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sultanoflondon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 3, 2013
342
16
Hi all,

My iPhone is fairly well integrated with my Mac using iCloud. So for example, Contacts, Notes and Photo Stream all works seamlessly between my devices.

Also, FaceTime Handoff, iCloud Drive and Find My iPhone / Find My Mac are more sophisticated and useful features of iCloud.

To what extent could a Samsung Galaxy S8 integrate with my Mac? For example, is there a Notes equivalent app that could sync automatically between an S8 and my Mac? Contacts? Would it be possible for me to accept an incoming call on my Mac (which is then routed through an S8)?

Thank you!
 

SteveJUAE

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2015
4,513
4,753
Land of Smiles
Yes all is possible and a lot more

The only real advantage of the Apple sync across all Apple devices is its easier as the native support is there and relatively simple to set up and use. However the set of features available, which are very good, is more limited

With synching across multiple devices with different OS's you need to install the apps and some report they are glitchy, but personally I never found any real issues. it may also require you to use more than one app to get the same coverage that you use with just Apple devices but often you gain extra features

With the exception of answering your calls MS Office is one of the best enterprise solutions across most devices with onenote and of course normal office apps plus onedrive. You normally have to setup cortana to get all notifications sms/alerts etc and I synch my apple email and contacts via Outlook but mac and Google talk to each other very nicely. It's rumoured that call answering is coming

Samsung have done an excellent job with SideSync which gives you a virtual S8 phone on your mac laptop, the bad part is the synch has to be activated each time you switch on your laptop else you can do everything on your mac with your S8 (ie make calls, answer sms, run apps, drag and drop files even use the camera as a remote monitor)


Most good messaging apps have laptop/desktop equivalents (eg WhatsApp ) and when used on a laptop C&P and attachments become a lot easier

There are many standalone Apps that enable many features which allows you to cherry pick the ones you like or use the most

Find my phone is a native feature on your Samsung phone

You may loose the seamless simplicity of Apples syncing but equally you can gain a lot more :)
 
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sultanoflondon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 3, 2013
342
16
Yes all is possible and a lot more

The only real advantage of the Apple sync across all Apple devices is its easier as the native support is there and relatively simple to set up and use. However the set of features available, which are very good, is more limited

With synching across multiple devices with different OS's you need to install the apps and some report they are glitchy, but personally I never found any real issues. it may also require you to use more than one app to get the same coverage that you use with just Apple devices but often you gain extra features

With the exception of answering your calls MS Office is one of the best enterprise solutions across most devices with onenote and of course normal office apps plus onedrive. You normally have to setup cortana to get all notifications sms/alerts etc and I synch my apple email and contacts via Outlook but mac and Google talk to each other very nicely. It's rumoured that call answering is coming

Samsung have done an excellent job with SideSync which gives you a virtual S8 phone on your mac laptop, the bad part is the synch has to be activated each time you switch on your laptop else you can do everything on your mac with your S8 (ie make calls, answer sms, run apps, drag and drop files even use the camera as a remote monitor)


Most good messaging apps have laptop/desktop equivalents (eg WhatsApp ) and when used on a laptop C&P and attachments become a lot easier

There are many standalone Apps that enable many features which allows you to cherry pick the ones you like or use the most

Find my phone is a native feature on your Samsung phone

You may loose the seamless simplicity of Apples syncing but equally you can gain a lot more :)

Thanks for your detailed reply!
 
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