S10 -> iPhone 11 ; Goodbye Android

CincyGuy

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UPDATE 12/17/19 (one day after original post below)....I think someone is playing a cosmic joke on me. I updated the iphone 2 days ago to ios 13.3 and everything was working fine until yesterday afternoon. Driving home from work my 2018 Accord would not bring up Apple carplay when I plugged in the phone. This happened with an ios update a few weeks ago (to 13.2.3 I think) and I followed some online advice to "forget" the Honda in the phone's Bluetooth settings and then repair it to the car - which worked. I tried doing that again yesterday and nope, didn't work. I then tried a whole bunch of other advice I found online: tried different lightning cables, tried deleting the iphone from the Accord infotainment menu settings, and even tried doing an equivalent of a factory reset on the iphone. Mother f-ing carplay still won't come up. The phone pairs to the car via Bluetooth just fine, but no carplay. This is a 1000% deal breaker for me if not fixed. I shop for cars with the requirement they support android auto and apple carplay.

I'm going to try and schedule an appointment at the genius bar at my local Apple store this weekend to see if they can run a diagnostic on the phone. If they can't find anything then the phone (and the new ipad I bought, ugh) are going up on ebay. Luckily my galaxy s10 and tab s5e did not go up on ebay yet. I already put the sim card back in the s10 and took it the gym this morning (Android auto worked fine). One good thing is that the airpod pro earbuds I bought still work fine, and the controls all work the same as they did on the iphone (pause, skip forward, etc). And they still have in-ear detection so they stop playing when you pull out one bud. I'll just keep them since I like how they fit and sound and the active noise cancellation is good.

Just...wow. I cannot believe how glitchy ios is. I've had 3 version updates in the 3-4 weeks I've had it, with 2 of them breaking carplay and a freakin Honda Accord. Someone I know at work has the exact same 2018 Accord as me, but since he is using an iphone 8 he hasn't had any problems. The myth of "it just works" is really an urban myth at this point. Really disappointed in it.

End of update....


So I've been an Android guy forever. Droids ->Nexus 5-->Nexus 6p-->Note 7 (2 weeks!)-->s8-->s9+-->s10 ----->>iPhone11. I've had multiple Android tablets (s5e most recent) and a few ipads over the years for work. Switched to the iPhone a month ago because my 17 yr old son will be going away to college next year and my 14 yr old daughter just switched to a 6s from her Androids. Wife is still rocking s9+ while the rest of the extended fam has always been on iPhones. Everyone else I know is on iPhones except the IT guys at work (lol!). I know my wife will want to be able to facetime with our son when he is gone away to college in a year, so I made the switch now to get a head start and be in on the family group chats when we go on a cruise 2 days after Christmas this year. Last time my wife and I got left out of a handful of group chats because iMessage.

I went all in by getting the iPhone 11 128 GB, a current iPad air 64 GB and airpods pro. Some observations to those considering the switch from Android.

THE BAD
Contacts: Moving from Android is hell. The apple app to transfer stuff (download from Google Play store) moved all of my contacts including my 1,300 work contacts into my iphone directly. I had to download an app onto the iPhone to be able to select all of my contacts to delete them at once and then selectively keep my 20 or so personal contacts to keep on the iphone. I then separately logged into my work account to keep those separate. Ironically a few days later I was given a separate work iphone so then deleted the work account anyway.

Photos: Also, the app moved all of the pictures ONLY from my s10, which only had about 1 years worth of pictures from the camera roll. And they seemed to be out of chronological order, so I then deleted everything from the iphone camera roll. If you use Google photos as your primary photo backup method you won't be able to import those to your iphone camera roll, but that is fine because Google photos syncs just fine with the iphone camera roll too. And it eats up less of your icloud storage (UGH) that way.

Home Screen: The way your app icons fill in from the top on down is really super aggravating. If I want a certain app to be within easy reach of my thumb and therefore on the right side of the screen, I need to fiddle with rearranging the apps so they keep pushing other apps on over/down a slot. Can't just put an app in a spot and have it stay. I hope apple gives us the option to do that some day because it is a pain. Also having to long-press to get them wiggling just so you can move them or delete them is a pain too. I spent hours downloading/logging back into my many apps that require a log-in. Like 8-ish hours. And not being able to change the swipe left to see the useless list of notifications (or whatever they are) also sucks. I have no use for that screen. This was the biggest pain about moving from Android and is still annoying.

Storage: To have your settings, including stored passwords and downloaded apps, backup up for safety and future phone upgrades you need to use iCloud storage. The free amount is a joke and I had to upgrade to the $0.99 monthly upgrade to 50GB. When my wife moves over we will probably pay for the shared family storage and 1TB at $10/month. BS as far as I'm concerned, but if it makes upgrading easier than fine.

iTunes: To change your ring tone to something custom, you either need to download an app (which costs $$) or use iTunes to move the file onto your phone by plugging it into your PC. This was 4 hours of absolute hell for me. I simply wanted to make an mps file (clip of a song I like) my ringtone, which has been the ringtone on my last 2 android phones. I'm still not sure how I got it to work, but it was only after finding an online conversion site (google zamzar mp3 to m4r) that it finally worked. Online tutorials and videos didn't help. iTunes is the absolute worst and must be killed off for the good of everyone. Even lifetime iPhone users at work can't figure it out and hate it.

Misc: Siri generally sucks, providing web listings for most questions you ask instead of answers. It will set a timer, call someone, or tell you the forecast. But most odd questions you can get a verbal answer from Google give you web results in Siri. Most decent apps either cost you a 1-time purchase, or more annoyingly monthly/annual subscriptions. The subscription thing is more annoying, and more apps seem to be going that way. Between this and video streaming services you can by subscribed into bankruptcy quickly.

THE GOOD
Apple Car Play: It is actually good in my 2018 Accord. I like it better than Android Auto. Siri actually works more consistently than Google did for Android Auto. AND, you can tell Siri to play a song "...using Spotify/Youtube Music/Google Play Music" or navigate "..using Waze) and it will use the other apps. Major nice feature. And XMSirius app works much better on Car Play than on AA, where it was a laggy mess.

Apps Generally: It is interesting to see the differences in apps on iOS. Even Youtube Music has different design elements than it did on my Android stuff. Apps generally work better too.

Face ID: It asks you if you want to use this to remember passwords for apps and unlock them that way. It is really, really nice because I use a lot of apps that require log-in every time you use them (banking, insurance, etc) and it is near-instant with Face ID. And picking up the phone unlocks it as soon as I am generally looking at it. I could never get the s10 fingerprint reader to work well for me.

Ecosystem: Airpods Pro are really, really nice. Sound great, fit in your ears and stay in while working out, and I'm sure will have excellent clarity if/when I use them for a call. The ipad integration is great too for messaging and even phone calls or facetime. BTW facetime is great when you have a good connection.

Camera: The camera in the new iphone is every bit as good as my s10, including night pics. Ultra wide angle is nice. Being able to airdrop pictures to everyone (except the wife) is also nice. I'll probably get the "pro" iphone 12 next year for the third camera and 5G but the regular 11 2-camera setup has been fine.

Upgrades**: This is an assumption** here, but I'm assuming when I upgrade to the iPhone 12 all of my apps/passwords/settings will just move over. I'm hoping the home screen will be set up exactly the same too. Keeping finders crossed on this one.

I will say I miss some of the customization of Android, but it is becoming less annoying by the day. I've already gotten 3 updates in the month I've had it. ios 13.2.3 broke Car Play, making it disconnect within 10 seconds of plugging in my phone. I had to forget the bluetooth connection with the car and re-establishing fixed it. ios 13.3 did not break it again. So it is not perfect but at least the patch issues quickly. Having an apple store is nice, and I forked over the $29 one-time apple care fee for the Airpods Pro for 2-years of coverage in case they break. I also currently have the monthly apple care on the phone ($8 I think) until I get through the cruise later this month then will cancel. Definatley more phone/ipad cases and accessories available to purchase. And the resale on all this stuff will be better than Android/Samsung stuff.

Anyway, to those considering the switch those are my pros and cons. It was painful for the first week, but I have already adjusted so that 99% of the time it doesn't bug me. And sometimes I am liking it better. It was fun while it lasted, but change happens for everyone I guess. Off to 9to5 Mac....
 
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Gayle Lynn

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I have both. Love each. Each has its own quarks.
Recently switched from Google Photos to Amazon.
With a Mac you can export files and photos between platforms, import from Galaxy and iPhone for all your stuff. Take your secco from the S10 and use an adapter on the Mac or, you can now use external storage with usbc to lightning on the iPhone.
 

Adam Frix

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I went through that ringtone hell for my dad a few years ago. I had no idea. I thought, "this should be easy--worst case, email the ringtone and save it on the phone". Nope. I'm a Mac guy from 1988, but never got into the iPhone ecosystem--and when I discovered the hell it was to make a ringtone, I knew right then that Apple had lost its mind. "It just works"? Nope. (Of course, there's a LOT of things that Apple has screwed up over on the Macintosh side, especially since Jobs died.)

I've used the S10+ face recognition; it works great every time. I pick up my phone and bam, there it is, on and waiting for me. And for the few apps that I want to lock down--banking, 1Password--they present me with the fingerprint option which, surprisingly, has come to work well (at least for those apps).

But still, color me confused: exactly why did you switch? Just because a child is going to college? What role did that play in the decision?
 

callihan_44

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you will eventually get bored with the iPhone lol, one thing though that helped me stay a little longer with ios was DARK MODE...finally atleast have an option besides the boring gray monotone color....messages pop out at you when reading imessage….speaking of which, imessage is the best messaging app imo...especially if you have a bunch of contacts who have iphones ...it just works perfectly.

as I get older I find myself wanting to customize my phone less, I set up how I want it and for the most part never change it... that being said I would love to be able to dump files on my iPhone, music-photos or whatever without using iTunes....android, plug into pc and use it like a external drive...way better imo. Apple knows what storage size most people want, and then they EXCLUDE THAT SIZE...right now I have an iPhone 8 256 and 128gb of storage would be perfect for me, do they offer it in the pro 11 version? nope! 64 or 256...I have 80gb used at the current moment, and really 64gb on a PRO phone? This is where the galaxy line blows away apple.

overall in today's world I think the phones all perform really close to each other, cameras especially and the new features phones offer from year to year are less convincing that an upgrade is needed so people are keeping their phones longer. iPhones have a bit better support when it comes to software updates, it makes you feel like apple still cares about you even though you have an older phone, but with android you can change launchers and customize the hell out of it. Samsung does more innovation than apple does and it irritates me when apple fanboys tout the iphone's newest feature they act like it has never been done before when in reality the galaxy line had it 3 years ago. I like both phones equally but ive had more android phones by far
 

CincyGuy

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I agree with everything you said 100% :). I realized I haven't changed my launcher (Nova Prime) settings or layout in 3 years, and I think I've been using the same icon pack that long as well. I turned 50 in August and care less and less about screwing around with those settings. Getting old and set in my ways I guess.

The ringtone thing was the most frustrating thing by far. I was this --><-- close to putting all the apple crap up for sale on ebay that night as I still had all my Samsung stuff. iTunes needs to be taken out back and shot.

Three reasons I got the regular iPhone 11: 1) the size is almost exactly the same as the s10...not too big, not too small, just right; 2) I was able to get it with 128 GB storage which is plenty for me; 3)the cost of it with 128 GB was something like $799, versus $1,100(!) for the regular iPhone 11 Pro with 256 GB which would have been too small...and the 11+ pro would have been too big and $1,400 I think.
 

CincyGuy

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The kid thing is the biggest one. My wife and I have had multiple issues where we get dropped out of family group chats because we aren't on iMessage. Don't know why, but it happens. I also text friends at work a lot who are on iPhones and any pictures or GIFs that we send each other get downgraded big time because of SMS.

I agree on the s10 face recognition, it does work very well but is nowhere near secure. The fingerprint thing has been really frustrating because I needed to use it to get in to some apps I think and it never worked right despite many resets of my prints. Some other things that were frustrating was the duplication of contacts in the Samsung contacts app versus Google contacts app (which I preferred to use) and some goofy stuff with calendars since I used a different calendar app than the stock. I have tried to use all of the Apple stock apps (email, calendar, imessage for texting) to avoid that issue and so far so good - and it all integrates with Siri.

It is all those annoyances that ping away multiple times per day or week...small irritations on their own but they add up when you encounter them repeatedly over the course of time. I probably would have switched a year ago if it wasn't for the camera quality gap (I had G cam ported into my Galaxy s9+ and s10) for the night shots. Now that any meaningful camera difference has been eliminated with the iphone 11 series I decided to switch.

Overall a short painful transition but looking back on it 3-4 weeks later, the adaptation was pretty quick. My few irritations aside, I will say the items in the column of "it's better with iphone than it was on Android" are greater enough that I'm glad I switched. At least for now...the rumors on the Galaxy s11 camera specs are outrageous! :)
 

Morty2264

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I can understand what you are saying. My brother has an iPhone and absolutely loves it-I do not think he will ever go back to Android. It just works and does what he needs it to, especially for his job.

My in-laws and almost all of my husband's extended family has iPhones (minus two people, and him and I make four). Sometimes, you really do need that continuity with group chats and iMessage. It helps make life simpler. We use Facebook Messenger (and sometimes WhatsApp) so we all get the same messages.

It all boils down to whatever works best for you. If you need FaceTime and iMessage, then that's what you need to do! The iPhone 11 also looks pretty sick. Enjoy!
 

Gayle Lynn

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I eventually turned off almost all of the bubble pop-up notifications on iOS. They are short and sweet on Android 10 but a nuisance last too long and interference with iOS. Easy to change and remedy.

I can't understand why web browsers - Samsung, Edge, Chrome, load and refresh faster on my S10+ AdGuard Pro on both but of course it's system wide on Android and likely better.

Amazon Photos on iOS is better but they forgot to work and finish the Share part - can't edit as it has no cancel or done button and most share options are only accessible from "more..." in some ways it was rushed and looks like something from Windows XP days. True of Amazon apps in general. Can't buy books and shows inside their apps, need to use browser, or do it on Android.

iPhone 12 plans to go with Touch ID under the screen, yes more secure but Face ID is so nice to use.

Being able to slide the cursor when editing is a time saver. Lots of hidden features.
 

Adam Frix

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overall in today's world I think the phones all perform really close to each other, cameras especially and the new features phones offer from year to year are less convincing that an upgrade is needed so people are keeping their phones longer.

I agree, we've reached peak phone.

What I disagree with is Samsung's use of a chain called "ubreakifix" as their answer to the Apple Store. I know nothing about them, but on the surface it sure sounds like a skeezy ghetto mall kiosk setup to which I wouldn't trust a ten dollar iPod, let alone that thousand dollar Samsung.
 

Adam Frix

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2) I was able to get it with 128 GB storage which is plenty for me

locked down storage with no SD card slot is a deal breaker for me. It's just a money grab. I like to sync my music to my phone using the SD card. I also have the camera put all my photos on the SD card. When I move phones, I also move the SD card...voila.

No external storage? No sale. I know it costs the mfr money; so charge me for it.

When Samsung succumbs to the fashion trend of making you overpay for storage like Apple does today, I will reconsider my Samsung relationship.

And it's the main reason I've never tried Pixel. Sorry, Google--I know your goal is to sell movies and music, and therefore you want to make it that much more difficult to put my own movies and music onto my phone. That doesn't mean I have to support you in that effort, no matter how good your phones may be.
 

rescuejg

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Use WhatsApp for group messaging. Works similar to iMessage. Uses wifi or cell data so it can be used overseas. Also has video call feature like FaceTime. Works across all platforms.
 

GrooveRite

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locked down storage with no SD card slot is a deal breaker for me. It's just a money grab. I like to sync my music to my phone using the SD card. I also have the camera put all my photos on the SD card. When I move phones, I also move the SD card...voila.

No external storage? No sale. I know it costs the mfr money; so charge me for it.

When Samsung succumbs to the fashion trend of making you overpay for storage like Apple does today, I will reconsider my Samsung relationship.

And it's the main reason I've never tried Pixel. Sorry, Google--I know your goal is to sell movies and music, and therefore you want to make it that much more difficult to put my own movies and music onto my phone. That doesn't mean I have to support you in that effort, no matter how good your phones may be.

I feel exactly the same way you do. No SD card, no sale!

imessage strikes again! Its pretty crazy how locked in Apple has its users with it. Its pretty admirable actually....in a controlling kind of way! I can't deal with iOS though so no go for me. I'd rather have a beeper or flip phone if there were only iphones left!
 

djousma

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I agree, we've reached peak phone.

What I disagree with is Samsung's use of a chain called "ubreakifix" as their answer to the Apple Store. I know nothing about them, but on the surface it sure sounds like a skeezy ghetto mall kiosk setup to which I wouldn't trust a ten dollar iPod, let alone that thousand dollar Samsung.

I'm actually quite happy with them. Brought my wifes S9+ in with a shattered screen. Repaired with Samsung parts in 2 hours for about $200. It was a brick&mortar store, like most cell stores now days.
 

JPNFRK7

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I switched to Android 2 years ago due to getting tired of buying essentially the same phone from Apple. While the hardware makes leaps, the software rarely gets major overhauls anymore. Essentially making the new phone feel go away much faster. The constant updates got annoying as well. People praise apple for updates but for a while it seemed like I was getting one or two a week fixing some things and breaking others. iOS needs a major overhaul for me to come back and iPhones need a USB-C port.
 

JPNFRK7

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I'm actually quite happy with them. Brought my wifes S9+ in with a shattered screen. Repaired with Samsung parts in 2 hours for about $200. It was a brick&mortar store, like most cell stores now days.

Same here. My Dad broke his screen on his iPhone 6S and didnt want to replace the phone. Took it into the local Ubreakifix and they had the screen replaced in a day. They even broke the proximity sensor, told me about it, ordered the part, and replaced it free when the part came in. I can't ask for anything more from them, they were totally up front and made things right without me saying an extra word.
 

ziggster

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Question about your "Storage" issue - Can't you just backup the phones on itunes to save app settings, passwords and whatnot?

Also the photo issue - My wife has an iphone x and uses Google Photo with no issues. Unless you are wanting full sized backups, why not just use a cloud-based photo locker?

I'm not being a know-it-all, in fact I'm thinking about switching as well. Wife, daughters (grown) and the rest of the family all have iphones. I've had android since the first Droid phone. I think that you have to be of a "certain age" to understand this, but when kids move and grandchildren are in the picture Facetime is suddenly a big deal. I experienced a lot of eyerolls Thanksgiving when I suggested everyone download Duo...
 

CincyGuy

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Question about your "Storage" issue - Can't you just backup the phones on itunes to save app settings, passwords and whatnot?

Also the photo issue - My wife has an iphone x and uses Google Photo with no issues. Unless you are wanting full sized backups, why not just use a cloud-based photo locker?

I'm not being a know-it-all, in fact I'm thinking about switching as well. Wife, daughters (grown) and the rest of the family all have iphones. I've had android since the first Droid phone. I think that you have to be of a "certain age" to understand this, but when kids move and grandchildren are in the picture Facetime is suddenly a big deal. I experienced a lot of eyerolls Thanksgiving when I suggested everyone download Duo...

Regarding photos, yeah Google photos was backing up everything quite nicely from the iPhone, so that would continue to be my main online photo album and storage. I was commenting more on how the transfer from Android to iPhone was a mess in the area of photos. Basically had to make a fresh start with the iphone and not having backed up from prior to iCloud....which is fine.

And yeah, I gave up a while ago from trying to get any extended family to download any apps to work better with me and the wife's android phones. They are all i-people so it is what it is.
 

DaHui623

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I recently switched from my Galaxy S8 to an iPhone 11. It was for monetary (we switched to Verizon and they were offering a BOGO deal) and convenience (my wife uses an iPhone and refused to switch) reasons. I have a very similar pros and cons list.

Regarding the ringtone issue: you can actually import a song you own and have stored on your phone into GarageBand and trim and export to a ringtone from there. It's not ideal and not at all user intuitive (I had to look up a tutorial) but it got the job done without needing that horrible garbage that is iTunes.
 

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