After spending over a decade with various Android phones, I finally made the switch to an iPhone. Here’s why I made the switch and what I’ve discovered since.
The Struggles with Samsung/Android
-
Slow Shutter on Samsung Flagships: One of my biggest gripes with Samsung’s flagship phones has been the slow shutter and shutter lag. Trying to capture a moving subjects often resulted in blurry photos or missed shots entirely. This has been an issue with Samsung phones for many years.
-
Google’s Service Abandonment: Google has a notorious history of abandoning services. The most recent one being the Podcasts app. The podcast experience on YouTube Music is just terrible.
-
Hardware Design: The Samsung S24 Ultra has sharp corners that make it uncomfortable to hold. The Pixel 8 phones have issues with connectivity and overheating. The S24+ comes with an inferior Exynos processor.
-
Performance: No matter how fast the hardware is, Android phones always seem to slow down and stutter after a few months of use. It’s like they age in dog years. (My most recent Samsung phone was the S23+, and it already started lagging).
-
Apps: Android apps have an inconsistent look and feel. It’s like a patchwork quilt made by someone who doesn’t know how to sew. Also, a lot of Android apps require excessive permissions.
-
Disaster: A Samsung update once made my phone unbootable. I had to do a full reset and lost some data. People said I should have made a backup before the update, but Android doesn’t provide an easy way to completely backup the phone. That was the last straw.
The iPhone Revelation
-
Shortcuts: The Shortcuts app on iPhone is a game-changer. It automates tasks in ways I never thought possible.
-
Face ID: Face ID on the iPhone is leagues ahead of Samsung’s version and even better than Touch ID. It’s fast, reliable, and just works. With the amount of unlocks I need everyday, this turns out to be more impactful than I expected.
-
Files App: The Files app is actually useful, and it has built-in support for Windows file shares.
-
Look & Feel: Everything on iOS feels smoother and more premium. The animations, the UI design – it’s all just so polished.
-
Audio: It’s much easier to select audio output in-app when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and AirPlay.
-
Driving: CarPlay is a joy to use compared to Android Auto. Plus, Apple Maps has better voice directions.
-
Emulators: Emulators are now possible to use on iPhone without jailbreaking.
Switching to iPhone has been a breath of fresh air. While Android gave me more freedom and customizations. The consistency, reliability, and overall experience of iOS have won me over.
What was your experience switching to/from “the dark side”?
I tried going to android, got a Samsung galaxy s5 way back. I couldn’t believe how shitty it was, it constantly tripped over itself and felt like a very old laptop.
Some told me that I would have to remove all the bloatware. Kind of defeats the purpose of a phone imo, the whole point is that it’s a convenient computer, if I want full customization there are other devices out there.
Bloatware is the point of a phone? Do you have any inkling how that sounds? Sounds like you don’t know what bloatware is, at minimum
That’s the exact opposite of what was said. Convenience is the point of a phone; having to debloat is not convenient. A phone without bloat is more convenient.
What are you talking about? I’m a software dev so I understand bad software practices (or at least my employer thinks I do)
I guess you’re confirming you don’t know what bloatware is? I asked if you knew what it was and somehow that was confusing
I don’t have to convince a random person on the internet, was just giving my 2 cents.
Removing bloatware is mostly placebo effect. Most bloatware take up some storage space but don’t really affect the performance or stability of the phone.
Yeah exactly. Why spend energy on a phone that might be good if you spend time on it. Just feels like a bad consumer product with missed opportunities.