Hello, I'm new on this forum and I'm currently using a Galaxy S8. It's time for a BIG upgrade and these are my two choices. I like both phone sizes, the iphone notch doesn't seem to be an issue for me and I'm impressed with video quality. I think it depends on preference for photo's but iPhone has darker reds. On android LOVE amoled screen, I'm used to the operating system and the sd card is a big +. For those of you who have used amoled screen is it hard to getting used to iphones + is it hard to get used to the different system. I'm not a hater of iphone, just dont want to be disappointed, I guess if s20 + video was better I would stay there. I'm not one to jump in to a quick choice, so I'm asking for those who may have or do use both for your advise!!! Also anyone else who may give some big co considerations. I've researched for months and I can't jump into a decision yet since they are both expensive. Appreciate your time, THANK YOU!!!
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iPhone 11 Pro Buy Galaxy S20 + or I Phone 11 Pro Max? (HELP)
- Thread starter Bingo1814
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All depends on your OS preference.
S20 while you can say has better hardware and iOS better software. Still think iphone will have the better camera.
S20 while you can say has better hardware and iOS better software. Still think iphone will have the better camera.
Oh I totally agree in most situations it does. And the video quality is awesome. Just asking is the screen resolution good on the iphone?, I've talked to a few people who liked it better than amoled.
If you have been waiting months to make a decision, and cost is an issue, how about waiting a couple of more months until the iPhone 12 series comes out and see what improvements that brings? By then, the iPhone 11 Pro Max will drop in price.
I recently switched from a Samsung Galaxy S9+ to an original iPhone SE (waiting for the 12s to upgrade) and feel I would never go back to Android. Learning the differences was mostly going through all the settings and figuring out what each one did.
On Android, I tried very hard to get rid of spam calls. I assigned a specific ringtone to every contact and made the default ringtone silent. But I had to do a factory reset to attempt to fix an issue with my S9+, and I lost all the custom ringtones for about 400 contacts. The iPhone has this fantastic setting: "Silence Unknown Callers".
Out of those 400 contacts, only two had RSC enabled. More than half of my contacts have iPhones with iMessage, where I can at least see that my message was delivered.
I'm happy not to have to do the app update ritual every morning that I did with Samsung. (Yes. I had auto-update enabled). Apple takes care of it.
Good luck on your decision. Most providers have a 14 day return window.
I recently switched from a Samsung Galaxy S9+ to an original iPhone SE (waiting for the 12s to upgrade) and feel I would never go back to Android. Learning the differences was mostly going through all the settings and figuring out what each one did.
On Android, I tried very hard to get rid of spam calls. I assigned a specific ringtone to every contact and made the default ringtone silent. But I had to do a factory reset to attempt to fix an issue with my S9+, and I lost all the custom ringtones for about 400 contacts. The iPhone has this fantastic setting: "Silence Unknown Callers".
Out of those 400 contacts, only two had RSC enabled. More than half of my contacts have iPhones with iMessage, where I can at least see that my message was delivered.
I'm happy not to have to do the app update ritual every morning that I did with Samsung. (Yes. I had auto-update enabled). Apple takes care of it.
Good luck on your decision. Most providers have a 14 day return window.
Getting an 11 series iPhone now would be a waste since for roughly the same price you can just wait a little bit longer and get the new iPhone 12 which is shaping up to be nice upgrade.
I love my 11 and I’m sure the Pro is also a very good phone but we are very late into the 11’s cycle at this point. I’m not sure I could recommend getting one when the new 12’s are right around the corner.
I love my 11 and I’m sure the Pro is also a very good phone but we are very late into the 11’s cycle at this point. I’m not sure I could recommend getting one when the new 12’s are right around the corner.
Amazing how obsessed some of the world is with iMessage...WhatsApp is far bigger here.
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It is certainly good but nothing comes close to Samsung’s displays on their phones.
Go for the S20+. It's an underrated phone because of the S20 Ultra.
Also, Samsung tends to offer better trade ins, so you might get an even better discount by trading in your S8.
Or, you can wait a few more days/weeks for the Note 20 announcement, and see if there are discounts or promos for the S20+.
He got it on release day, got over samsung bloat and bogged down user interface.
120hz doesn’t make a difference on a android phone, picked up a s20 ultra at the Samsung store, was lagging and stuttering from the get go.
Shame for a company that makes beautiful hardware, they have no idea about software or customer support.
His already loving Face ID, also likes the customer support you get from apple, his gone 3 weeks without his samsung at one stage, while Samsung repair it lol.
no flagship android phone lags anymore. Certainly not with 120hz refresh rate.
By picked up you mean a dummy unit and not that bought it right? All units there aren’t running on final software. Even the models in apple stores aren’t as smooth as retail units.
Agree on customer services apple are far better. Software is certainly where apple are ahead but samsung have improved a lot in software. Guess it depends what is more important great hardware and decent software or ok/decent hardware and great software.
Buying an Android phone is like buying a Windows PC. The hardware and software can be great, but the user does need to do extra work such as disabling/uninstalling unneeded bloat. Samsung already does a decent job with OneUI by making some extra apps optional on first time setup (user is given the option not to install them).
Most Android phones that have at least A7x cores and UFS2.x storage doesn't tend to lag nowadays. Phones that lag usually have inferior hardware to begin with, like slow eMMC storage, SoC with only A5x cores, etc.
Tbh, it's down to personal preference. If you're used to android over iOS, either stick with what you know, or prepare to migrate your data/services across and potentially learn a new OS. It's not impossible to migrate (I recently migrated from iOS to Android) but it can be a faff finding replacements for all of the services/apps you use.
In terms of hardware, there's honestly not much in it. Whether it's iPhone Xs vs iPhone 11 Pro, S10 vs S20 - we're beyond the point of having mindblowing upgrades every year, and the upgrades are largely incremental. That's pretty much the same moving between high end android devices and iPhones - in terms of hardware, there really isn't that much difference in hardware specs to the point that, unless you particularly want one headline feature like 5G, IMO a phone these days should be chosen on the software you prefer.
Hardware differences I've noticed moving from an iPhone X to an S20+:
- Obviously the S20+ has 5G. It's cool seeing 500mbps speed tests, but in day to day use the coverage isn't there yet so it doesn't make that much difference.
- Build quality on the iPhone was much better. It felt better put together, and just felt nicer in the hand.
- Cameras, my view (even against my friend's 11 Pro) is that photos are nicer on the S20, videos are much better on the iPhone. Again, YMMV and this is subjective.
- 120Hz display. This is the one real hardware differentiator to me - once you're used to it, going back to a 60hz panel like the one in current iPhones feels like going back 10 years.
- FaceID doesn't exist on android (I wouldn't use anything other than google's face unlock personally). I use the fingerprint reader, which is far less annoying than FaceID personally (I found FaceID to be a pain when in bed, or when my phone was on a table).
In terms of Software (again, from my personal experience of switching):
- iOS itself is far more polished in terms of looks, but also has more annoying bugs.
- 3rd party apps on iOS are higher quality in general. More filtering on android is definitely required.
- Android is more configurable but far less organised. I personally prefer being able to customise stuff, but whoever designed the order of stuff in the settings app needs a stern talking too. Finding stuff is a pain.
- Siri/Google assistant are largely the same. The first thing I did was completely disable bixby.
- I find google pay more usable than apple pay. It's accepted in more places, and it's easier to use.
I personally decided to ditch vendor lock-in services when I switched. One of the main reasons I switched was that I was sick of iCloud and its bugs, and that was the hardest part of switching - so this time, I've decided that every service I use is going to be platform independant. It took a bit longer, and you lose some os-level integration, but I much prefer the fact that, if I decide to switch again, I don't have to move stuff around/fight with icloud etc.
Moving to platform independant stuff is worth it IMO, and you'll be susprised just how much you can do. Even things like iCloud tabs can be replicated using a firefox account to sync tabs. You'll obviously use some of the cool tricks of apple's continuity - but let's face it, how often does that stuff ever work anyway?
In terms of hardware, there's honestly not much in it. Whether it's iPhone Xs vs iPhone 11 Pro, S10 vs S20 - we're beyond the point of having mindblowing upgrades every year, and the upgrades are largely incremental. That's pretty much the same moving between high end android devices and iPhones - in terms of hardware, there really isn't that much difference in hardware specs to the point that, unless you particularly want one headline feature like 5G, IMO a phone these days should be chosen on the software you prefer.
Hardware differences I've noticed moving from an iPhone X to an S20+:
- Obviously the S20+ has 5G. It's cool seeing 500mbps speed tests, but in day to day use the coverage isn't there yet so it doesn't make that much difference.
- Build quality on the iPhone was much better. It felt better put together, and just felt nicer in the hand.
- Cameras, my view (even against my friend's 11 Pro) is that photos are nicer on the S20, videos are much better on the iPhone. Again, YMMV and this is subjective.
- 120Hz display. This is the one real hardware differentiator to me - once you're used to it, going back to a 60hz panel like the one in current iPhones feels like going back 10 years.
- FaceID doesn't exist on android (I wouldn't use anything other than google's face unlock personally). I use the fingerprint reader, which is far less annoying than FaceID personally (I found FaceID to be a pain when in bed, or when my phone was on a table).
In terms of Software (again, from my personal experience of switching):
- iOS itself is far more polished in terms of looks, but also has more annoying bugs.
- 3rd party apps on iOS are higher quality in general. More filtering on android is definitely required.
- Android is more configurable but far less organised. I personally prefer being able to customise stuff, but whoever designed the order of stuff in the settings app needs a stern talking too. Finding stuff is a pain.
- Siri/Google assistant are largely the same. The first thing I did was completely disable bixby.
- I find google pay more usable than apple pay. It's accepted in more places, and it's easier to use.
I personally decided to ditch vendor lock-in services when I switched. One of the main reasons I switched was that I was sick of iCloud and its bugs, and that was the hardest part of switching - so this time, I've decided that every service I use is going to be platform independant. It took a bit longer, and you lose some os-level integration, but I much prefer the fact that, if I decide to switch again, I don't have to move stuff around/fight with icloud etc.
Moving to platform independant stuff is worth it IMO, and you'll be susprised just how much you can do. Even things like iCloud tabs can be replicated using a firefox account to sync tabs. You'll obviously use some of the cool tricks of apple's continuity - but let's face it, how often does that stuff ever work anyway?
One thing I would do is wait out the month or so to see what the iphone 12 has to offer.
For me, and my family, we are now all iphone. We like the tight software integration that is built into IOS. What one gives up in customization with android one gains in a great overall experience with ios, in my opinion. With the pandemic and the area, don't know how easy it is to get to an open store and check out the phones, but that is what I did when I went ios vs android and I ended up buying the iphone 5s and have stayed with Apple since.
For me, and my family, we are now all iphone. We like the tight software integration that is built into IOS. What one gives up in customization with android one gains in a great overall experience with ios, in my opinion. With the pandemic and the area, don't know how easy it is to get to an open store and check out the phones, but that is what I did when I went ios vs android and I ended up buying the iphone 5s and have stayed with Apple since.
If you don’t need the S20 now....wait. Apples keynote is within seven weeks, obviously we will know more after-the-fact. Then make your decision once you have a chance to side-by-side compare both tech specs’. Unless you need to upgrade now, I think the answer is obvious that waiting would make more sense to compare/contrast.
S9 user here. As others have recommended, wait for the iPhone 12 announcement and then decide. Even though I've not owned an iPhone, I'm inclined to recommend it over S20 or any Android device. Since you're using an S8 and talk about the price, it's safe to assume that you will hold on to your next phone for a similar if not longer amount of time. As such, you might find my experience useful.
I was very happy with my S6 Edge+ (even after it began to slow down <2y mark) until I cracked the screen and everything just added up. So after much research I went for the S9 as the iPhones then were considerably more expensive and didn't seem to offer what I wanted in terms of design, photography, headphone jack etc.
However, the wow factor that was there when I upgraded from the OG Moto G to the S6 Edge+ wasn't there this time. The camera was the biggest let down. Yes, it was able to capture more light, but the image processing and lens seemed off in comparison to my previous phone. So much so that while taking photos around NYC last summer, I used my S6 Edge+ more than my S9. I'm one of the minority who prefers lens accuracy over the trade offs in the wide angle trend of recent years, so there's that. Additionally, the S9 photos seem over processed, not to the level of Chinese brands but IMHO the photos had lost the photographic charm which I enjoyed with my previous phones.
I do understand though that photo quality is subjective given that all flagships deliver similar performance across the board. If you were to buy solely on the basis of cameras, I think the Pixels win, but that product line is erratic. So my ultimate recommendation after much writing is based on overall user experience and value for money, and I believe Apple really delivers here better than the others. I've slowly gotten more into the Apple ecosystem - phones were the last hold out; but it seems that at long last the iPhone is arriving at that magical sweet spot of the confluence of price, design and specs. Add to it the phone's longevity and retention of value and you have a purchase which you can enjoy as much in your 3rd, 4th and maybe even 5th year as you did in your first. This is based off my 2014 MBA and 5th Gen iPad. I've typed this on my 16" MBP.
This is my first post and I apologize for the verbosity. Thought I'd pitch in with my experience though seeing as I'm in a similar boat
![S6 Edge Plus - 1.jpeg]( "S6 Edge Plus - 1.jpeg")
![S6 Edge Plus - 2.jpeg]( "S6 Edge Plus - 2.jpeg")
![S6 Edge Plus - 3.jpeg]( "S6 Edge Plus - 3.jpeg")
Also, 3 photos from my S6 Edge Plus that I miss dearly since losing it last year.
I was very happy with my S6 Edge+ (even after it began to slow down <2y mark) until I cracked the screen and everything just added up. So after much research I went for the S9 as the iPhones then were considerably more expensive and didn't seem to offer what I wanted in terms of design, photography, headphone jack etc.
However, the wow factor that was there when I upgraded from the OG Moto G to the S6 Edge+ wasn't there this time. The camera was the biggest let down. Yes, it was able to capture more light, but the image processing and lens seemed off in comparison to my previous phone. So much so that while taking photos around NYC last summer, I used my S6 Edge+ more than my S9. I'm one of the minority who prefers lens accuracy over the trade offs in the wide angle trend of recent years, so there's that. Additionally, the S9 photos seem over processed, not to the level of Chinese brands but IMHO the photos had lost the photographic charm which I enjoyed with my previous phones.
I do understand though that photo quality is subjective given that all flagships deliver similar performance across the board. If you were to buy solely on the basis of cameras, I think the Pixels win, but that product line is erratic. So my ultimate recommendation after much writing is based on overall user experience and value for money, and I believe Apple really delivers here better than the others. I've slowly gotten more into the Apple ecosystem - phones were the last hold out; but it seems that at long last the iPhone is arriving at that magical sweet spot of the confluence of price, design and specs. Add to it the phone's longevity and retention of value and you have a purchase which you can enjoy as much in your 3rd, 4th and maybe even 5th year as you did in your first. This is based off my 2014 MBA and 5th Gen iPad. I've typed this on my 16" MBP.
This is my first post and I apologize for the verbosity. Thought I'd pitch in with my experience though seeing as I'm in a similar boat
Also, 3 photos from my S6 Edge Plus that I miss dearly since losing it last year.
