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macmesser

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2012
921
198
Long Island, NY USA
Not sure if this is the best place for this post. Time to upgrade from my iPhone 5 and I'm thinking about migrating to a different brand. My use has been pretty basic, as my present iPhone suggests. One area that will be important in future use is photography and I will be wanting the best phone for this job. Is Apple best in this arena? If not, what alternatives should I be looking at? How close are Apple competitors?
 

LFC2020

macrumors P6
Apr 4, 2020
16,874
38,037
Not sure if this is the best place for this post. Time to upgrade from my iPhone 5 and I'm thinking about migrating to a different brand. My use has been pretty basic, as my present iPhone suggests. One area that will be important in future use is photography and I will be wanting the best phone for this job. Is Apple best in this arena? If not, what alternatives should I be looking at? How close are Apple competitors?
No such thing mate, apple is the best, no completion, if you want lag, heat, battery drain, bloat, ads in apps, 2x apps for messages, photo, mail, internet, calendar and plenty others, ?‍♂️? get a samsung lol, promise you one thing, you'll be back on iOS in a week or two.

Even die hard Samsung fans are starting to the see the light and gimmicks on samsung phones.

 

TechLord

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2020
692
911
Probably Samsung galaxy S line. The Pixel has good software and I think the pixel 4a is pretty good value; the 5 is equally midrange but with a much higher price so I would avoid that one.
 
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Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
If you plan on keeping the phone for a long time, you might want to consider how long you will get software support on the phone you purchase. Apple gives you at least 5 years of major OS updates and 2 years beyond that for security updates. in 12/2020 Apple released an update for iOS 12 for those devices that could not run iOS 13. With Android you get at most 3 years of major OS updates and beyond that for security updates will depend on the manufacturer.
 

keti2377

macrumors member
Nov 1, 2020
70
89
The only alternative that’s similar to Apple is stock Android, so any of the Pixel phones would be good. I you want a flagship device with as many features as you want, you can also try Samsung devices. If you don’t like them, you can always trade them in or sell them, it doesn’t hurt to try something new if you’re not currently feeling iOS at the moment.
 
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Madtiger27

Suspended
Nov 17, 2020
757
613
The only alternative that’s similar to Apple is stock Android, so any of the Pixel phones would be good. I you want a flagship device with as many features as you want, you can also try Samsung devices. If you don’t like them, you can always trade them in or sell them, it doesn’t hurt to try something new if you’re not currently feeling iOS at the moment.
The problem is that if you buy ANY Android device and then later sell it, you are gonna take a huge hit on resale value!! Basically it is highway robbery at your expense. Android devices have pitiful resale value. Basically, worthless after 6-12 months.
 

keti2377

macrumors member
Nov 1, 2020
70
89
The problem is that if you buy ANY Android device and then later sell it, you are gonna take a huge hit on resale value!! Basically it is highway robbery at your expense. Android devices have pitiful resale value. Basically, worthless after 6-12 months.
Yup, unfortunately that's the risk since there's way too many Android phones in the market. What OP could do is buy it relatively new/open box months after release date on eBay for much less money than retail price if they're interested in trying stock Android. I've done this in the past years ago and didn't lose out on much money in the end when I decided to sell it.
 

Madtiger27

Suspended
Nov 17, 2020
757
613
Here is a quote from a reviewer that pretty much sums up everything:

“The iPhone 12 Pro Max is pretty much the closest we have seen a phone come to a high-quality point and shoot camera. No, it does not bring the sort of shooting variety as regards to zoom that something like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra brings to the table, but in terms of realistic detail and sheer consistency, it is unmatched.

We knew almost exactly what we were going to get every time we hit the shutter on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and that is something that is very rare in phone camera territory, where brands do have a tendency to mess around with software tweaks, call it computational photography or whatever you wish. It is not as if the iPhone 12 Pro Max is immune to this – it only seems to tweak images for more realistic shades and details rather than going for the “pleasant looking” images that are the flavor of the day. Even selfies are (sometimes painfully) realistic.

The results the cameras of the iPhone 12 Pro deliver are frankly the closest thing we have seen to a high-class point and shoot camera.”
 
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Six0Four

macrumors 65816
Mar 27, 2020
1,060
1,360
Ya i would say Pixel 4a devices. You can always try it out and return it if you don't like it.

Samsung's photos are too overly saturated imo and they some people are even reported ads when using Samsung apps.
 

masotime

macrumors 68030
Jun 24, 2012
2,865
2,841
San Jose, CA
Not sure if this is the best place for this post. Time to upgrade from my iPhone 5 and I'm thinking about migrating to a different brand. My use has been pretty basic, as my present iPhone suggests. One area that will be important in future use is photography and I will be wanting the best phone for this job. Is Apple best in this arena? If not, what alternatives should I be looking at? How close are Apple competitors?

You should ask in this forum instead - https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/alternatives-to-ios.157/
 

snipr125

macrumors 68020
Oct 17, 2015
2,011
3,125
UK
Pixel phones and perhaps One plus, are similar to iphones in terms of software experience, optimisation and updates. Oneplus in particular have quite a cult following, similar to Apple.
 

Madtiger27

Suspended
Nov 17, 2020
757
613
Pixel phones and perhaps One plus, are similar to iphones in terms of software experience, optimisation and updates. Oneplus in particular have quite a cult following, similar to Apple.
1+ has fallen off the horse though in terms of software updates. And their camera always 2-3 steps behind the big boys (Apple, Pixel, and Samsung).

But yeah, their software optimizations are excellent........except when it comes to supporting their older devices. Their software have lots of bugs and sometimes their updates are delayed for months and months on older devices.

And of course, losing their charismatic CEO means a lot of unknown in future direction.
 

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,118
10,909
The problem is that if you buy ANY Android device and then later sell it, you are gonna take a huge hit on resale value!! Basically it is highway robbery at your expense. Android devices have pitiful resale value. Basically, worthless after 6-12 months.

In return one could buy them slightly used for next to nothing!
 

Bro KV

macrumors regular
Apr 10, 2011
113
175
You mentioned photos. In that case outside of Apple I would go Pixel or OPO. But, I recommend staying with Apple for overall performance plus photos and video.
 

Madtiger27

Suspended
Nov 17, 2020
757
613
In return one could buy them slightly used for next to nothing!
Very true. But then again, i don’t like to buy 2nd hand/used electronics...a lot of time, they are lightly or recently used because of hardware issues. Unlike Apple’s refurbished units, many of Android on used market are from horrible 3rd party re-sellers that don’t do crap to check the units or even clear their IMEI.
 

DexBell

Suspended
Oct 23, 2016
839
1,068
Not sure if this is the best place for this post. Time to upgrade from my iPhone 5 and I'm thinking about migrating to a different brand. My use has been pretty basic, as my present iPhone suggests. One area that will be important in future use is photography and I will be wanting the best phone for this job. Is Apple best in this arena? If not, what alternatives should I be looking at? How close are Apple competitors?
Best Android experience, Pixel. Best cameras for photography, Huawei
 
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