Breaking Up With Apple

[Kneedragger]

Google Music Player in particular.

Ok so how exactly do you want to use Google music in your house? Headless or control through your TV?

 

[HJustin]

Ok so how exactly do you want to use Google music in your house? Headless or control through your TV?

Turn on device (Roku, Nexus Player, whatever), navigate to and launch Google Music. Play music from streaming service or from my CD rips that have been incorporate into my library via Google Music Manger. If there's an easier or another way to do this, I'm happy to try something new.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Turn on device (Roku, Nexus Player, whatever), navigate to and launch Google Music. Play music from streaming service or from my CD rips that have been incorporate into my library via Google Music Manger. If there's an easier or another way to do this, I'm happy to try something new.

The other way is the Chromecast model. Aka you pull up the Google Music app on your phone, pick the song/playlist, and then hit the "cast" button to send it to your TV. Do you want your phone/tablet to be the control/interface or do you want to do in on the TV via remote?

I personally prefer the Chromecast model.

 

[thilanliyan]

Android tablets are disappointing, other than that, all it takes is $

I don't find my Tab S 8.4 disappointing (especially with the Lollipop update) and neither did my Nexus 7 disappoint me. I really only watch Netflix, read e-books, and web browse though. Maybe there's some other use case where it IS disappointing...dunno.

 

[swilli89]

Just curious is anyone has abandoned Apple for Android. And not just phones, but tablets, and devices like Apple TV as well. If so, what made you switch? Did you go back to Apple or are you still using Android devices?

I'm considering ditching my Apple phone, tablet, and Apple TV and am curious if anyone has done the same and would recommend it?

Yeah go for it man! Apple supports human suffering in Qatar so its best to not support their overpriced junk anyways! Welcome to the good guys

 

[Fingolfin269]

Best part of leaving Apple is freedom. Don't get yourself stuck in iTunes and Apple ecosystem. See my sig with quote from Zaap.

I've had the last 3 iPhones and couldn't tell you the last time I used iTunes.

I've got an Android tablet (Nexus 7) and an iPhone 6. I like both just fine. My last foray into Android phones was a Nexus and it sucked. Maybe if I got a true flagship my opinion would differ but seems the Android flagships are all too big for my taste. To be honest the iPhone 6 is pretty much on the edge of being larger than I want to carry around.

This of course means the next phone I get will likely be the Note or 6++. That's just how consistent I am..

 

[Oyeve]

I never fully went apple. I have a Mac book pro, several iphones and a couple of ipads but I never use them. My daily devices are a note 4, htc m8, tab pro 8.4 and a gear 2. I much prefer Android as apple devices are too limiting for daily use and just annoying in general. I mostly use apple devices for selling or trading. Basically the collect dust. My family and my wife's family all use Android except for her 2 kids but they are airheads anyway.

 

[HJustin]

The other way is the Chromecast model. Aka you pull up the Google Music app on your phone, pick the song/playlist, and then hit the "cast" button to send it to your TV. Do you want your phone/tablet to be the control/interface or do you want to do in on the TV via remote?

I personally prefer the Chromecast model.

I have a Chromecast in the bedroom and it works fine. We've had the Apple TV in the living room for a few years and are used to how it works. Looks like Nvidia announced a new Shield device that seems pretty good.

Yeah go for it man! Apple supports human suffering in Qatar so its best to not support their overpriced junk anyways! Welcome to the good guys

Yay me! I'll probably go Android for phone in the next week and start looking at tablets. Someone mentioned the FireTV above and I'll take a closer look at those and the Amazon tablets. I spent most of my iPad time on the Kindle app.

I've had the last 3 iPhones and couldn't tell you the last time I used iTunes.

I've got an Android tablet (Nexus 7) and an iPhone 6. I like both just fine. My last foray into Android phones was a Nexus and it sucked. Maybe if I got a true flagship my opinion would differ but seems the Android flagships are all too big for my taste. To be honest the iPhone 6 is pretty much on the edge of being larger than I want to carry around.

This of course means the next phone I get will likely be the Note or 6++. That's just how consistent I am..

Consistency is overrated.

 

[Kaido]

Just curious is anyone has abandoned Apple for Android. And not just phones, but tablets, and devices like Apple TV as well. If so, what made you switch? Did you go back to Apple or are you still using Android devices?

I'm considering ditching my Apple phone, tablet, and Apple TV and am curious if anyone has done the same and would recommend it?

Just depends on what you want to do & how you want to do it. I like my iPhone quite a bit; it's easy & I don't have to tinker with it. For TV, I use a Roku with various apps (Netflix, Amazon, Plex, etc.). I mostly use a Chromebook in place of a tablet/computer these days, although we share a family Mac. Locked-down Android tablet for the kiddo.

Are you interested in doing a fanboy-style cut, or are you looking for something specific that you weren't getting from Apple?

 

[Ravynmagi]

I started on Nexus phones, went to the iPhone 6 Plus and am currently trying to use the Note 4 as my main phone now. And I use mostly Google services (Voice, Hangouts, Chrome, Music, Movies, Maps, Search).

I've really enjoyed how the Google services worked on my iPhone 6 Plus. Google Now was worthless there, but Google Voice, Hangouts, Chrome, Maps, Music, and Movies worked great. I loved the hardware of the iPhone 6 Plus too, beautiful phone, very thin, great battery life, and I love that ridiculously overpriced leather case, first case I actually leave on my phone all the time.

So far my switch back to Android on the Note 4 has been more difficult than expected. The two big frustrations have been performance and battery life. The Note 4 is no slouch, but this experience just feels so much slower than my iPhone 6 Plus. It particularly stands out when using Google's own Hangouts and Chrome apps. Both of these apps load and run so much better on the iPhone. I use Hangouts for texts and it's annoying the delay opening the app on the Note 4. Also my battery life on the Note 4 has been pretty bad so far. But I'll try not to judge that too much, since I'm still settling into this phone and may be fiddling with it more than normal. Still, I was at 45% battery life by 9:30 am and that was troubling. But it does charge fast.

I do like Google Maps more on the Note 4, the UI seems a bit bigger and easier to read while driving and it provides more traffic condition information than the iOS version does. But the GPS is sometimes slow to lock in on my location and that's annoying too.

I love having the pen and micro SD card with the Note 4. The pen is the main driving force for me wanting to use my Note 4 instead of the iPhone 6 Plus. And OneNote is a great app I can use on iOS, Android, and Windows. So I can take notes on the Note 4 and view them from pretty much any device easily. The SD card is a mixed bag, it's great when it works. But I've had issues in the past with SD cards suddenly going corrupt and losing everything on them and it just happened again with my Note 4. Usually it's not too dramatic as I usually have a cloud back up of it, but it's a major annoyance and unreliable.

I still need more time with my switch back to an Android phone. I suspect I'd be much happier with a Nexus phone or something with a stock OS on it. Though I think the Nexus 6 is too big and I think the Note 4 might be too difficult to unlock and load a custom ROM on.

 

[senseamp]

iOS is good for tablets. Same consistent, dumbed down user interface for 5+ years so for a device shared with whole family and visitors of different skill sets, it's great. Doesn't really get obsolete since it's same stuff every year just somewhat faster. Looks nice on the coffee table.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I have a Chromecast in the bedroom and it works fine. We've had the Apple TV in the living room for a few years and are used to how it works. Looks like Nvidia announced a new Shield device that seems pretty good.

Yeah the shield looks like a great device.

 

[HJustin]

Just depends on what you want to do & how you want to do it. I like my iPhone quite a bit; it's easy & I don't have to tinker with it. For TV, I use a Roku with various apps (Netflix, Amazon, Plex, etc.). I mostly use a Chromebook in place of a tablet/computer these days, although we share a family Mac. Locked-down Android tablet for the kiddo.

Are you interested in doing a fanboy-style cut, or are you looking for something specific that you weren't getting from Apple?

Not necessarily a fanboy-style cut. I grew up on Apple II and Commodore computers before moving on to PCs for work and gaming. Like Linux, Android, and all that. I bought my iPad because I imagined I would really take advantage of their robust app library but that has never panned out in three years. I spend most of my time in the Kindle app. Check email, browse, Facebook. I've always been annoyed that I can't buy books from the Kindle app on iOS. The other stuff is really platform-neutral. Facebook is Facebook and I use Chrome and Gmail on my iPhone 5 and iPad 2. Recently I've started using Google Now and even that seems okay on my iPhone. On top of all this, there's my growing disdain for iTunes. I'm tired of it and its idiosyncrasies, and am looking at alternatives for managing my music as well. I'm ready to give Android a serious go. And if it doesn't work out I can come back to Apple with iOS 9 or 10.

 

[CptObvious]

Stuff has matured to the point that for the average user (and I consider myself one), it really doesn't matter what you use. I have an Android phone, an iPad, a PC, and have owned both a Roku 3 and Apple TV. They all get the job done, and it wasn't like even a few years ago when it was a tech arms race and the differences mattered. Now the hardware has past the point of sufficiency for most uses and the software works without too many problems.

I was really into cameras for a while and upgraded every generation, but after a while you realize its the same kind of folly, and each iteration brings smaller and smaller improvements and doesnt translate into better photos. I kind of miss the days when there were big innovations, but for now I'll just stick with buying a generation or two behind and saving my money.

 

[QueBert]

Best part of leaving Apple is freedom. Don't get yourself stuck in iTunes and Apple ecosystem. See my sig with quote from Zaap.

Every phone OS is tied to an ecosystem, so your comment makes little sense. And as far as ecosystems go, Apple imho has the best apps by a large margin. And nobody with any brains would try and argue against the vast superiority & selection of accessories and crazy selection of non Apple devices that work with iOS.

I'm hundreds of dollars app wise tied into both iOS & Android. I guess Android is better because you can install the Amazon app store and a few various game companies that have their own locked down store. But to me that's just more hassle. Since I've bought about 50 Android apps, wouldn't that make me suck in their ecosystem? Or does one only get stuck in the Apple ecosystem?

 

[Commodus]

One of the ironies is that, for all the complaints about Apple's lock-in on iOS, it's actually one of the most flexible platforms in terms of services. After all, you can get Apple, Google and Microsoft apps on iOS, but you won't get more than two of those options on Android or Windows.

I wouldn't say that the iOS app ecosystem is vastly superior, but I don't think Android users realize how frequently they get shafted on new apps or updates -- iOS usually gets both of them first (even from Google, now and then), sometimes with a months-long lead time.

 

[Kneedragger]

Turn on device (Roku, Nexus Player, whatever), navigate to and launch Google Music. Play music from streaming service or from my CD rips that have been incorporate into my library via Google Music Manger. If there's an easier or another way to do this, I'm happy to try something new.

Ok so..

1. I don't use an Apple TV so does it have the Google music app? Maybe just keep the AppleTV for that and see how things go?

2. Did you only use the Apple TV for just music?

 

[Eug]

I wouldn't say that the iOS app ecosystem is vastly superior, but I don't think Android users realize how frequently they get shafted on new apps or updates -- iOS usually gets both of them first (even from Google, now and then), sometimes with a months-long lead time.

I learned the hard way that if you don't have one of the most popular Android phones (eg. Nexus or Samsung Galaxy series), even if apps do exist on Android you can't expect them to actually work properly on your phone.

OS support is hit and miss too. For example, the LG G2 won't be getting Lollipop in Canada. WTF?

 

[Artdeco]

Bottom line is you can make nearly any combo work, just depends on what you want.

I do like the iPad much better than other tablets though.

 

[HJustin]

Ok so..

1. I don't use an Apple TV so does it have the Google music app? Maybe just keep the AppleTV for that and see how things go?

2. Did you only use the Apple TV for just music?

1. No but I can AirPlay Google Music from my iPhone and iPad.

2. Primarily. Also use it for Netflix while I have my PS4 in my home office. Will be moving that back out this week for some Jameson Mortal Kombat X parties. Also like the Trailers app on the Apple TV. Not sure if there's anything like it on Roku or Nexus Player.

 

[poofyhairguy]

One of the ironies is that, for all the complaints about Apple's lock-in on iOS, it's actually one of the most flexible platforms in terms of services. After all, you can get Apple, Google and Microsoft apps on iOS, but you won't get more than two of those options on Android or Windows.

I would trade every Apple app on an iPhone/iPad to have ES File Explorer on there. I know more than one iOS user who uses the Google equivalent app on their phone instead of the Apple one (like Maps, or Hangouts) so I might not be alone in discounting the value of Apple mobile apps.

The lock-in is the fact that what is available in the "ecosystem" is limited. Maybe for a company phone having an app from almost every Fortune 500 company matters. For some of us having a browser that can actually download attachments and use them even if the mothership didn't bless that file type matters more.

I wouldn't say that the iOS app ecosystem is vastly superior, but I don't think Android users realize how frequently they get shafted on new apps or updates -- iOS usually gets both of them first (even from Google, now and then), sometimes with a months-long lead time.

I think anyone paying attention knows that. Like how Periscope was on iOS first. But the flip side is that unlike say three years ago every category on Android is more than covered, and Android does get the apps eventually. No doubt if you are an app enthusiast iOS is still your platform though.

 

[Kneedragger]

1. No but I can AirPlay Google Music from my iPhone and iPad.

2. Primarily. Also use it for Netflix while I have my PS4 in my home office. Will be moving that back out this week for some Jameson Mortal Kombat X parties. Also like the Trailers app on the Apple TV. Not sure if there's anything like it on Roku or Nexus Player.

Ok so I think the Roku has Mirrorcast or Allshare which you should be able to stream from any Android device. *Should* I say because I dont know for sure. I would look into this more.

If it does then you can stream Google music from any of your Android devices.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Just curious is anyone has abandoned Apple for Android. And not just phones, but tablets, and devices like Apple TV as well. If so, what made you switch? Did you go back to Apple or are you still using Android devices?

I'm considering ditching my Apple phone, tablet, and Apple TV and am curious if anyone has done the same and would recommend it?

I would go one device/category at a time, because the grass is always greener on the other side.

Some Apple devices have great competition, while others are still pretty much the gold industry standard.
----

I ditched Apple phones a LONG time ago - I went from an iPhone 3GS to a Samsung Galaxy S II and never looked back.

However, after a brief foray into Android tablets, I went back to Apple with an iPad 3, 4, then a mini retina. Apple's tablets are much better than Android ones (I owned a Nexus 7 - 2013 model, but the iPad mini retina is still way better IMO, with a better ecosystem).

Apps are so cheap that it doesn't even really cost much more to run on 2 ecosystems at a time.

 

[HJustin]

I would go one device/category at a time, because the grass is always greener on the other side.

Some Apple devices have great competition, while others are still pretty much the gold industry standard.
----

I ditched Apple phones a LONG time ago - I went from an iPhone 3GS to a Samsung Galaxy S II and never looked back.

However, after a brief foray into Android tablets, I went back to Apple with an iPad 3, 4, then a mini retina. Apple's tablets are much better than Android ones (I owned a Nexus 7 - 2013 model, but the iPad mini retina is still way better IMO, with a better ecosystem).

Apps are so cheap that it doesn't even really cost much more to run on 2 ecosystems at a time.

This is where I'll end up for now. I expect to buy either an LG G4 or S6 Edge (if I can make up my damned mind) this week and will stick with the iPad for the time being. Given that I only use my iPad for browsing, email, FB, and Kindle I will at least look at the Android and Kindle tablets over the next few months. As far as the Apple TV...may just throw it in the closet and move my PS4 back into the living room. It has Netflix and Spotify. I've really enjoyed using Spotify this past week.

 

[Commodus]

This is where I'll end up for now. I expect to buy either an LG G4 or S6 Edge (if I can make up my damned mind) this week and will stick with the iPad for the time being. Given that I only use my iPad for browsing, email, FB, and Kindle I will at least look at the Android and Kindle tablets over the next few months. As far as the Apple TV...may just throw it in the closet and move my PS4 back into the living room. It has Netflix and Spotify. I've really enjoyed using Spotify this past week.

I'd get the regular S6 if you're going to go the Samsung route. I've used the Edge, and it's definitely eye-catching, but it's hard to justify the premium unless you can't help but smile every time you see it. I'd probably roll the money into either a higher-capacity model or accessories like cases and wireless charging pads.

If you're intrigued by the G4, I'd get a leather model if possible... though I suspect you were already leaning that way!