Concerns of an Android convert - Part 4

By Amelia Ali
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13 Sep, 2018
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Images and the pictures we take are things we want to keep with us for as long as possible. Pictures in particular are the main concern when transferring over to a new phone. Will they transfer? Will I lose any in the process? How will they be organized?

The thing is, Apple to Apple there is no issue, simply sign into your iCloud and life is good. I'm sure between Android devices is a similar situation. However, when going from Apple to Android or vice versa, there is some grey area of unknown.

Google was clever enough to provide a converter along with the Pixel which, for the most part, was able to copy over my phone perfectly down to the wallpaper. Unfortunately there is one thing that did not go as smoothly, pictures.

Picture folders are scattered and a huge mess.

This issue is crucial to all users coming from Apple, and possibly others as well. When opening up pictures straight from the phone itself everything seems to be in order. The real issue comes when trying to upload a picture.

Once you initiate uploading a picture you are hit with all the folders on your device presented to you at once. Not one of them being a folder you created but rather, one the converter did.

After the initial prompt (above) you select your device and choose one of these folders. I would have to select DCIM which then takes me to another maze of folders called "RestoredFromOtherDevice".

*Here, you can see all of my pictures that were transferred over from iPhone are now presented into these sub folders only identified by numbers.*

These numbers are supposed to coincide with a timeline of sorts, 100 being the beginning of your Apple camera roll and 108 being the end. Now imagine you have to go back into your memory to even guess when the picture you're looking for was taken, where in these 8 folders will you find the one you're looking for? What if the picture you want was taken after you switched to Pixel? Then what?

Unfortunately the process is rather similar, with a few differences.

*Instead of choosing Pixel 2 as your device you must open the burger menu to select "Images". From here you will be taken to another maze of folders similar to earlier.*

*Instead of selecting DCIM you will be selecting "Camera". This will then present you with all the pictures you have taken on the Pixel since getting it, in typical camera roll form.*

To be completely honest, this has to be one of the biggest things annoying me about the switch. There isn't even a way for you to rearrange or redistribute these pictures into manageable folders. I now dread changing my profile picture because just the thought of having to navigate this maze every time becomes exhausting. I appreciate the ability to transfer all of my images with little to no hassle, but it's the aftermath that makes it unbearable.

Concerns of an Android convert - Part 4

Concerns of an Android convert - Part 3

Concerns of an Android convert - Part 2

Concerns of an Android convert - Part 1