W10 Mobile or Android?

[mister greed]

Can you tell me of any security issues you personally had while on Android? Just curious.

You are right, nothing wrong with being a dual user, they could get an Android tablet for home use.

I haven't had any personally. Thankfully. One because I could never in good sense use android as a primary device but also because I was fortunate to use a nexus. However my mother device is still running an older android version and still susceptible to the big stage fright issue. I have to buy her a new phone soon anyway and I am hoping she will be ready to switch to iPhone or to whatever cheap windows phone I can get her. Probably the 650.

A former android fan turned Apple friend of mine had his phone hacked due to an app he downloaded directly from the play store. He didn't realize it at first until he noticed contacts and text messages were missing and then later noted that there were apps he never installed on his phone. He of course since went to Apple and is fine and has little worries.

 

[N_LaRUE]

I haven't had any personally. Thankfully. One because I could never in good sense use android as a primary device but also because I was fortunate to use a nexus. However my mother device is still running an older android version and still susceptible to the big stage fright issue. I have to buy her a new phone soon anyway and I am hoping she will be ready to switch to iPhone or to whatever cheap windows phone I can get her. Probably the 650.

A former android fan turned Apple friend of mine had his phone hacked due to an app he downloaded directly from the play store. He didn't realize it at first until he noticed contacts and text messages were missing and then later noted that there were apps he never installed on his phone. He of course since went to Apple and is fine and has little worries.

I'm not in anyway of implying that Android is perfect, it's not, but it's secure enough for most people. I'm curious about when that happened to your friend but it doesn't matter I can understand the desire to switch after such an incident.

I've had no issues and I've installed quite a few different apps and I know of many others who are just fine.

As the saying goes, to each their own.

I'd like to use Windows Mobile again but it just lacks too much of what I use that it would become painful to use. I'm hoping that will change one day but currently it simply doesn't suit me. Saying that I'm quite happy with Android at the moment and I'm looking to change phones either this year or early next.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Given that Cortana is non-optional in W10M, and possibly W10 as a whole next month, I recommend not touching anything from MS, unless you enjoy giving a company a direct line to all of your data, local or otherwise. Microsoft's gone all-in with making Cortana a widespread spybot, and it has me unable to recommend anything from them going forward, and I'm now considering leaving W10M over it. I find it to be the most abhorrent thing they could do, and they're going for it.

 

[Krystianpants]

As far as the OS goes, I prefer windows 10 mobile. Redstone 1 actually has improved it quite a bit. I have no issues with using cortana in the car at this point. There were previously during testing of builds.

Home automation is actually not bad on the windows ecosystem because windows 10 supports protocols that make it easy. Insteon has a big partnership with Microsoft that lets people use their entire api to work with any automation systems that incorporate insteon.

Two popular ones I know of are:
*Staples Connect
*smart things which uses the smart things hub.
*Insteon obviously

You can buy insteon stuff at ms store as well.

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/list/Insteon/categoryID.69441100


It's a matter of whether the particular model you want has an app or not. I recommend you find 3 of your favourite solutions and then find out if any of them have an app on the windows ecosystem.

 

[white_Shadoww]

Most of the suggestions already point at an Android device and looks like it's going to win. However, I just have some concerns regarding Android devices:

- Security and safety - Android devices have been known to be hacked and are prone to "viruses" and malware (some of which can even be downloaded in the store); Windows Phones, on the other hand, has one of the best security implementations, and hence has not been hacked or infected by any virus;

- Bloatware and OS alterations - different phone manufacturers modify the OS and include a lot of unnecessary apps and features in their devices which are not part of the original OS; no such thing in Windows Phones;

- Performance issues - ever wondered why almost all Android devices come with 6 cores, 8 cores, (are the 12-core Android devices already out?)? That's because they will (eventually) need them. Android is written in such a way that it will grow in size over time, cluttering the system, which will eventually slow it down. All those cores are needed to "delay" the effects of the slowing down, long enough that the average user will hopefully not experience it until he or she decides to get a new phone. By the way, that's also the reason some of them come with extra-ordinarily huge battery capacities.

I'm not a fan, but these are the things (especially security) which made me stick with Windows Phones since Windows Mobile 5, and when my Lumia 1020 was already showing signs of aging and with unclear intentions from Microsoft whether they will be continuing Windows Mobile, I still didn't choose Android and moved over to an iPhone.

That said, to balance things out, the primary concern you should look at in Windows Mobile is the ambiguous stand of Microsoft. Are they going to release new phones? When?

Things have turned upside down now. I see no Android phone lagging now. All the apps open in an instant, scrolling is smooth and battery life is also good. It's no more the old Android now. However Windows 10 Mobile, in my experience is not blatantly smooth and fast as the 8.1 was! And honestly I have yet to see a malware incident on Android personally.

 

[schishol]

I love the WP10 OS ... as for apps, regardless of which OS your phone has, many of the apps (banking industry for example) are constantly changing and never offer all the full functionality found on their respective websites. Therefore many of the apps that are only available for Android and Apple, are deficient in functionality and in a constant state of flux (no fault of the OS). With Windows 10 phones, I personally found I no longer want the apps ... I simply visit the website via Edge (or IE if the website hasn't been updated in a long time) and do my banking as I would on my laptop ... all features of the site are available and function just like I'm on my laptop.

I had android OS phones in the past and although there are more apps, several apps seem to follow the same path ... they're cool at first, but eventually stop working or are unable to do what I want them to do after a few months. Technology is moving fast and websites are constantly being updated to accommodate, but apps get left behind ... with windows phones, that's not that big of a concern.

 

[libra89]

Given that Cortana is non-optional in W10M, and possibly W10 as a whole next month, I recommend not touching anything from MS, unless you enjoy giving a company a direct line to all of your data, local or otherwise. Microsoft's gone all-in with making Cortana a widespread spybot, and it has me unable to recommend anything from them going forward, and I'm now considering leaving W10M over it. I find it to be the most abhorrent thing they could do, and they're going for it.

So then will you bite into the apple? You have the option to disable Siri altogether. I have Hey Siri turned off because I wouldn't use it, but Siri itself is turned on.

 

[Krystianpants]

Can you tell me of any security issues you personally had while on Android? Just curious.

You are right, nothing wrong with being a dual user, they could get an Android tablet for home use.

The security issues on android exist for 2 reasons.
*users don't all have the latest version and as such are stuck with old versions that will not be upgraded. So anything that even google discovers and patches hackers can jump on and find a way to exploit it knowing most users won't get these patches.
*People root their phones. A lot of people love to tinker with android and that's part of its popularity, the problem is once a phone is rooted not only can you get malware/viruses from outside of the play store, you can get them just browsing to sites or receiving MMS messages, etc.. And here the design of android comes into play. It uses an open source library that has a pretty hardcore exploit that google hasn't been able to patch. It tried patching it but the workaround was not good enough. I think the issue is that it can break everything if you want to truly fix it. So while it doesn't affect non-rooted devices it does affected rooted devices.

There is a lot of malware that has been discovered in the playstore so it's not exactly immune if you only use the play store. But typically these apps still have limitations to what they can do if you're not rooted.

That being said. I appreciate what MS has been able to create. An OS that any OEM can put on their phones and where OEMs don't control the updates but MS does. OEMs also can load apps and other things onto the OS but these apps just download from the store. They can even modify what the start screen looks like and create personalized experiences. The OS is so modular that updates don't mess with there work. It also gets around the whole UI mess that Android creates. OEMs creating horrible UI like touchWiz that slow down the OS. So it's sort of like ios and sort of like android.

 

[Giddora]

You should look at the rest of your ecosystem. Do you have other w10 units? Xbox? Use Microsoft services?

Android is the worst out of the three though. If you are tired of Ios and still want to be satisfied, w10 is the only viable option right now.

 

[Jakoh]

I have the "tablet phone" combination to make up for WM10. But some apps are "not compatible" by my tablet, annoying i am in the process of rooting it and then changing the device id.

 

[berny_533]

Until MS takes their mobile division seriously I would recommend android I currently have two windows mobile devices a L1520 and L830 and I am preparing to leave the platform very shortly unless MS can produce a stable workable build

 

[Bobvfr]

Don't know what "Smart home" stuff you are thinking about, I have Hue lighting and Lightwave stuff for power sockets.

With the Hue lighting I use Huetro for Hue, this is a fantastic Universal app so I can control my lighting from my desktop, Surface Pro 3 and my 950XL (In Continuum mode as well) and hopefully in a month or two from my Xbox One.

Lightwave has an 8.1 app that runs on PC and phone (Although it looks the same on both I am sure it's not universal and doesn't run in Continuum) but it works.

I have my lighting (Table lamps run on lightwave) on timers some using time and some using sunset etc. My hot water and a few other things apart from lighting is now timed would look at what stuff you want and do some research but Windows on phones doesn't mean no attempt at a smart home...................

 

[mister greed]

Things have turned upside down now. I see no Android phone lagging now. All the apps open in an instant, scrolling is smooth and battery life is also good. It's no more the old Android now. However Windows 10 Mobile, in my experience is not blatantly smooth and fast as the 8.1 was! And honestly I have yet to see a malware incident on Android personally.

at least since redstone, I have seen far better performance (On par with 8.1) and native windows 10 mobile apps, the apps work fine. When peope mention apps not launching or lagging, i am like most of the apps are wp7/wp8 apps...what do you expect? LOL, the apps are playing to the lowest common denominator and are being utilized on a new platform they werent made for. If you notice, most of the windows 10 apps work with far little complaints.

 

[white_Shadoww]

at least since redstone, I have seen far better performance (On par with 8.1) and native windows 10 mobile apps, the apps work fine. When peope mention apps not launching or lagging, i am like most of the apps are wp7/wp8 apps...what do you expect? LOL, the apps are playing to the lowest common denominator and are being utilized on a new platform they werent made for. If you notice, most of the windows 10 apps work with far little complaints.

That's good to know RedStone has performance fixes. Looking forward to it! And I'm not even talking about WP7/8/8.1 apps. I'm talking about native Windows 10 apps. Ex. Outlook app. I don't use it much but in my opinion, it feels more solid on Android. Maybe it's with the small stutters and jitters that we see on Windows 10 Mobile. I don't feel it polished. See the Photos app. When opened it shows the status bar, the app loads below the status bar and then the status bar hides abruptly. This doesn't happen on Android. Windows Phone 8 too used to hide the status bar, but that was much smoother animation. Also, even on my laptop, when new photos are added to the library and I open Photos app, it takes a second or 2 to refresh. No gallery app on Android does this. At least not the default one and the WP8/8.1 app didn't do it either. To me, Windows 10 apps feel 'not fully baked'. UI wise and performance wise. If you use Android, it just feels super smooth nowadays. Apps are very responsive and polished. Even MS apps are better on Android. Anyway, it's my opinion. Yours can differ! Excited for RedStone if it's that good!

 

[aximtreo]

I guess I have the best of two worlds; Android and WM. I have a Nexus 6 upgraded to the latest Android 7 version. I also have the Nokia 1520 running WM 10 latest fast ring release. I don't use either for home automation and my current auto does not support BT or other car systems.

You will note that both my phones are vintage 2 years old since release. The 1520 cost me $125 and the Nexus 64 cost me $250. That's what a 950 would cost. I'm happy with using both since the SIM cards are the same and changing one to another takes about 3 minutes tops.

As for which one I like and use the most. That would be the 1520. The OS is easier to use for me and so intuitive. The Nexus is used for those apps that aren't on WP; the biggest being the MLB At Bat app. The windows version was not released for 2016. ?????

Both screens are 6" and I love the size. My next phone will have to be 5.7" or larger. My 71 year old eyes needs the extra size and the ability to change font size.

So, I suggest you buy a cheap WM 10 used phone and a Nexus Android phone for now. By the end of the 1/4 17, there will be a more clearer choice of OS and hardware for what you want to use it for.

 

[chezm]

For what it's worth, I used Android Auto on a 2016 Chevy Colorado from work and it was abysmal. Lots of freezes and generally non-functional. Motorola devices were much better than Samsungs but very troublesome maintaining a connection and wouldn't disconnect without rebooting the phone. That was the only effective method of disconnecting after getting out of the truck.

I use Android auto with my Nexus 6P every day and it's never once had a problem. However, my previous S6 and Lg G4 both had issues, but this is the OEM fault and not AA.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[fatclue_98]

I use Android auto with my Nexus 6P every day and it's never once had a problem. However, my previous S6 and Lg G4 both had issues, but this is the OEM fault and not AA.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Android Auto is a Google app, it's OEM-agnostic. It sounds like Google didn't optimize the app to work with the bluetooth stacks from different suppliers. It's what we call "fragmentation" and it's as real as the Windows app gap.

 

[chezm]

Android Auto is a Google app, it's OEM-agnostic. It sounds like Google didn't optimize the app to work with the bluetooth stacks from different suppliers. It's what we call "fragmentation" and it's as real as the Windows app gap.

That's an assumption as many other OEM have no issue running AA much like the Nexus devices. Plus a bunch of the issues aren't related to Bluetooth since the device is directly connected and talking via USB, my problems with S6 and G4 were more gps mapping and caching related problems. So while I would be quick to assume your assumption can be probably deemed a possibility it's not a clear definite reason.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[fatclue_98]

That's an assumption as many other OEM have no issue running AA much like the Nexus devices.

I wasn't aware of separate stores for OEMs inside the Play Store. I'll be sure to visit the appropriate Samsung Store next time I need to download Google apps.

 

[fatclue_98]

Don't know what "Smart home" stuff you are thinking about, I have Hue lighting and Lightwave stuff for power sockets.

With the Hue lighting I use Huetro for Hue, this is a fantastic Universal app so I can control my lighting from my desktop, Surface Pro 3 and my 950XL (In Continuum mode as well) and hopefully in a month or two from my Xbox One.

Lightwave has an 8.1 app that runs on PC and phone (Although it looks the same on both I am sure it's not universal and doesn't run in Continuum) but it works.

I have my lighting (Table lamps run on lightwave) on timers some using time and some using sunset etc. My hot water and a few other things apart from lighting is now timed would look at what stuff you want and do some research but Windows on phones doesn't mean no attempt at a smart home...................

SmartThings is available for Windows 10 Mobile.

https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...rtthings-mobile%2F9wzdncrdszmq&token=jcdVEZ1k