Google life compromised on iPhone?

[kelton]

I pretty much have every aspect of "life" within the google ecosystem: storage, music, email, calendar, etc.

I've done some searching, but can't find a (current) answer to this question.

Do google services get reduced or compromised when moving to an iPhone / iOS? (I'm not wanting to use iCloud)
What does a Google-dude lose when using iOS?

I did read one article that said that Google Music costs MORE when using iOS...by 2 or 3 bucks per month.

 

[Sooks]

I am a systems admin and we are a google apps shop (all google hosted) I use my iPhone and just download the apps, you can get literally every google app on ios. Its the same price for google music on both systems. You would be fine.

 

[anon(39328)]

Regarding google music price, it might be higher by a few dollars if you purchase your subscription through iTunes instead of continuing to pay for it directly from google.

 

[kelton]

Thanks Sooks and Diggity

I toyed with google stuff on my girlfriend's iPhone, but it would be nearly impossible to investigate every possible feature and compare.

The key things that peaked my interest on the iPhone:
My work uses 80% macs.
Microsoft Office seems more mature and up-to-date on the iPhone than on android. (editing in OneNote is far more clumsy on the Android, for instance)
Camera: I appreciate that Apple seeks more natural tones with their camera....rather than the ultra-sharpened, ultra-color-saturation of some popular androids.

 

[ajb1965]

I use the full suite of Google apps on my iPhone with no problems. Most apps are transparent. The only slight inconvenience I have found is Google Photos doesn't automatically back up pictures as soon as they are taken. I have to open the app then they are all uploaded. Other than that everything works great. I listen to my Google Play music subscription every morning at the Gym, have my full library downloaded to my device, and open Google Maps and get directions when needed. Life is good

 

[gordol]

It depends. I have my calendar and contacts through Google, not iCloud. I have my music through iTunes on my desktop.

What I use Google for on my iPhone works just fine: Contacts sync, Calendar, Maps, Search. I use Safari as the mobile browser because you cannot make anything else the default, so I have bookmarks synced between Chrome on my desktop and Safari on iOS via the iCloud add-on for Chrome.

 

[dpham00]

Some Google apps are better, some are worse... particularly the Gmail app which won't let it automatically go to the previous email after deleting the current email. The stock mail app can do this but it doesn't push e-mail, only fetch at a max of every 15 minutes

Overall though Google apps can play within their own sandbox in terms of app intents.

Any Google apps uploading or downloading like Google photos backup, downloading music on Google play, upload or download from Google drive or upload to YouTube will require that you leave the app open. It also won't start automatic upload or download workout the app being open.

With regards to Google play music, I paid $5 per month for 5 years on the promotion earlier this year and pricing doesn't change going to iOS for me. My only complaint is that sometimes music will glitch or stop but I found that downloading the music first greatly reduces that problem. This is for running it in the background .

 

[Craig]

Most of my personal emails are Google / Gmail.
I use Google Calendar for my personal and work info.
I love those Google Items.

I still use them on my iPhone.

I use Pocket Informant for my calendar, works great for Google. I also use 2 widgets WidgetCal and iCal Widget for my Google Calendar Appointments.. works great.

Emails are different, was a huge fan of CloudMagic, so since that whole "Newton $49 Year" testing both Outlook and TypeApp. Both work well for Gmail.

As for Google Music, not sure. I have about 10GB of music of my phone... and that's about 9GB more than I really ever listen to... I just don't use my phone for music / video / games, so I can't speak to any of that stuff.

 

[kargurin]

I'm a charter Google Music subscriber so I pay $8 per month. It does not change if you get an iPhone. You still have a google account and that's all that matters. In addition I use Maps, Drive, Google (voice) search and all work well.

 

[kelton]

Kargurin,... I've got a question (since you and Ajb are Google Music users)

With your subscription to Google Music, you also get YouTube Red. One feature is the ability to save a video offline.

Does that "offline" feature work with your iPhone?

 

[gordol]

Some Google apps are better, some are worse... particularly the Gmail app which won't let it automatically go to the previous email after deleting the current email. The stock mail app can do this but it doesn't push e-mail, only fetch at a max of every 15 minutes

That is service-type dependent. POP and IMAP are fetch, ActiveSync / equivalent is push. GMail through anything other than the web site or GMail app is IMAP. iCloud email via iOS or Mac included mail app is ActiveSync equivalent.

 

[gordol]

I use Pocket Informant for my calendar, works great for Google. I also use 2 widgets WidgetCal and iCal Widget for my Google Calendar Appointments.. works great.

Can you provide a link to these? I tried searching for iCal Widget and, well, searching the app store is a mess with no way to sort or prioritize the results.

As for Google Music, not sure. I have about 10GB of music of my phone... and that's about 9GB more than I really ever listen to... I just don't use my phone for music / video / games, so I can't speak to any of that stuff.

Media, music specifically, is my "killer app" that brought me back to the iPhone four or five years ago. There is nothing else out there that manages music between the device and the desktop. My mobile music lives and dies by live / smart playlists, and I spent over four years looking for something, anything, that works with Blackberry (Storm 2), Android (original Droid X, 2.x days) and Windows Mobile (v6.5) that even comes close to the pairing of iOS and iTunes.

 

[kelton]

Google Music (and its YouTube Red) between Chome and Android is doing the trick just fine.
Offline videos with YouTube Red....is there a legit equivalent?
No iTunes for me.....but I'm no iTunes expert.

 

[gordol]

Google Music (and its YouTube Red) between Chome and Android is doing the trick just fine.
Offline videos with YouTube Red....is there a legit equivalent?
No iTunes for me.....but I'm no iTunes expert.

Use what works for you. Google Music does not work for me because playlists are primitive there. My primary playlists live update based on combinations of the 5-star ratings and last-played info. I also use nested playlists so I can swap subsets of music in and out of my primary playlists without having to completely rebuild them.

 

[kelton]

Gordol,

Thanks for your time on this android guy with iOS questions stuff.

For some reason, some people complain about being "trapped" into the iTunes. Not sure about the nature of the complaint .... regardless, I probably have very little use for yet-another service.

Does having an iPhone require that I get involved with iTunes?....or can I simply not use it. Somehow, I have the impression that iTunes intruded upon the world of iOS users whether you wanted it or not.

 

[jerrykur]

The only issue I have had with Google apps is in navigation. Applications like YouTube are a bit hamstrung by the apple single button interface. As a results you have to do things like shrink search windows to move around. But, it seems to get a little better with each version.

 

[gordol]

Gordol,

Thanks for your time on this android guy with iOS questions stuff.

For some reason, some people complain about being "trapped" into the iTunes. Not sure about the nature of the complaint .... regardless, I probably have very little use for yet-another service.

Does having an iPhone require that I get involved with iTunes?....or can I simply not use it. Somehow, I have the impression that iTunes intruded upon the world of iOS users whether you wanted it or not.

Trapped? It depends on what you want to do. You're not trapped by any device ecosystem unless you let yourself be. On my end, if there is any trapping being done, it's in the other direction, I am "trapped" to iOS by iTunes, not the other way around. iTunes is the only media manager system I have found that manages media in a way that allows me to just enjoy the music without having to manually manage what is and is not on my playlists, and I have a complicated playlist setup.

It used to be that if you had an iOS device you had to sync it with iTunes, but that is no longer the case. You may need to connect it once on initial setup, but after that, you can do everything OTA. Unless you want to use iTunes for media management or backups. The one thing that IS required is an iCloud account. This is what's used for iCloud, the App Store, the iTunes media store, etc, etc. You can access those straight from the phone.

 

[Craig]

Hard for me to find too, for some reason.. on my laptop but it's not showing the link.

Here is some info on the two calendar widgets I used (as asked above)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/widgetcal-notification-calendar/id919048459?mt=8&at=10l3Vy

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/week-cal-widget-for-ios-calendar/id1048513780?mt=8&at=10l3Vy

Use them both for my Google Calendar(s)

 

[apcman]

I am a user of the google products to handle my mail, calendar and such. The google search app used to be very helpful in showing me relevant news, traffic information, when to leave for appointments and such. Now it just tells me the weather. I have google all the permissions it wants but google now/search app won't show me this info anymore. Is this a change to the app or did this stop working on other people app as well? I would appreciate your opinions.

 

[gordol]

Hard for me to find too, for some reason.. on my laptop but it's not showing the link.

Here is some info on the two calendar widgets I used (as asked above)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/widgetcal-notification-calendar/id919048459?mt=8&at=10l3Vy

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/week-cal-widget-for-ios-calendar/id1048513780?mt=8&at=10l3Vy

Use them both for my Google Calendar(s)

Thank you.

Turns out, WidgetCal I already have. The second one to me looks like it duplicates the functionality.