Posts: 184
Threads: 22
Joined: May 2009
Well I am getting close to picking up a new smart phone. Have had Iphone 4 for 3 years and it has served me well. My wife has one as well and it works fine with CQC . I am not married to IOS even though I have quite a few IOS apps but some things annoy me about it and I spent way too much time trying to get ITUNES working with CQC and gave up and went the Logitech route in the end. So now I am trying to decide if I should stay IOS and get a new IPHONE 5S or maybe change direction with an Android phone or even a Windows phone. I know there are a billion opinions of IOS versus Android and I have read at least half of them
. I know there is a new native Android driver but also alot of RIVA development going on. I have an ELK and use CQC with it but also use EKpro with it just in case my sever goes down. So I have many fingers all based on IOS. I did have a Android Galaxy tablet about a year ago and bought the TAriva Android app for CQC but it was terrible in comparison to the CQC IOS client. Not sure if that was the APP or the tablet but I wasn't impressed. I believe that has all changed now based upon all the cool stuff I see everyone doing with their Android based devices so that doesn't color my thinking anymore.
Does anyone have any good comparisons/insights of which would be the best way to go in their opinion.? Also it needs to be simple for the Wife so not sure if the Android is just as simple as IOS at this time or not. I don't see much discussed about windows phones anymore but I am not ruling that out either.
Posts: 3,415
Threads: 158
Joined: Jan 2006
09-02-2013, 12:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-02-2013, 02:06 PM by wuench.)
I am in the same boat, my IPhone 4 has been really slow over the last few months. Sometimes it takes several seconds to respond to hitting the home button.
I am leaning Android, but I know I will miss the IOS Riva Client. However I really am looking forward to getting something with wireless charging, NFC, and the ability to play with the new voice stuff. Also, I have had tasker/eventghost working on my android tablet, so I know I can drive some events from CQC with that. Haven't tried taRIVA, or the autogen client. But I think I may be able to live with an autogen GUI with all the stuff I can potentially do with voice control. Or hopefully TaRiva will just pick up my RIVA interfaces with no major issues. If all else fails maybe I can find a good RDP client.
Judging by the people at work, it looks like the IPhone is really losing market share. I think android is really starting to surpass the IPhone in features and options.
Posts: 3,481
Threads: 157
Joined: Jun 2005
I'm an Android phone user. Always have been, always will be. But I also have iPads and the CQC Riva app and the newer XML app are really nice. So from a strictly CQC stance, I'd tell you to use Apple products.
But from a phone standpoint, I think Android is the way to go - especially if you like to tinker with your gadgets (ie rooting, loading custom ROMs and kernels to get better performance, etc). If you are using CQC, then you likely fall into this category of phone users.
Brian - a long time user that rarely messes with the system now
Other systems used:
SageTV w/ cablecard tuner & multiple extenders for viewing
BlueIris and IP cameras for CCTV
Incredible PBX for home phone
Posts: 2,339
Threads: 104
Joined: Apr 2009
I'm biased in that our family has been on Android based phones since v 1.1 (HTC Hero) We have iPod touch g2 but rarely use them any more. My wife is quite happy and productive with her new Samsung Galaxy S4 and Nexus 7 g2 tablet and uses them for everything. We are both on our 3rd generation of Android phone. We elected for flexibility over 100% predictability. We still have predictability with our Android phones but there is definitely more choice to be had should one desire it...
Having been on the Android journey since v1.1 I can say that Google has done a great deal to hide the complexities of the operating system from the user. It's still there if you want to get into it but not on the surface. I'm not sure what version of Galaxy Tab or OS you were on but things have changed quite a bit in the last year.
I am using both NFC and voice control with my android phone. NFC is currently a no go on IOS. You can do some with voice on IOS but I do not believe it is nearly as robust as the options available for Android. The voice and NFC capabilities of the Android phones coupled with automation programs like Tasker are a potent mix of capability.
As an aside example, a simple one, I have a tasker profile that unlocks my phone and disables the pin lock when we are at home. When we leave it is re-enabled. That way I keep our phones protected while we are out and about but in an easy use/access mode when at home where the heaviest use occurs.
If you and/or your wife use gmail at all or the google calendar then that will be an easy transition. The thing to keep in mind is that in switching there will be differences that you will have to adjust to, that will potentially cause some frustration in the beginning.
In my mind at this time Windows phone is a no show. I have a family member who has a recent Windows phone and it has done nothing but frustrate them. Its bricked on them twice (2 different physical phones) just in general use, no hacking involved.
I'll shortly be posting a video on YouTube I did a while back for a class project that demonstrates the use of NFC tags and home automation with CQC. Whether or not that helps your decision making, at least it's something pretty cool to see and perhaps show your wife. You won't be doing NFC with an Apple device.
In the end, Apple has good stuff, Android is good stuff, Windows, erm, not yet, maybe someday. But I think Android is hands down taking a lead world wide due to what Google is doing, the iterations of tangible improvements by multiple hardware OEMs and the shear numbers of users...
Posts: 2,407
Threads: 244
Joined: Oct 2007
Also realize that new apple hardware and OS should be coming out in a couple weeks. I would wait and see what shakes out.
Posts: 3,481
Threads: 157
Joined: Jun 2005
sic0048 Wrote:But I also have iPads and the CQC Riva app and the newer XML app are really nice. So from a strictly CQC stance, I'd tell you to use Apple products.
Ben brings up some really good points about NFC and voice control. If you are interested in ether of those, then Android is the clear choice. I don't currently use those features, so I tend to forget about them.
Brian - a long time user that rarely messes with the system now
Other systems used:
SageTV w/ cablecard tuner & multiple extenders for viewing
BlueIris and IP cameras for CCTV
Incredible PBX for home phone
Posts: 184
Threads: 22
Joined: May 2009
09-02-2013, 04:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-02-2013, 04:33 PM by dogman.)
Thanks for all the replies. I have been watching the voice control via tasker etc. but missed the recent google hangout on it will have to watch the video. Part of the reason for the timing is the new Iphone release on sept 10 both my wife and myself are eligible for an an upgrade and my Iphone seems to be acting a little wonky lately. So for the Android folks how reliable has your phone been? Our Iphones have been rock solid and I appreciate that. The other reason is I have been using a Nevo S70 as a hard button remote for the last few years and it has been awesome . I also have an IPAD that has CQC client on it but I find I end up using the NEVO hard buttons more often then the IPAD with CQC but in the last week the NEVO is starting to give up. So another reason is the hard button remote is crapping out. I really like hard buttons for basic TV watching versus using the IPAD or IPHONE so I may end up trying to figure out a new hard button remote too. I may just do the simple hard button remote and then use CQC to do all the backend stuff. Right now i use them in parallel so either one will work even if CQC server is down. I am an Aerospace Mechanical Engineer and we love redundancy without single point failure modes.;-). Oh and I do have Yale Zwave lock that supposedly can handle NFC as well so maybe Android is the way to go. So any thoughts on a new Nexus or Samsung ?
Posts: 310
Threads: 12
Joined: Feb 2013
Can I suggest Windows Phone 8? You can have mine...I'll even pay shipping.
Posts: 7,970
Threads: 554
Joined: Mar 2005
I had a Windows phone for 4 years, then iPhone for 2 years, now Android for a year. I like the CQC client on the iPhone better, but the hardware on Android plus NFC, voice, automation capabilities via tasker are phenomenal. Plus the Nexus 4 can be had unlocked/off contract for dirt cheap. Samsung is super-gimmicky in my opinion.
Posts: 310
Threads: 12
Joined: Feb 2013
IVB Wrote:Samsung is super-gimmicky in my opinion.
I agree! My wife was in the car and turned on the gesture feature of her GS4 where she could wave her hand to scroll through pictures. I said she was showing off. And oh yeah, several times she had to wave multiple times to get the picture to change.
Then she handed me her phone to watch a video and it kept stopping when I would take a drink of water. I handed it back to her and said pull it up on another device or turn off that eye-watching/pause video feature.
I like my iPad and would love to get another iPhone but not at the size they are currently at. If Apple doesn't announce a bigger screen iPhone this month, I may look at a Galaxy Note 3.
