From iPhone to Droid - Part One

Over a year ago I decided it was time to ditch my aging iPhone 4S and switch to a Galaxy S4. I own both phones - due to one of our sweet daughters giving their mother a Galaxy S5 phone (leaving me staring at the S4 with a look of mixed terror and fascination).

As of this morning I was still using my iPhone 4S (a nice phone, darn it!). I like it. I'm used to it. I don't need to think about how to do anything on it. I've used iPhones for a while (and programmed some apps, too, but that's another story and I let my development license expire).

So I had a plan. It went something like this: Make a list of current apps. Duplicate them on the Galaxy. Move my addresses (how?). Move my messages (how?). Take care of all the pictures on the phone. Switch over my service.

Simple, right? Except I have dozens of apps on my iPhone - I made a list that took over a page. Don't judge me. You're the same way.

Some of my apps are iPhone only. I don't use them much, so maybe it doesn't matter. I dithered for a while longer more weeks, in fact.

There is only one solution.

I just switch over. Let's see how that goes.

Pop the SIM card from my iPhone. Cool. That was easy.

Put it in the S4. That was easy, too. Does it know it's me? How the heck can I tell? …

I know. I need to do a reset on the S4, since it used to be Darling's. So I do that and it walks me neatly through the setup. Almost.

I need a Samsung account. Let's see. I thought I had one… Let me try… nope! Okay, so I set up a new one. That's easy.

I need to setup my Google account on the phone and I have two-step verification for it. That makes it harder for someone to hack my account. It seems it also makes it harder for me to get into it from a new device. You see, it sends a six-digit code as a message. I hear it arrive in the background, but have no idea how to view it without leaving the setup. I'm not even sure I can.

Wait. It's okay. I have the option to send it to Darling's phone as well. Now I'm cooking…

What's this thing? Oh, I need to verify the Samsung account I created. So I have to setup my mailbox, but that's easy - except for the two-step verification, but I see where I can look at the code now, so I'm good.

Except I don't see the verification email from Samsung in my inbox. I don't know how to look at the SPAM folder from my phone. That's okay. I can do that from my computer. Yup. There it is - in SPAM. Well, just click that button and I'm good to go.

Let me try a phone call. That's simple. I type in Darling's number. My contacts came over with the SIM card, except I don't have Darling's phone number, just her email. Well, I can type that in, can't I? No problem.

Why does the phone keep going to sleep while I look up what to do? Okay, under Settings> My phone it is set to 30 seconds. That's too short for me, so I'll up it a bit. And I'd like to see the battery percentage at the top instead of the little symbol. Check. Hey, I'm drained to eighty percent and I started this entire routine at full charge. I guess a reset uses a lot of juice. I'll plug it in.

Seems dim for my old eyes, too. I need to set it brighter.

I lost all my messages from my iPhone. Well, they are still on the iPhone. Too bad I can't move them over.

All that only took about an hour and a half. I'm slow, though.

So now I'm on the Galaxy S4. Finally.

But my IPhone 4S awaits me at my desk if I need it.

Let's see how this goes…

PS - hey, where's Candy Crush?