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Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 8:44 am
by Winkle
I switched over to Android with the N5 in November after being on iOS for 3 years.

Google Now is pretty good and useful, haven't had issues with speech recognition as long as I'm reasonably close to the phone's mic, I find it might better and considerably more useful then Siri.

Google Maps is as expected, the turn by turn navigation is okay but not that great, but it's free so can't complain. It's still better then Apple Maps. I now use Waze for turn by turn, also owned by Google but at least it's free and much better.

Default calender is pretty weak I'd agree, Apple's is better.

Google Music does suck, Apple's music app is far superior. I use doubletwist music player instead, I purchased the AirSync add-on which is awesome though and lets me sync my music over wifi much much faster then I ever could with iOS.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 9:50 am
by gilboman
tebore wrote: Really? Calendar? The stock calendar is a POS compared to the stock iOS app (When it used to work with Google ActiveSync)
GNow works great on my N5 except for the fact that it doesn't give me directions and traffic updates when I need them (I guess it doesn't know how to work with unusual work schedules).
do you have work address included in Gnow? but yea, if you go in at random times on random days, it probably won't catch it

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 11:22 am
by tebore
gilboman wrote: do you have work address included in Gnow? but yea, if you go in at random times on random days, it probably won't catch it
Yeh it learned my locations home, work etc quickly.
It gives me the right directions and traffic updates. Just at terrible times. 4PM it's giving me updates on to get to work. 2AM/PM it's telling me about my route home and other random times...

My schedule is 'consistantly random'? Eg Monday is 8-4. Tues 6-3 ... rinse and repeat week over week. But it doesn't work that way.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 12:07 pm
by a019827
Winkle wrote: Default calender is pretty weak I'd agree, Apple's is better.
apple's iOS 7 calendar blows monkey balls.

i got fantastical for $2, and it's awesome.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 12:51 pm
by Stormfather
I hate when I'm playing a game and I accidently set off Google Now. I had to install an app to "disable" it because you can't do it any other way.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 1:14 pm
by terry0703
Google Now works perfect for me - transportation, stock, navigation to the places I searched on my laptop, etc.
Voice recognition is gimmicky, but it does work when my fingers are too busy to type in a rather less noisy environment.

Device Manager - I find this, as well as other similar apps, quite lame. Yes, it works only when I cannot remember where I left the phone. But would it work if someone intentionally took the phone? If I were the thief, the first thing I would do is to take out the SIM so make sure the phone is no longer connected.

Google Maps - I hate the newer version. In the old version (with a separate 'Navigation' app), I was able to just turn on the navigation without setting up the destination. The new one doesn't let me.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 1:39 pm
by Bisons
tebore wrote: Really? Calendar? The stock calendar is a POS compared to the stock iOS app (When it used to work with Google ActiveSync)
GNow works great on my N5 except for the fact that it doesn't give me directions and traffic updates when I need them (I guess it doesn't know how to work with unusual work schedules).
What's so bad about Google Calendar? Works flawlessly and can't think of any features that I'm missing that I would need.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 1:55 pm
by terry0703
Bisons wrote: What's so bad about Google Calendar? Works flawlessly and can't think of any features that I'm missing that I would need.
Page flip effect? =)

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 2:10 pm
by tebore
Bisons wrote: What's so bad about Google Calendar? Works flawlessly and can't think of any features that I'm missing that I would need.
It works kinda. But the interface is terrible. I use it with at least 3 ActiveSync accts, and what I'd like to do is see my day so I can tell if should accept or propose a new time for a meeting or push a meeting. But you can't see what it is all you see is if the spot is open or not. In iOS even with a 3.5" screen it gave you a great deal of information. How your day looked in a task layout, as well as how your day, week, month looked and you had total freedom in how much you wanted to focus(zoom) on a specific time period.

In google's calender I have a massive 5" screen the shows me nothing except little colored dots on month mode. In week mode I get colored bars. Day Mode only shows a task list(but doesn't when you have more than 1 conflict) . It doesn't give you a nice visual break down of your day so you can see at a glance OH I have a conflict/overlap (well it does but I can't see what the events are).
The BIGGEST PITA is when you create an event under 1 calendar you can't move it to another without recreating it. iOS it was a simple matter of editing the event and changing the calendar in a drop down.

And that's my comparison to iOS. Compared to BB it's POS terrible calendar but that was a strength for them. I may not be 100% clear on my descriptions but the people who used other calendars will know what I mean.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 2:25 pm
by LostInTruth
To OP,

That's why you have choices.

Re: Some Google apps just plain suck

Posted: Jan 30th, 2014 2:31 pm
by Bisons
tebore wrote: It works kinda. But the interface is terrible. I use it with at least 3 ActiveSync accts, and what I'd like to do is see my day so I can tell if should accept or propose a new time for a meeting or push a meeting. But you can't see what it is all you see is if the spot is open or not. In iOS even with a 3.5" screen it gave you a great deal of information. How your day looked in a task layout, as well as how your day, week, month looked and you had total freedom in how much you wanted to focus(zoom) on a specific time period.

In google's calender I have a massive 5" screen the shows me nothing except little colored dots on month mode. In week mode I get colored bars. Day Mode only shows a task list(but doesn't when you have more than 1 conflict) . It doesn't give you a nice visual break down of your day so you can see at a glance OH I have a conflict/overlap (well it does but I can't see what the events are).
The BIGGEST PITA is when you create an event under 1 calendar you can't move it to another without recreating it. iOS it was a simple matter of editing the event and changing the calendar in a drop down.

And that's my comparison to iOS. Compared to BB it's POS terrible calendar but that was a strength for them. I may not be 100% clear on my descriptions but the people who used other calendars will know what I mean.
It's probably fine for me because I don't have to do much with it. One calendar, one account, don't use it for business. I'm just putting in social events, appointments (dentist/doctor/etc.), ongoing reminders (change furnace filter, passport renewal, birthdays...), stuff like that.