Former iPhone users, if i switch what will i be missing?

[Blue Quark]

Well, I own and use a Samsung Galaxy Active2 smart watch, and to suggest that Apple's Apple Watch runs circles around it is kind of ludicrous. That's not to say Apple Watches aren't great: they are. However, there is competition out there and a lot of it is actually pretty good.

The fact that decent Android phones all let you use a microSD card is pretty nice. Right now I'm rocking a 128GB card in my Moto G Power, and it works out pretty well.

Google's just recently shut down their own Google Play Music app and related services, having of course decided to just throw everything into YouTube. Personally, I just use VLC to play music and videos I keep locally stored.

I use Google's navigation services every day I work. All I do is create events for every workday and put in the address of the place I'm going. Then, each morning when I get into my car, I just bring up Google Calendar, tap on the event, tap on the address, and I'm off to wherever it is I'm going. I use the built-in speedometer in lieu of my own car's speedometer, since the GPS-based one is actually a lot more accurate.

Am I spoiled? Yeah, just a bit.

 

[ackmondual]

You will miss iMessage, your Apple Watch, and app quality. There’s not one Android watch that comes close to an Apple Watch in terms of functionality and smoothness. You will no longer have iMessage (if you use it)—so, your text messages will not have end-to-end encryption and photos and videos that will be texted to you will be extremely grainy. In general, apps are just better on iOS; more refined, prettier, etc.

I've gotten word that that gap has mostly been closed. Can you cite some examples of such apps that are refined, prettier, etc.?

Seems like it works really well for you. And I have no doubt I am in the minority of not really liking the Apple Watch. But most of those things you've mentioned you use it for I would just pick my phone up and use the bigger screen to check.

It isn't just the Apple Watch. It's smart watches in general. I just don't really see the appeal. Sure, it tells me things direct to my wrist without me needing my phone on me, but for most cases I will then need to use my phone to interact with those notifications. I wouldn't dream of answering a call on my watch, for instance, unless I was at home or unless I had airpods in. And even then I wouldn't normally be wearing airpods out the house.

It's different strokes different folks. All my family wear AW and love them. I'm totally in the minority but I've just always found it a bit pointless for me!

I guess I'm "middle of the road" here. I wear a watch, but it's a traditional watch for time. It's a fashion statement, but I can look down to determine the date and time, without having to take out an electronic device.

OTOH, I'm sure I'd get a big kick out of a smartwatch, but I'm not doing a-Watch for sure since I don't own an iPhone, and have no plans to get one. All the other smartwatches for Android aren't too shabby (even if they are inferior to Apple's), but I'm also fine with not incurring that extra cost, along with having one less thing to charge. Seriously, I have my own phone, an iPad Air (1), a Chromebook, and several devices I use at work. I can really stand to keep that number low

 

[iSheep5S]

You can have both. But if you like it simple I prefer android as it’s less boring. Lots of interesting things on android.

I have an Samsung S20FE and an iPhone SE2. I don’t do contracts as I switch too often. I have a sim only rolling monthly deal with o2 UK in the Samsung which is my main. And I have a pay as you go sim in the iPhone so it’s not a glorified iPad micro. Only a select few have my iPhone number.

I would just have the Samsung but like many others I love the Apple Watch. It works on WiFi so I don’t need the iPhone for it bar updates. But I do need it. And I like tech so having both means no tech FOMO.

Android has come a long way. Apple rocks. Can’t go wrong.

 

[Sarbun96]

You'll miss a LOT initially. Maybe it'll be enough to send you back to iOS, it was for me a few times. Thankfully Samsung's 30 day open box returns meant I didn't break the bank in doing so, but a year after that, now I'm back to a Note 50 Ultra 5G having been an iPhone user and Apple fanboy since 2008.

You'll miss the integration with Apple services, the single Apple ID sign in, you'll hate the duplication of apps (default, Google, Samsung or OEM version of things like Mail). You will miss how the iPhone feels in the hand, sorry, but no Android phone at any price compares - that's not to say they aren't as good.

If you have a Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV then life will be hell as they refuse to work with Android. So forget it if that's the case. But , if like me, you've sold all this stuff and are on Windows or want to make your phone the centre of your personal devices, then it's the way to go. However, at much less cost there's a wider ecosystem of compatible things, e.g. Chromecast, Samsung Wear etc.

What you'll enjoy is a lot more freedom. More nerdy stuff to get into. A foldable screen if you want it. Or an integrated smart stylus. Or insane cameras with manual controls like Sony offers, maybe their narrow aspect ratio. You've got a lot more choice now than 'this year / last years > expensive / cheap / budget iPhone'. You may miss the simplicity of that though, which can be rather annoynig when buying... for example, the Note 20 vs Note 20 Ultra, just the size difference? ...hahaha no, night and day. It's almost cruel to be honest. So research well.

Good luck and tell us what you buy in the end?

 

[SubMacUser]

Android User for 5 years now. i used to have an iPhone 4S and just recently bought a 2020 SE. The first thing that i welcome back is that iPhones are smooth. i'm a performance geek so it does matter. the only android that can match the iPhone's smoothness is only the OnePlus Phones. also the iCloud intergration is something that i also miss. with the ios 14, i dont see the point of coming back to android as my work device.

 

[LotsOfBands]

I have both android (Galaxy S10) and SE2 and some ipads.

Only thing I miss on ny S10 from Apple is FaceTime and iMessage. Otherwise it’s really up to personal preference if you like one over the other.

I will say, keep your iPhone and buy and Android phone. Then you can always go back anytime.

Frank

So you miss video calling and message sending? So you haven't got that ability on android? Oh, what's that.. You have many different options that look and act practically the same? Cool... So what do you miss again?

 

[Jason2000]

So you miss video calling and message sending? So you haven't got that ability on android? Oh, what's that.. You have many different options that look and act practically the same? Cool... So what do you miss again?

LOL. You sound angry. Everything is going to be ok.

 

[LotsOfBands]

LOL. You sound angry. Everything is going to be ok.

Angry. Lol, really. Nah, it's Xmas I'm as chilled as it gets... Just debating what folk think they miss when moving platforms, when in reality, all the options are there under a different name..

For example... If you sold your bmw, you can't exactly say you miss the BMW in car entertainment system as if its a deal breaker, when merc or audi also do the full entertainment system with digital display, Cd, dab etc... Same outcome, just a slightly different interface...

 

[spinedoc77]

So you miss video calling and message sending? So you haven't got that ability on android? Oh, what's that.. You have many different options that look and act practically the same? Cool... So what do you miss again?

This is what I miss the most about my iphone by FAR, I kind of don't get where you are coming from. Every single person in my circles has an iphone, family, friends, acquintances, etc. Trust me I've asked and looked and I'm really baffled I haven't found anyone with Android. What hits me hardest is sending pictures/videos of my kids and that they have to revert back to a horribly outdated standard such as MMS.

 

[The_Interloper]

This is what I miss the most about my iphone by FAR, I kind of don't get where you are coming from. Every single person in my circles has an iphone, family, friends, acquintances, etc. Trust me I've asked and looked and I'm really baffled I haven't found anyone with Android. What hits me hardest is sending pictures/videos of my kids and that they have to revert back to a horribly outdated standard such as MMS.

But that's on Apple. Be clear on this, it's Apple that refuses to accept a standard such as RCS. This is the lock-in strategy in full effect; iMessage is proprietary, pure and simple, and Apple will not make it cross-platform like every other messaging service. If they simply provided an iMessage client on Android (like WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal and every other service does) then this wouldn't be an issue.

 

[LotsOfBands]

This is what I miss the most about my iphone by FAR, I kind of don't get where you are coming from. Every single person in my circles has an iphone, family, friends, acquintances, etc. Trust me I've asked and looked and I'm really baffled I haven't found anyone with Android. What hits me hardest is sending pictures/videos of my kids and that they have to revert back to a horribly outdated standard such as MMS.

You know its not against the law to have a 2nd messaging app on your phone.. U can send Bob a whattsapp pic no problem, I can't say I've ever encountered this low res grainy issue that folk moan about. It must be country dependant? MMS? Who uses that in 2020, its an extra cost in the uk, on top of unlimited texting plans... I have multiple contacts on both side of the fence, I just send WhatsApp with no issues, and no one has ever replied its a problem...

 

[spinedoc77]

You know its not against the law to have a 2nd messaging app on your phone.. U can send Bob a whattsapp pic no problem, I can't say I've ever encountered this low res grainy issue that folk moan about. It must be country dependant? MMS? Who uses that in 2020, its an extra cost in the uk, on top of unlimited texting plans... I have multiple contacts on both side of the fence, I just send WhatsApp with no issues, and no one has ever replied its a problem...

Yeah I keep hearing this strategy and it doesn't work for everyone. How easy do you think it would be to try to get dozens of my friends, family, business associates, acquaintance, etc. to switch over to a 3rd party app? Not only that, but switching like that would most likely be a technological hurdle for those less technically inclined, my parents come to mind and knowing they can barely handle iMessage much less a 3rd party app. I don't disagree that it's a good strategy, it just doesn't really work with everyone.

Who uses MMS? I'm not sure if you missed the entire point, but if you message from Android to iOS your multimedia message automatically gets downgraded to MMS, of course this is in the US.

 

[LotsOfBands]

Yeah I keep hearing this strategy and it doesn't work for everyone. How easy do you think it would be to try to get dozens of my friends, family, business associates, acquaintance, etc. to switch over to a 3rd party app? Not only that, but switching like that would most likely be a technological hurdle for those less technically inclined, my parents come to mind and knowing they can barely handle iMessage much less a 3rd party app. I don't disagree that it's a good strategy, it just doesn't really work with everyone.

Who uses MMS? I'm not sure if you missed the entire point, but if you message from Android to iOS your multimedia message automatically gets downgraded to MMS, of course this is in the US.

Im.not talking about a wholesale swapping of apps,. Just to have a sly 2nd one hidden away. So if you want to receive a pic message from a droid user. It just pops up in a different app. Its called adjusting to the environment.. One size doesn't fit all...

Ps, WhatsApp Doesn't use MMS, it's just a simple Web based app Effectively, so no issues as long as u have a signal.

MMS costs an extra fee in the UK, hence its got very limited usage, whereas you can WhatsApp, messenger, etc pictures as far as the day is long with no extra cost...

 

[The Game 161]

Yeah I keep hearing this strategy and it doesn't work for everyone. How easy do you think it would be to try to get dozens of my friends, family, business associates, acquaintance, etc. to switch over to a 3rd party app? Not only that, but switching like that would most likely be a technological hurdle for those less technically inclined, my parents come to mind and knowing they can barely handle iMessage much less a 3rd party app. I don't disagree that it's a good strategy, it just doesn't really work with everyone.

Who uses MMS? I'm not sure if you missed the entire point, but if you message from Android to iOS your multimedia message automatically gets downgraded to MMS, of course this is in the US.

yeah this is my experience generally people want to use what's built into the phone. I don't have I have ever managed to get family to use anything other than FaceTime. Likely helps that is all people think of when it comes to video calls.

WhatsApp is huge here in the UK but generally the people I text are via iMessage but getting other people to use say duo over FaceTime is like 0%

 

[Vegastouch]

Wondering what the OP decided to do.

It wasnt a hard switch for me as i did it years ago and havent went back to an iPhone but im not like most here and dont get over excited about tech. It about topped out for me and dont care about folded phones or watches.

Id possibly be interested in a modern flip phone but not for their going inflated prices.

If he hasnt done it yet, id recommend a Pixel though they arent flagship types like SS S Series but Its pretty much Android with no bloat and some cool features and the one i love the best is the screen calling....and of course you get updates first if that matters to you.

 

[sunking101]

Of course you're going to feel more comfortable with something you've been using for years. People overthink this stuff wayyyy too much in my opinion. If you want to change then do so. I did 5 years ago after 6 years with iOS and I haven't been back yet. I found Android refreshing.