I have a 6+ now and am in dilemma. I found a couple of responses searching through various threads and was hoping to get all my answers here.
The s8 makes sense for price, the infinity display, and customization. A plus for me would also be that I am migrating to google services vs. apple.
The X would make sense since it has the better camera (from watching some youtube videos, but correct me if I am wrong), I have a retina MacBook so any iMessages can be answered on here, and of course the transition with all my apps would be very easy via backup. Plus it just works and with apple I have had very few problems.
The complaints I hear most between the two are: s8 features were great but wore off over time, the X is boring if you have had iOS for years (for me: I've had the 3gs, 4, samsung galaxy 3, 6+).
Has anyone tried the s8, s8+ to try something new and either love it, or just got fed up with whatever bothered you and went back to iPhone?
Camera is important to me as this is will be my main photo taker which would steer me towards the X, but based off some youtube videos the cameras on both aren't far off from each other.
I am aware the bias on the forum will go towards the X, but just wondering if any of you have tried the s8 (not in store, actually owned one) and either stuck with it or went with the X. Note 8 is out as its too big, and the 8,8+ are out as they have a similar build to the 6+ and I want something fresh.
Thanks
Funny you ask. I purchased and returned 3 iPhone 10s and exchanged 2 more all due to screen uniformity issues and banding. My last one that I got as a Genius Bar replacement was the best of the bunch but still some pink tint at the edges. Not worth $1000. I decided to give up, sold it on Swappa a few days ago and took a couple hundred loss in the end due to sales tax from original purchase. Sick of overpriced poor screens, iTunes, iCloud, lightning, lack of easy file transfer, complex solutions to easy problems (app closing), the push toward bluetooth music listening yet no support for anything other than SBC and AAC (only a few headphones support AAC), I could go on.
I've also recently tried the LG V30 and Pixel 2 (non-XL). Both have their own sets of issues which I won't get into, and also are not worth their cost. I swore off Samsung since the S5 but decided to buy an S8 from Best Buy yesterday, what the hell. They have $150 off instantly for Verizon if you upgrade, not a bill credit. So I got an S8 for $600, can't go wrong.
Perfection on the 1st try. The screen is white and is completely uniform. I don't need to view it at the perfect angle. There is some color shift, but the sweet spot is much larger than any iPhone X I tried.
The notch is an abomination, so much rationalization about this. Watching videos and pinching to zoom takes up the entire screen on the S8 and there's no notch obstructing anything. It's beautiful and symmetrical.
Ergonomics- similar to the iPhone 7 and X, the S8 is great to use one handed. It is a little narrower which I thought would annoy me but it doesn't.
Always on display- shows all the basics and notifications. Notifications remain private just like on the X until you authenticate. There's also a status LED that changes colors. And yeah, just having notifications in general is great.
You actually get a useful screen calibration tool with the S8. You can adjust temperature in addition to RGB sliders. The blue light filter at night is just as good as night shift was on the iPhone, for me.
Actual living wallpapers, if they are your thing. I installed the Pixel 2 live wallpapers apk (live Earth, beach, etc.) easily and they are fantastic. Not like the faux live wallpapers on the X.
The camera so far is fine for my use. I'm not into taking photos, but the photos I shot of my iPhone 7 that I also sold tonight (which the S8 is replacing) turned out pretty good. I shot 15 photos for the sale. On the iPhone I needed to email them to myself or use iTunes to transfer. On the S8 I simply dragged them all into a folder on my PC, done. And then deleted them using my PC. No convoluted iCloud / iTunes / sync process. Don't base your opinion on YouTube videos, you need to try the camera yourself to see if it works for you. May as well, you get a return period.
Placing apps into folders is quicker too. You create a folder and can just select what apps you want to put inside. On iPhones I always needed to manually drag all apps into whatever folders I wanted.
You get a headphone jack, if that is your thing. I like it. I can charge my phone and listen to headphones at the same time without a stupid dongle. Android 8 will hopefully enable the phone to support AptX HD and LDAC shortly. Both are enabled on the Pixel 2, I think Google now has the rights for those codecs / baked into the OS. The phone uses USB-C like the rest of the world, and there is a quick charger included in the box.
Android Pay, haven't used it yet. Everywhere I go that I use Apple Pay supports Android Pay or Samsung Pay so I'm not worried about it.
It's not all peachy on the S8. There is some lag here and there, but then again iOS 11 stuttered at times. It is a pain to go through and disable crap apps and uninstall others. Battery life isn't as good as I was getting on the X. I'd say it is comparable to my iPhone 7 on iOS 11 - which wasn't stellar but got me through the day. There is a mid and max power saving feature which should really help, have not tried either yet.
I don't like being stuck on Android 7.0 and the October security patch. But I don't do shady things with my phone so not a major deal. Still, Apple is king when it comes to updates and support.
The phone gets really warm during certain apps like Google Newsstand.
The face identification isn't secure but it is quick and get this...ready for it...you go straight to your home screen without a swipe or anything! Just look at the phone and you're home. What a novel concept!! The fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone is nowhere near as good as Touch ID. Placement of the sensor also is crazy. If you're a righty it is OK, but I feel like lefties will get really annoyed really fast by it.
Sorry for the long winded post, I saw your OP and thought hey, I just switched, may as well share. Who knows how long I will keep the S8. Prior Android switches have lasted no longer than 4 months. But this time it's just different. There are so many things I really hate about the iPhone and it's only getting worse, in my humble opinion. The S8 has been a surprise and just hits on so many features I want in a phone and I'm really happy with it. For $600 is worth a try. Good luck if you try an S8 or S8+, again, you can always return it if it doesn't work out!
