Oh, and you can install Cortana on Android, I think it can send SMS too.Īnd this is why I’ve stayed with Windows Mobile. Sorry for the wall of text, I don’t know how I could format it better.
And for free apps, you can get them from Aptoide’s default store or Amazon market, they’re more widely available there That way you’ll legally own the apps, but you won’t be giving any information to Google because you’ll do it on an emulator.
How to do this? Install an Android emulator like Bluestacks or Windroy on your PC, install Google Play there, buy your paid apps from Play on the emulator, extract the APK files and sideload them on your phone. You can choose to use Google Play, but not on your phone. However, there’s one more “interesting” solution. And most app developers only sell their apps through Play.
The most popular “legal” app store apart from Play is Amazon app store, I think… Aptoide’s default repository is also 100% legal and safe, but there are no paid apps in there. If you don’t like that (many people don’t), it’s really a hit or miss. There are viruses in some of them, but you can download an antivirus just like on computers. You just install Blackmart or Aptoide and all the apps are suddenly free and you can sideload them. Now the question is “where do I get my APKs?” - this one is very easy if you like pirating software. The biggest problem you will encounter with this is “where do I get my apps?” - there is no Google Play = there is nowhere to download apps from? Luckily, Android has a sideloading feature, so as long as you can get the APK (installer) file for that app, and a specific setting enabled from security settings, you can sideload the app. A custom ROM doesn’t include those apps as it’s considered illegal to distribute them without Google’s acknowledgement, so when you freshly install a ROM, you get a clean, google-free, completely open source Android.
What you could do is install a custom ROM and not install any Google apps on top. Unfortunately, there is no way to do that without rooting (and voiding your warranty in over 90% of cases)… I’m also eyeing Android for the possible “texting from PC” option that being a Windows device household currently offers.
Is there any (easy) way to make Android look and function more like Windows Mobile, function with little or no Google, keep it secure, and still be a decent OS? I also much prefer many of Microsoft’s products from a usability standpoint (I own an iPad which generally i use only Microsoft apps on, because I am so engrained into that system). Only problem is that I want it to use Google as little as possible. Now that Nokia is back, Microsoft seems destined to ignore (kill?) it’s own platform, and Apple seems out of touch with the non-average (technical) consumer, I’ve been eyeing Android. What I mean by this is how hard is it to avoid Google services (and Amazon, to some extent), and turn any Android device essentially into a “Microsoft Android phone”? What can someone do to make Android more “usable” for someone who likes the features and security of Windows Mobile better? And other Android users who are still Windows phone fans,