First Time Switch To Android Looking For Advice

glorified g

Hi guys. Moving over from the dark side (iPhone 4) to android. I've been looking at buying the Sony Z3 when it's out or the HTC One M8. I've done a good bit of research and I'm leaning more towards the Z3. What are peoples opinions on the previous models??

I've been told that previous iterations had a bad habit of freezing and rebooting. Has anyone had experience of this?

The processor, battery, graphics, RAM and microSD features are great. Waterproofing isn't that important but it's a bonus I suppose.

Am I right in thinking that moving my content(pictures,videos,music,contacts) from the iPhone to new phone can be done pretty easily?

I've never used the Android App Store before so that could take a bit of getting used to.

Is there anything else I should know before making the switch.

Totally new to Android so apologies if there is some stupid questions here.

Thecageyone

I made the same switch only this week. Had the iPhone 4 & then the 5, had troubles with both, so decided on this upgrade to go for an Android device [I still have my iPad in case I miss iOS ]

I went for the HTC one M8, after watching tonnes of comparison vids and reading many reviews. I found that many sites had it #1 in their "Top 10 smart phones of 2014" [to date, pre iP6]

I saw people moan about the cameera, but they're just mp whores! I know it'll be sufficient for a phone cam, it's not like you're ever printing phone cam images poster size.

Loving the phone overall thus far. The screen is so clear, better than my iPhone 5 anyway, richer blacks and more vibrant colours. After you add some theme apps and personalise it a bit it really 'pops' at you. Games also look amazing, and play smoother than any of the iOS devices I've had.

Just be aware, Google/play/+ will want to suck every ounce of info it can from you, like FB does for iOS - just trust it and let it. Makes life easier. I never really used my G+ account, now I've something to use it for I guess.

daytob

it varies what peoples advice will be
personally I will tell you to log into the amazon store and start getting the amazon apps that are free * even if you never use them they will be in your cloud if ever the day comes that you do want them. And this weekend there are some good ones.
Why are you choosing those 2 phones? are you on contract and getting an upgrade?
I never had apple and never will tbh but I know some people have come from apple over to the oneplus one phone and they love it, so I cant tell you how different it will be.
You should be surprised over how easy the phone is, I had some bad experience with sony phone cameras not working after a short while * e p and s xperias * and I avoid them like the plague.
Just put all contacts into google or gmail and you should be ok * i dunno the ins and outs as I said previously, but if you have them there then every phone you get can just have these contacts.
Also find what apps you use and cant do without, then find them or similar on the app store. at least that way when you do come over to the brightness you wont notice too much of a difference until you see how wonderful we all are here

Thecageyone

If it's on Three, then it'll be a choice of their phones available for upgrade, same as me. They don't do the Oneplus phone. It's pretty much the HTC M8, the Galaxy S5 or Alpha [if they have them in stock] - The Z2/3, Iphone 5s/c or express interest in the 6 and get in line.

Fighting Irish

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056851139

I got the jaiyu g4s for 181 delivered and it's a cracking phone, gps is troublesome but other than that it's great

daytob

No provider will have the oneplus, its sim free and only available online

zbluebirdz

I have the Sony Xperia Z1 compact and it works well for me (replaced a Samsung Galaxy Note). No issues with it.

I went for the Z1 Compact as it fitted my requirements (Size, dual GPS, SD card, decent camera, USB OTG support, excellent battery life, quick charging times, moddable, etc).

Z2 was a bit big for what I wanted.

Did look at the M8, but found it to be more expensive* and a bit bigger than the Z1 Compact.

Did have a look at the Oneplus phone, but it wasn't available in time for my holidays.

NB: * Brought my phone sim-free.

Thecageyone

My missus has the Z2 - she's had some over heating and crashing issues with it, it's only a few months old. It's back at Vodaphone currently, again! hopefully this time they sort it out. It seems a very solid, capable phone - it's the most mini-tablet like out of the popular ones I'd say, if you like a big chunky phone. She's a bit annoyed with herself for choosing it over the S5 or M8 though, she was talked into it in store - it'll depend on who's dealing with you, like any other recommendations. The guy who dealt with her when she brought it in to be fixed said he'd have pushed her toward the M8 as that's what he choose himself.

It has some advantages, the Z2 - it's waterproof to a couple of meters [I think] - it's got that 20mp camera, though really it'll mostly shoot at 8mp in auto mode. And tbh, though the images I've seen from it were good here and there, I noticed a lot of smoothening going on to make them seem better - which I think makes images look worse!

glorified g

Thecageyone wrote: »

I made the same switch only this week. Had the iPhone 4 & then the 5, had troubles with both, so decided on this upgrade to go for an Android device [I still have my iPad in case I miss iOS ]

I went for the HTC one M8, after watching tonnes of comparison vids and reading many reviews. I found that many sites had it #1 in their "Top 10 smart phones of 2014" [to date, pre iP6]

I saw people moan about the cameera, but they're just mp whores! I know it'll be sufficient for a phone cam, it's not like you're ever printing phone cam images poster size.

Loving the phone overall thus far. The screen is so clear, better than my iPhone 5 anyway, richer blacks and more vibrant colours. After you add some theme apps and personalise it a bit it really 'pops' at you. Games also look amazing, and play smoother than any of the iOS devices I've had.

Just be aware, Google/play/+ will want to suck every ounce of info it can from you, like FB does for iOS - just trust it and let it. Makes life easier. I never really used my G+ account, now I've something to use it for I guess.

Thanks for that. I have no doubt that whatever I buy will be a big step up from my 4. I've had it for 5 years so it owes me nothing and I've been fed up with Apple and iOS for a long time.

daytob wrote: »

Why are you choosing those 2 phones? are you on contract and getting an upgrade?

Thanks a million for the reply. Not tied to a contract. I'll be buying the phone simfree and looking for the best plan available. The reason I'm mainly looking at those phones is that they really caught my eye. I've used the Z2 and the HTC a bit and really like them. The One Plus One looks great but is it to good to be true? I'm wondering have they cut corners to keep the price so low. Even the 64GB model is cheap and capacity wise it's fine for me. I would be very very tempted to wait a while and try find and invite to get one. Need to do some more research now!

glorified g

Jesus lads thanks for all the replies! Has anyone here had hands on experience with the One+? I'm really impressed by it spec wise but cautious about the price. Have they cut corners? Is it going to be forgotten about in a year with no updates? Surely the lack of an expensive marketing budget can't account for that price? From reading about it online there have been very little complaints. Anything buggy seemed to be fixed pretty quick via updates.

I get pretty obsessed before I make a tech investment and research everything so this could take a while!

daytob

the one plus thread is amazing. everyone pretty much on there has one. i have one that i use all the time. its stunning. if you were in dublin or near sometime i could show ya it.
i dont notice anything wrong in fact prior to this i had a find7 which is the premium version of the oneplus. i gave the wife the find7 and she broke it.


its got cm11 on it, so you can be rest assured it will have updates probably more updates than htc and sony combined