Not sure if this is the best place for this post. Time to upgrade from my iPhone 5 and I'm thinking about migrating to a different brand. My use has been pretty basic, as my present iPhone suggests. One area that will be important in future use is photography and I will be wanting the best phone for this job. Is Apple best in this arena? If not, what alternatives should I be looking at? How close are Apple competitors?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best alternative to iPhone?
- Thread starter macmesser
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
No such thing mate, apple is the best, no completion, if you want lag, heat, battery drain, bloat, ads in apps, 2x apps for messages, photo, mail, internet, calendar and plenty others, 🤦♂️😂 get a samsung lol, promise you one thing, you'll be back on iOS in a week or two.
Even die hard Samsung fans are starting to the see the light and gimmicks on samsung phones.
Best alternative is Pixel due to lack of bloatware and smooth experience.
but to be honest, Pixel does not hold a candle to iPhone in overall experience.
but to be honest, Pixel does not hold a candle to iPhone in overall experience.
Probably Samsung galaxy S line. The Pixel has good software and I think the pixel 4a is pretty good value; the 5 is equally midrange but with a much higher price so I would avoid that one.
The only other brand that controls their hardware and software(OS) like Apple does is Google. So your best bet is Pixel phones, you get the day 1 software updates and stock android.
If you plan on keeping the phone for a long time, you might want to consider how long you will get software support on the phone you purchase. Apple gives you at least 5 years of major OS updates and 2 years beyond that for security updates. in 12/2020 Apple released an update for iOS 12 for those devices that could not run iOS 13. With Android you get at most 3 years of major OS updates and beyond that for security updates will depend on the manufacturer.
Actually iPhone 5s from 2013 got a security update a month or two ago. 7+ years baby!!
The only alternative that’s similar to Apple is stock Android, so any of the Pixel phones would be good. I you want a flagship device with as many features as you want, you can also try Samsung devices. If you don’t like them, you can always trade them in or sell them, it doesn’t hurt to try something new if you’re not currently feeling iOS at the moment.
The problem is that if you buy ANY Android device and then later sell it, you are gonna take a huge hit on resale value!! Basically it is highway robbery at your expense. Android devices have pitiful resale value. Basically, worthless after 6-12 months.
Yup, unfortunately that's the risk since there's way too many Android phones in the market. What OP could do is buy it relatively new/open box months after release date on eBay for much less money than retail price if they're interested in trying stock Android. I've done this in the past years ago and didn't lose out on much money in the end when I decided to sell it.
I have a Pixel for a backup phone and it’s a nice device. However, there’s a reason it’s in second place.
Here is a quote from a reviewer that pretty much sums up everything:
“The iPhone 12 Pro Max is pretty much the closest we have seen a phone come to a high-quality point and shoot camera. No, it does not bring the sort of shooting variety as regards to zoom that something like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra brings to the table, but in terms of realistic detail and sheer consistency, it is unmatched.
We knew almost exactly what we were going to get every time we hit the shutter on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and that is something that is very rare in phone camera territory, where brands do have a tendency to mess around with software tweaks, call it computational photography or whatever you wish. It is not as if the iPhone 12 Pro Max is immune to this – it only seems to tweak images for more realistic shades and details rather than going for the “pleasant looking” images that are the flavor of the day. Even selfies are (sometimes painfully) realistic.
The results the cameras of the iPhone 12 Pro deliver are frankly the closest thing we have seen to a high-class point and shoot camera.”
“The iPhone 12 Pro Max is pretty much the closest we have seen a phone come to a high-quality point and shoot camera. No, it does not bring the sort of shooting variety as regards to zoom that something like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra brings to the table, but in terms of realistic detail and sheer consistency, it is unmatched.
We knew almost exactly what we were going to get every time we hit the shutter on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and that is something that is very rare in phone camera territory, where brands do have a tendency to mess around with software tweaks, call it computational photography or whatever you wish. It is not as if the iPhone 12 Pro Max is immune to this – it only seems to tweak images for more realistic shades and details rather than going for the “pleasant looking” images that are the flavor of the day. Even selfies are (sometimes painfully) realistic.
The results the cameras of the iPhone 12 Pro deliver are frankly the closest thing we have seen to a high-class point and shoot camera.”
Ya i would say Pixel 4a devices. You can always try it out and return it if you don't like it.
Samsung's photos are too overly saturated imo and they some people are even reported ads when using Samsung apps.
Samsung's photos are too overly saturated imo and they some people are even reported ads when using Samsung apps.
Pixel phones and perhaps One plus, are similar to iphones in terms of software experience, optimisation and updates. Oneplus in particular have quite a cult following, similar to Apple.
1+ has fallen off the horse though in terms of software updates. And their camera always 2-3 steps behind the big boys (Apple, Pixel, and Samsung).
But yeah, their software optimizations are excellent........except when it comes to supporting their older devices. Their software have lots of bugs and sometimes their updates are delayed for months and months on older devices.
And of course, losing their charismatic CEO means a lot of unknown in future direction.
Ok, I’ll go, what is this in English?
Over saturated as in the colors look more vibrant and colorful. Lot's don't like this because it doesn't match the actual color you see with your eye in real life. Some do like it though. iPhones photo colors are very close to real life.
Very true. But then again, i don’t like to buy 2nd hand/used electronics...a lot of time, they are lightly or recently used because of hardware issues. Unlike Apple’s refurbished units, many of Android on used market are from horrible 3rd party re-sellers that don’t do crap to check the units or even clear their IMEI.In return one could buy them slightly used for next to nothing!