Is now the time to go Android?

SantaBarbaraRealtor wrote:

...... What are some good Android phones and pads?

Check the forums for various Android phones and you will find

just as many problems and issues as with the iPhone.

I will admit, the new Maps is pretty lame, but so was the old

in my opinion.

you can get an iphone on sprint.

Well, I have an iPhone 4s at the moment and am really not sure whether to upgrade or not. My contract is up for renewal in the next couple of weeks, so I shall have to decide soon.

However, I do seem to be one of the few people here who upgraded to iOS 6 without any problems at all. The Apple maps are dreadful and when I entered my zip code, the Apple map showed me as living at least 200 yards further down the road than I actually do - at least Google maps was accurate.

As others suggested, I went to the maps.google link and downloaded the Google maps app to my phone.

As for alternatives, the one that I would consider and have been is the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Really good quality phone that has room for upgrading the memory too - 2 version, one with 16Gb and the other with 32Gb, but you can expand it up to 80 if needed.

I asked about it and it can store music, however, the one draw back for me might be the fact that you can't sync with iTunes. You have to download Samsung software to be able to convert your iTunes library before loading onto a Galaxy.

That would be my choice if I switched to Android - lovely looking phone especially in white - I have a white iPhone 4s too.

Firstly to say there are as many problems with android phones as iphone5 may be correct in certain cases however the difference is updates and patches come faster even from the beloved samsung! however to get the best out of an android phone you have to prepare to put a little effort in first after that its plain sailing.

The galaxy s3 is an ok phone (i have one for work) but my personal is a galaxy note (yes will not suit all but best thing ive owned). I dont own an iphone but the build quality is far superior than most android phones (not necessarily stronger mind)

You do not have to use kies (sammy software) once your library has been converted in fact many apps do that for you, but you are then free in future to just drag and drop folders from your pc mac to the phone.

If you have heavily invested in apps and movies etc then just hangon in and wait for the updates if you have not then the switch is not that hard ics and jellybean are very smooth and simple to operate

Okay, thanks for that.

The apps would yes but it depends on your investment if they are premium paid apps are you prepared to loose your investment (this is lessend if you own an ipad though)

There are so many ways to sync an android to your pc/mac i can only discuss galaxy range as thats what i own, apps like airdroid do wireless, samsung kies is also a wifi app so no need for cables since ics mtp has been set as main usb protocol as opposed to usb mass storage which is easier. At first my mac would not see the phone but a couple of clicks later and it works, drag and drop.

As for syncing data itself on a samsung you get two options which you can set up:

Google account, this syncs and backsup contacts, settings and apps, so if you reninstall or rest the phone then it will auto install your apps. google sync also auto updates your calender and if you use chrome on the pc, then your bookmarks are automatically avaliable on your phone, in fact it also syncs your current tab so if you leave your pc and want to carry on reading a webpage, that current page is already avaliable on your phone

Then for samsung you get scloud - this backups up sms mms settings contacts and more.

However as i mentioned before if you have heavily invested in apps tv films etc, then your best staying with apple, if your prepared to start again then yes android is an option.

One thing i dont see being mentiones regarding the maps issue is that while the data can be made more accurate the actual sat view cannot unless apple repurchase maps from someone like google (wont do) or Microsoft whose map views are superior. Hopefully apple will listen to its users and permit the google maps app (if there is one) through promptly

Again for the record i own a mac and had 2 ipads, no tablet comes close to the ipad so my advice is just for ref and not to say ones better than the other