After convincing myself to do this kind of a switch, I noticed the experience using open protocols (IMAP, CardDAV and CalDAV) on Android isn't perfect.
First of all, I had to buy a 3rd party app that does CardDAV and CalDAV syncing, because unlike iOS, Android doesn't support it natively.
Secondly, IMAP doesn't come close to what I was used to with Gmail. And I'm not talking about the lack of good global search, I mean the general responsiveness when reading emails. No matter which client I use (I currently settled on Outlook), things seem to load for a long time, sometimes freeze, etc.
Thirdly, all the Google supplied apps technically have support for other providers, but the Google account is clearly a first class citizen. E.g. adding/removing a generic IMAP account simply makes it appear/disappear from the sidebar in the Gmail app. You can never truly hide the Google account. You CAN disable syncing, but it will remain in the app and you can easily re-enable it accidentally if you just tap it in the sidebar.
Anyone have similar experience? What do you recommend? Are there any commercial clients with a better user experience? Should I give up and move to iOS?
> First of all, I had to buy a 3rd party app that does CardDAV and CalDAV syncing, because unlike iOS, Android doesn't support it natively.
Android is made by Google and they now have an interest in not promoting open protocols. They are no longer the underdog, so it's in their best interest to push their proprietary protocols. It doesn't always work, the former Google Talk was great because it was light and compatible with XMPP, it all went to shit after Hangouts happened and I'm glad that Hangouts is almost dead.
Either way, you need to recognize that if Android doesn't work well with CardDAV / CalDAV, that's a problem that Google is creating.
> IMAP doesn't come close to what I was used to with Gmail. And I'm not talking about the lack of good global search, I mean the general responsiveness when reading emails. No matter which client I use.
If you're using Gmail, again, that's not fair because their IMAP implementation isn't that great. I haven't had any problems with iOS's Mail or with MailMate (https://freron.com/), in combination with FastMail.
Speaking of which, I use MailMate with my Gmail accounts too, because I love it and all third-party email apps work better with FastMail, because Gmail's IMAP is not standard; e.g. labels are IMAP folders instead of IMAP keywords, so you get duplicate emails and the client needs to do tricks to reconcile the two.
I also use Gmail accounts on iOS and Gmail doesn't do push email on iOS (FastMail does), but I don't mind it so much to be honest. I don't like being bombarded with notifications, so if email notifications from Gmail are a minute late, it doesn't matter.
And it should go without saying that if you want push notifications on Android's Gmail app, then you can't use IMAP. I don't know of any good solutions for Android, I was a user of K9 because it's open source and does push notifications for IMAP, but it's not great.
And now I'm an iOS user because it has better support for open protocols, even if I was a die hard Android fan. I might reconsider for my next phone, I might get back to Android, but when I do, I'll factor in the cost of using open protocols, because it's Android's fault for IMAP, CardDAV and CalDAV not working well.
First of all, I had to buy a 3rd party app that does CardDAV and CalDAV syncing, because unlike iOS, Android doesn't support it natively.
Secondly, IMAP doesn't come close to what I was used to with Gmail. And I'm not talking about the lack of good global search, I mean the general responsiveness when reading emails. No matter which client I use (I currently settled on Outlook), things seem to load for a long time, sometimes freeze, etc.
Thirdly, all the Google supplied apps technically have support for other providers, but the Google account is clearly a first class citizen. E.g. adding/removing a generic IMAP account simply makes it appear/disappear from the sidebar in the Gmail app. You can never truly hide the Google account. You CAN disable syncing, but it will remain in the app and you can easily re-enable it accidentally if you just tap it in the sidebar.
Anyone have similar experience? What do you recommend? Are there any commercial clients with a better user experience? Should I give up and move to iOS?