HTC One & Android Users

EndersShadow

So Best Buy has suckered me in. I will be picking up a HTC One today since its only 50 bucks with a 2 year contract as opposed to 100+ like the Galaxy S3, and iPhone 5. This phone will replace my iPhone 4 for 90% of my use. And if I dont like it, well I will sell it and re-activate my iPhone 4, or just get a 5.

I have the following plans in my head for the One

1. Keep my iPhone and leave it connected to my car stereo via USB. Use MOG on the iPhone and the HTC One's hotspot capability to get the iPhone access to the web to play music. This lets me keep control of my MOG playback through my headunit, rather than the 3.5mm jack.

2. Re-setup MediaMonkey to use to sync music to my iPhone so I can have only one library. My car is close enough to my apartment that my iPhone can connect to it, so I should be able to sync wirelessly to it. I also can downsample my library so more of it fits on the 16 gig iPhone.

This leads to the following stupid questions:

1. Do I have to pay extra to use my HTC One as a Hotspot or is that something that you just can do with it?

2. Is there something similar to Siri/Voice Commands for Droid devices to setup reminders/appointments or talk to text messages? That was the one of the few nice feature in the 4s and now 5 (besides LTE) that were potentially interesting to me.

3. I have Voice Navigation with Google Maps with the One correct? Again this would be nice as my 4 doesnt have it.

4. Apps Here are the apps I have on my iPhone that I hope some are available on Android, or have a similar app.

Pandora
MOG
XBMC Remote
Panasonic TV Remote
IMDB
Shazam
AroundMe
Allrecipes
Yelp
Compass
Photobucket
Wikipedia
iHandyLevel
Flashlight
Facebook
KingdomRush
AngryBirds
Solitaire
MyFitnessPal
Runtastic

What other apps are folks using with their Droid devices that I should check out?

5. Also any just general comments about going to Android/HTC One from a iPhone 4 are appreciated. I haven't picked up the unit yet so if there are deal-breakers I haven't thought out, I would love to know now

billbillw

Ok, you haven't said which provider you use. If you have ATT, I can offer this advice (not sure about whether other providers lock Hotspot):

Any ATT branded/locked phone will require you to pay for the more expensive DataPro packages to use the built in WiFi hotspot. However, you can hack/unlock the phone and install a custom ROM (think OS) that will enable the hotspot without paying ATT extra. It is a little work, and there is a knowledge curve to overcome, but it is worth the effort. I have the HTC One X (which was last years flagship) and I have been using a custom ROM since last spring. The benefit is a much better working phone, less bloat, added features (that were removed by HTC/ATT only in the US market).

Android phones have something called Google Now, which is similar to Siri. It will automatically glean your email for things like event tickets, flights, tracking notifications, etc and give you reminders. It also brings up items from previous google searches and fits them into reminders. For instance, once you tell Google Maps where your Work and Home are, it will automatically tell you how long the drive is. It will send the reminder around the time that the phone usually sees you going to/from work.

If unlocking the phone is too much or scares you, you might consider this: The HTC One is a very nice phone, but if you are out of contract with ATT, you might consider cancelling the order for the One, and instead get a Google Nexus 4 phone (for $199/$250 for 8GB/16GB versions) and going with Walmart's straight talk. Straight talk is only $45/month for unlimited talk/text and ~2GB data. The Nexus 4 is a nice phone and it has unlocked, unbloated Android software which allows HotSpot by default. The Nexus phones always get the latest Android software as soon as Google releases it and there is no interference from the wireless carriers.

As far as Android Apps that match what you have on the iPhone, I'm sure you can find most of them or equivalents. Also, many of the apps that Apple charges $ for are free on Android.

EndersShadow

Bill, I have Verizon, but still appreciate your thoughts on HTC phones overall. My wife had some bad run ins with their early gen models (HTC Imagine and HTC Imagico) that left a bad taste in our mouth. All of the 3 we had the screens went bad within 3 months.

This model looks to be much better.

Regarding my hotspot question I believe I found my answer which is what I was hoping for. According to HTC's site (https://support.htc.com/en-us/HTC_One_Verizon/0F0/050) with Verizon you need the following to be able to activate your hotspot without hacking the ROM.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Using HTC One as Mobile Hotspot

Share your data connection with other devices using Mobile Hotspot.
Note:

-Make sure the data connection is turned on.
-Mobile Hotspot is included with Share Everything plans.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

In my case we are on a "Share Everything Unlimited Talk, Text and 4 gig of data" plan so it appears I can keep my iPhone for MOG use in my car and use the Hotspot for it to be able to connect to (since the iPhone will only work via wireless after I replace it). I still need to verify this with Verizon which I of course will.

Thanks for mentioning Google Now, I will do some reading up on it, but it sounds like it will do most of what I want.

I have a guy at work with one so I will be playing with his over lunch to get an idea if I like it.

Last question: How do you guys like the camera and its features? I realize its a "phone" not a "camera" but lets be honest, most smartphones are replacing point and shoots simply because you have the on you 24/7. I dont expect professional pics (have my DSLR for that) but just am curious how the camera works for you. Mostly taking pics of the kido doing funny stuff, dogs running into walls, that kinda thing.

codyc1ark

Dan, call me this afternoon about ST and the Nexus.

AsSiMiLaTeD

OK, a few thoughts. Bill covered most of it above, but I'll disagree and add to a couple points.

1 - First, APPLE does not charge for apps, the people who work countless hours developing them charge for their work. The notion though that most paid iOS apps are free on Android is not true, that was the case early on and a big draw to Android for most people but is simply not the case here in 2013. I believe all or most of the apps he has listed above are free on iOS, so yes I'd expect them to be free on Android as well.

2 - As Androids go, I think you've chosen the best option out there. Coming from a dinosaur like the iPhone 4 anything today is going to feel like a giant improvement, and with the HTC One you're also keeping a premium feel and very well thought out and built device. I've tried almost all of them and the One is my favorite Android phone and the one I use for development.

3 - Bill has a point about getting the Nexus but I'll take it from a different angle. First, the Nexus isn't nearly as nice a phone as the HTC One and I don't recall it having LTE (could be wrong there), but it does have one key advantage - no bloatware. Any Android phone that you buy on contract is going to come loaded with bloatware apps, the One you have on order included. I don't believe the One has a locked bootloader so you should be able to get around it, but it'll take some work. The great thing about the Nexus is that you'll have stock Android without any of that crap, but everything else about the Nexus is inferior to the One IMO, except of course the pricing.

I have the choice and still use the iPhone 5 as my daily driver because of how easily it integrates with all my other gear and how well iCloud works, but if I didn't own other Apple devices (iPads, Macs, Apple TVs) I'd have to revisit that decision.

billbillw

The camera in the HTC One is quite good. I would say as good or better than iPhones. Obviously, it needs good lighting, and is not going to freeze action like a DSLR, but for outdoor stationary photos, it is good enough for web posting or small prints with a surprising amount of detail.

Regarding the Nexus vs HTC One, I will agree that the One is a nicer phone, no doubt. No it does not have LTE, but it does have HSPA+ (what AT&T used to call 4G) which is usually fast enough for most users.

Many of my points were obviously coming from being an AT&T user. Since we are now talking about a Verizon user, things are different. Verizon was forced by the FCC to allow free wireless tethering, that is not an issue. Also, the Nexus is not capable of working with Verizon signals, so unless you are in an area with good ATT coverage, the Nexus and Straight Talk (which uses ATT towers) would not be a very good option.

Overall, I'd say that the HTC One for $50 is probably a good choice. Custom ROM options are out there if you find that some of the features or bloatware are restrictive (see XDA Developers forum).

AsSiMiLaTeD

The camera on the HTC One is good overall, but how much so depends on what you'll be shooting. It is a super low light camera because of the ginormous pixels that let in tons of light. It has a fairly low MP count so photos won't be the sharpest, but the low light performance is very good.

In comparison to your iPhone 4 you should get vastly improved performance in low light, and slightly better performance in daylight. Compared to the iPhone 4S or 5 the photos in daylight aren't quite as sharp but low light photos are still way better. I'll know how it compares to the iPhone 5S this weekend :-)

EndersShadow

codyc1ark wrote: »

Dan, call me this afternoon about ST and the Nexus.

Will do, but I dont think its going to work, already talked to the wife about this possibility. Unless I missed something, due to the fact we have 3 phones and the upfront cost of the jailbroken phones, I don't think its a possibility for us right now. We can afford the montly payments for our current plan, but not that much all at once even if its cheaper later on.

EndersShadow

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

OK, a few thoughts. Bill covered most of it above, but I'll disagree and add to a couple points.

1 - First, APPLE does not charge for apps, the people who work countless hours developing them charge for their work. The notion though that most paid iOS apps are free on Android is not true, that was the case early on and a big draw to Android for most people but is simply not the case here in 2013. I believe all or most of the apps he has listed above are free on iOS, so yes I'd expect them to be free on Android as well.

2 - As Androids go, I think you've chosen the best option out there. Coming from a dinosaur like the iPhone 4 anything today is going to feel like a giant improvement, and with the HTC One you're also keeping a premium feel and very well thought out and built device. I've tried almost all of them and the One is my favorite Android phone and the one I use for development.

3 - Bill has a point about getting the Nexus but I'll take it from a different angle. First, the Nexus isn't nearly as nice a phone as the HTC One and I don't recall it having LTE (could be wrong there), but it does have one key advantage - no bloatware. Any Android phone that you buy on contract is going to come loaded with bloatware apps, the One you have on order included. I don't believe the One has a locked bootloader so you should be able to get around it, but it'll take some work. The great thing about the Nexus is that you'll have stock Android without any of that crap, but everything else about the Nexus is inferior to the One IMO, except of course the pricing.

I have the choice and still use the iPhone 5 as my daily driver because of how easily it integrates with all my other gear and how well iCloud works, but if I didn't own other Apple devices (iPads, Macs, Apple TVs) I'd have to revisit that decision.

billbillw wrote: »

Regarding the Nexus vs HTC One, I will agree that the One is a nicer phone, no doubt. No it does not have LTE, but it does have HSPA+ (what AT&T used to call 4G) which is usually fast enough for most users.

Many of my points were obviously coming from being an AT&T user. Since we are now talking about a Verizon user, things are different. Verizon was forced by the FCC to allow free wireless tethering, that is not an issue. Also, the Nexus is not capable of working with Verizon signals, so unless you are in an area with good ATT coverage, the Nexus and Straight Talk (which uses ATT towers) would not be a very good option.

Overall, I'd say that the HTC One for $50 is probably a good choice. Custom ROM options are out there if you find that some of the features or bloatware are restrictive (see XDA Developers forum).

Thanks for those thoughts, they help very much. I am Apple ONLY for my iPhones, everything else is Windows 7 so for my the Apple closed environment isn't really doing much for me. The brand new (Friday) models do nothing for me, but like stated the 4s and 5 have voice commands that I like.

Looking at Google Now, it appears its got very similar features and may meet all my needs for that.

While I dont like boatware (hate it on preconfigured computers and laptops), I can deal with it. This phone will not house my music (iPhone will handle all that) so its just going to be used to take pics, video, web browsing and a phone. So there should be enough memory to handle it. In addition I can make the time to un-bloatware it if I really want to.

I am seeing a LOT of info on forums about tweaking Android stuff and it appears it may be a little more user friendly to do so than iPhones, but I never tried to do any of that on my iPhone so it may be an unfair comparison there.

billbillw wrote: »

The camera in the HTC One is quite good. I would say as good or better than iPhones. Obviously, it needs good lighting, and is not going to freeze action like a DSLR, but for outdoor stationary photos, it is good enough for web posting or small prints with a surprising amount of detail.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

The camera on the HTC One is good overall, but how much so depends on what you'll be shooting. It is a super low light camera because of the ginormous pixels that let in tons of light. It has a fairly low MP count so photos won't be the sharpest, but the low light performance is very good.

In comparison to your iPhone 4 you should get vastly improved performance in low light, and slightly better performance in daylight. Compared to the iPhone 4S or 5 the photos in daylight aren't quite as sharp but low light photos are still way better. I'll know how it compares to the iPhone 5S this weekend :-)

Cool, it sounds like it will give me most if not all of what I want.

jeremymarcinko

I didn't think the Iphone versions of mog,spotify,etc. offered offline playback. In addition I would choose the Galaxy S3 or S4 over the HTC's. I have had the S3 for over a year and its a pretty nice phone.

EndersShadow

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

I didn't think the Iphone versions of mog,spotify,etc. offered offline playback.

The iPhone version allows you to download songs for offline playing as I did it a couple times when I knew I was going to have crappy cell reception where I was going. But I dont plan on using it in that way.

By making my One a "hotspot/wifi connection" (on verizon) I can connect the iPhone to its wireless network to stream music via MOG just like I would do if I was on my home internet connection. I simply wont be able to use the iPhone to play over a phone (3G, 4G, LTE, etc) connection. Thats fine with me. I basically take the iPhone 4 and make it a iTouch (since its got no phone capability)

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

In addition I would choose the Galaxy S3 or S4 over the HTC's. I have had the S3 for over a year and its a pretty nice phone.

While the Galaxy's may be nice, the S3 is still 100 and the S4 is 200. The HTC (normally 200) is on sale for 50 so its kinda the main reason I am pulling the trigger on this.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Sure they do, I have MOG on my iPhone and works fine in offline mode.

As for the Galaxy phones, they have some nice software features but the HTC One is a MUCH nicer phone. It has a more color accurate screen (better to me, but better can be subjective, accurate is not though and the One is more accurate) and doesn't have the cheap plastic feel of the Galaxy phones.

EndersShadow

Oh and it appears the HTC One Best Buy is offering for 50 bucks is also the 32 gig model.... DANG!

I may have to take the afternoon off to go pick it up...

AsSiMiLaTeD

The 32GB is the base model, there is no 16GB HTC One that I'm aware of.

EndersShadow

anonymouse wrote: »

As far as tethering goes, its up to Verizon to enable this. The device is customized by Verizon. Sprint only allows tethering for an extra $30 per month. Sprint also blocks the popular freeware tethering apps.

I did test it and it turned on and worked with no problem... Funny side note, my wife just installed iOS 7 and now her iPhone 5 can be a hotspot too lol... I am setting it up to install on my now defunct 4/ghetto 16 gig iTouch just so I have it. I will be testing the hotspot tomorrow on my drive into work with the new phone so we will see how it goes.

anonymouse wrote: »

I've had the One from the week it came out, and it is a fantastic phone. I'm not an iPhone user, but i am an iPad and iPod Touch owner, and I prefer the One in every way to the iThings:

The build quality is fantastic.

The voice quality is also awesome. It has a noise cancellation feature that is quite smart about only picking up my voice in noisy environments... some kind of directional microphone.

The device is freaky fast, including its sensors and GPS. I have not had any lag, ever. Everything seems to just happen instantly within the device. On a 4G or Wifi network, its awesome speed wise.

I quite like the camera - the panoramic photo stitch feature which is built in was initially a gimmick to me, but I've used it a few times and it works very well.

I like the Blinkfeed app which is the default home screen. Its a visual feed aggregator and works quite well.

Yup, had it in hand since about 7 pm. I have all my old iPhone apps that have Android counterparts setup, basically the same screen layout as well with regards to the second home screen.

I am still feeling the rest out and will probably be talking to my buddy at work with one to show me how to do some basic stuff at lunch tomorrow. I still need to setup my bookmarks and whatnot in the browser, but MOG worked fine and sounded decent through the speakers.

jbooker82

EndersShadow wrote: »

What other apps are folks using with their Droid devices that I should check out?

I have had my HTC Once since it came to Verizon. It is a nice phone and would do it all over again. I have been able to upgrade since last march but herd about this phone coming out so I limped along my HTC Thunderbolt for another 5 months.

A case that protects that has a little more style than an Otter Box I went with an Urban Armor Gear. I went with the black case on my silver phone. I wanted a black HTC One but Verizon didn't know when they will be getting them. Black phone with the white UAG case looks pretty sweet too.

Apps I run

Pandora
Onkyo Remote
Speed Test . Net
Tesla LED flash light
Ebay
PayPal
USPS Mobile
Adobe Reader
Facebook

Don't use Verizon Navigator it charges you a monthly charge. It has a Google Navigation app installed, so is IMDB. It also has a TV Remote application that you setup. It downloads the TV guide in to your phone based off your zip code and tv provider.

billbillw

EndersShadow wrote: »

I am still feeling the rest out and will probably be talking to my buddy at work with one to show me how to do some basic stuff at lunch tomorrow. I still need to setup my bookmarks and whatnot in the browser, but MOG worked fine and sounded decent through the speakers.

FYI: Now that you are Android, I recommend use Chrome browser on your PC and on the Android phone. It will auto sync your desktop bookmarks to your mobile browser. It will also keep a separate folder for mobile bookmarks.

Also, if you haven't figured out yet, Android integrates with Gmail in ways that will make it worth your time/effort to switch over.

A couple of other Apps I highly recommend are SRS backup (to save/archive or restore your text messages and call logs), and Lookout (basic free version) for security. It scans apps for safety, and has security features that will help if your phone is lost or stolen.

WLDock

OH MAN DO I WANT THE BLUE HTC ONE!!!! but I'm on T-MO....

Really, I'm not sure if I want to pay full price for the one. So, I might pick up the Nexus? I've had good luck with my old HTC Sensation 4G so i really want to try another HTC. Will see?

EndersShadow

billbillw wrote: »

FYI: Now that you are Android, I recommend use Chrome browser on your PC and on the Android phone. It will auto sync your desktop bookmarks to your mobile browser. It will also keep a separate folder for mobile bookmarks.

Also, if you haven't figured out yet, Android integrates with Gmail in ways that will make it worth your time/effort to switch over.

A couple of other Apps I highly recommend are SRS backup (to save/archive or restore your text messages and call logs), and Lookout (basic free version) for security. It scans apps for safety, and has security features that will help if your phone is lost or stolen.

Yeah, we will see about Chrome . I have been a firefox user since it came out.... I dont know if I can kick two habits in the same week ...

I did install lookout as I found a "10 steps to setup your HTC One" online thread I followed and helped.

I hate not having the home button in the middle, or having to hit the power button for the screen to be able to be unlocked, but I am still learning so it will be ok.

WLDock wrote: »

OH MAN DO I WANT THE BLUE HTC ONE!!!! but I'm on T-MO....

Really, I'm not sure if I want to pay full price for the one. So, I might pick up the Nexus? I've had good luck with my old HTC Sensation 4G so i really want to try another HTC. Will see?

Yeah, I picked up the blue one, they had the stock silver too. Now I am going to get a nice clear case protector (one of the skin types) and a pretty decent sleeve to use for it as well.

WLDock

EndersShadow wrote: »

Yeah, I picked up the blue one, they had the stock silver too. Now I am going to get a nice clear case protector (one of the skin types) and a pretty decent sleeve to use for it as well.

The Blue one sparked my interest so that I went looking for OEM replacement parts: http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-one-blue-casing-shows-oem-parts-dealer
So, at some point one will be able to change the housings. However, I guess its not important because I have been using a gel type TPU case for years now with good results so that is what I will continue to stick with. Anyway, this is the only phone I have been exited about in aa bit so I might go for one....just something about the aluminum body(Like my Sensation) that feels more solid.