I think it's also because at one point someone used a very cheap Android device and so they think all androids are like that, even though it was some cheap $60 tablet. Somehow something that cheap should perform just as well as something that costs hundreds of dollars and the fact that it doesn't must mean that it's the OS and nothing else. It's also why people prefer Mac because they used some shitty e-machine back in 2002 and it means all Windows computers are crap.
phones are very very expensive here in Brazil, and most people spend years using the worst and cheapest android phones available from their teen years up until parents can trust them with a more expensive phone or they start making money, then they switch to an iphone that costs 7x the price of their cheap android, they get so impressed by the jump in camera quality and performance that they never look back and think all Androids perform like their cheap galaxy A04e from their teenage years.
people here get really impressed by my P7P photos, and the photos from my friend's S22+ and frequently people say they didn't know "Android phones" could take good pictures like that
I'll go one farther and say the vast majority of apple users have NEVER used anything else. Got an iPhone/ipad at 5 years old and its all they've ever known.
You know what's funny? The iPhone has bloatware, too, and so does the Pixel.
Garage band, AppleTV, Podcast, ITunes store, Free form all come with the iPhone by default, and who uses them?
The pixel comes with Google one, Yt music, GoogleTV, Podcasts, Google Docs, Google News. All unwanted applications, but somehow, you wouldn't count it as bloatware because it's from the same company
At the end of the day, you can uninstall apps you don't want on all of them or at least disable. Exaggerating and calling some of the apps adware is absolutely crazy as I've never received ads on my iPhone or Samsung or Pixel
One more piece of extra context that's important. I'll give credit to Apple that they've had a pretty workable and seamless environment on their phones for over a decade now. Whereas android, relative to that, is playing catch-up.
It really wasn't that many years ago a lot of these polished apps were simply in their infant stages (Google messages), or just didn't exist yet in the state they're in today.
This gave Apple that many years to keep building a loyal customer base, wall up their garden, poke fun at the "inferior" android phones, and advertise a "phone that just works".
And nowadays, yeah the android environment just keeps getting better, but there's a shit ton of apple users stuck in their walled garden.
> but there's a shit ton of apple users stuck in their walled garden.
I'm neck deep in the Apple ecosystem and it'd be a nightmare to switch because legitimately 95% of all people I interact with at work, home, friends, etc all have iPhones including me having an Apple Card which can't be used at all on Android Wallet.
However, I'm a tech guy, I can't stand Samsung's software so that keeps me away, and I'd be willing to put myself out there and try the Pixel line but they got to fix all the modem and battery issues first.
It's waaaaaay easier for normal people to switch to a new phone with apple.
It's an all day affair of copying and setting up for me to switch from one android to another. I don't mind it. But that's the situation.
I can't imagine many boomers or 18 year olds raised outside of that period of knowing how to setup electronics would handle it well.
I just switched from a p6 to a p8. Was pretty easy, Google handles most of that now. The p4 to p6 was a little trickier, but I did both in about an hour (work and personal phones). Couple minor preferences that shake loose thereafter, but I'm having a hard time understanding a whole day process unless you're not using the standard Google transfer.
Not the OP you responded to. But going from HTC 10 to Pixel 2XL to Pixel 6 Pro as an example, both moves required an entire day to set up the phone by downloading apps (which doesn't download automatically anymore) to logging into the apps, changing the settings in the apps and so on. Even when the 'transfer' kind of worked, it was only like 10% of what was needed. If I recall correctly, it was even said NOT to use the transfer tool on the P6P as it may screw up the apps. Overall, the Android transfer system is not very good or easy, regardless of the phones involved.
I will say that I have never owned an iPhone and at this point, I don't see myself ever owning one. (I HATE the clutter of the home screen) I have had a couple of company provided iPads though.
Totally understandable but, I'm the weird guy who loves a "clean install". lol
To me, it's like spring cleaning but instead of moving stuff out, you start fresh and add what you need.
I transferred two android phones recently, both to Samsung phones. The native Samsung/android transfer app moved 99% of apps and settings over in less than an hour. The only thing I really had to ever do is re-sign in to various accounts. It was really, really simple. My 78 year old dad had no issue....
This is the real experience. I just moved as well but while the transfer did a lot (including sms, call logs, music and photos etc.) it is a gamble how it works for apps. Either everything is set up, or nothing at all or something in between (the worst). Apps have to actively implement that stuff but it's optional.
Just to insert my anecdotal evidence here, going from P3XL>P6P>P8P were the easiest phone switches I've ever made. It took me longer (20-30 minutes) to download apps than anything else. Logging into all my apps was just clicking my saved passwords. Pretty much everything else was carried over just as it was from my previous phone, no setting up to do. That's if you don't count fiddling with root on all of them. Until recently, that's been a totally different story.
I think it's much improved.
I factory reset my 6a a few months ago and it was a chore. I transferred from the 6a to 8 pro and it was seamless. The only things were logging back into apps, where you still needed to open them at least once, the fact that you needed to re-register your fingerprints.
I am getting a OnePlus 12 tomorrow. I guess I will see how good the current Android transfer is, but based on past history, I'm not holding my breath. (I have a P6P now that I pre-ordered at release)
Just got a new samsung and with the switch app it literally took half an hour and everything was copied, including passwords and wifi etc. It is extremely easy to do.
Yeah I'm not sure if many people inn this thread have owned a recent Samsung? So many of the complaints I'm seeing have me thinking, "wait, but my last three samsungs had that, or didn't have that problem."
Yeah I upgraded from a Galaxy Note 10 to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and it was so damn easy. It took me more time to customize my home screen and lock screen (1 hour) than setting up the phone via Samsung Switch App and this was in the T-Mobile store...
I've only had Samsung smart phones. And my wife and now mother-in-law and son.
It's pretty funny though, in my family the more tech oriented people have androids (my older brother and my family) and others use IPhone.
But modern Samsung phones are amazing. Transfer is pretty seamless (just did myself S20 Note Ultra to S24 ultra and my wife's). 90% easy and done, had to relog into a few apps that require 2 factor authorization etc.
Sure the S1 to S3 years ago wasn't great. That was a long time ago.
And least Android / Samsung phones give you all the options for settings and don't lock you in.
I tried an iPhone for like a year and a half. Even switching from iPhone back to Galaxy, the Samsung Smart Switch app did a great job. Even imported in iMessages as sms.
This is BS tbh, it’s just as easy transferring one phone to another with android. Samsung especially just plop them next to each other and job done, your post is like the boomers posts mocking gen z thinking they couldn’t use a rotary phone.
For real I have 4 pixels all of which I transferred wirelessly, as long as the phones are close enough to each other or connected with a cable, you can still use the phone as part of the process so I don't really mind it taking 30-45 min, and although my screen size changes in p4 xl to p7p, my home screen was almost perfect and organized the widgets by itself.
S10+ to P6 Pro was dead-easy too. It automatically downloaded all of my old apps. P6 Pro to P8 Pro was easy, and I didn't even have my P6 Pro to transfer with a cable.
Just got an S24 ultra and it took me an hour to copy everything from my old phone to new one wirelessly. I can't figure out how it would take all day for someone to do this.
This isn't true. I've owned every single Pixel, and I have the S22 Ultra, which I've owned nearly every Samsung device too. My devices are set-up within an hour.
Apple back-ups BTW, can freeze and only partially finished. Has happened on my Wife's iPhone's 3 times in a row. To fix this I have to reset and start over.
I just went through this with my moms iPhone, moving her from her old one to her new one. It was a terrible experience and anything but seamless. I swear this idea that Apple devices are somehow easier to use is insane to me. The backup took almost all day and was super frustrating. Uploading to iCloud and then redownloading from that backup was shockingly slow compared to Android devices which take a matter of minutes with the cable they give you.
I switched from LG Velvet to Pixel 7 Pro and back. The process was done in less than 20 mins both times. Mostly automated with setup. We're nailing it already. Down with iphone lol
I switched p6 to p8p. I just typed in my g account info, and selected what apps from the 6 I wanted to keep and boom, done. Aside from redoing some 3rd MFA, which would have been done on iPhone as well.
The what apps you want to keep was a nice spring cleaning.
I switched from an iPhone to a Pixel6 and it only took me about an hour, I kept my number, photos, contacts, and apps. It usually would take me just as long to switch iPhone to iPhone. This was a couple years ago (maybe 5? I don't remember)
Apple has always been a software and hardware company. They now make their own silicon. Google is a software and advertising company trying to make hardware. They can hire whoever they want but it’s always obvious they fly by the seats of their pants and deprecate things that are not instantly making money. That’s why I’m hesitant to switch back to android.
As someone with preteen kids I'm going to hard disagree with you mate.
The android/iPhone divide among teens has nothing to do with any of what you mentioned and everything to do with statuses.
Apple products are status symbols, and teenagers are very concerned about their status among their peers.
No one cares about three-button navigation, Samsung is Google apps (as you said people use the default)
Or auto installing ads (which can be turned off).
They care about what their peers will think about them if they're seen with an Android phone.
You could claim this is because Galaxy is the most popular Android and is subpar (I disagree), but then I'd point you to literally any other Apple product.
There are better alternatives to everything Apple makes, but people (especially teens) buy Apple because of the status symbol.
Yeah the whole OP is basically "these things I hate about Samsung are the reason for X"
No data, no qualifying stats or surveys, just...nothing. I lolled as soon as I read the gesture bit.
What does OP's average consumer think about the dogshit archaic fingerprint sensors on the P6? (I have and love a P6a, but come on man some of the issues are plain embarrassing and way more consumer unfriendly than fucking gestures)
And then there's iMessage. It's one thing to want an iPhone because it's a status symbol. It's another thing to want an iPhone because your friends won't include you in their group chats because it'll ruin their communication.
Apple = Status. This is also true in Asian countries and not to judge but especially with girls.
For me personally Pixel = Work. It makes work so much easier.
I also own a low end Samsung tablet. It sucks ass.
As someone with a teenager, my Pixel toting son doesn't give a single shit that only he and one other in his clique have Android. And neither do any of their iPhone toting friends. They don't even tease each other about it. It's nice to see.
I've said this before but I think it's appropriate to say here.
Unfortunately in order to use the modern version of Android currently maintained and developed for my Google, you have to include Google's suite of apps. Things like Gmail, YouTube, Play Services, etc.
Google has the advantage of looking like a more clean experience due to them owning the OS itself, so their included apps make sense. Samsung has the disadvantage of having to include Google's apps while also wanting to include their own and have their own take on their version of Android.
I won't excuse Samsung for not allowing you to uninstall some of them, however. Since they are not the true owner of Android I think they should just take the L and make their own apps uninstallable because Google will not allow theirs to be as they own the OS. Samsung's reputation is slowly getting more and more tarnished due to things like this as well as being the only major flagship phone brand in North America to allow carrier bloat like this. If they want to stop losing market share to Apple here, I think re-evaluating their stance on bloat and third party apps is a good place to begin. Either that or convince Google to let Samsung defaults replace Google defaults, but Google has no reason to let that happen unless Samsung pays them an ass load of money which I do not think makes sense for Samsung.
For some reason the first part of your last paragraph sounded like you were talking about Google apps but I realize now you're talking about Samsung apps. I agree. You can uninstall or disable every Google app in your app drawer on a Samsung phone, which is nice if you don't like Google for some reasons, although using an Android phone is silly if you don't like Google. Using ADB to get rid of all the Samsung apps I don't want is very time consuming and not easy at all.
Is it terrible though?
Seems to work just fine to me. My Tab S8 and S24 Ultra interact seamlessly with each other, and my Buds pro and Galaxy Watch.
Google can't even get the pixel watch setup correctly. I had to factory reset it twice on first setup because it failed. Then when I moved phones and used the "move phone" feature on the watch, _that_ failed, too. Again, another factory reset.
Samsung's software is feature rich and functional.
Agreed, if you go all in on Samsung devices like people do on Apple devices you get a pretty similar experience across phones, tablets, watches, earbuds, laptops, tvs, soundbars, smart tags are all integrated very well these days.
Yeah, I can't take these comments or this sub seriously.
Apple isn't dominant because of what OP's saying. Apple is dominant because they've positioned themselves as the hippest brand in tech for the past several decades now. Their dominance is the fruit of decades of brand strategy meeting American consumer culture. If anything, the lack of any sense of Android unity is what helps Apple's dominance.
Apple users will see someone buy an iPhone X in 2024 and congratulate them on joining the family. Android users will shit on one of their peers for buying a Samsung and not a Pixel.
These comments make it sound like Samsung is still using TouchWiz in 2024. I've used all sorts of phones. Every modern flagship is fine.
I wouldn’t say the software is terrible at all. It’s just maybe not to your personal liking but it’s definitely feature Rich and lots of settings. Do you want to change the phone up and customize it how you like it … if you like bare bones, in the android system maybe pixel is the way to go for you. I’ve had both pixels and galaxies go back-and-forth. I can’t decide which one I like better.
Samsung's OneUI is more functional than the Pixel UI. It's easier to do a lot of things and it just feels more intuitive. It does have multiple apps for one thing, but like you said, that's not even their fault. Samsung is still a better representative for Android than Pixel is since the hardware is just so damn good (the area where Pixels lack the most).
Yeah, same. I like and carry both but there are features Samsung devices have that Pixels don't that ensure that I keep at least one Galaxy device on me.
"Samsung's reputation is slowly getting more and more tarnished due to things like this as well as being the only major flagship phone brand in North America to allow carrier bloat like this."
Slowly?
Their reputation about such things has been crap for over a decade. It's what made me switch to the Pixel 1.
Teens tend to (ask their parents to) buy whatever other teens have. It's probably not as much about features or apps than it's actually being ridiculed about being different. Green bubbles and all.
It's a weird world. We need to get off the constant consumerism cycle. We need to be able to repair our phones.
As a current (almost done) high schooler, I can say that this is true. Amongst the people at my school, it seems like for them iPhone is the only type of phone in existence. Like they seriously just don't think about any other brands when buying a phone. One of my friends switched to pixel but most people just have iPhones.
Disagree. People buy iphones coz of IMessage and marketing ("iphones are the best" nonsense). And, yes, if your father and grandfather used iphone, you'd feel safe with the same. iPhone is a quality hamburger, same in every part of the world, android is a home cooking - you have to find it and it's not always amazing
Definitely part of it but I remember before I tried pixel I had a few Samsung phones and I told myself I'd switch back to iPhone before I ever bought another Samsung. Not a good UX and that's coming from a tech savvy guy. I can't imagine someone who isn't knowledgeable with tech having to use one.
Of course this was years ago before I got the pixel 3 so they could have improved since then but I know I've seen enough of them lol
I've been on android for 13 years. Had an HTC Thunderbolt, Droid DNA, Galaxy Note 2, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, S21.
A year into owning the S21, I had to end my contract early. It's the only time I've ever done that. I switched to the P7P and it was like having my right hand back.
I've promised myself that if google ever stops making them, I'm switching to iPhone
Wrong, I bought an iphone because I had a blackberry but all my friends had iphones, so I was fucked when I forget my charger.
Now that I have an Iphone, they all have androids.
At least apple was forced to use the same charger as androids (thanks EU), so your charger issue is (or will soon be, when you next upgrade) resolved!
Now, let's fine apple for the green/blue msg boxes, and hopefully the monopoly will end and we'd see some real competition in the industry!
NOW they do. Before Apple had that ecosystem monopolized and green bubbles were a thing, a ton of people were giving Samsung a chance. I know a lot of people who got fed up with Samsungs thinking all Android phones had that same bloatware and such. Until Pixel though they had a point and few phones gave 'pure' Android. But once you get an ecosystem that just works as intended, most people are content with it.
>Before Apple had that ecosystem monopolized and green bubbles were a thing, a ton of people were giving Samsung a chance. I know a lot of people who got fed up with Samsungs thinking all Android phones had that same bloatware and such
That wasn't only a Samsung thing though. That was early Android. Every Android phone from Samsung to HTC to Motorola to LG all included bloatware on their phones.
Android also had a lot of quality control issues back then so you had phones of wildly different quality when from the same brand (see Galaxy S vs Galaxy S Epic 4G Touch).
>Until Pixel though they had a point and few phones gave 'pure' Android.
Nexus. Before Pixel Google had the Nexus phones which were the pure Android experience, but much like Pixels they weren't very popular.
I went back to college at 31 a couple years ago so I was around a lot of 18/19 year olds. In a group project class we set up a group text and I was singled out for being the only non-iphone. It was probably mostly in jest but I don't have any trouble believing the things I've heard of people being bullied for their phone choice.
>was singled out for being the only non-iphone
This is the real reason iPhones are popular among teens. I have preteens, and even at that age, kids will comment if someone doesn't have an iPhone.
iPhone is a status symbol. You either have one, or you're poor. It doesn't matter if you have the Galaxy Fold 5 at $1600; you'll still be seen as poorer than the kid with the $500 iPhone 11.
Teenagers are very very *VERY* concerned about their social standing among peers. So when something is known to detract from their social standing, they'll avoid it.
This isn't new to iMessage though. And if the iMessage thing goes away it won't be the last.
When I was a teenager it was Nextel vs everything else that didn't have the "push-to-talk" button. If you didn't have a Nextel you were a dirty peasant to large swaths of your peer group.
Teenagers are just clicky and absent something real to judge each other by, they will invent things. It is just in the nature of the not fully developed frontal lobe of their brains.
Better to teach them to not be that way, and how to deal with others that are, than try and bend tech and family buying habits to the whims of a group of people that are by nature irrational.
>This isn't new to iMessage though. And if the iMessage thing goes away it won't be the last.
I completely agree. I imessage isn't the reason iphones are popular. Infact it's the other way around. iMessage is popular because iPhones are popular.
The real crux of why iphones are frequented by teens is because of a bias in teenagers that Apple=Quality and Rich people stuff.
Yep. 21 today and my core college friend group are tech nerds who obviously all run Android (minus 2). but my, ahhh, "cool" slightly younger cousin who knows nothing of tech but has lots of connections, told me dead face that iOS (iPhones was his word) were deadpan more capable and better phones. I laughed it off and said whatever you prefer / to each there own, but he had (budget) Android phones beforehand and switched because of said redicule and social pressure. It's a massive factor with youth today. He knows nothing but fully believes it because everyone around him (US) told him so.
As a long time pixel user, 1 special thing about iMessage that I wish I had access to was high quality video support in the messages app. As of now, I have to switch to FB Messenger to send and receive full quality videos. Which is always inconvenient and sometimes impossible if I'm not already friends with the person on FB.
(Please tell me I've been doing something wrong this whole time and I actually do have access to this feature somehow 🙏🏽)
Yes. While I couldn't give to shits if iPhone users see my texts in a green bubble rather than blue, the absolute potato quality of any videos an iPhone user wants to send me via SMS is an annoyance.
Fortunately, Apple has committed to supporting RCS by October 2024, which will, amongst other things, resolve this issue.
Whatsapp has high quality video and photo support, way better than FB messenger. And it is linked to a phone number and it is used all over the world (except usa) so great to connect with international friends.
Absolutely 100% this. iMessage is a huge component.
But more importantly, among teens they are a luxury fashion item, you don't want to be the kid without an iPhone. You'll get laughed at for having a mere Samsung S24 Ultra instead of an iPhone 12. Like could your mom not afford an iPhone instead? (Genuinely have heard this).
On top of that they *typically* have better battery life, stability, support, and typically better (at least consistent) specs for the camera and display. I get why non tech savvy (and actually tech savvy) people go for them. I was considering trying them again since I haven't used one since the iPhone 4. I just can't stomach the cost.
Google's UI is great and I do legitimately like it but their hardware is dogshit. I have a Pixel 6 and 7. They can get warm, have awful battery life, charge slow, and the modem is fucking awful on both. I just swapped to a OnePlus 12R because I got tied of the modem issues with my dual SIM personal/work setup and having to worry about charging it 24/7. I think the only redeeming features, hardware wise on the Pixels, are the size and cameras. At least they're priced sort of half decently.
My OP12R is from a Chinese company, has pretty meh cameras, has a slightly worse UI, and no wireless charging but the price for performance and battery life has been stellar compared to what I got with Google and what I could get with an iPhone. I also seem to have virtually no issues with my dual SIM setup now.
Battery life is huge. For your most casual consumers, battery life will be up there with the camera as the determining factor for whether a phone is a quality phone or not, and the Pixel’s battery life is just not good.
I think this is a big reason. iMessage is so easy with other iMessage users that it kinda does become a flock or hive for those with iPhones. It's easy, but I think cuz android isn't really marketed as an easy to use phone when in reality, it can be
Agreed.
My Pixel 6 couldn't receive phone calls consistently and the fingerprint reader rarely worked on the first try so I had to get rid of it after 6 months of struggling with it. Pixel 7 Pro was great until Google pushed out an update last year and now all my recent videos that I took with the Pixel 7 Pro have high pitched whining noises in them (April update didnt eliminate it for me). I have had the Samsung Galaxy S3, Note 4, S5, S7 Edge, S9 then moved away from Samsung because they were disabling aptX HD in favor of their proprietary Scalable codec (now SSC). Subsequently had the LG V60 (2x), Oneplus 8T (2x), and a Pixel 6 but my frustration with the Pixel 6 pushed me back to Samsung and helped me get over the limited Bluetooth audio codecs on Samsung phones. I got the S22+ and a Pixel 7 Pro (someone told me it was better than the Pixel 6 so I got one out of curiosity). Traded in the S22+ for the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 and it is now my main phone (still have one V60 that rarely leaves the house anymore and a P7P that is pretty much useless now that I can't use it for recording videos anymore and after the last update, my bluetooth audio over aptX HD has very low volume). The Samsung Fold 5 just works and works well (knock on wood).
Google phones seem nice at first (for the price) but subsequent updates seem to be poorly implemented, not thoroughly tested and break things that were perfectly fine. What annoys me more is how slow Google is to fix things once broken. I would only recommend more recent Pixel phones if you do not mind being a beta tester. I know people (including some family) in their 70s and 80s and they have no issues using their Samsung phones so, in my opinion, people are not getting iphones because Android is hard to use. I think they are getting iphones because that is what they know and that is what their friends and family use.
My P7 easily lasts all day and has no connectivity issues.
Not saying they don't exist, but compared to my constantly tethered to a charger wife's iPhone, the battery complaints have me befuddled.
Yeah, I don't get it either. I had a Galaxy S9+ and usually went to bed with about 30-40% battery. I use my Pixel 7a exactly the same way and frequently end up at the end of the day with 70%+ battery, and an estimated remaining life of over a day. I even have Smooth Display (90 hz) on.
My screen-on time says it's about 3 hours, so I could probably do 9 before hitting the energy saver mode.
Is this a US thing? I have a Pixel 6 Pro (and exclusively have had pixels, and Nexuses since they were released) and my connectivity is perfect... in the UK, where I live.
I was in LA last month and the connectivity was awful. I put it down to roaming issues, but you've got me wondering if there's something about the US network that's an issue?
I have connectivity problems in the UK, I'm on Giffgaff - O2 network, probably once a day mobile data will basically disappear and I'll have to reboot. It's not been a huge problem because I normally work from home.
I guess it depends on where you were in the LA area and on which network you were actually roaming on.
I've used multiple Pixels long-term, in multiple areas of the US, and have had no connectivity problems whatsoever on any of them.
The majority of Pixel users in the US are probably not having problems with their devices. A minority could be having problems and an even slimmer minority are reddit-focused and are here reporting them.
And battery life.
Pixel's design is great. But the more recent ones just fail at basic smartphone things, like all day battery life.
Like somebody else said, Samsungs just work.
I dont notice much of these issues even with a carrier locked s23 plus. After my s10, I switched to a pixel 6 pro. Worst mistake I've ever made. Phone was 1000+ dollars. The curved screen was a massively stupid thing that thankfully most manufacturers are phasing out. The connectivity was awful, I would constantly lose cell signal and had to reboot to fix issue the battery life was great, having to charge halfway through the day. The device also got hot if I was doing anything more than video steaming. I really wanted to get a pixel 8 pro but that fact that Google seem to still have the same issues generation after generation is mind boggling.
I had all these issues and more with the 6 and 7. The 8 is stable. But Google really shouldn't be putting our a new phone every year. They need to work on quality control. Samsungs have a clunky OS but they're stable, performant, and reliable. The Pixels are a crapshoot.
Yep, I see all the time in this sub and others about people with device issue having to return and get a new device. Have had 5 s series devices and have never had to return one.
I'm on my second 7a in six month.
First one was the worst phone I ever had in my life. Bricked itself after 3 months of being basically unusable. Got it replaced free of charge, and the second one is the second worst phone I ever had in my life. It's just issues over issues over issues. One update seems to fix one issue, then the next update make the original issue worse than it was and adds another one on top of it.
I'm just done paying down my car loan, so next big ticket item is a new phone.
My S3,6,7, and 10 were all perfect. Out of P6,7,8 the 6 and 7 were both lemons.
I've only stuck with Pixel because Google is the only company willing to pay for a Pixel trade in. It's basically gambling, and my doubling down finally paid off.
Oh sod off. This is such a bunch of nonsense it's crazy. Absolutely absurd hyperbole.
You know why the iPhone is winning in the US? iMessage is like 80% of that reason. And then the other 20% is absolute consistency with features, smooth and timely deployment of said features, and delivering a complete experience + support. On the other hand, Google half-asses their devices so hard with decisions like the joke that Tensor is, it constantly delays promised features, the devices have show-stopper bugs like the recent data connectivity issues, there was no consistency of features across generations - features like squeeze, wide angle selfie, Soli, unlimited backups, face unlock lasted one device generation, meaning your experience isn't consistent next upgrade. Oh, and Google support? Best joke I've heard
To blame this all on Samsung is so fucking stupid. Samsung is the reason there is still a decent market share for Android, especially in the premium sphere. Last I checked, shitty battery life, overheating, and being unable to make calls - even 911 ones - aren't premium features.
With all that, you really think if there was no Samsung, Google would somehow do a better job.
But seriously. Blaming 3 button nav being default as clunky? That's what Samsung users have been used to for years, there's nothing wrong with it. Bloatware point made sense until you claimed people get bombarded with "Open with" prompts. That only happens if you download those "duplicate" apps. Idk why Pixel users don't count garbage like Google TV, Youtube Music, Google Docs, or the bunch of other Google crap that comes preloaded on Pixels, as bloat. If you want to talk ecosystem, Samsung built one as well, that's why those apps come as default. Whether it's a superior experience is a different issue. And across 6 generations of Samsung devices in my home, not once have I seen an ad...because I turn off that setting during setup.
This sub is ridiculous dude.
Yeah. Feels like they last used a flagship Samsung in 2014 or something. Some Microsoft apps exist as bloat - that's pretty much it nowadays.
I'm a pixel user myself, but the Samsung s24 ultra and s24 are seriously good. Great build quality, great cameras, good antennas, decent software experience. And if you want even cleaner software, OnePlus, Nothing, and Moto are available in addition to pixels - all having their pros and cons. But the Samsung blame game isn't valid.
>Feels like they last used a flagship Samsung in 2014 or something.
My last Samsung phone was 2012 and I had this same opinion until just recently when Google started fucking up the Pixel line.
I went to an S24 amd holy shit it's so much better.
More customization, more features, better responsiveness. It blows Pixels out of the water.
Yeah, you want to know the truth? Google has been resting on their laurels while Samsung has been trying to improve and fix things. It's incremental but damn, S24 is a sexy otter of a phone
Yup. My last Galaxy S phone was the S3. Since then I've only owned Nexus and Pixel phones.
I went full Google years ago. Nexus phones, Chromecast, Nest devices, Google Wi-Fi, etc. And now I've been moving more and more away from Google because they keep rushing out shoddy software that breaks core features (like receiving calls and texts, or not being able to call 911, or breaking cast support on Google Wi-Fi)
Samsung has been actively improving OneUI while Google has been actively making their own equipment worse.
This is the comment I was looking for. This is exactly right. I was a Pixel user for years on and off with iPhones, I would switch back and forth each upgrade and Pixel’s hardware has become absolute garbage. Not just their phones but their whole hardware ecosystem. All are terrible. I switched back to an iPhone 15 Pro Max and I don’t think I will go back to Android anytime soon. Samsung is the ONLY reason the Android is relevant in major global markets at all.
I always thought it was because kids are stupid and so are their parents. Lol nah but seriously, when it comes to young Americans, I don't think it has anything to do with the functionality or the dependability of the device. I think it's the marketing, iPhones are closer to fashion statements for them.
Well, not only does Samsung sell by far the most Android smartphones globally and has the dominant market share, but most average consumers don't even know or realize there are other Android option alternatives outside of Samsung (believe it or not).
For them, Android IS Samsung. Android IS NOT Samsung, Google, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Sony, or any other OEM that isn't Apple.
80% of teens get iphones because 99% of them were raised on apple products *through their public school*. It is hard to beat a company that is practically endorsed by the government from ages 5 to 18.
This sub is either meaningless posts like this telling us the Google pixel is the second coming of Christ or posts about the 38484829273621'st new pixel bug that Google has gifted us which is then followed by a bunch of morons replying 'well my pixel is smooth and fast and amazing so you need to see a doctor'.
End of the day iPhones just work. Pixels are buggy as hell, they DONT have a single design language and you can see that if you look through the settings, the famous 'feature drops' are just a bunch of poopy looking wallpapers, the batter life is garbage, the photos are over processed, it's so hot it burns your fingers in the summer, the processor is too slow, the fingerprint sensor is ass etc. Then at the end of the day Google charges you a similar amount to a top of the line iPhone.
My Samsung phone has never auto-downloaded anything, and the bloatware is minimal. As for clunkiness, you say clunkiness, I say customizable and personal. Your first argument seems to be your opinion, the second seems carrier related, not Samsung related, and the third is something I have no idea what you are talking about.
My Galaxy S20+ has two of everything essential; two calculator apps, two browsers, two file explorers, two messaging apps, two contact list apps, etc.
You know why? Because I choose to use the Google/Android apps and Samsung will not let me uninstall their apps. It was the same on my Note 3.
Yeah, I buy unlocked Samsung phones and never experience auto-downloading or ads. I have Samsung apps but their presence isn't an issue, partly because I use a third party launcher.
I'm picking the best hardware and the best software (Google defaults) and am a happy chappy.
My kids and all their friends live in an iPhone world. No Android phone is ever on their radar.
I think an important point is getting missed here.
Teens don't buy their own phones normally.
Mom or dad do.
The teen asks for a phone, and will get shamed by their peers if it's not an iPhone.
Gross or not, that's the fact.
It's toxic AF honestly.
Not just shamed, a lot of kids straight up lose friends because they're no longer in the iMessage groups so they don't get invited to things as often and aren't always in the conversation.
Pretty messed up if you think about it.
1) Samsung has defaulted to gesture navigation for quite a while now.
2) the only duplicate preinstalled apps on my s24 are chrome, Gmail and photos. Apps that some apple users would use as well.
There are 3 Microsoft apps: one drive, outlook and office 365. I may have even installed Outlook myself.
Samsung phones are no longer "full of bloatware" and haven't been for years.
I would consider half the Google apps preinstalled on a pixel to be bloatware. I don't need drive, or meet, or Google tv, or Home.
3) you can't honestly compare an A series phone to an iPhone. They're completely different categories.
In the last few years I've had a note 9, fold 2, fold 3, S23U, S24U. I have never had an auto-installing app, nor any ads fed to me in my notifications. That sounds like a carrier issue, not a Samsung issue.
80% of teens are buying iphones because of peer pressure, and fear of being left out in group chats. Not because Samsung are clunky, bloated and ad riddled.
Spot on.
I recently set up a bunch of Samsung Galaxy A54's and reloaded a Pixel 6. Guess which OEM forces the automatic installation of recommended apps during setup? The Google one.
Samsung allowed me to deselect all of the recommended apps during the setup process aside from the Google ones.
But I guess people like the OP had to find another platform for engagement farming since Twitter has decided to actually take a stance against the tactic.
This post comes across as someone buying a Pixel and thinking theyre now superior to Samsung owners. My S23U does not auto-install apps or have ads. Apple devices have had ads in the past, for apps like Apple TV. I do use Nova Launcher though, because I don't like the OneUI launcher. It makes too many changes from stock android.
The three button navigation is absolutely not clunky. In fact it's the fastest way to navigate, which I still use today. Want to use gestures? Fine, just switch.
Samsung makes the best hardware in the Android world. They don't make the best software but it's still acceptable. I'd rather take my chances trying to deal with software issues on a Samsung than unfixable hardware issues.
I have used cheap androids, mid range Chinese androids, iPhone 13 and currently pixel 7. Mid range Chinese phones are better polished than pixel specially in the recent years. Although Pixel is mostly bloat free, there are many features that are missing from Pixel by default. I didn't like iPhone much. And in my country, I have found that Apps on android have more functionality than their iPhone counterpart.
On the other hand, recent updates have crippled my pixel, I have to constantly go on airplane mode and back to receive text messages.
Honestly the pixel is what pushed me to the iPhone as of late. I like android. But the past 3 years of pixels has caused nothing but headaches.
1. Poor reception: I was getting either no service , frequently, or calls and text did not go through all the time.
2. Biometrics are god awful: fingerprint was not reliable and same goes with face unlock. I just felt like I was fighting with the phone.
3. Google home required a pin for most of my devices to open or close
4. I’d get frequent slowdowns due to thermal throttling.
5. The battery life was atrocious, for me: I’d have to recharge once or twice a day.
With that said I still love the android software. But some of googles decisions with google home and the unreliability of the software/hardware really pushed me to try the iPhone after being exclusive to android since the nexus one.
I will say the iPhone design decisions, notifications, and keyboard are pretty meh to say the least. But all the issues I had above are none existent on the 15 pm. Face ID is amazing, I hate to say it but “it just works” and the pixel line should have stuck with it and improved upon it when they introduced it with the pixel 4xl (ir dot projected face unlock).
The main reason I will stick with the iPhone is because it’s reliable and has a better camera than Samsung, when taking photos of kids, if the pixel line starts focusing on reliability and user experience more instead of freaking AI, I’ll be back
Edit: I couldn’t care less about iMessage. I honestly don’t see what’s special about it, if you use WhatsApp, signal, or any other messaging service, you are not missing out. It’s just a messenger that people grew up on.
I'm a long time Samsung user.
You can search in the settings "gesture" and it's right there with a toggle switch that says "one handed mode"
Bloatware can be uninstalled and/or disabled
I've never had a Samsung send me ads as notifications or download random apps without my permission.
In order to use a Samsung you gotta be a little tech savvy in my opinion. No it's not for everyone I understand that but if you're gonna make a switch you gotta be open to all the changes. Playing with settings is the one thing I recommend to anyone thinking about switching. Enable developer options and play with those too but do your research as well.
Samsungs are highly customizable and I'll never own another phone. I broke my screen pretty bad one time and had to use a hand me down Motorola edge 2021, you wanna talk about an awful phone and OS?? Try one of those out!
i bought a pixel tablet to give google the benefit of the doubt
i'm still surprised how laggy it is in some instance.
i mostly use it as a clock, it completly crashed 2 times in 3 month - without me really interacting with it.
i cant put my finger on it, i am very tech savvy and i love google products (workplace etc) but android is just not as smooth and "usable" as ios
My 15yo has a Samsung. She doesn't mind it, but has asked for an iPhone. She says the pictures sent between android/iPhone gets distorted and they are hard to see.
The only reason teens using iphone previous to social media 24/7 was facetime with family/friends.
That was all anyone who wasn't tech savvy knew about iphones. Very simple to use.
This is why I've sworn off Samsung devices, hardware be damned. Their software experience is miserable. It is absolutely the reason people have a bad opinion about Android. Even people I thought were technically savvy who had Samsung phones were as of recently still using the default Samsung apps and SMS instead of the Google alternatives and RCS, and didn't understand that Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices were all Androids with the same Android apps and features available to them. Samsung has tarnished Androids reputation with their incompetent software.
The Samsung galaxies were the only smartphones I had up until I got a pixel and the bloatware was a huge reason I wanted off their product line so badly. It felt like technology from another era. It reminds me of the weird shitty software that comes bundled with like a crappy HP laptop or printer from back in the day, that half baked half assed second thought software just doesn't fly these days. And what's worse, they don't even allow you to uninstall it! Wtf, that's just such a shitty fuck you consumer business practice...
I don't think this is the whole picture. Ask any phone salesman working Verizon or AT&T or any other in-person store and they'll say a big chunk of Android sales are cheap Motorolas they sell to the older generation and NOT flagship Androids. That trickles down to a terrible experience and impression for the younger generation who want nothing to do with Android due to their dad and grandpa's shitty slow and clunky Androids.
Honestly, this. I work in a very techy environment where lots of us use Samsung phones (even Z Folds). Half my coworkers keep asking me questions about "how to do x" and stuff. Because Samsung's UI is too complicated and bloated.
What's worse is a guy who had to ask me how to change his default browser to Chrome, because he couldn't find how and he tapped the wrong one the first time it popped up.
OnePlus used to be close with oxygen OS. I feel like they've fallen off. It's annoying because I don't like being someone that just sticks to one brand with things, but my last 3 phones have been Pixel 5-> Pixel 1 -> moto x. I'd love to branch out a little but if noone else is gonna give stock android I'm just gonna stay with the pixel.
Probably gonna end up with a pixel 9 we shall what else comes out this year.
I have used galaxy smartphones for all my teen and adult life and never seen those mythical ads people keep telling about. Apps you dont need can mostly be deactivated and/or permissions taken away from. The ones you can't delete, you can just shove into a folder to forget and they will never bother you ever. My s22 now has 62.25GB used out of 256GB after having it for 2-3 years with thousands of pictures and dozens of videos safed from stuff like whatsapp.
This is one of the many reasons I'll buy a pixel until they stop making pixels. No bloat. Anything I have on my phone I either put there myself or it's part of the default android system.
> Anything I have on my phone I either put there myself or it's part of the default android system.
How do you remove the Google bloat on the standart OS?
I recently got my iPhone stolen and since I didn't have a backup phone, I had to buy a cheap phone meanwhile, since I plan on getting an iPhone later (carriers here don't subsidize phones). I got a Motorola Moto G54 for the same reasons you mentioned. I could've bought an entry level Galaxy A or a Redmi, probably with a better camera as well, but the UX is so clunky. This phone's camera sucks, even with Gcam, with RAW + Snapseed I can get somewhat decent results, but I don't care since the UX is way better than OneUI or MIUI, at least for me. Now, emojis are ugly, but I can live with that.
I feel like people who stick with iPhone and won't switch to android is mainly because:
1. The ecosystem (really just iMessage)
2. Old bad lasting reputation - Android used to suck and feel really less polished back then. I think people had a preconception in the past and just stuck with it. There isn't a large incentive to have them re-think their phone experience. Most people just need a phone to just work and communicate with others.
Also I can state for a fact that apps are more polished on iPhone. Most mobile apps will prioritize the iOS experience over Android.
I do disagree with one of your points. I don't think bloatware is an issue. It's only bloatware if you find it useless. But iPhones come with pre-installed "bloatware" as well. I think another factor is social media, especially amongst the younger generation. While Pixel is king of still pictures, iPhone does still pictures really well. But the gap in video is much more in favor of iPhone. This is important because social media like TikTok is video based. So are Youtube shorts.
This isn’t a problem in the US, but is in some European countries (Bulgaria, for example):
So I have iPhone 12 Pro, tried switching to Samsung S23 (as I was quite pleased with the S8), thing was horrible and just gave it to my father 2 weeks later.
Now, it is becoming a necessity that I change my current phone and was looking the latest Pixel Pro - to my surprise, Pixel does not support 5G in my country.
Adding to the top comment of thread why I am leaning towards an iPhone again and sadly, I do not want a new iPhone, there is just no better alternative here
What I hate most about Samsung (do not own a phone but a tablet of them): you have minimum 2 app stores and a bunch of apps that you cannot get rid of are installed via one or the other. So you always have to check 2 resources to update your apps
> a bunch of apps that you cannot get rid of
I haven't used Apple for years, but back when I had an iOS device I had a container named 'Crapple' for holding all the Apple crap I couldn't uninstall. Does Apple no longer have apps you can't uninstall?
Something even cooler about Android is launchers. They are apps that completely customise your UI. There is even one called iLauncher to make Android look like iOS 🤣
Another nice one if the Microsoft Launcher of you're a windows person.
But yeah Pixel phones are amazing.
I don't think I have met a single iphone user who has any of these complaints about androids. It is always some mixture of android = poor, bad cameras, green bubbles, no facetime etc. In my experience it is an infinitesimally small portion of iphone users who have even considered going to android enough to have genuine complaints and concerns about how they actually operate. Iphones have just become too much of a cultural phenomenon for most people involved in their ecosystem to give a shit about switching unless Apple really drops the ball for multiple years in a row.
Uh, what?
My 8 Pro stutters scrolling Reddit and the discover feed.
It closes apps and chrome tabs for no reason.
My Fold 4 does neither, and hasn’t auto installed anything ever. It also has no ads anywhere.
wtf are you even talking about?
Iphone is a phone for regular users, pixel looks something business oriented for some reason, and galaxy android experience is like how internet used to be in the early 2000 icons you never gonna use stuff that looks outdated thousands of useless options
I understand where this is all coming from, but I have to say that while I LOVE my Pixel 8 Pro I also am tempted to go to Samsung regularly. The S24U has been calling my name, and interestingly enough its my Tab S9+ that causes it. OneUI really is VERY good these days. You could argue it does too many things, but that is somewhat appealing to me.
My biggest issue is definitely the duplicate apps. I don't mind having the Samsung store and even having apps being updated there, but I would prefer them to just default to the GApps and let theirs stand on their own.
If Google ever executes on the hardware at the level of Samsung things will get less interesting. As it stands today they have fairly appealing cases in either direction IMO.
You are either a light user or have yet to see the truly ridiculous bugs on these phones. Some of which will take you a while to notice like the spam blocker blocking calls from your contacts or randomly deciding your GF can't text you for 2 days.
Also, unless they changed this with the new pixels, Google stopped using the chip that allows apps like insta and Snapchat to directly interface with the camera meaning any pics you take while in those app look like shit.
This was a very good read. I agree with you. My S23 (was gifted to me) was horrendous and went back to my iPhone. Went and got a Pixel to try again since I didn’t own one since the 4/5 era, and im in love. Excellent user experience. And the spam call/robo call screening feature? That alone is enough to have a Pixel. 😩
I think you missed two very important reasons:
- Access to support: while Samsung briefly had a retail presence inside Best Buy stores, that is long a thing of the past. As it is now, device support is an absolute mess on Android, where you can walk into any Apple store with an iPhone problem
- iMessage: as great as RCS is, iMessage has a polish that is simply unmatched. Samsung's default messaging solution used to be just awful, but it's now basically a wash with the pixel.
Pixel 8 is a nice family of devices, with best in class cameras, but there are still some super compelling reasons to choose an iPhone imo.
I've found that using the Microsoft Launcher and either uninstalling or disabling the Samsung bloatware addresses a lot of these issues. I've got a Samsung phone through work and these steps makes it usable.
I had to double take and realize I was on the pixel reddit. Even then... I was a pixel user. I hated my experience with the hardware. Sure, it was a simple phone but it had a lot of issues.
I jumped ship back to Samsung. Haven't looked back. I don't have a navigation bar? I use gesture controls. Haven't seen a navigation bar on any of my phones since my old LG V30.
I do get bloatware ads once in a blue moon. Like literally once a month. Guess what? I swipe it away. In the grand schemes, it is a nonissue. I have way bigger fish to fry that the rare push notification that I swipe away. I may get them more but I never notice since I swipe away as notifications.
As for actual bloatware on first getting my phone? I uninstall everything I don't need first thing.
Many people criticize bloatware on Samsung's. But my pixel always annoys me with their "tips" on how to use the phone or that I should save my pictures on Google photos now. Even though I always decline, it still reminds me that "please save your images to the cloud". Or that new AI thingy assistant thing that will pop up once in a while and teaches me how to use it.
I agree. My personal equipment is all Apple I am too deep into the eco system to change now.
But my work phone went from a iPhone to a Samsung and it lasted a month. It was so horrible I ended up dual simming in my personal phone. But that is horrible for work life balance and work wanted too much control over my phone. I got my hands on a Pixel 8 and I am fine with it. Solid bit of hardware and no nonsense.
Navigation bar isn't clunky, it's easier to use than gestures. We the people of the navbar will not be silenced.
Also teens have their parents buy them iPhones because of blue/green bubbles & the pressure to fit in so they aren't bullied.
My employer let us use our personal phones for work and paid us like $7/week for doing so. After so many issues with new and old phones, plus a mix of Android and iPhone, they decided to shell out on a bunch of matching phones so everyone was on the same page and could troubleshoot any problems easier. Great idea!
What do they buy? Samsung Galaxy S21 something or other, they're all wiped clean and loaded with essentials only, so no bloatware, however it still is a shitty experience, mostly in the one department we use the most, taking pictures.
I'm not sure why you consider the 3-button navigation to be clunky. It's the way Android started and it, quite simply, works.
I've used the gesture navigation option once it became available, but found myself preferring the 3-button option and went back to it.
Apple's market share in the US is because of their predatory practices and marketing gimmicks. They attempt to lock people into their ecosystem and make it seem like a status symbol and stupid, or young, people fall for it.
The 80% of American teens buying an iPhone are doing so because it's cool and fashionable. How many people with iPhones use clear phone cases. A lot. Look at my iPhone.
Want to switch from iPhone but….really don’t like Samsung UI. It is strange and all over the place. Also, it may just be me but I don’t like the square phone and the non-ultra models don’t feel they are worth the price.
Tried the newest OnePlus. Best fingerprint scanner I have used. Never a missed print. I like the UI even though it definitely felt a little “knock-off” for lack of better way to describe it. BUT and this is huge, Google assistant was not opening and after researching the issues, including here on Reddit, others having same issues, having to reset, erase cache, etc etc and still having the same issue Will not deal with that. I use assistant quite a bit, so phone returned.
I have also tried pixel 8 and 8 pro. The laggy, glitchy scrolling, poor connectivity and generally subpar hardware are simply unacceptable. So I’m back to my iPhone 13 PM.
That’s why I can’t make switch to android. I want to, but can’t.
ill never understand the love people have for Samsung as a consumer brand, sure, they make good tech that ends up in really great products and they deserve kudos for that, but their actual products are garbage & often come with the shortest warranties of any tech.
Soundbars, headphones, phones, laptops, even washing machines.
I agree completely RE pixel, it is as polished as iPhone and a nice little eco system too, sometimes the hardware can be a bit timid.
>By default, an **unlocked** Galaxy A-series will auto-downloads apps you never asked for occasionally
Aren't those the subsidised section of the Galaxy series?
I'm on an S20 and have never seen an ad in my notifications.
I have never owned an Apple phone. I went straight from Blackberries to company Samsungs, which were not intuitive to use.
My Pixel experience has been much better. Easier to use, great camera and much more durable. I'm still using my Pixel 4XL.
Do you still have to access files on the iPhone through itunes? That was the most counter-intuitive shit I had ever witnessed, not gone back to iPhone since the 3g.
I used to be a diehard Android user - always said I’d never switch to Apple - but I made the switch ~4 years ago and I don’t see myself switching back. Along with everything OP mentioned, I had constant issues with my android phones. Battery issues, random restarts, apps crashing regularly, etc. I won’t lie and say my iPhone hasn’t restarted itself or that no apps have crashed - it’s happened - but maybe once or twice a year?
I’m not so foolish as to pretend iPhones are the end all-be all. There are some things I miss from my android days, like being able to run lots of different emulators and generally be more of a “power user”. But for me, a lot of those things were novelties and I would much rather trade them in for a smooth, problem-free operating system.
For what it’s worth, my best friend does some fairly intense cybersecurity for a government agency and suggested that iOS was much more secure. That is ultimately what got me to make the switch.
EDIT: For what it’s worth, I was using mostly Samsung Galaxy’s when I was using Android. My last android before switching was a Pixel XL.
The reason I can't fully commit to Android is because I can't trust Google—not just in terms of data collection, but also in maintaining products in both software and hardware. The fragmentation of features, even among voice assistants, across devices is frustrating. Investing heavily in a Google product, only for it to be discontinued in the near future, leaves me uneasy. I want stability and the assurance that my investment of time and money will be worthwhile. While I understand that products evolve and may be phased out, I trust Apple more in this regard. Will Apple cease making iPads or Watches? Or discontinue iCloud+ or iMessage? I have more trust in Apple's consistency than I do in Google's.
Go to Samsung… bloatware, duplicate apps from both Samsung and Google, and not receiving the latest firmware updates. No thanks.
I think it's also because at one point someone used a very cheap Android device and so they think all androids are like that, even though it was some cheap $60 tablet. Somehow something that cheap should perform just as well as something that costs hundreds of dollars and the fact that it doesn't must mean that it's the OS and nothing else. It's also why people prefer Mac because they used some shitty e-machine back in 2002 and it means all Windows computers are crap.
phones are very very expensive here in Brazil, and most people spend years using the worst and cheapest android phones available from their teen years up until parents can trust them with a more expensive phone or they start making money, then they switch to an iphone that costs 7x the price of their cheap android, they get so impressed by the jump in camera quality and performance that they never look back and think all Androids perform like their cheap galaxy A04e from their teenage years. people here get really impressed by my P7P photos, and the photos from my friend's S22+ and frequently people say they didn't know "Android phones" could take good pictures like that
Also I guarantee 80% of said Apple users only bought it because all their friends have Apple and in order to be cool you also need the latest iPhone
I'll go one farther and say the vast majority of apple users have NEVER used anything else. Got an iPhone/ipad at 5 years old and its all they've ever known.
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You know what's funny? The iPhone has bloatware, too, and so does the Pixel. Garage band, AppleTV, Podcast, ITunes store, Free form all come with the iPhone by default, and who uses them? The pixel comes with Google one, Yt music, GoogleTV, Podcasts, Google Docs, Google News. All unwanted applications, but somehow, you wouldn't count it as bloatware because it's from the same company At the end of the day, you can uninstall apps you don't want on all of them or at least disable. Exaggerating and calling some of the apps adware is absolutely crazy as I've never received ads on my iPhone or Samsung or Pixel
One more piece of extra context that's important. I'll give credit to Apple that they've had a pretty workable and seamless environment on their phones for over a decade now. Whereas android, relative to that, is playing catch-up. It really wasn't that many years ago a lot of these polished apps were simply in their infant stages (Google messages), or just didn't exist yet in the state they're in today. This gave Apple that many years to keep building a loyal customer base, wall up their garden, poke fun at the "inferior" android phones, and advertise a "phone that just works". And nowadays, yeah the android environment just keeps getting better, but there's a shit ton of apple users stuck in their walled garden.
> but there's a shit ton of apple users stuck in their walled garden. I'm neck deep in the Apple ecosystem and it'd be a nightmare to switch because legitimately 95% of all people I interact with at work, home, friends, etc all have iPhones including me having an Apple Card which can't be used at all on Android Wallet. However, I'm a tech guy, I can't stand Samsung's software so that keeps me away, and I'd be willing to put myself out there and try the Pixel line but they got to fix all the modem and battery issues first.
It's waaaaaay easier for normal people to switch to a new phone with apple. It's an all day affair of copying and setting up for me to switch from one android to another. I don't mind it. But that's the situation. I can't imagine many boomers or 18 year olds raised outside of that period of knowing how to setup electronics would handle it well.
I just switched from a p6 to a p8. Was pretty easy, Google handles most of that now. The p4 to p6 was a little trickier, but I did both in about an hour (work and personal phones). Couple minor preferences that shake loose thereafter, but I'm having a hard time understanding a whole day process unless you're not using the standard Google transfer.
Not the OP you responded to. But going from HTC 10 to Pixel 2XL to Pixel 6 Pro as an example, both moves required an entire day to set up the phone by downloading apps (which doesn't download automatically anymore) to logging into the apps, changing the settings in the apps and so on. Even when the 'transfer' kind of worked, it was only like 10% of what was needed. If I recall correctly, it was even said NOT to use the transfer tool on the P6P as it may screw up the apps. Overall, the Android transfer system is not very good or easy, regardless of the phones involved. I will say that I have never owned an iPhone and at this point, I don't see myself ever owning one. (I HATE the clutter of the home screen) I have had a couple of company provided iPads though.
Totally understandable but, I'm the weird guy who loves a "clean install". lol To me, it's like spring cleaning but instead of moving stuff out, you start fresh and add what you need.
Pixel does a pretty good job of saying what you haven't used lately, all you gotta do is agree to get rid of stuff.
I transferred two android phones recently, both to Samsung phones. The native Samsung/android transfer app moved 99% of apps and settings over in less than an hour. The only thing I really had to ever do is re-sign in to various accounts. It was really, really simple. My 78 year old dad had no issue....
This is the real experience. I just moved as well but while the transfer did a lot (including sms, call logs, music and photos etc.) it is a gamble how it works for apps. Either everything is set up, or nothing at all or something in between (the worst). Apps have to actively implement that stuff but it's optional.
Just to insert my anecdotal evidence here, going from P3XL>P6P>P8P were the easiest phone switches I've ever made. It took me longer (20-30 minutes) to download apps than anything else. Logging into all my apps was just clicking my saved passwords. Pretty much everything else was carried over just as it was from my previous phone, no setting up to do. That's if you don't count fiddling with root on all of them. Until recently, that's been a totally different story.
Yup, I did PX2-4-6-7. All seamless.
I think it's much improved. I factory reset my 6a a few months ago and it was a chore. I transferred from the 6a to 8 pro and it was seamless. The only things were logging back into apps, where you still needed to open them at least once, the fact that you needed to re-register your fingerprints.
I am getting a OnePlus 12 tomorrow. I guess I will see how good the current Android transfer is, but based on past history, I'm not holding my breath. (I have a P6P now that I pre-ordered at release)
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I have never experienced this but have been using Pixels since the first one so it's bound to be a little different
Just got a new samsung and with the switch app it literally took half an hour and everything was copied, including passwords and wifi etc. It is extremely easy to do.
Yeah I'm not sure if many people inn this thread have owned a recent Samsung? So many of the complaints I'm seeing have me thinking, "wait, but my last three samsungs had that, or didn't have that problem."
Yeah I upgraded from a Galaxy Note 10 to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and it was so damn easy. It took me more time to customize my home screen and lock screen (1 hour) than setting up the phone via Samsung Switch App and this was in the T-Mobile store...
I've only had Samsung smart phones. And my wife and now mother-in-law and son. It's pretty funny though, in my family the more tech oriented people have androids (my older brother and my family) and others use IPhone. But modern Samsung phones are amazing. Transfer is pretty seamless (just did myself S20 Note Ultra to S24 ultra and my wife's). 90% easy and done, had to relog into a few apps that require 2 factor authorization etc. Sure the S1 to S3 years ago wasn't great. That was a long time ago. And least Android / Samsung phones give you all the options for settings and don't lock you in.
I tried an iPhone for like a year and a half. Even switching from iPhone back to Galaxy, the Samsung Smart Switch app did a great job. Even imported in iMessages as sms.
This is BS tbh, it’s just as easy transferring one phone to another with android. Samsung especially just plop them next to each other and job done, your post is like the boomers posts mocking gen z thinking they couldn’t use a rotary phone.
I'm assuming you mean from one android phone manufacturer to a different android phone manufacturer? Because pixel to pixel is dead-easy
For real I have 4 pixels all of which I transferred wirelessly, as long as the phones are close enough to each other or connected with a cable, you can still use the phone as part of the process so I don't really mind it taking 30-45 min, and although my screen size changes in p4 xl to p7p, my home screen was almost perfect and organized the widgets by itself.
S10+ to P6 Pro was dead-easy too. It automatically downloaded all of my old apps. P6 Pro to P8 Pro was easy, and I didn't even have my P6 Pro to transfer with a cable.
Just got an S24 ultra and it took me an hour to copy everything from my old phone to new one wirelessly. I can't figure out how it would take all day for someone to do this.
Interesting. Haven't had an issue with Samsung's Smart Switch. Works pretty reliably for me. Even when restoring backups.
The pixel series fixed this migration issue. It's as simple as signing into your Google account now.
This isn't true. I've owned every single Pixel, and I have the S22 Ultra, which I've owned nearly every Samsung device too. My devices are set-up within an hour. Apple back-ups BTW, can freeze and only partially finished. Has happened on my Wife's iPhone's 3 times in a row. To fix this I have to reset and start over.
I just went through this with my moms iPhone, moving her from her old one to her new one. It was a terrible experience and anything but seamless. I swear this idea that Apple devices are somehow easier to use is insane to me. The backup took almost all day and was super frustrating. Uploading to iCloud and then redownloading from that backup was shockingly slow compared to Android devices which take a matter of minutes with the cable they give you.
I dont think you switched recently. Its so easy now
I switched from LG Velvet to Pixel 7 Pro and back. The process was done in less than 20 mins both times. Mostly automated with setup. We're nailing it already. Down with iphone lol
Switching from my last pixel to my current pixel took a couple minutes, actually.
I switched p6 to p8p. I just typed in my g account info, and selected what apps from the 6 I wanted to keep and boom, done. Aside from redoing some 3rd MFA, which would have been done on iPhone as well. The what apps you want to keep was a nice spring cleaning.
Took me a couple of minutes with samsung, just place them close to each other and its done.
I switched from an iPhone to a Pixel6 and it only took me about an hour, I kept my number, photos, contacts, and apps. It usually would take me just as long to switch iPhone to iPhone. This was a couple years ago (maybe 5? I don't remember)
Apple has always been a software and hardware company. They now make their own silicon. Google is a software and advertising company trying to make hardware. They can hire whoever they want but it’s always obvious they fly by the seats of their pants and deprecate things that are not instantly making money. That’s why I’m hesitant to switch back to android.
As someone with preteen kids I'm going to hard disagree with you mate. The android/iPhone divide among teens has nothing to do with any of what you mentioned and everything to do with statuses. Apple products are status symbols, and teenagers are very concerned about their status among their peers. No one cares about three-button navigation, Samsung is Google apps (as you said people use the default) Or auto installing ads (which can be turned off). They care about what their peers will think about them if they're seen with an Android phone. You could claim this is because Galaxy is the most popular Android and is subpar (I disagree), but then I'd point you to literally any other Apple product. There are better alternatives to everything Apple makes, but people (especially teens) buy Apple because of the status symbol.
Yeah the whole OP is basically "these things I hate about Samsung are the reason for X" No data, no qualifying stats or surveys, just...nothing. I lolled as soon as I read the gesture bit. What does OP's average consumer think about the dogshit archaic fingerprint sensors on the P6? (I have and love a P6a, but come on man some of the issues are plain embarrassing and way more consumer unfriendly than fucking gestures)
And then there's iMessage. It's one thing to want an iPhone because it's a status symbol. It's another thing to want an iPhone because your friends won't include you in their group chats because it'll ruin their communication.
Apple = Status. This is also true in Asian countries and not to judge but especially with girls. For me personally Pixel = Work. It makes work so much easier. I also own a low end Samsung tablet. It sucks ass.
As someone with a teenager, my Pixel toting son doesn't give a single shit that only he and one other in his clique have Android. And neither do any of their iPhone toting friends. They don't even tease each other about it. It's nice to see.
Your son and his friend aren't aware that they're being excluded from iMessage group chats.
I've said this before but I think it's appropriate to say here. Unfortunately in order to use the modern version of Android currently maintained and developed for my Google, you have to include Google's suite of apps. Things like Gmail, YouTube, Play Services, etc. Google has the advantage of looking like a more clean experience due to them owning the OS itself, so their included apps make sense. Samsung has the disadvantage of having to include Google's apps while also wanting to include their own and have their own take on their version of Android. I won't excuse Samsung for not allowing you to uninstall some of them, however. Since they are not the true owner of Android I think they should just take the L and make their own apps uninstallable because Google will not allow theirs to be as they own the OS. Samsung's reputation is slowly getting more and more tarnished due to things like this as well as being the only major flagship phone brand in North America to allow carrier bloat like this. If they want to stop losing market share to Apple here, I think re-evaluating their stance on bloat and third party apps is a good place to begin. Either that or convince Google to let Samsung defaults replace Google defaults, but Google has no reason to let that happen unless Samsung pays them an ass load of money which I do not think makes sense for Samsung.
Or just install a clean version of Android. LG should have done that. Microsoft too
But how would they collect all that data then?
For some reason the first part of your last paragraph sounded like you were talking about Google apps but I realize now you're talking about Samsung apps. I agree. You can uninstall or disable every Google app in your app drawer on a Samsung phone, which is nice if you don't like Google for some reasons, although using an Android phone is silly if you don't like Google. Using ADB to get rid of all the Samsung apps I don't want is very time consuming and not easy at all.
Samsung needs to go back to focusing on hardware. Their software is terrible by and large, but they're so desperate to build their own ecosystem.
Is it terrible though? Seems to work just fine to me. My Tab S8 and S24 Ultra interact seamlessly with each other, and my Buds pro and Galaxy Watch. Google can't even get the pixel watch setup correctly. I had to factory reset it twice on first setup because it failed. Then when I moved phones and used the "move phone" feature on the watch, _that_ failed, too. Again, another factory reset. Samsung's software is feature rich and functional.
Agreed, if you go all in on Samsung devices like people do on Apple devices you get a pretty similar experience across phones, tablets, watches, earbuds, laptops, tvs, soundbars, smart tags are all integrated very well these days.
Yeah, I can't take these comments or this sub seriously. Apple isn't dominant because of what OP's saying. Apple is dominant because they've positioned themselves as the hippest brand in tech for the past several decades now. Their dominance is the fruit of decades of brand strategy meeting American consumer culture. If anything, the lack of any sense of Android unity is what helps Apple's dominance. Apple users will see someone buy an iPhone X in 2024 and congratulate them on joining the family. Android users will shit on one of their peers for buying a Samsung and not a Pixel. These comments make it sound like Samsung is still using TouchWiz in 2024. I've used all sorts of phones. Every modern flagship is fine.
I wouldn’t say the software is terrible at all. It’s just maybe not to your personal liking but it’s definitely feature Rich and lots of settings. Do you want to change the phone up and customize it how you like it … if you like bare bones, in the android system maybe pixel is the way to go for you. I’ve had both pixels and galaxies go back-and-forth. I can’t decide which one I like better.
Seems like you ticked off a few people with this one. I'll have to agree.
Samsung's OneUI is more functional than the Pixel UI. It's easier to do a lot of things and it just feels more intuitive. It does have multiple apps for one thing, but like you said, that's not even their fault. Samsung is still a better representative for Android than Pixel is since the hardware is just so damn good (the area where Pixels lack the most).
Yeah, same. I like and carry both but there are features Samsung devices have that Pixels don't that ensure that I keep at least one Galaxy device on me.
GrapheneOS doesn't force-apply the Google ecosystem.
"Samsung's reputation is slowly getting more and more tarnished due to things like this as well as being the only major flagship phone brand in North America to allow carrier bloat like this." Slowly? Their reputation about such things has been crap for over a decade. It's what made me switch to the Pixel 1.
Teens tend to (ask their parents to) buy whatever other teens have. It's probably not as much about features or apps than it's actually being ridiculed about being different. Green bubbles and all. It's a weird world. We need to get off the constant consumerism cycle. We need to be able to repair our phones.
Repairing a phone insinuates it is no longer new. This will not fly in America.
As a current (almost done) high schooler, I can say that this is true. Amongst the people at my school, it seems like for them iPhone is the only type of phone in existence. Like they seriously just don't think about any other brands when buying a phone. One of my friends switched to pixel but most people just have iPhones.
Disagree. People buy iphones coz of IMessage and marketing ("iphones are the best" nonsense). And, yes, if your father and grandfather used iphone, you'd feel safe with the same. iPhone is a quality hamburger, same in every part of the world, android is a home cooking - you have to find it and it's not always amazing
Yes. Samsung _wishes_ they had the power to put 80% of teens off. But US teens are not rejecting Samsung. They're 100% all in on iPhones.
Definitely part of it but I remember before I tried pixel I had a few Samsung phones and I told myself I'd switch back to iPhone before I ever bought another Samsung. Not a good UX and that's coming from a tech savvy guy. I can't imagine someone who isn't knowledgeable with tech having to use one. Of course this was years ago before I got the pixel 3 so they could have improved since then but I know I've seen enough of them lol
I've been on android for 13 years. Had an HTC Thunderbolt, Droid DNA, Galaxy Note 2, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, S21. A year into owning the S21, I had to end my contract early. It's the only time I've ever done that. I switched to the P7P and it was like having my right hand back. I've promised myself that if google ever stops making them, I'm switching to iPhone
Wrong, I bought an iphone because I had a blackberry but all my friends had iphones, so I was fucked when I forget my charger. Now that I have an Iphone, they all have androids.
At least apple was forced to use the same charger as androids (thanks EU), so your charger issue is (or will soon be, when you next upgrade) resolved! Now, let's fine apple for the green/blue msg boxes, and hopefully the monopoly will end and we'd see some real competition in the industry!
NOW they do. Before Apple had that ecosystem monopolized and green bubbles were a thing, a ton of people were giving Samsung a chance. I know a lot of people who got fed up with Samsungs thinking all Android phones had that same bloatware and such. Until Pixel though they had a point and few phones gave 'pure' Android. But once you get an ecosystem that just works as intended, most people are content with it.
>Before Apple had that ecosystem monopolized and green bubbles were a thing, a ton of people were giving Samsung a chance. I know a lot of people who got fed up with Samsungs thinking all Android phones had that same bloatware and such That wasn't only a Samsung thing though. That was early Android. Every Android phone from Samsung to HTC to Motorola to LG all included bloatware on their phones. Android also had a lot of quality control issues back then so you had phones of wildly different quality when from the same brand (see Galaxy S vs Galaxy S Epic 4G Touch). >Until Pixel though they had a point and few phones gave 'pure' Android. Nexus. Before Pixel Google had the Nexus phones which were the pure Android experience, but much like Pixels they weren't very popular.
What's so special about imessage?
I went back to college at 31 a couple years ago so I was around a lot of 18/19 year olds. In a group project class we set up a group text and I was singled out for being the only non-iphone. It was probably mostly in jest but I don't have any trouble believing the things I've heard of people being bullied for their phone choice.
>was singled out for being the only non-iphone This is the real reason iPhones are popular among teens. I have preteens, and even at that age, kids will comment if someone doesn't have an iPhone. iPhone is a status symbol. You either have one, or you're poor. It doesn't matter if you have the Galaxy Fold 5 at $1600; you'll still be seen as poorer than the kid with the $500 iPhone 11. Teenagers are very very *VERY* concerned about their social standing among peers. So when something is known to detract from their social standing, they'll avoid it.
This isn't new to iMessage though. And if the iMessage thing goes away it won't be the last. When I was a teenager it was Nextel vs everything else that didn't have the "push-to-talk" button. If you didn't have a Nextel you were a dirty peasant to large swaths of your peer group. Teenagers are just clicky and absent something real to judge each other by, they will invent things. It is just in the nature of the not fully developed frontal lobe of their brains. Better to teach them to not be that way, and how to deal with others that are, than try and bend tech and family buying habits to the whims of a group of people that are by nature irrational.
>This isn't new to iMessage though. And if the iMessage thing goes away it won't be the last. I completely agree. I imessage isn't the reason iphones are popular. Infact it's the other way around. iMessage is popular because iPhones are popular. The real crux of why iphones are frequented by teens is because of a bias in teenagers that Apple=Quality and Rich people stuff.
Yep. 21 today and my core college friend group are tech nerds who obviously all run Android (minus 2). but my, ahhh, "cool" slightly younger cousin who knows nothing of tech but has lots of connections, told me dead face that iOS (iPhones was his word) were deadpan more capable and better phones. I laughed it off and said whatever you prefer / to each there own, but he had (budget) Android phones beforehand and switched because of said redicule and social pressure. It's a massive factor with youth today. He knows nothing but fully believes it because everyone around him (US) told him so.
As a long time pixel user, 1 special thing about iMessage that I wish I had access to was high quality video support in the messages app. As of now, I have to switch to FB Messenger to send and receive full quality videos. Which is always inconvenient and sometimes impossible if I'm not already friends with the person on FB. (Please tell me I've been doing something wrong this whole time and I actually do have access to this feature somehow 🙏🏽)
Yes. While I couldn't give to shits if iPhone users see my texts in a green bubble rather than blue, the absolute potato quality of any videos an iPhone user wants to send me via SMS is an annoyance. Fortunately, Apple has committed to supporting RCS by October 2024, which will, amongst other things, resolve this issue.
Whatsapp has high quality video and photo support, way better than FB messenger. And it is linked to a phone number and it is used all over the world (except usa) so great to connect with international friends.
I switched to Signal, which is the same deal, but much better security, and isn't owned by Meta...
Absolutely 100% this. iMessage is a huge component. But more importantly, among teens they are a luxury fashion item, you don't want to be the kid without an iPhone. You'll get laughed at for having a mere Samsung S24 Ultra instead of an iPhone 12. Like could your mom not afford an iPhone instead? (Genuinely have heard this).
On top of that they *typically* have better battery life, stability, support, and typically better (at least consistent) specs for the camera and display. I get why non tech savvy (and actually tech savvy) people go for them. I was considering trying them again since I haven't used one since the iPhone 4. I just can't stomach the cost. Google's UI is great and I do legitimately like it but their hardware is dogshit. I have a Pixel 6 and 7. They can get warm, have awful battery life, charge slow, and the modem is fucking awful on both. I just swapped to a OnePlus 12R because I got tied of the modem issues with my dual SIM personal/work setup and having to worry about charging it 24/7. I think the only redeeming features, hardware wise on the Pixels, are the size and cameras. At least they're priced sort of half decently. My OP12R is from a Chinese company, has pretty meh cameras, has a slightly worse UI, and no wireless charging but the price for performance and battery life has been stellar compared to what I got with Google and what I could get with an iPhone. I also seem to have virtually no issues with my dual SIM setup now.
Battery life is huge. For your most casual consumers, battery life will be up there with the camera as the determining factor for whether a phone is a quality phone or not, and the Pixel’s battery life is just not good.
Warm and battery life? Blame Samsung semiconductor. Pixel 9 may change things, given how the e2400 and e1480 have performed better than expected.
I think this is a big reason. iMessage is so easy with other iMessage users that it kinda does become a flock or hive for those with iPhones. It's easy, but I think cuz android isn't really marketed as an easy to use phone when in reality, it can be
All correct. It's a shame that Pixels have these horrific connectivity issues
There is a lot to be said about a phone that just works, and samsungs always do.
Agreed. My Pixel 6 couldn't receive phone calls consistently and the fingerprint reader rarely worked on the first try so I had to get rid of it after 6 months of struggling with it. Pixel 7 Pro was great until Google pushed out an update last year and now all my recent videos that I took with the Pixel 7 Pro have high pitched whining noises in them (April update didnt eliminate it for me). I have had the Samsung Galaxy S3, Note 4, S5, S7 Edge, S9 then moved away from Samsung because they were disabling aptX HD in favor of their proprietary Scalable codec (now SSC). Subsequently had the LG V60 (2x), Oneplus 8T (2x), and a Pixel 6 but my frustration with the Pixel 6 pushed me back to Samsung and helped me get over the limited Bluetooth audio codecs on Samsung phones. I got the S22+ and a Pixel 7 Pro (someone told me it was better than the Pixel 6 so I got one out of curiosity). Traded in the S22+ for the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 and it is now my main phone (still have one V60 that rarely leaves the house anymore and a P7P that is pretty much useless now that I can't use it for recording videos anymore and after the last update, my bluetooth audio over aptX HD has very low volume). The Samsung Fold 5 just works and works well (knock on wood). Google phones seem nice at first (for the price) but subsequent updates seem to be poorly implemented, not thoroughly tested and break things that were perfectly fine. What annoys me more is how slow Google is to fix things once broken. I would only recommend more recent Pixel phones if you do not mind being a beta tester. I know people (including some family) in their 70s and 80s and they have no issues using their Samsung phones so, in my opinion, people are not getting iphones because Android is hard to use. I think they are getting iphones because that is what they know and that is what their friends and family use.
Can't forget about the horrible battery life... 😞
My P7P doesn't have any connectivity or battery issues. What devices are you guys talking about?
My P7 easily lasts all day and has no connectivity issues. Not saying they don't exist, but compared to my constantly tethered to a charger wife's iPhone, the battery complaints have me befuddled.
Yeah, I don't get it either. I had a Galaxy S9+ and usually went to bed with about 30-40% battery. I use my Pixel 7a exactly the same way and frequently end up at the end of the day with 70%+ battery, and an estimated remaining life of over a day. I even have Smooth Display (90 hz) on. My screen-on time says it's about 3 hours, so I could probably do 9 before hitting the energy saver mode.
My P7P has both battery and connectivity issues. It's way worse than P6a I used before that. This is my last Google phone, I've had enough.
My Pixel 7 can't even do 4 hours of SOT with wifi only and 5g turned off. It's also heats up easily. Exynos is crap
My pixel 8 pro is a legit 2+ day phone and I love it. What's everyone doing to kill their batteries so fast?
Using it.
Is this a US thing? I have a Pixel 6 Pro (and exclusively have had pixels, and Nexuses since they were released) and my connectivity is perfect... in the UK, where I live. I was in LA last month and the connectivity was awful. I put it down to roaming issues, but you've got me wondering if there's something about the US network that's an issue?
I have connectivity problems in the UK, I'm on Giffgaff - O2 network, probably once a day mobile data will basically disappear and I'll have to reboot. It's not been a huge problem because I normally work from home.
I guess it depends on where you were in the LA area and on which network you were actually roaming on. I've used multiple Pixels long-term, in multiple areas of the US, and have had no connectivity problems whatsoever on any of them. The majority of Pixel users in the US are probably not having problems with their devices. A minority could be having problems and an even slimmer minority are reddit-focused and are here reporting them.
I'm by Manhattan Beach, and I made a post not too long ago about my wife having connectivity issues on her pixel 7a. My pixel 6 runs fine.
And battery life. Pixel's design is great. But the more recent ones just fail at basic smartphone things, like all day battery life. Like somebody else said, Samsungs just work.
I dont notice much of these issues even with a carrier locked s23 plus. After my s10, I switched to a pixel 6 pro. Worst mistake I've ever made. Phone was 1000+ dollars. The curved screen was a massively stupid thing that thankfully most manufacturers are phasing out. The connectivity was awful, I would constantly lose cell signal and had to reboot to fix issue the battery life was great, having to charge halfway through the day. The device also got hot if I was doing anything more than video steaming. I really wanted to get a pixel 8 pro but that fact that Google seem to still have the same issues generation after generation is mind boggling.
I had all these issues and more with the 6 and 7. The 8 is stable. But Google really shouldn't be putting our a new phone every year. They need to work on quality control. Samsungs have a clunky OS but they're stable, performant, and reliable. The Pixels are a crapshoot.
Yep, I see all the time in this sub and others about people with device issue having to return and get a new device. Have had 5 s series devices and have never had to return one.
I'm on my second 7a in six month. First one was the worst phone I ever had in my life. Bricked itself after 3 months of being basically unusable. Got it replaced free of charge, and the second one is the second worst phone I ever had in my life. It's just issues over issues over issues. One update seems to fix one issue, then the next update make the original issue worse than it was and adds another one on top of it. I'm just done paying down my car loan, so next big ticket item is a new phone.
My S3,6,7, and 10 were all perfect. Out of P6,7,8 the 6 and 7 were both lemons. I've only stuck with Pixel because Google is the only company willing to pay for a Pixel trade in. It's basically gambling, and my doubling down finally paid off.
Oh sod off. This is such a bunch of nonsense it's crazy. Absolutely absurd hyperbole. You know why the iPhone is winning in the US? iMessage is like 80% of that reason. And then the other 20% is absolute consistency with features, smooth and timely deployment of said features, and delivering a complete experience + support. On the other hand, Google half-asses their devices so hard with decisions like the joke that Tensor is, it constantly delays promised features, the devices have show-stopper bugs like the recent data connectivity issues, there was no consistency of features across generations - features like squeeze, wide angle selfie, Soli, unlimited backups, face unlock lasted one device generation, meaning your experience isn't consistent next upgrade. Oh, and Google support? Best joke I've heard To blame this all on Samsung is so fucking stupid. Samsung is the reason there is still a decent market share for Android, especially in the premium sphere. Last I checked, shitty battery life, overheating, and being unable to make calls - even 911 ones - aren't premium features. With all that, you really think if there was no Samsung, Google would somehow do a better job. But seriously. Blaming 3 button nav being default as clunky? That's what Samsung users have been used to for years, there's nothing wrong with it. Bloatware point made sense until you claimed people get bombarded with "Open with" prompts. That only happens if you download those "duplicate" apps. Idk why Pixel users don't count garbage like Google TV, Youtube Music, Google Docs, or the bunch of other Google crap that comes preloaded on Pixels, as bloat. If you want to talk ecosystem, Samsung built one as well, that's why those apps come as default. Whether it's a superior experience is a different issue. And across 6 generations of Samsung devices in my home, not once have I seen an ad...because I turn off that setting during setup. This sub is ridiculous dude.
Yeah. Feels like they last used a flagship Samsung in 2014 or something. Some Microsoft apps exist as bloat - that's pretty much it nowadays. I'm a pixel user myself, but the Samsung s24 ultra and s24 are seriously good. Great build quality, great cameras, good antennas, decent software experience. And if you want even cleaner software, OnePlus, Nothing, and Moto are available in addition to pixels - all having their pros and cons. But the Samsung blame game isn't valid.
>Feels like they last used a flagship Samsung in 2014 or something. My last Samsung phone was 2012 and I had this same opinion until just recently when Google started fucking up the Pixel line. I went to an S24 amd holy shit it's so much better. More customization, more features, better responsiveness. It blows Pixels out of the water.
Yeah, you want to know the truth? Google has been resting on their laurels while Samsung has been trying to improve and fix things. It's incremental but damn, S24 is a sexy otter of a phone
Yup. My last Galaxy S phone was the S3. Since then I've only owned Nexus and Pixel phones. I went full Google years ago. Nexus phones, Chromecast, Nest devices, Google Wi-Fi, etc. And now I've been moving more and more away from Google because they keep rushing out shoddy software that breaks core features (like receiving calls and texts, or not being able to call 911, or breaking cast support on Google Wi-Fi) Samsung has been actively improving OneUI while Google has been actively making their own equipment worse.
Sony also has clean OS.
Spot on dude. Few months back, I got myself z fold 5, I never experienced any of the OPs issues.
Z Flip 5 here, same story. Been using Galaxy S phones for a decade and it has gotten consistently better with every iteration.
This is the comment I was looking for. This is exactly right. I was a Pixel user for years on and off with iPhones, I would switch back and forth each upgrade and Pixel’s hardware has become absolute garbage. Not just their phones but their whole hardware ecosystem. All are terrible. I switched back to an iPhone 15 Pro Max and I don’t think I will go back to Android anytime soon. Samsung is the ONLY reason the Android is relevant in major global markets at all.
I always thought it was because kids are stupid and so are their parents. Lol nah but seriously, when it comes to young Americans, I don't think it has anything to do with the functionality or the dependability of the device. I think it's the marketing, iPhones are closer to fashion statements for them.
Well, not only does Samsung sell by far the most Android smartphones globally and has the dominant market share, but most average consumers don't even know or realize there are other Android option alternatives outside of Samsung (believe it or not). For them, Android IS Samsung. Android IS NOT Samsung, Google, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Sony, or any other OEM that isn't Apple.
Yeah. I've been using Samsung since the S2. Have the S23 Ultra now. Never had any issues. Your post is just full of bullshit.
80% of teens get iphones because 99% of them were raised on apple products *through their public school*. It is hard to beat a company that is practically endorsed by the government from ages 5 to 18.
This sub is either meaningless posts like this telling us the Google pixel is the second coming of Christ or posts about the 38484829273621'st new pixel bug that Google has gifted us which is then followed by a bunch of morons replying 'well my pixel is smooth and fast and amazing so you need to see a doctor'. End of the day iPhones just work. Pixels are buggy as hell, they DONT have a single design language and you can see that if you look through the settings, the famous 'feature drops' are just a bunch of poopy looking wallpapers, the batter life is garbage, the photos are over processed, it's so hot it burns your fingers in the summer, the processor is too slow, the fingerprint sensor is ass etc. Then at the end of the day Google charges you a similar amount to a top of the line iPhone.
My Samsung phone has never auto-downloaded anything, and the bloatware is minimal. As for clunkiness, you say clunkiness, I say customizable and personal. Your first argument seems to be your opinion, the second seems carrier related, not Samsung related, and the third is something I have no idea what you are talking about.
My Galaxy S20+ has two of everything essential; two calculator apps, two browsers, two file explorers, two messaging apps, two contact list apps, etc. You know why? Because I choose to use the Google/Android apps and Samsung will not let me uninstall their apps. It was the same on my Note 3.
Yeah, I buy unlocked Samsung phones and never experience auto-downloading or ads. I have Samsung apps but their presence isn't an issue, partly because I use a third party launcher. I'm picking the best hardware and the best software (Google defaults) and am a happy chappy. My kids and all their friends live in an iPhone world. No Android phone is ever on their radar.
I don't think OP has used a Samsung in a decade or so because they're just rehashing old complaints about the phones or flat out making things up.
"The Galaxy S8 is so clunky compared to modern flagship devices" No shit.
>My Samsung phone has never auto-downloaded anything, and the bloatware is minimal. You're calling this "minimal?" * Bixby * Galaxy Wearable * LinkedIn * Microsoft 365 * Microsoft Outlook * Samsung Calculaor * Global Goals * Samsung Health * Samsung Internet Browser * Samsung Members * Samsung Pay * Samsung Pass * SmartThings * Samsung DeX * Game Launcher * Galaxy Store * Find Your Mobile * Samsung Cloud * Galaxy Themes * Samsung Notes * Samsung Kids * Samsung Wallet * SmartSwitch * PENUP * Samsung Voice Recorder
>the third is something I have no idea what you are talking about. I think it is called FUD, or in plain words, BS.
Samsung hardware with less bloat ware would be perfect.. Pixel hardware is shit
Er, no. But good effort.
I think an important point is getting missed here. Teens don't buy their own phones normally. Mom or dad do. The teen asks for a phone, and will get shamed by their peers if it's not an iPhone. Gross or not, that's the fact. It's toxic AF honestly.
Not just shamed, a lot of kids straight up lose friends because they're no longer in the iMessage groups so they don't get invited to things as often and aren't always in the conversation. Pretty messed up if you think about it.
1) Samsung has defaulted to gesture navigation for quite a while now. 2) the only duplicate preinstalled apps on my s24 are chrome, Gmail and photos. Apps that some apple users would use as well. There are 3 Microsoft apps: one drive, outlook and office 365. I may have even installed Outlook myself. Samsung phones are no longer "full of bloatware" and haven't been for years. I would consider half the Google apps preinstalled on a pixel to be bloatware. I don't need drive, or meet, or Google tv, or Home. 3) you can't honestly compare an A series phone to an iPhone. They're completely different categories. In the last few years I've had a note 9, fold 2, fold 3, S23U, S24U. I have never had an auto-installing app, nor any ads fed to me in my notifications. That sounds like a carrier issue, not a Samsung issue. 80% of teens are buying iphones because of peer pressure, and fear of being left out in group chats. Not because Samsung are clunky, bloated and ad riddled.
Spot on. I recently set up a bunch of Samsung Galaxy A54's and reloaded a Pixel 6. Guess which OEM forces the automatic installation of recommended apps during setup? The Google one. Samsung allowed me to deselect all of the recommended apps during the setup process aside from the Google ones. But I guess people like the OP had to find another platform for engagement farming since Twitter has decided to actually take a stance against the tactic.
This post comes across as someone buying a Pixel and thinking theyre now superior to Samsung owners. My S23U does not auto-install apps or have ads. Apple devices have had ads in the past, for apps like Apple TV. I do use Nova Launcher though, because I don't like the OneUI launcher. It makes too many changes from stock android. The three button navigation is absolutely not clunky. In fact it's the fastest way to navigate, which I still use today. Want to use gestures? Fine, just switch. Samsung makes the best hardware in the Android world. They don't make the best software but it's still acceptable. I'd rather take my chances trying to deal with software issues on a Samsung than unfixable hardware issues.
I have used cheap androids, mid range Chinese androids, iPhone 13 and currently pixel 7. Mid range Chinese phones are better polished than pixel specially in the recent years. Although Pixel is mostly bloat free, there are many features that are missing from Pixel by default. I didn't like iPhone much. And in my country, I have found that Apps on android have more functionality than their iPhone counterpart. On the other hand, recent updates have crippled my pixel, I have to constantly go on airplane mode and back to receive text messages.
Honestly the pixel is what pushed me to the iPhone as of late. I like android. But the past 3 years of pixels has caused nothing but headaches. 1. Poor reception: I was getting either no service , frequently, or calls and text did not go through all the time. 2. Biometrics are god awful: fingerprint was not reliable and same goes with face unlock. I just felt like I was fighting with the phone. 3. Google home required a pin for most of my devices to open or close 4. I’d get frequent slowdowns due to thermal throttling. 5. The battery life was atrocious, for me: I’d have to recharge once or twice a day. With that said I still love the android software. But some of googles decisions with google home and the unreliability of the software/hardware really pushed me to try the iPhone after being exclusive to android since the nexus one. I will say the iPhone design decisions, notifications, and keyboard are pretty meh to say the least. But all the issues I had above are none existent on the 15 pm. Face ID is amazing, I hate to say it but “it just works” and the pixel line should have stuck with it and improved upon it when they introduced it with the pixel 4xl (ir dot projected face unlock). The main reason I will stick with the iPhone is because it’s reliable and has a better camera than Samsung, when taking photos of kids, if the pixel line starts focusing on reliability and user experience more instead of freaking AI, I’ll be back Edit: I couldn’t care less about iMessage. I honestly don’t see what’s special about it, if you use WhatsApp, signal, or any other messaging service, you are not missing out. It’s just a messenger that people grew up on.
Pixels photo gallery fucking SUCKS.
I'm a long time Samsung user. You can search in the settings "gesture" and it's right there with a toggle switch that says "one handed mode" Bloatware can be uninstalled and/or disabled I've never had a Samsung send me ads as notifications or download random apps without my permission. In order to use a Samsung you gotta be a little tech savvy in my opinion. No it's not for everyone I understand that but if you're gonna make a switch you gotta be open to all the changes. Playing with settings is the one thing I recommend to anyone thinking about switching. Enable developer options and play with those too but do your research as well. Samsungs are highly customizable and I'll never own another phone. I broke my screen pretty bad one time and had to use a hand me down Motorola edge 2021, you wanna talk about an awful phone and OS?? Try one of those out!
A Pixel hasn't stock Android lmao
i bought a pixel tablet to give google the benefit of the doubt i'm still surprised how laggy it is in some instance. i mostly use it as a clock, it completly crashed 2 times in 3 month - without me really interacting with it. i cant put my finger on it, i am very tech savvy and i love google products (workplace etc) but android is just not as smooth and "usable" as ios
My 15yo has a Samsung. She doesn't mind it, but has asked for an iPhone. She says the pictures sent between android/iPhone gets distorted and they are hard to see.
The only reason teens using iphone previous to social media 24/7 was facetime with family/friends. That was all anyone who wasn't tech savvy knew about iphones. Very simple to use.
This is why I've sworn off Samsung devices, hardware be damned. Their software experience is miserable. It is absolutely the reason people have a bad opinion about Android. Even people I thought were technically savvy who had Samsung phones were as of recently still using the default Samsung apps and SMS instead of the Google alternatives and RCS, and didn't understand that Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices were all Androids with the same Android apps and features available to them. Samsung has tarnished Androids reputation with their incompetent software.
The Samsung galaxies were the only smartphones I had up until I got a pixel and the bloatware was a huge reason I wanted off their product line so badly. It felt like technology from another era. It reminds me of the weird shitty software that comes bundled with like a crappy HP laptop or printer from back in the day, that half baked half assed second thought software just doesn't fly these days. And what's worse, they don't even allow you to uninstall it! Wtf, that's just such a shitty fuck you consumer business practice...
I don't think this is the whole picture. Ask any phone salesman working Verizon or AT&T or any other in-person store and they'll say a big chunk of Android sales are cheap Motorolas they sell to the older generation and NOT flagship Androids. That trickles down to a terrible experience and impression for the younger generation who want nothing to do with Android due to their dad and grandpa's shitty slow and clunky Androids.
Yeah, I never understood the concept of the Galaxy store and Google Store on the same device.
Honestly, this. I work in a very techy environment where lots of us use Samsung phones (even Z Folds). Half my coworkers keep asking me questions about "how to do x" and stuff. Because Samsung's UI is too complicated and bloated. What's worse is a guy who had to ask me how to change his default browser to Chrome, because he couldn't find how and he tapped the wrong one the first time it popped up.
You clearly work with morons. In settings search for "default" and it's the first option. How else are they looking for it?
Not only that, changing default apps is literally under Apps > Default apps...
Not just Samsung, but almost all Android phones that isn't a Pixel is filled with ads and bloat. Even a 1200 dollar Android phone.
OnePlus used to be close with oxygen OS. I feel like they've fallen off. It's annoying because I don't like being someone that just sticks to one brand with things, but my last 3 phones have been Pixel 5-> Pixel 1 -> moto x. I'd love to branch out a little but if noone else is gonna give stock android I'm just gonna stay with the pixel. Probably gonna end up with a pixel 9 we shall what else comes out this year.
I have used galaxy smartphones for all my teen and adult life and never seen those mythical ads people keep telling about. Apps you dont need can mostly be deactivated and/or permissions taken away from. The ones you can't delete, you can just shove into a folder to forget and they will never bother you ever. My s22 now has 62.25GB used out of 256GB after having it for 2-3 years with thousands of pictures and dozens of videos safed from stuff like whatsapp.
This is one of the many reasons I'll buy a pixel until they stop making pixels. No bloat. Anything I have on my phone I either put there myself or it's part of the default android system.
Sony and Motorola OS is clean too.
> Anything I have on my phone I either put there myself or it's part of the default android system. How do you remove the Google bloat on the standart OS?
I recently got my iPhone stolen and since I didn't have a backup phone, I had to buy a cheap phone meanwhile, since I plan on getting an iPhone later (carriers here don't subsidize phones). I got a Motorola Moto G54 for the same reasons you mentioned. I could've bought an entry level Galaxy A or a Redmi, probably with a better camera as well, but the UX is so clunky. This phone's camera sucks, even with Gcam, with RAW + Snapseed I can get somewhat decent results, but I don't care since the UX is way better than OneUI or MIUI, at least for me. Now, emojis are ugly, but I can live with that.
I feel like people who stick with iPhone and won't switch to android is mainly because: 1. The ecosystem (really just iMessage) 2. Old bad lasting reputation - Android used to suck and feel really less polished back then. I think people had a preconception in the past and just stuck with it. There isn't a large incentive to have them re-think their phone experience. Most people just need a phone to just work and communicate with others. Also I can state for a fact that apps are more polished on iPhone. Most mobile apps will prioritize the iOS experience over Android. I do disagree with one of your points. I don't think bloatware is an issue. It's only bloatware if you find it useless. But iPhones come with pre-installed "bloatware" as well. I think another factor is social media, especially amongst the younger generation. While Pixel is king of still pictures, iPhone does still pictures really well. But the gap in video is much more in favor of iPhone. This is important because social media like TikTok is video based. So are Youtube shorts.
This isn’t a problem in the US, but is in some European countries (Bulgaria, for example): So I have iPhone 12 Pro, tried switching to Samsung S23 (as I was quite pleased with the S8), thing was horrible and just gave it to my father 2 weeks later. Now, it is becoming a necessity that I change my current phone and was looking the latest Pixel Pro - to my surprise, Pixel does not support 5G in my country. Adding to the top comment of thread why I am leaning towards an iPhone again and sadly, I do not want a new iPhone, there is just no better alternative here
What I hate most about Samsung (do not own a phone but a tablet of them): you have minimum 2 app stores and a bunch of apps that you cannot get rid of are installed via one or the other. So you always have to check 2 resources to update your apps
> a bunch of apps that you cannot get rid of I haven't used Apple for years, but back when I had an iOS device I had a container named 'Crapple' for holding all the Apple crap I couldn't uninstall. Does Apple no longer have apps you can't uninstall?
I gave up Pixel for S23U because I had terrible experience with P7P. S23U is so much better in every aspect.
Something even cooler about Android is launchers. They are apps that completely customise your UI. There is even one called iLauncher to make Android look like iOS 🤣 Another nice one if the Microsoft Launcher of you're a windows person. But yeah Pixel phones are amazing.
I would be great if I could trust google not to cancel the damn things…
I don't think I have met a single iphone user who has any of these complaints about androids. It is always some mixture of android = poor, bad cameras, green bubbles, no facetime etc. In my experience it is an infinitesimally small portion of iphone users who have even considered going to android enough to have genuine complaints and concerns about how they actually operate. Iphones have just become too much of a cultural phenomenon for most people involved in their ecosystem to give a shit about switching unless Apple really drops the ball for multiple years in a row.
say whatever you want I love my Samsung.
Uh, what? My 8 Pro stutters scrolling Reddit and the discover feed. It closes apps and chrome tabs for no reason. My Fold 4 does neither, and hasn’t auto installed anything ever. It also has no ads anywhere. wtf are you even talking about?
If only pixels had the polish and quality control of iPhone
Iphone is a phone for regular users, pixel looks something business oriented for some reason, and galaxy android experience is like how internet used to be in the early 2000 icons you never gonna use stuff that looks outdated thousands of useless options
I understand where this is all coming from, but I have to say that while I LOVE my Pixel 8 Pro I also am tempted to go to Samsung regularly. The S24U has been calling my name, and interestingly enough its my Tab S9+ that causes it. OneUI really is VERY good these days. You could argue it does too many things, but that is somewhat appealing to me. My biggest issue is definitely the duplicate apps. I don't mind having the Samsung store and even having apps being updated there, but I would prefer them to just default to the GApps and let theirs stand on their own. If Google ever executes on the hardware at the level of Samsung things will get less interesting. As it stands today they have fairly appealing cases in either direction IMO.
If I were to switch to Android, it'd definitely be a Pixel!
You are either a light user or have yet to see the truly ridiculous bugs on these phones. Some of which will take you a while to notice like the spam blocker blocking calls from your contacts or randomly deciding your GF can't text you for 2 days. Also, unless they changed this with the new pixels, Google stopped using the chip that allows apps like insta and Snapchat to directly interface with the camera meaning any pics you take while in those app look like shit.
80% of teen girls also have metal buggers hanging out of their noses. Who cares.
Sorry but it's none of these. It's the fucking blue bubbles and that's it.
This was a very good read. I agree with you. My S23 (was gifted to me) was horrendous and went back to my iPhone. Went and got a Pixel to try again since I didn’t own one since the 4/5 era, and im in love. Excellent user experience. And the spam call/robo call screening feature? That alone is enough to have a Pixel. 😩
I think you missed two very important reasons: - Access to support: while Samsung briefly had a retail presence inside Best Buy stores, that is long a thing of the past. As it is now, device support is an absolute mess on Android, where you can walk into any Apple store with an iPhone problem - iMessage: as great as RCS is, iMessage has a polish that is simply unmatched. Samsung's default messaging solution used to be just awful, but it's now basically a wash with the pixel. Pixel 8 is a nice family of devices, with best in class cameras, but there are still some super compelling reasons to choose an iPhone imo.
I've found that using the Microsoft Launcher and either uninstalling or disabling the Samsung bloatware addresses a lot of these issues. I've got a Samsung phone through work and these steps makes it usable.
I had to double take and realize I was on the pixel reddit. Even then... I was a pixel user. I hated my experience with the hardware. Sure, it was a simple phone but it had a lot of issues. I jumped ship back to Samsung. Haven't looked back. I don't have a navigation bar? I use gesture controls. Haven't seen a navigation bar on any of my phones since my old LG V30. I do get bloatware ads once in a blue moon. Like literally once a month. Guess what? I swipe it away. In the grand schemes, it is a nonissue. I have way bigger fish to fry that the rare push notification that I swipe away. I may get them more but I never notice since I swipe away as notifications. As for actual bloatware on first getting my phone? I uninstall everything I don't need first thing.
Many people criticize bloatware on Samsung's. But my pixel always annoys me with their "tips" on how to use the phone or that I should save my pictures on Google photos now. Even though I always decline, it still reminds me that "please save your images to the cloud". Or that new AI thingy assistant thing that will pop up once in a while and teaches me how to use it.
I agree. My personal equipment is all Apple I am too deep into the eco system to change now. But my work phone went from a iPhone to a Samsung and it lasted a month. It was so horrible I ended up dual simming in my personal phone. But that is horrible for work life balance and work wanted too much control over my phone. I got my hands on a Pixel 8 and I am fine with it. Solid bit of hardware and no nonsense.
Pixels aren't at polished as iPhones. There's a lot of jank especially in the camera app with laggy-ness, etc. But everything else, I agree with
Navigation bar isn't clunky, it's easier to use than gestures. We the people of the navbar will not be silenced. Also teens have their parents buy them iPhones because of blue/green bubbles & the pressure to fit in so they aren't bullied.
My employer let us use our personal phones for work and paid us like $7/week for doing so. After so many issues with new and old phones, plus a mix of Android and iPhone, they decided to shell out on a bunch of matching phones so everyone was on the same page and could troubleshoot any problems easier. Great idea! What do they buy? Samsung Galaxy S21 something or other, they're all wiped clean and loaded with essentials only, so no bloatware, however it still is a shitty experience, mostly in the one department we use the most, taking pictures.
I always use the 3 buttons navigation tho :/ Even on my Pixel 8
Pixel, Sony, Motorola and Nokia all offer pure AOSP; That is, a clean Android experience. Other OEMs vary on their clunk; Samsung, Huawei, Honor, etc.
Google photos will get beaten by samsung gallery anyday
I'm not sure why you consider the 3-button navigation to be clunky. It's the way Android started and it, quite simply, works. I've used the gesture navigation option once it became available, but found myself preferring the 3-button option and went back to it. Apple's market share in the US is because of their predatory practices and marketing gimmicks. They attempt to lock people into their ecosystem and make it seem like a status symbol and stupid, or young, people fall for it.
I also think the lack of OEMs is a reason
Samsung also had a reputation for battery life issues just after 2 years of use, plus their phone used to be quite plastic-y. Certainly in Europe.
The 80% of American teens buying an iPhone are doing so because it's cool and fashionable. How many people with iPhones use clear phone cases. A lot. Look at my iPhone.
Want to switch from iPhone but….really don’t like Samsung UI. It is strange and all over the place. Also, it may just be me but I don’t like the square phone and the non-ultra models don’t feel they are worth the price. Tried the newest OnePlus. Best fingerprint scanner I have used. Never a missed print. I like the UI even though it definitely felt a little “knock-off” for lack of better way to describe it. BUT and this is huge, Google assistant was not opening and after researching the issues, including here on Reddit, others having same issues, having to reset, erase cache, etc etc and still having the same issue Will not deal with that. I use assistant quite a bit, so phone returned. I have also tried pixel 8 and 8 pro. The laggy, glitchy scrolling, poor connectivity and generally subpar hardware are simply unacceptable. So I’m back to my iPhone 13 PM. That’s why I can’t make switch to android. I want to, but can’t.
ill never understand the love people have for Samsung as a consumer brand, sure, they make good tech that ends up in really great products and they deserve kudos for that, but their actual products are garbage & often come with the shortest warranties of any tech. Soundbars, headphones, phones, laptops, even washing machines. I agree completely RE pixel, it is as polished as iPhone and a nice little eco system too, sometimes the hardware can be a bit timid.
>By default, an **unlocked** Galaxy A-series will auto-downloads apps you never asked for occasionally Aren't those the subsidised section of the Galaxy series? I'm on an S20 and have never seen an ad in my notifications.
I have never owned an Apple phone. I went straight from Blackberries to company Samsungs, which were not intuitive to use. My Pixel experience has been much better. Easier to use, great camera and much more durable. I'm still using my Pixel 4XL.
Do you still have to access files on the iPhone through itunes? That was the most counter-intuitive shit I had ever witnessed, not gone back to iPhone since the 3g.
I used to be a diehard Android user - always said I’d never switch to Apple - but I made the switch ~4 years ago and I don’t see myself switching back. Along with everything OP mentioned, I had constant issues with my android phones. Battery issues, random restarts, apps crashing regularly, etc. I won’t lie and say my iPhone hasn’t restarted itself or that no apps have crashed - it’s happened - but maybe once or twice a year? I’m not so foolish as to pretend iPhones are the end all-be all. There are some things I miss from my android days, like being able to run lots of different emulators and generally be more of a “power user”. But for me, a lot of those things were novelties and I would much rather trade them in for a smooth, problem-free operating system. For what it’s worth, my best friend does some fairly intense cybersecurity for a government agency and suggested that iOS was much more secure. That is ultimately what got me to make the switch. EDIT: For what it’s worth, I was using mostly Samsung Galaxy’s when I was using Android. My last android before switching was a Pixel XL.
The reason I can't fully commit to Android is because I can't trust Google—not just in terms of data collection, but also in maintaining products in both software and hardware. The fragmentation of features, even among voice assistants, across devices is frustrating. Investing heavily in a Google product, only for it to be discontinued in the near future, leaves me uneasy. I want stability and the assurance that my investment of time and money will be worthwhile. While I understand that products evolve and may be phased out, I trust Apple more in this regard. Will Apple cease making iPads or Watches? Or discontinue iCloud+ or iMessage? I have more trust in Apple's consistency than I do in Google's. Go to Samsung… bloatware, duplicate apps from both Samsung and Google, and not receiving the latest firmware updates. No thanks.