Switched from iPhone to Galaxy S: Feeling Lost...

[Roman79]

Well I just switched from a 3G to a Galaxy S Captivate and it's a bit of a culture shock to be honest. Maybe I was just so used to the iOS, but I find Android not as user friendly. I'm going to give it a few more days before I decide whether or not to return it.

There are a lot of things I like about Android, but I'm also very disappointed with the amount or bugs / issues, such as:

- texts come in with an incorrect time stamp (5hrs early), causing conversations to be really hard to follow
- sometimes received texts will show up with the incorrect name (that could be embarrassing!)
- skype doesn't work (won't login)
- no netflix client

I'm hoping the the 2.2 update that's due out soon will fix most of these, but so far I don't have a good first impression.

Also, if I want to transfer music onto the device so I just copy it over like on a USB drive? I was kind of hoping for a media manager of some sort...

I'm not a huge fan of Apple just on principle, but they do seem to make a polished OS and media management system.

 

[RevMen]

Android takes more tinkering to get things right, no doubt about it. I came over to Android from Blackberry and it was a real shock. Everything seemed unfinished and hard to use. After a month of learning and tinkering and getting everything just the way I want it my G2 is way better for me than my Blackberry was, which I loved like an adopted child.

Stick with it. There are options for just about every part of the phone. Home screens, messaging apps, e-mail, everything. New apps come up every day. Keep exploring and trying stuff and eventually you'll have your Android running just the way you like it and you'll never want to go back.

For starters, replace the stock messaging app with Handcent. That will improve that aspect of our experience considerably.

Surely there are apps and/or media players that let you use iTunes to handle your media, if that's what you're used to.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

- texts come in with an incorrect time stamp (5hrs early), causing conversations to be really hard to follow
- sometimes received texts will show up with the incorrect name (that could be embarrassing!)

Download Handcent from the Market. It can mimic the iOS SMS program and works much better than the built-in one in my experience.

- skype doesn't work (won't login)

Haven't had this problem at all on my Evo. I know the version downloaded from the Market only works on wifi, that could be your problem. Look around XDA Devs and there's a hacked version floating around that works over 3G. You might give that a try.

- no netflix client

In the works, but probably won't be live until January at the earliest.

 

[Inferno32]

I have had literally none of those problems, and was on Android 1.6 for a long time, and now recently jumped up to 2.2 with a droid 2 replacement.

To transfer music I simply drag and drop, but there are ways to sync and manage media, I've just never bothered with it so I can't give you much help on that. I've made jumps from 3 very different mobile OS before, and it was a "shock" each time getting used to the interface, the shortcuts, settings, etc. Android seemed very intuitive to me very quickly, and I think if you stick with it it will grow on you very quickly!

Netflix is on its way, they are just having a little DRM management issues at the moment.

Also, the things like free navigation really take the cake on android, amongst dozens of other things.

 

[SixtyWattMan]

Well I just switched from a 3G to a Galaxy S Captivate and it's a bit of a culture shock to be honest. Maybe I was just so used to the iOS, but I find Android not as user friendly. I'm going to give it a few more days before I decide whether or not to return it.

There are a lot of things I like about Android, but I'm also very disappointed with the amount or bugs / issues, such as:

- texts come in with an incorrect time stamp (5hrs early), causing conversations to be really hard to follow
- sometimes received texts will show up with the incorrect name (that could be embarrassing!)
- skype doesn't work (won't login)
- no netflix client

I'm hoping the the 2.2 update that's due out soon will fix most of these, but so far I don't have a good first impression.

Also, if I want to transfer music onto the device so I just copy it over like on a USB drive? I was kind of hoping for a media manager of some sort...

I'm not a huge fan of Apple just on principle, but they do seem to make a polished OS and media management system.

Head over to XDA and flash the latest Cognition 2.2 rom and it will make things a lot better (near perfect except the GPS =P ). It's fairly easy and these phones are near impossible to brick. I personally hate iTunes and media managing software with a passion but if you need something that can mimic iTunes for Android try Doubletwist... Maybe winamp but someone else can possibly chime in on that one since it just came out.

 

[djBon2112]

Winamp will work as long as all your music is in the root of your SD card; if not it can't find it.

1. Did you set your timezone? It could be the network provider too.
2. Never had that happen on over 10 ROMs over 3 phones...
3. It's Wi-Fi-only intentionally.
4. Their fault for insisting on archaic DRM (see FPN thread today!)

Android does have a learning curve, but that's the beauty of it; it doesn't hold your hand: it gives you the wheel and tells you to let loose! The first week is very tough, but as SOON as you get used to it you'll wonder how you used the pOS that is iOS! Just remember, you can't really break your phone until you start messing with ROMs, so screw around, change settings, install tons of apps, and in general figure out what YOU want from the phone. The rest will come.

And, as the poster above me said, once you get used to Android a bit, check this place out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=703 XDA devs is THE place to go for rooting and ROMs. I'd browse around and read those forums before actually trying anything, but I know there are a ton of choices and rooting is a cinch.

 

[SilverMK3]

- texts come in with an incorrect time stamp (5hrs early), causing conversations to be really hard to follow

This is a carrier issue, download SMS Time Fix from the market and dial in a +5hr difference. It fixed the issue for me.

- sometimes received texts will show up with the incorrect name (that could be embarrassing!)

I've never run across this one, make sure your contacts are synced properly, you might have duplicate phone number entries or something.

- skype doesn't work (won't login)

Don't have skype, can't test it, sorry.

- no netflix client

According to Netflix’s Greg Peters, an app is coming early in 2011 – for "select devices,"

Also, if I want to transfer music onto the device so I just copy it over like on a USB drive? I was kind of hoping for a media manager of some sort...

You might be able to do it through Samsung Kies if you install it on your machine. Otherwise, the closest thing to iTunes would be Winamp. If you've got your music in Winamp and you're running the winamp app on your phone, you can send music to your phone over WiFi in the media library.

Alternately, if you have the Android SDK installed, there's a way to add a "Send to Android" option in Windows Explorer that sends files to your phone via ADB from any folder.

I'm not a huge fan of Apple just on principle, but they do seem to make a polished OS and media management system.

Personally I can't stand iTunes; but yes, their system is simpler / more streamlined. The thing about Android is that if you're willing to put in a bit of effort, you can customize it to work EXACTLY how you want. Check out LauncherPro or ADWLauncher if you want to tweak the look & feel of the OS. I use LauncherPro Plus and it blows away anything on the iphone.

 

[Greenstuffs]

FWIW skype does work, is the rom that it is not compatible, custom roms run skype just fine even 3g calling.

 

[qwertyaas]

Doubletwist for synching with iTunes.

The rest have been answered above.