Why Apple, Why?
February 18, 2014 5:46 AM Subscribe
How do I transition from an Android phone to and iphone?
My company just "upgraded" me to an iphone 5S. And so far I just don't like it. But this is my very first apple device and I realize there is going to be an adjustment period.
Since I know next to nothing about iphones, what are some awesome features that will help me get over my initial dislike?
Additionally is there a way to replicate some of these Android features:
My company just "upgraded" me to an iphone 5S. And so far I just don't like it. But this is my very first apple device and I realize there is going to be an adjustment period.
Since I know next to nothing about iphones, what are some awesome features that will help me get over my initial dislike?
Additionally is there a way to replicate some of these Android features:
- Calendar Widget on the home screen
- Removing apps I don't want/use from the home screen(s)
- Placing apps where I want on the home screen(s)
- Slide left on the lock screen to get email, up to text, right to unlock
- Having my home screen be the middle screen and not the far left one
- Swipe down to get settings (Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, Bluetooth, etc.)
Assuming this is a company device you can't jailbreak, the answers to your question are:
- No
- Yes (mostly)
- Yes. Follow the instructions for the last one, except hold and drag them around instead of hitting the (X)
- No
- No
- No (I assume you know that you can swipe up from the bottom to get to these settings, but there is no way that I'm aware of to change that to swiping down)
posted by toomuchpete at 6:00 AM on February 18, 2014
- No
- Yes (mostly)
- Yes. Follow the instructions for the last one, except hold and drag them around instead of hitting the (X)
- No
- No
- No (I assume you know that you can swipe up from the bottom to get to these settings, but there is no way that I'm aware of to change that to swiping down)
posted by toomuchpete at 6:00 AM on February 18, 2014
Removing apps -- tap and hold. They'll start to wiggle and some will have an X in the top right corner. Those are the ones you can delete. There are a bunch of native apps that you cannot delete. I just shuffle those into an "Unused Apps" folder.
Placing apps on the home screen -- tap and hold. They'll start to wiggle, and you can move them around on the screen. Move them all the way to one side or the other to put them on a different screen.
Sliding from lock screen -- slide down from the top to get your notifications (and email); this is activated from Notification Center in Settings. Right to unlock is native.
Swipe down to get settings -- swipe up from the bottom; this is activated in Control Center in Settings.
posted by Etrigan at 6:00 AM on February 18, 2014
Placing apps on the home screen -- tap and hold. They'll start to wiggle, and you can move them around on the screen. Move them all the way to one side or the other to put them on a different screen.
Sliding from lock screen -- slide down from the top to get your notifications (and email); this is activated from Notification Center in Settings. Right to unlock is native.
Swipe down to get settings -- swipe up from the bottom; this is activated in Control Center in Settings.
posted by Etrigan at 6:00 AM on February 18, 2014
Calendar Widget on the home screen
Nope.
Removing apps I don't want/use from the home screen(s)
Nope. Best you can do is put all of your unwanted apps in a folder (drawer) or uninstall them.
Placing apps where I want on the home screen(s)
Press and hold an icon on the home screen, they will start jiggling, and then you can rearrange them.
Slide left on the lock screen to get email, up to text, right to unlock
Nope. Not without jailbreaking.
Having my home screen be the middle screen and not the far left one
Nope
Swipe down to get settings (Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, Bluetooth, etc.)
Swipe up from the bottom gives you some of these things.
posted by jferg at 6:04 AM on February 18, 2014
Nope.
Removing apps I don't want/use from the home screen(s)
Nope. Best you can do is put all of your unwanted apps in a folder (drawer) or uninstall them.
Placing apps where I want on the home screen(s)
Press and hold an icon on the home screen, they will start jiggling, and then you can rearrange them.
Slide left on the lock screen to get email, up to text, right to unlock
Nope. Not without jailbreaking.
Having my home screen be the middle screen and not the far left one
Nope
Swipe down to get settings (Wi-Fi, Airplane mode, Bluetooth, etc.)
Swipe up from the bottom gives you some of these things.
posted by jferg at 6:04 AM on February 18, 2014
> Calendar Widget on the home screen
> Nope.
No widgets anywhere, for that matter.
posted by Gev at 6:31 AM on February 18, 2014
> Nope.
No widgets anywhere, for that matter.
posted by Gev at 6:31 AM on February 18, 2014
The only widgets are the clock and the calendar, and they are not customizable. Clock shows the time, calendar shows the date.
Don't jailbreak an iPhone. Especially not a company-issued one. Your company chose iPhones for two reasons: Most importantly, all of the execs wanted one. Secondly, iPhones are much more secure and have much better battery life. Jailbreaking your iPhone will remove those advantages.
posted by Yowser at 7:13 AM on February 18, 2014
Don't jailbreak an iPhone. Especially not a company-issued one. Your company chose iPhones for two reasons: Most importantly, all of the execs wanted one. Secondly, iPhones are much more secure and have much better battery life. Jailbreaking your iPhone will remove those advantages.
posted by Yowser at 7:13 AM on February 18, 2014
The first thing you have to understand coming from android is that there's no distinction between installed apps, the launcher, and the homescreen. Every app you have installed has to go on your homescreen(s) somewhere.
posted by Oktober at 7:36 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Oktober at 7:36 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
For me, when my company gave me an iPhone, I couldn't get over the email being essentially restricted to one inbox and the limited functionality of email. It was also very annoying that you had to go into the phone settings to toggle some very simple things off and on. I had to keep my personal Android phone and walk around with two phones like some kind of self-important buffoon.
Unfortunately, any app you have goes on the home screen. You could create a folder for apps you don't want to see or use and put the altogether in there. And widgets are an Android phone. (I don't understand why people prefer iPhones after having used both kinds of phones.)
I personally used my work phone for the bare minimum and kept my personal Android. You can get a cheaper plan with unlimited data and texting from Virgin Mobile. If you don't want to talk on your Android phone, you can pay as low as $35 a month I think for unlimited texting and data. I bet you could sync your work stuff to it too.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:54 AM on February 18, 2014
Unfortunately, any app you have goes on the home screen. You could create a folder for apps you don't want to see or use and put the altogether in there. And widgets are an Android phone. (I don't understand why people prefer iPhones after having used both kinds of phones.)
I personally used my work phone for the bare minimum and kept my personal Android. You can get a cheaper plan with unlimited data and texting from Virgin Mobile. If you don't want to talk on your Android phone, you can pay as low as $35 a month I think for unlimited texting and data. I bet you could sync your work stuff to it too.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:54 AM on February 18, 2014
That's a little much. You can still access the whole google ecosystem by installing their suite: Chrome, Drive, Gmail, Google Search, and Youtube.
That way, you benefit from the larger Apple app ecosystem while avoiding some of the rougher edges of their own internal stuff.
posted by Oktober at 9:59 AM on February 18, 2014
That way, you benefit from the larger Apple app ecosystem while avoiding some of the rougher edges of their own internal stuff.
posted by Oktober at 9:59 AM on February 18, 2014
Since I know next to nothing about iphones, what are some awesome features that will help me get over my initial dislike?
My manager recently made the switch from an Android phone to an iPhone. I'm an iPhone person myself, so I can't verify this, but according to her on Android you either had to grant an app all the permissions it wanted on install, or not install it. On iOS an app has to ask for permission for certain features at the time it wants to use them. And as long as it's not core to the app functionality you are allowed to deny.
For example: Facebook doesn't get access to my Location or Contacts. I gave it access to my photos, but I can turn that off any any time.
posted by sbutler at 10:09 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
My manager recently made the switch from an Android phone to an iPhone. I'm an iPhone person myself, so I can't verify this, but according to her on Android you either had to grant an app all the permissions it wanted on install, or not install it. On iOS an app has to ask for permission for certain features at the time it wants to use them. And as long as it's not core to the app functionality you are allowed to deny.
For example: Facebook doesn't get access to my Location or Contacts. I gave it access to my photos, but I can turn that off any any time.
posted by sbutler at 10:09 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm still using my iPhone 3GS that I got in 2010. I've never used an Android phone so I'm not sure I can give relevant specifics.
I did NOT like how things weren't (and still aren't except for Googling "how do I [perform $action] on an iPhone") well documented. It was a huge learning curve for me to figure out how to zoom, how to shut off the phone, and other BASIC tasks. It's SUPPOSED to be intuitive, but wasn't. Now that I know how to do stuff, it's much easier.
Another neat trick: Categorizing apps. Tap and hold until the icons start to wiggle. See two apps you want categorized together (example: a weather app and a news app)? Drag one on top of the other. This will create a group. iOS will try to guess at a good name; you can change it. My home screen was overrun with icons until I learned this trick.
Contrary to what AppleTurnover seems to have said, you CAN configure multiple e-mail accounts in the mail app. You have a choice in the mail app of either going to All Inboxes or to a specific account by default. I forget how I did this, exactly, but I have my phone set with both of my GMail accounts. It was fairly simple to do.
You can lock portrait orientation (I hate hate HATE that the iPhone automatically rotates my screen by default): Double-tap the home button, scroll all the way over to the left of the panel that appears, tap the circular arrow icon and a lock appears in it (also in the upper right hand portion of the screen when it's locked). That panel is also where you close background apps... tap and hold 'till they wiggle and tap the X on the app you want to close out.
Do Not Disturb is a nice feature with newer iOS versions for when I am sleeping, particularly since my silent switch broke in the ON position (when the switch off it constantly turns the speaker off and on like there's a short in the switch). At least it didn't break in the OFF position!
Be sure to disable Location Services on your photos and on Facebook, unless you want that sort of thing enabled.
Not sure I'll get another iPhone when I upgrade, however, I do have the advantage of knowing how to work the interface.
posted by tckma at 10:36 AM on February 18, 2014
I did NOT like how things weren't (and still aren't except for Googling "how do I [perform $action] on an iPhone") well documented. It was a huge learning curve for me to figure out how to zoom, how to shut off the phone, and other BASIC tasks. It's SUPPOSED to be intuitive, but wasn't. Now that I know how to do stuff, it's much easier.
Another neat trick: Categorizing apps. Tap and hold until the icons start to wiggle. See two apps you want categorized together (example: a weather app and a news app)? Drag one on top of the other. This will create a group. iOS will try to guess at a good name; you can change it. My home screen was overrun with icons until I learned this trick.
Contrary to what AppleTurnover seems to have said, you CAN configure multiple e-mail accounts in the mail app. You have a choice in the mail app of either going to All Inboxes or to a specific account by default. I forget how I did this, exactly, but I have my phone set with both of my GMail accounts. It was fairly simple to do.
You can lock portrait orientation (I hate hate HATE that the iPhone automatically rotates my screen by default): Double-tap the home button, scroll all the way over to the left of the panel that appears, tap the circular arrow icon and a lock appears in it (also in the upper right hand portion of the screen when it's locked). That panel is also where you close background apps... tap and hold 'till they wiggle and tap the X on the app you want to close out.
Do Not Disturb is a nice feature with newer iOS versions for when I am sleeping, particularly since my silent switch broke in the ON position (when the switch off it constantly turns the speaker off and on like there's a short in the switch). At least it didn't break in the OFF position!
Be sure to disable Location Services on your photos and on Facebook, unless you want that sort of thing enabled.
Not sure I'll get another iPhone when I upgrade, however, I do have the advantage of knowing how to work the interface.
posted by tckma at 10:36 AM on February 18, 2014
Calendar Widget on the home screen
You can swipe down from the top of the screen to get Notification Center, which has a "Today" view with weather, calendar appointments, etc.
posted by zsazsa at 11:00 AM on February 18, 2014
You can swipe down from the top of the screen to get Notification Center, which has a "Today" view with weather, calendar appointments, etc.
posted by zsazsa at 11:00 AM on February 18, 2014
The one thing I miss about my iPhone having now switched to an Android:
Voicemail - you don't have to call the voicemail system to listen to or delete your voicemail.
posted by jillithd at 11:54 AM on February 18, 2014
Voicemail - you don't have to call the voicemail system to listen to or delete your voicemail.
posted by jillithd at 11:54 AM on February 18, 2014
Just FYI, a lot of the things that tckma describes are not the way things work on ios7(the latest iphone operating system, incompatible with the 3GS)
posted by rockindata at 6:57 PM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rockindata at 6:57 PM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: By "Placing apps where I want" I didn't mean re-ordering them, but rather breaking free of iPhone's left to right, top to bottom system.
In the end I choose to jailbreak my phone. It got me some of the features I wanted. And, more importantly, let me turn off the shutter and touch tone sounds.
posted by zinon at 11:45 AM on February 22, 2014
In the end I choose to jailbreak my phone. It got me some of the features I wanted. And, more importantly, let me turn off the shutter and touch tone sounds.
posted by zinon at 11:45 AM on February 22, 2014
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With the apps I didn't want to use, I deleted what I could and then shoved the rest into a folder and buried it on the 2nd page. That's about the best you can do.
posted by phunniemee at 5:52 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]