Gadgetory

this episode of Android QA is brought to you by HipChat wait wait before you go to the dark side and buy an iPhone hear me out you don't want to be known as someone who follows the I she I'll right oh right oh right so all joking aside no really all joking aside we got to talk about that dilly what are you giving up when you move from the Android ecosystem to iOS you're giving up quite a bit you're also gaining some things too but some ground rules cuz things get stupid around here when we start talking about Android versus iOS number one just because you own an iOS device doesn't make you a bad person doesn't make you a nice sheep but in some cases it makes you uninformed and my job here is to make you informed if you choose to pull the trigger so here we go we're going to start off with a relationship analogy iPhone is possibly a gorgeous prospective partner but iPhone wants you to be the way it wants you to be whereas Android loves you for who you are and let's start with customization and choice this has always been a major plus point for Android you can mix and match apps and widgets any way you like to create a truly unique look on your home screen you can even set up widgets and apps and shortcuts on your lockscreen you have a wide choice of different unlock methods and customization options by default but there's also a lot of third-party apps and launchers that allow you to customize every aspect of the aesthetic including animations and layout with the iPhone you have a list of installed apps you can choose a background photo and create folders of apps but that's about it Apple has added widgets to the Notification Center but that means opening it up and choosing the today tab to found them in Android widgets are all about being glanceable so you can take a look at your lockscreen or home screen and instantly find the information that you want they also come in a wide range of different styles that can often be fully customized in terms of size color font and of course the data they display if you spend time crafting the visual style and functionality of your lockscreen and home screen you're definitely going to miss it if you've spent time crafting the visual style and functionality of your lock or home screen on Android you're definitely going to miss it if you move to iOS now the second thing you're going to miss is the tight integration with Google Apps services there has been a Google presence on iOS since the original iPhone was launched though it has been gradually replaced in recent years there are a few apps like Google keep that you simply can't get on the iPhone but even the Google apps and services that are present don't match their Android counterparts if you want to get the best from Google now chrome Gmail Google Maps and many others then you really want to use an Android device this is becoming a bigger deal all the time as Google looks to add more value to its version of Android in the face of Android fork systems Google apps and services are improving faster than ever before now the third thing you're going to want to be aware of is androids drag-and-drop filing system with an Android device you can actually see the file structure something which Apple deliberately tries to hide you usually find a file manager of some sort pre-installed on your Android device but if not there are plenty of them in the Play Store for free there will be no consequence for some people but a lot of Android fans enjoy the ability to plug in their phone or tablet and just drag and drop files into the folder wherever they want them now the fourth thing you're going to miss is Android notifications and they are far and away much better than iOS notifications you've got a list of incoming notifications you can act on directly or dismiss small icons in the status bar indicate what awaits you and serve as a reminder of tasks or items you still need to deal with if you don't want apps to notify you then you can turn off notifications in the settings you can also choose them to see them in the lockscreen in Android 5.0 lollipop you can even set priority notifications so what's important rises to the top now personally this is one of my favorite things about Android notifications I can turn my ringer off or notifications off indefinitely or for a set specific time I can only allow priority calls in but exclude everything else that is super practical fantastic job android/ios can't do that now this isn't going to matter to everyone but for those of you who really want to unleash the power of Android we got to talk about routing and custom roms for a minority of Android users with the knowledge confidence and interest the ability to route your device and install mods is unparalleled you can access and tweak nearly every aspect of your Android device and get the exact setup you want there is a lively modding community working on all sorts of interesting options xda-developers comm is the best place to start if you've never explored this side of android now yes you can jailbreak your iPhone but even then you never get the same freedom that you get with Android now we got to talk about the intangibles when it comes to Android versus iOS and this is a big factor my daughter for example loves her iPhone primarily because a lot of her friends have iPhones and that social pressure is a big factor but if you're going to make the decision make the decision because the iPhone is best for you not because your friends have done it but we got to talk about one thing why would the iPhone be good for you now if I were to go back to the iPhone it's probably unlikely but if I did it would be for simplicity sake the reality is like many of you I've had an iTunes account for some 13 years and I have a lot of iTunes content and syncing that content between various iOS devices and Mac devices it's just easier that's just a fact I use doubleTwist to sync from my iTunes to my Android devices but it's a little bit of a pain in the butt it's the best solution thus far but if simplicity sheer simplicity is number one priority for you maybe you want to go for an iPhone but if you do you want to be an educated informed iOS user now our team here at AAA is not just an authority on all things Android but we've become an authority on how to collaborate as a team and to do so we need great tools like this one HipChat is an instant messaging video chat document sharing screen sharing system updates code sharing integrated into one simple platform email is to slow meetings gets sidetracked and regular instant messaging doesn't work well for groups and the best part is that HipChat integrates with top upper tools like github JIRA Zendesk and more check out the fifty-seven services that HipChat plays nice with HipChat brings your entire project together under one roof get your team on the same page in seconds you can try HipChat free no credit card required go to HipChat comm forward slash android authority sign up click start chatting and then invite a few team members and try it for 30 days remember that's HipChat forward slash and road authority and for the first 100 signups HipChat is going to extend their 30 day free trial to 90 days your team your project in sync instantly thanks for watching edward army my name is Jace love to connect with you right here on Google+ or Twitter I read all my comments not replies you don't want to forget about my brothers in Android jaws Joe and the tech ninja Kevin lawn and Chris Gary Nash all working super hard to be your source for all things Android