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NFT: Day 10 of Switch from Iphone to Android

Zepp : 7/1/2018 6:07 pm
So 10 days ago I decided to switch from Iphone to the Samsung S9 and from ATT to Xfinity Mobile Service.

Here are my main thoughts after these 10 days:

Best Thing So Far:

Screen

The Samsung screen is gorgeous. Compared to the Iphone the screen seems very sensitive and I don't see a setting to be able to dial down the sensitivity. Still that is just something to get used to. Recording video, pictures, watching streaming video is just beautiful. It looks better than the Iphone I had.


Worst Thing So Far:

Text Messaging

This is really going to be the deal breaker. Sending video on a Samsung device to another phone comes out grainy. Its the case both sending and receiving. I recorded video simultaneously with my old Iphone and the new Samsung and sent it to each other and the Iphone video comes out clear except on the Samsung. The video received on the Iphone from the Samsung also comes out grainy. I tried lowering the Samsung resolution but it didn't make a difference. I saw that you can use a Samsung service that lets you send up to 2GB a day but it limits you to 2GB a day and it deletes it after 24 hours. Plus its extra steps.

Also I don't know if this is the Xfinity service or the Phone or both but text messages lag. I'll send a message and it might take a few seconds or more to show up as being sent. Various times I'm walking around in my condo and all of sudden I get a stream of text messages that were sent hours ago.

Bottom line: the Iphone text messaging is far superior.


There are other things that annoy me about the Samsung like the extra steps to do things that on the Iphone I could do in one step. I won't put that on Samsung yet because there may well be settings to customize it. So far though, the text messaging could be a deal breaker. I must be able to send high quality videos via text to anyone without having to do extra and my messages need to go through right away.

Xfintiy Service vs. ATT

Like I mentioned I dont know if it was the phone or the service or both but sending text messages is slow. I have the unlimited plan with Xfinity which comes with Hotspots but their hotspots suck. Then today I get an email that if you want faster hotspot speed you're gonna have to pay more. Also they are slowing down video streaming.
I have the S9 with TMobile.  
Diver_Down : 7/1/2018 6:13 pm : link
I don't have an issue that you described with service and batch delivery/reception of messages. Sounds like it might be an issue with xfinity. Perhaps, this occurred the other day when xfinity had a huge nationwide service outage. It would certainly explain the routing of messages.

...  
Dodge : 7/1/2018 6:16 pm : link
You got suckered into the Xfinity Mobile package? All it is is wifi phone service. That's why you get lag. It's crap.
also  
Dodge : 7/1/2018 6:17 pm : link
don't use Samsung apps for anything. Just google "best android app for..." and you'll find the best apps to use.
RE: ...  
Zepp : 7/1/2018 6:18 pm : link
In comment 14003737 Dodge said:
Quote:
You got suckered into the Xfinity Mobile package? All it is is wifi phone service. That's why you get lag. It's crap.


Yup the 45 buck a month thing suckered me in. They told me they use the Verizon towers so I saw it as an upgrade. So far the hotspots have been garbage. Even the rep told me to just turn that off and use your own wifi. Other than that the text messaging is a huge problem. I can't be getting a message 2 hours later.
Nobody cares.  
chopperhatch : 7/1/2018 6:22 pm : link
Seriously. This Android/iPhone back n forth is akin to the last election. Nobody is waiting with baited breath for all the feedback to come in before they make the momentous decision to buy a phone that costs almost exactly as much as the competition for your cursory analysis of 10 days using an Android.

Im sure when writing this up you were diligent enough to try the literally dozens of messaging apps available for Android phones that are not iPhone exclusive to determine if the video messaging quality (btw, if thats truly your hang up, I guess your Droid to iPhone diary makes sense) is up to par. My guess is you havent.

Nit meaning to deliberately sound mean, but this is a shitty undertaking because you have really not covered anything that hasnt been covered, and your conclusions just are inaccurate.

Hope you enjoy the S9 tho.
RE: ...  
Jim in Fairfax : 7/1/2018 6:27 pm : link
In comment 14003737 Dodge said:
Quote:
You got suckered into the Xfinity Mobile package? All it is is wifi phone service. That's why you get lag. It's crap.

That’s not true about it being WiFi only. They have a wireless service — they lease Verizon’s spectrum for it.

That said, I can’t speak to whether it’s crap or not.
Texts  
Jim in Fairfax : 7/1/2018 7:02 pm : link
iMessage doesn’t route text messages thru the SMS text system when you’re going from one Apple device to another. It routes over the Internet using WiFi or data. So video can stay at top resolution.

Videos that go via SMS get compressed by the wireless carriers, and thus are lower resolution. How compressed depends on the carrier.
RE: Nobody cares.  
LI NHB : 7/1/2018 7:04 pm : link
In comment 14003741 chopperhatch said:
Quote:
Seriously. This Android/iPhone back n forth is akin to the last election. Nobody is waiting with baited breath for all the feedback to come in before they make the momentous decision to buy a phone that costs almost exactly as much as the competition for your cursory analysis of 10 days using an Android.

Im sure when writing this up you were diligent enough to try the literally dozens of messaging apps available for Android phones that are not iPhone exclusive to determine if the video messaging quality (btw, if thats truly your hang up, I guess your Droid to iPhone diary makes sense) is up to par. My guess is you havent.

Nit meaning to deliberately sound mean, but this is a shitty undertaking because you have really not covered anything that hasnt been covered, and your conclusions just are inaccurate.

Hope you enjoy the S9 tho.


Hahaha I am not getting involved in the phone piece, but this is definitely a mean reaction.
RE: RE: Nobody cares.  
chopperhatch : 7/1/2018 7:15 pm : link
In comment 14003756 LI NHB said:
Quote:
In comment 14003741 chopperhatch said:


Quote:


Seriously. This Android/iPhone back n forth is akin to the last election. Nobody is waiting with baited breath for all the feedback to come in before they make the momentous decision to buy a phone that costs almost exactly as much as the competition for your cursory analysis of 10 days using an Android.

Im sure when writing this up you were diligent enough to try the literally dozens of messaging apps available for Android phones that are not iPhone exclusive to determine if the video messaging quality (btw, if thats truly your hang up, I guess your Droid to iPhone diary makes sense) is up to par. My guess is you havent.

Nit meaning to deliberately sound mean, but this is a shitty undertaking because you have really not covered anything that hasnt been covered, and your conclusions just are inaccurate.

Hope you enjoy the S9 tho.



Hahaha I am not getting involved in the phone piece, but this is definitely a mean reaction.



Hahaha....Im just irritable because Ive been on a train and its been more than hours since my last drink.

I was totally a fick, but its the truth.

Sorry Zepp....Im a dick.
I agree with your assessments of the phones.  
robbieballs2003 : 7/1/2018 7:45 pm : link
I enjoy my Samsung more than any iPhone but totally agree that text messaging is annoying.

I have downloaded Textra for normal texting. I like the app better than the standard messaging app that is on the phone.

I also have WhatsApp. This is a messaging app that works with your phone service but also wifi as well. The only catch is that the person you want to text or send videos to has to have the app as well. This is my favorite messaging app by far. One thing that gets overlooked is something as simple as leaving you off from the last text you saw. So, if I am on a group chat or even just one other person and I missed a bunch of texts it'll just start me off at the first one I missee so I don't have to go back and read a bunch of texts out of order trying to figure out where I last left off.

Another cool thing about WhatsApp is that since you can use it over wifi then you can use it on an airplane or in another country that doesn't have cell service. As long as there is wifi you can text from anywhere. This was huge when I was on my honeymoon in Europe.

The last thing that is cool is that you can either use a website or app on you computer and use it as a messing app as long as your phone is in the vacinity. So, lets say you are at work and need to answer a text quick then you can just respond on your computer without it looking like you are on your phone.

There is no issue with sending pictures or videos though it either.
I don't use my phone too much  
madgiantscow009 : 7/1/2018 7:54 pm : link
but I always end up accidentally putting it into split screen when I would never want to have two apps half screen at a time.
RE: RE: RE: Nobody cares.  
Zepp : 7/1/2018 7:56 pm : link
In comment 14003758 chopperhatch said:
Quote:
In comment 14003756 LI NHB said:


Quote:


In comment 14003741 chopperhatch said:


Quote:


Seriously. This Android/iPhone back n forth is akin to the last election. Nobody is waiting with baited breath for all the feedback to come in before they make the momentous decision to buy a phone that costs almost exactly as much as the competition for your cursory analysis of 10 days using an Android.

Im sure when writing this up you were diligent enough to try the literally dozens of messaging apps available for Android phones that are not iPhone exclusive to determine if the video messaging quality (btw, if thats truly your hang up, I guess your Droid to iPhone diary makes sense) is up to par. My guess is you havent.

Nit meaning to deliberately sound mean, but this is a shitty undertaking because you have really not covered anything that hasnt been covered, and your conclusions just are inaccurate.

Hope you enjoy the S9 tho.



Hahaha I am not getting involved in the phone piece, but this is definitely a mean reaction.




Hahaha....Im just irritable because Ive been on a train and its been more than hours since my last drink.

I was totally a fick, but its the truth.

Sorry Zepp....Im a dick.



LOL no worries. I can be a dick too. But you made a good point about the apps that are available like WhatsApp. It just bothers me that I have to try various apps to see which one works best so that I can send a text video without it looking like it was recorded in 1985.

But yeah other than that it is a nice phone.
RE: I agree with your assessments of the phones.  
Zepp : 7/1/2018 7:58 pm : link
In comment 14003770 robbieballs2003 said:
Quote:
I enjoy my Samsung more than any iPhone but totally agree that text messaging is annoying.


Yeah I thought about using just Whatsapp for my texting but like you said the other person has to have it.

Its a nice phone but man I really wish they would fix their text messaging. It really is the only thing that has me considering returning this. All the other stuff I can get over or used to.
Cant you just  
chopperhatch : 7/1/2018 10:04 pm : link
Use FB messenger? I mean who doesnt have FB these days?
the text and video issues are not necessarily  
slov72 : 7/2/2018 10:49 am : link
the phones fault. If you send a video from an android to an android they go through fine. If you send a video from an iphone to an iphone they go through fine. If you send it to each other, then both ways is crap. This was mentioned above in that individual messaging apps use data when talking to someone using the same app, but if they are using different apps, they are compressed through the SMS system. Tell everyone else to get a S9 and you will be fine. Also, getting the texts late is definitely not a phone issue, this is a carrier issue.

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