Android

[dogdoc]

My first smartphone was and still is an iphone 3GS. I took to it like a duck to water. That's the genius with Apple. Easy to learn. Now I'm looking at Android why I don't know. Could get a 5S and be done with it but something keeps pulling me to two phones. 1. HTC ONE M8 2. LG G3 I'm really leaning to the HTC. Can anybody direct me to where I can learn how to use android system once and if I do go Android. It seems so complicated/frustrating but oh well. My Mom is 83 yrs old and she tackles a Samsung S4 pretty well. Most phones don't come with a manual anymore so Where does one learn without messing phone up?

Thanks

 

Doc

[Mike-1000]

Androidforums.com

A lot of info to sift through but you can find phone specific forums to help learn about different models.

 

Mike

[Colossus]

I recently went from a Droid 4 by Motorola to the Ipone 4 and while I can operate it, I am having a very difficult time with typing on it. The Droid 4 had a slide out keyboard And it was much easier! Uggh..

[surebuttercringe]

OP, why not wait a few months and get the iPhone 6? I switched from iOS to Android 2 years ago when I got rid of my iPhone 4 and got a Note 2. While I love the size of the screen and the S-Pen for jotting down quick notes, everything else about it has been less than desirable. It's not a bad phone or operating system per se, but it just doesn't feel as polished as an Apple product. Plus, I do not like that I am sitting here with a 2 year old phone that can not get the latest Android system (KitKat) when my iPhone 4 has gotten every iOS update since iOS 5 (now on iOS 7). Come September, I'll be ditching the Note 2 and getting the iPhone 6 since all signs point to it being the same size screen as my Note 2 and that was the main reason for switching in the first place.

[MikeNH]

I'm not a huge fan of Android but if your carrier supports it, I'd go for one of the Nexus phones as they're just Android and not the bloatware manufacturers load on top of it. That's the garbage that makes Android worse usually.

[servantsalesmen]

I just got a galaxy s5 and I love it. Just whatever you do, avoid Motorola. I have hadone horrible experience with every motorola phone I have had

[Chris]

My Motorola phones werent bad

[Daryl LBZ]

My Motorola phones werent bad

I second that.

[dogdoc]

Thanks guys for the advice. Decisions-decisions...

[StinkyCheese]

It's Android even if you "mess" it up you can just start over new :-p (probably same option on ios too) I have to agree with others here about most of the phone makers and carriers putting their garbage overlay and bloatware on phones. I'm not a fan of the nexus line because of the lack of removable battery and microsd cards but they do ship with the purest form of Android. I prefer some extras on top of pure Android though.

 

The reason Apple products work is because they are locked down and you really can't do anything with them, plus apple only makes software for their own devices, no one can put IOS on their devices, even if they wanted to. That's why ios feels more "polished." One maker 4 or 5 devices that they control from beginning to end hardware and software. Pretty easy to make something work when you control 100% of the process.

 

Android on the other hand is "made" by google and other companies are allowed to put that software on whatever devices they want. Problem is most aren't happy to just make it work they have to load it down with junk to make it stand out against the other dozens of devices running android. If you feel adventurous you can always start diving into the world of custom roms and not relying on the slow phone makers/carriers to put out updates, if they even intend on updating your device at all.

 

Bottom line, even as much as I despise apple, you really can't go wrong with either phone/OS. Both have their good and bad points. Personally between the M8 and the G3 I'd go with the G3 because it has a removable battery and the microsd slot where as the M8 only has the microsd if I remember correctly. That and I hate how HTC and Samsung are making it harder to do what you want by adding more layers of "security" that make it that much more of a pain to put custom roms on it.

 

If you can why not see if anyone has an older android phone sitting around, there are some differences in the versions but you should be able to get the core basics down enough to see if it interests you before you spend money on a phone. I think cell providers charge you restocking fee if you get a phone and then return it within the 30 day return period.

 

As far as learning w/o a manual trial and error, youtube, and forums. I like XDA-developers.com. There is also android authority, but I only watch their youtube channel for phones/tablet news and tests. I'm sure they have good forums too.

[dogdoc]

Thx chevyguy85. Good tidbits.

[Roscopcoletrain]

Love my Android (specificaly Nexus) devices. I've had a Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4 and currently a Nexus 5. They don't have the bells and whistles like some other Android phones but its pure Android.

 

iPhone is great if you just want things to work. Its a smart phone for dumb people. Very capable, takes usually great pictures, and pretty much anyone can pic it up and figure how to use it.

[StinkyCheese]

Love my Android (specificaly Nexus) devices. I've had a Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4 and currently a Nexus 5. They don't have the bells and whistles like some other Android phones but its pure Android.

 

iPhone is great if you just want things to work. Its a smart phone for dumb people. Very capable, takes usually great pictures, and pretty much anyone can pic it up and figure how to use it.

 

 

That's almost the same reasoning when people ask me what they should get. My friends look at me like I'm nuts when I suggest an apple product to someone because I'm so anti-crApple.

 

Sad part is every time I grab my buddy's Iphone I have absolutely no clue how to do anything other than unlock it and maybe answer it.

[Roscopcoletrain]

Lol if my mother can learn to use an iPad, I'm confident you'll be ok.

[Chris]