Back on an Android while my Lumia 920 is being repaired

So I find myself using an Android phone while my Nokia is back at Nokia for repair, and it’s a very strange feeling I’m having.

I didn’t move from an Android phone to Windows phone 8 in disgust, or for some ironic statement. I moved because I happen to believe interface wise WP8 works, I loved the camera on the 920 which allows me to take some great photos while on the go, and I actually think with the new Nokia Lumia and its 41 megapixel phone they might have it right, I mean what’s the point of cloning an iPhone and being like everyone else?

That however is irrelevant, this post is about an interesting side effect of my Lumia 920 going back to Nokia. This has happened after it spent 3 weeks with EE being “diagnosed” to find an hour after I got the phone back I still had the same issue, the touchscreen would freeze up and no amount of resetting would stop this. So off to the manufacturer it went with those catch all words no smart phone owner wants to hear… “This could take up to a month to repair”

Well I couldn’t be having that so I’m now using a temporary Google Nexus 4 handset, and I’m starting to feel like a guy who has jut put his wife on the plane so she can see her family, and a pretty girl sits next to him at the bar.. (Not something which has ever happened, but I think the analogy is right)

There is a slight guilt complex brewing here because I love that Lumia, however I’m starting to see why Google are managing to corner the phone market with Android and their services and its all looking a bit too easy..

I’m a heavy Google user, I love G+, I have a chrome book, I have over 130gb of storage on google drive which I now use to backup my photos since googles last big update (the 100gb of space came free with the chrome book). google Maps has no equal and while they may well be passing all my data to every US security agency there is, they were doing that to paid marketing companies who were making money off that data first. If some US agency stops the next flight I am on going into the side of a building because they have access to data.. Great, I sign up for life..

With my use of all things google, turning on and setting up the Nexus 4 was an interesting experience, mainly hp because Google and WP8 just isn’t, the web services company just doesn’t develop for platforms which users apparently don’t use (but they do for Blackberry) so there is no Google+ client, no Snapseed, no google maps outside the browser.. There are alternatives however..

Having all these services and more on the Nexus 4 was amazing.. It just felt so right.. And is only let down by the lack of LTE support.

The Nexus 4 is a very light phone with a fantastic screen which was visible even in direct sunlight, in good light situations the camera is equal to the Lumia 920 although Microsofts marketing about the camera in low lit situations is very evidently accurate, the lumia is better in low light than the android.

While there are more apps on Android, the core apps Facebook, Twitter, vine, camera360 are on both and more apps are starting to head over to WP8.. I suggest before long Google will remember that they are a web service company and have a beer with Microsoft bury the hatchet and carry on making huge amounts of cash…

The battery life on the Nexus 4 is great, I have had everything turned on and running, watched videos on YouTube, installed apps, edited photos all day and the battery was still going 36hrs later which is quite impressive..

The last Android phone I had was a Galaxy S and by the time I had, had that for 2 years it was being very very sluggish, the Nexus 4 shows no signs of that and is very nippy and the screen is better than iPhone responsive with no jerky swipes which is a huge thing.

All in all I am very happy, and now confused by this phone, firstly why no LTE, silly google, no excuse on that one, and secondly can I go back to the Lumia when it comes back? The answer to that of course is yes, I will try out Ubuntu touch on the Nexus 4 and then my wife can use it as a replacement to her Galaxy Ace.

What I have learnt however is there are things you miss, when you choose a platform, but you work around them…