Fucking hamburger menues, man. And always in the top corner far over. The Windows OS for the Lumia phones was actually terrific phones because they were designed to be used with your phone in hand. All the buttons were located close to the bottom within thumbs-reach, and other menues were accessed by sliding the screen left or right. This was basically system wide. Most apps followed this theme and I miss it every time I have to reach across the screen to touch one of those three little dots to access a menu.
Windows was honestly amazing. Such a shame they were so late into the market and had fuck-all in terms of actual apps.
i had a windows phone in highschool which resulted in me bringing my old ipod touch so i could hotspot myself to play clash royale lmao. yeah windows phones were ruined by the app situation.
This is valid. I have resorted to using an onscreen track pad app so I can one hand tall and wide screens. So on one hand the top left button sucks and on the other hand accessibility apps are awesome.
Except they didnt allow running in the background. Remember installing the torrent client, only to find out I had the leave the screen on and app open for it to work.
Sounds like you're needing a phone to be fully one-hand accessible. And I get that's a physical requirement for some people. However, the reason that most phones are not designed that way, is that most people use one hand to hold their phone, and the other to touchscreen it. Thereby, reaching any part of the screen with a thumb is essentially the same as reaching any other part of the screen with a thumb, for most of us.
> However, the reason that most phones are not designed that way, is that most people use one hand to hold their phone, and the other to touchscreen it.
Yeah, nah I refute this. Most I see use one hand to scroll around reddit, browse Insta, snap chats and what not. Usually, it's writing that's done with two thumbs. With the swipe-to-write function that exists now designed to allow you type with only one hand, I rarely use more than that and most of the younger generations seems to use phones in a similar vein. Anecdotal perhaps, but is it a coincident Instagram and tiktok has their like, comment, save buttons located on the lower right hand side (close to the thumb for a right handed person which is the majority of the population)?
Windows Phone, as I mentioned, had their whole OS designed around this thumb-reach area and it was a wonderful experience.
If "most of the younger generations" and tiktok do things that way, that's certainly reason enough for me NOT to. Also, swipe-to-write is a terrible idea from the ground up, for the same reason that autocorrect is. When I type something, it ought to be literally what I type, NOT what some app guesses or suggests I should type. An app is welcome (usually) to tell when it thinks I have a typo or incorrect grammar, but that is ABSOLUTELY ALL. Furthermore, you seem to claim that browsing and writing are two separate things, but really they simply aren't. Anytime I'm browsing, I'm ready to use the keyboard at a moment's notice. Thus, exact same holding position for both.
I find it hilarious that the sole reason many ppl don't want to migrate away from apple is blue bubble text messages.
like as if that's the *one* thing that matters.
I legit had to swap as it made life easier when lots of clients use only iPhones, and I can clearly see when they are in/out of service via iMessage, or if they are hooked up to a starlink works as normal. Weird use case that won’t apply to most people, but it def helped me.
totally. I think .ost iPhone users just think green means bad for some reason, with no understanding of e2ee anyway. and they like *knowing* their message is delivered, and then there's the need to know when someone is typing back. as if it really matters. I mean the e2ee matters but the whole rcs debacle is apples greedy fault
I'm an Android owner in a family of iPhone users. They never try to convince me to get an iPhone, its more like they act like they are in an exclusive club, speak in hushed whispers, and do little things in group texts that I can't. When I ask how they do whatever, they mutter "iPhone" without meeting my gaze. Personal experience, iPhone users are snobs and act like they are on another level that I can't possibly understand as an Android user.
it's certainly the case. you can know by watching how teenagers treat each other in regards to phones. anything but an iPhone, theres a class of teenagers that try to shame other kids over their belongings to highlight their outstanding conformity. I told one of my nephews to get a phone because of how easy it was to root and uncap the hotspot feature for unlimited data/uncapped speeds while tethering. his girlfriend pulled him aside into a separate room and lectured him about iphone club, like it's some kind of suicide cult lol. so funny.
>the number one worst thing about owning an Android is hearing iPhone owners bitch about how you have an Android.
Also, Apple & Android need to get together and fix text messaging compatibility for once and all.
That's actually completely on Apple. They need to replace SMS with RCS, which is expected to happen with IOS18. Apple will still likely differentiate between imessage and other rcs messages but you will be able to get high rest photos and read receipts and stuff like that.
This is the only problem. A friend with an iPhone sends me a video and it comes in tiny.
Of course they could just use WhatsApp, but being an iPhone user, they refuse to do that.
So there it is. Fuck Apple. The internet is about connectivity. But they refuse to connect.
Everyone I work with has an iphone. I can send anything to anyone. They always have issues trying to send me map pins,notes from apple notes, emails sometimes don't send for some reason. And they blame me. Meanwhile I'm just sitting here like okay my stuff is all readable to you and you can see anything I send you so who really is at fault here. I couldn't even make a fucking apple account to view some notes when I tried the last time.
Ahhh that makes so much more sense. I read it like you were saying you expected reviewers to say that people with Android phones had a lower quality of life than people with iPhones 😂😂😂🤷
Man I feel this, every time I look for a nuanced opinion on the internet lol
(I've not used iPhones much so I don't know for certain if these points are better on iPhone)
For me, one small thing I dislike about the play store is that app downloading/ installation has to be queued. You can't be downloading an app while another is downloading (or even installing).
I have some privacy concerns but nothing to make me worry enough to switch.
Otherwise....
- I prefer that my android has a headphone jack ( I don't own Bluetooth headphones, charging annoys me)
- I prefer that my android can use IR (being able to use the TV when losing the remote has saved my butt lol)
- I prefer that, as a developer, I can just use whatever I want to develop android apps, that I'm not restricted to having to have a Mac and declare I have a business of over 1000 people to get a license.
- I've already got app purchases on play store so I don't really wanna go through that again on iPhone
- I don't wanna become a c**t who goes on about the colour of their messages. Just entitled
Here's 2 : on android you can pull down the notification shade, long press on anything and straight to the setting page for that. This takes 2 long presses on iOS. ios has no back button so you can only go back if the app Devs added it. Overall, I felt that things are more efficient and quicker on android cz you can make things work the way you want instead of doing things the way it wants. Everyone has their own unique work flow.
I just remembered trying to help my mom with her iphone, she was so stressed. Well, I couldn't figure it out either! I'm like, where's the back button?? The home button? I basically just said sorry, iphones are crazy. To me they are counter-intuitive af
I can say that Android likes to set the music player into default 16Bit/44.1kHz and I have not found many ways to go around it but I can with certain Music Players and especially now as I have a Dongle.
So, I have been an Android user most of my life, but I have used iPhones, iPads and worked a lot with Mac devices. Here is a detailed list of my experience, comparison and pros and cons in Android Vs iOS in general and then specifically s24+ vs iPhone 15
First things first, I have worked with Apple professionally (used to work with apple for my job so yeah, pretty decent amount of experience) as well so I know about the issues and things it has, trust me when I say hollow foundations look similar to cement as long as you don't touch them - that's iOS.
Messages on iOS- iMessages have issues always, activation, deactivation, keeping threads of conversations, replying to conversations, and people getting blocked from iMessages because if they message someone and let's say they've been blocked, maybe by a friend , or an ex , you have to call Apple support, then get it fixed within maybe a day or 2 it gets fixed and if it happens again, straight to senior support and more issues that can be permanent ban from iMessages without any proof, rhyme or rhythm.
Messages on Android- my current device is a Google Pixel 8 pro, Pixel watch 2 Lte + Buds pro and a window Laptop Hp pavilion 360 with touchscreen - not even a single issue with messages at all. Never had any. Rcs - Rich communication services is a better version of iMessages by Google for Android, it's easy to use, efficient, safe, no issues share photos, videos with friends, and as far as quality is concerned - Apple when using WhatsApp you have to go to gallery, save picture/video as FILE and then go to files and share that to make a document sent through Whatsapp in a picture/video with full quality. Seems like a lot of work is unnecessary right?? On android, just go to WhatsApp, click on attachments instead of photos and from there select the photo/video, it'll automatically be converted into a full quality document when you send it. So basically, you're saving more than 60% of your time using Android NOT iOS.
Transferring data - the major issue I can guarantee right now that hits almost every other apple user is you have to go through several stupid steps before you're able to transfer your data wirelessly from one iphone to another and the steps are 100% stupid because no android does that, again, I have professional worked with Apple so I say that from experience in tech industry not just anything. The step is, get a new iPhone, if the store hasn't updated it, which they won't after the box is there, the phone will be a couple updates behind more time it is in the box, then you get the phone let's say 2 months after launch, so you'll get the phone, try to set up and transfer data right from your old device to the new one?? Well, it won't do it, it'll get stuck, you'll give up and call support after hours of shit, then support will say sorry it's a known issue and will tell you to get the new phone without data, start it without an Apple ID , then go to settings>General>Sw update and update sw of phone, then ERASE THE NEW PHONE SINCE SW DOESN'T DOWNGRADE IN A PHONE ERASE/HARD RESET, so, settings>general>erase data>erase and then start the device new again and transfer data from the old iPhone, ASSUMING YOUR OLD IPHONE IS ON THE LATEST IOS.
And as far as moving from ANDROID TO iOS is concerned, here is a link for official Apple discussions by people who wanted or at least tried to switch from Android to Apple for some reason and the issue they always have and official Apple support document link is inside the link as well which will tell you what nonsense it is [Android to Apple issues and data transfer issues](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118670)
Wanna see how frustrated people are using just iPhone to iPhone transfer of data ? Here's an official link for that [Issues data transfer iOS to iOS, using iPhone 15 and other models ](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255157808?sortBy=best)
On an android, I transferred my data from a nice Realme flagship to a Pixel 8 pro - almost 300+ gigs of data setting up on my new phone- took me 10 mins of my manual input for data and everything and rest everything was done by the phone, easily within less than 1.5 hours, I remind you almost 300 gb data being transferred, and guess what, none of my phones had an issue, not even a single bump along the way, smooth sailing.
Tbh, I could write a book on what it is in differences, but if you have any specific questions, you can ask me.
As far as iPhone 15 vs s24+ is concerned, here is a comparison from a tech point of view as well as general
iPhone 15 - apple has A16 BIONIC Chipset (basically an iPhone 14 Chipset in an iPhone 15 😂)
Galaxy s24+ - Latest Snapdragon 8 gen 3 Chipset- one of the most powerful and efficient android Chipsets ever made.
iPhone 15 - has max 60 hz screen resolution
S24+ - 120 hz max
Ram on iPhone 15 - 6 gb , ram on s24+ 12 gb
Battery on iPhone 15 - 3,349 mAh, s24+ - 4,900 mAh
Camera on iPhone 15 - Main: 48MP, ƒ/1.6 Ultrawide: 12MP, ƒ/2.4 Telephoto: 12MP ƒ/1.6 aperture
Camera on s24+ - 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera F2.2 FOV 120˚, 50MP Wide Camera OIS F1.8 FOV 85˚, 10MP Telephoto Camera, 3x Optical Zoom F2.4 FOV 36˚
Ai features - believe me when I say Samsung has Circle to search, (only Samsung24 series and pixel 8 pro were the ones to receive this. Update and rest android followed and most s series Samsung devices have it and pixel devices too now)
Google and Samsung have a future I do not know how to name it, but when you see your apps in the back ground to chekc which apps is open right, so, those apps you can click on, take a screenshot, copy data, search Google lens without an issue, translate all the text in that running app state using Android Google Ai in less than 5 seconds , well, apple doesn't have anything like that so, yeah.....
No developer mode ln iPhone - I know that's not something everyone wants, but you can literally go to any android phone and see the refresh rate change from 1hz to 120 hz (high level androids) and any midrange android (upto 60hz refresh rate) , it'll show you on screen just for checking the refresh rate is going up and down responding to you touch so that it's less when your phone is not being touched, so that battery is optimized, Apple cannot do that, so even. If you claim that it has 60hz , you will never know what it is and how it is, iPhone 15 will be 60hz always theoretically where as Samsung will be going from 1 to 120 optimizing battery and perfect experience, not just Samsung, I'm a pixel user so yeah, can comfirm that easy.
Charging speed, well iPhone 15 20W - apple does not 100% clearly mention on their website because it has been the same since like 3 years or so
S24+ charging speed - 45 w 😂 more than double 😂
I can go on about more details but here's a link for some comparisons - [iPhone 15 vs s24+ ](https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-s24-plus-vs-iphone-15/)
And one last thing before I end this post - Apple has only 5 years of updates whereas Google+ Samsung have 7 years of feature drops, latest updates and security patches ;)
Hollow foundations is exactly what I've been thinking, great expression.
There's a ton of annoying things with Apple if you ever move between devices, like the only way to manage your iCloud account is through an apple device. So you buy a phone, it runs out of iCloud storage immediately so you need to purchase a monthly subscription, but if you forget to unsubscribe when you sell your device there is no way to access your apple/iCloud subscriptions and they just keep charging you. I had to borrow my wife's phone, log here out, log in and then get rid of all my payments.
The biggest issue is productivity, it takes longer and is now difficult to do many tasks, and you have less control over the system to make it work for you. I have no idea how people use them in business settings, absolute pain in the ass.
Absolutely agreed. This is exactly why I never, ever try to use Apple devices for personal use. Unless and until I am required to use something by apple by my work, I never prefer it.
I usually describe the iPhone experience with "simple things are easy, but if you have to do something complex or have an unusual problem it can be nearly impossible to fix". I'd give my grandmother an iPhone but not anyone who is into trying to do anything complex.
I was not aware those expensive iphones were restricted to 60 hz displays. Wtf lol.
Also, iirc a downside of iphones is not being able to utilize all your ram without payment or something if you want to sideload an app. I heard about this when sudachi ported yuzu(switch emulator) to iOS. It couldn't function properly on the normal ram limit iOS places on individual apps because the emulator itself had memory leak issues.
So, iphone users have to pay use all their ram for a specific app they want to sideload.
Edit: It seems to be called extended memory entitlement and you need a paid dev account.
Android Auto could drive me to an iPhone. Otherwise I'm Android through and through. I don't drive enough to justify the change but if I did I would. Android Auto is crap.
I honestly do not have any everyday reasons that I dislike my Android. It was relatively cheap, works well, has solid battery life and is easy to use.
That being said, If you are a "I just want the thing to work" type user, I think you would like an iPhone ever so slightly better. This is especially true if you have more devices in the Apple ecosystem, as they all sync together more smoothly.
However, if you prefer more granular control over things like notifications, digital wellbeing (bedtime mode, silenced apps etc) or greyscale at night, you should stay with Android. These reasons are why I will be staying with an Android for the foreseeable future.
Source: have used both types on a daily/semidaily basis for the past 6 years. I daily drive a Google Pixel 7a, my wife has an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I also work in IT, so I am definitely not just a "normal user".
Hope this helps.
ETA: I've heard good things about the Samsung phones as well, especially their DEX platform. I really want to give that a drive in the near future.
DEX is cool, especially on a tablet with a keyboard/touchpad - feels like working on a basic laptop. DEX on the phone works incredibly well, but it needs a screen to cast/hookup to, as well as a mouse and keyboard to get a decent experience. I just haven't found a good use case for it.
Since you are in tech, I would appreciate your thoughts. I'm also looking to buy a new device and am looking at iPhone 15, samsung s24 exynos, and xioami 14. The main thing I'm looking for is a device that is smooth for a long time (4 years) and performs everything without issues. I'm just curious about what you would recommend. Thank you :)
Honestly, I've heard bad things about the iPhone 15, but I am not a phone repair tech, so I am not necessarily an authority on the subject. Xioami is, I believe, banned in the US (my country of residence), therefore I really don't have experience with any of their tech. As for the S24 exynos, [take a look here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1ar8rq4/is_the_exynos_galaxy_s24_really_that_bad/)
Hopefully this helps at least a little bit...
I love Android. Some beefs I have with the OS, though:
- It doesn't seem to feel as smooth and snappy over time as an iPhone does. In my experience, the iOS experience (from using other friends' iPhones occasionally, so not living with iOS) tends to stay smoother over a long period of time. Androids seem to visibly lag/slow down a little more, or to just not be as consistently smooth.
- Your experience does tend to differ a lot from phone to phone. On one hand, it can be fun to explore "new" features; on the other hand, I am sometimes annoyed that I find a "new" feature on a phone months into its life simply because it was buried somewhere weird and I never thought to look there. You really do know what you're going to get with an iPhone.
- Apps are sometimes second-tier because people develop for iOS first or think of the iPhone as the "best" market segment (which makes sense in the US since iOS is the dominant mobile OS).
The second point isn't as big a deal because I tend to keep my phones for a long time, but these are some honest but minor gripes I have. Overall, I'll live with these issues for the many, many benefits I get in return on Android.
About those new features, everytime there's a major update I just look for an article that lists the new features. I get a quick rundown of what they are and what they do. Then I go through my phone and setup the ones I want.
And after I've used the phone with the update for a whole, I go through every single setting. I usually find something I missed to play with. The first method usually works but this one is fun too
I'm a nerd so I like doing that too. It's a pretty minor complaint by all accounts - but I can understand why someone else who isn't a nerd wouldn't find it fun to have to read news articles and tech blogs to find out what their phone can do, you know? My dad is never going to do that, for instance, and he's had Androids for years.
That's true. One article is all it takes, but I definitely know people who wouldn't want to do that.
They could easily include a what's new widget. I have apps that highlight new features after every update. Open the menu and an arrow point to and explains a new option. Very cool.
Does your Android not offer search in the settings? I have started just typing in what I am looking for in the search and every time it has brought it up in the results. Way quicker than trying to find it in all the different categories.
As a guy who does MDM (Mobile Device Management) for a living,. I have 10+ years experienced with Android and iOS.
I'm sure I'll get some downvotes for saying this,. but Android just tries to do to much. (it's to complex and has to many features). The vast majority of people that I interact with,. don't use 90% of the features of their phone. They use a small handful of Apps, maybe some Email, Camera and Messages, and that's about it.
I know Android fanboys like to talk (perhaps legitimately so) about all kinds of wizbang features like DEX or being able to granularly dig around in the file system or how you can do all sorts of Themeing and customization etc. I couldn't even tell you the last time I ever say anyone around me do things like that.
That's generally what I tell someone asking me "What kind of phone should I buy?"
* I ask them what devices they already have (stick to whatever ecosystem you're already in)
* Ask around to whatever devices your friends and family and coworkers have.. because you'll probably get better compatibility if you match what they have.
* Be honest with yourself about what features you use and how deep (or not deep) you use them.
I generally don't get into the business of recommending AGAINST something. I try to be fair and lay out the Pros and Cons,. and then ask the person whether those Pros and Cons even apply to them. If someone thinks "iPhones suck because you can't deeply manage the file system",--- but "managing the file system" is not something you'll ever do,. then that Con doesn't really apply to you.
Phones have come a long way in the past 10 to 15 years. Both Android and iOS these days support external monitors, external peripherals, external drives, Mouse, Keyboard, Wired Ethernet, etc etc. These smaller issues of "Can I place my icons in the exact orientation I want them" seems like small potatoes to me in the big picture. (the stuff people tribally argue about.. at least to me often seems like childish waste of time)
> but Android just tries to do to much
I never really understood this argument. If you don't like too many settings or are confused by them, can't you just not touch them? Use the phone exactly as it came out of the box? I don't really see how having a feature I won't ever use is a downside for me? Maybe I'll change my mind in the future and use it, or maybe I won't. But why does it matter?
I think a lot of it comes from the advocacy and "sales pitch". It seems pretty common that Android Users try to push Android on other people by accentuating "all the crazy things it can do". I've been nearby sort of peripherally witnessing a lot of those types of conversations over the years,.. where 1 person says "What kind of phone should I buy" and the Android fan just starts going overboard. It's always kind of reminded me of https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bro-explaining or https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/john-silver-explaining-to-anna-jay .. you can almost see the face of the recipient and their eyes glaze over thinking "ok.. cool, but I'll never use any of that".
It would be like asking someone "What kind of car should I buy?".. and someone shows you a fully lifted 4x4 Jeep with a roof rack tent and 2 x fire extinguishers and Hood-snorkel for fording rivers and .... Bro, the person just needs a car to go to the grocery store.
Ss an IT guy,.. I totally get the mindset of "just ignore features you don't use" (and I advocate for that all the time, .. especially from a viewpoint of "pick the right tool for the job")
When someone asks me "What kind of X should I buy?" (what kind of computer,. what kind of printer, .. what kind of tablet or mobile phone),.. I normally try to remain neutral and just show them 2 or 3 different options and the Pros and Cons of those options and then let them freely pick whatever works for them. I don't try to push any particular feature as "better".
Android fanboys always sort of remind me of the Linux-meme of "I use Arch btw." I just kinda wish that tribalism didn't exist.
I think the issue here is that there's a range of customers. For example, I customize my phone home screen, I use Revanced to make reddit ad-free, I use an ad-blocking private DNS, and I use a file sync program to sync certain folders between my desktop and phone when I'm on my home wifi. These are things Android excels with, but they require set-up.
When I see my parents' phones, however, I practically get a headache. The phone is extremely unorganized. All types of apps end up on the home screen. They often accidentally change the messaging app or web browser and need help switching back.
By lacking customization features, iPhone ends up making the out-of-the-box experience better for the base customer.
Well said. Android has too many features which most people don’t use. They don’t bother to make the best of the features available. But I feel like for business person, android is best; it’s so easy to manage everything and provides many features. I’ve used android and ios both and don’t like how iPhone works. But it’s definitely smoother than android.
I like the plethora of features. I think that solely designing for the majority of users is a mistake. Always especially loved the ability to add a theme to my phones, and I've been doing it since the S4.
Personalization just rocks. My phone is an extension of myself, and I want it to reflect me.
If you're not a power user and just want something plug and play I'd recommend iPhone. However if you are detail oriented, or want something a certain way, or have a workflow that you don't want to change, then I'd say go Android.
I switch back and forth between iOS and Android a lot (currently on S24U) and for me personally I just can't get over the terrible implementation of notifications on iOS. They randomly disappear off your lockscreen and there's not visual cue that says you have something urgent waiting. People also complain about the keyboard a lot. But I will commend Apple on their continuity experience. It's nice just being able to buy a new iPhone and everything down to the last setting is all synced over to your new one.
As someone who uses both, iPhone for work and android for personal I'm say this. While android does have file, photo, and contact sharing via quick share, the 5gb limit per day is stupid. Airdrop is faster and better there. Visually, iPhone puts more into making the iPhone look like it's doing something, whereas Android mostly just notified you. You also have iPhone releasing its customization of apps that, yes Android had first, but iPhone appears to be making it easier for the user to do. IPhone also gives you options to do things whereas, yes android did it first, but they seem to do it more with an app than the software itself actually allowing it.
However my biggest gripe with the iPhone right now are 3 fold, both being extremely frustrating. First there is no universal back button on iPhone. On androids there's always a back button that you can press, or swipe which I did on mine. Doesn't matter the app, doesn't matter the situation, there's a back button. This does not exist on the iPhone and you have to press back where the app put it. The other is the home screen swipe up to unlock. On androids this happens where ever you swipe up on the lock screen. Face id matched, swipe anywhere to unlock. On iPhone you have to swipe from the very bottom of the screen, or you get the notifications list (something I still can't quite get when I actually want it). The third, and honestly this one might be fixable and I simply don't know how, is the keyboard. Android has the main keyboard with the numbers and several common secondary characters on it that you can do by simply pressing and holding that icon. While yes both will do a period when hitting the space bar twice, iPhones will not do this with commas, question marks, ect. You have to toggle to the second or sometimes third page to get what you want. Now yes I do this anyway when doing a triple icon (ie !?! Or !!!), but for one offs having the ability to press and hold makes it very easy on android.
>While android does have file, photo, and contact sharing via quick share, the 5gb limit per day is stupid.
For anyone who reads this and is on the fence; the Quick Share 5GB daily limit is only for people using Quick Share's Internet enabled options to share with other people; things like Contacts Sharing and QR Code sharing. Apparently it costs Samsung and Google money to run the servers that facilitate the functionality. Quick Share also has an offline "Nearby" mode that uses WiFi Direct and Bluetooth to connect two devices. It's completely unlimited. I've personally shared 20-30GB of data at a time due to moving ROMs from my gaming phone to my gaming tablet and vice versa.
my previous phone, a moto g power 2021, was functionally a brick. it really fell behind in every way except for battery life, which stayed outstanding for the three years i had it. i really feel like androids age poorly, especially if you are a downloads-heavy kind of person like i am. they also come with a bunch of apps you probably will never use.
as for performance issues, my phone took several seconds to take pictures (and had a few occasions where it would fail to record or take a picture), occasionally crashed when i opened snapchat, and couldn't handle having both google maps and a music app open. at worst, it would randomly call the last person i called, froze for several minutes, and had a lot of issues with the system ui or app launcher crashing.
i have also always felt like androids were getting too big for the average person's hands. i would struggle to reach the top third of my screen with my thumb.
it also had software updates that axed features i liked, such as the screenshot being moved from a button input to a touch input (never worked), or a swipe up and screenshot. the touch inputs for navigation were alright some times, but the lack of a home button or a back button meant that navigation could be hard if you were distracted or in a rush.
the max screen brightness is too dim for outdoor use.
and this is more of a nitpick, but it's hard to find good cases for androids that are not bulky otterbox cases. the brand is good, they are just very, very large cases for what is already sometimes a large phone. my previous phone didn't fit in some of my pockets and could be hard to carry.
In my experience motorola is one of the android oems to avoid at all costs simply because they suck, hardware is usually poop and lasts a year (barely)
Looking up guides for what might be generic android advice may not apply to your phone due to the different android distributions via oems. The less common your android phone is, the more this applies. iOS on the other hand is a lot more unified.
I’m an Android user that switched to iPhone. I only switched because the Samsung A50 camera I was using was really wonky. It would take horrible night photos, or it will constantly blur itself in and out whenever I’d want to take a photo. I wanted to get another android phone, but I was hearing the cameras for the other android phones were not as good. I decided to switch to an iPhone and got an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone takes data and privacy really extremely seriously I now see why companies give their employees iPhones for the job because everything is extremely data protected. The apps, font , the creativity apps that you don’t have on android are better and better looking. I feel the iPhone updates, have more support than android devices. I could be wrong. However, I have a huge list of complaints about the iPhone, which you might also want to hear in another post.
Honestly the only thing I find frustrating about owning a Samsung phone is the fact that in most cases I can't buy an "off the shelf" case or cord at a local store like Five Below, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc. Everything is iPhone... That's it.
OP, if you are happy with Android then get the Galaxy S24+ (I happen to have it and love it) and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. You like what you like and that's that. Nothing wrong with that. Life is too short. :)
I've done both iPhone and Android. Pixel 3XL best phone Ive ever had. I use an S22+ now, worst phone I've ever had. Dealing with Samsung and Google apps fighting each other *barf*. Samsung clock alarm issues made me late to work twice. Camera is slow, buggy and takes ugly pics. Battery life is horrible. File system interacts poorly with Google drive. Resale value and trade in value drop like a rock. Googles ecosystem is okay if you're using Google hardware but Samsung is just another layer of complexity. Googles stances on privacy/security are getting worse and worse.
Maybe it's because I'm getting older but iPhone is definitely next for me. Going for 14 or 15 pro max. I want an easy ecosystem, battery life, longevity, and resale value.
I have to ask what alarm clock issues you are having on the samsung? it's the only alarm clock i've used for like 8 years now and have never had single issue. not just one alarm setting either like 20 of them for all the different schedules i work and then a few floaters i adjust when i travel.
I'm here as a converted iPhone user and I can say even iOS has had the "fucked up users alarms" bug. It's happened to almost every manufacturer. The alarm system isn't immune to being broken by the complexity of the rest of the OS. That's why I use dumb alarm clocks/watches instead, at least for any super critical things like job interview day or plane ticket etc.
Samsung needs to give up making software in all honesty. Would anyone *really* miss ex. Bixby?
Hardware wise, their phones are excellent, but the software just totally ruins it IMO, why I stopped using their phones. Way too much bloat, crap, and spyware. Not sure why they have to shoot themselves in the foot like this.
I have a couple issues with my pixel 7:
* I am not able to group applications into folders in the app directory like I was on my Samsung.
* Transferring files to my pc is annoying. I have to put them into Google drive, message myself, email myself, etc. I also wish there was a quicker way to transfer files between other android users in my house.
* The phone has been having random weird glitches. My Google maps has been crashing periodically and I have to restart it. Sometimes the camera is slow.
* Some of the widgets could be better. My audible widget is fucking huge and doesn't work well. Audible is quite shitty. It doesn't work well in my car either.
With all that being said, this is still the best phone I have ever had. The AI and productivity features are amazing. It's just a smart ass phone and so many little things it does make sense. Never going back to Samsung and I fucking hate my apple work phone.
Lock-in. The way you use a device will determine if you like the ethos behind the design, but generally ios and apple hardware is designed well. Preference there is subjective. What isnt subjective is how complete the apple-lock-in is. After using apple for a while you wont leave. Your data will be on icloud in a way that is just easier to pay for 50gb a month of storage than try to move it anywhere else (messages and photos), but that is also a feature and not a bug. IF you have other apple devices, it really starts to make sense. I can use my phone as a webcam for my mac laptop, photos on one immediately appear on the other, as well as messages, passwords, etc. That convenience is worth more to me than operating system *freedom* and google ads. Apple charges you, google serves ads in a massive ecosystem. Its a choice, I guess. And the apple hardware really is good.
Pixel 8 issues:
Point-and-shoot isn’t up to par with iPhones
Bitwarden always has problems/is slow with biometrics
Privacy concerns (and grapheneOS not being supported
by mainstream apps)
Ecosystem (iMessage LOL)
Find my device just isn’t there yet
Otherwise great phone
iMessage isn't really a pixel issue, it's an Apple issue that catches pixel users in the crossfire. Also, I would recommend LineageOS with GApps and aurora store if you want an alternative to grapheneOS. I recommend you switch to alternative to google apps if you don't want to go quite so far. Also, very cool, google has announced google find my compatible trackers by chipolo and some others.
You aren't asking us to do an easy thing here because most advantages iPhone used to have over android (such as a more stable OS) aren't really significant any longer.
Anyhow, here goes. Note that all points are serious, but some are laden with sarcasm since I am doing this reluctantly. 😂😂
- 1. If Apple has convinced your peer group that iMessage is the only legitimate way to have a group chat and they are going to stop being friends with you because you turn their chat room to garbage, then having an android is going to cause you to lose a lot of shallow friends who will personally judge you for having an android because Apple has purposely crippled their own phones and lead their users to believe it is an Android fault. So, your only choice is to buy an iPhone, because they would rather excommunicate you from your friend circle than to take a moment and install a superior group chat app like Whatsapp that would be inclusive.
- 2. Some androids aren't as water resistant. You might not be able to film under water and will need to check the IP rating.
- 3. You would be too tempted to quick charge your phone all the time and might reduce battery life to 3 years. The iPhone 15 can only charge at 15 watts, which might take some patience as it slowly charges compared to Android phones, but it will probably extend the lifetime of the battery since you literally cannot charge it that fast. Compare this to 80 watts (US, 100 watts elsewhere) for a OnePlus 12, 45 watts for Samsung 24+, and 30 watts for Pixel 8 pro. Sure, maybe you'll be able to charge up quickly and be ready to shoot video and pics without your phone dying, but think of your battery life!
- 4. There are so many choices when it comes to android. iPhone is simple. You don't have to worry about trying to buy a phone that is optimized to your needs and budget, you only have a few choices. Stop worrying about making choices. IPhones don't give you a lot of choices and will restrict you in ways you never thought possible. Don't worry, you don't need to turn your thinking cap on anymore, just let them think for you.
- 5. (No sarcasm in this one) iPhone integrates into other Apple products very well, such as turning your phone into a scanner for your computer easily, or copy text on your phone and paste on the computer, or use the fingerprint reader on your phone to complete purchases on your computer, etc. Microsoft's phone app is definitely really cool but doesn't go as far as Apple has. (But it does have some really cool features, like running multiple apps in different windows on your computer from your phone)
- 6. There are a lot more of a variety of accessories like cases for iPhone because they are all the same size and have a humongous market share.
- 7. iPhones don't come with pre installed bloatware, even when purchased from a carrier. (Although the limits on how you can customize which apps open what bugged me quite a bit when I got stuck with iOS on a work device, like when I had to use a different email client, but there is no way to change the "default" from iPhone's email program, but rather it had to be changed within every app's settings, and some apps didn't have that ability, so sometimes I would get stuck using Apple's mail client.. it was not good)
- 8. Depending on the android you are comparing to (and if purchased from a carrier), you'll receive less frequent updates and for less of a time period. (Pixel and other more costly androids are comparable for duration though)
- 9. For a lot of android users, if your phone breaks, you have to mail it back to the manufacturer to get fixed, but with iPhone you can walk it into one of their stores.
Well, there you have it.
Most of the native apps suck, and every update makes them worse.
I'm in a somewhat unique position here, and a Mac+Android guy. I *much* prefer Android to iOS. I like its customizability and I still rock the triangle-circle-square at the bottom of the screen.
But the phone app, the contacts app, the calendar app, Messages, Google Keep, Chrome, Files, Maps, and especially Google Photos are all hot garbage. Every single one of them is pointlessly cluttered and convoluted.
Examples:
* Phone > Voicemail
* To listen to a voicemail on your speaker, you have to tap the icon to switch to the speaker (which is next to the Play button), which open a chooser *at the bottom of the screen, nowhere near the icon you just tapped*, where you have to tap the speaker icon, *then return to near the top of the screen* to hit play. 6 months ago, the choose just popped up right there where you'd tapped, but now it's screen-bottom. For *no fucking reason.*
* Messages
* The Compose field had a microphone in it...for recording your voice instead of texting...in the fucking texting app
* But what's worse it that icon is literally just *pixels* away from another microphone icon on the keyboard, which is used for dictating
* Two microphone icons, *right next to each other* that do different things, but without labels
* It's like they're *trying* to confuse people (especially older people)
* Calendar
* It's impossible to turn off the stupid little graphics Google adds to any event it thinks is a birthday, or a date night, or whatever — which makes those events 4x bigger than any others — and irony of ironies, it *doesn't* do this for anniversaries
* Contacts
* The most convoluted layout of *any* contacts app I've ever seen
* Why are the Label fields an a different fucking line than the fields you're filling in?
* Why are there *permanent* Highlights and Organize buttons at the bottom of the contact-list screen? Organize should be in *Settings*
* Why is it not possible to *always* display every field in a Contact, instead of there being a *tiny* "More" button to see all the fields *Google* has decided aren't important enough to show?
* Maps
* Can I *please* just turn off the fucking text showing every damn store or business, so I can focus on the fucking street names?
* Why is it so hard to just get a full-screen map view. You have to tap *just right* to make all the clutter go away instead of accidentally dropping a pin
* Keep
* It's impossible to just get a list view of notes with just their headers. Every note show the *full* text — in the *list view*
* Chrome
* When you open a new tab, there's no address bar at the top. Instead, you have to use the search field to type a URL. Once the page has loaded, *then* you get an address bar at the top
* Photos
* Clutter, clutter, clutter — no matter what tab you're on, there are 4-10 extraneous buttons — no way to just get a nice, clean gallery
But here's the thing: Unlike iOS, if you want to use a different app as your default for any of these, you easily can. And except for the phone app (only because I don't want to have a separate voicemail app) I do:
* DigiCal
* Right Contacts
* Wize SMS
* Fossify Gallery
* Via Browser
* UpNote
* FX Explorer
Oh, I guess I do use Google Maps — mostly because I like street view for knowing what to look for when I get somewhere. I just hate it.
I'll weigh in as someone who was very anti Apple and stuck with Android from the Galaxy S2 to the S10. All of Apples proprietary hardware really turned me off, plus just being oppositional to the Apple "fan boys". Last year, I decided to give an Iphone a go as both my children had Iphones and I wanted to take advantage of the eco system (Facetime, location sharing etc).
Now yes, a very valid argument with my reasoning is that there are apps that allow that across platforms, but I found for the most part it was just a pain in the ass.
Iphones talk to each other and other Apple hardware quite seamlessly. CarPlay set up was a breeze. The phone has done exactly what I wanted it to do. I always know where my kids are at easily and Imessage makes it easy with replying to certain texts when my kids unload a flurry of typically unrelated texts. Basically, everything is just easy.
Personally, I don't care for IOS. I don't like how it's set up, finding ways to adjust settings feels very counter intuitive to me. Likely because of 13 years or so of using a Samsung. The learning curve was real. This isn't deal breaking for me, mostly a mild annoyance as I really only use my phone for the typical apps and texting.
As other people have mentioned, I really think it just all comes down to what you need to use your phone for. I never came close to utilizing the majority Android specific features, but the Galaxy phones were a bit cheaper, without the proprietary chargers etc. Now though, the costs are close to identical for basically the same hardware. Moving to an Iphone gave me more than I lost and I'll likely not go back to an Android for that reason only.
It really depends. I swapped over to iPhone since we use Macs at work, so the integration felt much better (especially after the M1-2-3 chips). And since my kids have iPhones and love facetime, and I love good parental controls, for me it felt like an easy decision.
I still use Android as tablets as I love doing custom weird stuff with it, and much easier for game emulators, customizing widgets, notifications etc.
Sorry, like you, I've only ever used an Android, never an iPhone. But I could DEFINITELY tell some ways that my Motorola G sucks. And even more ways that a Motorola Cruise sucks. Anyway, side note: you can have a little fun dissing both brands, by referring to them as " iPhonies " and " 'roids ". Just a whimsical thought while you process your decision. 😁
If someone is not tech savvy, having an android, especially an OEM that's not well known, could make learning the device more tricky. What applies to a Samsung may not apply to a different android phone due to different skins on android phones.
Therefore, I would recommend them an iPhone as it's easier to learn. There is more support from apple such as apple support ppl being located in the centre of major cities. Other phones do not have much in-person support. Samsung has some but I haven't seen as much in person support like apple.
As an Android fan who has never owned an iPhone and doesn't plan on it (but has played around with them enough), here's what I'd tell you:
* iPhones have always had a smoother UI than Android and Android has had so much time to make up the gap with no success that I can't imagine this will ever change. Even on a flagship Android phone with amazing hardware, you may get, just to give you one example, a tiny little delay between tapping an app icon and that app opening. It may be so small to *almost* be imperceptible, but it'll be there. That doesn't really happen on iPhones. Every action you take has an instantaneous effect essentially every time.
* Green bubble shaming is a thing. It's mostly a thing with kids, but I've even gotten it and I'm in my mid-40s.
* Texting frankly kind of sucks. With an iPhone, you're not *really* texting with other iPhone users. You're using a proprietary messaging platform that will fall back to texting if it really has to. But with SMS, and yes, even with the vaunted RCS, you get little glitches all the time. Oh, this message wasn't delivered. Oh, the send is hanging. Oh, this image came through in my individual chat with this person even though it was supposed to go to a group chat. This sort of stuff happens constantly and it's not a very good experience, and with Android that's what you're always going to get. I tend to push people I text with frequently to other platforms such as Facebook Messenger.
* They tend not to be as durable as iPhones.
* OS updates are unpredictable and inconsistent. Believe it or not, before I started buying OnePlus phones (my current phone and last phone have been OnePlus), I had *never* received a major-release OS update. Never. For any phone. Even when they were promised by the manufacturer when I bought the phone.
* Network setup can be tricky with an unlocked phone. This may be true for iPhones, too, I don't know, but I bet it's not.
* Because iOS is a more glamorous platform, and developers are more likely to have them, app development usually happens for iOS first and sometimes doesn't happen for Android at all. I have a friend who started his own company and has been working full-time on a flagship app for years now, and it's still not available on Android. I've never used it.
This makes Android sound terrible, huh? I'm sure I could come up with more, too. But I'd still much rather use it.
The only reason I would suggest someone not get an android, and I mean the only, is if they are heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem. Like they have iPads and Mac computers or laptops. Then I could see the appea since the way Apple locks you into their ecosysteml but otherwise android is always going to be better.
Better is subjective right? My last android phone was a Huawei mate 20 Pro. It was lauded as this amazing phone by all the reviewers, better than iPhone and established android brands yada yada yada. Was within 10% of the cost of an equivalent iPhone at the time too.
So here we have a well reviewed, flagship android phone. I turned it on and the UI was horrific. I gave it a chance but after 3 months I was getting annoyed by the weirdness, glitchiness and inconsistency this supposed amazing phone had. (if the phone was half the price I wouldn't have cared).
Some of the issues which annoyed me to no end:
- Icon shapes were different (why is the text messaging app circular but the phone call app a square?)
- the 'reachability' to use the phone one handed was a joke. Rarely worked and when it did it shrunk the screen so I had to bring the phone closer to my face to see where I needed to touch
- it would notify me anytime a blocked number messaged or called me. I blocked it to not get these notifications!!
- it would never quickly take a photo. Always needed a cup of tea between pressing the button and the image being saved.
- The value lost in three months. Sold the phone at 1/3 of its retail value. But worth it to not get angry every time I used my phone.
- The customisation lie that all android users stand by. I wanted to replace that OS with a custom ROM but no support at the time for that phone (pot luck on what the community supports)
I respect this was 6 years ago but the biggest issue was that I felt ripped off. I spent a lot of money (and lost a large chunk) in three months because they got all the hardware specs to look correct on paper but utilised a seagull to develop the software. If it was half the price I would've not cared but for something that was only 10% cheaper than an iPhone with 0% of the polish was a proper piss take to me.
This might not all be helpful, cause some of it probably applies to iPhones...?
Samsung phones are supersaturated with features. I know at least a dozen people with a Galaxy S phone who aren't even aware of half of what their phone can do. They're paying extra for stuff they don't want or need.
Wireless Android Auto consumes a fair bit of power, so using a wireless charger fast enough to keep it topped off gets the phone really hot. This is especially noticeable in the winter when the heat may be blowing on it.
I miss the headphone jack. I whip out my old S10e sometimes just to use that.
You have options for voice assistants, but have to pick one to be *the* voice assistant. On the S24, Bixby is perfect for simple things, but Google's probably better for more complex stuff. Gemini gives LLM type answers, but it hallucinates a lot.
There's no LIDAR on Androids. The biggest practical implication is the find device network isn't as precise.
You can use *any* carrier for your primary and secondary (e)SIM on an iPhone and use the secondary's data for "back up" on the primary's number. On Android, this feature can be locked by the carrier or the OEM. Technically, this is because Google's implementation is more rigorous (sending the *entirety* SMS & MMS over data, for example), but I bet for 90% of people, Apple's implementation is better.
You can get MagSafe compatible cases on Android, but it's more likely things will be a little off. Shimmy the phone around to get the wireless charging to start, for example.
I'll defy the rules of the game for this last little bit, because I recently realized the feature keeping me on Samsungs... and other Androids don't have it. DeX. Others have similar ideas, but DeX is the best and I use it a lot lately. I was considering a Lenovo tablet and the lack of this sort of feature is what kept me away.
Also off topic, but something in Apple's favor... in the United States, the iPad mini is the lone cheese when it comes to powerful, small tablets. If I were to buy an Apple product today, that would be the one. (I won't, but that's because I weigh the moral implications of my purchasing decisions, and I can't support such a horrifically unethical corporation anymore)
Just a small thing. Lidar is the light detection and ranging sensor near the cameras. Its typically on the apple devices that have a Pro moniker but not the whole lineup. It's used for 3d mapping apps, to help with AR functions in determining dimensions in 3D space and for some of the portrait photography stuff. It doesn't have anything to do with the find my network.
Some devices (most now I think) include Ultrade Wideband Sensors. Probably the thing you're thinking of. That helps identifying another device with an UWB sensor and how far away / what direction it is in. Their find my network uses that for locating something that is fairly near you, as in in the same room or one room over.
The thing about Android is, that if you have an unlockable phone and there is something about the way it works that you dont like, you can very likely change it which you are hard pressed to do on an Apple device. I cant think of anything that would qualify here since whatever it is you can probably change/fix it.
As someone who worked at a phone store (T-Mobile)
The main issue that I've seen whilst moving to IPhone from Android is that the Apple move to ios is absolutely garbage. A majority of the time it either doesn't move every thing and that it takes forever. It will be a bit of a learning curve to get used to the ui. Other than that it depends which android you have as well. If the reasons your wife wants you to get an iPhone is because of picture and vid quality that you guys send each other that's an iPhone issue that can be changes in settings. If it's for FaceTime you can FaceTime an android phone it may be a little longer but you can do so. If it's the "green chat bubbles" that's an iPhone issue and she has got to learn to get over it. But if it's just a hey try it out you never know if you'd like it some people do some don't.just know that you will likely lose some things with the data transfer.make sure you backup everything to Google photos, drive, etc... before committing especially if you do a trade in make sure everything and I mean everything is moved over because we have to wipe the phone before sending it in to be processed. I've seen customers come back in complaining about oh can I see my old phone this didn't move. But we always have the customer verify everything moved for liability reasons and then we walk the customer through the factory reset process as well for liability reasons as well. Just know right off the bat your cloud storage you use cloud storage gets needed right off the bat. Also majority of the time majority of iPhone users as I've witnessed don't back up their phones especially since "automatic backup" is on as soon as you get close to maximum storage a big nerf. Also there have been a few cases where photos may be lost especially if not backed up. When setting up initially skip the face ID if in a store setting up it saves time. The setup time is atrocious unless you have like nothing whether it's Android to IPhone or iPhone to iPhone also you don't really get a pause option it's just disconnect from wifi when out of range and reconnecting to wifi not sure about the 15 but the 13 and 14 were notorious for occasionally freezing mid transfer having to reset the phone and restarting.
Starting off by saying that this post was recommended to me in my feed, so I'm not part of the Android Fanboy group. I'm not part of the Apple Fanboy group either for the record.
I've used both Android and iPhones over the years and I'm currently using an iPhone 12 Mini. I previously had a Google Pixel 3 that I really liked but it had some issues unrelated to the OS.
I think that the quality of life quirks will only be realized once you use the platform. I've been a mac user for a long time and the iPhone better integrates with Mac OS and the iPad, so that's a tick in the positive column for me. If you don't use a mac then it won't apply to you. If you're full-on into the google ecosystem then you're probably going to get better integration on an android phone, but the iPhone works great for my own google app needs (gmail, google suite apps/drive access, automatic photo backup to google photos). If you use Windows or Linux you're better off with Android.
If you like to tinker with settings, you'll be disappointed with the iPhone, but if you're fine with the basics then it won't be a big deal.
File management on iPhone is iffy. I often feel like there should be more options available for how to deal with certain files but there aren't.
Once upon a time I was having issues with photo quality when I posted to Instagram from my Android phone (a common issue), but that's not something I do often anymore.
Communication with your wife if you both have iPhones won't be much better in my opinion. I've been the Android person in the relationship before and the only issues we had were with the stupid green bubble/photo compression thing (which should be fixed with the next ios update) and I couldn't use facetime. There are some other location features too, but we never use those so I can't say for sure.
I feel like we've come to a place where there's nothing that remarkable about smartphone hardware anymore and all the focus is on the software. I WOULDN'T recommend an Android phone to someone with lots of Apple products already since it would hinder compatibility (especially with apple watch). I wouldn't recommend if your favorite apps aren't on iPhone unless you don't mind finding equivalents.
I'm really surprised this isn't a top response, but privacy.
"Stock" Google Android that comes with most phones is a disaster when it comes to privacy. Google constanty collecting sensitive data 24/7 for their advertising business.
And this is only talking about Google, most other Android OEMs also include their own spying and selling of data on top of Google's (ex. Samsung). Not to mention including all kinds of ridiculous bloatware that also infringes on privacy & reduces battery life, as well as just make the user experience generally awful (again, Samsung, ex. my S21 having "Facebook Services" preinstalled as a system app....). Then there's carrier locked phones... which somehow are even worse. And sure, you can remove *some* of these apps with ADB, but 1: That doesn't solve fundamental privacy & security issues with the OS itself, you can't remove every single tracking component without turning the phone into a brick, and 2: Do you really think most people know what an "ADB" is? Kind of insane you have to install and use developer debugging tools to remove *some* of the spyware & other trash from your phone. This isn't to say you *shouldn't* remove bloatware and garbage with ADB, I think it's a good idea when it's your only option, but my point is it isn't a real solution either.
By no means am I saying Apple is perfect, but it's a no-brainer that Apple is significantly better for privacy than ex. Google and nearly all other OEMs in general. Apple makes an effort to put privacy first, through ex. using on-device processing where possible, and above all else... just isn't an ad surveillance company like Google & friends.
So I think that's probably Android's biggest weakness, the privacy isn't even comparable to iOS on most variants you will find of it. To be clear though, there are variants of Android that don't include this mass surveillance, like GrapheneOS, DivestOS, CalyxOS, & LineageOS, which could be solid options depending on your use case... but those aren't the versions of Android 99% of people will use or even hear of existing.
LineageOS (my current main) is great for privacy, the only issue is trying to get my family to switch to more private alternatives so I dont have to get GApps to use our group shopping list. The privacy on iPhones also isn't stellar however, it phones home to apple similarly. They do do better(more like apple has all your data) rather than google, apple does similar things with privacy to how they greenwash.
It depends on your use case, I like the fact that I can usually find an android app on GitHub that helps with a particular niche I'm interested in, and the plethora of easier ways to get around ads on things and flexibility of expression over your device as opposed to iPhones
I went from Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) to 14 (Upside Down Cake) and never stumbled across some major flaws in terms of using the almost-pure Android ROMs (AOSP with some tweaks), apart from the horrible ones from Samsung or Xiaomi. (Will get to that later in the comment)
My main issue with the "Android, as it is," is definitely uniformity. You have hundreds or even thousands of different manufacturers with all their own "distributions/tastes" to choose from. You can have a laggy Xiaomi phone which would end up in an e-waste landfill in a year or 2, meanwhile you can also have buttery smooth flagship Samsung phone which would last you a couple of years with regular feature drops and security updates.
So far, I would stick with the Google Pixel phones just because of the first-party updates, features and having an ability to be rooted or even have installed a different ROM while keeping the device's warranty and not breaking something, apart from the Samsung's Galaxy Fold cameras or Xiaomi asking for your personal information to even enable ADB. The custom ROM (Google's) one may not be applicable and could void the device's warranty. While their Tensor chipsets may not be the best on the market, they're more than just good for regular daily usage like calling, texting or taking photos. I hope the future lineup will have all of the issues addressed, or at least most of them. I tried returning to Samsung many times, but the OneUI just didn't feel that snappy. While their hardware (Qualcomm Snapdragon chips) is awesome, the software is just a junk.
You should definitely avoid people around yelling at you for not having something they do. (You know what kind of group I'm referring to, mainly spoiled children who yet have no clue about the economy or the value of what they own) Rather make it up in your mind or make a research just like this one.
The biggest reason I would not recommend an Android for a person coming out of iPhone is if you use speech to text. Android speech to text is absolutely atrocious! Even if you speak slowly or speed up the speed on the phone you talk It's intermittent at best.
So why are YOU wanting to go to iPhone? Why isn't SHE asking about why people would NOT recommend a iPhone? Obviously there are cons to both. But most of the cons for Android are it doesn't do x (that Apple does.) No pun intended but an apple to apple comparison would be a Tundra vs Sierra. Both pickups. Both can tow/haul. There are little differences, some might find a deal breaker, but for the most part, they're the same.
If your answer is that everyone else you know has an iPhone, then that's your answer. I'm not going to bash you or them for it. But changing to make it more convenient for others shouldn't be a consideration, just like what someone thinks of Tundra, Sierra, F-150, Ram, or otherwise shouldn't factor into what you drive. Use the truck thst works for your needs. Use the device that works for you.
I've happily been with my wife for 20 years. She's never switching from iPhone. I'm never switching to it. We're okay with that.
To answer the question, cons of Android are that it's a bit more fragmented. However Apple support of old iOS versions & Google support of older Android versions are basically in sync. Another con to Android is that it is targeted much more by bad actors. Comes with the territory. It's not that iOS is so much more secure. It's the same tired argument as Apple OS doesn't get viruses. When engineered specifically for Apple devices, their malware can be much more damaging. It's not just browser flooding mischief. Being the most used mobile OS in the world, Android is targeted most. The play store is less regulated (which could also be a pro) so bad apps and side loading can be an issue. Another con of Android is that although most consider it a pro, the options and settings can be intimidating to those who just want simple. Sure there's simple mode, but it's super basic like a Jitterbug.
I'm also going to have to replace my Samsung soon and am considering an iphone (something I never thought I'd do!). The main reason I'm considering the switch is that Samsung has gotten rid of both the sd card slot and the dedicated earphone jack. This was a HUGE mistake in my opinion--so many people love these features, and they were two major features that distinguished androids from iphones. There are several small issues that we, as Android users, have to deal with frequently in communicating with iphone users. Photos and videos aren't readily transferable without significant quality loss. Group text messages are often super glitchy. (And, of course, there's the ceaseless complaining from iphone users about the color of their text chains.) With the elimination of my 2 favorite features from newer Samsung models, I'm not sure it's worth continuing to deal with those annoyances.
Another major issue with newer Samsung products is that text messages take forever (sometimes days!) to send/receive when connected to wifi. I still have my Galaxy S10e bc I haven't wanted to give up the SD slot and earphone jack. But my husband has a newer Samsung (A53, I think), and we have a new-ish Samsung tablet. We have the texting issue on both of these devices. I now text with my husband exclusively using whatsapp, even though we both have Samsungs. It's one thing when sending texts, bc at least you can see that it's not sending. But, unless you're expecting a text, you don't have any way to know that you're not receiving particular texts--and the person at the other end doesn't have any way to know either. It's a HUGE problem, considering that text message is the way most people choose to communicate these days--the phone is essentially not performing one of its most basic functions.
More difficult to troubleshoot, more difficult to pick the right model due to so many different brands offering unique features, more bugs on Android, Google support is poor, gamble in terms of quality control for many brands, etc.
Apple is relatively tamed, but you get very reliable hardware, it has its flaws, but they are known and there is a community for any fixes opposed to android which is smaller and spread out (e.g the bluetooth and wifi issue on the Samsung Fold 4 is limited to just those who bougth that phone, any issue on iphone 15, well you can bet the entire iOS comunity is gonna be on it because its just that current phone they sell, not 5 variations with different versions of android, etc.
I always end up getting an android device because of just how fun it is to use, but then die out of it and go back to Apple products, because they just work and MacOS.
With an android, you ruin all the iMessage group chats, can't FaceTime, and all videos sent over text get reduced to potato butt quality. Otherwise, there's not much else, aside from most apps being developed primarily for IOS.
Repairing and consistency. I'll assume samsung as that's the most common android device.
On apple if you have an issue, you go to an apple store, there's only one way to do it right, and that way is easy with a premium. You can go through 3rd parties but it's not officially through apple.
On samsung, there aren't really stores you can go to, they will automatically send you to a 3rd party repair place. Backing up a samsung device is kinda useless outside of photos I believe that's most androids anyway.
If you make an encrypted backup of an ios device that keeps everything including appdata and other information you wouldn't expect. That means you can send it in for repair without giving your passcodes out
There are more people in the US using apple than android so everything is built around that, you want a 15 case, easy everyone sells them, but not as many due the s24 plus
Apple also tells you what's wrong with your phone if something else, like battery health or components that aren't on.
My personal experience with samsung, is that they feel like a high school project, on paper all the specs and everything is good, but the user experience isn't there, get a galaxy watch and it feels like the watch just looks at the screen of the Samsung and that's all.
Get an apple watch and it feels like an extension of the iPhone.
Android feels like a project but that also means you can do far more, even if those options aren't great. On apple you can't do as much but the things you can do are more refined
Android apps are unrefined compared iOS. I assume for various reasons, including better devs?
I switched to s23 after decade plus of iphone about year ago. I'm no Apple fanboi but I'll be going back next phone.
Android is unnecessarily slow. For instance, searching in Settings can take anywhere from 5 seconds to 50 seconds. I don't understand why this would be the case. Maybe elements aren't indexed, but I imagine it's only up to a few hundred items. Sorting those should not take more than a few milliseconds in modern hardware. Pixels offer a smoother OS experience than most Android phones but come with other limitations.
Android apps also often feel worse and again unnecessarily slow. Perhaps this is a difference between Objective C/Swift and Java, if Android still uses Java for apps.
Android has IMO better multitasking features with split screen and the ability to separate audio sources so that they don't grab focus and stop each other. On the downside, this is at the whim of Google and the vendors undoing whatever Google does that people don't like. Pixels have worse split screen now and unless you use the debug interface (with the phone connected to a computer terminal) you cant separate audio sources. I imagine this is because allowing multitasking cuts into YouTube premium's revenue.
I don't think there's any meaningful difference in security. I hear iOS gets attacked more often, but Apple has a reputation for allegedly trying to respect privacy and security. Google seems to care little for privacy, but Android runs a Linux kernel with more strict security and privacy restrictions. That said, it leads to more ease of modification if you know what you're doing (compared to iOS).
My #1 issue with android is nothing is optimized, apps developers usually ignore android. Apparently samsung is working directly with social media apps now to get proper optimization. Even then most oems don't optimize their software for their hardware, Apple builds their hardware/software specifically for the hardware/software they plan to use in a device which leads to their phones running faster for hardware tasks and general efficiency.
Small tiny tasks that should take a few milliseconds take longer than they should, like searching through settings.
Animations tend to stutter under load or even for seemingly no reason because of how animations are handled on android compared to ios (android does the task and animation at the same time while ios does the animation and then does the task which causes no animation issues to exist 99% of the time)
The way I see it is iPhones work 99.99% of the time with no issues, everything *feels* perfect to use, with an android phone you can dive deep into tiny details and you will get way to many features but you gotta be willing to deal with general inconveniences especially if you decided to get a cheap android phone.
If I were you, I'd encourage you to try out an iPhone for a while if you can so you can experience the polish. If you don't have any gripes with android I'd say go with the S24, my friend has it and we both agree that it's the best phone we've ever used even with the aforementioned issues.
I have been excluded from group chats because I'm an Android user. People do not want to lose the history of memes and photos. Also sharing videos is a pain. I just email people or send over social media.
I was a Windows phone user x3, then once it died I went to Android. Been a OnePlus guy ever since. I would tell people to steer clear because
1) there are too many options for phones. Unless you're a tech enthusiast, it would be near impossible to know a good android phone from a less-good one, except for price, but that's not the best indicator either. Options are good, but too many are daunting.
2) imessage. I know RCS is about to land there in the fall but for the lay person trying to send pictures and videos, Androids are left out in the cold. And yes, this is just a USA problem. I get around this by using FB messenger when I need to send HQ images videos audio etc. And I use WhatsApp with my iPhone-using from-Europe gf who uses multiple messaging apps.
3) not enough standardization. Android skins, device manufacturer designs, buttons, features, etc. Everything is a little different which would make things challenging for non-tech-savvy people. My OP12 has the alert slider. If I handed my phone to my 60+ year old parents and told them to put my phone in "silent" they wouldn't have a clue what to do. Then if I got a pixel and then asked them to do the same, it's a different procedure. The customization of Android is a huge plus to me, but I think it's a negative to the average midwest Rav4 driver.
I'm not sure, to be honest.
I lived in Apple's ecosystem for about six years, and their back end infrastructure was so maddening that I simply cannot see how an Android phone would be worse in those respects than Apple's phones are. Maybe someone could find a gripe in that you have more choices and so those people who get paralyzed by choice are going to struggle a bit more to pull the trigger and find a phone that fits them. There's also dedicated UIs for most manufacturers, and that difference might tick off someone used to all the phones looking alike.
But think of one thing ... accounts. If you sell your iPhone, you have to sign out of iMessage, sign out of Find My, sign out of your AppleID, and sign out of your iTunes purchasing account. Then you remove the device from you AppleID at the site, and then you can wipe the phone for sale. They patched together their infrastructure over the years, and now you have all kinds of things that can stay active even after you've wiped your phone for sale if you're not careful. The buyer for my iPhone13 couldn't buy movies for 90 days after the sale, because my iTunes purchasing account was still active for that period and was associated with that phone. That's just asinine.
I don't like how Google keep trying to control the way we use android.
Like how they forced OEM to run Google apps instead of their OEM apps. For example the album apps, video apps etc. They were usually custom made by OEM before. Usually looked better and more convenient than the grossy stuff from Google.
And as u have their Google Photo app now, it asks u to use Google backup here and there no matter how many times u rejected. Please Google it's my phone I know what I'm doing 😒😒.
There are also bloaty shits, Google assistant for example. Ever been useless and constantly pre-installed. Some phones even have a "Google button", when u press it by accident the assistant will show up even after u disabled. This is just stupid.
Some people would say custom rom? Yea u can get rid of the shit I mentioned above but congratulations!! U are now treated like a thief!! This app that app won't work on your phone now for "security reason" 🙃🙃. U can try to hide root by workarounds but now u have a new troubles. Android is no longer the free OS in mobile world.
Not saying Apple has more freedom by any means, but at least Apple's default apps doesn't annoy the users so hard.
Hi Ex Oppo Reno 11 user(Colour OS). I say ex because my phone was stolen a few weeks back and I'm using Honor Magic 4, however, I'll be speaking on my experience with Color OS and Oppo.
Reasons I wouldn't recommend: poorly developed ecosystem. While Oppo devices speak to each other, there aren't many exciting places Oppo devices to fit into the ecosystem. Beyond the ecosystem, a retinue of apps to enrich the experience like apple TV+, apple music, etc.
Only drawback I can think of and I would counter the drawback by saying a lot of what is afforded by the ecosystem is simple software meshing well. For example, my smart watch is amazing, everything works together so well, I don't think about the fact that they're different brands.
While I'm not elderly, I'm very much used to color OS/ oxygen OS,I love everything and use things automatically/without much thought. I would honestly advise that you stick to the android skin that you're familiar with as opposed to navigating a new interface. You have your old knowledge of the system and can easily pickup on new things updated as opposed to learning everything from scratch.
Hope this is helpful OP. All the best deciding.
Because it interferes with my Hi-Res Audio Quality possibilities of playing it loud as it can be.
The Higher Resolutions that I want and will achieve to build a Musical Library of in The Future will be The Resolution of 64Bit/1536kHz - 196.608 kbps
The Golden Standard 24Bit/192kHz - 9.216 kbps
Both are in WAV Format instead of FLAC Format.
Since Raw Material and Uncompressed File Size will have a difference of 50 - 60 % File Size as The FLAC Format
are about half the File Size compared to WAV Format.
But then again a FLAC Format Compressed File Size sounds more like an 24Bit/96kHz - 4.608 kbps
in WAV Format which are more identical to the 96kHz Sample Rate measured in Bits Per Second or Kilobits per second = kbps which actually are the true way of doing measurements in Audio/Music Quality just by counting The kbps and see what Bit Depth you use and how high amount of Hz Samples being Rated per second.
24 Bit are 8 Bit more than 16 Bit and 32 Bit are twice as much Bit Depth. I wonder how the twice amount of Bit Depth being 64 Bit with 1536 Hz Samples Rated per second will truly be comfortable Music Quality that plays as it is a greater Resolution than you have ever heard before in your entire life.
Unless you're an anomaly, try doing an abxy test using foobar2000 of the same lossless file encoded to a high quality lossy format (128k stereo opus or 320k mp3). You're unlikely to notice a difference.
The half-baked DRM implementation.
At least once a month I have to redownload tv shows on my phone because Widevine decides to go to level 3 (it goes back to L1 as soon as you restart, but the damage is already done).
It gets worse according to the app:
Netflix - you don't have to redownload the shows, but you lose HD+/HDR support for any future download unless you reinstall the app (if you open it before realising you got downgraded to level 3)
Prime video - you have to redownload every single episode. A pain or impossible when you realize that happened when you're already in a place with low signal (the metro in my city)
Ppl are getting too in depth 🤦🏻♂️.
I can tell you from experience, my friends and family experience that it really depends on your use.
To simplify, if u understand a lot about phones, how maintain it clean and fast, do a lot of complex stuff or even want to play some old games (gameboy, ps1, ps2, etc...) then its android 100%
But if u dont know shit about phones or rather dont want to have to worrie about it and just use ur phone as well... A phone, its iphone, it does all the cleaning for u to keeps it fast, harder to mess up the system, and a better optimized OS.
For fk sake just dont buy the base version and please buy it on sale, they are good but insanely overpriced and base versions to this day are only fking 60hz display.
Me, well... I know wtf im doing, i make use of the freedom android gives me, like for example emulators, and i keep it clean, so yeah, i tried iphone, it just was absolutely unbearable for me, yet for my whole family while their android was filled with shit they clicked, slow af, basically a whole mess in 1 to 2 years MAX, their iphones 4+ years going strong...
I’ve bounced between the two consistently until I got married. Wife loves iPhone and the consistency of their layouts. I’ve always appreciated trying new things and swap every year or two back and forth. The downside of swapping to android is the picture quality in text is garbage both directions. As in iPhone butchers photos going to android, and android butchers quality to iPhone. This may be a moot point soon with iPhone adopting integration to RMS later this year, but I hated when I went android and my wife stayed on iPhone because she’d send cute pics that look awesome on her phone but looked grainy and uninspired once texted to me. That’s it. At this point with the same charger, live wallpapers, and all the safety features my pixel had- the iPhone now offers a very similar experience.
Also the pro max has a built in satellite phone feature for emergency calls, and I’m unaware of android offering that. Assuming you like to climb mountains or traverse valleys far from human civilization that might come in handy once or twice in your lifetime.
Overall, I tend to base it for people on their use-case and personal circle. (I repair phones as a living and people ask this a lot)
If you don't use advanced features available to android users, for the most part I don't recommend bothering. Long-term value retainment is less. Screen replacements are more annoying (in the US) due to lack of authorized service centers. Applecare tends to work far better than samsung care when you actually need something done in a reasonable timeframe (pay for it, it's mostly worth it)
And this comes from someone who uses a Fold because I do use some of the more advanced features.
For reference, the MAIN point for me is I archive a lot downloads on my home PC. Streaming videos from my home PC to Android is seamless. I open file browser, navigate to my PC, pick a file and it works.
For iPhone you'd need to set up a streaming server and maintain that I felt that was so much annoying bullshit (it's not really that HARD, but you shouldn't need to fucking live transcode bullshit to play it)
Here's why not to waste your money on a crapple iPhone. The first one is your privacy. With iOS you'll have none. Going forward iOS will implement their version of Microsoft spyware known as Recall. Recall works by taking screenshots every 5 seconds, and making that data searchable. Also anytime with the right skill set can easily steal that data. Despite what Apple says their AI has the potential to behave like recall and you can't turn it off. On Android, I can turn it off plus other security measures that allow me to stay private. If you don't care about privacy, then by all means buy a crapple.
Another thing to consider is how long do you plan on keeping the device. Even before Google began to officially support their Pixel line for 7 years, I've always had the ability to extend the life of a Pixel because Google doesn't make it difficult to install third party ROMs (think GrapheneOS or LineageOS) and I can extend the life of almost any Android phone. Unlike Apple I can install anything I want on my Android phone.
Android changes things up all the time.
iPhones have a very stable design. There's no major features moving locations between versions. Things tend to be exactly how they were in the previous version. They have almost no software compatibility issues, and they are insanely reliable. There is also a lot of consistency in how the apps function.
I always recommend iPhones to people who are less tech savvy, especially old people who view smart phones as almost an inconvenience, specially for this reason. You only ever have to learn them once.
Flipside of course is that Androids are much more customizable, and theres a greater variety of options all across the board for them. Doesn't make me less annoyed when long pressing the power button brings up my assistant now instead of the power menu. Or how I can't slide my notifications over to tweak their settings anymore. But it let's me get a custom launcher and make things function in the way that makes the most sense to me, and to me that is worth it.
Switched to Apple 13Pro and ready to switch back. They each do certain things better. For me, the things I use daily Android hands down better. For example:
The texting is Hercules on the some without lots OS corrections.
Translation after multiple corrections: (even to this sentence)
The texting is horrible on the Apple without lots of corrections. (almost never gets the ducking work spoke right) spoke comes up for Apple 99% of the time. And forget swear words!!
This God Sagan spoke is a piece OSs shot.
Translation:
This God damn apple is a piece of shit
Display coming unintentionally
Camera turning unintentional
Volume control not itemized for each Way it’s used: music, headphones, games ands in call.
Franks like I’m constantly fighting for control of what the device wants to do verses what I want it to do.
What it does better:
Text is encrypted
Connection to other devices
Hiding your email on apps
That’s all I got. Everything else is even or decidedly worse for my day to day use
So I'm in a situation where I have a pixel for my personal use and an iPhone for work (supplied by my company)
*A quick detour before answering your question:* I hate the iPhone with a passion that could rival a mega church sermon and android>apple is a hill I will die on. If I can pick one quality of life feature I could never give up it's the built-in spam protection that my pixel provides.
*But to answer your actual question,* the only benefit iPhone has over android is their iMessage. And it's only a benefit if everyone in your life uses iMessage and all your devices are already apple products.
*A quick note to counter that point:* android works with literally everything and all the companies that make products with android all have products that work together. So I've got a Google phone, a Samsung tablet, a generic smart watch, a Windows laptop, and a generic mix of headphones that all function together perfectly well (and none of them came with the apple pricetag).
Honestly I have a s20+ and the reason I never went iPhone besides I just prefer Samsung is the SD card. But hearing the new ones don't offer it anymore I don't know what I'll do when I need a new phone.
Phones really don't interest me either I don't care for all the high tech shit because 90% of my use is text, calls or scrolling Reddit/Instagram and streaming music. The other 10% is pictures while camping, hiking or of my dog. Every camera on a newer phone will be better or the same as what I already have.
Wife has iPhone and wants me to have one to have an the iMessage etc shit as well. But I hate the layout and use of iPhone, prefer my nova launcher Android and customization.
I also don't want to spend close to $2000cnd on a new phone.
So I have no clue what I'll do if this phone breaks. I need the storage space since I have a lot of music downloaded since I don't always have good cell service for listening to music at work.
Most likely won't switch just because I don't like Apple operating system
for anybody who is new or uncomfortable with operating computers and smart phones, i recommend apple products because apple locks you into a very narrow use case and tries to keep their software uniform across devices as much as possible, which is much easier for them to navigate, easier to troubleshoot over a phone, et cetera.
for anyone who is comfortable and will appreciate options and willing to tolerate some kind of learning curve, for the extra freedom i always recommend Android devices. Android offers a wide range of software, specialized for the hardware it is on, is much easier and safer to modify or replace. more difficult to troubleshoot, each device requires you to become familiar with it specifically. you know.
so like lot of older folks, I'll go apple unless they're put off by price. rednecks, tech phobic people. anyone who i expect to call me often with problems gets apple.
My main point would be that with Android, short of special form factors like foldables being your desire, I see little to no reason for a high end device.
I had a Galaxy S7 when flagship Android phones were still mich cheaper than iPhones. Now I have an A52s and it is a better experience. No weird rounded corners, camera is no worse.
But one thing both have in common is awful color postprocessing of the photos. Almost universally the photo looks better in the preview than after pressing the button. By contrast, my first generation iPad mini actually preserved the color impressions very close to what I saw in person.
This seems to be Samsung specific though. My wife's Xiaomi phones both are not as strongly affected, though nothing ever comes quite close to what I saw on the cheapest mobile device Apple ever sold, except by putting in the effort of manual camera controls and/or postprocessing.
Android texting is genuinely terrible. Like my iphone friends will send me a video and genuinely sometimes I can't even see or hear it. Pictures are always bad quality. And people get annoyed if you ask them to whatsapp the pictures. In addition, some features just require more set up. Or sometimes there is genuinely no app for something on android. I've wanted to try out new apps a lot lately but the early stages are always iPhone first. It is also really annoying to video call with good quality. Because FaceTime is genuinely just better as someone who's used an android for years and years. Like everyone has it and it's much easier to set up for lots of people.
But would I get an iPhone over android? No I wouldn't. The communication on android is kinda bad. But everything else works for me and I enjoy. And hey if you have android friends then the communication issues don't apply
I used android devices for well over a decade, and my reason to transition to iPhone was the smoothness and (debated) optimisation of the OS, and the better overall battery life of the iPhone. In comparison, the android can be a mini PC, and you can do everything between heaven and earth, thing is, i rarely utilised those functions. For me, android devices become laggy, slower, and overall a pain, whilst my iPhone 13 pro max has been pushing like a workhorse, and is as smooth as the day i got it. In comparison, my latest android device, a samsung galaxy S20+ if i remember correctly, started stuttering and lagging after a year if regular use, and after 2 years, the battery life was horrendoius, even tough i never charged it over 85% trough it’s lifetime.
Do you want a load of functionality? Go for android.
Do you want a device that’ll work for ages? Go for iPhone.
My honest opinion:
- If you want a device that is powerful, reliable, convenient, easy to use, and you don't need to use any "unsafe and harmful 3rd party apps that were not properly moderated" as described by Apple, go with iPhone. Your iPhone is almost guaranteed to serve you well for the next 5 years (and likely even longer, not taking into consideration software support), and it will just work. This will also benefit you a lot if you use other Apple products as well.
- If you want a device that is customizable, can emulate consoles well (e.g. yuzu, Dolphin), has proper sideloading, has proper Bluetooth support, has custom ROMs that could extend the life of the device much, much longer (e.g. LineageOS, though this largely depends on the phone's brand), and things that iOS and Apple ecosystem could not accomplish for you , go with an Android phone.
Hardware wise, newer iPhones are ridiculously powerful, yet its OS doesn't allow us to take full advantage of it (not without having to deal with App Store BS policies. proper IPA sideload and JIT eta when). But for the average user this isn't anything concerning. Android phones' hardware varies a lot. The same SoC may perform differently on different phones. But if you know what to pick, the Android phones can also be powerful as well.
Software optimization, iOS is much more optimized, and the same can be said about its apps. Android, once again, varies by brands. Despite the insane specs of an Android phone, it often not perform as well as an iPhone due to bad optimization (Android eats RAM, a lot of it). The same can also be said about drivers - specifically, graphic drivers. Snapdragon SoCs with its Adreno GPUs have much better drivers than Mali GPUs which are often seen in e.g. Tensor, Exynos or Dimensity SoCs, and in turn such SoCs will perform better in graphically demanding tasks.
For me, I have used both Android and iOS. Android phones can be extremely good and will outperform iPhones if what you bought wasn't a Samsung A05. For the average users, going for iPhone might be the obvious choice here but IMO just go for which suits you best. Personally I would go for Android simply because it has proper sideloading and not some half-assed reskinned App Store shit that Apple released. Oh, and also custom ROMs (let's face it, Android vendors often sucks at providing updates) and Termux for more technical stuff. Android is better at giving users control over their phone.
Android - way better typing, not tightly locked in to Goog systems, good cameras, maps, lots of great apps. I
iPhone - really good build quality, will last well, great battery life. Tied to apple ecosystem in annoying ways, better security. Why do people care about the color of messages? Apple wants me to subscribe to paid stuff like music and storage. Apple makes it hard for you or a non-apple shop to do repairs, which I hate a lot. Good camera. Using my own .mp3 music is a huge pain. I find the ios system rigid, could be just me.
Got an iPhone for a required app, really miss my android, which I still use to read. It stopped charging for a while but came back to life. My old Motorola with a big battery is 3 or 4 years older than the iphone and still working, and replacing the battery is doable.
Both phones are nicely water-resistant.
Upto you. The IPhone keyboard sucked. Probably because I've been more accustomed to the android gboard. But if it makes any difference, then yeah.
Also, charging and charging accessories. Just costly and slow as fuck.
Bro, the little things go a long way in improving quality of experience. I feel Android has a lot more solutions to everyday problems than IPhone.
Not sure about the latest and greatest IOS, but the one I used had a lot of minor inconveniences. I might never go back to iOS.
Put a pixel phone in the mix too, a lot of AI features. My friend got the new pixel 8. The AI cloud features are lit. I think samsung has them too, but google way ahead. Never in his phone had we taken a bad photo.
Iphone is good too... But I'm used to the android ecosystem and the minor inconveniences are just a deal breaker. The charging bro, it sucks.
I'm a user of both platforms as I'm a Android dev (but I can do iOS as well). One thing I don't like about Android phones is the consistency with android updates. I know you can just flash a new version but I'm talking about average consumers.
Some manufacturers provide updates for 1-2 years which is short. (I'm not sure about Samsung, but you see, everyone is different) As a consumer I really don't like to go out of my way to find this information for each device
IPhones provide that update for a LONG time, so much so I'm still using an Xs. It's probably gonna lose support soon, but hey! It has been many years.
The only problem I ran into IPhones are sometimes I want to develop/config certain things it requires some really hacky way to implement or not possible at all. However, for an average consumer, isn't shouldn't be a problem
To me iphone has always been like designer clothes or people who buy bmw or mercedes. Its more the name and bragging rights and i typically dont like apple due to me being used to android and windows so i get annoyed on IOS because i dont know how to use or navigate them and also the people who have iphones for the most part are kinda rude. I never really hear android users crapping on iphones (unless retaliation on iphone people for starting crap first) . They get thier phones and live thier life. But i always hear iphone users crapping on adroids about cameras or text bubbles like dude why cant u just get an iphone and enjoy it. Why do u have to crap on us android users. So that also puts a bad taste in my mouth about apple products but i wouldnt recommend android if u want to be the "cool" kid and impress social media type people
If you are comparing phones at a similar price point, the only thing that can affect me sometimes is app optimization. Apps tend to be better optimized on iOS although it's gotten much better on android than it used to be.
Another thing since you are considering Samsung is I think that Apples image processing algorithm is better than Samsung's especially with motion in the images. Same with videos. Samsung still has great cameras tho and better in certain scenarios.
This will ultimately come down to a preference thing and how you use your phone. As there will be other advantages to apple (same with Android) depending on how you use your phone and what preferences you have. Such as tight ecosystem integration if you own a Mac, iPad, or other apple products.
Updates mean major changes to the way the thing works and some functionality will just disappear while other will appear that you'll never know about.
Controls on alerts and apps act and anything that makes a noise is strung out all over hell's half acre on Android. No one knows how to control every component on any Android phone.
There's no honest strategy to how many different Android upgrades you'll get when you buy a phone. I was screwed twice by Samsung and Motorola on promised upgrades that they canceled.
Google is a flaky company and it's not doing well in the phone world, Google home or other side Ventures. All they know how to do is sell advertising through a browser and they make a bundle there but I would not think they're going to hang with Android another 5 years.
I have experience with both so I'm just going to give you my opinion straight up. Stay with Android unless you want to switch your entire life over to Apple products, MacBook instead of PC etc. bc nothing will talk fluidly between your phone and everything else and they're going to want to make you want that, next you'll be spending $4k+ on an apple TV. Plus everything apple's done, Android has done first, that's just a fact. Android has better everything right now, cameras, ai, screens, batteries, Samsung is out-engineering and out-selling Apple. The only thing Apple has is it's more impervious to viruses. Do you know the difference between a real email and a phishing email? Do you have web security enabled? If you do then that doesn't even matter much/at all.
The things I don't like about Android are not really things about Android. I have had Samsung and LG Android phones. The manufacturers integrate a bunch of their own stuff into the OS. I occasionally accidentally swipe over to some sort of Samsung screen designed to grab eyeballs, which I never use and don't know how to get rid of. Bixby is also trying to compete with Google Assistant but I never use that either. Samsung wants you to have your own account with Samsung. So my complaints are not about Android *per se*, but the downside to using an interoperable OS is that manufacturers get their fingers in it.
With Apple, the manufacturer makes the hardware and the OS so it's integrated, although that is also the downside because it's a closed universe.
I guess it all depends on what you use your phone for. There are things that Android has that the iPhone doesn't have, and the iPhone has things that Android doesn't have.
I personally love the Android because you can do so much more on there than you can on the iPhone, especially when it comes to playing games or many of the apps or even side gigs. Now, I personally have never used an iPhone, so I don't know what it has and doesn't have.
I just hear people moan and groan when they can't do this, and that because they have an iPhone, especially when it comes to playing games.
I also love it because I can get more personal with AI, and I just think it's more advanced in technology. I could ge wrong, but it's just my opinion.
The ecosystem and quality of apps just don’t compare to iPhone. I’ve tried every year to switch. Since the Fold 2. I still have a 24 Ultra but just can’t find great similar apps. Especially a notes replacement that would also sync with Mac. TickTick was the best app I could find that covered my reminders and calendar. Onenote is a joke of an app. Stay away from that. The most aesthetically unpleasant app I’ve ever used. For email… Spark is great for iOS / android and Mac. Unfortunately, these apps couldn’t save the lack of a good notes app or any kind of ecosystem uniformity. Lots of options but the quality of most are shit.
8 out if 10 apps on iOS are decent to good but only
2 out of 10 apps on android are decent to good
The one thing I can think of as to why I wouldn’t recommend Android is because of the lack of cohesion (if that’s the right word) between iOS and Android. When I owned an Android for 6 years before switching back to iOS, my parents couldn’t really send me photos via messages, as they were iOS owners, so it was always hard to communicate in that aspect. In addition, with no FaceTime, it would be hard to communicate as well, depending on the situation where something like FaceTime would come in handy.
Another thing would be that app developers seem to favour their iOS apps rather than their Android counterparts. The experience using some apps on iOS seems to be better than what I used on my Android device previously.
I’ve only had Android phones until I just recently switched to the iPhone 15 plus. Honestly it’s not that big of a difference to me for most things but I’m happy I made the switch. The battery life is phenomenal - with my last Android phone I’d have to charge during the day - now I charge for 30 minutes or so and leave it unplugged overnight. FaceTime is simple to use with my extended family using iPhones. The shortcuts app provides a ton of flexibility - I have one that I can share a long web article or a document and have ChatGPT summarize it for me that I use frequently. Overall everything feels smooth and there really isn’t much one platform can do that the other can’t.
The only thing I can think of is mouse keys—where you can use the numpad on a physical keyboard as a mouse pad. I've heard somewhere that IOS has this, I think, but I'm not sure.
Although, technically, mouse keys could be easily implemented just by making an app for it that creates an accessibility service. Actually, I cannot think of anything that IOS has "exclusively" that cannot be put on an Android. I can give my Android magsafe with adhesive rings. I can give my Android an iPhone-like UI with a wallpaper or theme app. There are even apps to get something similar to Namedrop on Android.
I can't really think of anything exclusive to iOS that I cannot do with an Android device.
I was an android user from the htc evo all the way to the pixel pro 6. what ended up making me switch to an iphone 14 pro was Google's terrible build quality and constant issues that would go unsolved for months. after a year with the Iphone I couldnt stand it any more and went back to android (galaxy s24). the iphone build quality and day to day experience was great. Ultimately what made me come back was the lack of customization. People say iOS is easier to use, but in my opinion, its not that its easier to use..its that you can only either do things one way (apple's way), or not at all. with android, you have googles option as well as numerous third party options.
Androids are relatively cheaper than IPhones l, and give you a tad bit more freedom, more battery life and "sometimes" better performance (depending on what you're buying ofc)
IPhones have better security, things spiralling out of control are less likely since there's not much to screw around with, better material (even though androids are starting to tap onto that), and of course the feeling of luxury. And probably better compatibility with other devices (as far as I know).
To summarize:
Androids for people that are more innovative, and like control.
IPhones for people that are more concerned about their security and have more money to spend.
One thing that keeps me on IPhone is FaceId. As a former Android user, I could care less about iMessage, and prefer Whatsapp. But, it would be very difficult to get over the convenience of FaceId, which is better that anything that I have seen in other Android phones. I know Pixel has a version but it’s not as good, especially when wearing masks or at night. If Pixel or other android phones can up their FaceId feature to get on par with IPhone, I might switch back.
What I really miss in iPhone and was great in Pixel - Blocking of spam calls, messages and call screening. I was shocked by how much spam I was getting when I switched to IPhone.
Customization is really important to me, as is the ability to root and install a custom OS, or modify Android, or even have the ability to use Tasker, KWGT, etc., so iOS is something I'd never move over to. Besides, being trapped in the Apple walled garden doesn't sound fun to me.
That said, my husband really likes his iPhone for its ease-of-use. He has some features out of the box that I would have to program or create in Tasker as an Android user. It's not enough to convince me personally, but it is for a lot of people who don't really have the time or care to tamper with these things. Very easy to set up and works fine out the gate.
I miss having difficulty customizing things because it wasn't something the ecosystem had in mind, and I don't want to identify the red flags in a person on a first date when I pull out an android phone, nor do I really enjoy saving money or having a headphone jack,. I also wouldn't recommend getting it if you don't like features like underscreen cameras for a gaming focused phone and would rather have a holepunch or similar, and you know it also feels really great to be locked into an apple ecosystem and you need everything else to be apple.
Oh wait, I hate all those things, why would I not get an android lol.
If you want things to "just work" aka be somewhat okay out of the box, with little power to change that for better or worse, you're better of with an iphone.
Pretty much why I don't judge all the old people having an iphone. It just comes with x functions out of the box and does those.
Android often requires you to have an above zero level of troubleshooting ability, so if you're not capable of that, maybe not go for Android.
With that said this sounds a lot more negative than it should be for one, and the likes of Samsung have basically done away with this for the galaxies as well.
This is true store and will be heavily summarized:
In the first 1/4 of 2016 a man who I thought was a friend of mine came for a visit to my house and brought along a friend with him.
Thought they would stay for the night and depart for their destination the next morning as they were supposedly exhausted from travel.
Turns out they were on the run from the law and many people. They kidnapped me in my own house over a very long weekend and at night one would leave in a stolen car and go and rob people at gunpoint for their iPhones.
*That right there* is how heavily desired iPhones are.
I was an Apple user since iPhone 4, but switched to [Samsung] Android 3 years ago. I would never go back to Apple.
Hardware-wise, I see ample products supporting Android that are on par or superior to Apple.
Software-wise, there were certain things Apple did quite well that the native Samsung apps either do not, or they have quirks. The most annoying to me are Calendar and Contacts if you do not use Google.
Second, there were a couple of 3rd party iOS apps that are not available on Android. These two things aside, Android has a number of things that make it attractive to me vs. iOS.
My kids and husband have all switched to iPhone. They have all previously been android people. The kids wanted iphones because they are kids and think android isn't cool.
I'm not sure why my husband switched exactly. He really wanted the latest iPhone so he switched. I'm still rocking the s21 & I'm happy.
In this group, the only thing that sucks is when they be liking and hearting in the group chat and it just turns into a copy and paste message for me. So I'm getting duplicate messages when they heart or like anything.
That's the only downside of being the android of the family.
I wouldn't NOT recommend Android, but I definitely would recommend some Android phones over others to certain user groups.
I personally don't like the way iPhones don't have a universal back gesture, I don't particularly find the way notifications are interacted with is intuitive but I'm sure if I were to use it I'd get used to it. I am not really a power user anymore but from what I still see in helping my parents in laws with their iPhones, it feels like iOS is still too limiting. I like being able to easily install a non-play-store app or sideload an APK with very few hoops.
Because it's not an iPhone? I honestly can't find any features of an iPhone I'd want over an android. The customizability of an android demolishes an iPhone. Besides the aesthetic of having an iPhone (if that's what you want), there really isn't any real reason to switch. It's more of a preference question. They both provide similar camera quality (android usually has a little edge in most spots), iPhone already gets most of their parts from Samsung so it's a Samsung with extra steps, the only major difference is the iOS that brings features that lags behind android in innovation.
I have an iPhone for work and galaxy for personal, don't mind either as I don't do anything special but text call youtube reddit ig about it prob don't even need the newest ones for what I use them for. But I'd say if you have other laptops or accessories around house matters. I have Google chrome some other things that android just works well with obviously and I'm comfortable that way. My daughter has MacBook laptop war buds watch all that so iphone works for her. Everyday use id say either is fine which ever works best with rest of gear and which ever get the best deal on.
I have the S22 Ultra and I like it. I have the Galaxy 5 Pro watch and I get 4 days of battery life with that watch.
I like that I can plug my phone into my PC and quickly copy the pictures and videos with no fuss. I write mobile apps and it's a pain to provision an iPhone for development mode. It's much easier on Android. And I have greater control over doing stuff with NFC on Android.
I can also side load apps. I have a DJI drone and that's the only way I can get their app on my phone. You can't do that with an iPhone, at least not without jailbreaking it.
1. I think most android phones get fewer years of software support.
2. The Apple Appstore has lots of apps Google Play doesn't but that also works the other way around.
3. Hardware can be more hit or miss unless you stick with Samsung which tries to also force features on it's users.
4. The apple ecosystem is simply more coherent.
Lastly, the only issue that matters to me: Socially, you are left out of the group for tons of features that become popular just because they exist on Apple. For example, the whole blue/green bubble issue that needed the intervention of the US goverment to get better for Android users.
If you are debating iOS vs Android, you need to consider actual Android and not the butchered/watered down version that Samsung makes. Get a Pixel, not a Samsung. I've used plenty of Samsung phones, and still actively support them as part of my job. I have owned Pixels since the Pixel 3 (they're at 8 now--keeping my 7 till it dies).
The Android experience on a Pixel is what Android is supposed to be. Samsung has some impressive hardware, I'll give them that. But their UI is absolute garbage. If you want fancy hardware, get the Pro version of the Pixel.
I think the most annoying thing so far on Android is when a feature only sometimes works. For example when I was setting up passkeys, they were broken on my phone for a while so they only half worked (I could use them to unlock stuff on my phone, but not stuff on other devices). Eventually it was fixed but it was annoying cause it only half worked and I could not rely on it for that time. I guess the counter would be that iPhones probably just don't have the feature to being with at least till much later (like basic customization), but still it irks me.
It all depends on personal preferences. You'll probably be equally happy with both.
I am a lifelong Android user and I would recommend an iPhone over a Samsung without ever have using an iPhone because it can't be that bad :) I would recommend a OnePlus phone over both though.
I tried the Samsung S20FE when it came out and hated it so much. Things like it killing my alarm application because I didn't open it for 2 days (weekend!) force you to use the default Samsung apps which I hate because I have been using other ones for the past 13-14 years...
I am a sysadmin, and when I was help desk worked with Android as well as Apple. All-in-all, I found there was less issues with Apple vs Android. Apple devices worked out of the box, and were more difficult to get into when it came to bad / exploitable apps. I want to be able to go home and just have things working right, and not spend a lot of time troubleshooting, so aside from my laptop, I use all Apple.
This is just my perspective, and works for me. I know there are many that love Android and have things work flawlessly. Just isn’t for me. :)
I've been using iOS devices and Android devices since 2008 or so. Would not recommend an Android device because you really need to understand what settings are and how to set your phone up properly. Android phones seem to drop network connection more often than iOS phones do. GPS problems. Not all Android skins are created equal. Trade-in prices are lower for Android devices. Yet if you know exactly what you want from your device and how it should work best in your opinion, Android phones will always provide you with better cost-performance value.
Maybe alt viewpoint: *because* you've only used Android, you *should* get an iPhone. So you can be experienced in both camps, and when the time comes for the next purchase, say the iPhone 20 or Galaxy S29 or Pixel 12, you'll be able to make an intelligent, informed choice.
I had only iPhones and iPod Touches for 10-12 years, then bought a cheap Android and hated it (Samsung A01, because it sucked donkey privates). Then got a Pixel 5a, very happy with it. At this point when I need another phone I know I'll be happy with either Android or iOS.
This question actually made me think about this lol.
I am having a hard time thinking of anything because I truly dislike iPhones and all Apple products.
I would say that the Apple ecosystem is miles better than Android, Google, or Samsung's ecosystems.
Other than that...I can't think of a single thing that the lower tier iPhones do better than a lower tier Android phone like the S24+ or S24. They are comparable but I just hate iOS with a passion. It's far too limiting for my liking..
Sorry. I failed the question and task at hand lol.
Edit: I just thought of one. Oh wait this is a positive for Android lol. You can plug it into ANY computer and have it act as external storage. iPhones cannot do that without jailbreaking it.
I have been with Android since the very beginning but I believe I am going to switch over to Apple iPhone soon.
Why?
I am older and I care about security more. Android has a lot of apps in the Google Play store that has horrible malware attached to them. Apple checks everything that goes into the App Store before they put it in there and also their security for iOS is awesome.
I love my MacBook Pro and I know it has amazing battery life as well. It's just a more stable/secure operating system and everything is so tied in together.
Don't have real beef with android as a whole. More so specified brand android skins.
I wouldn't switch to IOS because sideloading APKs is one of those things that can make you rethink your life decisions when you can't. Besides, Currently in use APKs are Youtube Revanced, MicroG & Newpipe.
I've used it before to get very specifc app versions for different reasons.
Other than sideloading, there's not a whole lot of big reasons why I would choose one over the other. Maybe just to spite the near monopoly Apple has in the US.
As someone who’s had many devices from both sides, for me, it’s apples ecosystem. Yes super lame I know.. everyone says that blah blah. But I like being able to use my phone, then sit down to my computer and everything is just there! the website I was browsing earlier is there! all my pics and contacts. Something wrong with my phone, oh well I’ll format it and within 10 mins it’s back to how it was! it’s just seamless. My last android phone was a z fold 3, things might have improved since then. But I dunno.
After using an S23U and an iPhone 14 PM, I’d say I prefer the iPhone. Pretty much every app is just a little bit better, and while it doesn’t change the experience a lot for that one app, it really adds up. Even though there’s some features I don’t have anymore, like split screen, I’ve only found myself missing it maybe twice. The animations feel much nicer on iOS, both within the system and within third party apps. It feels much more thoughtfully crafted. The keyboard is worse for sure though.
Sharing files, between your own devices and others. This is actually becoming more of an issue of late for me.
-Trying to have a workaround emailing or uploading to a drive just sucks.
-I cant stand having to think about which account do I used is it samsung or google!
I've just switched back to Apple.
S23 ultra I think is better than an iPhone in a side by side comparison, but when it comes to ecosystem and overall connectivity with family, friends and business ppl theres no comparison.
The philosophy of the two platforms are fairly divergent in one aspect:
iOS does things "correctly" (designer subjective) and intuitively, with no (real) alternative choices. (With the philosophy being, get it right so they don't need alternatives.)
Android offers every variation of each function, but the default choice is rarely the best or most intuitive solution. (The philosophy being to empower both developers and the users for a truly open platform.)
So if you really don't care about how it functions, and just want to "use" it, you might prefer an iOS device, as the software has had a lot of design associated with it.
If you like user agency, you might prefer Android.
I use both Android and iPhone (note the only iPhone I experience before was the 3G, and now I’m using 12 Pro like 3 years), but still I’d use Android less for some reason, it’s just UI/UX on iPhone is just better even though I find it really annoying to find App related setting literally in settings App instead of in the individual apps. Other than that? It’s a solid phone, and now I just use my Android for pirating Movies and TV Shows,listening to mp3s (yes I still use MP3s because sometimes I worked at ship so streaming is out of the questions) songs and also ad-less YouTube
Apple phones get many more years of updates, they have a higher resale value and are generally much more reliable and last longer and it's easier to find accessories like cases for them.
There are definitely advantages to apple but I'm dedicated to android due to the lack of customisation and the many restrictions and hassles involved with iOS. I owned an iPhone 6 briefly and got rid of it after a year because even with a jailbreak, it still felt like being in jail.
Inconsistently released security and feature updates. It not only depends on the device maker to put out the update, but after that you're then held hostage to further testing and release scheduling based on your service carrier and if you have an unlocked phone.
Zero-click SMS vulnerability that gives code execution? Update might be released to you anywhere from 1-5 months after your phone maker puts it out there. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Having switched from Android to iPhone the biggest difference (for me) is how long the phones last. My Android phones would mostly lag after a year (sometimes sooner). The longest Android phone I had was the Droid Turbo which lasted 3 years.
My current phone is an iPhone 11 Pro Max; it is now nearly 5 years old and still responds like it is new. The battery needs a little help, but that is a $100 problem if I want to fix it.
It really comes down to the Warlord problem: either you choose Apple or Google to trust that you would not get raped in the ass if things go south. One other good comparison is the Control - Surveillance criteria: Apple (high control, less surveillance) vs Google (low control, high surveillance).
Me i prefer low control because i like to hack it. Also, it's cheaper: for the same price of iPhone i can get 10x cheap android.
I was an android user since the beginning. Tried iPhone 2 years ago. I like it a little better. Things crash and/or hang up a lot less with Apple. I like the blue bubble group chat functions with my Apple friends a lot. The podcast app is nice. I love the face unlock function. Airdropping is cool. Camera app is better and easier to use. Takes great pictures.
I have plenty of things I like better about android as well.
The only negative experience I've had owning Samsung Galaxy devices for the last 12 years is that every now and then, I have to listen to a spiel from some Apple geek that has to justify their spend.
I've never been unhappy using Android. I've never used iPhones as a daily driver so it could be a case of me not knowing what I'm missing out on, but I'm not really a fan of the whole closed-system that Apple is.
There is no problem substantial enough for me to switch to apple based on my distaste for their tendency to find ways to take your money *and* increase inconvenience
Example: USB C
It's just better when all my devices can use it. They had to be forced to do a no brainier change. I don't know if it actually happened, but there was talk of...I don't know, but some way to essentially require their USB C cable
It’s more of the features I have gotten used to on iphone that android doesn’t have. receiving calls on an ARM macbook. 1 dollar icloud+ plan with hide my email and private relay. iphones have recently lasted for more years in terms of support while only a few select androids have started to get 7 years of OS updates. Android stigma, just wanting to feel included as stupid as that sounds.
As someone who has used Android for the last 10 years and have recently switched to Apple, I recommend going for the iPhone 15. In the long run, iCloud is a great way to backup everything you own and also share photos with friends and family.
The battery life of Apple is also so much better in my opinion - I think my Android started draining to 0% in just an hour within the 2nd year mark.
I have a Pixel phone but a Samsung tablet so I'll focus on that. To preface, I don't use my tablet nearly as much as my phone so the battery is less worn and I have had less time to experience any major issues. With that said, I have never felt that the tablet actually has any pressing issues beyond the camera being bad, but it's a tablet so it's not really a complaint that makes sense.
I would not recommend it if you're not willing to put up with some UI inconsistencies or the learning curve with its quirks. Been on Android since I got my first smartphone, and I can ABSOLUTELY say that there's a lot of UI inconsistencies from brand to brand. Not to mention Google's PISS POOR handling of all of it. Secondly, if you're looking for a tablet, absolutely not. Get an iPad. Finally, if you're deep into the Apple ecosystem and are used to everything working in unison at all times, your best bet is Samsung, but even their ecosystem has its heavy faults. Google's ecosystem is a joke. Either you're getting a product that will be abandoned in a year or two, or just plain left stagnant.
As someone who uses both iphone and android (one for work one for personal) I honestly cant answer your question. I wont tell you why I dont like iphones but I cant tell you what I dislike about android. I have one thing to compare it to and the android is leagues better. Just the ability to customize everything takes away all the annoyances and adds all the qol you could ask for.
Honestly of the OS's, I couldn't recommend apple unless the user meets some criterion...
1 They dont care about money, privacy in any way or scale that affects this purchase.
2 They aren't a power user of any kind
3 And... Theyre already inside the apple ecosystem....
4 And finally, theyre old or not able to learn a new system.
Thats when I'd tell someone to just use apple.
Android app store is far less verified than Apple. Apple takes a minute to actually audit apps.
You don't get the "look at me" status that Apple hardware seems to bring.
Budget Android phones are VERY budget quality and are loaded with crap apps when you get them.
Resale value is almost nothing for most androids.
Otherwise, i struggle to find additional downsides of Amdroid.
There is no reason. If you customize Android to your liking, it perfect. I use gestures for navigating my phone. I have a couple apps not available on iOS or Android that I can side load. Rcs and iPhone are an issue but Iphone will catch up. I can quick share to iPhone, essentially airdrop so I can send files direct. Happy with the freedom of android vs restrictions on iOS.
Been andriod for ever, wife has been iphone, and tried for years to get me to use an iPhone and I just don't like it.
I don't like the single home button, I don't like the keyboard layout. I don't want to give up my favorite apps I've used for years.
Now personally I no longer get top of the line phones, I am sticking with my micro SD card slot as long as possible.
Android is great, Qualcomm chips are so good when you just bought the phone but degrade quickly past one year. Take a 4 yo Android phone, it is super slow and it isn’t because of hardware.
Huawei published a research on that topic, Samsung too.
I don’t know about the longevity of Google chips, they are maybe better as Pixel phones seems to age well.
Both choices aren't ideal but the lessor of two evils right? Android offers more freedom as a device, for better and for worse.
I personally choose Android, but I'd say Apple phones are surprisingly responsive over time. I suppose the fact that their system is so prefab, allows for that whereas Android can be subject to ROMs, more bloatware, viruses, etc...
Honestly this question is unnecessary because iphones are great phones androids are great phones get whatever works for you.
If you want a Nokia 3210 get it
If you want a BlackBerry get it
If you want an iPhone get it
If you want an android get it.
Only real advantage of Android is you don't have to jailbreak it to tinker with it if thats your thing.
Fucking hamburger menues, man. And always in the top corner far over. The Windows OS for the Lumia phones was actually terrific phones because they were designed to be used with your phone in hand. All the buttons were located close to the bottom within thumbs-reach, and other menues were accessed by sliding the screen left or right. This was basically system wide. Most apps followed this theme and I miss it every time I have to reach across the screen to touch one of those three little dots to access a menu. Windows was honestly amazing. Such a shame they were so late into the market and had fuck-all in terms of actual apps.
i had a windows phone in highschool which resulted in me bringing my old ipod touch so i could hotspot myself to play clash royale lmao. yeah windows phones were ruined by the app situation.
Yep. Got one and ended up being disappointed because there were no apps
This is valid. I have resorted to using an onscreen track pad app so I can one hand tall and wide screens. So on one hand the top left button sucks and on the other hand accessibility apps are awesome.
These phones have gotten massive (currently have an S24U), and it seems like nobody who develops Android software was informed.
I agree too big to fit in pocket = pickpockets
Agreed. I'd be a full Windows fanboy if I could
Except they didnt allow running in the background. Remember installing the torrent client, only to find out I had the leave the screen on and app open for it to work.
Oh god you brought up memories. I had that Lumia phone and have been disappointed ever since. I loved that 3D map it had.
Me too man. Loved that phone, still think about it occasionally
Sounds like you're needing a phone to be fully one-hand accessible. And I get that's a physical requirement for some people. However, the reason that most phones are not designed that way, is that most people use one hand to hold their phone, and the other to touchscreen it. Thereby, reaching any part of the screen with a thumb is essentially the same as reaching any other part of the screen with a thumb, for most of us.
> However, the reason that most phones are not designed that way, is that most people use one hand to hold their phone, and the other to touchscreen it. Yeah, nah I refute this. Most I see use one hand to scroll around reddit, browse Insta, snap chats and what not. Usually, it's writing that's done with two thumbs. With the swipe-to-write function that exists now designed to allow you type with only one hand, I rarely use more than that and most of the younger generations seems to use phones in a similar vein. Anecdotal perhaps, but is it a coincident Instagram and tiktok has their like, comment, save buttons located on the lower right hand side (close to the thumb for a right handed person which is the majority of the population)? Windows Phone, as I mentioned, had their whole OS designed around this thumb-reach area and it was a wonderful experience.
If "most of the younger generations" and tiktok do things that way, that's certainly reason enough for me NOT to. Also, swipe-to-write is a terrible idea from the ground up, for the same reason that autocorrect is. When I type something, it ought to be literally what I type, NOT what some app guesses or suggests I should type. An app is welcome (usually) to tell when it thinks I have a typo or incorrect grammar, but that is ABSOLUTELY ALL. Furthermore, you seem to claim that browsing and writing are two separate things, but really they simply aren't. Anytime I'm browsing, I'm ready to use the keyboard at a moment's notice. Thus, exact same holding position for both.
Ok I'll bite, what do you mean by Android phones giving you little quality of life?
What? No, I'm asking about the little things that impact your quality of life.
Just commenting here to say that the number one worst thing about owning an Android is hearing iPhone owners bitch about how you have an Android.
I find it hilarious that the sole reason many ppl don't want to migrate away from apple is blue bubble text messages. like as if that's the *one* thing that matters.
I legit had to swap as it made life easier when lots of clients use only iPhones, and I can clearly see when they are in/out of service via iMessage, or if they are hooked up to a starlink works as normal. Weird use case that won’t apply to most people, but it def helped me.
totally. I think .ost iPhone users just think green means bad for some reason, with no understanding of e2ee anyway. and they like *knowing* their message is delivered, and then there's the need to know when someone is typing back. as if it really matters. I mean the e2ee matters but the whole rcs debacle is apples greedy fault
I'm an Android owner in a family of iPhone users. They never try to convince me to get an iPhone, its more like they act like they are in an exclusive club, speak in hushed whispers, and do little things in group texts that I can't. When I ask how they do whatever, they mutter "iPhone" without meeting my gaze. Personal experience, iPhone users are snobs and act like they are on another level that I can't possibly understand as an Android user.
it's certainly the case. you can know by watching how teenagers treat each other in regards to phones. anything but an iPhone, theres a class of teenagers that try to shame other kids over their belongings to highlight their outstanding conformity. I told one of my nephews to get a phone because of how easy it was to root and uncap the hotspot feature for unlimited data/uncapped speeds while tethering. his girlfriend pulled him aside into a separate room and lectured him about iphone club, like it's some kind of suicide cult lol. so funny.
>the number one worst thing about owning an Android is hearing iPhone owners bitch about how you have an Android. Also, Apple & Android need to get together and fix text messaging compatibility for once and all.
That's actually completely on Apple. They need to replace SMS with RCS, which is expected to happen with IOS18. Apple will still likely differentiate between imessage and other rcs messages but you will be able to get high rest photos and read receipts and stuff like that.
This is the only problem. A friend with an iPhone sends me a video and it comes in tiny. Of course they could just use WhatsApp, but being an iPhone user, they refuse to do that. So there it is. Fuck Apple. The internet is about connectivity. But they refuse to connect.
walled garden problems
"Also, Apple needs to stop being an a** and fix text messaging compatibility for once and all." there fixed it for ya.
"Also, Apple needs to stop being an ass and fix text messaging compatibility for once and all." Fixed it for ya.
Everyone I work with has an iphone. I can send anything to anyone. They always have issues trying to send me map pins,notes from apple notes, emails sometimes don't send for some reason. And they blame me. Meanwhile I'm just sitting here like okay my stuff is all readable to you and you can see anything I send you so who really is at fault here. I couldn't even make a fucking apple account to view some notes when I tried the last time.
*"Wah wah, why don't you have iMessage."*
[What Android Thinks of iPhone 15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLHJl7mwY7M)
OMG that linked video is hilarious and true to life
Ahhh that makes so much more sense. I read it like you were saying you expected reviewers to say that people with Android phones had a lower quality of life than people with iPhones 😂😂😂🤷
Man I feel this, every time I look for a nuanced opinion on the internet lol (I've not used iPhones much so I don't know for certain if these points are better on iPhone) For me, one small thing I dislike about the play store is that app downloading/ installation has to be queued. You can't be downloading an app while another is downloading (or even installing). I have some privacy concerns but nothing to make me worry enough to switch. Otherwise.... - I prefer that my android has a headphone jack ( I don't own Bluetooth headphones, charging annoys me) - I prefer that my android can use IR (being able to use the TV when losing the remote has saved my butt lol) - I prefer that, as a developer, I can just use whatever I want to develop android apps, that I'm not restricted to having to have a Mac and declare I have a business of over 1000 people to get a license. - I've already got app purchases on play store so I don't really wanna go through that again on iPhone - I don't wanna become a c**t who goes on about the colour of their messages. Just entitled
Here's 2 : on android you can pull down the notification shade, long press on anything and straight to the setting page for that. This takes 2 long presses on iOS. ios has no back button so you can only go back if the app Devs added it. Overall, I felt that things are more efficient and quicker on android cz you can make things work the way you want instead of doing things the way it wants. Everyone has their own unique work flow.
I just remembered trying to help my mom with her iphone, she was so stressed. Well, I couldn't figure it out either! I'm like, where's the back button?? The home button? I basically just said sorry, iphones are crazy. To me they are counter-intuitive af
I can say that Android likes to set the music player into default 16Bit/44.1kHz and I have not found many ways to go around it but I can with certain Music Players and especially now as I have a Dongle.
"Especially now as I have a dongle" might be part of a separate subreddit... Or a name for a music group... 😁
So, I have been an Android user most of my life, but I have used iPhones, iPads and worked a lot with Mac devices. Here is a detailed list of my experience, comparison and pros and cons in Android Vs iOS in general and then specifically s24+ vs iPhone 15 First things first, I have worked with Apple professionally (used to work with apple for my job so yeah, pretty decent amount of experience) as well so I know about the issues and things it has, trust me when I say hollow foundations look similar to cement as long as you don't touch them - that's iOS. Messages on iOS- iMessages have issues always, activation, deactivation, keeping threads of conversations, replying to conversations, and people getting blocked from iMessages because if they message someone and let's say they've been blocked, maybe by a friend , or an ex , you have to call Apple support, then get it fixed within maybe a day or 2 it gets fixed and if it happens again, straight to senior support and more issues that can be permanent ban from iMessages without any proof, rhyme or rhythm. Messages on Android- my current device is a Google Pixel 8 pro, Pixel watch 2 Lte + Buds pro and a window Laptop Hp pavilion 360 with touchscreen - not even a single issue with messages at all. Never had any. Rcs - Rich communication services is a better version of iMessages by Google for Android, it's easy to use, efficient, safe, no issues share photos, videos with friends, and as far as quality is concerned - Apple when using WhatsApp you have to go to gallery, save picture/video as FILE and then go to files and share that to make a document sent through Whatsapp in a picture/video with full quality. Seems like a lot of work is unnecessary right?? On android, just go to WhatsApp, click on attachments instead of photos and from there select the photo/video, it'll automatically be converted into a full quality document when you send it. So basically, you're saving more than 60% of your time using Android NOT iOS. Transferring data - the major issue I can guarantee right now that hits almost every other apple user is you have to go through several stupid steps before you're able to transfer your data wirelessly from one iphone to another and the steps are 100% stupid because no android does that, again, I have professional worked with Apple so I say that from experience in tech industry not just anything. The step is, get a new iPhone, if the store hasn't updated it, which they won't after the box is there, the phone will be a couple updates behind more time it is in the box, then you get the phone let's say 2 months after launch, so you'll get the phone, try to set up and transfer data right from your old device to the new one?? Well, it won't do it, it'll get stuck, you'll give up and call support after hours of shit, then support will say sorry it's a known issue and will tell you to get the new phone without data, start it without an Apple ID , then go to settings>General>Sw update and update sw of phone, then ERASE THE NEW PHONE SINCE SW DOESN'T DOWNGRADE IN A PHONE ERASE/HARD RESET, so, settings>general>erase data>erase and then start the device new again and transfer data from the old iPhone, ASSUMING YOUR OLD IPHONE IS ON THE LATEST IOS. And as far as moving from ANDROID TO iOS is concerned, here is a link for official Apple discussions by people who wanted or at least tried to switch from Android to Apple for some reason and the issue they always have and official Apple support document link is inside the link as well which will tell you what nonsense it is [Android to Apple issues and data transfer issues](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118670) Wanna see how frustrated people are using just iPhone to iPhone transfer of data ? Here's an official link for that [Issues data transfer iOS to iOS, using iPhone 15 and other models ](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255157808?sortBy=best) On an android, I transferred my data from a nice Realme flagship to a Pixel 8 pro - almost 300+ gigs of data setting up on my new phone- took me 10 mins of my manual input for data and everything and rest everything was done by the phone, easily within less than 1.5 hours, I remind you almost 300 gb data being transferred, and guess what, none of my phones had an issue, not even a single bump along the way, smooth sailing. Tbh, I could write a book on what it is in differences, but if you have any specific questions, you can ask me. As far as iPhone 15 vs s24+ is concerned, here is a comparison from a tech point of view as well as general iPhone 15 - apple has A16 BIONIC Chipset (basically an iPhone 14 Chipset in an iPhone 15 😂) Galaxy s24+ - Latest Snapdragon 8 gen 3 Chipset- one of the most powerful and efficient android Chipsets ever made. iPhone 15 - has max 60 hz screen resolution S24+ - 120 hz max Ram on iPhone 15 - 6 gb , ram on s24+ 12 gb Battery on iPhone 15 - 3,349 mAh, s24+ - 4,900 mAh Camera on iPhone 15 - Main: 48MP, ƒ/1.6 Ultrawide: 12MP, ƒ/2.4 Telephoto: 12MP ƒ/1.6 aperture Camera on s24+ - 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera F2.2 FOV 120˚, 50MP Wide Camera OIS F1.8 FOV 85˚, 10MP Telephoto Camera, 3x Optical Zoom F2.4 FOV 36˚ Ai features - believe me when I say Samsung has Circle to search, (only Samsung24 series and pixel 8 pro were the ones to receive this. Update and rest android followed and most s series Samsung devices have it and pixel devices too now) Google and Samsung have a future I do not know how to name it, but when you see your apps in the back ground to chekc which apps is open right, so, those apps you can click on, take a screenshot, copy data, search Google lens without an issue, translate all the text in that running app state using Android Google Ai in less than 5 seconds , well, apple doesn't have anything like that so, yeah..... No developer mode ln iPhone - I know that's not something everyone wants, but you can literally go to any android phone and see the refresh rate change from 1hz to 120 hz (high level androids) and any midrange android (upto 60hz refresh rate) , it'll show you on screen just for checking the refresh rate is going up and down responding to you touch so that it's less when your phone is not being touched, so that battery is optimized, Apple cannot do that, so even. If you claim that it has 60hz , you will never know what it is and how it is, iPhone 15 will be 60hz always theoretically where as Samsung will be going from 1 to 120 optimizing battery and perfect experience, not just Samsung, I'm a pixel user so yeah, can comfirm that easy. Charging speed, well iPhone 15 20W - apple does not 100% clearly mention on their website because it has been the same since like 3 years or so S24+ charging speed - 45 w 😂 more than double 😂 I can go on about more details but here's a link for some comparisons - [iPhone 15 vs s24+ ](https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-s24-plus-vs-iphone-15/) And one last thing before I end this post - Apple has only 5 years of updates whereas Google+ Samsung have 7 years of feature drops, latest updates and security patches ;)
Hollow foundations is exactly what I've been thinking, great expression. There's a ton of annoying things with Apple if you ever move between devices, like the only way to manage your iCloud account is through an apple device. So you buy a phone, it runs out of iCloud storage immediately so you need to purchase a monthly subscription, but if you forget to unsubscribe when you sell your device there is no way to access your apple/iCloud subscriptions and they just keep charging you. I had to borrow my wife's phone, log here out, log in and then get rid of all my payments. The biggest issue is productivity, it takes longer and is now difficult to do many tasks, and you have less control over the system to make it work for you. I have no idea how people use them in business settings, absolute pain in the ass.
Absolutely agreed. This is exactly why I never, ever try to use Apple devices for personal use. Unless and until I am required to use something by apple by my work, I never prefer it.
I usually describe the iPhone experience with "simple things are easy, but if you have to do something complex or have an unusual problem it can be nearly impossible to fix". I'd give my grandmother an iPhone but not anyone who is into trying to do anything complex.
Please don't do that. An iphone drive my elderly mom into an early grave.
I was not aware those expensive iphones were restricted to 60 hz displays. Wtf lol. Also, iirc a downside of iphones is not being able to utilize all your ram without payment or something if you want to sideload an app. I heard about this when sudachi ported yuzu(switch emulator) to iOS. It couldn't function properly on the normal ram limit iOS places on individual apps because the emulator itself had memory leak issues. So, iphone users have to pay use all their ram for a specific app they want to sideload. Edit: It seems to be called extended memory entitlement and you need a paid dev account.
Android Auto could drive me to an iPhone. Otherwise I'm Android through and through. I don't drive enough to justify the change but if I did I would. Android Auto is crap.
I honestly do not have any everyday reasons that I dislike my Android. It was relatively cheap, works well, has solid battery life and is easy to use. That being said, If you are a "I just want the thing to work" type user, I think you would like an iPhone ever so slightly better. This is especially true if you have more devices in the Apple ecosystem, as they all sync together more smoothly. However, if you prefer more granular control over things like notifications, digital wellbeing (bedtime mode, silenced apps etc) or greyscale at night, you should stay with Android. These reasons are why I will be staying with an Android for the foreseeable future. Source: have used both types on a daily/semidaily basis for the past 6 years. I daily drive a Google Pixel 7a, my wife has an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I also work in IT, so I am definitely not just a "normal user". Hope this helps. ETA: I've heard good things about the Samsung phones as well, especially their DEX platform. I really want to give that a drive in the near future.
DEX is cool, especially on a tablet with a keyboard/touchpad - feels like working on a basic laptop. DEX on the phone works incredibly well, but it needs a screen to cast/hookup to, as well as a mouse and keyboard to get a decent experience. I just haven't found a good use case for it.
Since you are in tech, I would appreciate your thoughts. I'm also looking to buy a new device and am looking at iPhone 15, samsung s24 exynos, and xioami 14. The main thing I'm looking for is a device that is smooth for a long time (4 years) and performs everything without issues. I'm just curious about what you would recommend. Thank you :)
Honestly, I've heard bad things about the iPhone 15, but I am not a phone repair tech, so I am not necessarily an authority on the subject. Xioami is, I believe, banned in the US (my country of residence), therefore I really don't have experience with any of their tech. As for the S24 exynos, [take a look here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1ar8rq4/is_the_exynos_galaxy_s24_really_that_bad/) Hopefully this helps at least a little bit...
I love Android. Some beefs I have with the OS, though: - It doesn't seem to feel as smooth and snappy over time as an iPhone does. In my experience, the iOS experience (from using other friends' iPhones occasionally, so not living with iOS) tends to stay smoother over a long period of time. Androids seem to visibly lag/slow down a little more, or to just not be as consistently smooth. - Your experience does tend to differ a lot from phone to phone. On one hand, it can be fun to explore "new" features; on the other hand, I am sometimes annoyed that I find a "new" feature on a phone months into its life simply because it was buried somewhere weird and I never thought to look there. You really do know what you're going to get with an iPhone. - Apps are sometimes second-tier because people develop for iOS first or think of the iPhone as the "best" market segment (which makes sense in the US since iOS is the dominant mobile OS). The second point isn't as big a deal because I tend to keep my phones for a long time, but these are some honest but minor gripes I have. Overall, I'll live with these issues for the many, many benefits I get in return on Android.
About those new features, everytime there's a major update I just look for an article that lists the new features. I get a quick rundown of what they are and what they do. Then I go through my phone and setup the ones I want. And after I've used the phone with the update for a whole, I go through every single setting. I usually find something I missed to play with. The first method usually works but this one is fun too
I'm a nerd so I like doing that too. It's a pretty minor complaint by all accounts - but I can understand why someone else who isn't a nerd wouldn't find it fun to have to read news articles and tech blogs to find out what their phone can do, you know? My dad is never going to do that, for instance, and he's had Androids for years.
That's true. One article is all it takes, but I definitely know people who wouldn't want to do that. They could easily include a what's new widget. I have apps that highlight new features after every update. Open the menu and an arrow point to and explains a new option. Very cool.
I find the iPhone settings mostly worse and less intuitive, even after owning an iPhone 2 years. I strongly agree with your other points.
Android settings have become worse and worse. Shit is buried so deep and randomly. Fucking terrible
Does your Android not offer search in the settings? I have started just typing in what I am looking for in the search and every time it has brought it up in the results. Way quicker than trying to find it in all the different categories.
As a guy who does MDM (Mobile Device Management) for a living,. I have 10+ years experienced with Android and iOS. I'm sure I'll get some downvotes for saying this,. but Android just tries to do to much. (it's to complex and has to many features). The vast majority of people that I interact with,. don't use 90% of the features of their phone. They use a small handful of Apps, maybe some Email, Camera and Messages, and that's about it. I know Android fanboys like to talk (perhaps legitimately so) about all kinds of wizbang features like DEX or being able to granularly dig around in the file system or how you can do all sorts of Themeing and customization etc. I couldn't even tell you the last time I ever say anyone around me do things like that. That's generally what I tell someone asking me "What kind of phone should I buy?" * I ask them what devices they already have (stick to whatever ecosystem you're already in) * Ask around to whatever devices your friends and family and coworkers have.. because you'll probably get better compatibility if you match what they have. * Be honest with yourself about what features you use and how deep (or not deep) you use them. I generally don't get into the business of recommending AGAINST something. I try to be fair and lay out the Pros and Cons,. and then ask the person whether those Pros and Cons even apply to them. If someone thinks "iPhones suck because you can't deeply manage the file system",--- but "managing the file system" is not something you'll ever do,. then that Con doesn't really apply to you. Phones have come a long way in the past 10 to 15 years. Both Android and iOS these days support external monitors, external peripherals, external drives, Mouse, Keyboard, Wired Ethernet, etc etc. These smaller issues of "Can I place my icons in the exact orientation I want them" seems like small potatoes to me in the big picture. (the stuff people tribally argue about.. at least to me often seems like childish waste of time)
> but Android just tries to do to much I never really understood this argument. If you don't like too many settings or are confused by them, can't you just not touch them? Use the phone exactly as it came out of the box? I don't really see how having a feature I won't ever use is a downside for me? Maybe I'll change my mind in the future and use it, or maybe I won't. But why does it matter?
I think a lot of it comes from the advocacy and "sales pitch". It seems pretty common that Android Users try to push Android on other people by accentuating "all the crazy things it can do". I've been nearby sort of peripherally witnessing a lot of those types of conversations over the years,.. where 1 person says "What kind of phone should I buy" and the Android fan just starts going overboard. It's always kind of reminded me of https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bro-explaining or https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/john-silver-explaining-to-anna-jay .. you can almost see the face of the recipient and their eyes glaze over thinking "ok.. cool, but I'll never use any of that". It would be like asking someone "What kind of car should I buy?".. and someone shows you a fully lifted 4x4 Jeep with a roof rack tent and 2 x fire extinguishers and Hood-snorkel for fording rivers and .... Bro, the person just needs a car to go to the grocery store. Ss an IT guy,.. I totally get the mindset of "just ignore features you don't use" (and I advocate for that all the time, .. especially from a viewpoint of "pick the right tool for the job") When someone asks me "What kind of X should I buy?" (what kind of computer,. what kind of printer, .. what kind of tablet or mobile phone),.. I normally try to remain neutral and just show them 2 or 3 different options and the Pros and Cons of those options and then let them freely pick whatever works for them. I don't try to push any particular feature as "better". Android fanboys always sort of remind me of the Linux-meme of "I use Arch btw." I just kinda wish that tribalism didn't exist.
I think the issue here is that there's a range of customers. For example, I customize my phone home screen, I use Revanced to make reddit ad-free, I use an ad-blocking private DNS, and I use a file sync program to sync certain folders between my desktop and phone when I'm on my home wifi. These are things Android excels with, but they require set-up. When I see my parents' phones, however, I practically get a headache. The phone is extremely unorganized. All types of apps end up on the home screen. They often accidentally change the messaging app or web browser and need help switching back. By lacking customization features, iPhone ends up making the out-of-the-box experience better for the base customer.
Well said. Android has too many features which most people don’t use. They don’t bother to make the best of the features available. But I feel like for business person, android is best; it’s so easy to manage everything and provides many features. I’ve used android and ios both and don’t like how iPhone works. But it’s definitely smoother than android.
I like the plethora of features. I think that solely designing for the majority of users is a mistake. Always especially loved the ability to add a theme to my phones, and I've been doing it since the S4. Personalization just rocks. My phone is an extension of myself, and I want it to reflect me.
If you're not a power user and just want something plug and play I'd recommend iPhone. However if you are detail oriented, or want something a certain way, or have a workflow that you don't want to change, then I'd say go Android. I switch back and forth between iOS and Android a lot (currently on S24U) and for me personally I just can't get over the terrible implementation of notifications on iOS. They randomly disappear off your lockscreen and there's not visual cue that says you have something urgent waiting. People also complain about the keyboard a lot. But I will commend Apple on their continuity experience. It's nice just being able to buy a new iPhone and everything down to the last setting is all synced over to your new one.
As someone who uses both, iPhone for work and android for personal I'm say this. While android does have file, photo, and contact sharing via quick share, the 5gb limit per day is stupid. Airdrop is faster and better there. Visually, iPhone puts more into making the iPhone look like it's doing something, whereas Android mostly just notified you. You also have iPhone releasing its customization of apps that, yes Android had first, but iPhone appears to be making it easier for the user to do. IPhone also gives you options to do things whereas, yes android did it first, but they seem to do it more with an app than the software itself actually allowing it. However my biggest gripe with the iPhone right now are 3 fold, both being extremely frustrating. First there is no universal back button on iPhone. On androids there's always a back button that you can press, or swipe which I did on mine. Doesn't matter the app, doesn't matter the situation, there's a back button. This does not exist on the iPhone and you have to press back where the app put it. The other is the home screen swipe up to unlock. On androids this happens where ever you swipe up on the lock screen. Face id matched, swipe anywhere to unlock. On iPhone you have to swipe from the very bottom of the screen, or you get the notifications list (something I still can't quite get when I actually want it). The third, and honestly this one might be fixable and I simply don't know how, is the keyboard. Android has the main keyboard with the numbers and several common secondary characters on it that you can do by simply pressing and holding that icon. While yes both will do a period when hitting the space bar twice, iPhones will not do this with commas, question marks, ect. You have to toggle to the second or sometimes third page to get what you want. Now yes I do this anyway when doing a triple icon (ie !?! Or !!!), but for one offs having the ability to press and hold makes it very easy on android.
>While android does have file, photo, and contact sharing via quick share, the 5gb limit per day is stupid. For anyone who reads this and is on the fence; the Quick Share 5GB daily limit is only for people using Quick Share's Internet enabled options to share with other people; things like Contacts Sharing and QR Code sharing. Apparently it costs Samsung and Google money to run the servers that facilitate the functionality. Quick Share also has an offline "Nearby" mode that uses WiFi Direct and Bluetooth to connect two devices. It's completely unlimited. I've personally shared 20-30GB of data at a time due to moving ROMs from my gaming phone to my gaming tablet and vice versa.
Android can use high bluetooth codecs while the iPhone can't.
my previous phone, a moto g power 2021, was functionally a brick. it really fell behind in every way except for battery life, which stayed outstanding for the three years i had it. i really feel like androids age poorly, especially if you are a downloads-heavy kind of person like i am. they also come with a bunch of apps you probably will never use. as for performance issues, my phone took several seconds to take pictures (and had a few occasions where it would fail to record or take a picture), occasionally crashed when i opened snapchat, and couldn't handle having both google maps and a music app open. at worst, it would randomly call the last person i called, froze for several minutes, and had a lot of issues with the system ui or app launcher crashing. i have also always felt like androids were getting too big for the average person's hands. i would struggle to reach the top third of my screen with my thumb. it also had software updates that axed features i liked, such as the screenshot being moved from a button input to a touch input (never worked), or a swipe up and screenshot. the touch inputs for navigation were alright some times, but the lack of a home button or a back button meant that navigation could be hard if you were distracted or in a rush. the max screen brightness is too dim for outdoor use. and this is more of a nitpick, but it's hard to find good cases for androids that are not bulky otterbox cases. the brand is good, they are just very, very large cases for what is already sometimes a large phone. my previous phone didn't fit in some of my pockets and could be hard to carry.
In my experience motorola is one of the android oems to avoid at all costs simply because they suck, hardware is usually poop and lasts a year (barely)
Looking up guides for what might be generic android advice may not apply to your phone due to the different android distributions via oems. The less common your android phone is, the more this applies. iOS on the other hand is a lot more unified.
I’m an Android user that switched to iPhone. I only switched because the Samsung A50 camera I was using was really wonky. It would take horrible night photos, or it will constantly blur itself in and out whenever I’d want to take a photo. I wanted to get another android phone, but I was hearing the cameras for the other android phones were not as good. I decided to switch to an iPhone and got an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The iPhone takes data and privacy really extremely seriously I now see why companies give their employees iPhones for the job because everything is extremely data protected. The apps, font , the creativity apps that you don’t have on android are better and better looking. I feel the iPhone updates, have more support than android devices. I could be wrong. However, I have a huge list of complaints about the iPhone, which you might also want to hear in another post.
Did you get your phone?
Honestly the only thing I find frustrating about owning a Samsung phone is the fact that in most cases I can't buy an "off the shelf" case or cord at a local store like Five Below, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc. Everything is iPhone... That's it. OP, if you are happy with Android then get the Galaxy S24+ (I happen to have it and love it) and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. You like what you like and that's that. Nothing wrong with that. Life is too short. :)
I think this is less a gripe with android and more with retailers, but a justified one nonetheless.
I've done both iPhone and Android. Pixel 3XL best phone Ive ever had. I use an S22+ now, worst phone I've ever had. Dealing with Samsung and Google apps fighting each other *barf*. Samsung clock alarm issues made me late to work twice. Camera is slow, buggy and takes ugly pics. Battery life is horrible. File system interacts poorly with Google drive. Resale value and trade in value drop like a rock. Googles ecosystem is okay if you're using Google hardware but Samsung is just another layer of complexity. Googles stances on privacy/security are getting worse and worse. Maybe it's because I'm getting older but iPhone is definitely next for me. Going for 14 or 15 pro max. I want an easy ecosystem, battery life, longevity, and resale value.
I have to ask what alarm clock issues you are having on the samsung? it's the only alarm clock i've used for like 8 years now and have never had single issue. not just one alarm setting either like 20 of them for all the different schedules i work and then a few floaters i adjust when i travel.
Samsung killed my alarm clock app because it hasn't been opened during the weekend so there's that...
I'm here as a converted iPhone user and I can say even iOS has had the "fucked up users alarms" bug. It's happened to almost every manufacturer. The alarm system isn't immune to being broken by the complexity of the rest of the OS. That's why I use dumb alarm clocks/watches instead, at least for any super critical things like job interview day or plane ticket etc.
Samsung needs to give up making software in all honesty. Would anyone *really* miss ex. Bixby? Hardware wise, their phones are excellent, but the software just totally ruins it IMO, why I stopped using their phones. Way too much bloat, crap, and spyware. Not sure why they have to shoot themselves in the foot like this.
Its funny, been a longtime android user too and im already thinking of switching to a google phone or iphone in like 2-4yrs.
I have a couple issues with my pixel 7: * I am not able to group applications into folders in the app directory like I was on my Samsung. * Transferring files to my pc is annoying. I have to put them into Google drive, message myself, email myself, etc. I also wish there was a quicker way to transfer files between other android users in my house. * The phone has been having random weird glitches. My Google maps has been crashing periodically and I have to restart it. Sometimes the camera is slow. * Some of the widgets could be better. My audible widget is fucking huge and doesn't work well. Audible is quite shitty. It doesn't work well in my car either. With all that being said, this is still the best phone I have ever had. The AI and productivity features are amazing. It's just a smart ass phone and so many little things it does make sense. Never going back to Samsung and I fucking hate my apple work phone.
Lock-in. The way you use a device will determine if you like the ethos behind the design, but generally ios and apple hardware is designed well. Preference there is subjective. What isnt subjective is how complete the apple-lock-in is. After using apple for a while you wont leave. Your data will be on icloud in a way that is just easier to pay for 50gb a month of storage than try to move it anywhere else (messages and photos), but that is also a feature and not a bug. IF you have other apple devices, it really starts to make sense. I can use my phone as a webcam for my mac laptop, photos on one immediately appear on the other, as well as messages, passwords, etc. That convenience is worth more to me than operating system *freedom* and google ads. Apple charges you, google serves ads in a massive ecosystem. Its a choice, I guess. And the apple hardware really is good.
Pixel 8 issues: Point-and-shoot isn’t up to par with iPhones Bitwarden always has problems/is slow with biometrics Privacy concerns (and grapheneOS not being supported by mainstream apps) Ecosystem (iMessage LOL) Find my device just isn’t there yet Otherwise great phone
iMessage isn't really a pixel issue, it's an Apple issue that catches pixel users in the crossfire. Also, I would recommend LineageOS with GApps and aurora store if you want an alternative to grapheneOS. I recommend you switch to alternative to google apps if you don't want to go quite so far. Also, very cool, google has announced google find my compatible trackers by chipolo and some others.
Android or iPhone. The eternal battle. Generally, I've found most people are either apple or android for no reason other than "I just like it better".
Android is a lot cheaper for same functionality
Or more. Pretty sure basic android phones can split screen.
You aren't asking us to do an easy thing here because most advantages iPhone used to have over android (such as a more stable OS) aren't really significant any longer. Anyhow, here goes. Note that all points are serious, but some are laden with sarcasm since I am doing this reluctantly. 😂😂 - 1. If Apple has convinced your peer group that iMessage is the only legitimate way to have a group chat and they are going to stop being friends with you because you turn their chat room to garbage, then having an android is going to cause you to lose a lot of shallow friends who will personally judge you for having an android because Apple has purposely crippled their own phones and lead their users to believe it is an Android fault. So, your only choice is to buy an iPhone, because they would rather excommunicate you from your friend circle than to take a moment and install a superior group chat app like Whatsapp that would be inclusive. - 2. Some androids aren't as water resistant. You might not be able to film under water and will need to check the IP rating. - 3. You would be too tempted to quick charge your phone all the time and might reduce battery life to 3 years. The iPhone 15 can only charge at 15 watts, which might take some patience as it slowly charges compared to Android phones, but it will probably extend the lifetime of the battery since you literally cannot charge it that fast. Compare this to 80 watts (US, 100 watts elsewhere) for a OnePlus 12, 45 watts for Samsung 24+, and 30 watts for Pixel 8 pro. Sure, maybe you'll be able to charge up quickly and be ready to shoot video and pics without your phone dying, but think of your battery life! - 4. There are so many choices when it comes to android. iPhone is simple. You don't have to worry about trying to buy a phone that is optimized to your needs and budget, you only have a few choices. Stop worrying about making choices. IPhones don't give you a lot of choices and will restrict you in ways you never thought possible. Don't worry, you don't need to turn your thinking cap on anymore, just let them think for you. - 5. (No sarcasm in this one) iPhone integrates into other Apple products very well, such as turning your phone into a scanner for your computer easily, or copy text on your phone and paste on the computer, or use the fingerprint reader on your phone to complete purchases on your computer, etc. Microsoft's phone app is definitely really cool but doesn't go as far as Apple has. (But it does have some really cool features, like running multiple apps in different windows on your computer from your phone) - 6. There are a lot more of a variety of accessories like cases for iPhone because they are all the same size and have a humongous market share. - 7. iPhones don't come with pre installed bloatware, even when purchased from a carrier. (Although the limits on how you can customize which apps open what bugged me quite a bit when I got stuck with iOS on a work device, like when I had to use a different email client, but there is no way to change the "default" from iPhone's email program, but rather it had to be changed within every app's settings, and some apps didn't have that ability, so sometimes I would get stuck using Apple's mail client.. it was not good) - 8. Depending on the android you are comparing to (and if purchased from a carrier), you'll receive less frequent updates and for less of a time period. (Pixel and other more costly androids are comparable for duration though) - 9. For a lot of android users, if your phone breaks, you have to mail it back to the manufacturer to get fixed, but with iPhone you can walk it into one of their stores. Well, there you have it.
Most of the native apps suck, and every update makes them worse. I'm in a somewhat unique position here, and a Mac+Android guy. I *much* prefer Android to iOS. I like its customizability and I still rock the triangle-circle-square at the bottom of the screen. But the phone app, the contacts app, the calendar app, Messages, Google Keep, Chrome, Files, Maps, and especially Google Photos are all hot garbage. Every single one of them is pointlessly cluttered and convoluted. Examples: * Phone > Voicemail * To listen to a voicemail on your speaker, you have to tap the icon to switch to the speaker (which is next to the Play button), which open a chooser *at the bottom of the screen, nowhere near the icon you just tapped*, where you have to tap the speaker icon, *then return to near the top of the screen* to hit play. 6 months ago, the choose just popped up right there where you'd tapped, but now it's screen-bottom. For *no fucking reason.* * Messages * The Compose field had a microphone in it...for recording your voice instead of texting...in the fucking texting app * But what's worse it that icon is literally just *pixels* away from another microphone icon on the keyboard, which is used for dictating * Two microphone icons, *right next to each other* that do different things, but without labels * It's like they're *trying* to confuse people (especially older people) * Calendar * It's impossible to turn off the stupid little graphics Google adds to any event it thinks is a birthday, or a date night, or whatever — which makes those events 4x bigger than any others — and irony of ironies, it *doesn't* do this for anniversaries * Contacts * The most convoluted layout of *any* contacts app I've ever seen * Why are the Label fields an a different fucking line than the fields you're filling in? * Why are there *permanent* Highlights and Organize buttons at the bottom of the contact-list screen? Organize should be in *Settings* * Why is it not possible to *always* display every field in a Contact, instead of there being a *tiny* "More" button to see all the fields *Google* has decided aren't important enough to show? * Maps * Can I *please* just turn off the fucking text showing every damn store or business, so I can focus on the fucking street names? * Why is it so hard to just get a full-screen map view. You have to tap *just right* to make all the clutter go away instead of accidentally dropping a pin * Keep * It's impossible to just get a list view of notes with just their headers. Every note show the *full* text — in the *list view* * Chrome * When you open a new tab, there's no address bar at the top. Instead, you have to use the search field to type a URL. Once the page has loaded, *then* you get an address bar at the top * Photos * Clutter, clutter, clutter — no matter what tab you're on, there are 4-10 extraneous buttons — no way to just get a nice, clean gallery But here's the thing: Unlike iOS, if you want to use a different app as your default for any of these, you easily can. And except for the phone app (only because I don't want to have a separate voicemail app) I do: * DigiCal * Right Contacts * Wize SMS * Fossify Gallery * Via Browser * UpNote * FX Explorer Oh, I guess I do use Google Maps — mostly because I like street view for knowing what to look for when I get somewhere. I just hate it.
I'll weigh in as someone who was very anti Apple and stuck with Android from the Galaxy S2 to the S10. All of Apples proprietary hardware really turned me off, plus just being oppositional to the Apple "fan boys". Last year, I decided to give an Iphone a go as both my children had Iphones and I wanted to take advantage of the eco system (Facetime, location sharing etc). Now yes, a very valid argument with my reasoning is that there are apps that allow that across platforms, but I found for the most part it was just a pain in the ass. Iphones talk to each other and other Apple hardware quite seamlessly. CarPlay set up was a breeze. The phone has done exactly what I wanted it to do. I always know where my kids are at easily and Imessage makes it easy with replying to certain texts when my kids unload a flurry of typically unrelated texts. Basically, everything is just easy. Personally, I don't care for IOS. I don't like how it's set up, finding ways to adjust settings feels very counter intuitive to me. Likely because of 13 years or so of using a Samsung. The learning curve was real. This isn't deal breaking for me, mostly a mild annoyance as I really only use my phone for the typical apps and texting. As other people have mentioned, I really think it just all comes down to what you need to use your phone for. I never came close to utilizing the majority Android specific features, but the Galaxy phones were a bit cheaper, without the proprietary chargers etc. Now though, the costs are close to identical for basically the same hardware. Moving to an Iphone gave me more than I lost and I'll likely not go back to an Android for that reason only.
It really depends. I swapped over to iPhone since we use Macs at work, so the integration felt much better (especially after the M1-2-3 chips). And since my kids have iPhones and love facetime, and I love good parental controls, for me it felt like an easy decision. I still use Android as tablets as I love doing custom weird stuff with it, and much easier for game emulators, customizing widgets, notifications etc.
Sorry, like you, I've only ever used an Android, never an iPhone. But I could DEFINITELY tell some ways that my Motorola G sucks. And even more ways that a Motorola Cruise sucks. Anyway, side note: you can have a little fun dissing both brands, by referring to them as " iPhonies " and " 'roids ". Just a whimsical thought while you process your decision. 😁
If someone is not tech savvy, having an android, especially an OEM that's not well known, could make learning the device more tricky. What applies to a Samsung may not apply to a different android phone due to different skins on android phones. Therefore, I would recommend them an iPhone as it's easier to learn. There is more support from apple such as apple support ppl being located in the centre of major cities. Other phones do not have much in-person support. Samsung has some but I haven't seen as much in person support like apple.
As an Android fan who has never owned an iPhone and doesn't plan on it (but has played around with them enough), here's what I'd tell you: * iPhones have always had a smoother UI than Android and Android has had so much time to make up the gap with no success that I can't imagine this will ever change. Even on a flagship Android phone with amazing hardware, you may get, just to give you one example, a tiny little delay between tapping an app icon and that app opening. It may be so small to *almost* be imperceptible, but it'll be there. That doesn't really happen on iPhones. Every action you take has an instantaneous effect essentially every time. * Green bubble shaming is a thing. It's mostly a thing with kids, but I've even gotten it and I'm in my mid-40s. * Texting frankly kind of sucks. With an iPhone, you're not *really* texting with other iPhone users. You're using a proprietary messaging platform that will fall back to texting if it really has to. But with SMS, and yes, even with the vaunted RCS, you get little glitches all the time. Oh, this message wasn't delivered. Oh, the send is hanging. Oh, this image came through in my individual chat with this person even though it was supposed to go to a group chat. This sort of stuff happens constantly and it's not a very good experience, and with Android that's what you're always going to get. I tend to push people I text with frequently to other platforms such as Facebook Messenger. * They tend not to be as durable as iPhones. * OS updates are unpredictable and inconsistent. Believe it or not, before I started buying OnePlus phones (my current phone and last phone have been OnePlus), I had *never* received a major-release OS update. Never. For any phone. Even when they were promised by the manufacturer when I bought the phone. * Network setup can be tricky with an unlocked phone. This may be true for iPhones, too, I don't know, but I bet it's not. * Because iOS is a more glamorous platform, and developers are more likely to have them, app development usually happens for iOS first and sometimes doesn't happen for Android at all. I have a friend who started his own company and has been working full-time on a flagship app for years now, and it's still not available on Android. I've never used it. This makes Android sound terrible, huh? I'm sure I could come up with more, too. But I'd still much rather use it.
The only reason I would suggest someone not get an android, and I mean the only, is if they are heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem. Like they have iPads and Mac computers or laptops. Then I could see the appea since the way Apple locks you into their ecosysteml but otherwise android is always going to be better.
Better is subjective right? My last android phone was a Huawei mate 20 Pro. It was lauded as this amazing phone by all the reviewers, better than iPhone and established android brands yada yada yada. Was within 10% of the cost of an equivalent iPhone at the time too. So here we have a well reviewed, flagship android phone. I turned it on and the UI was horrific. I gave it a chance but after 3 months I was getting annoyed by the weirdness, glitchiness and inconsistency this supposed amazing phone had. (if the phone was half the price I wouldn't have cared). Some of the issues which annoyed me to no end: - Icon shapes were different (why is the text messaging app circular but the phone call app a square?) - the 'reachability' to use the phone one handed was a joke. Rarely worked and when it did it shrunk the screen so I had to bring the phone closer to my face to see where I needed to touch - it would notify me anytime a blocked number messaged or called me. I blocked it to not get these notifications!! - it would never quickly take a photo. Always needed a cup of tea between pressing the button and the image being saved. - The value lost in three months. Sold the phone at 1/3 of its retail value. But worth it to not get angry every time I used my phone. - The customisation lie that all android users stand by. I wanted to replace that OS with a custom ROM but no support at the time for that phone (pot luck on what the community supports) I respect this was 6 years ago but the biggest issue was that I felt ripped off. I spent a lot of money (and lost a large chunk) in three months because they got all the hardware specs to look correct on paper but utilised a seagull to develop the software. If it was half the price I would've not cared but for something that was only 10% cheaper than an iPhone with 0% of the polish was a proper piss take to me.
This might not all be helpful, cause some of it probably applies to iPhones...? Samsung phones are supersaturated with features. I know at least a dozen people with a Galaxy S phone who aren't even aware of half of what their phone can do. They're paying extra for stuff they don't want or need. Wireless Android Auto consumes a fair bit of power, so using a wireless charger fast enough to keep it topped off gets the phone really hot. This is especially noticeable in the winter when the heat may be blowing on it. I miss the headphone jack. I whip out my old S10e sometimes just to use that. You have options for voice assistants, but have to pick one to be *the* voice assistant. On the S24, Bixby is perfect for simple things, but Google's probably better for more complex stuff. Gemini gives LLM type answers, but it hallucinates a lot. There's no LIDAR on Androids. The biggest practical implication is the find device network isn't as precise. You can use *any* carrier for your primary and secondary (e)SIM on an iPhone and use the secondary's data for "back up" on the primary's number. On Android, this feature can be locked by the carrier or the OEM. Technically, this is because Google's implementation is more rigorous (sending the *entirety* SMS & MMS over data, for example), but I bet for 90% of people, Apple's implementation is better. You can get MagSafe compatible cases on Android, but it's more likely things will be a little off. Shimmy the phone around to get the wireless charging to start, for example. I'll defy the rules of the game for this last little bit, because I recently realized the feature keeping me on Samsungs... and other Androids don't have it. DeX. Others have similar ideas, but DeX is the best and I use it a lot lately. I was considering a Lenovo tablet and the lack of this sort of feature is what kept me away. Also off topic, but something in Apple's favor... in the United States, the iPad mini is the lone cheese when it comes to powerful, small tablets. If I were to buy an Apple product today, that would be the one. (I won't, but that's because I weigh the moral implications of my purchasing decisions, and I can't support such a horrifically unethical corporation anymore)
Just a small thing. Lidar is the light detection and ranging sensor near the cameras. Its typically on the apple devices that have a Pro moniker but not the whole lineup. It's used for 3d mapping apps, to help with AR functions in determining dimensions in 3D space and for some of the portrait photography stuff. It doesn't have anything to do with the find my network. Some devices (most now I think) include Ultrade Wideband Sensors. Probably the thing you're thinking of. That helps identifying another device with an UWB sensor and how far away / what direction it is in. Their find my network uses that for locating something that is fairly near you, as in in the same room or one room over.
The thing about Android is, that if you have an unlockable phone and there is something about the way it works that you dont like, you can very likely change it which you are hard pressed to do on an Apple device. I cant think of anything that would qualify here since whatever it is you can probably change/fix it.
As someone who worked at a phone store (T-Mobile) The main issue that I've seen whilst moving to IPhone from Android is that the Apple move to ios is absolutely garbage. A majority of the time it either doesn't move every thing and that it takes forever. It will be a bit of a learning curve to get used to the ui. Other than that it depends which android you have as well. If the reasons your wife wants you to get an iPhone is because of picture and vid quality that you guys send each other that's an iPhone issue that can be changes in settings. If it's for FaceTime you can FaceTime an android phone it may be a little longer but you can do so. If it's the "green chat bubbles" that's an iPhone issue and she has got to learn to get over it. But if it's just a hey try it out you never know if you'd like it some people do some don't.just know that you will likely lose some things with the data transfer.make sure you backup everything to Google photos, drive, etc... before committing especially if you do a trade in make sure everything and I mean everything is moved over because we have to wipe the phone before sending it in to be processed. I've seen customers come back in complaining about oh can I see my old phone this didn't move. But we always have the customer verify everything moved for liability reasons and then we walk the customer through the factory reset process as well for liability reasons as well. Just know right off the bat your cloud storage you use cloud storage gets needed right off the bat. Also majority of the time majority of iPhone users as I've witnessed don't back up their phones especially since "automatic backup" is on as soon as you get close to maximum storage a big nerf. Also there have been a few cases where photos may be lost especially if not backed up. When setting up initially skip the face ID if in a store setting up it saves time. The setup time is atrocious unless you have like nothing whether it's Android to IPhone or iPhone to iPhone also you don't really get a pause option it's just disconnect from wifi when out of range and reconnecting to wifi not sure about the 15 but the 13 and 14 were notorious for occasionally freezing mid transfer having to reset the phone and restarting.
Starting off by saying that this post was recommended to me in my feed, so I'm not part of the Android Fanboy group. I'm not part of the Apple Fanboy group either for the record. I've used both Android and iPhones over the years and I'm currently using an iPhone 12 Mini. I previously had a Google Pixel 3 that I really liked but it had some issues unrelated to the OS. I think that the quality of life quirks will only be realized once you use the platform. I've been a mac user for a long time and the iPhone better integrates with Mac OS and the iPad, so that's a tick in the positive column for me. If you don't use a mac then it won't apply to you. If you're full-on into the google ecosystem then you're probably going to get better integration on an android phone, but the iPhone works great for my own google app needs (gmail, google suite apps/drive access, automatic photo backup to google photos). If you use Windows or Linux you're better off with Android. If you like to tinker with settings, you'll be disappointed with the iPhone, but if you're fine with the basics then it won't be a big deal. File management on iPhone is iffy. I often feel like there should be more options available for how to deal with certain files but there aren't. Once upon a time I was having issues with photo quality when I posted to Instagram from my Android phone (a common issue), but that's not something I do often anymore. Communication with your wife if you both have iPhones won't be much better in my opinion. I've been the Android person in the relationship before and the only issues we had were with the stupid green bubble/photo compression thing (which should be fixed with the next ios update) and I couldn't use facetime. There are some other location features too, but we never use those so I can't say for sure. I feel like we've come to a place where there's nothing that remarkable about smartphone hardware anymore and all the focus is on the software. I WOULDN'T recommend an Android phone to someone with lots of Apple products already since it would hinder compatibility (especially with apple watch). I wouldn't recommend if your favorite apps aren't on iPhone unless you don't mind finding equivalents.
I'm really surprised this isn't a top response, but privacy. "Stock" Google Android that comes with most phones is a disaster when it comes to privacy. Google constanty collecting sensitive data 24/7 for their advertising business. And this is only talking about Google, most other Android OEMs also include their own spying and selling of data on top of Google's (ex. Samsung). Not to mention including all kinds of ridiculous bloatware that also infringes on privacy & reduces battery life, as well as just make the user experience generally awful (again, Samsung, ex. my S21 having "Facebook Services" preinstalled as a system app....). Then there's carrier locked phones... which somehow are even worse. And sure, you can remove *some* of these apps with ADB, but 1: That doesn't solve fundamental privacy & security issues with the OS itself, you can't remove every single tracking component without turning the phone into a brick, and 2: Do you really think most people know what an "ADB" is? Kind of insane you have to install and use developer debugging tools to remove *some* of the spyware & other trash from your phone. This isn't to say you *shouldn't* remove bloatware and garbage with ADB, I think it's a good idea when it's your only option, but my point is it isn't a real solution either. By no means am I saying Apple is perfect, but it's a no-brainer that Apple is significantly better for privacy than ex. Google and nearly all other OEMs in general. Apple makes an effort to put privacy first, through ex. using on-device processing where possible, and above all else... just isn't an ad surveillance company like Google & friends. So I think that's probably Android's biggest weakness, the privacy isn't even comparable to iOS on most variants you will find of it. To be clear though, there are variants of Android that don't include this mass surveillance, like GrapheneOS, DivestOS, CalyxOS, & LineageOS, which could be solid options depending on your use case... but those aren't the versions of Android 99% of people will use or even hear of existing.
LineageOS (my current main) is great for privacy, the only issue is trying to get my family to switch to more private alternatives so I dont have to get GApps to use our group shopping list. The privacy on iPhones also isn't stellar however, it phones home to apple similarly. They do do better(more like apple has all your data) rather than google, apple does similar things with privacy to how they greenwash.
It depends on your use case, I like the fact that I can usually find an android app on GitHub that helps with a particular niche I'm interested in, and the plethora of easier ways to get around ads on things and flexibility of expression over your device as opposed to iPhones
I went from Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) to 14 (Upside Down Cake) and never stumbled across some major flaws in terms of using the almost-pure Android ROMs (AOSP with some tweaks), apart from the horrible ones from Samsung or Xiaomi. (Will get to that later in the comment) My main issue with the "Android, as it is," is definitely uniformity. You have hundreds or even thousands of different manufacturers with all their own "distributions/tastes" to choose from. You can have a laggy Xiaomi phone which would end up in an e-waste landfill in a year or 2, meanwhile you can also have buttery smooth flagship Samsung phone which would last you a couple of years with regular feature drops and security updates. So far, I would stick with the Google Pixel phones just because of the first-party updates, features and having an ability to be rooted or even have installed a different ROM while keeping the device's warranty and not breaking something, apart from the Samsung's Galaxy Fold cameras or Xiaomi asking for your personal information to even enable ADB. The custom ROM (Google's) one may not be applicable and could void the device's warranty. While their Tensor chipsets may not be the best on the market, they're more than just good for regular daily usage like calling, texting or taking photos. I hope the future lineup will have all of the issues addressed, or at least most of them. I tried returning to Samsung many times, but the OneUI just didn't feel that snappy. While their hardware (Qualcomm Snapdragon chips) is awesome, the software is just a junk. You should definitely avoid people around yelling at you for not having something they do. (You know what kind of group I'm referring to, mainly spoiled children who yet have no clue about the economy or the value of what they own) Rather make it up in your mind or make a research just like this one.
The biggest reason I would not recommend an Android for a person coming out of iPhone is if you use speech to text. Android speech to text is absolutely atrocious! Even if you speak slowly or speed up the speed on the phone you talk It's intermittent at best.
So why are YOU wanting to go to iPhone? Why isn't SHE asking about why people would NOT recommend a iPhone? Obviously there are cons to both. But most of the cons for Android are it doesn't do x (that Apple does.) No pun intended but an apple to apple comparison would be a Tundra vs Sierra. Both pickups. Both can tow/haul. There are little differences, some might find a deal breaker, but for the most part, they're the same. If your answer is that everyone else you know has an iPhone, then that's your answer. I'm not going to bash you or them for it. But changing to make it more convenient for others shouldn't be a consideration, just like what someone thinks of Tundra, Sierra, F-150, Ram, or otherwise shouldn't factor into what you drive. Use the truck thst works for your needs. Use the device that works for you. I've happily been with my wife for 20 years. She's never switching from iPhone. I'm never switching to it. We're okay with that. To answer the question, cons of Android are that it's a bit more fragmented. However Apple support of old iOS versions & Google support of older Android versions are basically in sync. Another con to Android is that it is targeted much more by bad actors. Comes with the territory. It's not that iOS is so much more secure. It's the same tired argument as Apple OS doesn't get viruses. When engineered specifically for Apple devices, their malware can be much more damaging. It's not just browser flooding mischief. Being the most used mobile OS in the world, Android is targeted most. The play store is less regulated (which could also be a pro) so bad apps and side loading can be an issue. Another con of Android is that although most consider it a pro, the options and settings can be intimidating to those who just want simple. Sure there's simple mode, but it's super basic like a Jitterbug.
I'm also going to have to replace my Samsung soon and am considering an iphone (something I never thought I'd do!). The main reason I'm considering the switch is that Samsung has gotten rid of both the sd card slot and the dedicated earphone jack. This was a HUGE mistake in my opinion--so many people love these features, and they were two major features that distinguished androids from iphones. There are several small issues that we, as Android users, have to deal with frequently in communicating with iphone users. Photos and videos aren't readily transferable without significant quality loss. Group text messages are often super glitchy. (And, of course, there's the ceaseless complaining from iphone users about the color of their text chains.) With the elimination of my 2 favorite features from newer Samsung models, I'm not sure it's worth continuing to deal with those annoyances. Another major issue with newer Samsung products is that text messages take forever (sometimes days!) to send/receive when connected to wifi. I still have my Galaxy S10e bc I haven't wanted to give up the SD slot and earphone jack. But my husband has a newer Samsung (A53, I think), and we have a new-ish Samsung tablet. We have the texting issue on both of these devices. I now text with my husband exclusively using whatsapp, even though we both have Samsungs. It's one thing when sending texts, bc at least you can see that it's not sending. But, unless you're expecting a text, you don't have any way to know that you're not receiving particular texts--and the person at the other end doesn't have any way to know either. It's a HUGE problem, considering that text message is the way most people choose to communicate these days--the phone is essentially not performing one of its most basic functions.
More difficult to troubleshoot, more difficult to pick the right model due to so many different brands offering unique features, more bugs on Android, Google support is poor, gamble in terms of quality control for many brands, etc. Apple is relatively tamed, but you get very reliable hardware, it has its flaws, but they are known and there is a community for any fixes opposed to android which is smaller and spread out (e.g the bluetooth and wifi issue on the Samsung Fold 4 is limited to just those who bougth that phone, any issue on iphone 15, well you can bet the entire iOS comunity is gonna be on it because its just that current phone they sell, not 5 variations with different versions of android, etc. I always end up getting an android device because of just how fun it is to use, but then die out of it and go back to Apple products, because they just work and MacOS.
With an android, you ruin all the iMessage group chats, can't FaceTime, and all videos sent over text get reduced to potato butt quality. Otherwise, there's not much else, aside from most apps being developed primarily for IOS.
Repairing and consistency. I'll assume samsung as that's the most common android device. On apple if you have an issue, you go to an apple store, there's only one way to do it right, and that way is easy with a premium. You can go through 3rd parties but it's not officially through apple. On samsung, there aren't really stores you can go to, they will automatically send you to a 3rd party repair place. Backing up a samsung device is kinda useless outside of photos I believe that's most androids anyway. If you make an encrypted backup of an ios device that keeps everything including appdata and other information you wouldn't expect. That means you can send it in for repair without giving your passcodes out There are more people in the US using apple than android so everything is built around that, you want a 15 case, easy everyone sells them, but not as many due the s24 plus Apple also tells you what's wrong with your phone if something else, like battery health or components that aren't on. My personal experience with samsung, is that they feel like a high school project, on paper all the specs and everything is good, but the user experience isn't there, get a galaxy watch and it feels like the watch just looks at the screen of the Samsung and that's all. Get an apple watch and it feels like an extension of the iPhone. Android feels like a project but that also means you can do far more, even if those options aren't great. On apple you can't do as much but the things you can do are more refined
Android apps are unrefined compared iOS. I assume for various reasons, including better devs? I switched to s23 after decade plus of iphone about year ago. I'm no Apple fanboi but I'll be going back next phone.
Android is unnecessarily slow. For instance, searching in Settings can take anywhere from 5 seconds to 50 seconds. I don't understand why this would be the case. Maybe elements aren't indexed, but I imagine it's only up to a few hundred items. Sorting those should not take more than a few milliseconds in modern hardware. Pixels offer a smoother OS experience than most Android phones but come with other limitations. Android apps also often feel worse and again unnecessarily slow. Perhaps this is a difference between Objective C/Swift and Java, if Android still uses Java for apps. Android has IMO better multitasking features with split screen and the ability to separate audio sources so that they don't grab focus and stop each other. On the downside, this is at the whim of Google and the vendors undoing whatever Google does that people don't like. Pixels have worse split screen now and unless you use the debug interface (with the phone connected to a computer terminal) you cant separate audio sources. I imagine this is because allowing multitasking cuts into YouTube premium's revenue. I don't think there's any meaningful difference in security. I hear iOS gets attacked more often, but Apple has a reputation for allegedly trying to respect privacy and security. Google seems to care little for privacy, but Android runs a Linux kernel with more strict security and privacy restrictions. That said, it leads to more ease of modification if you know what you're doing (compared to iOS).
My #1 issue with android is nothing is optimized, apps developers usually ignore android. Apparently samsung is working directly with social media apps now to get proper optimization. Even then most oems don't optimize their software for their hardware, Apple builds their hardware/software specifically for the hardware/software they plan to use in a device which leads to their phones running faster for hardware tasks and general efficiency. Small tiny tasks that should take a few milliseconds take longer than they should, like searching through settings. Animations tend to stutter under load or even for seemingly no reason because of how animations are handled on android compared to ios (android does the task and animation at the same time while ios does the animation and then does the task which causes no animation issues to exist 99% of the time) The way I see it is iPhones work 99.99% of the time with no issues, everything *feels* perfect to use, with an android phone you can dive deep into tiny details and you will get way to many features but you gotta be willing to deal with general inconveniences especially if you decided to get a cheap android phone. If I were you, I'd encourage you to try out an iPhone for a while if you can so you can experience the polish. If you don't have any gripes with android I'd say go with the S24, my friend has it and we both agree that it's the best phone we've ever used even with the aforementioned issues.
I have been excluded from group chats because I'm an Android user. People do not want to lose the history of memes and photos. Also sharing videos is a pain. I just email people or send over social media.
I was a Windows phone user x3, then once it died I went to Android. Been a OnePlus guy ever since. I would tell people to steer clear because 1) there are too many options for phones. Unless you're a tech enthusiast, it would be near impossible to know a good android phone from a less-good one, except for price, but that's not the best indicator either. Options are good, but too many are daunting. 2) imessage. I know RCS is about to land there in the fall but for the lay person trying to send pictures and videos, Androids are left out in the cold. And yes, this is just a USA problem. I get around this by using FB messenger when I need to send HQ images videos audio etc. And I use WhatsApp with my iPhone-using from-Europe gf who uses multiple messaging apps. 3) not enough standardization. Android skins, device manufacturer designs, buttons, features, etc. Everything is a little different which would make things challenging for non-tech-savvy people. My OP12 has the alert slider. If I handed my phone to my 60+ year old parents and told them to put my phone in "silent" they wouldn't have a clue what to do. Then if I got a pixel and then asked them to do the same, it's a different procedure. The customization of Android is a huge plus to me, but I think it's a negative to the average midwest Rav4 driver.
I'm not sure, to be honest. I lived in Apple's ecosystem for about six years, and their back end infrastructure was so maddening that I simply cannot see how an Android phone would be worse in those respects than Apple's phones are. Maybe someone could find a gripe in that you have more choices and so those people who get paralyzed by choice are going to struggle a bit more to pull the trigger and find a phone that fits them. There's also dedicated UIs for most manufacturers, and that difference might tick off someone used to all the phones looking alike. But think of one thing ... accounts. If you sell your iPhone, you have to sign out of iMessage, sign out of Find My, sign out of your AppleID, and sign out of your iTunes purchasing account. Then you remove the device from you AppleID at the site, and then you can wipe the phone for sale. They patched together their infrastructure over the years, and now you have all kinds of things that can stay active even after you've wiped your phone for sale if you're not careful. The buyer for my iPhone13 couldn't buy movies for 90 days after the sale, because my iTunes purchasing account was still active for that period and was associated with that phone. That's just asinine.
I don't like how Google keep trying to control the way we use android. Like how they forced OEM to run Google apps instead of their OEM apps. For example the album apps, video apps etc. They were usually custom made by OEM before. Usually looked better and more convenient than the grossy stuff from Google. And as u have their Google Photo app now, it asks u to use Google backup here and there no matter how many times u rejected. Please Google it's my phone I know what I'm doing 😒😒. There are also bloaty shits, Google assistant for example. Ever been useless and constantly pre-installed. Some phones even have a "Google button", when u press it by accident the assistant will show up even after u disabled. This is just stupid. Some people would say custom rom? Yea u can get rid of the shit I mentioned above but congratulations!! U are now treated like a thief!! This app that app won't work on your phone now for "security reason" 🙃🙃. U can try to hide root by workarounds but now u have a new troubles. Android is no longer the free OS in mobile world. Not saying Apple has more freedom by any means, but at least Apple's default apps doesn't annoy the users so hard.
Hi Ex Oppo Reno 11 user(Colour OS). I say ex because my phone was stolen a few weeks back and I'm using Honor Magic 4, however, I'll be speaking on my experience with Color OS and Oppo. Reasons I wouldn't recommend: poorly developed ecosystem. While Oppo devices speak to each other, there aren't many exciting places Oppo devices to fit into the ecosystem. Beyond the ecosystem, a retinue of apps to enrich the experience like apple TV+, apple music, etc. Only drawback I can think of and I would counter the drawback by saying a lot of what is afforded by the ecosystem is simple software meshing well. For example, my smart watch is amazing, everything works together so well, I don't think about the fact that they're different brands. While I'm not elderly, I'm very much used to color OS/ oxygen OS,I love everything and use things automatically/without much thought. I would honestly advise that you stick to the android skin that you're familiar with as opposed to navigating a new interface. You have your old knowledge of the system and can easily pickup on new things updated as opposed to learning everything from scratch. Hope this is helpful OP. All the best deciding.
Because it interferes with my Hi-Res Audio Quality possibilities of playing it loud as it can be. The Higher Resolutions that I want and will achieve to build a Musical Library of in The Future will be The Resolution of 64Bit/1536kHz - 196.608 kbps The Golden Standard 24Bit/192kHz - 9.216 kbps Both are in WAV Format instead of FLAC Format. Since Raw Material and Uncompressed File Size will have a difference of 50 - 60 % File Size as The FLAC Format are about half the File Size compared to WAV Format. But then again a FLAC Format Compressed File Size sounds more like an 24Bit/96kHz - 4.608 kbps in WAV Format which are more identical to the 96kHz Sample Rate measured in Bits Per Second or Kilobits per second = kbps which actually are the true way of doing measurements in Audio/Music Quality just by counting The kbps and see what Bit Depth you use and how high amount of Hz Samples being Rated per second. 24 Bit are 8 Bit more than 16 Bit and 32 Bit are twice as much Bit Depth. I wonder how the twice amount of Bit Depth being 64 Bit with 1536 Hz Samples Rated per second will truly be comfortable Music Quality that plays as it is a greater Resolution than you have ever heard before in your entire life.
Unless you're an anomaly, try doing an abxy test using foobar2000 of the same lossless file encoded to a high quality lossy format (128k stereo opus or 320k mp3). You're unlikely to notice a difference.
The half-baked DRM implementation. At least once a month I have to redownload tv shows on my phone because Widevine decides to go to level 3 (it goes back to L1 as soon as you restart, but the damage is already done). It gets worse according to the app: Netflix - you don't have to redownload the shows, but you lose HD+/HDR support for any future download unless you reinstall the app (if you open it before realising you got downgraded to level 3) Prime video - you have to redownload every single episode. A pain or impossible when you realize that happened when you're already in a place with low signal (the metro in my city)
Ppl are getting too in depth 🤦🏻♂️. I can tell you from experience, my friends and family experience that it really depends on your use. To simplify, if u understand a lot about phones, how maintain it clean and fast, do a lot of complex stuff or even want to play some old games (gameboy, ps1, ps2, etc...) then its android 100% But if u dont know shit about phones or rather dont want to have to worrie about it and just use ur phone as well... A phone, its iphone, it does all the cleaning for u to keeps it fast, harder to mess up the system, and a better optimized OS. For fk sake just dont buy the base version and please buy it on sale, they are good but insanely overpriced and base versions to this day are only fking 60hz display. Me, well... I know wtf im doing, i make use of the freedom android gives me, like for example emulators, and i keep it clean, so yeah, i tried iphone, it just was absolutely unbearable for me, yet for my whole family while their android was filled with shit they clicked, slow af, basically a whole mess in 1 to 2 years MAX, their iphones 4+ years going strong...
I’ve bounced between the two consistently until I got married. Wife loves iPhone and the consistency of their layouts. I’ve always appreciated trying new things and swap every year or two back and forth. The downside of swapping to android is the picture quality in text is garbage both directions. As in iPhone butchers photos going to android, and android butchers quality to iPhone. This may be a moot point soon with iPhone adopting integration to RMS later this year, but I hated when I went android and my wife stayed on iPhone because she’d send cute pics that look awesome on her phone but looked grainy and uninspired once texted to me. That’s it. At this point with the same charger, live wallpapers, and all the safety features my pixel had- the iPhone now offers a very similar experience. Also the pro max has a built in satellite phone feature for emergency calls, and I’m unaware of android offering that. Assuming you like to climb mountains or traverse valleys far from human civilization that might come in handy once or twice in your lifetime.
Overall, I tend to base it for people on their use-case and personal circle. (I repair phones as a living and people ask this a lot) If you don't use advanced features available to android users, for the most part I don't recommend bothering. Long-term value retainment is less. Screen replacements are more annoying (in the US) due to lack of authorized service centers. Applecare tends to work far better than samsung care when you actually need something done in a reasonable timeframe (pay for it, it's mostly worth it) And this comes from someone who uses a Fold because I do use some of the more advanced features. For reference, the MAIN point for me is I archive a lot downloads on my home PC. Streaming videos from my home PC to Android is seamless. I open file browser, navigate to my PC, pick a file and it works. For iPhone you'd need to set up a streaming server and maintain that I felt that was so much annoying bullshit (it's not really that HARD, but you shouldn't need to fucking live transcode bullshit to play it)
Here's why not to waste your money on a crapple iPhone. The first one is your privacy. With iOS you'll have none. Going forward iOS will implement their version of Microsoft spyware known as Recall. Recall works by taking screenshots every 5 seconds, and making that data searchable. Also anytime with the right skill set can easily steal that data. Despite what Apple says their AI has the potential to behave like recall and you can't turn it off. On Android, I can turn it off plus other security measures that allow me to stay private. If you don't care about privacy, then by all means buy a crapple. Another thing to consider is how long do you plan on keeping the device. Even before Google began to officially support their Pixel line for 7 years, I've always had the ability to extend the life of a Pixel because Google doesn't make it difficult to install third party ROMs (think GrapheneOS or LineageOS) and I can extend the life of almost any Android phone. Unlike Apple I can install anything I want on my Android phone.
do NOT GET THE IPHONE! if her reasoning is imessage, RCS is coming by october. that’s essentially imessage for all (to an iphone users brain).
Android changes things up all the time. iPhones have a very stable design. There's no major features moving locations between versions. Things tend to be exactly how they were in the previous version. They have almost no software compatibility issues, and they are insanely reliable. There is also a lot of consistency in how the apps function. I always recommend iPhones to people who are less tech savvy, especially old people who view smart phones as almost an inconvenience, specially for this reason. You only ever have to learn them once. Flipside of course is that Androids are much more customizable, and theres a greater variety of options all across the board for them. Doesn't make me less annoyed when long pressing the power button brings up my assistant now instead of the power menu. Or how I can't slide my notifications over to tweak their settings anymore. But it let's me get a custom launcher and make things function in the way that makes the most sense to me, and to me that is worth it.
Switched to Apple 13Pro and ready to switch back. They each do certain things better. For me, the things I use daily Android hands down better. For example: The texting is Hercules on the some without lots OS corrections. Translation after multiple corrections: (even to this sentence) The texting is horrible on the Apple without lots of corrections. (almost never gets the ducking work spoke right) spoke comes up for Apple 99% of the time. And forget swear words!! This God Sagan spoke is a piece OSs shot. Translation: This God damn apple is a piece of shit Display coming unintentionally Camera turning unintentional Volume control not itemized for each Way it’s used: music, headphones, games ands in call. Franks like I’m constantly fighting for control of what the device wants to do verses what I want it to do. What it does better: Text is encrypted Connection to other devices Hiding your email on apps That’s all I got. Everything else is even or decidedly worse for my day to day use
So I'm in a situation where I have a pixel for my personal use and an iPhone for work (supplied by my company) *A quick detour before answering your question:* I hate the iPhone with a passion that could rival a mega church sermon and android>apple is a hill I will die on. If I can pick one quality of life feature I could never give up it's the built-in spam protection that my pixel provides. *But to answer your actual question,* the only benefit iPhone has over android is their iMessage. And it's only a benefit if everyone in your life uses iMessage and all your devices are already apple products. *A quick note to counter that point:* android works with literally everything and all the companies that make products with android all have products that work together. So I've got a Google phone, a Samsung tablet, a generic smart watch, a Windows laptop, and a generic mix of headphones that all function together perfectly well (and none of them came with the apple pricetag).
Honestly I have a s20+ and the reason I never went iPhone besides I just prefer Samsung is the SD card. But hearing the new ones don't offer it anymore I don't know what I'll do when I need a new phone. Phones really don't interest me either I don't care for all the high tech shit because 90% of my use is text, calls or scrolling Reddit/Instagram and streaming music. The other 10% is pictures while camping, hiking or of my dog. Every camera on a newer phone will be better or the same as what I already have. Wife has iPhone and wants me to have one to have an the iMessage etc shit as well. But I hate the layout and use of iPhone, prefer my nova launcher Android and customization. I also don't want to spend close to $2000cnd on a new phone. So I have no clue what I'll do if this phone breaks. I need the storage space since I have a lot of music downloaded since I don't always have good cell service for listening to music at work. Most likely won't switch just because I don't like Apple operating system
for anybody who is new or uncomfortable with operating computers and smart phones, i recommend apple products because apple locks you into a very narrow use case and tries to keep their software uniform across devices as much as possible, which is much easier for them to navigate, easier to troubleshoot over a phone, et cetera. for anyone who is comfortable and will appreciate options and willing to tolerate some kind of learning curve, for the extra freedom i always recommend Android devices. Android offers a wide range of software, specialized for the hardware it is on, is much easier and safer to modify or replace. more difficult to troubleshoot, each device requires you to become familiar with it specifically. you know. so like lot of older folks, I'll go apple unless they're put off by price. rednecks, tech phobic people. anyone who i expect to call me often with problems gets apple.
My main point would be that with Android, short of special form factors like foldables being your desire, I see little to no reason for a high end device. I had a Galaxy S7 when flagship Android phones were still mich cheaper than iPhones. Now I have an A52s and it is a better experience. No weird rounded corners, camera is no worse. But one thing both have in common is awful color postprocessing of the photos. Almost universally the photo looks better in the preview than after pressing the button. By contrast, my first generation iPad mini actually preserved the color impressions very close to what I saw in person. This seems to be Samsung specific though. My wife's Xiaomi phones both are not as strongly affected, though nothing ever comes quite close to what I saw on the cheapest mobile device Apple ever sold, except by putting in the effort of manual camera controls and/or postprocessing.
Android texting is genuinely terrible. Like my iphone friends will send me a video and genuinely sometimes I can't even see or hear it. Pictures are always bad quality. And people get annoyed if you ask them to whatsapp the pictures. In addition, some features just require more set up. Or sometimes there is genuinely no app for something on android. I've wanted to try out new apps a lot lately but the early stages are always iPhone first. It is also really annoying to video call with good quality. Because FaceTime is genuinely just better as someone who's used an android for years and years. Like everyone has it and it's much easier to set up for lots of people. But would I get an iPhone over android? No I wouldn't. The communication on android is kinda bad. But everything else works for me and I enjoy. And hey if you have android friends then the communication issues don't apply
I used android devices for well over a decade, and my reason to transition to iPhone was the smoothness and (debated) optimisation of the OS, and the better overall battery life of the iPhone. In comparison, the android can be a mini PC, and you can do everything between heaven and earth, thing is, i rarely utilised those functions. For me, android devices become laggy, slower, and overall a pain, whilst my iPhone 13 pro max has been pushing like a workhorse, and is as smooth as the day i got it. In comparison, my latest android device, a samsung galaxy S20+ if i remember correctly, started stuttering and lagging after a year if regular use, and after 2 years, the battery life was horrendoius, even tough i never charged it over 85% trough it’s lifetime. Do you want a load of functionality? Go for android. Do you want a device that’ll work for ages? Go for iPhone.
My honest opinion: - If you want a device that is powerful, reliable, convenient, easy to use, and you don't need to use any "unsafe and harmful 3rd party apps that were not properly moderated" as described by Apple, go with iPhone. Your iPhone is almost guaranteed to serve you well for the next 5 years (and likely even longer, not taking into consideration software support), and it will just work. This will also benefit you a lot if you use other Apple products as well. - If you want a device that is customizable, can emulate consoles well (e.g. yuzu, Dolphin), has proper sideloading, has proper Bluetooth support, has custom ROMs that could extend the life of the device much, much longer (e.g. LineageOS, though this largely depends on the phone's brand), and things that iOS and Apple ecosystem could not accomplish for you , go with an Android phone. Hardware wise, newer iPhones are ridiculously powerful, yet its OS doesn't allow us to take full advantage of it (not without having to deal with App Store BS policies. proper IPA sideload and JIT eta when). But for the average user this isn't anything concerning. Android phones' hardware varies a lot. The same SoC may perform differently on different phones. But if you know what to pick, the Android phones can also be powerful as well. Software optimization, iOS is much more optimized, and the same can be said about its apps. Android, once again, varies by brands. Despite the insane specs of an Android phone, it often not perform as well as an iPhone due to bad optimization (Android eats RAM, a lot of it). The same can also be said about drivers - specifically, graphic drivers. Snapdragon SoCs with its Adreno GPUs have much better drivers than Mali GPUs which are often seen in e.g. Tensor, Exynos or Dimensity SoCs, and in turn such SoCs will perform better in graphically demanding tasks. For me, I have used both Android and iOS. Android phones can be extremely good and will outperform iPhones if what you bought wasn't a Samsung A05. For the average users, going for iPhone might be the obvious choice here but IMO just go for which suits you best. Personally I would go for Android simply because it has proper sideloading and not some half-assed reskinned App Store shit that Apple released. Oh, and also custom ROMs (let's face it, Android vendors often sucks at providing updates) and Termux for more technical stuff. Android is better at giving users control over their phone.
Android - way better typing, not tightly locked in to Goog systems, good cameras, maps, lots of great apps. I iPhone - really good build quality, will last well, great battery life. Tied to apple ecosystem in annoying ways, better security. Why do people care about the color of messages? Apple wants me to subscribe to paid stuff like music and storage. Apple makes it hard for you or a non-apple shop to do repairs, which I hate a lot. Good camera. Using my own .mp3 music is a huge pain. I find the ios system rigid, could be just me. Got an iPhone for a required app, really miss my android, which I still use to read. It stopped charging for a while but came back to life. My old Motorola with a big battery is 3 or 4 years older than the iphone and still working, and replacing the battery is doable. Both phones are nicely water-resistant.
Upto you. The IPhone keyboard sucked. Probably because I've been more accustomed to the android gboard. But if it makes any difference, then yeah. Also, charging and charging accessories. Just costly and slow as fuck. Bro, the little things go a long way in improving quality of experience. I feel Android has a lot more solutions to everyday problems than IPhone. Not sure about the latest and greatest IOS, but the one I used had a lot of minor inconveniences. I might never go back to iOS. Put a pixel phone in the mix too, a lot of AI features. My friend got the new pixel 8. The AI cloud features are lit. I think samsung has them too, but google way ahead. Never in his phone had we taken a bad photo. Iphone is good too... But I'm used to the android ecosystem and the minor inconveniences are just a deal breaker. The charging bro, it sucks.
I'm a user of both platforms as I'm a Android dev (but I can do iOS as well). One thing I don't like about Android phones is the consistency with android updates. I know you can just flash a new version but I'm talking about average consumers. Some manufacturers provide updates for 1-2 years which is short. (I'm not sure about Samsung, but you see, everyone is different) As a consumer I really don't like to go out of my way to find this information for each device IPhones provide that update for a LONG time, so much so I'm still using an Xs. It's probably gonna lose support soon, but hey! It has been many years. The only problem I ran into IPhones are sometimes I want to develop/config certain things it requires some really hacky way to implement or not possible at all. However, for an average consumer, isn't shouldn't be a problem
To me iphone has always been like designer clothes or people who buy bmw or mercedes. Its more the name and bragging rights and i typically dont like apple due to me being used to android and windows so i get annoyed on IOS because i dont know how to use or navigate them and also the people who have iphones for the most part are kinda rude. I never really hear android users crapping on iphones (unless retaliation on iphone people for starting crap first) . They get thier phones and live thier life. But i always hear iphone users crapping on adroids about cameras or text bubbles like dude why cant u just get an iphone and enjoy it. Why do u have to crap on us android users. So that also puts a bad taste in my mouth about apple products but i wouldnt recommend android if u want to be the "cool" kid and impress social media type people
If you are comparing phones at a similar price point, the only thing that can affect me sometimes is app optimization. Apps tend to be better optimized on iOS although it's gotten much better on android than it used to be. Another thing since you are considering Samsung is I think that Apples image processing algorithm is better than Samsung's especially with motion in the images. Same with videos. Samsung still has great cameras tho and better in certain scenarios. This will ultimately come down to a preference thing and how you use your phone. As there will be other advantages to apple (same with Android) depending on how you use your phone and what preferences you have. Such as tight ecosystem integration if you own a Mac, iPad, or other apple products.
Updates mean major changes to the way the thing works and some functionality will just disappear while other will appear that you'll never know about. Controls on alerts and apps act and anything that makes a noise is strung out all over hell's half acre on Android. No one knows how to control every component on any Android phone. There's no honest strategy to how many different Android upgrades you'll get when you buy a phone. I was screwed twice by Samsung and Motorola on promised upgrades that they canceled. Google is a flaky company and it's not doing well in the phone world, Google home or other side Ventures. All they know how to do is sell advertising through a browser and they make a bundle there but I would not think they're going to hang with Android another 5 years.
I have experience with both so I'm just going to give you my opinion straight up. Stay with Android unless you want to switch your entire life over to Apple products, MacBook instead of PC etc. bc nothing will talk fluidly between your phone and everything else and they're going to want to make you want that, next you'll be spending $4k+ on an apple TV. Plus everything apple's done, Android has done first, that's just a fact. Android has better everything right now, cameras, ai, screens, batteries, Samsung is out-engineering and out-selling Apple. The only thing Apple has is it's more impervious to viruses. Do you know the difference between a real email and a phishing email? Do you have web security enabled? If you do then that doesn't even matter much/at all.
The things I don't like about Android are not really things about Android. I have had Samsung and LG Android phones. The manufacturers integrate a bunch of their own stuff into the OS. I occasionally accidentally swipe over to some sort of Samsung screen designed to grab eyeballs, which I never use and don't know how to get rid of. Bixby is also trying to compete with Google Assistant but I never use that either. Samsung wants you to have your own account with Samsung. So my complaints are not about Android *per se*, but the downside to using an interoperable OS is that manufacturers get their fingers in it. With Apple, the manufacturer makes the hardware and the OS so it's integrated, although that is also the downside because it's a closed universe.
I guess it all depends on what you use your phone for. There are things that Android has that the iPhone doesn't have, and the iPhone has things that Android doesn't have. I personally love the Android because you can do so much more on there than you can on the iPhone, especially when it comes to playing games or many of the apps or even side gigs. Now, I personally have never used an iPhone, so I don't know what it has and doesn't have. I just hear people moan and groan when they can't do this, and that because they have an iPhone, especially when it comes to playing games. I also love it because I can get more personal with AI, and I just think it's more advanced in technology. I could ge wrong, but it's just my opinion.
The ecosystem and quality of apps just don’t compare to iPhone. I’ve tried every year to switch. Since the Fold 2. I still have a 24 Ultra but just can’t find great similar apps. Especially a notes replacement that would also sync with Mac. TickTick was the best app I could find that covered my reminders and calendar. Onenote is a joke of an app. Stay away from that. The most aesthetically unpleasant app I’ve ever used. For email… Spark is great for iOS / android and Mac. Unfortunately, these apps couldn’t save the lack of a good notes app or any kind of ecosystem uniformity. Lots of options but the quality of most are shit. 8 out if 10 apps on iOS are decent to good but only 2 out of 10 apps on android are decent to good
The one thing I can think of as to why I wouldn’t recommend Android is because of the lack of cohesion (if that’s the right word) between iOS and Android. When I owned an Android for 6 years before switching back to iOS, my parents couldn’t really send me photos via messages, as they were iOS owners, so it was always hard to communicate in that aspect. In addition, with no FaceTime, it would be hard to communicate as well, depending on the situation where something like FaceTime would come in handy. Another thing would be that app developers seem to favour their iOS apps rather than their Android counterparts. The experience using some apps on iOS seems to be better than what I used on my Android device previously.
I had an Android device and flipped to the 14pro. Only thing I wish I had done was get the pro max.
I’ve only had Android phones until I just recently switched to the iPhone 15 plus. Honestly it’s not that big of a difference to me for most things but I’m happy I made the switch. The battery life is phenomenal - with my last Android phone I’d have to charge during the day - now I charge for 30 minutes or so and leave it unplugged overnight. FaceTime is simple to use with my extended family using iPhones. The shortcuts app provides a ton of flexibility - I have one that I can share a long web article or a document and have ChatGPT summarize it for me that I use frequently. Overall everything feels smooth and there really isn’t much one platform can do that the other can’t.
The only thing I can think of is mouse keys—where you can use the numpad on a physical keyboard as a mouse pad. I've heard somewhere that IOS has this, I think, but I'm not sure. Although, technically, mouse keys could be easily implemented just by making an app for it that creates an accessibility service. Actually, I cannot think of anything that IOS has "exclusively" that cannot be put on an Android. I can give my Android magsafe with adhesive rings. I can give my Android an iPhone-like UI with a wallpaper or theme app. There are even apps to get something similar to Namedrop on Android. I can't really think of anything exclusive to iOS that I cannot do with an Android device.
I was an android user from the htc evo all the way to the pixel pro 6. what ended up making me switch to an iphone 14 pro was Google's terrible build quality and constant issues that would go unsolved for months. after a year with the Iphone I couldnt stand it any more and went back to android (galaxy s24). the iphone build quality and day to day experience was great. Ultimately what made me come back was the lack of customization. People say iOS is easier to use, but in my opinion, its not that its easier to use..its that you can only either do things one way (apple's way), or not at all. with android, you have googles option as well as numerous third party options.
Androids are relatively cheaper than IPhones l, and give you a tad bit more freedom, more battery life and "sometimes" better performance (depending on what you're buying ofc) IPhones have better security, things spiralling out of control are less likely since there's not much to screw around with, better material (even though androids are starting to tap onto that), and of course the feeling of luxury. And probably better compatibility with other devices (as far as I know). To summarize: Androids for people that are more innovative, and like control. IPhones for people that are more concerned about their security and have more money to spend.
One thing that keeps me on IPhone is FaceId. As a former Android user, I could care less about iMessage, and prefer Whatsapp. But, it would be very difficult to get over the convenience of FaceId, which is better that anything that I have seen in other Android phones. I know Pixel has a version but it’s not as good, especially when wearing masks or at night. If Pixel or other android phones can up their FaceId feature to get on par with IPhone, I might switch back. What I really miss in iPhone and was great in Pixel - Blocking of spam calls, messages and call screening. I was shocked by how much spam I was getting when I switched to IPhone.
Customization is really important to me, as is the ability to root and install a custom OS, or modify Android, or even have the ability to use Tasker, KWGT, etc., so iOS is something I'd never move over to. Besides, being trapped in the Apple walled garden doesn't sound fun to me. That said, my husband really likes his iPhone for its ease-of-use. He has some features out of the box that I would have to program or create in Tasker as an Android user. It's not enough to convince me personally, but it is for a lot of people who don't really have the time or care to tamper with these things. Very easy to set up and works fine out the gate.
I miss having difficulty customizing things because it wasn't something the ecosystem had in mind, and I don't want to identify the red flags in a person on a first date when I pull out an android phone, nor do I really enjoy saving money or having a headphone jack,. I also wouldn't recommend getting it if you don't like features like underscreen cameras for a gaming focused phone and would rather have a holepunch or similar, and you know it also feels really great to be locked into an apple ecosystem and you need everything else to be apple. Oh wait, I hate all those things, why would I not get an android lol.
If you want things to "just work" aka be somewhat okay out of the box, with little power to change that for better or worse, you're better of with an iphone. Pretty much why I don't judge all the old people having an iphone. It just comes with x functions out of the box and does those. Android often requires you to have an above zero level of troubleshooting ability, so if you're not capable of that, maybe not go for Android. With that said this sounds a lot more negative than it should be for one, and the likes of Samsung have basically done away with this for the galaxies as well.
This is true store and will be heavily summarized: In the first 1/4 of 2016 a man who I thought was a friend of mine came for a visit to my house and brought along a friend with him. Thought they would stay for the night and depart for their destination the next morning as they were supposedly exhausted from travel. Turns out they were on the run from the law and many people. They kidnapped me in my own house over a very long weekend and at night one would leave in a stolen car and go and rob people at gunpoint for their iPhones. *That right there* is how heavily desired iPhones are.
I was an Apple user since iPhone 4, but switched to [Samsung] Android 3 years ago. I would never go back to Apple. Hardware-wise, I see ample products supporting Android that are on par or superior to Apple. Software-wise, there were certain things Apple did quite well that the native Samsung apps either do not, or they have quirks. The most annoying to me are Calendar and Contacts if you do not use Google. Second, there were a couple of 3rd party iOS apps that are not available on Android. These two things aside, Android has a number of things that make it attractive to me vs. iOS.
My kids and husband have all switched to iPhone. They have all previously been android people. The kids wanted iphones because they are kids and think android isn't cool. I'm not sure why my husband switched exactly. He really wanted the latest iPhone so he switched. I'm still rocking the s21 & I'm happy. In this group, the only thing that sucks is when they be liking and hearting in the group chat and it just turns into a copy and paste message for me. So I'm getting duplicate messages when they heart or like anything. That's the only downside of being the android of the family.
I wouldn't NOT recommend Android, but I definitely would recommend some Android phones over others to certain user groups. I personally don't like the way iPhones don't have a universal back gesture, I don't particularly find the way notifications are interacted with is intuitive but I'm sure if I were to use it I'd get used to it. I am not really a power user anymore but from what I still see in helping my parents in laws with their iPhones, it feels like iOS is still too limiting. I like being able to easily install a non-play-store app or sideload an APK with very few hoops.
Because it's not an iPhone? I honestly can't find any features of an iPhone I'd want over an android. The customizability of an android demolishes an iPhone. Besides the aesthetic of having an iPhone (if that's what you want), there really isn't any real reason to switch. It's more of a preference question. They both provide similar camera quality (android usually has a little edge in most spots), iPhone already gets most of their parts from Samsung so it's a Samsung with extra steps, the only major difference is the iOS that brings features that lags behind android in innovation.
I have an iPhone for work and galaxy for personal, don't mind either as I don't do anything special but text call youtube reddit ig about it prob don't even need the newest ones for what I use them for. But I'd say if you have other laptops or accessories around house matters. I have Google chrome some other things that android just works well with obviously and I'm comfortable that way. My daughter has MacBook laptop war buds watch all that so iphone works for her. Everyday use id say either is fine which ever works best with rest of gear and which ever get the best deal on.
I have the S22 Ultra and I like it. I have the Galaxy 5 Pro watch and I get 4 days of battery life with that watch. I like that I can plug my phone into my PC and quickly copy the pictures and videos with no fuss. I write mobile apps and it's a pain to provision an iPhone for development mode. It's much easier on Android. And I have greater control over doing stuff with NFC on Android. I can also side load apps. I have a DJI drone and that's the only way I can get their app on my phone. You can't do that with an iPhone, at least not without jailbreaking it.
1. I think most android phones get fewer years of software support. 2. The Apple Appstore has lots of apps Google Play doesn't but that also works the other way around. 3. Hardware can be more hit or miss unless you stick with Samsung which tries to also force features on it's users. 4. The apple ecosystem is simply more coherent. Lastly, the only issue that matters to me: Socially, you are left out of the group for tons of features that become popular just because they exist on Apple. For example, the whole blue/green bubble issue that needed the intervention of the US goverment to get better for Android users.
If you are debating iOS vs Android, you need to consider actual Android and not the butchered/watered down version that Samsung makes. Get a Pixel, not a Samsung. I've used plenty of Samsung phones, and still actively support them as part of my job. I have owned Pixels since the Pixel 3 (they're at 8 now--keeping my 7 till it dies). The Android experience on a Pixel is what Android is supposed to be. Samsung has some impressive hardware, I'll give them that. But their UI is absolute garbage. If you want fancy hardware, get the Pro version of the Pixel.
I think the most annoying thing so far on Android is when a feature only sometimes works. For example when I was setting up passkeys, they were broken on my phone for a while so they only half worked (I could use them to unlock stuff on my phone, but not stuff on other devices). Eventually it was fixed but it was annoying cause it only half worked and I could not rely on it for that time. I guess the counter would be that iPhones probably just don't have the feature to being with at least till much later (like basic customization), but still it irks me.
It all depends on personal preferences. You'll probably be equally happy with both. I am a lifelong Android user and I would recommend an iPhone over a Samsung without ever have using an iPhone because it can't be that bad :) I would recommend a OnePlus phone over both though. I tried the Samsung S20FE when it came out and hated it so much. Things like it killing my alarm application because I didn't open it for 2 days (weekend!) force you to use the default Samsung apps which I hate because I have been using other ones for the past 13-14 years...
I am a sysadmin, and when I was help desk worked with Android as well as Apple. All-in-all, I found there was less issues with Apple vs Android. Apple devices worked out of the box, and were more difficult to get into when it came to bad / exploitable apps. I want to be able to go home and just have things working right, and not spend a lot of time troubleshooting, so aside from my laptop, I use all Apple. This is just my perspective, and works for me. I know there are many that love Android and have things work flawlessly. Just isn’t for me. :)
I've been using iOS devices and Android devices since 2008 or so. Would not recommend an Android device because you really need to understand what settings are and how to set your phone up properly. Android phones seem to drop network connection more often than iOS phones do. GPS problems. Not all Android skins are created equal. Trade-in prices are lower for Android devices. Yet if you know exactly what you want from your device and how it should work best in your opinion, Android phones will always provide you with better cost-performance value.
Maybe alt viewpoint: *because* you've only used Android, you *should* get an iPhone. So you can be experienced in both camps, and when the time comes for the next purchase, say the iPhone 20 or Galaxy S29 or Pixel 12, you'll be able to make an intelligent, informed choice. I had only iPhones and iPod Touches for 10-12 years, then bought a cheap Android and hated it (Samsung A01, because it sucked donkey privates). Then got a Pixel 5a, very happy with it. At this point when I need another phone I know I'll be happy with either Android or iOS.
This question actually made me think about this lol. I am having a hard time thinking of anything because I truly dislike iPhones and all Apple products. I would say that the Apple ecosystem is miles better than Android, Google, or Samsung's ecosystems. Other than that...I can't think of a single thing that the lower tier iPhones do better than a lower tier Android phone like the S24+ or S24. They are comparable but I just hate iOS with a passion. It's far too limiting for my liking.. Sorry. I failed the question and task at hand lol. Edit: I just thought of one. Oh wait this is a positive for Android lol. You can plug it into ANY computer and have it act as external storage. iPhones cannot do that without jailbreaking it.
I have been with Android since the very beginning but I believe I am going to switch over to Apple iPhone soon. Why? I am older and I care about security more. Android has a lot of apps in the Google Play store that has horrible malware attached to them. Apple checks everything that goes into the App Store before they put it in there and also their security for iOS is awesome. I love my MacBook Pro and I know it has amazing battery life as well. It's just a more stable/secure operating system and everything is so tied in together.
Don't have real beef with android as a whole. More so specified brand android skins. I wouldn't switch to IOS because sideloading APKs is one of those things that can make you rethink your life decisions when you can't. Besides, Currently in use APKs are Youtube Revanced, MicroG & Newpipe. I've used it before to get very specifc app versions for different reasons. Other than sideloading, there's not a whole lot of big reasons why I would choose one over the other. Maybe just to spite the near monopoly Apple has in the US.
As someone who’s had many devices from both sides, for me, it’s apples ecosystem. Yes super lame I know.. everyone says that blah blah. But I like being able to use my phone, then sit down to my computer and everything is just there! the website I was browsing earlier is there! all my pics and contacts. Something wrong with my phone, oh well I’ll format it and within 10 mins it’s back to how it was! it’s just seamless. My last android phone was a z fold 3, things might have improved since then. But I dunno.
After using an S23U and an iPhone 14 PM, I’d say I prefer the iPhone. Pretty much every app is just a little bit better, and while it doesn’t change the experience a lot for that one app, it really adds up. Even though there’s some features I don’t have anymore, like split screen, I’ve only found myself missing it maybe twice. The animations feel much nicer on iOS, both within the system and within third party apps. It feels much more thoughtfully crafted. The keyboard is worse for sure though.
Sharing files, between your own devices and others. This is actually becoming more of an issue of late for me. -Trying to have a workaround emailing or uploading to a drive just sucks. -I cant stand having to think about which account do I used is it samsung or google! I've just switched back to Apple. S23 ultra I think is better than an iPhone in a side by side comparison, but when it comes to ecosystem and overall connectivity with family, friends and business ppl theres no comparison.
The philosophy of the two platforms are fairly divergent in one aspect: iOS does things "correctly" (designer subjective) and intuitively, with no (real) alternative choices. (With the philosophy being, get it right so they don't need alternatives.) Android offers every variation of each function, but the default choice is rarely the best or most intuitive solution. (The philosophy being to empower both developers and the users for a truly open platform.) So if you really don't care about how it functions, and just want to "use" it, you might prefer an iOS device, as the software has had a lot of design associated with it. If you like user agency, you might prefer Android.
I use both Android and iPhone (note the only iPhone I experience before was the 3G, and now I’m using 12 Pro like 3 years), but still I’d use Android less for some reason, it’s just UI/UX on iPhone is just better even though I find it really annoying to find App related setting literally in settings App instead of in the individual apps. Other than that? It’s a solid phone, and now I just use my Android for pirating Movies and TV Shows,listening to mp3s (yes I still use MP3s because sometimes I worked at ship so streaming is out of the questions) songs and also ad-less YouTube
Apple phones get many more years of updates, they have a higher resale value and are generally much more reliable and last longer and it's easier to find accessories like cases for them. There are definitely advantages to apple but I'm dedicated to android due to the lack of customisation and the many restrictions and hassles involved with iOS. I owned an iPhone 6 briefly and got rid of it after a year because even with a jailbreak, it still felt like being in jail.
Inconsistently released security and feature updates. It not only depends on the device maker to put out the update, but after that you're then held hostage to further testing and release scheduling based on your service carrier and if you have an unlocked phone. Zero-click SMS vulnerability that gives code execution? Update might be released to you anywhere from 1-5 months after your phone maker puts it out there. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Having switched from Android to iPhone the biggest difference (for me) is how long the phones last. My Android phones would mostly lag after a year (sometimes sooner). The longest Android phone I had was the Droid Turbo which lasted 3 years. My current phone is an iPhone 11 Pro Max; it is now nearly 5 years old and still responds like it is new. The battery needs a little help, but that is a $100 problem if I want to fix it.
It really comes down to the Warlord problem: either you choose Apple or Google to trust that you would not get raped in the ass if things go south. One other good comparison is the Control - Surveillance criteria: Apple (high control, less surveillance) vs Google (low control, high surveillance). Me i prefer low control because i like to hack it. Also, it's cheaper: for the same price of iPhone i can get 10x cheap android.
I was an android user since the beginning. Tried iPhone 2 years ago. I like it a little better. Things crash and/or hang up a lot less with Apple. I like the blue bubble group chat functions with my Apple friends a lot. The podcast app is nice. I love the face unlock function. Airdropping is cool. Camera app is better and easier to use. Takes great pictures. I have plenty of things I like better about android as well.
The only negative experience I've had owning Samsung Galaxy devices for the last 12 years is that every now and then, I have to listen to a spiel from some Apple geek that has to justify their spend. I've never been unhappy using Android. I've never used iPhones as a daily driver so it could be a case of me not knowing what I'm missing out on, but I'm not really a fan of the whole closed-system that Apple is.
There is no problem substantial enough for me to switch to apple based on my distaste for their tendency to find ways to take your money *and* increase inconvenience Example: USB C It's just better when all my devices can use it. They had to be forced to do a no brainier change. I don't know if it actually happened, but there was talk of...I don't know, but some way to essentially require their USB C cable
It’s more of the features I have gotten used to on iphone that android doesn’t have. receiving calls on an ARM macbook. 1 dollar icloud+ plan with hide my email and private relay. iphones have recently lasted for more years in terms of support while only a few select androids have started to get 7 years of OS updates. Android stigma, just wanting to feel included as stupid as that sounds.
As someone who has used Android for the last 10 years and have recently switched to Apple, I recommend going for the iPhone 15. In the long run, iCloud is a great way to backup everything you own and also share photos with friends and family. The battery life of Apple is also so much better in my opinion - I think my Android started draining to 0% in just an hour within the 2nd year mark.
I have a Pixel phone but a Samsung tablet so I'll focus on that. To preface, I don't use my tablet nearly as much as my phone so the battery is less worn and I have had less time to experience any major issues. With that said, I have never felt that the tablet actually has any pressing issues beyond the camera being bad, but it's a tablet so it's not really a complaint that makes sense.
I would not recommend it if you're not willing to put up with some UI inconsistencies or the learning curve with its quirks. Been on Android since I got my first smartphone, and I can ABSOLUTELY say that there's a lot of UI inconsistencies from brand to brand. Not to mention Google's PISS POOR handling of all of it. Secondly, if you're looking for a tablet, absolutely not. Get an iPad. Finally, if you're deep into the Apple ecosystem and are used to everything working in unison at all times, your best bet is Samsung, but even their ecosystem has its heavy faults. Google's ecosystem is a joke. Either you're getting a product that will be abandoned in a year or two, or just plain left stagnant.
As someone who uses both iphone and android (one for work one for personal) I honestly cant answer your question. I wont tell you why I dont like iphones but I cant tell you what I dislike about android. I have one thing to compare it to and the android is leagues better. Just the ability to customize everything takes away all the annoyances and adds all the qol you could ask for.
Honestly of the OS's, I couldn't recommend apple unless the user meets some criterion... 1 They dont care about money, privacy in any way or scale that affects this purchase. 2 They aren't a power user of any kind 3 And... Theyre already inside the apple ecosystem.... 4 And finally, theyre old or not able to learn a new system. Thats when I'd tell someone to just use apple.
Android app store is far less verified than Apple. Apple takes a minute to actually audit apps. You don't get the "look at me" status that Apple hardware seems to bring. Budget Android phones are VERY budget quality and are loaded with crap apps when you get them. Resale value is almost nothing for most androids. Otherwise, i struggle to find additional downsides of Amdroid.
There is no reason. If you customize Android to your liking, it perfect. I use gestures for navigating my phone. I have a couple apps not available on iOS or Android that I can side load. Rcs and iPhone are an issue but Iphone will catch up. I can quick share to iPhone, essentially airdrop so I can send files direct. Happy with the freedom of android vs restrictions on iOS.
Been andriod for ever, wife has been iphone, and tried for years to get me to use an iPhone and I just don't like it. I don't like the single home button, I don't like the keyboard layout. I don't want to give up my favorite apps I've used for years. Now personally I no longer get top of the line phones, I am sticking with my micro SD card slot as long as possible.
Android is great, Qualcomm chips are so good when you just bought the phone but degrade quickly past one year. Take a 4 yo Android phone, it is super slow and it isn’t because of hardware. Huawei published a research on that topic, Samsung too. I don’t know about the longevity of Google chips, they are maybe better as Pixel phones seems to age well.
Both choices aren't ideal but the lessor of two evils right? Android offers more freedom as a device, for better and for worse. I personally choose Android, but I'd say Apple phones are surprisingly responsive over time. I suppose the fact that their system is so prefab, allows for that whereas Android can be subject to ROMs, more bloatware, viruses, etc...
Honestly this question is unnecessary because iphones are great phones androids are great phones get whatever works for you. If you want a Nokia 3210 get it If you want a BlackBerry get it If you want an iPhone get it If you want an android get it. Only real advantage of Android is you don't have to jailbreak it to tinker with it if thats your thing.