Switching from apple to android, recommendations?

  • HTC one M9 is pretty damn nice, if you want a 5" screen.
  • GS5 from AT&T (and Verizon) has a locked bootloader, which is heavily locked down. As a result, you can't install a custom ROM onto it (there are a few ROMs which have found a way, but not the major ones like Cyanogen or Paranoid Android). Good hardware, but lots of people don't like the samsung software due to it being filled with crap that people don't like or use.
  • I honestly don't know much about the Moto X.
  • Nexus 6 - A great phone running close to stock android. Very good for people who are fans of xposed or installing custom ROMs. The 6" screen is a bit much for a lot of people, myself included. 5.5" is the biggest I can use with one hand.
  • OnePlus One: My own recommendation (and the phone I own). 5.5" screen, great hardware (even for a year old phone), and runs CyanogenMod. Easy to unlock bootloader/ install custom recovery. The downsides are trying to buy one. Visit the invite thread on /r/OnePlus or buy one on a tuesday evening (if the site doesn't crash). Also be aware that the OnePlus 2 is coming out third quarter supposedly (though the company is known for delays on delivery). Another downside is that no one knows what it is, so if something goes wrong you have to fix it yourself. Switching from a non LTE iPhone to the OPO was difficult with AT&T. I got 1 person that said "Not an AT&T phone, can't help you," two others that wanted to help, but were incompetent, and a 4th that actually knew what she was doing and made the LTE work in like 20 minutes. (If you buy one, tell them they need a generic IMEI for an android LTE phone, and yes they do have one of those for this exact reason). If you come from a phone that already has LTE, then this isn't an issue (though still necessary for visual voicemail if you want that, coming from iOS). I hope that helps.

On top of all that, check out gsm arena for detailed phone information, and personally I like reviews from TechRadar. Additionally, you're probably thinking "but I don't want to root my phone, etc" I thought that too. I was wrong. So wrong. Rooting your phone is totally awesome, and not terribly difficult with the Nexus 6 or OPO.

/r/AndroidQuestions Thread