After spending over a decade with various Android phones, I finally made the switch to an iPhone. Here’s why I made the switch and what I’ve discovered since.
The Struggles with Samsung/Android
-
Slow Shutter on Samsung Flagships: One of my biggest gripes with Samsung’s flagship phones has been the slow shutter and shutter lag. Trying to capture a moving subjects often resulted in blurry photos or missed shots entirely. This has been an issue with Samsung phones for many years.
-
Google’s Service Abandonment: Google has a notorious history of abandoning services. The most recent one being the Podcasts app. The podcast experience on YouTube Music is just terrible.
-
Hardware Design: The Samsung S24 Ultra has sharp corners that make it uncomfortable to hold. The Pixel 8 phones have issues with connectivity and overheating. The S24+ comes with an inferior Exynos processor.
-
Performance: No matter how fast the hardware is, Android phones always seem to slow down and stutter after a few months of use. It’s like they age in dog years. (My most recent Samsung phone was the S23+, and it already started lagging).
-
Apps: Android apps have an inconsistent look and feel. It’s like a patchwork quilt made by someone who doesn’t know how to sew. Also, a lot of Android apps require excessive permissions.
-
Disaster: A Samsung update once made my phone unbootable. I had to do a full reset and lost some data. People said I should have made a backup before the update, but Android doesn’t provide an easy way to completely backup the phone. That was the last straw.
The iPhone Revelation
-
Shortcuts: The Shortcuts app on iPhone is a game-changer. It automates tasks in ways I never thought possible.
-
Face ID: Face ID on the iPhone is leagues ahead of Samsung’s version and even better than Touch ID. It’s fast, reliable, and just works. With the amount of unlocks I need everyday, this turns out to be more impactful than I expected.
-
Files App: The Files app is actually useful, and it has built-in support for Windows file shares.
-
Look & Feel: Everything on iOS feels smoother and more premium. The animations, the UI design – it’s all just so polished.
-
Audio: It’s much easier to select audio output in-app when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and AirPlay.
-
Driving: CarPlay is a joy to use compared to Android Auto. Plus, Apple Maps has better voice directions.
-
Emulators: Emulators are now possible to use on iPhone without jailbreaking.
Switching to iPhone has been a breath of fresh air. While Android gave me more freedom and customizations. The consistency, reliability, and overall experience of iOS have won me over.
What was your experience switching to/from “the dark side”?
I continue to be baffled that “anyone can grab your phone, point it at your face, and have access to everything” is somehow a feature and not a critical vulnerability. In the US, you can be compelled to unlock a device using biometrics, but not a password, under the 5th Amendment.
There’s a FaceID setting for “attention aware” that I think is on by default. It won’t unlock unless you are looking at the phone with eyes open.
That won’t help with police abuse of authority, but if you power down, restart, or lock the phone it will require your password. US police can’t legally require you give up your password, although courts have.
You can choose not to use FaceID, but it’s less convenient
It won’t open if you’re unconscious. You have to be actively looking at the phone.
If pulled over or something. Hit the power button of your iPhone a couple of times and FaceID is disabled. Easy as that. Or if you’re really paranoid: lock it before leaving the house.
You ever been pulled over? The cop makes it to your window in record time and I would not recommend fumbling around your center console to lock your face ID during said time.
Have you ever been pulled over? How fast are these cops running to your car window?
Enough times to never try this. Be safe out there!
Crazy. Every time I’ve been pulled over, I have time to dig out my I’d and registration before they get to my window. Maybe I shouldn’t but I don’t have patience to wait for them
Then say “Siri who am I”. It will lock it as well.
Exactly. You sit still,and wait for the cop to direct you, you don’t grab for shit unless they tell you to.
Sad when a secure and fast way to unlock your device is seen as a vulnerability, just because you live in a 3rd world country military state where you fear and are in odds with your governments law enforcement. For the rest of us, it’s secure and like others said, easy to turn off with a few button presses if the need arises.
Even if I wasn’t, it’s still a flawed form of authentication. Something you know > something you are/have. You don’t store your housekey halfway inserted into a lock.
So you do use an iPhone great! Because it’s the only phone OS not bypassable by your own government and FaceID is optional. Making their password unlock th most secure in the industry and being someone of high authentication security you must then use it right?
Ofc you don’t, you just shit on an optional featur bacuse you have other totally unrelated issues with the device or should I say company…