WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.839 Welcome to day 30 of my I switch to Android blog. I realized I haven't 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:10.000 actually done as many updates as I did when I did my switch to Windows Phone 8. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:14.719 And there's a very good reason for this. So, I went from iOS to Windows Phone 8, 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.600 back to iOS, and now to Android. And the reason I haven't really had much to say 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.240 is I haven't really thought of anything to complain about. And in my first two 00:00:19.840 --> 00:00:27.439 videos, I really did cover most of what I thought was great about the platform 00:00:23.840 --> 00:00:29.519 as well as about the HTC1 in particular. 00:00:27.439 --> 00:00:34.399 So, I've been kind of sitting here thinking, what can I possibly say other 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:38.719 than I'm switching to Android and this will likely be my permanent home for the 00:00:36.239 --> 00:00:42.160 foreseeable future. Now, with that said, there are some interesting competitors 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:45.920 in the Android space. This right here is the Galaxy S4. So, I'm going to treat 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:50.320 this video as my final thoughts on Android in general, as well as some of 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:55.120 the observations I've made about the HTC1 while using it for 30 days and a 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:59.280 little bit of comparison between the One and the S4, which I've now had my hands 00:00:56.879 --> 00:01:04.879 on for about 10 days. So, we'll start with the HTC1. Um, if I had to complain 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:08.400 about something in Sense 5.0, it's the fact or 55 plus or whatever they're 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:12.560 calling it now. Uh, it would be the inelegant implementation of the stock 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:18.560 music player. So, the stock music player is media music. The stock music player 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:24.640 is well integrated with the OS, but the navigation isn't that great. And what I 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:28.640 discovered myself doing uh because it doesn't have a built-in EQ is I found 00:01:26.880 --> 00:01:33.680 myself uh trying to find an alternative music player. So, the ones that I tried 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:39.759 were whoops, excuse me, Rocket Player as well as um Win Amp. So, these have the 00:01:37.119 --> 00:01:46.720 advantages of EQ settings, but they don't integrate with the Sense 5.0 00:01:44.479 --> 00:01:51.119 UI as well as the stock one does. So, for example, with the stock one, I can 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:56.079 have a lock screen that has a music player. Whereas with the other ones, I 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:59.600 can't have it on the lock screen, but I can implement it here. But even their 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:05.840 their integrations here aren't that great, and they have some strange behaviors. Like for example, um if I 00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:09.440 plug in my headphones right now, you're going to see that it's just going to 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:14.239 start playing music even though I don't necessarily want it to do that. Um give 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:18.000 it a sec. Give it a sec. Yeah, it'll probably start doing that. See, there 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:21.360 you go. So, I have to actually tell it to go away every time I plug something 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:25.599 into the top of the device. So, I wish there was one that was as well integrated as the stock one, but sounded 00:02:24.480 --> 00:02:31.920 a little better and had better navigation. Um, the market, I wish it kind of had a 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:35.120 convenient favorites list of apps. And this one right here, app backup and 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:39.120 restore, is really cool. So, what it does is it just creates a file that you 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:45.120 dump onto your computer. And then you copy that into the uh into the folder on 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:48.239 another phone. And what happens is as soon as you launch it, you can restore 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:52.800 and it'll install all the apps that you had installed on the device. So, I used 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:55.519 this when I went from using the HTC1 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:59.200 only to using the Galaxy S4 as well because it allowed me to just load my 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:04.319 entire app load out onto it. Now, I remember in the tablet version of Android on Honeycomb in the market, you 00:03:02.959 --> 00:03:09.440 were able to just see all of the apps that you downloaded before and I wasn't able to find that, but that doesn't mean 00:03:07.519 --> 00:03:12.560 it's not there. And I found this was a little bit inelegant. So, I was I got 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:16.720 prompted by every app. Are you sure? Yes. Are you sure? Do you agree? Yes. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:20.720 Yes. So, it took it took a long time to install all the apps even though I had 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:24.480 the full list. So, um that's something that I that I wish Android had because 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:27.280 with iOS it's simple. You back up your phone, you restore your phone, and 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.680 everything's exactly the way you left it. I did find the People app a little 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:35.519 bit confusing. So, I'm I still am not really using the stock Android desktop, 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:38.560 and I'm not using Blink Feed. I'm just using this list right here, which is 00:03:36.959 --> 00:03:43.519 more like Gingerbread. So, I did find the People app Oh, I should probably turn that H. Yeah, nothing there that 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:47.440 matters. I did find the people app a little bit confusing. a lot of the the 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:50.560 links that it suggested weren't right and it didn't pick up on a lot of the 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:56.480 links that I ended up setting up manually. But once I did set them all up 00:03:52.799 --> 00:03:58.319 manually, it's it's great except that it 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:02.640 doesn't really allow me to pick. Do I want to pull that person's Facebook 00:03:59.760 --> 00:04:06.959 picture? Do I want to use my own picture that I took of them so that I know who 00:04:05.040 --> 00:04:10.159 I'm talking to because not everyone uses a picture of themselves for Facebook. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:12.959 So, for example, when my wife calls, it's a picture of my baby because that's 00:04:11.760 --> 00:04:17.680 what she uses for her Facebook picture. if I can't figure out how to change it. 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:22.960 Uh, multitasking is still a highlight of the platform for me. I love this. I do 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:27.120 not miss the hardware button. In fact, going to the S4, which is more like the 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:30.960 button loadout that I'm used to, where you've got your context menu button 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:34.960 here, you've got your hard home button here, and then your soft back button 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:41.040 here. This is more like what I was used to with Android, but I didn't miss it at 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:43.919 all with the HTC1. I found that back, 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:48.080 home, and then multitask was really all I needed because that that context 00:04:46.400 --> 00:04:51.199 button has been replaced with these dots up here. And I actually find it a little 00:04:49.840 --> 00:04:56.080 bit easier to press. So, I mean, when I'm holding the device, I hold it like this. So, when I'm going to go back, I 00:04:54.479 --> 00:05:01.759 can reach back. Okay, that's fine. It's a little bit of a stretch, but I don't go back as much as I might want to 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:05.600 access context because that's your your new tab, your bookmarks, all all those 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.280 kinds of things, which I actually like having on the right versus having on the 00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:12.880 bottom left like that. So, yeah, I thought it was great. Uh, the camera is 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:17.600 still awesome on the HTC1. I know I've talked about this before. I I played 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:20.720 around with Zoe's or Zoies, which are those sort of 3 4 secondond clips that 00:05:19.440 --> 00:05:26.080 you take and then you can take some pictures during it. I used them a little bit at first, but then I really found 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:31.039 myself not really bothering with it and just using video a lot more because it's 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:34.080 so quick. You can go from you can go 00:05:31.039 --> 00:05:37.039 from lock screen to 00:05:34.080 --> 00:05:40.320 recording a video in that long. And so what I just found myself doing is if I 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:44.639 wanted a 4- second video clip, well, I'm gonna take a four-se secondond video clip. That's what I'll do. So the the 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:47.600 Zoies didn't really uh didn't really matter that much to me, but I do think 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:51.520 they're a better implementation than Samsung's thing with the still photo and 00:05:49.840 --> 00:05:54.720 the audio recording that goes with it. I' I'd rather have the video and then I 00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:59.360 can capture a few still photos at the same time. Um I do on the other hand 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:03.600 find myself watching highlight reels of previous days. It is so cool. Uh, if we 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:08.240 go into my photos, I'm just going to pick a random day, such as, for example, 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.560 this day. I think we were we did a video shoot. Um, 00:06:11.280 --> 00:06:18.400 so let's just see what it comes up with on its own. So, here's me dressing up the cat. Here's our actor as well as our 00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:26.240 film crew. Here's me and Diesel crammed into the back. It's a really cool way to 00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:28.080 look back at a day of of events. 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:32.960 So, here's we did some behindthe-scenes footage of this particular shoot. So 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:38.960 that's what a lot of it is. But yeah, it's just it's a it's just really cool. 00:06:37.039 --> 00:06:44.720 So yeah, I do find myself using this, but not not Zoe's at all. Uh the feeling 00:06:42.400 --> 00:06:48.400 of solidity with this phone is outstanding. It's really unlike any 00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:54.800 other device other than an Apple device that I've ever seen. So I want you to watch the pressure my thumbs are 00:06:51.280 --> 00:06:57.039 exerting on the phone here. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:01.840 As hard as I might press, I can't get the phone to flex, which is I mean, I 00:07:00.479 --> 00:07:05.840 kind of took it for granted a little bit going from iOS to this phone, going from 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:09.919 an iPhone 4, which is also a very solid device, to this one. I was like, "Oh, yeah, well, whatever. No devices flex. 00:07:08.479 --> 00:07:15.840 Of course, they do." Uh, this is the Galaxy S4, and with this one, you can 00:07:12.400 --> 00:07:17.199 probably see that bend, particularly on 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:20.960 my right thumb. I'm putting about the same amount of pressure on it. Is the S4 00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:25.039 a solidly built device? You know what? Probably. It's better than the S3. It 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:30.160 feels better to hold than the S3 with the squared corners, but it without the 00:07:27.280 --> 00:07:35.360 metal backing, which Samsung sacrifices in order to get things like the optional 00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:39.840 wireless charging back cover as well as being able to integrate your cover, like 00:07:37.520 --> 00:07:43.520 the front case cover with the back cover and have it all be one piece in order to 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:48.400 give you that micro SD upgrade as well as the removable battery. These are the 00:07:45.440 --> 00:07:52.800 sacrifices Samsung has made in order to um to bring you those those 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.400 functionalities. But I I like the 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:59.120 feeling of this and the honestly the finish on the aluminum is one of the best ones I've encountered in spite of 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:04.080 the fact that it's a phone. It's still immaculate. Most br even brushed or 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:07.280 anodized aluminum surfaces. Every time you put them down on something solid 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:13.680 like a table, you put them on a table and they they slide a little bit, you go, "Oh no, I just scratched it. I'm 00:08:11.919 --> 00:08:18.960 sure I just scratched it." No, not with the one. I really didn't get that 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.879 impression at all. Um she does get hot 00:08:18.960 --> 00:08:24.160 when she's under load. My hand got a bit sweaty the other day when I was sitting 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:27.360 in the car with navigation running in the background and I was watching a 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:31.280 video on it. So, navigation was running so that the driver could hear um the 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:36.560 navigation things, but I was sitting watching a video. She got toasty. Whenever you uh whenever you share your 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:40.240 wireless network with people, it does get quite toasty. But the flip side of 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:44.159 that is at least it has the aluminum backing to help dissipate the heat. So, 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:49.519 yeah, it's more hot to my hand, but that probably means my processors are 00:08:45.920 --> 00:08:50.800 actually running cooler. Um, 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:55.839 you know what? Actually, here something I should have mentioned when I said I didn't miss the uh the hard button here 00:08:53.839 --> 00:08:59.360 is Windows phone probably helped a lot as a buffer to help me break that habit 00:08:57.680 --> 00:09:03.680 because I mean honestly the search button is pretty much useless. I never 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:07.519 used it. The Windows button is good and the back button is good. So essentially 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:11.519 I had two buttons. I had home and back which D home and back. So, it's quite 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:16.800 possible that that was part of the learning experience there as well because I went from a platform with just 00:09:14.560 --> 00:09:20.480 a home button to a platform with a home button, a useless button, and a back 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:26.399 button to this. And I haven't really used the S4 super extensively yet. HTC, 00:09:25.040 --> 00:09:30.399 actually, there's some leaked pictures that the HTC1 in China is going to have 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:34.720 this back piece removable with a micro SD slot. You know what? I already find 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:38.880 myself wishing I had a micro SD slot. My 16 gig iPhone, never used the whole 00:09:36.959 --> 00:09:42.240 thing. Never found that to be a problem. This is 32 gigs. I've already almost 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:47.120 filled it. And a big part of the reason for that is I'm shooting so much HD 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:50.959 video with it, so much 1080p video that I find myself filling it. Also, it's so 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:54.480 much of a bigger screen. It's great for content. So, when I don't take something 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:58.640 like a Seagate Wireless Plus out with me, um, it's nice to be able to load 00:09:56.240 --> 00:10:02.480 some videos on here. And with wireless AC, I can transfer things to myself very 00:10:01.040 --> 00:10:06.480 quickly. And, and there's all these good things about it that really mean I would 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:12.080 love to be able to throw a 64 gig micro SD in there. So, I I wish HTC would 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:15.360 reconsider and do an HTC1 plus or something for other regions where they 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:21.600 implement the micro SD, but I really don't see it happening. Uh, widgets are 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:24.079 cool, but honestly, I um as a user who 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.079 who sees pretty well and is used to the iOS experience and has this great 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:32.160 multitasking interface where I can see the last nine things that I've done, I 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:35.920 didn't find myself really using any of them. It comes with a lot of stock 00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:40.959 widgets that you can uh that you can add just by going down here and you can add 00:10:37.680 --> 00:10:42.959 a calendar and bookmarks and FM radio 00:10:40.959 --> 00:10:48.480 and all that kind of cool. I just didn't find myself using it. I prefer the 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:50.800 density of this interface with folders 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:57.839 where I can take put almost everything I need and just put it here on one page. 00:10:54.079 --> 00:10:59.360 Um, and I'll just open up the app or 00:10:57.839 --> 00:11:04.000 instead of going back to the home screen. So, you know, like home screen, home screen to get back to the Google 00:11:02.560 --> 00:11:07.600 one, going like this to find my appropriate widget. If I just go like 00:11:05.839 --> 00:11:10.800 this, most of the things that I use a lot of the time, like my Gmail, my 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:14.079 calendar, are within the last nine things that I've used. So, there's very 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:18.800 few situations where I would need a widget in order to make it quicker for 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:21.040 me to access it. So, there you go. Oh. 00:11:18.800 --> 00:11:24.480 Oh, and like compared to widgets, I'd much rather have things implemented into 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:29.920 the drop- down menu here, like my power toggles. I just realized I had my Wi-Fi 00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:31.680 off. This I use all the time, and this 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:36.240 is a very natural way for me to access it compared to click, click, left, left, 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:41.760 right, right, or whatever else I happen to be doing. Try that one. So, this is 00:11:39.920 --> 00:11:45.760 something iOS users, I'm sure, will appreciate is how simple it is to set a 00:11:44.160 --> 00:11:51.040 song as your ringtone on Android. I'm sure every other platform has been 00:11:47.920 --> 00:11:52.800 taking this for granted for ever, but uh 00:11:51.040 --> 00:11:58.079 as a longtime iOS user, I was like, really? I just like long click it and 00:11:54.880 --> 00:12:00.000 then set to be my ringtone. Holy crap, 00:11:58.079 --> 00:12:04.240 that's the easiest thing ever. So, that was a really neat thing to uh to run 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:09.519 into. And I think at the end of the day, here's what it comes down to. Um after 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:13.360 my 30-day trial, yes, I'm switching to Android. I'm still going to be open to 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:17.440 trying new platforms such as Ubuntu Phone or BlackBerry. Actually, there's a 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:22.320 Blackberry in the mail. So, I might uh I might have to kind of cheat on my new my 00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:26.000 new love Android very very soon. Skype integration was much better than Windows 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.440 Phone. Uh similar to iOS, so that's something that I realize I haven't 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:34.480 talked about yet. But there you go, guys. Thanks for coming along for the 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:35.600 ride. Um Oh, right. I just realized I 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:40.320 never really did any of the talking about Galaxy S4 other than the 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:46.160 ruggedness of it. So, I think the thing that I find most strikingly different 00:12:42.800 --> 00:12:49.839 between TouchWiz and Sense is that 00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:52.000 TouchWiz feels very um very bubbly, very 00:12:49.839 --> 00:12:58.320 happy. You know, it's all super bright colors and sort of big big friendly 00:12:54.800 --> 00:13:01.920 icons and sort of easy easy to uh easy 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:04.079 to touch. Whereas Sense feels more um a 00:13:01.920 --> 00:13:08.959 little bit more more elegant, but maybe not as uh maybe not as easy to use. Like 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:12.560 it's really cool the way TouchWiz already has this this implemented so you 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:17.279 can switch things on and off. I think the easy mode on TouchWiz makes it the 00:13:15.839 --> 00:13:21.760 kind of thing where here I'm going to see if I can find uh see if I can find 00:13:19.920 --> 00:13:25.360 easy mode. I was playing around with it before and it's the kind of thing where 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:30.959 I'd go, okay, yeah, I'm going to get an HTC1, but if I was going to get a phone 00:13:27.760 --> 00:13:34.399 for my mom, then I would just give her 00:13:30.959 --> 00:13:36.240 the S4 because yeah, I can't find it 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:40.880 right now. Anyway, so easy mode just basically consolidates Android down to 00:13:38.160 --> 00:13:46.800 like a few buttons. Um, S translates really cool. Um, I did find that smart 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:50.079 stay worked for me and was very helpful. The HTC1 is sort of just like every 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:54.320 other phone where if you're reading something for a long time, um, it'll dim 00:13:52.160 --> 00:13:58.639 and it'll eventually turn off, whereas that doesn't happen with the Samsung 00:13:56.079 --> 00:14:02.399 phone. I personally didn't find the hovering above the screen and it 00:14:00.160 --> 00:14:06.639 detecting things very helpful at all in things like the browser. Um, it would 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:09.839 just be zoomed in looking at stuff that I'm I'm just trying to move my finger 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:16.079 closer to the screen. I just went, "No, just let me touch the touchcreen and I'm good with that." Um, what were some of 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:23.199 the other things that I found myself I found myself turning off the um 00:14:20.560 --> 00:14:28.800 um yeah, those ones right away. NFC is good. Um, gesturing was kind of cool, 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:33.040 but it's a very unnatural thing for me. Like for example, gesture gesturing to 00:14:30.959 --> 00:14:36.720 take a call. I was like, "Oh, well, you just do it like this, right?" That 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:39.680 didn't work. And it wasn't just one. So, you have to go back and forth kind of 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:43.199 slow. And I'm looking at it going, "Okay, so if I was driving and I had it 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:46.639 in a cradle or something like that, yeah, that's very practical. But in 00:14:44.800 --> 00:14:50.399 everyday use, it's probably not the kind of thing that I would use unless I 00:14:48.160 --> 00:14:53.760 really wanted to use all the features that came with my new phone. So, thank 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:58.880 you for checking this out. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:01.760 videos. And uh the baby decided to join us because he woke up when we were 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:06.839 filming and nobody was there to go get him. Sorry, sweetie. So there you go.