Migrating from iOS to Android

[miffed]

This is just a very small thing , but on my SGS2 it has made a world of difference for me , and seriously could be the difference between it being a primary or just a secondary phone for me !

Since the original iPhone I have tried to switch to Android at least once a year - and no matter how well I get on with an Android phone initially, when I try to use it as my primary device , I always have problems with the keyboard ! The main symptoms are ending up with full stops where spaces should be , and the auto-suggest seemingly having a mind of its own.

Now , I should add that I don't think there is anything WRONG with the Android keyboards , it is simply that I am used to the iPhones excellent keyboard and have trouble adjusting (although that said , I've had no such problems with the WP7 keyboard ... oh well !)

Anyway , back to the point.... my recent flirt with MIUI and the iPhone theme introduced me to iTap keyboard ,which is just like the iPhone keyboard ! - I installed it and haven't looked back since . I can now text away just like I do on the iPhone , and it actually FEELS like I am on the iPhone - no more full stops in where spaces should be , and my messages actually say what I want them to say , this is something that I could never achieve with the stock keyboard , Better Keyboard, the HTC IME keyboard , Swype , or any other keyboard.

If you are going from the iPhone toan Android device it makes the whole thing much more usable.

[Ben]

Great suggestion! Should I find myself with another Android any time soon I'll be sure to give it a go.

I'd try it on the Nexus One but it committed suicide some time ago :(

[gorilla]

I have iTap installed, but I'm a genius when it comes to swype, so there's no going back for me.

[Hands0n]

I'm a recent Swype convert on my SGS2 (Cyanogen CM7.1). I know what Miffed went through, the early Android OS and keyboards had minds of their own, mostly performance-related in my opinion. But I'm not yet ready to give up on iOS, even though I am staying away from the iPhone 4S in droves (well, a personal drove if that is possible). But then I'm also staying away from the Galaxy Nexus and the Nokia Lumia 800 too. What an appalling state of affairs, three brand new models and each nothing more than a point release (or worse, are you listening Nokia?) update from the earlier model.

Nosireebob, I'm waiting for 2012 and see what the first quarter, or maybe half, brings.

[miffed]

Have to say my second favourite is Swype ! I have a love & hate relationship with it though , sometimes it feels like its reading my thoughts , other time it throws up a load of garbage and still does the thing where I end up with full stops instead of spaces !
I suspect if I went "full time" Android , I'd find myself adjusting , but moving from iPhone to Android and then back again , over and over again, it is simply much easier for me to have the same keyboard on both !

[Ben]

Nosireebob, I'm waiting for 2012 and see what the first quarter, or maybe half, brings.
Perhaps what we're seeing at the moment is each manufacturers best-effort for the 'iPhone' generation of smartphones. Refinement upon refinement has come to pass, but right now we're not looking at a great deal of 'new'. That's probably understandable, and probably why we saw Apple throw its weight behind Siri so spectacularly.

The brief period of history from 2007 onwards would perhaps suggest that the industry will wait to see what Apple does next. It's hard to imagine that even the next generation of smartphones will be a big departure from the current range, though. Perhaps this is why you're feeling a little... frustrated... with the current situation. You're ready for a milestone release, but the problem is that somebody needs to invent 'what's next' in a market that has been, to a large extent, brought to relative perfection.

[gorilla]

but moving from iPhone to Android and then back again , over and over again

I often 'swype' on the iPad and then realise my mistake.

I have to say that I am fairly happy with the SGII in terms of performance and agree with the assertions of Hands0n, there is really not a clear leader in the market at the moment.

Is this the PC moment? By that I mean that we have a range of smartphones that are all perfectly capable of completing the majority of tasks for the majority of people?

[miffed]

I agree , sometimes you have to stop , step back an re-evaluate what you have to appreciate it. For a long time (well, it felt like a long time !) it was like the iPhone was a different class of device than everything else out there. Simple things like Web browsing and email had been done on smartphones for ages , albeit in a difficult to set up & clunky fashion - the iPhone was the only device to make this stuff usable , and no one else seemed able to sort this out on their platforms - Android came closest , but it took a while to get it right.

But now , the only factor appears to be Personal preference , of course Apple haters will say this has always been the case , but I see that as over enthusiasm , the first Android I owned that was reliable and slick enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with iOS was the Nexus S running Gingerbread , much as 2.3 seemed a mediocre (almost unoticeable to me!) increment , it did for me bring the slickness and stabilty that I consider synonymous with iOS.

I look at my "Arsenal" now , iPhone 4 , HTC 7 Pro (Windows phone) and Galaxy SII , and I really do see three peers - OK so my personal preference is going to be the iPhone , but if the man next to me told me his personal preference was either of the others , I'd be happy for him , and not feel like he was cutting off his nose to spite his face , like I would have done a year or so ago !

Where do we go from here ?

Well thats the best bit ! I feel like we've had a particularly bad F1 season - with one manufacturer getting pole postion and winning every race .. and the rest sitting in the pits , failing to start ...some going the wrong way around the track .

....And its like now , all of a sudden , some rule has been introduced to level the playing field , and finally we have everyone on the track , all facing in the same direction , NOW we can actually have a race !

[gorilla]

you know, you're all going to laugh but the advent Vega has become a useful addition to my household and not just another toy. It works surprisingly well. To be honest, it really is a basic bit of kit, but fulfills most of my requirements. Its a bit like the debate about Acer or dell versus a MacBook. Quality is an issue, but for the price I wouldn't even bother to complain.

[miffed]

I have to say from what I have seen so far I'd rather pay £130-180 for an Advent Vega than £350+ for any other Android tab I've seen or tried

[Hands0n]

Perhaps what we're seeing at the moment is each manufacturers best-effort for the 'iPhone' generation of smartphones. .

Perhaps, although my thinking is that the manufacturers have rushed product out in an attempt to steal some of the iPhone 4S thunder. A silly and pointless exercise in my view. So we end up with what are, essentially, interim product updates that are costly (£400+) or will lock in people for 18 - 24 months. Thus taking out a massive percentage of sales of the product that they should have held back and launched after Apple.

So now we are hearing the [expected] news of quad core and larger memories, the stuff to make Android run as it should (the PC/Windows paradigm). These due to hit the shops in 1Q/2012, although the actual hardware already exists, design and manufacturing effort went into the latest raft of iterative design and production. What a waste!

[gorilla]

What would I do on my phone that requires a quad-core processor? It's a serious question.

I guess it will benefit gamers, but I play angry birds etc, I rarely watch movies, but I guess it could really power 1080p output to my TV. So...
Is it going to speed up my browsing experience?
Is it going to enhance my messaging system?

I don't know, this all sounds good, but are we really going to use it? Apple have never competed on specs and I think Android is in danger of producing high spec phones, that ultimately do the same job as the ZTE Blade i.e. a cheap smartphone.

[Hands0n]

I think that half the problem is that Android actually needs some serious horsepower down in the engine room. The earlier hardware just about handled the OS, lots of lag and jerky operation was the norm. It almost put me off Android permanently. It really has only been late-2010/11 hardware that has begun to handle the OS well. The closest to iPhone/iOS performance is evident in the Samsung Galaxy S II, no wonder it is selling as quickly as Samsung can make them, still.

Quad core is not going to do any harm, providing the manufacturers equip the devices with sufficient RAM. After that it probably is just a specs war, pointless unless new demand is placed upon the hardware.

[The Mullet of G]

Great suggestion! Should I find myself with another Android any time soon I'll be sure to give it a go.

I'd try it on the Nexus One but it committed suicide some time ago :(

My HTC Desire committed suicide also...at least thats the official story, I actually killed it because I disliked it immensely. It then had an unfortunate encounter with a high power laser in which it definitely came off worse. :)

[Ben]

It then had an unfortunate encounter with a high power laser in which it definitely came off worse. :)
Ha! I'd quite like to turn a high power laser on my Nexus One. I'd quite like to watch it squirm; the more time goes by, the more I remember it as a hateful little thing.