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BrettApple

macrumors 65816
Apr 3, 2010
1,145
488
Heart of the midwest
You could pick up a 1st gen Pixel for pretty cheap these days. Still has a fantastic camera, powerful hardware, years of support, headphone jack. Only downside for me would be it has a 16:9 screen with giant bezels.

This is precisely what I did. Still have my iPhone 7 sitting around but I grabbed a 2nd hand Pixel XL for $195. Not a bad price for what it offers and I find it plenty fast with a great camera that sure seems to outpace my iPhone by a fair margin. At least with all the Auto HDR + Magic it does anyway. Oreo has been smooth as butter thus far as well. Sure it's a 2016 phone with the SD 825 but that sure doesn't seem to slow it down any!
 

Dodgeman

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2016
1,355
199
Everyone likes apple or android for their own reasons:

There are things I like and hate about both manufactures. At the end of the day I can work with either and the majority of what I do means either will work well. I have been having a debate on switching between platforms because I like this or that better and at the end it may even equal out. (I haven't done a tally yet).
Either way android is a bit more cost effect at this point with a bit more freedom...
Not 100% sure where I will end up but we will see.
 

SteveJUAE

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2015
4,513
4,753
Land of Smiles
Yes, that level of importance has been primary in keeping me with the iPhone since I moved back to iPhone in 2012 / 2013 (approximately). I did lose one message during my transition back, that was unfortunate. I was setting up the iPhone, and had a message come through, and then had to restore to factory due to a problem that couldn't be resolved. Was like a matter of minutes between turning it on, having the message come in, the phone crashed and died, and I had to do a factory refresh to bring it back. And, the loss of that single message cost me 3 years in court. I had to pull other people in, and it was a mess. That one message could have made the difference of it just being thrown out of court. I lost big time in that one, but while remaining free, it put restrictions on my freedom for a long time.

It sucks having people in your past that do things, then try to claim it was you. My phone and computers hold the archives of the truth. I've cleared my name, but still have people trying to drag it through the mud. And, have another person who tried having me jailed only a few months back, but the text messages contradict their own story. So, I remained free. But, they keep trying. The statute of limitations for the offense they allege is 10 years. So, I can't lose messages for 10 years from now, or I'm basically screwed. The police know I have the messages, and they held a grand jury hearing to decide whether to arrest me, and based on evidence determined they couldn't arrest me. But, the person has continued to file allegations, and also dragged people in town into it. So, when I get approached by the law, or other people that have been sent after me, I pull out the phone and show them what is in writing. It clears me fast. Some people are vicious when they want something they can't have, they try to make you pay. But, enough of that lol...

I have stayed with the iPhone due to the ability to archive everything and put it back as it was. And, the same with the calendars and contacts automatically syncing with my calendars and contacts on the computer from my phone. I can always say what I was doing on any day that I'm asked about going back to 2009. Which sadly is important. That level of microscope is annoying.

But, I've also been frustrated when I could get a free Android phone vs. a $700 to $1000 iPhone. The thing I like about Androids is the ability to put a flash card into it, of whatever storage amount I desire, and handling media / files / music / and documents as actual files that I can move into a traditional directory / folder format. And, I can pull that content or add content to / from that card by simply plugging the card right into my computer. That is the simplicity I miss. Or complexity perhaps depending on your viewpoint.

That feature actually saved my butt in a court room at one point prior to my switch to iPhones. I was asked to produce something in the court room, and could pull my memory card out, and they could play it on the court's computer / audio system. And, the audio kept me out of jail. Stupid fools, yes I record if you come near me lol...

But, it had to be played on the court's system, and be something that was a file which could be duplicated and handed in file format to the court / judge, the accuser's attorney for analysis to have the ability to try and prove it had been altered, and to my attorney to have as well.

That's a level of functionality missing in the iPhone. Not everything is treated as a file. And, not everything can be removed from the phone / transferred as a file to another device without losing it's metadata of creation date. If I can move a file from the memory card using a file manager, it's creation / modification metadata remains intact. If you send a file from the phone to another device, it now has a new creation date when it arrives on the next device. That presents the impression that I just made the file.

So, I really prefer the way Android treats media and files, and has removable memory cards that I can change easily and store. The iPhone forces me to pay a premium for greater storage capacity, and I can't add to it, remove it, or directly manage the files from another device as easily as I could with Android.

But, I could never find a consistent backup / restore solution that treated all Android devices the same. Such as if my phone died, and I purchased a different brand or model Android, could I make it look exactly like the phone that died.

From what you're describing, it sounds like perhaps they've begun to add the level of functionality that I would require. I might have to look into that. If it is there, and appears that it will remain there, then that might increase my future options. I'd then only have to figure out how to migrate text messages and such over to the new phone if it was not an iPhone I moved to.

But, it is encouraging to hear that they've begun to implement those types of features.
Very interesting use of your phone :)

You would still likely have to stick with one make eg Samsung but I see no reason why you could not clone your iPhone and run both in parallel to try

This would seem sensible to do regardless given critallity of your data you only need one bug in any os and your archives are stuck

My guess is the migration wizard from iphone to samsung could be run periodically for example and then backed up pc/clould

If you can get a fee device it's worth a trial to iron out any concerns and experiment on the samsung with the security of still having you iphone functioning as normal
 
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Tsepz

macrumors 601
Jan 24, 2013
4,888
4,698
Johannesburg, South Africa
I've come to greatly dislike the direction Apple has taken. Removing the headphone jack, the home button, and making so much navigating "swipe based", has made me look elsewhere.

However, it seems like most of Android is following Apple. 3.5mm jacks exist only a few premium Android phones. The notch seems to be on most Android phones going forward

With Apple I use the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter, and it works good (sometimes I gotta re plug it in to get it going), but I've read that the USB-C to 3.5mm of Android phones has been nothing short of a disaster.

I don't want a Samsung phone because of those stupid curved screens.
Lol, your last sentence pretty much killed it for you.

Get a LG V30.
 

dallas112678

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2008
821
606
If you are an iPhone user, the Pixel 2 XL is a great first step into Android. Everything is simple and works out of the box. Speed is incredible, photos taken by the camera need no editing, Google Assist is so brilliant I use it for most of my google searches as it always gets what I'm saying and it's quicker than typing.

Lastly, it has louder stereo speakers, face unlock but I use the finger print reader as it's doesn't require waking up the phone. Initially I found it a bit "bare" compared with the Samsung S6 I previous had, but after 2 weeks I realised that it excels at everything you want a phone to do. It's an amazing phone and I feel I made the right choice.

This.

If you want the smoothest phone around where the software is so well integrated into the entire experience (what apple used to be known for) then the pixel is the way to go. The AI features are so far beyond anything else on the market now it's not even close.
 
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