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Phones Samsung Galaxy S8
- Thread starter Surf Donkey
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I don't even know what to ask in regards to this statement. SE and S8+ couldn't be further apart on the size scale.
Im sure if I really dig into it I will find it very nice. At this point I just dont have the desire to and I like what IOS offers. Im pretty much stuck in the ecosystem since family/friends have IOS.
My last android phone was a Droid X..... its been a while and I actually rooted it and bricked it once haha.
I don't own a Galaxy S8. I do, however, own a Galaxy S7 Edge after owning the 3GS, 4, 5, 6 Plus and 6S - so I've been an iPhone user since 2009 until mid 2016. Just wanted to share my opinion in regards to software.
Just some positives and negatives below:
1. Positive: Multitasking
On the 5.5" display, it's great to have some multitasking functionality. I love how I am able to continue watching a video, for example, while browsing the web. I bet the 5.8"/6.2" displays on the S8 and S8+ are even better for multitasking as the displays are taller.
Not being able to have two apps on the same screen on iOS is a big miss.
Also, one thing I like is that when I download offline playlists in Spotify, my songs keep on downloading for as long as needed. On iPhone, you need to keep the app open or - if you start using another app - re-open Spotify after a few minutes for it to continue downloading.
2. Negative: software & security updates
Samsung is unable to offer the latest updates as soon as they come out. On iPhone, a new software update is out and you'll have it on your phone almost immediately. I only received Android 7.0 on the S7 Edge just a few months ago... while the update was released by Google in the fall of 2016!
Samsung tries to fix it with pushing out stand-alone security updates, but you're always lagging a bit behind.
3. Positive: always-on display
The always-on display is fantastic. It always shows the time, date and missed notification icons. When I'm playing music, I can even use the music controls without turning on the display simply by double tapping. It's fantastic and I'm without a doubt that Apple's OLED iPhone will also have some form of always-on functionality.
4. Negative: apps & privacy
Something that's better on iOS are the apps. Sure, there are apps that look and work great on Android, but... sometimes some apps will have some small glitches or do not look as great as you would expect. iOS apps are consistently better than Android apps. That said, there are no problems in regards to the really 'big' apps (like Facebook).
Also, there are a lot of Android apps that ask for permission to use your contacts/pictures/texts/calls/whatever all the time. Some apps won't even install until you give permission. This is not a problem on iOS.
It must also be said that over-all, iOS offers much better control over your privacy. On Android, the OS, Google and apps want to get access to your data and track almost everything you do, unless you specifically turn these settings off.
5. Positive: small enjoyable software tricks
For example, in the phone app, I just select a contact and if I want to call him or her, I just raise my phone to my ear. It's a small thing, but it's a tap less and very enjoyable. Or, for example, I can do 99% of the data-intensive things over cellular if I wish. For example downloading and updates my apps in the background over cellular is no problem. Or creating a back-up of my data. On iPhone, apps won't auto-update over cellular and I can't even back-up my data to iCloud over cellular at all!
Other, small, enjoyable software tricks are, for example, silencing my phone when I am called by simply turning my phone around or putting my hand over the display.
6. iCloud vs Google's own back-up service and Samsung Cloud
I once restored my phone to factory settings for a fresh start. It was than that I found out that Samsung's and Google's cloud solutions weren't that great. On iPhone, you can restore to an iCloud back-up and everything will restore itself exactly as to how it was. On Android, only bits and pieces will be restored. It doesn't work that great. Apple's iCloud solution is vastly superior.
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So those were a few bullet points I wanted to share with you guys for the sake of discussion. For someone who's still undecided: it's up to you what you consider important features. Both iOS and Android offer great value. I really like my S7 Edge and it's got some amazing things that the iPhone can't do.
That said, if you would ask me what I miss most about the iPhone (regarding software), than I'd say: the consistent software updates, reliable apps and the privacy controls that iOS offers.
And if you'd ask me it the other way around (namely: what would I miss most if I switched back from the S7 Edge to iPhone)? I'd say: the always-on display and multitasking functionality.
Ended up exchanging my S8 for the S8+ no regrets. Didn't think the screen could get any more gorgeous but making it bigger did the trick!
Really ? how many fingers had you broke whilst using the SE ?
None
Wow sorry to hear about your fingers
Lesson of the day: Don't stick fingers under something heavy enough to require a fork truck to move.
Yeah, but most other phones after that were really to wide to use as easily as this one. Didn't mean to make it sounds like I'm comparing the two.
None
Lesson of the day: Don't stick fingers under something heavy enough to require a fork truck to move.
Yeah, but most other phones after that were really to wide to use as easily as this one. Didn't mean to make it sounds like I'm comparing the two.
Gotcha. The width, makes sense.
I love the narrow-ness of the S8.
As I said before, I'm so happy there is no compromise in one-handed use even with a 5.8" screen.
I'm a "small phone" kind of guy; a couple of years ago, I would have never imagined owning a 5.8" screen smartphone.
As I said before, I'm so happy there is no compromise in one-handed use even with a 5.8" screen.
I'm a "small phone" kind of guy; a couple of years ago, I would have never imagined owning a 5.8" screen smartphone.
So I'm almost a week in now and I really like the S8.
Do I love it? I'm not sure.
One thing I do love is the design. I mean, I often just leave the phones screen on with my pink and blue wallpaper and find myself just staring at the thing. It is absolutely gorgeous.
It's the actual using of the phone where I find it comes a little unstuck.
I'm not going to keep bleating on about the finger print scanner, but I genuinely don't like it.
Facial recognition is ok, but it's a little hit and miss for me. When I don't really need my phone for anything and unlock it, like if I'm in a queue in works canteen etc, it will unlock as it's being dragged up to my face from my pocket almost eerily instant. Other times when I want to get into my phone, it doesn't work, and I constantly get the 'try again' vibration from the finger print reader. Sometimes I just consider a pin code...
I feel like I need to tinker around with the phone a bit more to be able to give a definitive verdict. But I don't like any VKB I have tried so far. And this is something that I know doesn't affect everyone, but I have a hard time with most VKB's apart from Apple's which I find to be pretty good. And BlackBerry's one too, funnily enough!
But I think it may be to do with the narrow-ness of the phone. I am constantly making errors on the keyboard and I've tried SwiftKey, Gboard and Samsung's own. They all have some good and bad traits but I settled on Google's in the end.
I've been using that most of the week and it's ok but I find it pretty frustrating the majority of the time. I've messed with the heights of the keyboard too but to no avail.
I've had problems with the camera, some of you may have seen. That was frustrating. And strange that it just started working again.
I've also had a Facebook problem since day one. When I click 'Most Recent' it doesn't actually load any posts. And never has. I had an update on it tonight and it still does the same.
Annoying as all my feed isn't in date order, which doesn't sit well with my OCD for these type of things haha.
But that's not the phone's fault.
The lack of a decent screen protector is annoying, as I want to keep the screen looking as good as possible, especially when the phone is basically... well... all screen!
Still, I'll keep a look out on here and online for recommendations but remain dubious whether any will work effectively on a curved screen without trade off.
I love the feel of the phone in hand. A girl at work came over to me today and replied to a text on her 7 Plus. It looked absolutely huge. And it made me wonder how I'd coped with a phone that big.
This S8 is the perfect size IMO. One handed typing is possible, reaching the top of the screen is not possible for me without shuffle, but I rarely need to with the 3 Android buttons on the bottom.
It's just glorious.
Camera. Only tested a couple of snaps which I posted, but very very impressive. Can't really complain at all. It's extremely reliable, it is quick and it takes fantastic photos like every time.
Battery life. Great. Can't really fault that either. I get a full day most of the time, even though it seems like it is depleting quickly? It's weird haha.
But I have no complaints for a phone of this size. It's a great battery and amazing that it lasts as long as it does with that screen.
One thing I do not like? That home button under the screen. I hate the feel of it. It might just be my unit, but I find it really difficult to press. I feel like I don't know where the button is actually meant to be
And the feedback from it is not good. Like the iPhone 7 'button' is great. I know it's very different as it isn't under the actual screen like the S8, but I'd have expected it to feel similar to that, but it really is no where near as pleasing.
I also struggle to find a use for it (hence my post the other day!) but I guess it's a good thing I don't feel the need for it personally, given my opinion of it!
All in all, it's a great phone. I never did like the S6 or the S7 and edge variants. It was the one flagship that I just never got excited by. This one is different. It still does excite me. I love the look, feel, camera, battery. Basically all of the things that I look for in a phone it ticks the boxes.
Unfortunately it does let itself down in a number of other areas though, like finger print sensor, and the narrowness makes it hard for me to get along with it for messaging (which I do a LOT of on my phone).
So it's over to the KEYone. Completely different beasts. But one will have to win.
Do I love it? I'm not sure.
One thing I do love is the design. I mean, I often just leave the phones screen on with my pink and blue wallpaper and find myself just staring at the thing. It is absolutely gorgeous.
It's the actual using of the phone where I find it comes a little unstuck.
I'm not going to keep bleating on about the finger print scanner, but I genuinely don't like it.
Facial recognition is ok, but it's a little hit and miss for me. When I don't really need my phone for anything and unlock it, like if I'm in a queue in works canteen etc, it will unlock as it's being dragged up to my face from my pocket almost eerily instant. Other times when I want to get into my phone, it doesn't work, and I constantly get the 'try again' vibration from the finger print reader. Sometimes I just consider a pin code...
I feel like I need to tinker around with the phone a bit more to be able to give a definitive verdict. But I don't like any VKB I have tried so far. And this is something that I know doesn't affect everyone, but I have a hard time with most VKB's apart from Apple's which I find to be pretty good. And BlackBerry's one too, funnily enough!
But I think it may be to do with the narrow-ness of the phone. I am constantly making errors on the keyboard and I've tried SwiftKey, Gboard and Samsung's own. They all have some good and bad traits but I settled on Google's in the end.
I've been using that most of the week and it's ok but I find it pretty frustrating the majority of the time. I've messed with the heights of the keyboard too but to no avail.
I've had problems with the camera, some of you may have seen. That was frustrating. And strange that it just started working again.
I've also had a Facebook problem since day one. When I click 'Most Recent' it doesn't actually load any posts. And never has. I had an update on it tonight and it still does the same.
Annoying as all my feed isn't in date order, which doesn't sit well with my OCD for these type of things haha.
But that's not the phone's fault.
The lack of a decent screen protector is annoying, as I want to keep the screen looking as good as possible, especially when the phone is basically... well... all screen!
Still, I'll keep a look out on here and online for recommendations but remain dubious whether any will work effectively on a curved screen without trade off.
I love the feel of the phone in hand. A girl at work came over to me today and replied to a text on her 7 Plus. It looked absolutely huge. And it made me wonder how I'd coped with a phone that big.
This S8 is the perfect size IMO. One handed typing is possible, reaching the top of the screen is not possible for me without shuffle, but I rarely need to with the 3 Android buttons on the bottom.
It's just glorious.
Camera. Only tested a couple of snaps which I posted, but very very impressive. Can't really complain at all. It's extremely reliable, it is quick and it takes fantastic photos like every time.
Battery life. Great. Can't really fault that either. I get a full day most of the time, even though it seems like it is depleting quickly? It's weird haha.
But I have no complaints for a phone of this size. It's a great battery and amazing that it lasts as long as it does with that screen.
One thing I do not like? That home button under the screen. I hate the feel of it. It might just be my unit, but I find it really difficult to press. I feel like I don't know where the button is actually meant to be
And the feedback from it is not good. Like the iPhone 7 'button' is great. I know it's very different as it isn't under the actual screen like the S8, but I'd have expected it to feel similar to that, but it really is no where near as pleasing.
I also struggle to find a use for it (hence my post the other day!) but I guess it's a good thing I don't feel the need for it personally, given my opinion of it!
All in all, it's a great phone. I never did like the S6 or the S7 and edge variants. It was the one flagship that I just never got excited by. This one is different. It still does excite me. I love the look, feel, camera, battery. Basically all of the things that I look for in a phone it ticks the boxes.
Unfortunately it does let itself down in a number of other areas though, like finger print sensor, and the narrowness makes it hard for me to get along with it for messaging (which I do a LOT of on my phone).
So it's over to the KEYone. Completely different beasts. But one will have to win.
I know few people probably care, but this is weird for me. This is a phone, the first phone, where I'm actively against going back to my iPhone.
Just means you are content which is a good thing (at least for the moment, as contentment is fleeting especially if you keep reading this forum section and temptation lures its way back in).
On both iOS and Android, there is a pop-up for every permission required. On both iOS and Android you can disable specific permissions on specific apps at anytime.
As far as apps not installing unless you accept permissions? Umm No. That's not actually a thing for the longest, and it was never a thing with any app long before the S7 Edge. So there is no way you could have experienced that with a device as late as the S7 Edge.
Actually it's pretty much the same. iCloud restore does not restore everything. You'll still have to enter your log in of most apps and reconfigure some. Only the iTunes full encrypted back-up saves everything 100% as it was. And you have to disable one to do the other. You can't have iCloud and iTunes backup both active at the same time, but you can alternate without losing backups.
Oh wow, I hope you heal up soon!None
Lesson of the day: Don't stick fingers under something heavy enough to require a fork truck to move.
Yeah, but most other phones after that were really to wide to use as easily as this one. Didn't mean to make it sounds like I'm comparing the two.
Never denied that. Only said that apps on Android consistently ask for permission to stuff they don't need... like games that require access to and the ability to place phone calls.
You can deny permission, but even after denial some apps ask for permission again later on. And some apps simply won't work if you don't give them permission to, for example, place phone calls.
Also, I can't remember many apps on iOS that wanted access to something without a reason.
On Android, there are even apps that demand access to be able to send texts or purchase new apps. Crazy!
Pretty bizarre you are telling me that there is no way I could have experienced that while I just said that I in fact did experience that. Also, the S7 Edge is the first Android smartphone I own.
Also, it's been a thing right up to the previous version of Android. Apps built for Android 7 can no longer require permission up front, but there are still tons of apps out there that haven't been optimised for Android 7.
True, all privacy sensitive info on iOS have to be re-entered, like passwords... but except for that, everything is exactly as your device was before restoring. Your settings, your app saves, your wallpaper, your remembered WiFi networks, everything. On Android, stuff is missing out - like, for example, the size of your font. Or the way your apps are arranged.
I did actually run into a couple of apps and they bundled too many permissions together so I couldn't say yes to the ones I wanted and no to the ones I didn't want so I just didn't install.
And there was another two or so that asked for some permissions and I tried denying the ones insisting on access to my contacts because I could not see the need for it. So the app didn't let me proceed with the install. I guess it needed it after all.
I wish I could tell you what apps they were but I dismissed all but one of them and just said what the hell and approved the other app. It's all a blur now. It was likely a weather or news app since that's all I've been looking for.
As for backups to iPhones, I don't do restore from backups anymore because every time something starts going wrong or weird with my iOS devices the first thing I hear is "You didn't restore from a backup did you? Reset and do a fresh start from new.". My emails, contacts and photos are the main things I want carried across new phones. I used to also want to save texts but those I now save a different way for nostalgia purposes. I don't need to have them come over from one phone to another. I can understand some people do. There are ways of making that happen but I don't bother.
I suppose if I had big complex setups I would restore from backups and damn the consequences. But I don't and I like fresh starts anyway.
Being set up to backup crucial data to work both on iPhone or Android helps me be less intent on having one cohesive backup that is platform specific.
Don't tempt me! I love my SE grrrr
Never denied that. Only said that apps on Android consistently ask for permission to stuff they don't need... like games that require access to and the ability to place phone calls.
You can deny permission, but even after denial some apps ask for permission again later on. And some apps simply won't work if you don't give them permission to, for example, place phone calls.
Also, I can't remember many apps on iOS that wanted access to something without a reason.
On Android, there are even apps that demand access to be able to send texts or purchase new apps. Crazy!
Pretty bizarre you are telling me that there is no way I could have experienced that while I just said that I in fact did experience that. Also, the S7 Edge is the first Android smartphone I own.
Also, it's been a thing right up to the previous version of Android. Apps built for Android 7 can no longer require permission up front, but there are still tons of apps out there that haven't been optimised for Android 7.
Apologies for the misunderstanding. But you did say "Some apps won't even install until you give permission."
Now yes, some apps do require plenty of permissions. But Android is much less restricted than iOS, which means plenty of apps can do more than what's allowed on iOS.
And yes, you do have plenty of apps that want permissions for the wrong reason. But this is not the case with most cross platform apps, and quality apps.
Samsung cloud is pretty much the same, except iCloud is more reliable at the moment.
But no default system back-up was as good as I seen on the LG V20, which you can backup everything to your SD card or any external drive, and restore exactly as it was.
Stock Android relies on Google syncing which is almost the same as iCloud.
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Yea, some apps do not allow to continue the setup. But that's few and far in-between.
I only do restores from the same iOS version. Which means I mostly set up as new when I get a newly released iPhone. For the same reasons you mentioned.
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Yeah really the only thing I miss is iMessage. Group messaging is kind of a disaster on Android but otherwise I'm totally happy.
Anyone else having issues with third party rapid chargers? I have a anker desk charger, and a aukey car charger that have both rapid charged 5 different phones with no issues. Both now only trickle charge my S8+
It is easy for Apple since they develop both O/S and hardware. Apple also don't care about compatibility between older version O/Ses. Once developers upgraded their apps to work with latest O/S, if you dont update your phone, you can't even installed the app any more.
For android, Google do the development and the manufacturers need to integrate and test their own customizations (so there will always be the lag time). But the issue of not getting updates has been somehow mitigate as Google has mostly decoupled the O/S update from apps or security updates. Unlike iphone, I can get (most) latest apps to work on older version of Android. Only exception is if those (very minority) apps make use of certain new capability not found in older o/s. Sometimes, the manufacturers added in their own extension ages ago (e.g. multi-windows in Samsung) before Google incorporated it to their O/S. (i.e new version vanilla Android may actual be "old" version)
So conclusion is the advantage of iphone getting update in time is much over-rated.
You know what. When you install an iphone app you are not even told what permissions the app is using. Even if the app uses ALL available permissions (even dangerous ones), the app installed straight away. Unlike android, you are not even given an opportunity to cancel installation (or give consent). After that iphone annoying prompts you numerous times for consent for every permission the app needed. Isn't it easier to give all consent for all permissions at once like Android? If you are one of those paranoid, in Android you can still intercept by setting up global permission prompt e.g. prompt when any apps wants to send sms. This way you can tailor your own security level (not what was prescribed by o/s or apple).
I find the Android way much more coherent and neat.
Talking about software tricks. Install any shortcut maker apps in Android and you can reduce tapping a lot.
e.g one tap on icon to call/sms specific contact, display battery usage without going into settings, open and go directly into a specific screen of an app (via creating a shortcut to the activity of the app)
I am not sure why Samsung didnt provide this capability. But in most phones from china manufacturers, you have something like titanium backup. I can select what settings or app+data to backup and it will backup to my sd-card (without needing reboot etc). And of course no need connection to cloud or cable connecting to PC software. I can also selectively select what I want to restore as well.
This is much more easier than on iOS.
That's the one thing that's just about a deal breaker for me and that's the group messaging. It's such a disaster like you said and I'm apart of too many group messages.
The RCS/Advanced Messaging looks promising if the carriers would get in gear. Like what I see anyways. Soke carriers have it working on their own netwoeks alreadt. Would be really neat to see it anger apple and be cross compatible with iMessage lol
