The Most Interesting Features in Samsung's New Galaxy Note 10+ Flagship Smartphone

[ZeuSGoKiL]

I partly agree, in the sense of refinement and feel, yes iOS is superior. But there are just so many great features in Android that we would benefit if Apple bring them to iOS, multitasking is one of them, picture-in-picture video, better customization, home screen organization options, default app selection.

Sure iOS 13 brings the system to a new (well-requested) level, but there are still lots of things that Android does better.

This is old adage debate no use to qualm over it . The complaint about IOS updates are always minuscule ,, tiny updates that people blow it out of proportion . You guys still remember when IOS can't even cut and paste functionality before ? When it finally came to IOS people just throw a party over cut and paste functionality .

And please ... Face ID is never secure compared to ultrasonic fingerprint .
[doublepost=1566635202][/doublepost]

I just switch over to the Note 10+ and all I can say is the phone is amazing. The phone and OS is buttery smooth. Android is actually very similar to ios so it's very easy for me to getting used to it. I've used iphones since the first one came out but got really bored of it lately, also I really hate the notch. Some of you guys keep talking smack about Samsung and android should try one out to see how great it is. Even if you're a diehard Apple fanboy, you could still appreciate great things not made by Apple.

Apple will never change the design drastically well accept for ditching out the USB mini port / audio jack /hdmi port among other things .
Whereby Huawei / Oppo already have waterfall screen and small pinhole camera while iPhone still parading the Super Notch in the middle.

 

[Geoko78]

Apples notch design is the crappiest thing ever. In terms of design samsung is leading and apple follows. And i only own apple products (the notchless ones).

 

[The Game 161]

Not going into the iOS vs. Android discussion, but here some thoughts from a Note 10+ 5G owner (Note's my work phone, XS Max my private phone):

- it's FAST. I was able to test the S10+ through my employer previous to this and it was laggy at times (talking about the Exyxnos version here). Been using the Note for a few days now and there are absolutely no slow-downs. The experience is just as fast and pleasant as on the iPhone

- The screen (at least if you set it to max resolution) is extremely beautiful. The small punch-hole cutout is much less annoying than the iPhone's.

- The camera (software, I suppose) has been updated considerably compared with the S10+ and shoots fantastic photos both in low-light and normal lighting situations. Night mode has now caught up with the Pixel's. Definitely shoots better exposed, sharper images than my XS Max and offers better dynamic range. The stabiliser used for videos is phenomenal.

- The article mentions that the fingerprint reader is comparable in accuracy to that of the S10+. I disagree. It's considerably faster and works about as fast and reliable as that on pre-FaceID iPhones. The S10+ had decent accuracy for me, but it took its time to unlock.

- I get much faster WiFi speeds on this than on the iPhone and the Samsung tends to choose the 5ghz network consistently, while my iPhone still clings to the slower 2.4ghz 5 out of 10 times. I also get faster LTE speeds on the Samsung.

- It charges super fast (and no, I don't have the fast charger).

- It has USB-C (keeping my fingers crossed for the iPhone 11 Pro here)

- The pencil is very cool. I need it for work (OneNote). Latency is a tad higher than on the iPad Pro, but hey, it's a phone and it's still very much usable. Handwriting to text is like magic on that thing. I have terrible handwriting and it still somehow extracts text almost perfectly.

- It has 5G. I know, not a fair comparison, but it's a fact. It'll be painful for Apple having to make its customers wait another full year until they can buy 5G phones from them. We'll have 90% coverage here in Switzerland by the end of the year, so 5G capability is a very good thing in this case.

- Battery life is excellent too. Prob a bit better than on the XS Max. But of course, I've had the latter for almost a year now and the battery might already have degraded slightly.


Overall, it's really hard to say anything bad about it. If you're in a Microsoft work environment, it's the phone to get. Samsung has done away with its own E-Mail client and has made Outlook standard on the Note. A very good decision in my opinion. Overall, except for the calendar app that still there, there are no annoying pre-installs and the pen-apps that come with it all make sense. It's not a confusing mess anymore. Very straight-forward software experience.


Would I want it as my home phone? Not at this time. The reason for that is simple: I'm fully invested in the Apple ecosystem. I love my Apple Watch, I love my iMac and my iPad Pro, my homepods and HomeKit. If Android fit in with that ecosystem, I would def take the Note over the XS Max. It's just a more capable package in my opinion. But then, there's a reason why Apple doesn't support Android, isn't there

Well said

Note 10 plus is an incredible device...just because people use Apple and iPhone doesn’t mean the comp isn’t still great

 

[raskar]

When I see fellow iPhone users bash Android/Samsung over things that iPhone has and then belittle it makes me cringe. I witness an iPhone vs Android debate in Barnes and Noble over two years ago. The guy arguing for iPhone was taking a proverbial crap on Android for the very thing iPhone had and has. How is 5G gimmicky when it is a freaking network that will be rolled out? It's not a specific feature that the phone or Samsung has. Smarten up! The fingerprint sensor is quite responsive if you watch the videos of it being used.

If I am being honest after reading MANY of the comments on this forum, I can see why some if not many Android users all but loathe iPhone users over their logic(or lack there of).

Well said mate.

 

[Ray2]

“try to compete”. Do I detect some bias here?

 

[Glockworkorange]

Nah, don’t tell me to slow my roll because you got called out on your crap. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Stop posting for shock value. The internet has enough trolls my man.

Guy, I was messing around because dude was wearing a Browns shirt. If you take football that seriously, perhaps you have some issues.I shall say no more.

 

[sirozha]

Friend's device a year ago, in the store for 20 minutes waiting on someone a couple months ago... It's not as smooth, don't care for the layout, and the hardware itself feels cheap and like plastic... Oh wait a minute, it WAS plastic on some of it and the rest of the materials just felt low quality.

Here’s a piece of news for you. Android phones come in all flavors at all price points. If you comparing Android to iOS, you should look at premium Android handsets that cost way above $500. You won’t find plastic parts in those. Android not being as smooth as iOS is a subjective opinion that cannot be measured. However, Siri being much dumber than Android Assistant is something that is easily quantifiable. When you can’t navigate to over 50% of POIs you try with requests to Siri on CarPlay, while Android Auto easily and accurately navigates you to 99.9% of POIs you try with Android Assistant, you quickly realize what’s more suited for real life applications: iOS or Android.

My family and I still use iPhones as personal smartphones, but we use Android phones exclusively in our vehicles for Android Auto. The Android phones are permanently docked in our cars.

If someone asked me what technology has changed our daily lives in the most significant and positive way in the past few years, I’ll tell you without hesitation that it is Android Auto. It has made our driving so much more fun, so much safer, and so much more time efficient. Conversely, I can say that CarPlay is one tech that made the most negative impression on me in the past few years because of Apple’s inability to bring a great idea to a usable level where the technology becomes a helpful tool rather than a constant distraction because of its failure to perform the tasks that it endeavors to perform but failing miserably at it for years now.

We are deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, but we haven’t bought iPhones for several years now. Our next phones are likely to be Android phones, as we have used them for several years now (and not for 20 minutes at a store). It will be hard to uproot ourselves from the Apple’s ecosystem, but like with any addiction, at one point, time comes to rip the bandaid off, experience some pain, and then move forward.

My recent Android purchase was a Motorola G7 Play for my car. The brand new unlocked phone cost me $147 (including shipping), and is an amazing phone at this price point. It has both fingerprint sensor (akin TouchID) and facial recognition (akin FaceID). The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the phone inside the recessed Motorola logo, and finding it with your index finger is amazingly quick. The phone unlocks with the fingerprint sensor just as quickly as my iPhone 7 does. The face recognition works as well as FaceID in my wife's iPhone X. May they be less secure than the Apple’s solutions? Perhaps. Do we care when the Motorola G7 Play costs in 2019 1/10 of what the iPhone X cost in 2017? No, we don’t. To the user, the experience is very similar at 1/10 the price.

Is there any lag when using the Motorola phone? Not at all. It feels just as quick as my 3-year-old iPhone 7 for 1/6 the price.

Are we going to continue to spend thousands of dollars annually on buying Apple’s phones going forward? The answer is “not likely”. Android has come a long way, and it is constantly improving, whereas iOS and Apple’s services have stagnated for several years now. The nightmare that Siri is compared to Android Assistant is a good reason alone to switch to Android.

 

[kis]

If someone asked me what technology has changed our daily lives in the most significant and positive way in the past few years, I’ll tell you without hesitation that it is Android Auto.

Android Auto is definitely cool, I’ve been using that a lot. However, please reserve judgment until you’ve seen CarPlay in iOS 13. Been using that for a few weeks now and it’s absolutely fantastic. Completely reworked, smarted up and much more functional. I haven’t received the reworked Android Auto update yet (release seems to be slow), so can’t compare it to that. But as it stands now, I’d say I prefer iOS 13’s CarPlay by quite some margin. That wasn’t the case before.

But yeah, Siri is dumb as bread, especially on the HomePod. I still keep Google Assistant disabled on my android phone as I don’t like the constant snooping. Apple’s offering is clearly worse, but in terms of privacy, it runs circles around anything made by Google.

 

[jjohnstonjr]

Guy, I was messing around because dude was wearing a Browns shirt. If you take football that seriously, perhaps you have some issues.I shall say no more.

But who made the initial comment? Was it you or I? And I have some issues!?!?!?! LOL. Good to know my friend...good to know!

 

[mucker29]

Great video...GO BROWNS!

Samsung recently released its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy Note 10+, which will be two of Apple's main competitors for the upcoming 2019 iPhones.

The new Galaxy Note smartphones have impressive edge-to-edge displays with pinhole camera cutouts, S Pen support, and a long list of additional features that are designed to make them stand out. In our latest YouTube video, we go hands-on with the Note 10+ to check out what Samsung has added to try to compete with the iPhone lineup.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

S Pen

iPhones don't support a stylus, and we're not expecting the Apple Pencil to work with the 2019 lineup, but Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 devices do work with a stylus called the S Pen, which has long been one of the main Note features.

The S Pen has a new look in 2019, but it's mostly the same. You can use it for taking notes, writing on the screen, sending live messages, and more. It's basically like the Apple Pencil for the iPad.

With the Galaxy Note 10 and the S Pen, handwritten notes can be turned into text, and you're also able to search through your handwritten notes. It's a feature that worked well in our testing.

AR Doodle

One major new S Pen feature that's a little bit fun and a little bit gimmicky is AR Doodle, designed to let users write text or create drawings on top of what's being viewed through the camera.

It's essentially drawing in augmented reality, which is neat, but probably not something most people are going to use on a regular basis.

3D Scanner

The larger version of the Galaxy Note 10 (the Note 10+) is equipped with an extra DepthVision camera that enables some interesting 3D scanning functionality.

Samsung on stage used this feature to scan a plush toy to make a correct, 3D digital version of it, which is what it's supposed to do. Unfortunately, in our testing, the 3D scanner is mediocre.

We couldn't get anything to scan accurately, with limbs getting cut off, designs being warped, and other problems, even when testing all kinds of lighting conditions. Maybe it'll get better in the future, but as is, this feature isn't useful.

Live Focus Video

A camera feature that is useful is the new Live Focus Video option that brings the Live Focus available in Samsung photos to the video camera, so you can adjust the depth of field while you're filming.

Zoom In Audio

Another camera feature we liked as the zoom-in audio option. When you zoom in on a subject that you're filming, the microphone is able to isolate that subject and amplify the sound, which is neat. When you zoom back out, the audio returns to normal.

DeX for macOS

Samsung devices have a feature called DeX, which is basically designed to let you dock your Samsung smartphone to a PC to turn it into a mobile workstation.

You used to need an external monitor, but with the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, DeX works with both Mac and Windows machines. Mac users can download the DeX app for the Mac, plug the Note 10 in, and then control smartphone functions on the big screen.

On some Macs, though, the resolution is poor, which can make it a bit hard to see what you're doing.

Aura Glow Design

One of the coolest Galaxy Note 10 features is the color. Samsung is offering the Note 10 and Note 10+ in this rainbow-like shade called Aura Glow. It stands out and really catches the eye, especially when compared to the standard Silver, Space Gray, and Gold that most iPhones come in.

Fingerprint Sensor

Samsung's new smartphones use an under-display fingerprint sensor which is about as accurate as the fingerprint sensor in the S10+. It works decently, but its positioning on the screen might take some adjustment.

Battery Life

iPhone users who always feel like their devices die quickly might be jealous of the battery in the Note 10+ - it's 4,300mAh, which is massive. It can also take advantage of a 45W charger that can fast charge it from zero to full in just about an hour.

Samsung's not including a 45W charger in the box, but since it charges over USB-C, you might already have one laying around.

What do you think of Samsung's new Galaxy Note 10 smartphones? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: The Most Interesting Features in Samsung's New Galaxy Note 10+ Flagship Smartphone

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Plenty of Youtubers tested the 3D scanning, and were able to have some great results as well as some bad ones. But leave it up to MR not be able to scan anything correctly.

 

[I7guy]

Here’s a piece of news for you. Android phones come in all flavors at all price points. If you comparing Android to iOS, you should look at premium Android handsets that cost way above $500. You won’t find plastic parts in those. Android not being as smooth as iOS is a subjective opinion that cannot be measured. However, Siri being much dumber than Android Assistant is something that is easily quantifiable. When you can’t navigate to over 50% of POIs you try with requests to Siri on CarPlay, while Android Auto easily and accurately navigates you to 99.9% of POIs you try with Android Assistant, you quickly realize what’s more suited for real life applications: iOS or Android.

My family and I still use iPhones as personal smartphones, but we use Android phones exclusively in our vehicles for Android Auto. The Android phones are permanently docked in our cars.

If someone asked me what technology has changed our daily lives in the most significant and positive way in the past few years, I’ll tell you without hesitation that it is Android Auto. It has made our driving so much more fun, so much safer, and so much more time efficient. Conversely, I can say that CarPlay is one tech that made the most negative impression on me in the past few years because of Apple’s inability to bring a great idea to a usable level where the technology becomes a helpful tool rather than a constant distraction because of its failure to perform the tasks that it endeavors to perform but failing miserably at it for years now.

We are deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, but we haven’t bought iPhones for several years now. Our next phones are likely to be Android phones, as we have used them for several years now (and not for 20 minutes at a store). It will be hard to uproot ourselves from the Apple’s ecosystem, but like with any addiction, at one point, time comes to rip the bandaid off, experience some pain, and then move forward.

My recent Android purchase was a Motorola G7 Play for my car. The brand new unlocked phone cost me $147 (including shipping), and is an amazing phone at this price point. It has both fingerprint sensor (akin TouchID) and facial recognition (akin FaceID). The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the phone inside the recessed Motorola logo, and finding it with your index finger is amazingly quick. The phone unlocks with the fingerprint sensor just as quickly as my iPhone 7 does. The face recognition works as well as FaceID in my wife's iPhone X. May they be less secure than the Apple’s solutions? Perhaps. Do we care when the Motorola G7 Play costs in 2019 1/10 of what the iPhone X cost in 2017? No, we don’t. To the user, the experience is very similar at 1/10 the price.

Is there any lag when using the Motorola phone? Not at all. It feels just as quick as my 3-year-old iPhone 7 for 1/6 the price.

Are we going to continue to spend thousands of dollars annually on buying Apple’s phones going forward? The answer is “not likely”. Android has come a long way, and it is constantly improving, whereas iOS and Apple’s services have stagnated for several years now. The nightmare that Siri is compared to Android Assistant is a good reason alone to switch to Android.

Based on the opinion in this post, I would think Samsung has to be concerned, not Apple. Why buy a Note for $1000, when you could get 10 Moto G7 Play. I checked the reviews, for $199 you seem to get what you pay for. However, it's a perfect throwaway phone to leave in your connected 24x7.

"Do we care when the Morotola G7 Play costs in 2019 1/10 of what the iPhone X costs"? Yes. Something that in 2019 is used as an extension of one's self I do care. And the same reason why Samsung is able to offer up $1000 phones in various configurations. Not a chance I would trade my max for 10 g7.

(You made a big deal out of android auto, my cars' entertainment system is fully voice controlled and would rather use that, although carplay on a rental car is a nice feature.)

While I recognize the Note is a nice phone and people will find it useful, android isn't for me.

 

[Just sayin...]

If DEX were to meet expectations and provide a seamless way to integrate with Mac/PC, that would be great...but it doesn’t. The battery life, improved cameras and ability to customize launcher/screens is nice, but the included/mandatory bloatware and Bixby are deal killers. And the elimination of the headphone jack after mocking Apple about same is a joke. Pen? I don’t care and wouldn’t use it anyways. Hopefully, Apple will provide us with some of the iPad OS improvements, give us Pixel 3 quality photos and increase the battery life in our new phones...

 

[ssl0408]

There is too much Android talk on this supposed Mac site. Now they’re reviewing Samsung devices? Geez. Might be time to move on for me. I have no interest in Android or anything that Google does, but the phone is nice design-wise.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Thread gonna catch fire.

Samsung on 3D scanning says hello esto Jan 2018’s Sony Xperia XZ1/XZ1 Compact models feature set.

I’ve done my part to spark flames.
[doublepost=1566658394][/doublepost]

I've always liked the smaller bezels on the S series phones, starting with the S8.

Looking forward to the updated iPhone in a few weeks to see what the form factor is like.

The form factor will always be the same LOL. I think you mean you’re looking forward to the changes in the design for the improvements of the existing design from all the leaks that we seen.

 

[Rob_2811]

I've always liked the smaller bezels on the S series phones, starting with the S8.

Looking forward to the updated iPhone in a few weeks to see what the form factor is like.

I can provide and exclusive preview...

 

[Pd1987]

When I see fellow iPhone users bash Android/Samsung over things that iPhone has and then belittle it makes me cringe. I witness an iPhone vs Android debate in Barnes and Noble over two years ago. The guy arguing for iPhone was taking a proverbial crap on Android for the very thing iPhone had and has. How is 5G gimmicky when it is a freaking network that will be rolled out? It's not a specific feature that the phone or Samsung has. Smarten up! The fingerprint sensor is quite responsive if you watch the videos of it being used.

If I am being honest after reading MANY of the comments on this forum, I can see why some if not many Android users all but loathe iPhone users over their logic(or lack there of).

I try to stay away from these threads but some replies - like the one you quoted - REALLY grind my gears. The amount of negativity and elitism (this is present on both sides) really disgusts me. I have an iPhone XS Max and Note 9 (will be a Note 10+ later today) and use them both. I switch phones out of boredom every few weeks (lol) and they are BOTH fantastic devices, each with its own pros and cons and things it brings to the table over the other. But holy crap, people need to relax and get off their high horses...they're literally just phones!

 

[pika2000]

No headphone jack. Want SD slot? Spend more money on the plus version. And the lack of space excuse is stupid here when Samsung can put a stylus inside the phone. Worse, the latest Exynos is not even catching up to the A12.
Also it’s hilarious that many youtubers and people are going gaga over the shimmery shell, when Huawei, Xiaomi, and practically all Chinese OEMs have done so on their much cheaper phones.

The amount of people praising this $1k overpriced phone is beyond silly.
[doublepost=1566664652][/doublepost]

Based on the opinion in this post, I would think Samsung has to be concerned, not Apple. Why buy a Note for $1000, when you could get 10 Moto G7 Play. I checked the reviews, for $199 you seem to get what you pay for. However, it's a perfect throwaway phone to leave in your connected 24x7.

"Do we care when the Morotola G7 Play costs in 2019 1/10 of what the iPhone X costs"? Yes. Something that in 2019 is used as an extension of one's self I do care. And the same reason why Samsung is able to offer up $1000 phones in various configurations. Not a chance I would trade my max for 10 g7.

(You made a big deal out of android auto, my cars' entertainment system is fully voice controlled and would rather use that, although carplay on a rental car is a nice feature.)

While I recognize the Note is a nice phone and people will find it useful, android isn't for me.

Well, Samsung IS concerned. Their sales showed that most people buy their M and A series phones, not the S and Note series, while their market share continues being eaten up by the Chinese. Samsung is so concerned that they throw in a 43” TV when you buy a Note 10 is some markets.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

So it works like iOS to Mac integration? I'll have to look into this, thanks for the heads up.

As far as my phone is concerned, it is work-issued. They give me a choice every two years to get an iPhone or Samsung and I've chosen Sammy for 6 out of the 7 years I've been with my company. I was thinking of giving Apple a shot this time around, but if I can get a similar behavior from another Note, then I'm sticking with Sammy. I REALLY don't like iOS, but I REALLY want that Mac integration (and the rest of my family is on iOS).

 

[The Game 161]

No headphone jack. Want SD slot? Spend more money on the plus version. And the lack of space excuse is stupid here when Samsung can put a stylus inside the phone. Worse, the latest Exynos is not even catching up to the A12.
Also it’s hilarious that many youtubers and people are going gaga over the shimmery shell, when Huawei, Xiaomi, and practically all Chinese OEMs have done so on their much cheaper phones.

The amount of people praising this $1k overpriced phone is beyond silly.
[doublepost=1566664652][/doublepost]
Well, Samsung IS concerned. Their sales showed that most people buy their M and A series phones, not the S and Note series, while their market share continues being eaten up by the Chinese. Samsung is so concerned that they throw in a 43” TV when you buy a Note 10 is some markets.

Note sales seem to be good so far. They had 1 million pre orders in South Korea alone

 

[Johns12]

There is too much Android talk on this supposed Mac site. Now they’re reviewing Samsung devices? Geez. Might be time to move on for me. I have no interest in Android or anything that Google does, but the phone is nice design-wise.

Many of us on this site own multiple devices. Some from Apple and some from other companies. Does that make sense?

 

[MauiPa]

first time i'm considering a stylus, i can see that camera function on the stylus be very useful. no need to ask for anyone to take a picture for you.

or use your Apple Watch to click your iPhone camera. Now that is useful!

I could possibly see stylus for converting notes to text, but otherwise seems like more of a burden on a phone than a help. You could try it on any phone (possibly without the text conversion), cause any phone that can use a finger, can use a capacitive stylus. That being said, they have never caught on after years. So, is it a feature, or a gimmick?

3d scanning - typical Samsung. Good idea, crappy implementation.
[doublepost=1566670255][/doublepost]

400 bucks vs something that comes with a phone, literally apple vs orange here lol

so true. I hear the stylus also tracks your workouts and can make calls. LOL

 

[sirozha]

Android Auto is definitely cool, I’ve been using that a lot. However, please reserve judgment until you’ve seen CarPlay in iOS 13. Been using that for a few weeks now and it’s absolutely fantastic. Completely reworked, smarted up and much more functional. I haven’t received the reworked Android Auto update yet (release seems to be slow), so can’t compare it to that. But as it stands now, I’d say I prefer iOS 13’s CarPlay by quite some margin. That wasn’t the case before.

But yeah, Siri is dumb as bread, especially on the HomePod. I still keep Google Assistant disabled on my android phone as I don’t like the constant snooping. Apple’s offering is clearly worse, but in terms of privacy, it runs circles around anything made by Google.

I don't use Siri on the iPhone for anything. It's so dumb that it's useless. However, when you use voice to navigate to a POI when using CarPlay, you have no other way but to interact with Siri. And it is Siri that breaks CarPlay's navigation to POIs in the most dramatic way because it's so useless. It can't figure out that when you navigate to a chain store, you want the nearest one to you. It sometimes tries to navigate you to a POI several states away even though the same POI exists a few miles away from you. It's worse than dumb; it appears to be intentionally crippled in the most dramatic way.

Another problem with CarPlay is, of course, Apple Maps, which is by itself much inferior to Google Maps. Even though Google Maps is now available in CarPlay, the inability to use the steering-wheel button to interact with Google Maps in CarPlay makes the Google Maps experience in CarPlay seriously crippled. So, if you want to use Google Maps in CarPlay, voice navigation to POIs is limited to you having to touch the mic icon in the Google Maps app in CarPlay; additionally, whatever that Google voice feature is (probably the old Google Now rather than Google Assistant), it doesn't have the same access to POIs or intelligence to select the correct POI as Android Auto with Google Assistant has.

So, even if Apple dramatically improved the CarPlay UI in iOS 13, the functionality (or the lack thereof) is still there, and it's so inferior to Android Auto that it makes all the sense in the world to get an inexpensive Android phone just to have Android Auto in the car.

 

[MauiPa]

I don't use Siri on the iPhone for anything. It's so dumb that it's useless. However, when you use voice to navigate to a POI when using CarPlay, you have no other way but to interact with Siri. And it is Siri that breaks CarPlay's navigation to POIs in the most dramatic way because it's so useless. It can't figure out that when you navigate to a chain store, you want the nearest one to you. It sometimes tries to navigate you to a POI several states away even though the same POI exists a few miles away from you. It's worse than dumb; it appears to be intentionally crippled in the most dramatic way.

Another problem with CarPlay is, of course, Apple Maps, which is by itself much inferior to Google Maps. Even though Google Maps is now available in CarPlay, the inability to use the steering-wheel button to interact with Google Maps in CarPlay makes the Google Maps experience in CarPlay seriously crippled. So, if you want to use Google Maps in CarPlay, voice navigation to POIs is limited to you having to touch the mic icon in the Google Maps app in CarPlay; additionally, whatever that Google voice feature is (probably the old Google Now rather than Google Assistant), it doesn't have the same access to POIs or intelligence to select the correct POI as Android Auto with Google Assistant has.

So, even if Apple dramatically improved the CarPlay UI in iOS 13, the functionality (or the lack thereof) is still there, and it's so inferior to Android Auto that it makes all the sense in the world to get an inexpensive Android phone just to have Android Auto in the car.

Not everyone feels that way. Apple maps is great, Siri works fine, My suggestion to you, if you feel as strongly as you do - Don't use it! Use the one you like, that is by definition the best one.

As for me, I find google to be just weird. I might get to like it if I used it more, but I have no need. so I will stick with what I like and not complain about that which I don't use. cheers!

 

[sirozha]

Based on the opinion in this post, I would think Samsung has to be concerned, not Apple. Why buy a Note for $1000, when you could get 10 Moto G7 Play. I checked the reviews, for $199 you seem to get what you pay for. However, it's a perfect throwaway phone to leave in your connected 24x7.

"Do we care when the Morotola G7 Play costs in 2019 1/10 of what the iPhone X costs"? Yes. Something that in 2019 is used as an extension of one's self I do care. And the same reason why Samsung is able to offer up $1000 phones in various configurations. Not a chance I would trade my max for 10 g7.

(You made a big deal out of android auto, my cars' entertainment system is fully voice controlled and would rather use that, although carplay on a rental car is a nice feature.)

While I recognize the Note is a nice phone and people will find it useful, android isn't for me.

If you think that your car's navigation is even closely comparable to Android Auto, you are living in a bubble. Get the Moto G7 Play and see what you are missing. You will not believe how inferior built-in navigation is, and I don't care which one it is unless you are driving a Tesla and have built-in Google Maps. But, besides being able to find basically anything you throw at Android Auto and invoke the best navigation system available with live traffic, constant traffic updates, alternative routes with alternative arrival times at every intersections, etc., Google Assistant has so many other features that you never know you are missing unless you try them. It can answer so many questions; it can translate to foreign languages, it can give you weather anywhere in the world, it can give you stock prices, currency conversion, 15-minute news summary for the day, answer all kinds of questions your kids have in the back, play games with your kids, tell jokes, sing songs, play riddles, etc. And, you keep discovering new things it can do every day. It's a treasure trough of knowledge and entertainment.

My son studies French in a French immersion school. I set Google Assistant for both English and French, and my son interacts with Google Assistant in French while I drive him to school. It's so cool that he can invoke all these features in it in French and Google Assistant interacts with my son in French. Every time we have an argument about how to translate something to French, we ask Google Assistant in Android Auto. It's freaking unbelievable. I tried to replicate this experience with CarPlay, and even though it can do several of those things, they are on a much lower level, and most of these things it can't even do. There is nothing like being able to answer numerous questions that you kids throw at you with a push of a steering-wheel button, which Android Auto does amazingly well, and Siri mostly struggles and very rarely able to provide any answers of value. Besides all of that, Google Assistant can also control your smart home appliances from the car if you decide to migrate your phone from HomeKit to Google.

As for the fact that Motorola G7 Play may have some negative reviews, please understand that I intentionally bought one of the least expensive Android phones because all I'm using the phones for is Android Auto, which Motorola G7 Play handles amazingly well (no delay, no latency, no hesitation). The phone is permanently connected in the car, so it's left there with the interior temperatures climbing well above 100F (perhaps as high as 150F) when the car sits in the sun for a while. Yet, every time I handle that phone, I can't help but think what a nice piece of hardware it is.

Obviously, if I were buying an Android phone to be my personal smartphone, I would buy something more upscale, but I would still end up with 1/3 the price of iPhone Xs Plus for a similar quality and functionality. I don't mind paying more for nice things; in fact, my life credo is not to buy junk and pay more for things that are of superior quality and last longer. However, Android phones have become so nice for a fraction of the price that it makes no sense anymore to buy phones three-to-four times as expensive that provide a similar functionality.

We will keep our iPhones for a few more years, but I can see us switching to Android at that point not because I hate Apple (I don't) and not because I can't afford iPhones (I can), but because it makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars more for similar quality and functionality. By that time, we may also switch to non-Apple computers in our household after having been 100% Apple for over a decade. That is for the same reason - the price is no longer justifiable. The rumored 16" MacBook Pro will start at $3000, whereas you can buy an excellent analogous non-Apple computer made of premium materials and components for half the price. Even though I despise Windows, I may go back to Windows just because I disagree on principle with paying $3,000 for a laptop.

Apple must realize that charging over $1500 and up for a phone and over $3,000 for a decent-screen-size laptop are insane prices that a lot of Apple's customers are no longer willing to pay. Apple must start innovating again for it to become attractive for me in the same way that I got attracted to Apple's products a couple decades ago.