Abandoned Windows iPhone 7 for Android
 

Ok, so I have an HTC Arrive with the Windows Phone 7 operating system and am so disappointed by the lack of customization that I am thinking of leaving Windows Phone and defecting over to Android (shhhh, don't tell any Windows Phone fanboys). I had been a Windows user since my IPAQ but Windows Phone 7 has really screwed things up (see my Windows Phone Review).

So my question for you Samsung Epic 4G users are below. I am hoping that the Android system is better and more suited for my needs.

1. I can't stand Zune and being forced to use Zune to transfer Movies & Music. What program(s) does Android use? Can I update codecs on the video player so I can view .mkv or .avi files? I can't do this on my Windows Phone, I have to "convert" them using Zune.

1a. Can I just drag and drop into a window like I can with a USB flash drive? What about non music/movie/picture files? How do I transfer those?

2. Can I upload videos and photos directly from my phone to Facebook? I enjoy taking photos and videos of my family and don't like the way Windows Phone forces me to connect to Zune, transfer the video to my PC, then upload it to Facebook. Is the video camera HD?

3. Can I remove the memory card or use one with more capacity? I don't like the fact that I would have to basically rip my HTC Arrive apart to get to the memory card.

4. Device volume control? My HTC Arrive has serious problems with volume when listening to music and videos. Has anyone had problems hearing music or especially movies ripped from DVD's on their Epic, say in a loud gym setting? On one movie in particular, I had to force my Arrive's headphones into my ear and hold them there so I could listen to the voices in the movie.

5. Microsoft Exchange Server Sync? I cannot get my HTC Arrive to sync to our exchange server here at work. However, other devices, iPhones & Androids, have been able to sync. Anyone have a problem syncing to an exchange server with the Epic?

I'm not looking for a phone I can unlock or hack. I don't want to have to do this to use the phone and applications. I want to be able to customize my phone without having to "unlock" it. I want the freedom to use whatever multimedia players I want and most importantly, want the ability to transfer files from my desktop to my phone without hassle or having to use a skydrive, e-mail, or Zune to do this!

My biggest fear with a Samsung phone is that my wife has had two different models and both were very poor quality and basically fell apart after a year, whereas I have had an HTC phone since my PPC-6700 and rarely had problems.

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

? 1a) Yes you can drag and drop into a window like you can with a USB once you connect your phone to your pc you choose "mass storage" and you get the window on your pc. You can drag and drop any file on it.

2) Yes as well directly from phone no need for pc (atleast for me) as well as to twitter,send by bluetooth, mms, email etc...
2a) Camera i believe records in 720

3) Sd card is 16gb dont think you need more memory capacity but regardless yes you can easily too just remove the back cover and there it is.

4) no problems,

5) should be able too

Customize? depends how much customization you want to do. I.e. change launchers,docks in launchers, some themes, wallpaper basic stuff yes no unlock required.

Fear of Samsung? Only issue with this phone has been Samsung/Sprint not giving us the upgrades we want as quick as we want i.e. Froyo or gingerbread.

Hope this helps

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

The dark side beckons ;)

Well sprint locked out support for samsung kies tool..which si the official one but there are popular ones like DoubleTwist and etc..or you can jsut copy via wifi/sd card/usb and etc...there are prob no limits to ways to sync...

Well here is the thing, samsung was nice enough to include mkv support and avi (divx/xvid) support from the get go..aka you got full hardware decode on those videos...if you need subtitles you may want to get 'mvideoplayer'.. and if for some reason you need slower software decode there is 'rock player'..

The phone can generally play 720p on highest encoding settings via hardware decode no problemo..the chipset can play 1080p too but its been locked sorry...

yup for USB mass storage.as for pictures any way you like it I guess..as stated before wifi/usb/bluetooth/sync you name it..

I think so via the Facebook app..as for video camera...yup its HD 720p..

Yup, just open back cover and its right there..can't miss it..

The Epic has one of the best audio chips for mobiles if you use headsets and with Voodoo sound it makes it A LOT better..if you mean without headsets and speaker phone..the speaker phone is ok but haven't tried a movie without headsets :/

You should have no problem syncing..

You will be able to do all of those without unlocking....but you may wish to do that to get custom kernels which let you save battery life or overclock for example..or wifi tethering...the voodoo sound too...

I will tell you this though, rooting on the Epic is fairly safe...safer then flashing a rom in winmo...

Well its a hit and miss kinda thing..I used an ppc-6700, mogul and TP2 and dropped them like a million times with not even a scratch..other people just dropped them once and they broke..so far I've dropped my Epic a few times and it seems ok...but what can I say I'm lucky with phones :/

The phone by itself is made of plastic mostly and while that does make people think its low quality its not the case, the plastic is there to make the phone lighter...I mean once you pick it up its as light as a feather..and when falling it should generally take less damage..its also made out of Gorilla Glass..so its pretty durable...don't be mistaken though that doesn't mean its indestructible and still should be treated with care like any other phone.

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

Well, I'm actually excited about this phone. When I purchased the HTC Arrive I was worried that Windows Mobile had changed so much that I would not like it and I was 100% correct. Had Microsoft kept Zune off the phone or allowed for proper USB support/transfer (without a hack) I probably would have kept the phone.

I can't wait for my Samsung Epic 4G to "arrive" at my office!

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

For a fact you like this phone and if you start rooting and installing custom roms on it you will be able to really enjoy the phone and start saying bye bye to WP7 well atleast imo.

The only thing WP7 has that android doesnt stock in the phone is MS word, Excel etc but still Android #1

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

It's here.............................. :D

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

i would suggest that you use the search option and especially the Epic Wiki just in case you have any questions (which most likely you will) or want to learn more on how to this and that to it.

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

True, but Samsung bundles Thinkfree Office in there for free and there are like 5 alternatives for free if writing to the file isn't required.

Have fun!..just remember you still need to eat ;)

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

welcome to the family. i switched over awhile ago and haven't looked back one bit. for me, android is what i wanted from windows but never did. even those things that i would consider difficult (switching roms, rooting, system changes) are actually kinda simple if you follow directions. and when there is a hiccup, i have been able to find a fix soon after looking.

Re: Considering Abandoning Windows Phone 7 for Android
 

[QUOTE=gTen;2084517]True, but Samsung bundles Thinkfree Office in there for free and there are like 5 alternatives for free if writing to the file isn't required.

If you need to write to Word files like I do, there are several alternatives also. Not free but worth the few bucks they cost. I just got the newest QuickOffice which has text-to-speech and speech-to-text capabilities as well as full Word compatibility (and Excel and PPT too, but I don't use those).