My One week Android project....

[DavidinCT]

Hey all,

I am stepping back from Windows Phone for 1 week. I scored a Verizon LG G3 in white for $45 that was not working and I just got it back because it was under warranty(fixed like brand new) and the phone is in flawless shape.

I've always been a WIndows guy, starting from HPC 1.0 and through PocketPC to Windows Mobile, directly to Windows Phone, so never really played seriously with Android.

This is still a top of the line phone, still going for close to $200 on ebay and side by side very comparable in performance spec wise to my ICON. Even the few test pictures with the laser focus system was pretty impressive. Slick phone, beautiful 5.5" display, it should fit.

So I sit here and complain about Apps on Windows Phone, so now I will have all the apps I could dream of, plus all the issues with Android. Let's see how much I miss Windows Phone.

My plan was to sell the phone (nice profit and move on) but, I think I will be living with the phone for 1 week, live in the Android world, have Native Pebble support, get the apps like BOA that is missing from WP and see if it's really as bad as everyone HERE says.

So far after about 4-5 hours using it, I am so-so with it, I think it's a mess. I do need to give it time though, Animated wall paper is pretty freaking cool tho...

Does anyone want me to pass back reports of my feelings on it, or just wait till I am done for the week ?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Please see my thread here on AndroidCentral. http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=508231

 

[ven07]

Does anyone want me to pass back reports of my feelings on it, or just wait till I am done for the week ?

Hell yea

 

[DavidinCT]

Please see my thread here on AndroidCentral. A Long Time Microsoft User Tries Android: Guess What? It?s Great! - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com

Thanks for that, again I am a total noob, dabbled in past phones (I have had 6 Android phones), I keep buying broken phones and fixing them, plan to play for a while, end up getting a broken phone for around $40, $45 in parts to fix and find out they are worth $175-200, and I just cant turn down a good profit so , I play with them for about 1 hour and they go up for sale.... and I have done very well at it too. No way in the world I can turn down FREE MONEY

This one is a slick phone, almost the same shape as a G4 (for some reason, I really like the LG Android devices), and seems like a solid phone. Reviews are pretty good on this model over all.

Thanks for your review, I knew Microsoft "sold out" to Android but, now as a user, I didn't know how deep it goes. After a few hours of playing with the Inbox app for email on Android, I just downloaded Outlook and cant wait to get setup. It really looks like exactly what I am looking for (word, Excel, Onenote, onedrive, downloaded as well).

With day one passing, I got my Pebble setup, It's nice to have an official app, can get everything directly now, faces, apps, and they ALL WORK with no hacks. Bank of America offers check deposit like we had before (even the Android apps on WP didn't offer that one option). And finally, I get my Dish ANywhere app for my sling box, so now I can stream live TV from home... It will be nice tomorrow as I have to do some thigns while the football game is on...now I can bring it with me...EPIC...

The OS seems dynamic, a lot more than WP, as you have more places to store apps but, it kind of seems all over the place. Looking over it, I think WP is easier for someone to pick up and get going than Android. It really feels like a mess compared to WP.

Just kind of learned the basics of them, how to sort apps and move them to different "screens", it sucks that I cant remove some apps... and I have no plans on "rooting" this device.

Battery life has been questionable but, I started with 45%, charged about 70% and been playing with it most of the day, so my battery just hit 14%, and charging it again... Those animated wallpaper were very cool but, I actually watched the battery drop by 10% after using it for 2 hours... so much for that....

More to come as I start my work week, This will have 4 email accounts and texts about 40-50 times a day, never mind all the meetings and personal events... It will be interesting to see how it holds up to my busy life... Windows Phone did a epic job at that.

and I get to really compare "google now" to "Cortana" so far, I like Cortana better....

 

[Laura Knotek]

I don't use the animated wallpapers either. I tried them just to see what they look like, but they were a battery draining gimmick to me.

What impresses me about Android is the seemingly limitless ways to share. Look at how I can share from the Tapatalk app.

Sent from my rooted Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[DavidinCT]

Laura, quick one for you, I have been searching but, with out luck, I installed Outlook, got my Exchange server and Hotmail account setup. I disabled the accounts on the default email program on google (why have mail syncing 2 times on one device ?)

So, now, I see that my contacts on my phone are gone, as I use my person contacts on the Exchange server. When I go and setup the contacts in the phone program, It does not list outlook or exchange as an option. I see all my contacts file in outlook.

Now do I get my contacts in Outlook (exchange) to populate the phone so I can use them for dialing etc ?

Or do I need to use the default email program and just sync contacts (kind of pointless but, ok) ?

 

[TechFreak1]

Subscribed :grin: intrigued to see how this unfolds as your not thoughtlessly randomly ranting away as some start to do lol.

 

[Joshwin]

Look at how I can share from the Tapatalk app

But this list of apps to share are the apps that you have installed on the phone aren't they? which is the same on WPs right?

 

[Joshwin]

Your post on android central makes me want to switch to android.lol. WP is sufficient for what i do though. and I haven't tried W10m yet. I hope universal apps and MS services will be better on W10M than on android once the W10M is released. and that is my final hope. lets see how it turns out.

 

[realwarder]

But this list of apps to share are the apps that you have installed on the phone aren't they? which is the same on WPs right?

Yes. And how confusing is that list! I guess you remove apps for a simpler list.

 

[DavidinCT]

OK, Day 2, first day of work with it, over all very busy day so I didn't use the phone too much, maybe checked email 10-15 times, about 8-10 texts and checked a few other things a few times. Battery was at 100% when pulled off the charger (5:50am), it's 8.10pm, battery is at 59%. Not too bad on this aspect.

I thought the Verizon LG G3 came with wireless charging (I have an ICON and wireless chargers all around) but, No that is another $40(new back cover)...WTF ? So eBay, you can replace the NFC sticker on the back cover, $7.95, ordered from a local seller should have in a day or so. THANK GOD FOR THIS.

Over the weekend, I took a bunch of pictures, of the kids and places we were going (wife and kids), the camera is pretty impressive over all. Picture quality is as good as the ICON in most cases(13mp camera) and the focus is VERY fast, as it uses a laser focus. Almost as fast as my wife's iPhone 5c but, worlds better in quality.

Using the OS, seems like an unfinished OS, what I mean, with all the screens around the OS, there is so many places where you can move apps, and even on your home page (that shows time, weather and your main apps), you can only put so many icons and need to swipe to see more, with no "live tiles" and if you have something in one of the apps, you just see the number on the ICON. This is a LG G3, so their front end is different I assume than say, Samsung.

There is a lot of aspects of Android, I don't understand, like Widgets (WTF are they?) and on the 2nd screen it's got Amazon, although I don't mind shopping there time to time, How do I get rid of that and put something useful there ?

Microsoft Outlook for Android is a MAJOR disappointment, I was expecting more from it. Outlook as always been known as one of the best PIM (personal information manager) applications ever and even on the PC, there really is not much that comes close to it, in layout and features.

On a phone, I expected it to REPLACE the built in Mail/Contacts/calendar that is all made by google (OS default apps). Although it's a nice email manager. If you have contacts in outlook, they do not populate the phone, so no contacts in your phone book for dialing numbers (WTF ?). And I did get notifications for emails on the phone but, With the official Pebble app (my Pebble steel that I live by), it does not get email notifications from Outlook but, they did from the default app (is there a setting for this ?). So as we all thought of Microsoft selling out, maybe it's just the fact that they limited the features on this, so if you want the FULL outlook experience, you need a Windows Phone ?

As for the hardware, I like the phone a lot, it's slick, sexy and 5.5" display is awesome. In just ease of use, layout, I think Windows Phone has it.

I like what this phone offers and most of the things is the LIMITS of Windows Phone, Tap to pay, Apps, Native hardware support (smartwatches and other devices) and Apps (yes, I said it 2 times because this is HUGE all the apps that I am dreaming of on WP, are ALL AVAILABLE on Android).

At this point, I still like Windows Phone's experience much better but, it's only been a few days now...

To Android experts, Is there a good site or set of videos someplace that will show all the features and how to use them on Android ? Just so I can give this a fair test ?

 

[realwarder]

Thanks for the update - am subscribed to your journey. WM10 may get more apps due to Android app support. Maybe payment solution too. Not long to find out. Odd that Outlook is so poor on Android. Mail was one thing that I found excellent on WP8 but I had heard such good things about other mobile mail platforms. Of course WM10 Outlook is quite featured now so perhaps it's ahead of the other platforms again.

 

[Laura Knotek]

OK, Day 2, first day of work with it, over all very busy day so I didn't use the phone too much, maybe checked email 10-15 times, about 8-10 texts and checked a few other things a few times. Battery was at 100% when pulled off the charger (5:50am), it's 8.10pm, battery is at 59%. Not too bad on this aspect.

I thought the Verizon LG G3 came with wireless charging (I have an ICON and wireless chargers all around) but, No that is another $40(new back cover)...WTF ? So eBay, you can replace the NFC sticker on the back cover, $7.95, ordered from a local seller should have in a day or so. THANK GOD FOR THIS.

Over the weekend, I took a bunch of pictures, of the kids and places we were going (wife and kids), the camera is pretty impressive over all. Picture quality is as good as the ICON in most cases(13mp camera) and the focus is VERY fast, as it uses a laser focus. Almost as fast as my wife's iPhone 5c but, worlds better in quality.

Using the OS, seems like an unfinished OS, what I mean, with all the screens around the OS, there is so many places where you can move apps, and even on your home page (that shows time, weather and your main apps), you can only put so many icons and need to swipe to see more, with no "live tiles" and if you have something in one of the apps, you just see the number on the ICON. This is a LG G3, so their front end is different I assume than say, Samsung.

There is a lot of aspects of Android, I don't understand, like Widgets (WTF are they?) and on the 2nd screen it's got Amazon, although I don't mind shopping there time to time, How do I get rid of that and put something useful there ?

Microsoft Outlook for Android is a MAJOR disappointment, I was expecting more from it. Outlook as always been known as one of the best PIM (personal information manager) applications ever and even on the PC, there really is not much that comes close to it, in layout and features.

On a phone, I expected it to REPLACE the built in Mail/Contacts/calendar that is all made by google (OS default apps). Although it's a nice email manager. If you have contacts in outlook, they do not populate the phone, so no contacts in your phone book for dialing numbers (WTF ?). And I did get notifications for emails on the phone but, With the official Pebble app (my Pebble steel that I live by), it does not get email notifications from Outlook but, they did from the default app (is there a setting for this ?). So as we all thought of Microsoft selling out, maybe it's just the fact that they limited the features on this, so if you want the FULL outlook experience, you need a Windows Phone ?

As for the hardware, I like the phone a lot, it's slick, sexy and 5.5" display is awesome. In just ease of use, layout, I think Windows Phone has it.

I like what this phone offers and most of the things is the LIMITS of Windows Phone, Tap to pay, Apps, Native hardware support (smartwatches and other devices) and Apps (yes, I said it 2 times because this is HUGE all the apps that I am dreaming of on WP, are ALL AVAILABLE on Android).

At this point, I still like Windows Phone's experience much better but, it's only been a few days now...

To Android experts, Is there a good site or set of videos someplace that will show all the features and how to use them on Android ? Just so I can give this a fair test ?

Here's a good article about customizing the homescreens. How to edit the homescreens on the LG G4 http://www.androidcentral.com/how-edit-homescreens-lg-g4

 

[DavidinCT]

One other cool thing I wanted to bring up, is using a Pebble on a phone that has native support...This is freaking cool. So I get a text and a little icon shows up on the center of the right side(with showing the content of the text), if I push the center button on the watch, it gives me an option "Open on Phone" or "dismiss". If I select "Open on Phone" when I unlock the phone, the app is open and brings me right to the notification I got, works on texts, emails and Facebook posts....very cool.

Not something we got with the Pebble Notifications app for Windows Phone... another disappointment

 

[ven07]

Lol for some reason I always had an issue with the many screens available for placing apps as well but that's mostly because some people have no organization skills :/ apps everywhere...

 

[tgp]

Lol for some reason I always had an issue with the many screens available for placing apps as well

Although I'm used to it, I understand what you mean. But in reality, the concept is not much different than WP. Think of it as scrolling horizontally rather than vertically.

Sent from whatever device I happen to be using today using Tapatalk

 

[DavidinCT]

OK, Day 4. So far, I miss Cortana, as when I am driving my texts are not read to me, and I get some crap for not replying to my wife when she texts me (one of those...can you stop at the store on the way home from work?).

Applications, the versions that are on both WP and Android, the android versions of everything I have tried is better, quality, updated and features. This includes the big ones, like Facebook and Twitter. Never mind little apps.

Another example, Tune in radio, I use to stream a local station, where I am working now (just started a new job a 2 weeks ago) I lose the station 1/2 way to work (and I like the morning show), The Windows Phone version seems like it was updated 5 years ago compared to the Android version and the WP version sometimes stops after 5-10 min, requiring you to restart the app or just hit play to play it again, the Android version, used it 3 times this week and over an hour each time with 0 stops and it seems to buffer better, I know there is some spotty areas on the way to work and I do not lose the station once(it handles it better than the WP version does).

Games, as I am a Xbox player, I miss that. There is a lot of cool games for it.

As I use it more and more, the OS is ok, I guess, it's almost an iPhone clone in some aspects (screens full of icons), I got my 3 email accounts I setup into 3 icons( gave up on Outlook, not using it any more), that show the email as a number, day to day, so far, it's doing the job. Still trying to understand some features of it, I don't know the whole thing.

I still like Windows Phone's layout better and the look over the OS more.

I just wish Microsoft had more apps....

 

[realwarder]

An updated Windows 10 version of Tune In is coming.

Apps apps apps. It's always about the apps

 

[DavidinCT]

An updated Windows 10 version of Tune In is coming.

Apps apps apps. It's always about the apps

But, that is what it IS about....Talk to anyone with an iPhone, or Android, it's all about the apps. It's also the reason why I am giving Android a test to see if it's actually better on the other side. And Microsoft knows this...

We used to have some of the apps that I wanted but, they got pulled at one point or another but, If they are giving us a updated Tune in on WIndows 10....when is the next time it's updated when WIndows 11 comes out (and we know that is NOT coming anytime soon)?

After all, on Tune in, I think it's the same app that we got back on Windows phone 7 (there is a LOT of apps like that, in the marketplace and NEVER updated)

 

[tgp]

OK, Day 4. So far, I miss Cortana, as when I am driving my texts are not read to me, and I get some crap for not replying to my wife when she texts me (one of those...can you stop at the store on the way home from work?).

This is one area where WP easily beats Android. Android does have a built in function that will read texts to you and allow hands free operation. It is in Settings > Accessibility > TalkBack. The caveat is that TalkBack is designed for the vision impaired, and it will say aloud everything that happens, such as taps. However, I believe it will do what you want.

Otherwise, there are apps! Motorola has Moto Assist, which is brilliant. My wife has a Moto X, and her phone does what WP does as far as reading texts and offering total hands free operation. It switches on automatically while driving. However, it is not a built in Android feature, but rather Motorola. There is at least one good app that emulates Moto Assist pretty well, called Agent. It is free in the Play Store for trial, with an IAP upgrade. And FWIW, it was last updated 3 days ago! Agent - Play Store

If you miss Live Tiles and/or do not like the sea of icons, have you tried using widgets? In my opinion they're Live Tiles on steroids. I like them much better, since they're actionable.