Arthur
Honorary Master
That's the one
In the past you kinda seemed in favor of MS/WP over Google/Android (even though you have shares in both)
Are you jumping ship in case wp sinks? what made you pick android over wp this time around?
I like to know where the technology is at and haven't played with Android+GMS for a while, so was keen to see the state of the art.
I've now gotten to know Marshmallow on the 6P, and I'm impressed by how far Android has come. Google are doing a great job of developing the OS, adding functionality, and improving stability.
Another reason to look again at Android is Microsoft's own rediscovered agnosticism: they're making sure that both iOS and Android deliver a far better experience for users in the Microsoft ecosystem. I have three Office 365 Enterprise accounts and all my contacts, calendars and docs are in the MSft world, so it's imperative that these be easily accessible and usable. And largely they are, but there are still shortcoming and irritating limitations that mar the experience on Android.
One irritation so far is the less-than-seamless syncing of Contacts in Outlook. I have over 400 contacts in Outlook (personal account, not company). They quickly and easily sync with Contacts in Android, but it's not perfect by a long chalk. Pics don't come down, for example. But by far the largest prob is that there is no seamless syncing with Outlook once the Contacts are imported. The Outlook for Android app is great, and it brings in the O365 Contacts (and mail and calendar, of course), but they don't sync and mutually update the Android contacts apps. There is a fiddly workaround, which is to set up an O365 account in Google Exchange and sync only Contacts, and thence between O365 and Contacts/People in Android. But it's far from perfect - for example, if I update a contact pic on the phone it doesn't sync back to Outlook Contacts in Office 365. And vv. All this works seamlessly in Win phone - I can update anything on any Win desktop or device and it's seamlessly sync'd everwhere else.
I've also found that several apps I use (eg HIK's iVMS-4500 for cctv monitoring) are much better and cleaner in Windows phone than the Android versions. Sky Scanner (for flights) is vastly superior on Windows phone than the clunky Android version. And I never found a way to migrate my WhatsApp backups from the Lumia to the 6P - not Android's fault, but disappointing nevertheless to lose years of chats.
Another irritating oddity: Chrome has a rendering bug that formats text incorrectly. I set the system text to Larger, and when I browse MyBB in Mobile profile (for example), the New Posts listing has thread names in different and inconsistent font sizes, some teeny.
Over the next few weeks I'll fiddle more when time allows, especially to find how apps have evolved. One disappointment is that many of the much-vaunted apps really seem to be browser wrappers. Nice to see some old familiars have evolved ... years ago I used ES File Explorer, and installed it on the 6P. Still have to discover whether there are better ones in Android.
It's early days yet using the 6P as a daily driver. I really really miss the Win phone live tiles, where one glance at the Start screen shows messages, mails, calendar, news, weather, etc. The Win phone UI and navigation is still slicker and more modern and more tailorable, and the whole OS is noticeably lighter on system resources. I love the fingerprint reader on the 6P (which Win phone doesn't support yet, though it has iris recoignition on my Lumia 950 XL).
So, I'm persisting and want to get know this platform thoroughly.
Interim provisional transitional verdict: Android has come a long way and is a powerful and functinally rich mobile OS. It has a vast apps pool, which is strangely reassuring even if I only use 40 or so apps. I chose the Nexus 6P because I want a pure Android+GMS experience and regular Google updates, not the crapware and non-updates frrom the large OEMs. I wish it supported Qi wireless charging and an SD card, though the 128GB model is more than adequate for me. It's a beautifully made phone with a quality feel, though somewhat slipperier in the hand than the Lumia 950 XL. Camera is serviceable. Microsoft's support for Android is serious and growing, and that's reassuring because there is no way I'm migrating my life to be combed by Google's aggressive use of personal data. For someone in the MSft ecosystem, Win phone is still a superior experience and integration, but it's getting better on Android (thanks, Satya).
I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves. And the 6P is as good platform as any today to experience that evolution.
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Should be here next week.