First Smartphone - advice?

[Cyclone 10]

You think you're fanbois adoration of the iphone has corrected anyone?

 

I've looked into it properly thanks, I read the IT news on a daily basis as it's part of my job.

 

Windows is definitely not the only way. Fortunately Microsoft don't make Android phones.

You're sure you know what you're talking about are you?

[dosxuk 10]

Windows is definitely not the only way. Fortunately Microsoft don't make Android phones.

 

Er... yes they do.

[CPC464 10]

I wouldn't go as far as to say it was sublime, but I do agree that its the better phone to use overall.

 

What I found with the many Androids I had was that I spent a lot time customising them - not just launchers and widgets, but trying new roms and kernels - sometimes to add features, but often to try and eliminate lag or remove the bloatware.

With the iphone you can't do this (well you can jailbreak but it's not really worth it) so I find I end up actually using the phone more. I can measure this most clearly by looking at the data usuage - I go though at least twice as much data compared to Android.

 

So yes, Android lets you do fun stuff - flashing roms and trying them out is pretty nice and quite addictive - especially if you get something with a lot of developer interest - the S3 was great for this - the lg 4x was terrible.

 

As for windows phone - it's really nice to use - the tiles system is like a near and tidy version of android widgets which are often ugly and poorly done. But app wise it's still a log way behind both ios and android. It has apps for most things - but even the official ones are very poor compared to the android and ios versions. Just look at th eBay app, twitter app, Instagram, spotify and deezer - all much worse on windows phone - months and sometimes years behind the others.

[Cyclone 10]

Er... yes they do.

 

You mean through Nokia which they acquired.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/17/5911909/microsoft-kills-off-its-nokia-android-phones

 

So, not really, or not for very long.

[Jace 10]

Bought the Moto G as a first smart phone, very impressed with it too.

 

Put a screen protector and one of these on it:http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JLMZK4E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

And it come mountain biking with me!

[dosxuk 10]

You mean through Nokia which they acquired.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/17/5911909/microsoft-kills-off-its-nokia-android-phones

 

So, not really, or not for very long.

 

Well they did launch the X2, after the Nokia merger was completed, so despite them deciding to kill it off in the near future, you can't say Microsoft don't make an Android phone, as they not only sell one today, but launched one a few months back.

[Fogey 10]

You think you're fanbois adoration of the iphone has corrected anyone?

 

I've looked into it properly thanks, I read the IT news on a daily basis as it's part of my job.

 

Windows is definitely not the only way. Fortunately Microsoft don't make Android phones.

You're sure you know what you're talking about are you?

 

I know about quality of experience and end result which is what I do for my job. Like I said, more than the sum of its parts.

[Cyclone 10]

Well, it's all pretty subjective isn't it.

You like apple, I don't.

 

Oh, but when you look at it objectively

http://www.zdnet.com/android-winning-mobile-os-war-in-australia-1339320723/

Well, Australians prefer android.

 

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/8186/20140302/ios-vs-android-windows-phone.htm

And Europeans (including the UK).

 

http://bgr.com/2014/07/01/android-market-share-2014/

Oh, and in the US as well.

 

But then, all I'm proving here is that more people prefer android phones. I can't actually prove that android phones are somehow better, because that's subjective, you like what you like. Fanbois will be fanbois, after all.

 

Still, the market can't be wrong can it. Android IS more popular, and it started from behind by quite a bit as well. Impressive, really.

[CPC464 10]

No one denies that more Android handsets are sold, but that's arguably down to price, not a measure of quality.

Other figures show that iOS owners use their phones more, spend more on apps, browse more etc - probably because many Android users don't use the smart phone features very much - it's a phone that happens to run Android.

 

By the way, the whole 'walled garden' thing isn't really true and it's very misleading.

I can put any mp3 on my phone and it will play. I can put any movie in any format and it will play (via the VLC app or any of the other video players from the App Store). It's even possible to download apps from outside the App Store, without jailbreaking - Cartoon HD and Gba4ios recently did this.

 

If anything it is Google who are now using their dominance to enforce their view of the world, or at least to push adverts into every part of it. A lot of people are not happy with the recent changes to maps which now serve more ads, or the fact that they are removing ad blocking apps from the chrome store and play store.

 

What devices do use Cyclone?

It seems from your posts that you only use Android ?

In what ways do you find it more versatile than ios?

I'm looking for real examples here, not just regurgitated slogans about walled gardens please.

 

I can start off

- ability to customise launcher

- change default apps

- install non approved / pirated apps more easily

- two way USB transfer of files

- install custom roms / kernels

 

But what else?

[Cyclone 10]

I'm pretty sure ios users spend more on apps. I've paid for very few apps, because excellent free apps are available.

 

I do only use android, I really dislike apple and have for years after using their attrocious itunes software.

They make very nice hardware, but they write terrible software. If they didn't have the censorship and control issues that they have (including proprietary sockets, which they change regularly) then I'd have no issues with having one.

 

That's a good list, why do I need to add more?

 

Uses open standards (like DLNA) instead of inventing new proprietary ones (like airplay)

 

It's like Apple didn't learn anything from losing the PC wars to IBM decades ago...

[CPC464 10]

Well that’s fair enough.

 

I personally haven’t got a problem with iTunes (it certainly beats the awful Samsung Kies). Although I haven’t used it recently because there is no need to – all updates are done over the air, I stream music from Deezer, transfer movies directly to VLC.

 

To be honest – when I first got an Android (Galaxy S) – it was the thing I missed the most – songs copied onto the SD card lost artwork, track names, track numbers – all of which were present in itunes.

[Cyclone 10]

Yeah, Kies is also atrocious, I haven't used it in years.