Switch from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge , should I do it?

[John Tortorici]

OK, I am asking this question from the practical side of things, not the "why should I switch" side. I have used both Android and iPhone over the years but I have been pretty well engrained in the Apple ecosystem for a while now. I have an iPhone, Apple Watch (that is still in its return period), Mac computers and several iPads (which I do not want to give up). I almost switch the the S6 last year, then the Note 5, but the S7 really has me sold on making the leap back. My biggest issue is how to integrate all my Apple products with a Samsung phone. I already use Google Photos for backing up my pictures, Google Docs\Sheets and Gmail for email (I was actually a beta tester way back in the day). Here are some of the things I love about keeping everything Apple that I don't want to lose, and if someone that has made the jump can help me navigate how to not lose these features I will be in much better shape to make the switch:

1> iMessages: Is there anything compatible? I love being able to have all my text messages on all my devices at the same time.

2> Family Locator: Being able to see where my family is on a map is really helpful, especially when someone is lost (which happens a lot). Find Friends is a really useful feature for that.

3> Music: does iTunes sync to Android?

4> Pictures: Like I stated, I already use Google Photos for backing up pictures, but how about getting the pictures to my local computer? Is it just like connecting any other camera to import?

5> SVoice vs. Siri: Does Samsung still force you to use that horrible SVoice application? If not, what is the application now and does it compare to Siri?

6> Apple Watch vs S2: I love my Apple Watch. By far I think it's the best looking watch on the market and it's really hard for me to separate from it. The S2 Classic is a good looking watch as well, but is it as good? I don't use a lot of apps on my watch because I don't see the point when my phone is always with me and it's infinitely faster, but notifications, directions, answering a call, setting timers.... all the stuff that are nice to have on your wrist I love having. What is the S2 lacking in comparison?

7> Single location for ALL email: I use the mail app on my iphone and I have access to all my mail accounts. Gmail, Godaddy, iCloud. Last I remember, Samsung had the Gmail app that could only access gmail and then another email app for all the others. This is a major annoyance. Is there a solution to this?

8> Last, and this is a biggie.... Samsung Pay and Google Pay: Do they both work on Samsung phones? I use two banks and one is supported by Google and the other by Samsung. Kind of aggravating, but I can live with it as long as I can use both services.

Anything else that you have found a replacement for, or annoyances because you haven't?

 

[dpham00]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

There's no I message

 

[Redraider001]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I like my gear S2. Has awesome battery (about 3 days if you dont abuse your watch), gets notifications, shows steps. I dont use it for heart rate tracking as its not accurate. I don't use the voice feature as S Voice is crap.

 

[pgood4]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

You should be fine with the google apps since you are already using google services.
- There are a couple different 3rd party apps for syncing itunes on the Mac to android. I personally use isyncr and it works great.
- There are multiple email apps that support multiple accounts, but the core Samsung email supports most major services including exchange.
- My understanding is that android pay and samsung pay are both supported.

 

[davekr]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I'm kind of in the same situation as you. I have an iPhone 6s Plus and I've pre-ordered the S7 Edge. Here are a few answers to hopefully help you out:

1) iMessage: There is no iMessage on Android. I'm not sure if this is good enough, but what I'm planning to do is use Samsung SideSync on my Mac. I've never used it before but from what I understand it will let you answer calls and send/receive text messages from the computer. That part of iMessage is what I find most convenient.

3) Music: For a while now I have used Google Music even on my iPhone. You can download Google Music Manager for your Mac and set it up to auto-upload any music that you add to iTunes. Through Google Music you can either stream your music or download whatever you want to your devices.

4) Pictures: I also use Google Photos for backup of my pictures. As for getting your photos to your computer, it should be as simple as connecting your phone to the computer via USB and transferring them over like any other camera.

7) Email: On my iPhone and any Android devices that i use, I have been using Microsoft's Outlook app for quite a while. It works with every kind of email. On Android devices if you turn off syncing of Gmail in your Google account then you can just ignore the Gmail app and use whatever you want. I use Outlook for my Gmail, Outlook.com and Exchange accounts. I'm sure the Samsung default email app would also work the same way. You don't have to use the Gmail app for Gmail.

 

[JBeef]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I think you'd be better off staying with iphone. You're more deeply embedded into the Apple ecosystem than most people and features that you use such as imessages and family locator are not going to work as well for you on an android device. Sure there are work arounds but they may be second best and they may come with a lot of frustration.
I'm the opposite. I have an ipod touch and shudder whenever I think of having to use iOS on my phone as I just don't like it very much. I'd find it difficult to switch from Android now.
I suppose the main question you have to ask yourself is how much do you truly love that S7 Edge and is it worth some frustration along the way to make the jump. It sounds to me you enjoy the Apple ecosystem more than the phone itself (siri, apple watch etc) so I think you may struggle.

 

[John Tortorici]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I think you may be right. There are just some features of the S7 that the iPhone does not have and I don't anticipate it getting anytime soon. SD Card, waterproof without a case that causes the phone to sound like crap, and the iPhone camera is now two generations behind the Samsung... having a great camera is really important to me. I would say this.... Apple does a great job of getting people into their system, so I don't think I am outside the norm, I'm probably just one of the few that is actually willing to ask for help in making the leap out of the grasp of Apple.

 

[Cakefish]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

Apple Music is available on Android nowadays and syncs with iTunes.

 

[John Tortorici]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I'm kind of in the same situation as you. I have an iPhone 6s Plus and I've pre-ordered the S7 Edge. Here are a few answers to hopefully help you out:

1) iMessage: There is no iMessage on Android. I'm not sure if this is good enough, but what I'm planning to do is use Samsung SideSync on my Mac. I've never used it before but from what I understand it will let you answer calls and send/receive text messages from the computer. That part of iMessage is what I find most convenient.

3) Music: For a while now I have used Google Music even on my iPhone. You can download Google Music Manager for your Mac and set it up to auto-upload any music that you add to iTunes. Through Google Music you can either stream your music or download whatever you want to your devices.

4) Pictures: I also use Google Photos for backup of my pictures. As for getting your photos to your computer, it should be as simple as connecting your phone to the computer via USB and transferring them over like any other camera.

7) Email: On my iPhone and any Android devices that i use, I have been using Microsoft's Outlook app for quite a while. It works with every kind of email. On Android devices if you turn off syncing of Gmail in your Google account then you can just ignore the Gmail app and use whatever you want. I use Outlook for my Gmail, Outlook.com and Exchange accounts. I'm sure the Samsung default email app would also work the same way. You don't have to use the Gmail app for Gmail.

1> iMessage... right I know that iMessage is not there, I guess I was talking more about a similar type messaging from Samsung. I have not heard of SideSync. I will look that up. Does that work on Mac and PC? If so, it may be even better than iMessage as I do (gasp) have to use a windows computer at times.

3> I actually use Amazon Music most of the time because it's included with my Prime account, but I do have a lot of music in my library. As long as I can get it to my phone.

7> I did not know that the outlook app will work with many different email accounts. I thought it was just outlook and exchange. If it syncs pop, imap and google accounts, that is a major win. I keep my contacts in google (moved that from the apple contacts a long time ago), so I can just use the gmail app to get my contacts to sync.

 

[John Tortorici]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I like my gear S2. Has awesome battery (about 3 days if you dont abuse your watch), gets notifications, shows steps. I dont use it for heart rate tracking as its not accurate. I don't use the voice feature as S Voice is crap.

Is SVoice also on the phone still? If SVoice is crap on the watch, how do you control it? I know its silly, but when I'm cooking I like to be able to say "Hey Siri, set a timer for ten minutes" and she just does it! Or I can say "hey siri, send a text message to ____" and she does.

 

[erasat]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

Is SVoice also on the phone still? If SVoice is crap on the watch, how do you control it? I know its silly, but when I'm cooking I like to be able to say "Hey Siri, set a timer for ten minutes" and she just does it! Or I can say "hey siri, send a text message to ____" and she does.

You can do that with both Google Now and Samsung's S Voice. I personally always disable S-Voice and in the rare occasions I use voice commands I always use google now.

**EDIT** I just realized that you may be talking about the Watch and not the phone itself, if it's true, your only option on the Watch is S Voice, no Google now in there.

 

[John Tortorici]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

You can do that with both Google Now and Samsung's S Voice. I personally always disable S-Voice and in the rare occasions I use voice commands I always use google now.

**EDIT** I just realized that you may be talking about the Watch and not the phone itself, if it's true, your only option on the Watch is S Voice, no Google now in there.

I'm concerned about S Voice on both the watch and the phone. If I can disable on the phone that is great. But how does it work on the watch? Maybe I'll just go to best buy and play with it there to compare.

 

[anon(2383976)]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

S-voice is fine recognizing commands. You can use S-voice and here maps to navigate using watch. The only downside is, it has limited functionality unlike Google voice.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[davekr]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

1> iMessage... right I know that iMessage is not there, I guess I was talking more about a similar type messaging from Samsung. I have not heard of SideSync. I will look that up. Does that work on Mac and PC? If so, it may be even better than iMessage as I do (gasp) have to use a windows computer at times.

3> I actually use Amazon Music most of the time because it's included with my Prime account, but I do have a lot of music in my library. As long as I can get it to my phone.

7> I did not know that the outlook app will work with many different email accounts. I thought it was just outlook and exchange. If it syncs pop, imap and google accounts, that is a major win. I keep my contacts in google (moved that from the apple contacts a long time ago), so I can just use the gmail app to get my contacts to sync.

SideSync works on both Mac and Windows. Along with getting notifications for phone calls and text messages you can also share files between your devices as well. I'm very curious to see how well it works.

Outlook definitely works with IMAP and Google accounts. I'm not sure about POP. I haven't had a POP email account in a long time.

 

[bhatech]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

I use both iPhone and Android all the time. There is no replacement for iMessage, you need to have your friends and family switch to a cross platform messaging solution or you turn off iMessage before you switch and just interact with regular message. You will turn from blue to green bubble

For music I use Google music which is cross platform, you can also use Apple music. I don't want to deal with iTunes and transferring music from computer to phone etc. All my music is on the cloud and have a streaming subscription for Google play music.

S2 vs Apple watch. Like the Apple watch more than the s2 currently. Although to be fair I just had the S2 for two days now and still learning so this may change over time.

iPhone is always a great choice and works well with your ecosystem. Other than iMessage nothing is deal breaker in my opinion. You just have to decide if you can be fine without iMessage since that's the only lock in from Apple that's hard to break.

For S-voice no you are not stuck with it, you can use Google now. But on the S2 watch you are struck with S-voice as far as I know.

 

[SteveISU]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

1. No
2. Not to the best of my knowledge.
3. Yes
4. Connect phone to Mac (definitely easier when using apples ecosystem)
5. S-Voice is no where near what Siri is.
6. There isn't a whole lot on the android side or Samsung side that provides the functionality of Apple watch in one package.

 

[TMavC5]

re:

Looks like Apple got you all wrapped onto their system. For one person it might be easier to switch but getting everyone on board its a whole different animal. Good luck. Only you can make this decision.

 

[hylex]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

OK, I am asking this question from the practical side of things, not the "why should I switch" side. I have used both Android and iPhone over the years but I have been pretty well engrained in the Apple ecosystem for a while now. I have an iPhone, Apple Watch (that is still in its return period), Mac computers and several iPads (which I do not want to give up). I almost switch the the S6 last year, then the Note 5, but the S7 really has me sold on making the leap back. My biggest issue is how to integrate all my Apple products with a Samsung phone. I already use Google Photos for backing up my pictures, Google Docs\Sheets and Gmail for email (I was actually a beta tester way back in the day). Here are some of the things I love about keeping everything Apple that I don't want to lose, and if someone that has made the jump can help me navigate how to not lose these features I will be in much better shape to make the switch:

1> iMessages: Is there anything compatible? I love being able to have all my text messages on all my devices at the same time.

Nothing so far.Here apple has them beat completely.

2> Family Locator: Being able to see where my family is on a map is really helpful, especially when someone is lost (which happens a lot). Find Friends is a really useful feature for that.

Look around for the cnet article, that lists how to share your exact location with family/friends. I cant post links here yet.


3> Music: does iTunes sync to Android?

Not needed. Apple music exists natively on android and offers the same exact structure and works really. IF you have to copy your music over, simply drag/drop it onto the sdcard via a card reader and its there or alternatively just download your music with apple music.

4> Pictures: Like I stated, I already use Google Photos for backing up pictures, but how about getting the pictures to my local computer? Is it just like connecting any other camera to import?

Yes. It will open up as a mountable drive, so you can copy it over, if you use windows. Assuming you are on a mac just set the camera to save images to the sdcard, take it out and copy stuff over with a cheap *** card reader.

5> SVoice vs. Siri: Does Samsung still force you to use that horrible SVoice application? If not, what is the application now and does it compare to Siri?

No. Google now.

6> Apple Watch vs S2: I love my Apple Watch. By far I think it's the best looking watch on the market and it's really hard for me to separate from it. The S2 Classic is a good looking watch as well, but is it as good? I don't use a lot of apps on my watch because I don't see the point when my phone is always with me and it's infinitely faster, but notifications, directions, answering a call, setting timers.... all the stuff that are nice to have on your wrist I love having. What is the S2 lacking in comparison?

7> Single location for ALL email: I use the mail app on my iphone and I have access to all my mail accounts. Gmail, Godaddy, iCloud. Last I remember, Samsung had the Gmail app that could only access gmail and then another email app for all the others. This is a major annoyance. Is there a solution to this?

For years now. Gmail default app supports all kinds of services. For those that need exchange you can gmail client itself, or the built in samsung one or just use outlook.

8> Last, and this is a biggie.... Samsung Pay and Google Pay: Do they both work on Samsung phones? I use two banks and one is supported by Google and the other by Samsung. Kind of aggravating, but I can live with it as long as I can use both services.

No clue.

 

[hokie_prof]

Re: Switch from iPhone to Galaxy

It sounds to me like you are too committed to Apple. I wouldn't make the change if I were you.

I will say that one of the things I love about Android is that I can have a Samsung phone, but I don't have to have a Samsung watch. I have an Asus Zenwatch. I adore it. I have no desire to get the S2, but there should be no problem in using my Asus watch with my new Sammy phone.

 

[jimjonesG7]

re:

Yes the most you'll miss is imessenger and compatibility with your apple watch.

Apple watch isnt great on battery but looks better...

i use facebook and whatsapp for voice calls for alternative messaging