Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

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tgp

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The tipping point on swapping the 6S+ for the S8+ was the totally degraded battery life on 10.3.2

I had an S7 Edge, and I just got an S8+ about a week ago. My S7 Edge had marginal battery life at best, but with the S8+ I can't kill it! I'm getting spoiled running hard all day with the hotspot on some of the time and it being at 30 - 40% at bedtime.

I don't use an iPhone, but I have an iPad. I just switched from an iPad Mini 4 to a 2017 iPad. I have been very impressed with their battery life. But I know that tablets are a whole different ball game. I think the worst tablet I ever had for battery life was the Surface 3.
 

fatclue_98

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I had an S7 Edge, and I just got an S8+ about a week ago. My S7 Edge had marginal battery life at best, but with the S8+ I can't kill it! I'm getting spoiled running hard all day with the hotspot on some of the time and it being at 30 - 40% at bedtime.

I don't use an iPhone, but I have an iPad. I just switched from an iPad Mini 4 to a 2017 iPad. I have been very impressed with their battery life. But I know that tablets are a whole different ball game. I think the worst tablet I ever had for battery life was the Surface 3.
I've only had the phone for a little over a day so it's kind of early to say conclusively but after a full day at work (12 hours) I had over 45%. That sounds awful but my iPhone couldn't do that in its wildest dreams. It's still a challenge getting used to the 18:9 aspect ratio. A lot more scrolling than I'm accustomed to for text and tons more panning on PDFs.
 

nate0

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I've only had the phone for a little over a day so it's kind of early to say conclusively but after a full day at work (12 hours) I had over 45%. That sounds awful but my iPhone couldn't do that in its wildest dreams. It's still a challenge getting used to the 18:9 aspect ratio. A lot more scrolling than I'm accustomed to for text and tons more panning on PDFs.

SD 835. Can't wait to see how W10 does on it when it comes...
 

fatclue_98

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SD 835. Can't wait to see how W10 does on it when it comes...
I saw Android on the 820 with my G5 and I really don't see that much of a performance improvement with this 835. Those who haven't experienced W10 on the 820 will definitely think they died and went to heaven. We Idol and x3 users won't see much, if any, bump in performance. The 820 is that good.
 

nate0

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I saw Android on the 820 with my G5 and I really don't see that much of a performance improvement with this 835. Those who haven't experienced W10 on the 820 will definitely think they died and went to heaven. We Idol and x3 users won't see much, if any, bump in performance. The 820 is that good.
Battery performance/consumption is a big selling point for many.
 

jdballard

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To use Android fully, you really need to use Google Calendar and Gmail for contacts. I've read good things about Nine Mail which keeps Outlook.com and Google in sync.

There's no need to use a Google calendar or contacts. I've simply disabled notifications from my Google calendar and left Nine Mail calendar notifications active, and I believe I had the same setup on the MS Outlook client. Even if I use the out-of-box calendar app, I can change what calendar an event is created on.

As for contacts, I use Nine Mail, so all my contacts are there in my email. For my phone book, I set my Nine Mail (i.e., Outlook account) as my default address book. On my Samsung S8, I can only choose one address book to show in my phone contacts but on my HTC 10 I could select several which was a little nicer.

The only area that's a little iffy are groups. It doesn't seem to like my Outlook groups. I send so few group messages, though, that I really don't care about that. It might be more important to others, though.

And I'm assuming when you say Nine Mail keeps Outlook.com and Google in sync, you're not saying it actually syncs data between them you actually mean it allows you to use your Outlook.com and Google contacts on an Android are you? If it did sync them, that would be kind of cool

You can actually get by pretty well without using Google contacts or calendar on an Android.
 

fatclue_98

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There's no need to use a Google calendar or contacts. I've simply disabled notifications from my Google calendar and left Nine Mail calendar notifications active, and I believe I had the same setup on the MS Outlook client. Even if I use the out-of-box calendar app, I can change what calendar an event is created on.

As for contacts, I use Nine Mail, so all my contacts are there in my email. For my phone book, I set my Nine Mail (i.e., Outlook account) as my default address book. On my Samsung S8, I can only choose one address book to show in my phone contacts but on my HTC 10 I could select several which was a little nicer.

The only area that's a little iffy are groups. It doesn't seem to like my Outlook groups. I send so few group messages, though, that I really don't care about that. It might be more important to others, though.

And I'm assuming when you say Nine Mail keeps Outlook.com and Google in sync, you're not saying it actually syncs data between them you actually mean it allows you to use your Outlook.com and Google contacts on an Android are you? If it did sync them, that would be kind of cool

You can actually get by pretty well without using Google contacts or calendar on an Android.
There's another option for Android users not willing to put up with Google and that is the BlackBerry Hub services. It's the closest thing to native Outlook on WM in that you can pin each account to your home screen. If you also go with the BlackBerry Launcher then you also get badges for each account you pin.

Contacts and calendars are smooth as silk along with per-account signatures and ringtones. Printing emails are also a sweet perk. I know I won't be using any other PIM client anytime soon.
 

libra89

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Yeah but one of those will get lost in your pocket and you need reading glasses to see anything

Speak for yourself. The only reason why I am using a 7 over the SE is because the better radios are badly needed at work.

As I like to say, when/if they decide to release a refreshed SE, my 7 will be gone.
 

camaroz1985

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I agree. If they release an updated SE with water resistance and 3D touch (and updated radios for libra), I would see no reason to have a 7 sized phone. I thought it would be too small after spending several years with the likes of 1520, 830, 640XL, 950 and Pixel, and was just going to use it as a test device, but after a week or so it feels normal, and my wife's 6S feels big.

If they make a phone with the same external dimensions as the SE with an edge to edge screen or small bezels it would have the same size screen as the regular 7. That would be pretty cool, but even if the screen stayed the same as it is now, I would not hesitate to pick one up.
 

libra89

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I agree. If they release an updated SE with water resistance and 3D touch (and updated radios for libra), I would see no reason to have a 7 sized phone. I thought it would be too small after spending several years with the likes of 1520, 830, 640XL, 950 and Pixel, and was just going to use it as a test device, but after a week or so it feels normal, and my wife's 6S feels big.

If they make a phone with the same external dimensions as the SE with an edge to edge screen or small bezels it would have the same size screen as the regular 7. That would be pretty cool, but even if the screen stayed the same as it is now, I would not hesitate to pick one up.

+1
I can only imagine how that feels. I have kind of adjusted to the size of the 7 but it doesn't feel as nice and small as the SE does.
 
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nate0

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I like that it fits in my pocket and doesn't get in the way. I worried about reading text and it hasn't been an issue. Battery life is awesome.

iOS scales up and down really well. Never had an issue reading text. Some apps have scaling independent of the OS too.
 

fatclue_98

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More S8+ observations. First, the camera is amazing, no other way around it. I'm still a little sour on the display aspect ratio but it at least shrinks the keyboard making it a bit easier for one-thumb typing.

After some research, DeX is a no-go without the dock and that sucks bigly. Of all the apps Microsoft made available to Android I wished Continuum was one of them. Sentio is a waste of time.

Being that TouchWiz is the worst skin ever, there are of course some irritating things about it. Most irritating are the miniscule nav buttons and the proximity of the home button to the app drawer. I find myself constantly opening the app drawer because the button is twice the size of the home button and they're 2mm apart. Throw in my big thumbs and you can get a clear picture.

The excess scrolling can be a little bothersome but I think back to my time with an SE or my Pre3 and it's not so bad. Balancing the pros and cons with the Nexus 6 is hard due to the Nexus' ease of use and its speed. Did I mention the S8's camera is ridiculously good? I would hate to put a $850 phone in a drawer because a phone from 3 years ago is more user-friendly but it is looming on the horizon. Oh, did I mention that camera?
 

nate0

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@fatclue_98
You have owned a 950 XL right?
I do not know what it is about the 950 XL but the screen size and size of the actual device or just pleasant. I can get to everything on the phone and with a large screen. It scales almost everything perfect now. Back a year ago I struggled with that. So glad Microsoft is coming with the c-shell and then the full game will be on...maybe not for the 950s but for all hw to come later it will do well for.
 

nate0

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Also touchwiz is something else...in a bad way.

The android keyboard/g-board for me is horrific. Even on a 5.5" phone I struggle with the VKB on android phones. Never have that issue moving back and forth with iOS. The W10M keyboard to me is very nice. Next is the iOS kb, very fluid indeed. Android virtual keyboard for me...eek.
 
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