Pulled to the darkside

[woodman1999]

So my S9's screen was crunched during a snowblower run this morning and is no longer "functioning" correctly (screen is shedding tiny shards of glass and a big white line runs up the middle). As such I am in the market for a new phone and I find myself being pulled towards the iPhone 12 Pro. It feels wrong... so very very wrong. The alternative I am currently looking at is the S21+5g. Everything I have read leads me to believe me that the iPhone will be a better choice but like I said... it feels wrong. I am looking for some input in either direction to help me make a choice. And if you happen to have experience with both phones, extra points for you!

Also, the phone will be running on Verizon's network in New Jersey.

 

[Muadib]

Why does it feel wrong? Why do you feel that the iPhone would be the better choice? What's your problem with the S21?

 

[woodman1999]

Wrong only because I have been an Android user my whole life. Never had an iProduct so it's a whole new OS and ecosystem to learn. The iPhone is a bit cheaper, seems to have a better battery life and a better SOC from what I have ready. I guess the big downside from the reviews is that 5G can really drain your battery life which would be a bummer. The S21 has an ok screen, but may be a step down from previous generation. No more S-Pen standard which I quite like with my S9.

My wife does have an iPhone which I guess would be nice to FaceTime and whatnot, but I am still not 100% sure I want to have to relearn a new OS.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I've gone back and forth between iPhones and Android phones. I regularly carry both, but for the last 3 years Android has been my primary phone. But I've used the iPhone X, 7 Plus, and 6 Plus for a solid year each as my primary.

Here are reasons why I think someone might like iOS more...
* iMessage is amazing if you want to be a blue bubble for your iPhone friends. RCS on Android is great, but US phone carriers are still sabotaging the crap out of RCS, so it's roll out is still a mess.
* iOS updates immediately available to all supported phones on day 1. Also easy to enroll in betas if you like to be on the bleeding edge.
* iPhones typically get 5+ years of iOS updates, iPhone 6S from 2015 is running the latest iOS 14 now.
* iOS is very security focused (their business model doesn't revolve around selling ads and customer data).
* If you ever want a smart watch nothing even remotely compares to the Apple Watch.
* Likewise, Apple has a pretty good ecosystem with Watch, TV, iPad, iPhone, and Macbook. Being able to get and make calls with one phone number to your iPhone, iPad, Macbook, etc is really nice.
* iOS cloud backups are much better than Android's backups.

Here are reasons why I think someone might like Android more...
* Choices of phones. Maybe this isn't quite the choice it used to be in some areas. But you can get an Samsung, Pixel, OnePlus, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. Even if you are on a US carrier and mostly stuck with Samsung, Samsung has a bigger variety of models.
* Expandable stor... Dang-it Samsung!
* UI customization is much better, lots of third party app launchers that significantly change the look and feel of the OS experience to your desires.
* And being able to put your icons where you want and knowing they will always stay there! Stay icons stay!
* I love having access to the file system and easily being able to copy files to and from the phone much easier and share files between apps much easier.
* No ridiculously huge notch. No, you really never get used to a notch the size of the one on iPhones.
* Some apps have more functionality because of less restrictions on Android. For example you can actually buy books in the Android Kindle app.
* Samsung phones integrate pretty well with Windows My Phone app. Not nearly the same level of functionality as iPhones with Macs, but I primarily use Windows so this is more important for me.

I'm probably missing a few other key things for both that are slipping my mind at the moment.

 

[woodman1999]

Thanks for taking the time to write all that out. I think I am going to go with the S21, mainly for the familiarity with the OS and the fact that I use it with a PC. Having access to the files right away is great as far as transfers are concerned. Also, we don't really have the Apple ecosystem in the house as our TVs are all android based and I have no need to buy an Airplay.

S21 is ordered and on the way. If it turns out I don't like something about it, I have 14 days to exchange it...

 

[MrSquished]

I've gone back and forth between iPhones and Android phones. I regularly carry both, but for the last 3 years Android has been my primary phone. But I've used the iPhone X, 7 Plus, and 6 Plus for a solid year each as my primary.

Here are reasons why I think someone might like iOS more...
* iMessage is amazing if you want to be a blue bubble for your iPhone friends. RCS on Android is great, but US phone carriers are still sabotaging the crap out of RCS, so it's roll out is still a mess.
* iOS updates immediately available to all supported phones on day 1. Also easy to enroll in betas if you like to be on the bleeding edge.
* iPhones typically get 5+ years of iOS updates, iPhone 6S from 2015 is running the latest iOS 14 now.
* iOS is very security focused (their business model doesn't revolve around selling ads and customer data).
* If you ever want a smart watch nothing even remotely compares to the Apple Watch.
* Likewise, Apple has a pretty good ecosystem with Watch, TV, iPad, iPhone, and Macbook. Being able to get and make calls with one phone number to your iPhone, iPad, Macbook, etc is really nice.
* iOS cloud backups are much better than Android's backups.

Here are reasons why I think someone might like Android more...
* Choices of phones. Maybe this isn't quite the choice it used to be in some areas. But you can get an Samsung, Pixel, OnePlus, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. Even if you are on a US carrier and mostly stuck with Samsung, Samsung has a bigger variety of models.
* Expandable stor... Dang-it Samsung!
* UI customization is much better, lots of third party app launchers that significantly change the look and feel of the OS experience to your desires.
* And being able to put your icons where you want and knowing they will always stay there! Stay icons stay!
* I love having access to the file system and easily being able to copy files to and from the phone much easier and share files between apps much easier.
* No ridiculously huge notch. No, you really never get used to a notch the size of the one on iPhones.
* Some apps have more functionality because of less restrictions on Android. For example you can actually buy books in the Android Kindle app.
* Samsung phones integrate pretty well with Windows My Phone app. Not nearly the same level of functionality as iPhones with Macs, but I primarily use Windows so this is more important for me.

I'm probably missing a few other key things for both that are slipping my mind at the moment.

one of the biggest issues I hear with iPhone users that have used Android is the notification experience on the iPhone is much worse.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I've heard that too. But for me I really haven't felt like iOS notifications were an inferior experience. Just a different experience.

Android does a great job organizing certain types of notifications together. They are readily visible by the clock and easy to swipe away. And you usually can interact with notifications much more (replying to messages and such).

iOS displays notifications chronologically, which is also nice. You have to opt-in to receive a notification from an app (versus Android that opts you in automatically and you have to opt out) so I feel like I get less notification spam on iOS. Harder to swipe away, but I feel less of a need to remove notifications since they are in their own notification center area and the newest stuff is always at the top anyway.

I would give Android an advantage in notifications, but I don't think it's a big advantage.