My reasoning for "the switch" was because after using the OG Droid, the Droid X, I spent 2 years with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (the supposedly "pure google phone") and it was the absolute worst phone ive ever used, and this goes to pre-smart phone days, even worse than the Blackberry Storm. It lagged like crazy, from the day I bought it, until the day I threw it into my drawer vowing to never turn it on again (that was 3 weeks ago when i got the Lumia Icon). I just got so tired of installing Rom after Rom, and different Kernals, and Nightlys, etc - all of which gave different features, and all ran like complete crap and forced me to backup, backup apps, restore, etc, which takes hours sometimes. It was just so damn frustrating, I decided to wipe it clean, and return to stock, and the thing still couldnt work well. Ive played with all the new Android phones over the past few months (well, the verizon ones at least) - the Note3, HTC One, LGG2, SGS4. I am just over the user experience of Android, and wanted to really try something new - not to mention that I just dont want to deal with Rooting, and Roming anymore - it seems to cause more problems than it solves. The only thing I miss is the free WIFI tethering made available with Rooting the phone.
As far as apps are concerned - I have 2 kids, and the camera is really the most important thing to me, and the Lumia Icon can only be beat by the 1020 in that regard (but for some reason, Nokia decided to only release on ATT). So far, ive found the experience to be pretty fantastic. I happen to love the live tiles, I love them on a PC, Tablet, and now a phone. Its just a great way to see updates for all of your information (i am extremely excited for notification center on WP 8.1 - this is the only negative to the WP OS - a shortcut to notifications - after that, I will have nothing to really critique). I have Windows 8 PC, and tablet at home, and they sync beautifully with my phone. I set up mail forwarding for GMAIL -> Outlook.com, I love the mail applications in W8, and WP8, the sweep of emails, and how its organized, the UI, etc - its just great. . I dont use a ton of apps, but the ones I do use (Facebook Beta, Paypal, IM+ (for gchat), Pandora, ESPN, Skype, Sky/Onedrive, Box, Teamviewer, Netflix, Onenote are all there, and function exactly how i need them. Note: I dont use Instagram, Twitter, or vine, or any of those apps - but i hear the 6tag, 6sec, etc. apps are better than native apps.
The apps that I used on Android, that are not on WP are as follows:
- Flipboard: I use Weave, and BingNews/Sports - dont miss it at all, but when it comes available, supposedly soon, ill download it and see if its better than the others - but for new reading, I find whats available to be perfectly suitable - I dont miss anything.
- Gmail: works just fine with built in mail app - but I am done with having google scan my personal emails for add placement - Ive opted to forward all gmail to my outlook.com address, and I find that it is generally a better user experience, both on the web, phone, and PC. If you dont want to forward your Gmail to outlook.com, you can use Metromail - it will keep your labels, etc, and I found it to be even better than the native Gmail app on Android, as you could customize it more.
- Hangouts: I use IM+ for chat, works totally fine with Gchat. I never use it for anything other than chat, so im not missing anything
- Google Voice - I installed Metrotalk free, it works great - Although, it seems that Google is breaking support for 3rd party apps - that being said, voice calls work fine for Gvoice, and when i get a VM, it goes to my email, and i can just hit the play icon from the email notification. Im not missing anything here really.
- Youtube: MetroTube - works great, no love lost for the Android youtube app - I can even download audio, or video from the app - Android app doesnt do that - so in my book, this is even better than android
- Google Music: I have over 20gb of music uploaded to my google account - Cloudmuzic beta - works great. That being said - I absolutely LOVE Nokia Mix Radio - its so much better than Pandora. I also have XBOX music pass, and really have no reason to ever even log into my Google Music ever again - I have access to pretty much any album, or song i can think of.
- Games: I play games on occasion - there is a slight gap in games, and if you absolutely have to have the most new mobile game at launch, then get Iphone or Android. That being said, there is only 1 game that I want to play that isnt on the mobile platform, and its Madden. Fifa is there, most of the Gameloft games, GTA, etc. I think youll be hard pressed to find it lacking.
- Google Now: I hated it - but probably cause it immediately crashed my phone when it opened, and never used it - that being said, hitting the soft search key on WP brings up Bing Search, and there is a mic button where voice search recognition is impeccable, the QR code scanner is right there (the little eye icon), the music listener that tells you the song (the little note icon), and shortcut to here maps local search. Cortana is coming, and something tells me MS will get it right, from what we hear, it takes the best of Siri, and Google Now, and combines them into a digital assistant that people will actually want to use. The jury will be out, I am excited to see it in action in another month at build.
- Google Maps - Navigation is 100xs better on Nokia Drive, Maps are great, can be downloaded for offline access, the Here Local search is better than Yelp, google now, etc on android - not missing anything really.
- Chrome vs. IE - Chrome lagged like a SOB on my old android phone. IE is fast and fluid, and the websites work. The 6 tab limit is kind of annoying, but it seems that WP8.1 will fix some things on this end. That being said, the only thing I miss about Chrome would be how open webpages are accessible from different devices, but from what we are being told, IE11 and WP8.1 will give this feature.
- Google Drive/Apps vs. Onedrive/Office - really you want to compare these - ugh, where do i begin........Office>googledocs by a million times, Onedrive>Google Drive, simply because MS supports it across platforms, i can sync photos with my wifes iphone, my work PC, etc. Google drive is a gimped experience in comparison. If you use google docs for your work, ah hahaha, have fun, thats all I can say. Office is the industry standard for a reason, its better. That being said - Pocket File Manager will cost you a buck, but it gives you access to all your cloud storage services (including Gdrive) from a single app - cant recommend it enough.
Apps I dont have on WP, that I used on my Android phone with no alternative- PBS Kids - yup, thats about it. A kids app, thats what im missing. I missed my background images, but found "Custom Tiles Maker" app that lets you customize your start screen with images that are live tiles. I have a photo of my daughter, and son that flip and changes, its pretty cool. I also use Lockmix for customized lockscreen, its great. Basically like adding widgets to your lockscreen on Android, pretty similar actually, only it doesnt make the phone lag like crazy.
Ok, end of rant - long story short, I dont miss Android, at all. People see my Lumia Icon, and they all ask about it - strangers on the bus / subway, people I work with, etc. I cannot recommend it enough, I think its really better user experience overall than both IOS, and Android. The only thing holding it back is Google's lack of support, and a completely biased media that is focused on App count, and hating anything not with an i in front of it.
As far as apps are concerned - I have 2 kids, and the camera is really the most important thing to me, and the Lumia Icon can only be beat by the 1020 in that regard (but for some reason, Nokia decided to only release on ATT). So far, ive found the experience to be pretty fantastic. I happen to love the live tiles, I love them on a PC, Tablet, and now a phone. Its just a great way to see updates for all of your information (i am extremely excited for notification center on WP 8.1 - this is the only negative to the WP OS - a shortcut to notifications - after that, I will have nothing to really critique). I have Windows 8 PC, and tablet at home, and they sync beautifully with my phone. I set up mail forwarding for GMAIL -> Outlook.com, I love the mail applications in W8, and WP8, the sweep of emails, and how its organized, the UI, etc - its just great. . I dont use a ton of apps, but the ones I do use (Facebook Beta, Paypal, IM+ (for gchat), Pandora, ESPN, Skype, Sky/Onedrive, Box, Teamviewer, Netflix, Onenote are all there, and function exactly how i need them. Note: I dont use Instagram, Twitter, or vine, or any of those apps - but i hear the 6tag, 6sec, etc. apps are better than native apps.
The apps that I used on Android, that are not on WP are as follows:
- Flipboard: I use Weave, and BingNews/Sports - dont miss it at all, but when it comes available, supposedly soon, ill download it and see if its better than the others - but for new reading, I find whats available to be perfectly suitable - I dont miss anything.
- Gmail: works just fine with built in mail app - but I am done with having google scan my personal emails for add placement - Ive opted to forward all gmail to my outlook.com address, and I find that it is generally a better user experience, both on the web, phone, and PC. If you dont want to forward your Gmail to outlook.com, you can use Metromail - it will keep your labels, etc, and I found it to be even better than the native Gmail app on Android, as you could customize it more.
- Hangouts: I use IM+ for chat, works totally fine with Gchat. I never use it for anything other than chat, so im not missing anything
- Google Voice - I installed Metrotalk free, it works great - Although, it seems that Google is breaking support for 3rd party apps - that being said, voice calls work fine for Gvoice, and when i get a VM, it goes to my email, and i can just hit the play icon from the email notification. Im not missing anything here really.
- Youtube: MetroTube - works great, no love lost for the Android youtube app - I can even download audio, or video from the app - Android app doesnt do that - so in my book, this is even better than android
- Google Music: I have over 20gb of music uploaded to my google account - Cloudmuzic beta - works great. That being said - I absolutely LOVE Nokia Mix Radio - its so much better than Pandora. I also have XBOX music pass, and really have no reason to ever even log into my Google Music ever again - I have access to pretty much any album, or song i can think of.
- Games: I play games on occasion - there is a slight gap in games, and if you absolutely have to have the most new mobile game at launch, then get Iphone or Android. That being said, there is only 1 game that I want to play that isnt on the mobile platform, and its Madden. Fifa is there, most of the Gameloft games, GTA, etc. I think youll be hard pressed to find it lacking.
- Google Now: I hated it - but probably cause it immediately crashed my phone when it opened, and never used it - that being said, hitting the soft search key on WP brings up Bing Search, and there is a mic button where voice search recognition is impeccable, the QR code scanner is right there (the little eye icon), the music listener that tells you the song (the little note icon), and shortcut to here maps local search. Cortana is coming, and something tells me MS will get it right, from what we hear, it takes the best of Siri, and Google Now, and combines them into a digital assistant that people will actually want to use. The jury will be out, I am excited to see it in action in another month at build.
- Google Maps - Navigation is 100xs better on Nokia Drive, Maps are great, can be downloaded for offline access, the Here Local search is better than Yelp, google now, etc on android - not missing anything really.
- Chrome vs. IE - Chrome lagged like a SOB on my old android phone. IE is fast and fluid, and the websites work. The 6 tab limit is kind of annoying, but it seems that WP8.1 will fix some things on this end. That being said, the only thing I miss about Chrome would be how open webpages are accessible from different devices, but from what we are being told, IE11 and WP8.1 will give this feature.
- Google Drive/Apps vs. Onedrive/Office - really you want to compare these - ugh, where do i begin........Office>googledocs by a million times, Onedrive>Google Drive, simply because MS supports it across platforms, i can sync photos with my wifes iphone, my work PC, etc. Google drive is a gimped experience in comparison. If you use google docs for your work, ah hahaha, have fun, thats all I can say. Office is the industry standard for a reason, its better. That being said - Pocket File Manager will cost you a buck, but it gives you access to all your cloud storage services (including Gdrive) from a single app - cant recommend it enough.
Apps I dont have on WP, that I used on my Android phone with no alternative- PBS Kids - yup, thats about it. A kids app, thats what im missing. I missed my background images, but found "Custom Tiles Maker" app that lets you customize your start screen with images that are live tiles. I have a photo of my daughter, and son that flip and changes, its pretty cool. I also use Lockmix for customized lockscreen, its great. Basically like adding widgets to your lockscreen on Android, pretty similar actually, only it doesnt make the phone lag like crazy.
Ok, end of rant - long story short, I dont miss Android, at all. People see my Lumia Icon, and they all ask about it - strangers on the bus / subway, people I work with, etc. I cannot recommend it enough, I think its really better user experience overall than both IOS, and Android. The only thing holding it back is Google's lack of support, and a completely biased media that is focused on App count, and hating anything not with an i in front of it.
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