possible move from android

waynegalway

Hi

I'm at the shopping around stage towards the end of my current contract. I used iOS for 3 years, left it for the allure of a bigger screen in the form of a Galaxy S3, and between it and my HTC one, I've been an android user for about 3 years.

I've been thinking about going back to iOS, as the iPhone 6 ticks a lot of boxes for me. My priorities are a great camera and quick turnaround for any warranty work that's needed. I know I'll get both from the iPhone 6. How does the camera in the 830 or 930 stack up to the iPhone 6? I know it has less mp, but the iPhone seems to be ultra fast and reliable.

So, for anyone here that moved from android to WP, what has it been like?

How fast can warranty work get done?

I'm very invested in Google services, such as mail, drive, calendar, YouTube and Google plus. Those seem well covered by iOS, so I'd be concerned that I'd have to move over to MS for similar (but non Google) services. I use a OneDrive account to back up work files, so I already have a "live.com" account. But how does the wp platform perform with Google services? Ideally, I'd like to not have to start over with a new email address.

I'd go for either the 830 or the 930. The lower screen resolution is putting me off the 830, though.

For anyone that moved from android, is there anything you miss about android that if you knew about before the move might have put you off?

Any opinion on this is very much appreciated, thanks.

jayo26

waynegalway wrote: »

Hi

I'm at the shopping around stage towards the end of my current contract. I used iOS for 3 years, left it for the allure of a bigger screen in the form of a Galaxy S3, and between it and my HTC one, I've been an android user for about 3 years.

I've been thinking about going back to iOS, as the iPhone 6 ticks a lot of boxes for me. My priorities are a great camera and quick turnaround for any warranty work that's needed. I know I'll get both from the iPhone 6. How does the camera in the 830 or 930 stack up to the iPhone 6? I know it has less mp, but the iPhone seems to be ultra fast and reliable.

So, for anyone here that moved from android to WP, what has it been like?

How fast can warranty work get done?

I'm very invested in Google services, such as mail, drive, calendar, YouTube and Google plus. Those seem well covered by iOS, so I'd be concerned that I'd have to move over to MS for similar (but non Google) services. I use a OneDrive account to back up work files, so I already have a "live.com" account. But how does the wp platform perform with Google services? Ideally, I'd like to not have to start over with a new email address.

I'd go for either the 830 or the 930. The lower screen resolution is putting me off the 830, though.

For anyone that moved from android, is there anything you miss about android that if you knew about before the move might have put you off?

Any opinion on this is very much appreciated, thanks.

Hi there mate I myself have changed from galaxy s4 to Lumia 930 about 3 months ago the reason I changed is because I always get itchy feet with phones and love something new and also my daughter broke the screen on the galaxy and I didn't feel as sturdy after getting it fixed so I Said trade it in and go for the Lumia.

Depending on what you use your phone for the Lumia is either perfect or annoying the plus sides for me have been the camera is unbelievable in every lighting condition if you like taking random pics they are brilliant and have lots of options.
The battery life in my Lumia is pretty good ill get a day out of it easily on normal use.
I like the lock screen on Lumia that I can double tap it to wake the phone instead of having to go reach for a button.
The screen on the Lumia is beautiful its a joy to watch videos and look at photos on no other phone comes close.
All of the google apps are available you can easily transfer your contacts and emails and one drive to the Lumia.
The maps on the Lumia are brilliant really detailed and you can save them on phone so don't need to always use data connection.
All the main apps I use are on windows such as facebook,Viber,what's app, skype, Instagram, but alot of apps I like such as newspaper apps and boards.ie and snapchat official apps are missing.

For me the bad points about the phone are compared to the android I cant customize my home screen I like to have 2 or 3 screens for different things and keep my main screen clear apart from a few important widgets I cant do that on windows as I have to have all the apps I use most on one vertical scrolling screen,

I miss the motion gestures of my galaxy like the swipe gestures and I miss a blinking notification light.
The web browser on android is far superior there is no google chrome on windows from what I have seen.
The wireless charging on the Lumia is terrible it is very hit and miss you need to have the phone Laid pretty close to centered on the charging dock also it does over heat it a little I use the mini usb lead for charging and it gets rid of these problems.
The feel of the 930 in your hand is not as smooth as the galaxy s3 or s4 it is very square and even with a rubber cover it has sharp edges

Overall I like the Lumia ill keep it for a while to mainly see what windows phone 10 will be like on it and also ill wait to see what the galaxy s6 and android lollipop is like when its fully integrated with Samsung galaxy. In the meantime I still have my galaxy tab 3 to keep me in touch with android.
Hope this helps someway mate

waynegalway

jayo26 wrote: »

Hi there mate I myself have changed from galaxy s4 to Lumia 930 about 3 months ago the reason I changed is because I always get itchy feet with phones and love something new and also my daughter broke the screen on the galaxy and I didn't feel as sturdy after getting it fixed so I Said trade it in and go for the Lumia.

Depending on what you use your phone for the Lumia is either perfect or annoying the plus sides for me have been the camera is unbelievable in every lighting condition if you like taking random pics they are brilliant and have lots of options.
The battery life in my Lumia is pretty good ill get a day out of it easily on normal use.
I like the lock screen on Lumia that I can double tap it to wake the phone instead of having to go reach for a button.
The screen on the Lumia is beautiful its a joy to watch videos and look at photos on no other phone comes close.
All of the google apps are available you can easily transfer your contacts and emails and one drive to the Lumia.
The maps on the Lumia are brilliant really detailed and you can save them on phone so don't need to always use data connection.
All the main apps I use are on windows such as facebook,Viber,what's app, skype, Instagram, but alot of apps I like such as newspaper apps and boards.ie and snapchat official apps are missing.

For me the bad points about the phone are compared to the android I cant customize my home screen I like to have 2 or 3 screens for different things and keep my main screen clear apart from a few important widgets I cant do that on windows as I have to have all the apps I use most on one vertical scrolling screen,

I miss the motion gestures of my galaxy like the swipe gestures and I miss a blinking notification light.
The web browser on android is far superior there is no google chrome on windows from what I have seen.
The wireless charging on the Lumia is terrible it is very hit and miss you need to have the phone Laid pretty close to centered on the charging dock also it does over heat it a little I use the mini usb lead for charging and it gets rid of these problems.
The feel of the 930 in your hand is not as smooth as the galaxy s3 or s4 it is very square and even with a rubber cover it has sharp edges

Overall I like the Lumia ill keep it for a while to mainly see what windows phone 10 will be like on it and also ill wait to see what the galaxy s6 and android lollipop is like when its fully integrated with Samsung galaxy. In the meantime I still have my galaxy tab 3 to keep me in touch with android.
Hope this helps someway mate

Very helpful, thanks.

hadoken13

Google don't play nice with Microsoft and as it stands there are no decent official Google apps on Window's Phones as there is a complete lack of Google App support.

The hardware on the phones are great i.e. speed, camera, design brilliant.

waynegalway wrote: »

Hi

I'm at the shopping around stage towards the end of my current contract. I used iOS for 3 years, left it for the allure of a bigger screen in the form of a Galaxy S3, and between it and my HTC one, I've been an android user for about 3 years.

I've been thinking about going back to iOS, as the iPhone 6 ticks a lot of boxes for me. My priorities are a great camera and quick turnaround for any warranty work that's needed. I know I'll get both from the iPhone 6. How does the camera in the 830 or 930 stack up to the iPhone 6? I know it has less mp, but the iPhone seems to be ultra fast and reliable.

So, for anyone here that moved from android to WP, what has it been like?

How fast can warranty work get done?

I'm very invested in Google services, such as mail, drive, calendar, YouTube and Google plus. Those seem well covered by iOS, so I'd be concerned that I'd have to move over to MS for similar (but non Google) services. I use a OneDrive account to back up work files, so I already have a "live.com" account. But how does the wp platform perform with Google services? Ideally, I'd like to not have to start over with a new email address.

I'd go for either the 830 or the 930. The lower screen resolution is putting me off the 830, though.

For anyone that moved from android, is there anything you miss about android that if you knew about before the move might have put you off?

Any opinion on this is very much appreciated, thanks.

biko

Went from Android and IOS to Nokia 1520 and was well happy with it.
Massive phone, you need two hands

hadoken13

jayo26 wrote: »

All of the google apps are available you can easily transfer your contacts and emails and one drive to the Lumia.

That's a misleading statement to make about Windows Phones. There is only one official Google App on Window's Phone, the search app - there are no other official Google Apps.

jayo26

hadoken13 wrote: »

That's a misleading statement to make about Windows Phones. There is only one official Google App on Window's Phone, the search app - there are no other official Google Apps.

I didn't say official google apps but there are alternatives for mail, maps ect that work just as good and I have found no problem transferring any of my google associated data from my Samsung galaxy to my Lumia and I mean none whatsoever. If you want to go nitpicking at my comment that's fine I did it trying to be helpful to the man if you can do better go ahead and give your own exact and precise review feel free.

jayo26

biko wrote: »

Went from Android and IOS to Nokia 1520 and was well happy with it.
Massive phone, you need two hands

The 1520 looks a lovely phone too mate the only reason I didn't go for it was because of the size and I dont think it has gorilla glass 3 if I'm right but it looks a beauty.

hadoken13

jayo26 wrote: »

I didn't say official google apps but there are alternatives for mail, maps ect that work just as good and I have found no problem transferring any of my google associated data from my Samsung galaxy to my Lumia and I mean none whatsoever. If you want to go nitpicking at my comment that's fine I did it trying to be helpful to the man if you can do better go ahead and give your own exact and precise review feel free.

People are so sensitive on boards.

Just stating that there are no Google services available on Window's phones, apart from Search as it was what he asked for but we are just splitting hairs as he didn't say third-party Google apps so we're both right

_Kaiser_

I moved from Android to WP and back again and unless Windows 10 changes things significantly I won't be back..here's why - bear in mind this is based on WP 8.1...

PROS:

- WP is fast and clean on all hardware it comes on. Doesn't start lagging after 6 months like Android

- WP is simple to use and fairly intuitive, especially if you're familiar with Android and has most of the features you'd expect at this stage

- The upper-end Lumia hardware is solid and high quality

- Cameras on the upper-end phones are good to excellent (I'm not a big camera buff so I'm happy as long as it does the job)


CONS:

- The "app gap" has been mostly closed now by either official WP versions or 3rd party equivalents, but the quality isn't the same. LastPass on Android is far better to the WP version for example.
Same applies to many other popular apps and even MSFT apps work better on Android

- Customisation options are virtually nil beyond the screensaver/wallpaper and tile colour. It remains to be seen whether Windows 10 will improve this. No such thing as "root access" either

- Local apps (banking for example) are virtually non-existent. Yes there are some 3rd party offerings and you can always use the company's mobile site but it's not inspiring

- No Google services. Bing just doesn't cut it and while Outlook is the superior platform, gmail is probably the standard in the consumer end. I got around it by simply forwarding everything to an Outlook address

- Although there are a few 3rd party browsers (but not Chrome or Firefox), you're pretty much stuck with IE as it's the default and can't be changed

- Cortana (the big selling point on the ads) isn't available in Ireland (yet). You can work around this by changing the region settings on the phone but this may cause other issues like buying from the Store

- MSFT seem to be focusing on the low, cheap end of the market in terms of hardware. The current "flagship" is a Lumia 930 that is itself a rebranded Lumia Icon that was released in the US over a year ago.
Now because the OS is fast and streamlined this isn't as big an issue as it would be on Android but it means quality handsets are thin on the ground unless you buy second hand (The Lumia 1320/1520 are now considered EOL even though they're still great phones and no direct replacements are available). Most of the mobile companies only stock a few of the range - again generally the cheap <€150 ones - so if you want a upper-end new one you'll probably have to buy online at full price or switch networks.


For me, I got tired of waiting for things to get to par with features I took for granted in Android and having a "big deal" made of fixes/additions that should have been there from the start IMO.
Also the fact that the same apps worked better in Android was a factor as was local apps. I also like to tweak and customise and like the latest and greatest but even things like a notification light was missed.
WP seemed to be stagnating with no new high end devices, no "must have" apps unless you count Cortana (I don't) and poor support for the platform generally.

I moved from a Lumia 1320 to a Note 4 so not much in the size difference (if anything the Note is easier to hold/use I think) . I've never owned an IOS device (but have used them a bit) but overall I think WP vs IOS is probably a better/fairer comparison. I should also add that I still have a Lumia 930 as a work phone so I'm still aware of where things are on the WP side too so the above observations are "current".

jayo26

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I moved from Android to WP and back again and unless Windows 10 changes things significantly I won't be back..here's why - bear in mind this is based on WP 8.1...

PROS:

- WP is fast and clean on all hardware it comes on. Doesn't start lagging after 6 months like Android

- WP is simple to use and fairly intuitive, especially if you're familiar with Android and has most of the features you'd expect at this stage

- The upper-end Lumia hardware is solid and high quality

- Cameras on the upper-end phones are good to excellent (I'm not a big camera buff so I'm happy as long as it does the job)


CONS:

- The "app gap" has been mostly closed now by either official WP versions or 3rd party equivalents, but the quality isn't the same. LastPass on Android is far better to the WP version for example.
Same applies to many other popular apps and even MSFT apps work better on Android

- Customisation options are virtually nil beyond the screensaver/wallpaper and tile colour. It remains to be seen whether Windows 10 will improve this. No such thing as "root access" either

- Local apps (banking for example) are virtually non-existent. Yes there are some 3rd party offerings and you can always use the company's mobile site but it's not inspiring

- No Google services. Bing just doesn't cut it and while Outlook is the superior platform, gmail is probably the standard in the consumer end. I got around it by simply forwarding everything to an Outlook address

- Although there are a few 3rd party browsers (but not Chrome or Firefox), you're pretty much stuck with IE as it's the default and can't be changed

- Cortana (the big selling point on the ads) isn't available in Ireland (yet). You can work around this by changing the region settings on the phone but this may cause other issues like buying from the Store

- MSFT seem to be focusing on the low, cheap end of the market in terms of hardware. The current "flagship" is a Lumia 930 that is itself a rebranded Lumia Icon that was released in the US over a year ago.
Now because the OS is fast and streamlined this isn't as big an issue as it would be on Android but it means quality handsets are thin on the ground unless you buy second hand (The Lumia 1320/1520 are now considered EOL even though they're still great phones and no direct replacements are available). Most of the mobile companies only stock a few of the range - again generally the cheap <€150 ones - so if you want a upper-end new one you'll probably have to buy online at full price or switch networks.


For me, I got tired of waiting for things to get to par with features I took for granted in Android and having a "big deal" made of fixes/additions that should have been there from the start IMO.
Also the fact that the same apps worked better in Android was a factor as was local apps. I also like to tweak and customise and like the latest and greatest but even things like a notification light was missed.
WP seemed to be stagnating with no new high end devices, no "must have" apps unless you count Cortana (I don't) and poor support for the platform generally.

I moved from a Lumia 1320 to a Note 4 so not much in the size difference (if anything the Note is easier to hold/use I think) . I've never owned an IOS device (but have used them a bit) but overall I think WP vs IOS is probably a better/fairer comparison. I should also add that I still have a Lumia 930 as a work phone so I'm still aware of where things are on the WP side too so the above observations are "current".

Great review too mate. I moved from s4 to Lumia 930 and similar to you biggest thing in missing now is root access and flashing roms. My next phone will be s6 I think.

hadoken13

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I moved from Android to WP and back again and unless Windows 10 changes things significantly I won't be back..here's why - bear in mind this is based on WP 8.1...

I've never had an Android but with all the issues you mentioned above, not to mention other issues I'm having since the 8.1 update, I'll be moving to Android if Windows 10 carries on the same.

waynegalway

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

I moved from Android to WP and back again and unless Windows 10 changes things significantly I won't be back..here's why - bear in mind this is based on WP 8.1...

PROS:

- WP is fast and clean on all hardware it comes on. Doesn't start lagging after 6 months like Android

- WP is simple to use and fairly intuitive, especially if you're familiar with Android and has most of the features you'd expect at this stage

- The upper-end Lumia hardware is solid and high quality

- Cameras on the upper-end phones are good to excellent (I'm not a big camera buff so I'm happy as long as it does the job)


CONS:

- The "app gap" has been mostly closed now by either official WP versions or 3rd party equivalents, but the quality isn't the same. LastPass on Android is far better to the WP version for example.
Same applies to many other popular apps and even MSFT apps work better on Android

- Customisation options are virtually nil beyond the screensaver/wallpaper and tile colour. It remains to be seen whether Windows 10 will improve this. No such thing as "root access" either

- Local apps (banking for example) are virtually non-existent. Yes there are some 3rd party offerings and you can always use the company's mobile site but it's not inspiring

- No Google services. Bing just doesn't cut it and while Outlook is the superior platform, gmail is probably the standard in the consumer end. I got around it by simply forwarding everything to an Outlook address

- Although there are a few 3rd party browsers (but not Chrome or Firefox), you're pretty much stuck with IE as it's the default and can't be changed

- Cortana (the big selling point on the ads) isn't available in Ireland (yet). You can work around this by changing the region settings on the phone but this may cause other issues like buying from the Store

- MSFT seem to be focusing on the low, cheap end of the market in terms of hardware. The current "flagship" is a Lumia 930 that is itself a rebranded Lumia Icon that was released in the US over a year ago.
Now because the OS is fast and streamlined this isn't as big an issue as it would be on Android but it means quality handsets are thin on the ground unless you buy second hand (The Lumia 1320/1520 are now considered EOL even though they're still great phones and no direct replacements are available). Most of the mobile companies only stock a few of the range - again generally the cheap <€150 ones - so if you want a upper-end new one you'll probably have to buy online at full price or switch networks.


For me, I got tired of waiting for things to get to par with features I took for granted in Android and having a "big deal" made of fixes/additions that should have been there from the start IMO.
Also the fact that the same apps worked better in Android was a factor as was local apps. I also like to tweak and customise and like the latest and greatest but even things like a notification light was missed.
WP seemed to be stagnating with no new high end devices, no "must have" apps unless you count Cortana (I don't) and poor support for the platform generally.

I moved from a Lumia 1320 to a Note 4 so not much in the size difference (if anything the Note is easier to hold/use I think) . I've never owned an IOS device (but have used them a bit) but overall I think WP vs IOS is probably a better/fairer comparison. I should also add that I still have a Lumia 930 as a work phone so I'm still aware of where things are on the WP side too so the above observations are "current".

Thanks. I'm leaning towards an iPhone 6 at this stage. My priorities are great camera, fast service if warranty work is needed, and the ability to use Google services more or less exactly as I have been doing for years. I tried the outlook app on my android, and gmail is better imo. I'm over the customisability of android (it's a double edged sword). So I think the iPhone fits the bill better for me than WP.