Moving from iphone 5s to Android? What will I miss? (Motorola, computer)

[Kluch]

I'm considering jumping ship from apple and going to the new LG V20 when it comes out. I can upgrade now and I've thought about moving to the new iphone 7 but I have some reservations with the lack of the headphone jack and new static home button. I'm somewhat torn between the two as I feel like the V20 will just be a more interesting phone all around. But I know I'll probably miss stuff like imessage/facetime (even though google has the new allo app coming out). For those that have switched recently (or anyone with experience really), what have been the biggest differences moving from ios to android?

[Hemlock140]

I went the other way, but with an iPhone 6 in June. My biggest problem with the android was that even new the battery never lasted as long as with the Apple. After a year, despite a lot of tinkering, it wouldn't last all day, and that was with 3 different Motorolas over several years.
Other than that, I liked the apps and the operating system a lot. It took a while to get used to iOS, and I'm still not sure if I like it as well.

[Kluch]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I went the other way, but with an iPhone 6 in June. My biggest problem with the android was that even new the battery never lasted as long as with the Apple. After a year, despite a lot of tinkering, it wouldn't last all day, and that was with 3 different Motorolas over several years.
Other than that, I liked the apps and the operating system a lot. It took a while to get used to iOS, and I'm still not sure if I like it as well.

I've heard complaints about battery life with android. The new OS is supposed to remedy that and not only does the LG V20 come loaded with nougat but it has a replaceable battery. Now I still doubt it'll last as long as an iphone but I guess I would just have to deal with that.

[Peregrine]

The v20 is probably my current favorite Android and if I was buying today, I'd get it. It has a huge battery and if you COULD kill it in one day, at least you have quick charge which gives you 50% more battery life in 20 minutes...
I hear iPhone battery complaints all the time.
It comes down to usage more then anything else.

Recently moved to a Nexus 5X from and iPhone 6S.

Deltas:

- iPhone performs much better and doesn't reload tabs as often
- iPhone is less buggy (my Nexus occasionally forgets how to use GPS, stops using cellular data for no reason, etc)
- Android interface looks nicer and is more flexible than iOS. iOS 10 is particularly ugly and user-hostile.
- Working with Android is more like using a computer. Easier sharing between apps, everything just sort of plays together. There's still a lot of "you can't get into that silo from this silo" going on in iOS.
- Battery life is pretty comparable, slightly worse on the 5X but it's device-dependent
- Google's voice assistant is way better than Siri. Google understands what I'm saying and provides reasonable responses almost all the time. Siri was lucky to understand me 1/4 of the time.
- Major apps appear mostly on par now, but there's still a ton of garbage in the Play store
- Allo and Duo suck (particularly Allo) but Hangouts is nice and works on every device and in web browsers. Allo only works on your phone and only on one device device at a time, and if you move devices, you lose everything.

I'm pretty firmly committed to Apple in the desktop/laptop space, but Android has really gained a lot of ground and is in many ways more flexible and more intuitive than iOS. Most of the flakiness and terrible performance that kept me away in the past is gone now. That said, I would probably never buy a non-Nexus/Pixel device. Everyone else has a horrible track record of delivering updates (both major version updates and security patches).

[Kluch]

Originally Posted by JasonF

Recently moved to a Nexus 5X from and iPhone 6S.

Deltas:

- iPhone performs much better and doesn't reload tabs as often
- iPhone is less buggy (my Nexus occasionally forgets how to use GPS, stops using cellular data for no reason, etc)
- Android interface looks nicer and is more flexible than iOS. iOS 10 is particularly ugly and user-hostile.
- Working with Android is more like using a computer. Easier sharing between apps, everything just sort of plays together. There's still a lot of "you can't get into that silo from this silo" going on in iOS.
- Battery life is pretty comparable, slightly worse on the 5X but it's device-dependent
- Google's voice assistant is way better than Siri. Google understands what I'm saying and provides reasonable responses almost all the time. Siri was lucky to understand me 1/4 of the time.
- Major apps appear mostly on par now, but there's still a ton of garbage in the Play store
- Allo and Duo suck (particularly Allo) but Hangouts is nice and works on every device and in web browsers. Allo only works on your phone and only on one device device at a time, and if you move devices, you lose everything.

I'm pretty firmly committed to Apple in the desktop/laptop space, but Android has really gained a lot of ground and is in many ways more flexible and more intuitive than iOS. Most of the flakiness and terrible performance that kept me away in the past is gone now. That said, I would probably never buy a non-Nexus/Pixel device. Everyone else has a horrible track record of delivering updates (both major version updates and security patches).

Thanks. This is helpful and a lot of your thoughts have kind of summed up what I've been thinking. I work in IT and would be using my phone for business stuff as well. Android just seems more intuitive from someone who's used to using both macs and pc's daily. I do feel like iOS is still a little more bug free/lag free and the timely updates are a plus as well. I'm definitely torn.

[Peregrine]

Agree wiuth much of what Jason said except:

Originally Posted by JasonF

Recently moved to a Nexus 5X from and iPhone 6S.

Deltas:
- Allo and Duo suck (particularly Allo) but Hangouts is nice and works on every device and in web browsers. Allo only works on your phone and only on one device device at a time, and if you move devices, you lose everything.

Dude... Duo effing rocks. Allo is lame but Duo's awesome.
Although I'm not really sure why you singled these apps out?!? They are totes optional.

[unit731]

Don't know anything about iphones.


But do read the "permissions" on apps from the Google Play Store.
They want permission to know everything that you ever do with the phone.

[lycos679]

Originally Posted by unit731

Don't know anything about iphones.


But do read the "permissions" on apps from the Google Play Store.
They want permission to know everything that you ever do with the phone.

Apple doesn't grant developers blanket permissions. With iOS you have to grant or deny each individual permission that the app asks for.

[godofthunder9010]

Originally Posted by Kluch

I'm considering jumping ship from apple and going to the new LG V20 when it comes out. I can upgrade now and I've thought about moving to the new iphone 7 but I have some reservations with the lack of the headphone jack and new static home button. I'm somewhat torn between the two as I feel like the V20 will just be a more interesting phone all around. But I know I'll probably miss stuff like imessage/facetime (even though google has the new allo app coming out). For those that have switched recently (or anyone with experience really), what have been the biggest differences moving from ios to android?

• Facetime => Just download Skype (or any one of dozens of other similar programs). If you want to "facetime" an iPhone user, they just need to have Skype installed ... and you can Skype people on a lot wider variety of devices. Facetime only goes Apple device to Apple device, so frankly it's not nearly as useful. Google hangouts is also an option.
• iMessage is just a messenger system. LG and Google and Samsung and everybody has them. Frankly, I find the Samsung messenger vastly more useful and easy to use. Quicker and more obvious to just call somebody you're texting, for example. The only issue you're likely to have is that LG's or Google's chat is going to be different from what you're used to. That's about it.

The LG V20 is supposed to be an absolute monster audio performance. Better than the iPhone. Better than the Galaxy. Better than anyone. You'll find the swappable battery to be useful. If you're old iPhone wasn't charging up as well as it used to, you likely just put up with it until it was unbearable, then took it in to the Apple Store to get fixed -- and may have had to pay a lot of money to get it fixed if the iPhone was older. (My wife's personal experience.) With the LG V20, you push the button on the side, open the phone and swap out your own battery anywhere in seconds. If you want to carry around 5 extra fully charged batteries, you can.

One of the best aspects of Android in my estimation transferring files from my PC to my phone. I just drag and drop, just like I'm copying files from one folder on my PC to another. On the iPhone, it's more complicated obviously. And while I'm hooked into my PC, I can clean up the storage space on my phone as I see fit.

You'll like the fact that you adding an extra 200GB of storage is waaay cheaper. And your upper limit will eventually reach 2TB (2000GB) whenever somebody creates micro SD cards that big -- that on top of the 64GB the LG V20 already has internally.

My wife is an iPhone user. She says Android feels more cluttered. It takes a tad longer to kill an open app in android. There's a number of Apple-only things. And there's some apps she has installed that don't exist on Android. More than anything, she used to the way everything is laid out on the iPhone. It goes without saying that it'll take some getting used to a new user interface. I often hear about how much better iPhone support it, but for us it sucks. The nearest Apple Store is two hours away and the Sprint Store tells you to go to go to them if you want your iPhone fixed.

I too am seriously considering the LG V20. Looks like an awesome phone! Only strike against the V20 = no waterproofing. Not a total dealbreaker, but Samsung kinda set the standard there and Apple immediately followed suit. But on the other hand, the LG V20 can survive being dropped way way way better than the iPhone or Galaxy. I'm curious to try out the dual camera setup, though iPhone 7 does also have that. I'm curious to see how much better the audio capture is on the V20, but I'm really really curious to see how much better my music can sound!