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Mobile OSs Android is more amazing than I thought

iHorseHead

iHorseHead

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 1, 2021
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My iPhone 7's battery kept expanding and I got it replaced twice already (with fake batteries, as it turns out, because the battery health was 140% when I checked according to iMazing) and I need to use a Nano sim with this number that I use, so I bought a phone I've never even heard of, which is Samsung Galaxy 20e and it's on Android 11 (released 5 years ago) and well, they already had dynamic wallpapers etc. Anyway, I need this phone for calling only, but anyway, I played around and I discovered you can make secure folders and hide those from view and you can set it so the folder would be only opened with a different PIN code, pattern or with a password and once again, you can HIDE IT completely + you can share it between multiple users in your phone.

Android 9 on Motorola was the newest OS I've tried before and it didn't have such feature. I think it's amazing and mind-blowing and Apple would need such feature tbh. You can literally put any files, notes, photos, apps in those folders.

So much better than this "Hidden" thing on the iPhone. And I'm surprised by how fast the phone is and how snappy it is (I bought it a week ago with a new battery. It was $35 which was cheaper than replacing iPhone 7's battery yet again).

I am honestly just blown away. I made this thread, because I know most people haven't really tried Androids on here for a long time. Now Android 11 is the newest version I've ever used and it still has more features than iOS 18. I've always dreamt of having such hidden folder and I think it's absolutely needed. Especially if you have a jealous partner for example or are in an abusive relationship.
 
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I personally think Android is the superior OS, but Android is infinitely fragmented, and Android devices, as a system, pale in comparison to what Apple offers. In the ecosystem arena, it is embarrassing for Android. I was an Android hooman for many years. While Android provides far more freedom, you can do anything with an Android device. I'm not sure if I can go back. The integration of Apple devices is unparalleled.
 
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Sammael said:
I personally think Android is the superior OS, but Android is infinitely fragmented, and Android devices, as a system, pale in comparison to what Apple offers. In the ecosystem arena, it is embarrassing for Android. I was an Android hooman for many years. While Android provides far more freedom, you can do anything with an Android device. I'm not sure if I can go back. The integration of Apple devices is unparalleled.
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I've started thinking of switching back, if they'd provide support like Apple does or if the devices wouldn't slow down, but then again I've only used cheap android phones.
Samsung ecosystem seems to be good? You could turn your Samsung phone into a computer? Huawei lets you directly drag and drop files etc
 
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iHorseHead said:
I don't see why, because Samsung has amazing features that have to be copied.

I've never tried OnePlus. What features did it have?
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You’ve been on these forums before and have to ask?

I had a S24U immediately prior to the OP13. The OP13 seemed much faster and smoother. It doesn’t have an S Pen obviously but I never used the S pen in previous Samsung Notes (prior to getting an iPhone SE years ago). The OP could also integrate Gemini.
 
martint235 said:
You’ve been on these forums before and have to ask?

I had a S24U immediately prior to the OP13. The OP13 seemed much faster and smoother. It doesn’t have an S Pen obviously but I never used the S pen in previous Samsung Notes (prior to getting an iPhone SE years ago). The OP could also integrate Gemini.
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But at this point lack of Apple's features are inexcusable. On Android you can archive Messages and text messages, on Android you can see how much you have left to sleep when you set an alarm, on Android you can actually hide important files and folders.
All that are necessary features for me and I've been waiting for Apple to implement those since 2010 + the Baltic languages.

Gemini seems to be amazing too tbh, compared to Siri.
 
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mjschabow said:
At this point, I'd say go all out and get yourself a Z Fold 7 or S25 Ultra. Both are the cream of the crop of Android, and you'll really appreciate its offerings compared to Apple.
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I don't think foldable phones are there yet. Why would you even need one?
 
This Guy:
"I personally think Android is the superior OS, but Android is infinitely fragmented, and Android devices, as a system, pale in comparison to what Apple offers. In the ecosystem arena, it is embarrassing for Android. I was an Android hooman for many years. While Android provides far more freedom, you can do anything with an Android device. I'm not sure if I can go back. The integration of Apple devices is unparalleled."
iHorseHead:
"I've started thinking of switching back, if they'd provide support like Apple does or if the devices wouldn't slow down, but then again I've only used cheap android phones.
Samsung ecosystem seems to be good? You could turn your Samsung phone into a computer? Huawei lets you directly drag and drop files etc"



The Samsung ecosystem is by far the best Android has to offer, but it still falls short of the seamlessness of Apple. My S24 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra communicate fairly well, but not on the same level as my Apple devices. My MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and AirPods are flawlessly harmonious. It is rather incredible.
 
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iHorseHead said:
But at this point lack of Apple's features are inexcusable. On Android you can archive Messages and text messages, on Android you can see how much you have left to sleep when you set an alarm, on Android you can actually hide important files and folders.
All that are necessary features for me and I've been waiting for Apple to implement those since 2010 + the Baltic languages.

Gemini seems to be amazing too tbh, compared to Siri.
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To be honest Gemini was why I switched to Android late last year. Siri isn’t the same kind of product in any way. I also got the Samsung tablet. If you can live with a clunky ecosystem the devices are so much better. I also have two Macs though and was struggling. I do use Gemini on my 16Pro but the one thing Apple could do to make my life better would be to allow it to integrate with iOS.
 
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The last time I used Android was with the Galaxy S6. I think I ended up only getting one OS update to Android 6 because for some reason Android updates were carrier dependent where I was. I really liked the S6 at first since I was moving from the S3 but ended up kinda hating it in the end. When I moved to the iPhone 6s I loved it from day 1 to the point where I upgraded to the Xr. The 6s was my first iPhone actually.

For me Samsung made me dislike Android. I'd hope things have changed in the past decade but back then Samsung and Google had competing ecosystems on the same phone. And I couldn't just delete all the Samsung stuff. I have kept my eye on Android since I moved away from it though and year over year Android as an OS, especially with the Pixel, becomes more and more appealing. Especially as iOS moves further away from that refined simplicity it used to have.

My primary issue with Android remains though, which is Google. It doesn't seem like there is really a way for me to tell Google to back off without installing an entirely different distribution of Android like Graphene or Lineage. I simply do not trust Google and do not like their policies on data collection. I know iOS isn't free from all of this but if we assume that Apple is truthful in telling us that any data collection is for internal use only then that is more tolerable in my opinion.
 
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I maintain that Android's secret killer app are Android Work Profiles. It creates a completely separate container (user) for work, granting your company complete management over corporate data without having any access to your personal stuff. My Pixel even has a feature to turn the AWP on and off automatically, helping me disconnect outside work hours. It's such a WLB improvement from iOS's rudimentary blurring of work and personal life.
 
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Back in the days there were certain few things holding me tight to Apple: music apps (I was making music as hobby) and photography apps.

Ever since I got tinnitus and no more can use any headphones, I no longer use any music apps. Tho I can use studio monitors, but now the issue is I have no studio:( I will probably build it one day but currently it is out of question, and blasting these old gold KRK boys in a flat can bring police attention to me, which I do not want😃 As well as I am not a madman to annoy my neighbours with same stupid 8 bar kickdrum loop until I come up with something else and build a track like Lego.

Now I use Apple only because that’s what I have. Photography is still my passion but I don’t really see something game changing in iOS photo apps. They are mostly cash cows that are designed to lure you into subscription.

But there is another problem now - Android options for me are scarce. Lightroom doesn’t feel like a trusty thing, I wonder if it still lags like back in the days or whether they optimized it a bit. And Snapseed is now dumpster fire, if you seen the latest update you have probably thought “what in the world is that?”. Long story short, Google ruined UI to the point redditors are writing public letter to Google to clean up this mess.

Oh, btw. Google and their ugly flat UI is the reason I will probably not be looking in Pixel direction. I don’t like their UI design. To me Samsung One UI is much more superior, as well as their app UI design, numerous options for tweaking, even the fact that you can actually make your phone as private as iPhone and not rely on Google’s trackers. Btw Samsung Browser is nice too, felt faster than Chrome.



DankeBrutus said:
The 6s was my first iPhone actually.
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Haha you probably got lucky with the one you had :)

The one Apple gave me was a brick with defective battery. Phone turned off if the light summer wind blew on it, as well as battery life was 4-5 hours. That phone made me dislike Apple and buy S10+ for a short time.

S10+ was a good phone but very unpractical. Edged screen is totally not for me, I am sooo glad Samsung got rid of it in new models. That makes it tempting for me to try Samsung again somewhere in the future
 
psyqd said:
I maintain that Android's secret killer app are Android Work Profiles. It creates a completely separate container (user) for work, granting your company complete management over corporate data without having any access to your personal stuff. My Pixel even has a feature to turn the AWP on and off automatically, helping me disconnect outside work hours. It's such a WLB improvement from iOS's rudimentary blurring of work and personal life.
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I didn’t actually know that. My organisation is slowly switching to Galaxy devices but it’s an incredibly secure environment so not sure they’ll allow this kind of thing. Will see though.
 
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