Making the jump from iOS to Android

After being in the iOS device club since the 3GS (and currently on an iPhone 5), I'm feeling a general sense of ennui when it comes to my phone-using experience. I have the opportunity to try something different soon, and I'm leaning towards an HTC One. I've been doing some light reading on CyanogenMod, and it seems to be something I could get on board with... I relish more customisation and that could do the trick.

 

Any advice/tips/thoughts welcome, especially any testimonials from clever folks who've switched out the base Android OS for a more customised variant. Cheers

Buy this:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge

  On 8/13/2013 at 12:26 PM, peace 7 said:

Buy this:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge

Nah man - Ubuntu have ballsed up a little with that one. There's no reason why you'd want a different distro on a phone with a linux derivative already on it. By the time it's released the competitors will easily match the proposed system specs and at probably an even lower price.

 

Jasondonervan: You may want to hold off going for a full on cyanogenmod reflash until you're more comfortable with the normal supplied OS. The main benefits you'll get is the ability to get the latest OS before the phone companies release their own variant, and it'll be less bloated too. The latter was the reason why I flashed my old phone (HTC Desire) as there was so little internal memory to store apps and most of the space was taken up by crappy unremovable apps, though nowadays the internal space is so large this really isn't an issue. You can fully customise your phone even without rooting and flashing your phone by just downloading different home-screen apps, weather apps etc. etc. So yeah fully customisable but without the headaches/warranty issues with modding it.

As a long time iPhone user who switched to Android earlier this year (Sony Xperia Z) I would also say not to bother with CyanogenMod just yet, rather get used to the new OS first, then maybe root the phone later if required. Android is loads more customisable out the box than iOS anyway though so in all likelihood you'll never need to root the thing to set it up how you want. In terms of Android vs iOS - I'll be sticking with Android for the foreseeable future.

  On 8/13/2013 at 12:46 PM, mcbpete said:

Jasondonervan: You may want to hold off going for a full on cyanogenmod reflash until you're more comfortable with the normal supplied OS. The main benefits you'll get is the ability to get the latest OS before the phone companies release their own variant, and it'll be less bloated too. The latter was the reason why I flashed my old phone (HTC Desire) as there was so little internal memory to store apps and most of the space was taken up by crappy unremovable apps, though nowadays the internal space is so large this really isn't an issue. You can fully customise your phone even without rooting and flashing your phone by just downloading different home-screen apps, weather apps etc. etc. So yeah fully customisable but without the headaches/warranty issues with modding it.

 

 

 

  On 8/13/2013 at 12:58 PM, 2WV said:

As a long time iPhone user who switched to Android earlier this year (Sony Xperia Z) I would also say not to bother with CyanogenMod just yet, rather get used to the new OS first, then maybe root the phone later if required. Android is loads more customisable out the box than iOS anyway though so in all likelihood you'll never need to root the thing to set it up how you want. In terms of Android vs iOS - I'll be sticking with Android for the foreseeable future.

 

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. Short of having a quick nose at friends' Android devices, it's all new to me - I suppose it makes sense to get up to speed with the vanilla environment first before going in all guns blazing on OS modding.

I'd say going for something like Cyanogenmod is certainly worth it if you have a branded Android. The default HTC Android experience is not "vanilla". Generally the branded Android versions have a lot of UI inconsistencies and stability problems. In my experience, a rom that is closer to stock Android will be faster and more stable. Cyanogenmod feels like a slightly improved stock Android. It adds some really good UI tweak options that stock doesn't have. It's very easy to switch ROM's. Just use something like TWRP to make Nandroid backups and you can try all kind of different ROM's and setups and restore in a few seconds.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Ego

I don't own a smart phone, but I would recommend switching.

 

I played around with my friend's Nexus tablet, and I thought it was great. The resolution in the screen wasn't as good, but who cares when it has a lot more flexibility than iPads.

zoomed out a bit, both iOS and Android are total shit.

 

one the one hand, a massive hardware manufacturer which locks you into its sanitised candyland and lives off a devious upgrade scheme.

 

On the other hand, a huge, creepy advertising firm which gives you free stuff in exchange for complete brain leech.

phling's phone OS of choice -

 

Death OS

 

yeah that one's okay :]

 

(fact: i have no phone)

Edited August 13, 2013 by Guest

totes bro

I switched to iPhone last year out of boredom, and when I can upgrade I'll be switching back to Android or maybe even trying a Windows phone (my roommate has had one for years and he loves it).

I tried an Android phone for a bit, and while it was nice, it wasn't as consistent and well, "simple" as an iOS device - I suppose Android is to iOS as Windows is to OS X - nice to tinker with if you want that, but if you want something to (in most cases) "just work", stick with iOS/OS X. I personally prefer things to just work, and really don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time customizing my device beyond the wallpaper and sounds and general settings.

 

That being said, it seems the two leaders in the Android OS game are Google themselves (go figure) and Samsung - I'd say start with any of the handsets either offer.

Using Google(lg) Nexus with standard Android 4.3 (vanilla)! Works seamlessly...:)

  On 8/13/2013 at 9:49 PM, Joyrex said:

I personally prefer things to just work, and really don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time customizing my device beyond the wallpaper and sounds and general settings.

You do know you don't have to customise it and can leave it all alone a la iOS with just changing the aforementioned wallpaper and sounds and general settings. Most of my friends who own Android phones are happy to have done just that, whereas I like the ability to customise the keyboard type, dialler application, messaging service etc. etc. to my specific needs/style

 

  On 8/13/2013 at 9:49 PM, Joyrex said:

That being said, it seems the two leaders in the Android OS game are Google themselves (go figure) and Samsung - I'd say start with any of the handsets either offer.

Samsung definitely yes (I personally have an S3), but Google ? I'm racking my brains and am trying to think what's an actual Google phone is

 

Edit: Ah the Nexus, I'm an idiot - I always know it as being an LG thing

HTC phones are crap

I thought the One X was meant to be pretty good (though their decision to not have a microSD storage drive is ridiculous)

I was about to get the Nexus 4 when my contract ended a few months ago but i've heard of problems with the battery after a while. Is this known?

 

I had on of the older iphones, 3g/3gs one of the two i think, but switched just to try android. I like not being bound by a set routine so I won't ever be returning.

Nexus 4. Great price, no contract, always up to date, no custom carrier software, nice hardware.

HTC one is a nice phone, brother has one. Low light camera shots is an important feature, given that a phone is usually your everyday camera these days.

After being perpetually 8-12 months behind on Android OS updates (I finally got Jelly Bean in June) on my Galaxy S2, I am positive my next phone will be a Nexus.

 

I also hate the ugly skins that Samsung and HTC and everybody else put over the quite lovely and minimalist stock android interface.

 

There should be a new Nexus 4 out in the fall. I'm waiting on that and you probably should too.

  On 8/13/2013 at 10:16 PM, Rubin Farr said:

HTC phones are crap

maybe 5 years ago. get with the times man. HTC one is pretty much the best smartphone on the market today.

  On 8/14/2013 at 1:11 PM, 2WV said:

 

  On 8/13/2013 at 10:16 PM, Rubin Farr said:

HTC phones are crap

maybe 5 years ago. get with the times man. HTC one is pretty much the best smartphone on the market today.

 

 

Well I should hope so... seeing how mine just turned up

 

*high five*

you'd think that the loud speaker idea was silly, well until you want to show someone a track or a video, and then it kicks in why.