Welcome to day 30 of my I switch to Android blog. I realized I haven't
actually done as many updates as I did when I did my switch to Windows Phone 8.
And there's a very good reason for this. So, I went from iOS to Windows Phone 8,
back to iOS, and now to Android. And the reason I haven't really had much to say
is I haven't really thought of anything to complain about. And in my first two
videos, I really did cover most of what I thought was great about the platform
as well as about the HTC1 in particular.
So, I've been kind of sitting here thinking, what can I possibly say other
than I'm switching to Android and this will likely be my permanent home for the
foreseeable future. Now, with that said, there are some interesting competitors
in the Android space. This right here is the Galaxy S4. So, I'm going to treat
this video as my final thoughts on Android in general, as well as some of
the observations I've made about the HTC1 while using it for 30 days and a
little bit of comparison between the One and the S4, which I've now had my hands
on for about 10 days. So, we'll start with the HTC1. Um, if I had to complain
about something in Sense 5.0, it's the fact or 55 plus or whatever they're
calling it now. Uh, it would be the inelegant implementation of the stock
music player. So, the stock music player is media music. The stock music player
is well integrated with the OS, but the navigation isn't that great. And what I
discovered myself doing uh because it doesn't have a built-in EQ is I found
myself uh trying to find an alternative music player. So, the ones that I tried
were whoops, excuse me, Rocket Player as well as um Win Amp. So, these have the
advantages of EQ settings, but they don't integrate with the Sense 5.0
UI as well as the stock one does. So, for example, with the stock one, I can
have a lock screen that has a music player. Whereas with the other ones, I
can't have it on the lock screen, but I can implement it here. But even their
their integrations here aren't that great, and they have some strange behaviors. Like for example, um if I
plug in my headphones right now, you're going to see that it's just going to
start playing music even though I don't necessarily want it to do that. Um give
it a sec. Give it a sec. Yeah, it'll probably start doing that. See, there
you go. So, I have to actually tell it to go away every time I plug something
into the top of the device. So, I wish there was one that was as well integrated as the stock one, but sounded
a little better and had better navigation. Um, the market, I wish it kind of had a
convenient favorites list of apps. And this one right here, app backup and
restore, is really cool. So, what it does is it just creates a file that you
dump onto your computer. And then you copy that into the uh into the folder on
another phone. And what happens is as soon as you launch it, you can restore
and it'll install all the apps that you had installed on the device. So, I used
this when I went from using the HTC1
only to using the Galaxy S4 as well because it allowed me to just load my
entire app load out onto it. Now, I remember in the tablet version of Android on Honeycomb in the market, you
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
it's not there. And I found this was a little bit inelegant. So, I was I got
prompted by every app. Are you sure? Yes. Are you sure? Do you agree? Yes.
Yes. So, it took it took a long time to install all the apps even though I had
the full list. So, um that's something that I that I wish Android had because
with iOS it's simple. You back up your phone, you restore your phone, and
everything's exactly the way you left it. I did find the People app a little
bit confusing. So, I'm I still am not really using the stock Android desktop,
and I'm not using Blink Feed. I'm just using this list right here, which is
more like Gingerbread. So, I did find the People app Oh, I should probably turn that H. Yeah, nothing there that
matters. I did find the people app a little bit confusing. a lot of the the
links that it suggested weren't right and it didn't pick up on a lot of the
links that I ended up setting up manually. But once I did set them all up
manually, it's it's great except that it
doesn't really allow me to pick. Do I want to pull that person's Facebook
picture? Do I want to use my own picture that I took of them so that I know who
I'm talking to because not everyone uses a picture of themselves for Facebook.
So, for example, when my wife calls, it's a picture of my baby because that's
what she uses for her Facebook picture. if I can't figure out how to change it.
Uh, multitasking is still a highlight of the platform for me. I love this. I do
not miss the hardware button. In fact, going to the S4, which is more like the
button loadout that I'm used to, where you've got your context menu button
here, you've got your hard home button here, and then your soft back button
here. This is more like what I was used to with Android, but I didn't miss it at
all with the HTC1. I found that back,
home, and then multitask was really all I needed because that that context
button has been replaced with these dots up here. And I actually find it a little
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
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
access context because that's your your new tab, your bookmarks, all all those
kinds of things, which I actually like having on the right versus having on the
bottom left like that. So, yeah, I thought it was great. Uh, the camera is
still awesome on the HTC1. I know I've talked about this before. I I played
around with Zoe's or Zoies, which are those sort of 3 4 secondond clips that
you take and then you can take some pictures during it. I used them a little bit at first, but then I really found
myself not really bothering with it and just using video a lot more because it's
so quick. You can go from you can go
from lock screen to
recording a video in that long. And so what I just found myself doing is if I
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
Zoies didn't really uh didn't really matter that much to me, but I do think
they're a better implementation than Samsung's thing with the still photo and
the audio recording that goes with it. I' I'd rather have the video and then I
can capture a few still photos at the same time. Um I do on the other hand
find myself watching highlight reels of previous days. It is so cool. Uh, if we
go into my photos, I'm just going to pick a random day, such as, for example,
this day. I think we were we did a video shoot. Um,
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
film crew. Here's me and Diesel crammed into the back. It's a really cool way to
look back at a day of of events.
So, here's we did some behindthe-scenes footage of this particular shoot. So
that's what a lot of it is. But yeah, it's just it's a it's just really cool.
So yeah, I do find myself using this, but not not Zoe's at all. Uh the feeling
of solidity with this phone is outstanding. It's really unlike any
other device other than an Apple device that I've ever seen. So I want you to watch the pressure my thumbs are
exerting on the phone here.
As hard as I might press, I can't get the phone to flex, which is I mean, I
kind of took it for granted a little bit going from iOS to this phone, going from
an iPhone 4, which is also a very solid device, to this one. I was like, "Oh, yeah, well, whatever. No devices flex.
Of course, they do." Uh, this is the Galaxy S4, and with this one, you can
probably see that bend, particularly on
my right thumb. I'm putting about the same amount of pressure on it. Is the S4
a solidly built device? You know what? Probably. It's better than the S3. It
feels better to hold than the S3 with the squared corners, but it without the
metal backing, which Samsung sacrifices in order to get things like the optional
wireless charging back cover as well as being able to integrate your cover, like
the front case cover with the back cover and have it all be one piece in order to
give you that micro SD upgrade as well as the removable battery. These are the
sacrifices Samsung has made in order to um to bring you those those
functionalities. But I I like the
feeling of this and the honestly the finish on the aluminum is one of the best ones I've encountered in spite of
the fact that it's a phone. It's still immaculate. Most br even brushed or
anodized aluminum surfaces. Every time you put them down on something solid
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
sure I just scratched it." No, not with the one. I really didn't get that
impression at all. Um she does get hot
when she's under load. My hand got a bit sweaty the other day when I was sitting
in the car with navigation running in the background and I was watching a
video on it. So, navigation was running so that the driver could hear um the
navigation things, but I was sitting watching a video. She got toasty. Whenever you uh whenever you share your
wireless network with people, it does get quite toasty. But the flip side of
that is at least it has the aluminum backing to help dissipate the heat. So,
yeah, it's more hot to my hand, but that probably means my processors are
actually running cooler. Um,
you know what? Actually, here something I should have mentioned when I said I didn't miss the uh the hard button here
is Windows phone probably helped a lot as a buffer to help me break that habit
because I mean honestly the search button is pretty much useless. I never
used it. The Windows button is good and the back button is good. So essentially
I had two buttons. I had home and back which D home and back. So, it's quite
possible that that was part of the learning experience there as well because I went from a platform with just
a home button to a platform with a home button, a useless button, and a back
button to this. And I haven't really used the S4 super extensively yet. HTC,
actually, there's some leaked pictures that the HTC1 in China is going to have
this back piece removable with a micro SD slot. You know what? I already find
myself wishing I had a micro SD slot. My 16 gig iPhone, never used the whole
thing. Never found that to be a problem. This is 32 gigs. I've already almost
filled it. And a big part of the reason for that is I'm shooting so much HD
video with it, so much 1080p video that I find myself filling it. Also, it's so
much of a bigger screen. It's great for content. So, when I don't take something
like a Seagate Wireless Plus out with me, um, it's nice to be able to load
some videos on here. And with wireless AC, I can transfer things to myself very
quickly. And, and there's all these good things about it that really mean I would
love to be able to throw a 64 gig micro SD in there. So, I I wish HTC would
reconsider and do an HTC1 plus or something for other regions where they
implement the micro SD, but I really don't see it happening. Uh, widgets are
cool, but honestly, I um as a user who
who sees pretty well and is used to the iOS experience and has this great
multitasking interface where I can see the last nine things that I've done, I
didn't find myself really using any of them. It comes with a lot of stock
widgets that you can uh that you can add just by going down here and you can add
a calendar and bookmarks and FM radio
and all that kind of cool. I just didn't find myself using it. I prefer the
density of this interface with folders
where I can take put almost everything I need and just put it here on one page.
Um, and I'll just open up the app or
instead of going back to the home screen. So, you know, like home screen, home screen to get back to the Google
one, going like this to find my appropriate widget. If I just go like
this, most of the things that I use a lot of the time, like my Gmail, my
calendar, are within the last nine things that I've used. So, there's very
few situations where I would need a widget in order to make it quicker for
me to access it. So, there you go. Oh.
Oh, and like compared to widgets, I'd much rather have things implemented into
the drop- down menu here, like my power toggles. I just realized I had my Wi-Fi
off. This I use all the time, and this
is a very natural way for me to access it compared to click, click, left, left,
right, right, or whatever else I happen to be doing. Try that one. So, this is
something iOS users, I'm sure, will appreciate is how simple it is to set a
song as your ringtone on Android. I'm sure every other platform has been
taking this for granted for ever, but uh
as a longtime iOS user, I was like, really? I just like long click it and
then set to be my ringtone. Holy crap,
that's the easiest thing ever. So, that was a really neat thing to uh to run
into. And I think at the end of the day, here's what it comes down to. Um after
my 30-day trial, yes, I'm switching to Android. I'm still going to be open to
trying new platforms such as Ubuntu Phone or BlackBerry. Actually, there's a
Blackberry in the mail. So, I might uh I might have to kind of cheat on my new my
new love Android very very soon. Skype integration was much better than Windows
Phone. Uh similar to iOS, so that's something that I realize I haven't
talked about yet. But there you go, guys. Thanks for coming along for the
ride. Um Oh, right. I just realized I
never really did any of the talking about Galaxy S4 other than the
ruggedness of it. So, I think the thing that I find most strikingly different
between TouchWiz and Sense is that
TouchWiz feels very um very bubbly, very
happy. You know, it's all super bright colors and sort of big big friendly
icons and sort of easy easy to uh easy
to touch. Whereas Sense feels more um a
little bit more more elegant, but maybe not as uh maybe not as easy to use. Like
it's really cool the way TouchWiz already has this this implemented so you
can switch things on and off. I think the easy mode on TouchWiz makes it the
kind of thing where here I'm going to see if I can find uh see if I can find
easy mode. I was playing around with it before and it's the kind of thing where
I'd go, okay, yeah, I'm going to get an HTC1, but if I was going to get a phone
for my mom, then I would just give her
the S4 because yeah, I can't find it
right now. Anyway, so easy mode just basically consolidates Android down to
like a few buttons. Um, S translates really cool. Um, I did find that smart
stay worked for me and was very helpful. The HTC1 is sort of just like every
other phone where if you're reading something for a long time, um, it'll dim
and it'll eventually turn off, whereas that doesn't happen with the Samsung
phone. I personally didn't find the hovering above the screen and it
detecting things very helpful at all in things like the browser. Um, it would
just be zoomed in looking at stuff that I'm I'm just trying to move my finger
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
the other things that I found myself I found myself turning off the um
um yeah, those ones right away. NFC is good. Um, gesturing was kind of cool,
but it's a very unnatural thing for me. Like for example, gesture gesturing to
take a call. I was like, "Oh, well, you just do it like this, right?" That
didn't work. And it wasn't just one. So, you have to go back and forth kind of
slow. And I'm looking at it going, "Okay, so if I was driving and I had it
in a cradle or something like that, yeah, that's very practical. But in
everyday use, it's probably not the kind of thing that I would use unless I
really wanted to use all the features that came with my new phone. So, thank
you for checking this out. Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer
videos. And uh the baby decided to join us because he woke up when we were
filming and nobody was there to go get him. Sorry, sweetie. So there you go.