New Android Phone

[HudsonHawk]

So I decided to give Android another try.  For those who, as chuck says, don't have the memory of a goldfish, I briefly kicked iPhone to the curb like 6 years ago, for about a week.  But after years of the iPhone 6, wanting to upgrade, but not wanting to pay 1200 skins for the latest model, which was twice as big as I wanted anyway, I decided to give Android another go.  I went with the Sony Xperia XZ1 compact, less than $400.  In the process of switching now.  I've been a (mostly) loyal Apple guy for a long time, but they finally shoved me away with both hands.  We shall see how it goes.

[doyce7]

I've been a Samsung galaxy user for about 5 years now. The wife has iPhone, always just seemed way to expensive for what it does. I basically refuse to buy apple products for myself

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[subnuclear]

About 6 years ago I had a disaster customer service experience with Apple (it was the only time in my life I yelled at a customer service employee) and swore to never use another Apple product again (I'm typing this on a Mac Pro right now, I'm not very moral, I guess).

Anyway, I use a modestly-priced Moto X for years and now have a really expensive Google Pixel XL2 and the extra battery life is almost worth the cost difference.

[chuck]

and swore to never use another Apple product again (I'm typing this on a Mac Pro right now, I'm not very moral, I guess)

Sort of a fluid zero-tolerance policy.

I have an older iPhone 6 which is the perfect phone for me. It was more than I wanted to pay but as you can see, I've kept it for a while now and I see no reason why I wouldn't keep using it until the OS won't work with the phone anymore. Which may be next month, for all I know.

I recently looked at the prices for current iPhones. It amazes me that they sell any, to be honest. I guess most people buy them through their carrier and pay something monthly to reduce the sting, but goddamn, those are some expensive gadgets. I mean, it's basically a computer/iPod/phone/entire universe of human knowledge in your pocket, but still.

I use Android phones occasionally and they work just fine for me, and I would use one full time if I had to. In my case, though, I just get tired of searching for shit that should be where I looked for it in the first place. The familiarity I have with the iOS interface may not be enough to entice me to drop $1,500 or whatever it will be then on the iPhone XVIII.II, but I guess we'll see.

[das]

I've never bought a new iPhone.  I instead buy a used unit, usually less than a year old, whose initial hit of depreciation was taken by some stupid apple fanboy(or girl) that absolutely had to have the S or next version of the phone because they'd just absolutely die if they didn't have the latest apple product.  I typically get a 60-70% discount off of list and have never had a problem.

[Limey]

I’m still rocking a 6S.  I’m thinking about moving up to an 8, but they still want $600 for one even though they are at least two iterations beyond that model.  That tells me that a lot of people won’t spend the stupid money necessary to get an X and/or they don’t want to be stuck having to do “Blue Steel” to open the phone.

[HudsonHawk]

So some first impressions (over the first few hours):

1.  It was easy enough to get the new phone started up.  Just swapped the SIM card, and it took about 10 minutes before I could dial and receive, but looks like no problems there. 
2.  Had to re-download all of my apps, but it was just sitting there, redownloading.  It's not like I had to walk 10 miles through the snow, uphill, to get them.
3.  Docs, photos, etc transferred with a breeze.
4.  Have not tried to move any music, but I may not.  I still have my iPod for that.
5.  Group texting is not possible through the standard, pre-installed texting app, which kind of sucks.  Mrs. Hawk has always said that was an impediment to her going Android (she's a texting machine, it's all part of the the Northwest Harris County Barbie Collector's Cheap Wine and Cigarettes Club, apparently), but I downloaded Textra, made it the default text app, and all seems to be going swimmingly.
6.  For the most part everything is fairly intuitive, and it is quite customizable. 
7.  Battery life seems to be OK, but I'll know more as the days wear on.
8.  There is a large amount of shit at the top of the home screen that I've yet to figure out.  I suppose I will.  It does come pre-installed with a lot of google shit, but it's not too onerous to remove.

I'm sure I'll have more to bitch about later.  But I'm liking getting this level of performance in a non-plastic phone for about 30% of the cost of a new iPhone.

[Aussie Astro]

So some first impressions (over the first few hours):

1.  It was easy enough to get the new phone started up.  Just swapped the SIM card, and it took about 10 minutes before I could dial and receive, but looks like no problems there. 
2.  Had to re-download all of my apps, but it was just sitting there, redownloading.  It's not like I had to walk 10 miles through the snow, uphill, to get them.
3.  Docs, photos, etc transferred with a breeze.
4.  Have not tried to move any music, but I may not.  I still have my iPod for that.
5.  Group texting is not possible through the standard, pre-installed texting app, which kind of sucks.  Mrs. Hawk has always said that was an impediment to her going Android (she's a texting machine, it's all part of the the Northwest Harris County Barbie Collector's Cheap Wine and Cigarettes Club, apparently), but I downloaded Textra, made it the default text app, and all seems to be going swimmingly.
6.  For the most part everything is fairly intuitive, and it is quite customizable. 
7.  Battery life seems to be OK, but I'll know more as the days wear on.
8.  There is a large amount of shit at the top of the home screen that I've yet to figure out.  I suppose I will.  It does come pre-installed with a lot of google shit, but it's not too onerous to remove.

I'm sure I'll have more to bitch about later.  But I'm liking getting this level of performance in a non-plastic phone for about 30% of the cost of a new iPhone.

My last three phones have been Xperias, I would be saying my latest phone is an Xperia if I could stop dropping them in the fuckin' ocean.  I like only having to charge every two or three days, that was the clincher for me.  I can group text ok and some of the shit on the home screen just sits there and we are ignoring each other.

[HudsonHawk]

My last three phones have been Xperias, I would be saying my latest phone is an Xperia if I could stop dropping them in the fuckin' ocean.  I like only having to charge every two or three days, that was the clincher for me.  I can group text ok and some of the shit on the home screen just sits there and we are ignoring each other.

So there's some quirky shit with Sony in the US.  I'm not aware of any US carriers that offer them amongst their stable of phones, and there are some licensing issues with some of the features.  For example, the Xperias come with a fingerprint scanner, but it is disabled on US phones.  The group texting is enabled on US phones, but not on the ones from Europe.   All of which means that Sony phones are quite rare in the US, even though they are top notch in quality, head and shoulders above most of the stuff out there.   I ended up getting an international version, just so I could get the fingerprint scanner, but it meant no group texts.  Everything is a fucking work around. 

[chuck]

Huh. My iPhone has a fingerprint scanner, AND I can participate in group text, if I were into that sort of thing.

[Waldo]

So there's some quirky shit with Sony in the US.  I'm not aware of any US carriers that offer them amongst their stable of phones, and there are some licensing issues with some of the features.  For example, the Xperias come with a fingerprint scanner, but it is disabled on US phones.  The group texting is enabled on US phones, but not on the ones from Europe.   All of which means that Sony phones are quite rare in the US, even though they are top notch in quality, head and shoulders above most of the stuff out there.   I ended up getting an international version, just so I could get the fingerprint scanner, but it meant no group texts.  Everything is a fucking work around.

This is the kind of bullshit that made me give up on the Android ecosystem.  Not to mention the never-ending uncertainty with "will my phone get [name of new Android version]?" and "if so, when?".  Plus, if you don't pay up for the mainstream phones then you get shafted on device-specific accessories.  I wanted a waterproof case for my last Android phone so that I could take it to the pool with my kids, but since I didn't have a Samsung my only choice was a glorified plastic bag.

I've had my iPhone for a year now and I remain really happy with it (two statements that 2010-2014 me would not have believed).