This is the last in my 3-part series on my switch from the Windows Phone platform to Android. I’ve been using the S5 for 2 weeks now in conjunction with Smart Talk, a low-cost/no-contract phone service. I’m paying $45/month for unlimited talk & text AND I get 5GB of data each month.
You can read about my activation experience (not a good one), in last week’s article. I am happy to say there have been no dropped calls and my signal strength has been very good. Accessing the internet has been much faster than my Windows phone (my S5 processor is much faster though). When I’m out and about, it’s nice to be able to look something up without having to worry if I’ve used my 1GB for the month.
This week, we’ll conclude by doing a compare and contrast of the Windows Phone OS vs. the Android OS using these criteria:
- Ease of Use
- Apps Available
- Best for Business (because I’m not a gamer at all)
Ease of Use
Advantage – Windows Phone In my opinion, you can’t beat the live tiles and the ability to move and resize them to be front and center (or out of sight). When I have missed a phone call or text, I can immediately see that on my tiles. I can do a quick search for an app by name and I don’t see how to do that with my Samsung.
With the Android phone, I have spent many frustrating minutes trying to find the app I want to open. I do need to spend more time with the phone and arrange icons. I did start a folder to put the verizon-branded icons in that I won’t be using since I’m not on Verizon. A little how-to reading on my part is in order.
There is an ‘Easy Mode’ on the Android phone that greatly reduces the icons and also makes them bigger. It also means reduced functionality. I’ve used this mode when helping less technical people.
Apps Available
Advantage – Android There’s really no comparison here since Android is the big cheese of apps. I pointed out in an earlier article that my switch to Android means I can now take advantage of these apps, many of them for my business:
Instagram Local Banking Apps
HootSuite Local Weather Apps
Facebook Pages Manager Periscope
To Windows Phone credit – their apps are vetted better and probably (hopefully), don’t contain malware/spyware to the same degree as Android apps.
Best For Business
Advantage – Android This is the main reason I switched – any major and minor app I could want is on Android. Since I am more about being business-focused, I wanted to be sure the Microsoft Office integration would be smooth. In an earlier article, I shared how Microsoft has left their loyal Windows Phone fans in the dust while they focus on developing the apps for iOS and Android.
If you’d like, visit this comprehensive gallery of Office screenshots put together by Richard Hay, a writer for Supersite For Windows.
http://winsupersite.com/android/office-android-phones-released
- Office for Android phones
- Excel for Android phones
- PowerPoint for Android phones
- Word for Android phones
Microsoft put together this short video on what you will see with the Android Office Apps.
The Microsoft Outlook and O365 Apps are Beautiful
I found the Outlook App and the O365 App by accident in the Google Play store when typing in Microsoft Office in the search. These two apps are beautiful and functional and really won me over.
I uninstalled these two mail accounts previously set up using the Android settings and now have two really stunning looking apps to view my mail in.
Here is the photo of how I view my outlook.com mail in Android and on my Windows Phone. Right – no comparison.
I’m moved over and still have a lot to learn about the Android OS. Of course I could go back to Windows Phone in the future. We’ll see what’s in store for them. With no flagship phone that’s been announced, they continue to stay behind and firmly in third place.