Samsung recently launched the Galaxy A54 in The Netherlands with sweet trade-in deals and offers. On top of that it received a price cut and it's now a bargain on online marketplaces. It'll also receive 4 years of OS updates and the image processing is finally up there with the big boys (the 4K, OIS and image processing on all cameras are seriously competitive). The newer mid-range Android devices made me realize how much phone these OEMs can deliver for barely 350 euros. The progress here is wild. I'm starting to believe they're selling these at a loss. On the outside, you're roughly getting the same specs as a Pro iPhone. We're talking: borderless high refresh rate OLED displays, glass sandwich, multiple focal lengths and big batteries. My daily driver is the 128GB 3rd generation iPhone SE, which I purchased new after my refurbished iPhone 12 ended up being botched. But damn, I did not expect to miss that gigantic, vibrant OLED panel this much. I never shell out more than 450 EUR on a phone, so the SE was what I allowed myself to purchase at the time. And besides wanting a boxed phone with warranty that just works, I also chose it for its software and the power of A15 Bionic.
But my God, do I have a love-hate relationship with the SE. This device checks all boxes and it works amazingly together with my iPad (2021) and MacBook Air M1, but it's too utilitarian and the battery remains trash. Other than raw performance, the SE looks like an embarrassment in front of its Android competitors. Before I buried myself deep into the Apple ecosystem, I had the craziest, experimental Android phones you could think of and I never stopped missing them. I switched to Mac and iPad for content creation and all-around productivity, because every Windows workstation I had in the past was underwhelming for my use cases.
For mobile computing though, I think I could switch back to Android. My worries are that I'm locked in the walled garden. I pay for iCloud Drive to store my personal files I made in the iWork suite. I use the built-in password manager. My most important documents from university are stored on OneDrive and OneNote, so that luckily isn't a worry. I Sign in with Apple almost everywhere. I don't use platform-agnostic apps for (personal) note-taking, reminders and calendar. So to get myself a nicer phone experience, I have to give myself a headache (probably by using Google services, like Keep, To-Do and Calendar). Almost all media I consume on my phone is stored locally. I still prefer microSD cards, MP3s, FLACs, MKV movies – and that won't change anytime soon as long as streaming services keep removing the content I love most. So expandable storage is a big plus. Also, the only way I can get that a fully-functioning modern iPhone with OLED is when I spend nearly double the MSRP of A54. I'm a student working in retail. An iPhone 12 Pro is equal to three paychecks.
I don't use Handoff and the Universal Clipboard rarely works between my Mac and iPhone. I also never forward calls to my Mac. The only Continuity features I'm going to miss are automatic fill-in and AirDrop. For the latter there have been alternatives using the Nearby Share protocol, but I don't know if they work well. I could buy myself another refurbished iPhone 12 for double the price of a second-hand (new from a reseller) A54. But the truth is that I probably have to replace the battery soon and that the condition will be another nightmare. I can trade-in my SE for 350 euros and get the A54 for 280 euros. The SE (3rd generation), A54 or a used and abused iPhone 12 are the best options at 400 euros in this country.
I want to go with the A54. My biggest worries are the password manager and the iWork suite. For the latter that means I can no longer view my .pages documents on Android and I also will not be able to edit them last-minute. I've rarely had to do those things though. My Mac is strictly for writing, but the convenience of my documents being there whenever I need them is just nice to have. The solution probably is LibreOffice and using Google Drive in Finder on my Mac to sync those documents. But itt sounds a bit cumbersome.
I've seen tech YouTubers like Michael Fisher and Marques Brownlee use their Android flagships alongside their Mac all the time. Marques carries an iPhone and a Pixel, and he uses Google services for his note-taking. Michael said he doesn't see why his Android should go near his Mac. I just wonder how I can integrate all these devices to create somewhat of a seamless experience, without running into headache-inducing issues.
Is there anyone who has done the same? What advice could you give me and what troubles will I run into? Thanks!
But my God, do I have a love-hate relationship with the SE. This device checks all boxes and it works amazingly together with my iPad (2021) and MacBook Air M1, but it's too utilitarian and the battery remains trash. Other than raw performance, the SE looks like an embarrassment in front of its Android competitors. Before I buried myself deep into the Apple ecosystem, I had the craziest, experimental Android phones you could think of and I never stopped missing them. I switched to Mac and iPad for content creation and all-around productivity, because every Windows workstation I had in the past was underwhelming for my use cases.
For mobile computing though, I think I could switch back to Android. My worries are that I'm locked in the walled garden. I pay for iCloud Drive to store my personal files I made in the iWork suite. I use the built-in password manager. My most important documents from university are stored on OneDrive and OneNote, so that luckily isn't a worry. I Sign in with Apple almost everywhere. I don't use platform-agnostic apps for (personal) note-taking, reminders and calendar. So to get myself a nicer phone experience, I have to give myself a headache (probably by using Google services, like Keep, To-Do and Calendar). Almost all media I consume on my phone is stored locally. I still prefer microSD cards, MP3s, FLACs, MKV movies – and that won't change anytime soon as long as streaming services keep removing the content I love most. So expandable storage is a big plus. Also, the only way I can get that a fully-functioning modern iPhone with OLED is when I spend nearly double the MSRP of A54. I'm a student working in retail. An iPhone 12 Pro is equal to three paychecks.
I don't use Handoff and the Universal Clipboard rarely works between my Mac and iPhone. I also never forward calls to my Mac. The only Continuity features I'm going to miss are automatic fill-in and AirDrop. For the latter there have been alternatives using the Nearby Share protocol, but I don't know if they work well. I could buy myself another refurbished iPhone 12 for double the price of a second-hand (new from a reseller) A54. But the truth is that I probably have to replace the battery soon and that the condition will be another nightmare. I can trade-in my SE for 350 euros and get the A54 for 280 euros. The SE (3rd generation), A54 or a used and abused iPhone 12 are the best options at 400 euros in this country.
I want to go with the A54. My biggest worries are the password manager and the iWork suite. For the latter that means I can no longer view my .pages documents on Android and I also will not be able to edit them last-minute. I've rarely had to do those things though. My Mac is strictly for writing, but the convenience of my documents being there whenever I need them is just nice to have. The solution probably is LibreOffice and using Google Drive in Finder on my Mac to sync those documents. But itt sounds a bit cumbersome.
I've seen tech YouTubers like Michael Fisher and Marques Brownlee use their Android flagships alongside their Mac all the time. Marques carries an iPhone and a Pixel, and he uses Google services for his note-taking. Michael said he doesn't see why his Android should go near his Mac. I just wonder how I can integrate all these devices to create somewhat of a seamless experience, without running into headache-inducing issues.
Is there anyone who has done the same? What advice could you give me and what troubles will I run into? Thanks!