought was just the previous version for that model but I guess it is actually TWO versions old since the G4 is now out. $200 for it is what I also paid but that was probably too much being that the G4 is the current release for that model.
It seemed responsive for a Android phone compared to the Samsung S series I have used but something was wrong with it and we had to return it to the used phone store we bought it from so she is back on the Nokia Icon that we managed to get to work on T-Mobile after all.

As for the apps, there are TONS of youtube apps that are likely better than the official youtube app.
BTW Microsoft used to make a youtube app which was BETTER than the official one on Android but Google, the self serving b****** that they are, blocked the API or whatever to make it quit working. Seriously. That is how low down Google plays.
MyTube is basically all I use for youtube and I watch youtube subscriptions DAILY to keep up with some shows I watch. There are other great youtube apps too like MegaTube etc.

As for facebook, Microsoft finally added the features I wanted a while back and as I know there is almost nothing lacking and in fact I think the Microsoft version of facebook does a few things better than the official one on Android.
I do wish that Microsoft would add a HOME BUTTON on every screen so we can get back to the home screen when deep into an post that we have to back our way out of a few times before seeing the home button or main menu.

Snapchat. Again, BLOCKED because the third party ones worked well. I was able to have more control than my daughter had with her Android using the official snapchat app.

As far as Windows 10 goes that SHOULD close the developer gap if they are just not total fan boy idiots.
The coding is merged in Windows 10 so that one developed app will work on Windows 10 phone, tablet and PC.
What developer shouldn't want to make one app that will work on those three platforms? Android can't do that.
 

Euell Gibbons

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Ok, so I got the G2 mostly setup now, and my first impressions are "Wow!", and "Ughh!". "Wow", because the G2 is a beautiful piece of kit, much nicer than the cheap-feeling Samsung. "Ughh", because I forgot what a mess Android is, and what a pain it is to setup and configure to your liking. Plus the amount of pure crap installed on these phones is unbelievable. So now I gotta root the damn thing so I can remove the bloatware. And once it is rooted, I just discovered that you can't update the firmware anymore. Ughhh! This is why I left for WP in the first place.
 

go1020

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Please let us know how you like your G2. I've been using a 2013 Moto X for the past 4 months since my Lumia 920 became unusable due to the constant "resuming".
BTW Windows 10 Mobile has been a life saver for those suffering from "Resuming..." (TM), including me. :)
 

Wbutchart1

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I haven't had any better experience with "resuming" or "loading", but I'm glad that it's better for you.
That's surprising :/ I have a lowley 535 and have no resuming or loading screens now on 10166, perhaps it's still being optimised for lower specs just now (through don't know if that would make a real world difference to higher spec devices).
 

Wbutchart1

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Ok, so I got the G2 mostly setup now, and my first impressions are "Wow!", and "Ughh!". "Wow", because the G2 is a beautiful piece of kit, much nicer than the cheap-feeling Samsung. "Ughh", because I forgot what a mess Android is, and what a pain it is to setup and configure to your liking. Plus the amount of pure crap installed on these phones is unbelievable. So now I gotta root the damn thing so I can remove the bloatware. And once it is rooted, I just discovered that you can't update the firmware anymore. Ughhh! This is why I left for WP in the first place.
Youch! Sounds like a mixed start, nothing worse than bloat ware taking up a load of space, I didn't realise android phones were into that game!
 

Euell Gibbons

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On top of that, Android apps now have picked up from iOS the annoying habit of sending notifications, regardless if there is any good reason for the app to send a notification. (I'll never forget looking at the home screen of my daughter's iPad, unsurprisingly mostly kids games, and all of them had that little "unread message" count on the icon.)

So another PITA is having to go turn these off one at a time in each app.
 

fatclue_98

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The G2 is a fine device, my wife used one for about a year. Looking forward to any unbiased reporting. I'm like you in that I'm not a zealot either. I'm a WC mod but my daily driver is a G3 (I'm test driving a 640 right now, though) and Laura is also a WC mod using a Moto X. There's nothing wrong with trying competing platforms to see what they offer and how the MS apps work on them. I feel like Moses in the desert trying to find a once-and-for-all OS since the demise of webOS. I just hope it doesn't take me 40 years.
 

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