Who mixes android and iOS

[jharkin]

Lots pf device threads lately so let me add mine.

We are a mixed platform house here. My wife is all appple - Macbook air, ipad air, iPhone6.

I am a windows/android guy. 2 windows PCs (personal desktop, work laptop), and android phone and an android tablet.


Overall I am happy as I use the google ecosystem heavily - mail, calendar, maps, finance, etc... my android phone (Droid turbo) is fine.

But I am getting tired of GARBAGE google tablets. Ive been through a Zoom, a Nexus, a Nexus10. All of them have had problems. stability issues, random crashing, poor app selection. The Nexus10 is in really bad shape and overdue for a replacement but I just dont see anything compelling out there (Pixel C is too expensive, the Asus Zen tab... mehh).

My wife says just get an iPad. I'm really thinking about it but would keep my android phone. Have other folks mixed platforms and what do you think?

(Note: I do NOT use lots of services that require much syncing across devices. Most of my music listening is old school - radio or at home on vinyl. If I want to watch a movie I'll do it on the big TV, thanks. The tablet for me is mainly for web surfing, email and taking on trips when I leave the laptop home.)


Thoughts???

[Lynette]

.....

[TallBoy29er]

Google Pixel user here, DW has an android phone, and we use a Mac and iPad Mini at home. Most of the services we use are agnostic to their OS environment. Those would be: Amazon Music, Netflix, Gmail and the rest of the GSuite (all of which work fine on any environment).

I like it this way. My biggest hangup with Apple is everytime it asks me for that annoying iTunes password, and if I try to download an app, it asks me to update my credit card, even if the app is free. Inevitably, I'll of forgotten the password since I don't use it weekly, so the whole charade takes me a few minutes. That said, the iPad is a great travel tool in lieu of a laptop.

I've also used iPhones for both DW and I. We had issues w/ our Apple ID's, etc, to the tune of us getting each other's imessages. It was a hassle. Not doing that again.

In sum, no issues, I feel I have the best of both (android phone, Apple tablet/laptop), and the hassle is minimal.

Hope this helps -

[oldcomputerguy]

DW and I each have an Android phone and an iPad. No problems here with either. I have an extra factor involved here in that both DW and I use Linux Mint on our home PCs, but our Android phones sync with Google Calendar, and other than email we don't particularly have occasion to try to sync the iPads with anything (other than podcasts in my case, which are sync'ed over wifi), so the mixed-platform environment causes us no real issues.

I occasionally boot my home PC (which is set up for dual-boot) into Windows 7 for iTunes access, since I have an iPod on which I listen to podcasts on the road, and which must be sync'ed through iTunes since it has no wireless capability. While I have the PC up on iTunes, I do whatever sync'ing, backups, firmware upgrades, etc that the iPad requires (which isn't often).

Go get an iPad. You'll like it. I strongly suggest you get one with as much storage as you can afford, as (like any such device) one day you will outgrow it.

[pochax]

what do you use your tablet for? i bought an Nivida Shield Tablet and thought i would use it for e-reading, light browsing, few game apps but i realize a kindle or fire tablet is better for e-reading, my chromebook is better for browsing, and my phone is fine for the (very) few games i play. in fact, my 11yo son uses the tablet more than i do.

i would not by a tablet anymore as i see no need. consider the new 2-in-1 chromebooks that have android apps like the samsung chromebook plus or pro or the Asus Flip C302. all >$300-400 but you get a lot of bang for your buck.

[student]

I have used both android and ios. My preference is ios but my android device was inexpensive so it wasn't in the same league. My only complaint is it is slow but the issue is the hardware, not the software.

[junior]

As long as you stick to multi platform software mixing android and iOS should be fine. I've switched from Android to IOS and will probably go back to Android this year, no problem.

I think Android doesn't have great high end tablet offerings vs IOS. Google and Samsung just haven't taken the tablet market all that seriously. The Samsung S3 tablet is the most competitive android tablet from a high end perspective and I'm sure it's decent but I'm not sure it's a great value for the money versus the IPAD.

[Kenkat]

I have been a long time iPad user but use a Samsung Galaxy S6 (Android) phone. I thought there would be more of a "jump" between the two platforms but there's really not and I found the Android phone mostly intuitive once I got used to a couple of differences. A lot of the apps are available on both devices and share data between devices easily because most of the data is not stored on the device but in the cloud.

[Dominic]

If you use a lot of paid apps, you might have to buy them on each OS. Other than that, there isn't really anything stopping you from mixing platforms.

Google wants people to use their software, so their iOS apps are usually on par with Android. Your calendars and the like should work fine on both devices.

[jharkin]

Ha... 20 years working in a software company, and tinkering on PCs since I was 10 so I guess I qualify a techie.

I was more concerned about running into annoyances syncing google mail, calendar and chrome bookmarks across devices and dealing with 2 different app stores but I believe all of you are right that's not a big issue. my wife does have e native gmail app on her iPad and has no problems with it.

OK, I'm gonna go for it

[takeshi]

Overall I am happy as I use the google ecosystem heavily - mail, calendar, maps, finance, etc... my android phone (Droid turbo) is fine.

Have other folks mixed platforms and what do you think?

Not currently using both though I have used Android in the past as well as having been on both platforms while on the Samsung Test Drive with the Galaxy S7 Edge. However, I don't see anything in your list that would preclude you from using an iPad.

That said, IOS is certainly different. If you're not already aware you can't change the default apps without jailbreaking. However, Google's apps seem to tend to use Chrome. Not sure I recall if they do the same with Google Maps and gmail. That's one possible area where it may not be as convenient as Android.

[Gadget]

You say the high end pixel c tablet is too expensive, that's fine. But then you can't turn around and compare all the cheapo Android tablets to an iPad. Most of the iPad are comparable in price to a pixel c or Samsung s3. If you're comparing to an iPad and want equivalent experience on Android, you need the expensive Android tablets.

I have 2 really old and at the time cheap nexus 9 tablets. Been happy with them.

[queso]

Mixed and wouldn't have it any other way. For my purposes, Android phones are superior to iPhones, but I use iPads for tablets. I have tried various devices and found that this setup works best for what I do.

[jharkin]

Yeah, Ive used my wifes iPad casually and have come to realize that Im not a "power user" on the tablet (easy to just pull out the laptop for content creation work) and dont need to go high end again like my Nexus10 was when I got it. So that's why I'm thinking the $329 base iPad (the new 2017 version 9.7"/32GB) may be good enough and a lot more compelling than the equivalent android offering (something like Asus Zen).


Like I said I was just interested if anyone had regrets after using both for a while with syncing stuff, etc.

[lthenderson]

I've always been a PC guy and I have Windows on our desktop, laptop and Chromebook. Although I don't have any kind of pad since I prefer my desktop computer for surfing, I do have an iphone. Others in my family have android phones and they just don't seem as elegant or well written (software wise) as an iphone. I can easily see how people have an entire fleet of apple products if their computers are built like their phones. However, I've never been tempted to switch to Apple computers mostly because of convenience and price.

[PFInterest]

easy to mix and match.
i have windows, macOS, iOS, android.
all the google apps are available on iOS. only the assistant doesnt work (yet!).

yes would get the new iPad. it really is still the gold standard for tablets. should do everything you need.

[lazydavid]

Been on iPad since the very first one, and an Android phone user for 4 years. iPhone user prior to that, going back to the 3G. Very glad I made the switch, and would never go back. Android tablets are steadily improving, and there may be a point I'd be willing to try one as a daily driver. But up until this point there's just been no comparison with the iPad platform.

[Copper John]

Desktop - Long time PC user and recently switched to IMac. Love it and can not ever see going back to a Windows PC

Phone - Have always had an android and not compelled to switch to Iphone. I have not any issues in integrating gmail, calendar, chrome bookmarks etc with my IMac. Big plus is I can use the Mighty Text app to create, send and receive texts on my IMac (or with a PC) with an android phone. I would not be able to use this app with an Iphone.

Tablet - Ipad Air - Have had an android tablet in the past and the IPad is by far superior in performance. Only real complaint is not having a visible windows like file/folder structure. I use it for viewing media content and do almost no document creation with it. If I was doing a lot of document creation or document editing outside of my home I would probably still have the IPad, but would augment it with some type of laptop.

[BlueEars]

...
But I am getting tired of GARBAGE google tablets. Ive been through a Zoom, a Nexus, a Nexus10. All of them have had problems. stability issues, random crashing, poor app selection. The Nexus10 is in really bad shape and overdue for a replacement but I just dont see anything compelling out there (Pixel C is too expensive, the Asus Zen tab... mehh).

My wife says just get an iPad. I'm really thinking about it but would keep my android phone. Have other folks mixed platforms and what do you think?
...

I agree with your wife. I just bought the latest iPad for $327. Took awhile to get the hang of it but it's pretty nice for streaming and reading. I was using a Nexus 7 before this change.

For heavy duty productivity I still use Windows 10 on a desktop (good ergonomics there). My phone is a Google 6P which I'm happy with.

I have Google sheets on the Win 10 PC, Google phone, and iPad. Primarily used for tracking tasks and exercise. Dropbox is another way to get across platforms. I suppose using all Apple would help with the syncing but so far it's not a real issue.

[catdude]

Yeah, Ive used my wifes iPad casually and have come to realize that Im not a "power user" on the tablet (easy to just pull out the laptop for content creation work) and dont need to go high end again like my Nexus10 was when I got it. So that's why I'm thinking the $329 base iPad (the new 2017 version 9.7"/32GB) may be good enough and a lot more compelling than the equivalent android offering (something like Asus Zen).

jharkin - B&H Photo/Video has the base iPad for $299 for the next couple days --

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... b_9_7.html

[J295]

mixed here. works fine.

[itstoomuch]

Android phone + Fire tablet both on chrome. Runs OK.

[jharkin]

Well the deed is done... Wife saw this conversation and went out and grabbed me a 32GB iPad 2017 with a target coupon as a fathers day gift.

Like it so far.... I didn't realize how horibly slow and buggy the Nexus10 had gotten. This could be trouble.

[BlueEars]

Well the deed is done... Wife saw this conversation and went out and grabbed me a 32GB iPad 2017 with a target coupon as a fathers day gift.

Like it so far.... I didn't realize how horibly slow and buggy the Nexus10 had gotten. This could be trouble.

Happy Father's Day.

[kjvmartin]

i would not by a tablet anymore as i see no need. consider the new 2-in-1 chromebooks that have android apps like the samsung chromebook plus or pro or the Asus Flip C302. all >$300-400 but you get a lot of bang for your buck.

We have a Chromebook Plus and do like it (overall). There's some caution needed. If you're used to a current generation iPad, you'll be disappointed in the touch screen. For something like drawing, there's a delay. This means whatever you're drawing, it follows your hand about an inch behind. It's a very HD laptop with a cell phone processor. Also, the tablet mode play store access is in beta. Many of the apps don't work quite right, especially in laptop mode. There are issues with screen orientation.

I would say that in the world of tablets, nothing can touch the new iPad Pro at this time. It's a marvel of technology.