Longtime Note user bored with 10+. Thinking of making the switch to iPhone

[faith3935]

I like both Android and iOS. I have the XR and the Note 10+ but I use my Note 10+ a lot more due to the bigger screen and better display, more storage, more customization, S Pen and multi tasking. I do like iPhones for there longevity, better apps, and great video camera and Face Id.

 

[DARK Vader777]

I've had my Note 10+ for about a month now after being in a Note 8 since September of 2017, a S7 and a Note 4 Edge prior to that. I have the unlocked version on AT&T and truthfully, I'm just not wowed with it. Great display and typical Android/Note amenities, but at the end of the day, I'm just bored with it as it's not that big of a jump from my Note 8.

I've never had an iPhone though I'm surrounded by them by colleagues and family. My main number is a Google number which I'm not going to get rid of, so I know I'll never really get to reap the benefits of iMessage, losing the stylus and trading in the flexibility of Android Pay to Apple Pay...and my paid apps as well.

The iPhone 11 Max Pro is looking nice right about now just as something different. I'm not a specs geek so much as I am all about experience. I'm not looking for someone to talk me off the ledge, but: a) Is anyone else feeling this way? and b) Is there any major compromise that I'm missing?

Don't do it.
I get to see the I phone pro Max everyday in the flesh because my wife has one from work.

I got to play around with it before I was banned. Trust me, your going to want your Note back bad. iMessage cool though. I liked that.
I took some pictures but the note 10 plus was better. But they were of my grandkids so I loved them all. Just try it out and return it
It's fast now but it's not going to blow you out of the water.
You ever had an iPhone?

Grab yourself a unlocked 8 or 8 plus to save a few bucks. Get use to it first. Then if you don't like it that much but want to keep it, it won't break you and you basically get the same experience.

Then when they breakout with a new iPhone that's really upgraded with a lot of bells a whistle, then you'd be baptized already.
Good fortunes

 

[Morty2264]

I like both Android and iOS. I have the XR and the Note 10+ but I use my Note 10+ a lot more due to the bigger screen and better display, more storage, more customization, S Pen and multi tasking. I do like iPhones for there longevity, better apps, and great video camera and Face Id.

iPhones are definitely great for longevity. My mother-in-law and father-in-law have iPhones that have lasted longer than their contract length and work perfectly - it's pretty phenomenal to see that.

 

[o4liberty]

iPhones do last longer and are more reliable IMO. I have both the note 10+ and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I find that the 10 has a better screen and much faster.

 

[zipro]

The iPhone is not boring if you have only owned an Android. In the beginning it's not boring. It takes a week or so then it becomes boring. iPhones instant on all the time. Remember when it took a couple of minutes to boot up an Android. Rooting and then crossing your fingers when you boot it up that you didn't brick it. Ah the good ole days.

Considering that most phones pretty much look the same and behave the same nowadays, they're bound to get boring. Let's focus what you can do with the phones rather than what they look like

 

[tekjunkie28]

So yesterday I went and swapped out my iPhone pro max for a note 10+ and here are my thoughts. Also keep in mind that my 1st note 10+ had some sort of issue and was slow.

Note 10+ has a nice screen but the iPhone is more color accurate. This is person preference for each individual.

Note 10+ sound quality to me is not quite as good as iphone but again, personal preference. The is one horrible bad thing about the note and plugging it in to the USB-c to 3.5mm adapter... it sounds bad. The Google adapter are not good at all. The apple adapters don't work at full volume but I think there maybe a work around. For me this is nearly a deal breaker as all I have is 3.5mm cords and I'm not going to waste money upgrading. Here the apple adapters with an iphone do sound better and tests prove that. Thing is some people would never hear it but with my speakers it's easy to tell.

Note 10+ signal strength is weaker, I only have 3G where on iPhone I easily had LTE (Verizon).

I like the stock note keyboard better. Battery life has been so so on the note but not bad at all and will improve some as apps get disabled in the back ground but it will never be as good as iPhone pro max.

Cameras... again iPhone destroys the note. No competition here. The note just lacks detail and I really wish it didnt.

Speed. This one is funny. I see no difference even though benchmarks say so. Im surprised that I can't tell the difference too much. I don't play games on a phone anyways.


Even after all that it's still a toss up for me. Honestly I really do want to like this phone but there are some downsides.

 

[cwbcpa]

So yesterday I went and swapped out my iPhone pro max for a note 10+ and here are my thoughts. Also keep in mind that my 1st note 10+ had some sort of issue and was slow.

Note 10+ has a nice screen but the iPhone is more color accurate. This is person preference for each individual.

Note 10+ sound quality to me is not quite as good as iphone but again, personal preference. The is one horrible bad thing about the note and plugging it in to the USB-c to 3.5mm adapter... it sounds bad. The Google adapter are not good at all. The apple adapters don't work at full volume but I think there maybe a work around. For me this is nearly a deal breaker as all I have is 3.5mm cords and I'm not going to waste money upgrading. Here the apple adapters with an iphone do sound better and tests prove that. Thing is some people would never hear it but with my speakers it's easy to tell.

Note 10+ signal strength is weaker, I only have 3G where on iPhone I easily had LTE (Verizon).

I like the stock note keyboard better. Battery life has been so so on the note but not bad at all and will improve some as apps get disabled in the back ground but it will never be as good as iPhone pro max.

Cameras... again iPhone destroys the note. No competition here. The note just lacks detail and I really wish it didnt.

Speed. This one is funny. I see no difference even though benchmarks say so. Im surprised that I can't tell the difference too much. I don't play games on a phone anyways.


Even after all that it's still a toss up for me. Honestly I really do want to like this phone but there are some downsides.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I use a Note 10+, but spent a couple weeks with the 11 Pro and Pro Max off and on before passing them on to family.

Like you said, screen is personal preference. I think they are both great, but I prefer the Note in most situations.

I would give sound quality to the iPhone.

Signal strength is about equal which surprised the heck out of me. Apple obviously did something this time around to improve as the XS/XS Max were not good at all compared to my Note 9.

I like both keyboards, but I end up using GBoard on the Note where as I would use the stock keyboard on the iPhone.

The camera is where I have to disagree. To say that the iPhone "destroys" the Note is a little much. I would say there are situations that are better on the iPhone, but there are also situations that are better on the Note. I took a bunch of photos and videos on each and it would go back and forth as to which was better. Both are amazing for sure.

I totally agree on speed. The benchmarks are fun for someone, I'm sure, but they mean very little in real life. I find the Note to be the better phone for day to day use and switching between apps or using more than one app at a time. I'm talking about my real use, not some manufactured BS that someone does on YouTube. They are both fast, but I just find the Note easier to multitask with. Maybe I am just more used to getting around it and taking advantage of what it can do.

At the end of the day, they are both great phones. I always come to the same conclusion when I recommend one or the other. If you are in the Apple ecosystem, get the iphone. If you are not, you have a decision to make. Do you want something flexible, that you can adjust to your workflow or do you want something more straightforward with a what you see is what you get approach. No right or wrong answer that fits everyone.

 

[freeman10]

I don't mean this to be critical but I'm curious. To me, because of the S-pen, there's the Note series and everything else. I live on my phone all day - Work, research, writing, sketching, phone calls, texting, email, social media, hobbies, pictures, banking, shopping, selling stuff on e-Bay, projects, news, entertainment, music, etc. About the only thing I don't do is play any games on it. I'm hardly ever on my desktop, tablet, or laptop anymore and haven't been for a quite a while.

I use my S-Pen all the time and for a variety of functions. I'm looking forward to seeing what this version can do as I came from a Note 4. Lots of other little things I'm discovering every day about my Note 10+ & new S-Pen as I've only had it for less than 2 weeks - It's taking some getting used to and there are still a few things I miss from my Note 4 but I love this phone more and more every day. I probabaly haven't come close to using it to its maximum potential and efficiency but overall cannot imagine what else I would want it to be able to do.

Because of the S-Pen, it's not even a question what phone I have, just which Note version but if it weren't for the S-Pen, then sure I'd like to have the largest, clearest display and a fast processor with lots of RAM but other than that, and maybe I'm the one missing something, but I don't know that it would much matter what manufacturer or operating system it was. I've seen this argument between having a Note vs. XYZ for years and I don't get it but to me there's the Note and everything else.

1) If you wouldn't miss and/or don't use the S-Pen, why get a Note in the 1st place?

2) I'm curious what you mean by bored? What do you want it to do or maybe more to the point, what doesn't it do that would make it less boring and what do you think an IPhone is going to do to cure that boredom?

I'm curious about your consistent, all-day use of the S-Pen. How are you using it? I upgraded to a newer Note from a previous Note thinking I would get more use out of the S-Pen now that it has more functions...only to find that I still don't use it much! Other Note owners have shared the same experience. I still like the Note because of the size (and occasional S-Pen use).

As far as iPhone 11 Pro Max versus Note 10, I hear you on wanting to switch it up. I almost got an iPhone but, in the end, stuck with the Note. I find that this Note is so much different than my older Note that I might as well have switched operating systems, though! You could always switch back if you don't like the iPhone. While other users report being bored with iPhone, if you've never had one, you might not be.

 

[Golurk]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I use a Note 10+, but spent a couple weeks with the 11 Pro and Pro Max off and on before passing them on to family.

Like you said, screen is personal preference. I think they are both great, but I prefer the Note in most situations.

I would give sound quality to the iPhone.

Signal strength is about equal which surprised the heck out of me. Apple obviously did something this time around to improve as the XS/XS Max were not good at all compared to my Note 9.

I like both keyboards, but I end up using GBoard on the Note where as I would use the stock keyboard on the iPhone.

The camera is where I have to disagree. To say that the iPhone "destroys" the Note is a little much. I would say there are situations that are better on the iPhone, but there are also situations that are better on the Note. I took a bunch of photos and videos on each and it would go back and forth as to which was better. Both are amazing for sure.

I totally agree on speed. The benchmarks are fun for someone, I'm sure, but they mean very little in real life. I find the Note to be the better phone for day to day use and switching between apps or using more than one app at a time. I'm talking about my real use, not some manufactured BS that someone does on YouTube. They are both fast, but I just find the Note easier to multitask with. Maybe I am just more used to getting around it and taking advantage of what it can do.

At the end of the day, they are both great phones. I always come to the same conclusion when I recommend one or the other. If you are in the Apple ecosystem, get the iphone. If you are not, you have a decision to make. Do you want something flexible, that you can adjust to your workflow or do you want something more straightforward with a what you see is what you get approach. No right or wrong answer that fits everyone.

Agreed. Having see photo comparisons the difference (if any) is minimal. In terms of speed both are equal, despite Apple sheep and marketing trying to convince you that Apple CPUs are the best in the world and benchmarks blah blah blah.

In terms of display I prefer the slightly more saturated colours of Samsung displays to the more muted ones of the iPhone but it comes down to personal preference.

However if you really want a phone that has everything including the kitchen sink and excels at multitasking, note taking etc then the Note 10+ is the one to get (S Pen and Android is way better at multitasking in my experience).

The iPhone 11 Pro is an excellent device as well but falls short in a couple of areas (but also is better in others)

 

[zipro]

Agreed. Having see photo comparisons the difference (if any) is minimal. In terms of speed both are equal, despite Apple sheep and marketing trying to convince you that Apple CPUs are the best in the world and benchmarks blah blah blah.

In terms of display I prefer the slightly more saturated colours of Samsung displays to the more muted ones of the iPhone but it comes down to personal preference.

However if you really want a phone that has everything including the kitchen sink and excels at multitasking, note taking etc then the Note 10+ is the one to get (S Pen and Android is way better at multitasking in my experience).

The iPhone 11 Pro is an excellent device as well but falls short in a couple of areas (but also is better in others)

Having both phones, I've yet to see a single situation where the N10+'s camera is better than the iPhone 11 Pro's. Pictures off the iPhone are sharper, have more detail, aren't over-processed and have better white balance. With RAW / DNG images, the differences are even bigger. The Note produces a ton of color noise even at low ISO and pictures are not as sharp as a result of that.

The wide angle lens produces slightly less distortion on the N10. That's about as much as it's got going for itself. Honestly, the IQ of the N10+ isn't in the same league as the iPhone's

Im not an iPhone fan boy - I greatly prefer the Note's screen, for example, and overall I prefer Android over iOS. But let's not kid ourselves here.

 

[toenail_flicker]

Pictures off the iPhone are sharper, have more detail, aren't over-processed and have better white balance.

do you have comparison shots you can post please? I'm interested in seeing the differences for myself.

 

[zipro]

do you have comparison shots you can post please? I'm interested in seeing the differences for myself.

Left one Note 10+ 5G, right one iPhone 11 Pro Max

 

[zipro]

And another one, using portrait mode on both phones. No editing done

Top: Note 10, bottom: iPhone 11 Pro Max

 

[toenail_flicker]

And another one, using portrait mode on both phones. No editing done

Top: Note 10, bottom: iPhone 11 Pro Max

thank you. all good shots but the first two don't help because of different shot/lighting. the second two tell the story. was the top one shot with a Note 10 or 10+? I actually prefer the top one of the second post, but that's me and why I buy the Note series. the bottom one looks less clear, maybe camera shake

all that said, my son takes killer pictures with his iphone, older gen. lighting, etc. is always critical as is the eye of the beholder.

 

[NIZMOZ44]

Not even worth a argument as much what you said is untrue.

So yesterday I went and swapped out my iPhone pro max for a note 10+ and here are my thoughts. Also keep in mind that my 1st note 10+ had some sort of issue and was slow.

Note 10+ has a nice screen but the iPhone is more color accurate. This is person preference for each individual.

Note 10+ sound quality to me is not quite as good as iphone but again, personal preference. The is one horrible bad thing about the note and plugging it in to the USB-c to 3.5mm adapter... it sounds bad. The Google adapter are not good at all. The apple adapters don't work at full volume but I think there maybe a work around. For me this is nearly a deal breaker as all I have is 3.5mm cords and I'm not going to waste money upgrading. Here the apple adapters with an iphone do sound better and tests prove that. Thing is some people would never hear it but with my speakers it's easy to tell.

Note 10+ signal strength is weaker, I only have 3G where on iPhone I easily had LTE (Verizon).

I like the stock note keyboard better. Battery life has been so so on the note but not bad at all and will improve some as apps get disabled in the back ground but it will never be as good as iPhone pro max.

Cameras... again iPhone destroys the note. No competition here. The note just lacks detail and I really wish it didnt.

Speed. This one is funny. I see no difference even though benchmarks say so. Im surprised that I can't tell the difference too much. I don't play games on a phone anyways.


Even after all that it's still a toss up for me. Honestly I really do want to like this phone but there are some downsides.

 

[zipro]

thank you. all good shots but the first two don't help because of different shot/lighting. the second two tell the story. was the top one shot with a Note 10 or 10+? I actually prefer the top one of the second post, but that's me and why I buy the Note series. the bottom one looks less clear, maybe camera shake

all that said, my son takes killer pictures with his iphone, older gen. lighting, etc. is always critical as is the eye of the beholder.

Same lighting - that’s exactly the problem. The Note 10 sometimes grossly under- / overexposes the shots, has a tendency to turn everything into mush and WB is all over the place. Only difference between the shots is that the Samsung one doesn’t have the blanket in it.

These were just handheld snapshots in low light. I’m a photographer and value good cameras in phones. The Note just doesn’t have one. The optics are fine, but Samsung’s AI is inconsistent.

I just saw the first comparison shots between the iPhone 11 Pro and the new Pixel 4 and the Pixel didn’t win. As much as I dislike Apple as a company, they really hit the nail on the head with the cameras and the computational IQ part this year. Wish Samsung hired some better software engineers.

 

[Golurk]

Personally I preferred the photos from the Pixel 4 and Samsung Note 10+, although Samsung does need to deal with its noise reduction software’s aggression.

 

[neil74]

I currently own both the Note 10+ and iPhone 11 Pro Max, I pretty much never use the S pen so I was thinking of selling and going back to the S10+ but I think I am coming to the conclusion that there is just something about Samsung devices that I just do not get on with.

On the camera, the iPhone 11 Pro max is amazing, I just returned from a hiking trip in Peru, I took a proper camera (G1x M3) but given we did not really get time to stop and set up proper shots up by the end I was shooting pretty much exclusively on the iPhone and it was terrific.

I do find iPhone a little boring vs Android but then do find a lot about Samsung frustrating but then there is also something wrong with most other android manufacturers, I keep waiting for Google to score that open goal but for the last 2 years they have totally fluffed it for me. OP comes close but lacks a really top camera and other features like an always on display and wireless charging. I am actually considering the P30 pro again.

 

[tekjunkie28]

Not even worth a argument as much what you said is untrue.

Could you tell me what’s not true? Seems everyone is on the same page as I am.

 

[burwil]

Don't have the Pro but looking at my gallery of Max XS pics vs. N10+ I like the iPhone better. More detail, image looks more natural vs. a smoother, overly processed N10+. The screens are quite a bit different but iPhones have exhibited off axis color shifting since they went to OLED. And hundreds of posts on that other forum on yellow screen syndrome. Call it whatever you want, while the color fidelity might be truer, their screens are flawed. I've noticed this on demo units of all their phones. Don't agree on signal strength, my N10+ is stronger and I've had better signal since the old iPhone 6 plus on AT&T. Sound was truer on my old Max and no weird vibration on the back. In any case, it's a mixed bag as you would expect when comparing flagships from both platforms.