Bye Apple, for now. Hi HTC and Android. LFG Android 101

Since the iPhone 3G I've been exclusive to Apple with my phones. Never had a problem with any of my iPhones, which made me by next years model. A couple of weeks ago my iPhone decided to break. First, the screen cracked, in my pocket, without me doing anything. Then the battery died. So when I made my way to buy a new iPhone something came to my mind - I wanted something new.

I didn't buy a phone that day. Instead I spend my day on Tested.com and various other sites trying to make my mind up about what I want to buy, although I kind of knew. I didn't wanted a Samsung, I heard some things about changes coming to LG:s Nexus series so I didn't wanted that, and Nokia was also out of the frame. So, HTC One, taddaa!

Being a HTC owner also means that for the first time ever I am lost in the jungle of Android and that's why I need your help. Tell me all I need to know about Android. I do have a couple of questions myself, but feel free to update me on other cool features that I sure don't know about.

Question 1 - Coming from iOS I'm used to a pretty easy update process whenever Apple are fixing something, how does this work when a billion Android phones are getting the same update?

Question 2 - I do have an iPad and iMesseges are showing up there. Will this be a problem when I do get my HTC up and running?

@fruitcocoa: For question number one, I'm fairly sure android updates are kind of vendor specific. i.e there are some differences in the way Kit Kat operates on your HTC than on other android phones. So when a new version of Android comes out you wont necessarily get it right away. That means there won't be 80 bajillion people downloading the OS at the same time as you are, from the same server, and updates should be quite smooth. This is also one of the reasons Android is a very fragmented platform.

DISCLAIMER: I could be wrong here. My knowledge of Android pretty limited.

In regards to question 1 - Google just push an update, which you'll see as a tiny icon at the top of the home screen UI. You can just update when you're ready. Updates are generally staggered to users, as I understand it. Some folks might get it day one, others might get it days later. I'm not sure what sort of algorithms detirmine that.

As for question 2 - I have no idea what iMessages are, sorry.

Hooray for HTCs though.

Question 1 -

If you buy the nexus from Google, you will get the update pretty much day 1 from them. Since you bought an HTC, Google will send the update to HTC and they will tailor it to their models and push it to you. If you buy the HTC phone from a carrier, HTC will send the update to the carrier when they've finished with their tweaks, and the carrier will tailor it to their models and apps then push it to you. This means that everyone gets it at different times, and you mostly rely on the vendors/carriers to get it out.

Question 2. You are out of luck, there is no official way to get iMessages on android that would be a bad business move for Apple. It can be done though here is a way that requires a jail-broken Iphone http://www.wikihow.com/Get-iMessage-on-Android. Or you can try an unofficial app if you trust them with you log in credentials, I wouldn't.

If it isn't already on turn on Developer Mode, Settings>About>Software Information>More Click Build Number 7 times you will now have a new menu in Settings called Developer Options, it is full of all kinds of fun stuff mess around with just be aware certain settings can affect performance/stability.

Welcome to the jungle that is known as Android! It's a jungle with hidden treasures... and malaria.

Question 1: Supposedly, every Android hardware manufacturer should support every phone for at least a year after release. Supposedly. In practice, some are better than others. Luckily, HTC seems to be better at it than most. After that time though, you're probably better off finding a custom ROM that is stable and is actually maintained by its developers. One of the more well-known ROMs is CyanogenMod, and you can find more over at XDA-Developers, where you'll also find a lot of information on how to get the most from your phone.

Fair warning: Getting the most from your phone tends to involve unlocking your bootloader and rooting your phone, which isn't as complicated as it seems, but will void your warranty. Or at least a few frowns from the manufacturer.

Question 2: Apple and Android are two separate environments and won't interfere with one another (well, not outside of court). In the best case, iMessages won't cause any troubles, in the worst case you'll never be able to access iMessages from your phone through normal means.

#2 - iMessage can cause big problems when switching to Android. There is a recent lawsuit over the issues it has generated. In short, you will likely have to call Apple and get your number removed from iMessage (or something like that). The apple support page on this is here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts5185
How this will affect your iPad and such, I have no idea. Never used iMessage before. Good luck with your new toy!

Wow, thank you all for the answers. Really appreciate it!

The entire updating my device thing isn't that huge of a deal for me, to be honest. I kind of want to have a phone that I can look up my mail, read my favourite feeds and to have an awesome call experience. The "delayed" releases of updates doesn't affect that in any way, right? It's not like Chrome doesn't work with last years HTC?

You've got to stick it in the microwave and put it on defrost for like 5 minutes

@veektarius said:

Disaster!