Went to buy an iPhone / left store with an Android?

[macrem]

On launch day I checked out an electronics shop where I could test an iPhone X display model, but like always with Apple no actual product to buy for several weeks after launch. A Samsung salesman walked over to try to entice me with a Galaxy S. It actually looked quite nice, but I just happen to be too into iPhones/Apple’s ecosystem at this time. It’s tempting though as I’m tired of Apple’s antics. It made me wonder how many customers does Apple lose this way vs. gaining by supposedly creating a buying frenzy. I just want to get the latest whenever new features are compelling enough, otherwise I skip. The dearth of supply just makes for a bad experience in my view.

Apple will say xyz component slowed down production yadayada but it’s clearly a pattern for every major launch. They must know what they’re doing but on the other hand there are more Androids out there. Traditionally in Marketing they say that if you advertise but can’t deliver, you’re just advertising for the competition. Has it happened to you? Have you ever intended to buy an iPhone but then got fed up or enticed by and purchased an Android device instead?

 

[mikef07]

Yep. Happened to me but I wasn't fed up. I read how much better the S7 Edge was over the corresponding iphone. This was about a year ago. Bought the S7 Galaxy. Replaced it yesterday with an Iphone X. S7 was the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned for a smartphone. Never again. Let us know in a year how it is.

 

[Puddled]

Yep. Happened to me but I wasn't fed up. I read how much better the S7 Edge was over the corresponding iphone. This was about a year ago. Bought the S7 Galaxy. Replaced it yesterday with an Iphone X. S7 was the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned for a smartphone. Never again. Let us know in a year how it is.

I find it interesting that users say that phones are completely junk when others say the opposite.

Why is the S7 junk, or were you just pining for ios and are now justifying your new X?

There are no junk phones on the market, unless you look to cheap Chinese copies. Even the Huawei Y6 i have in our house isnt junk. Its cheap and does more than it should for the price.

 

[mikef07]

I find it interesting that users say that phones are completely junk when others say the opposite.

Why is the S7 junk, or were you just pining for ios and are now justifying your new X?

There are no junk phones on the market, unless you look to cheap Chinese copies. Even the Huawei Y6 i have in our house isnt junk. Its cheap and does more than it should for the price.

1) Battery life is atrocious. Was great for about the first 6 months. I am not a power user. I use email, a few apps, internet, music (a little). I will be below 50% by noon. Unplugged my phone at 7AM today. Have spent maybe 30 minutes total on phone overall. 9:24AM I am at 70%.
2) Internet experience is horrible. Constantly on a few forums and espn and webpages are constantly choppy or missing buttons, or the button simply don't work. There are constant situations where you get the "wait or close option" because the page freezes.
3) Message app is garbage. If I send a video or picture it is downgraded in quality (almost unwatchable).
4) No facetime. Almost every person i would want to facetime with has an iphone but of course I can't do it. Video chat that is available is worthless to me because anyone I would want to video chat with doesn't use it.
5) Choppy , choppy, choppy. The whole experience is not smooth at all.
6) Many times when I get a phone call and try to swipe answer the swipe does not register. After swiping about the 8th time it finally works.
7) Search function. With apple I can swipe down and search for an app. Very simple.
8) Music app is garbage compared to ios. So much so I don't even use it very often.
9) Getting to visual voicemail is such a pain compared to ios when in the phone app. i.e. Get out of phone app, find the visual voicemail icon and select it compared to having the icon at the bottom of the actual phone app in ios
10) One thing I thought I would love is wireless charging. I have a case on and it works less than 50% of the time. Yes I realize this will be an issue with the X as well.
11) . Keyboard is terrible compared to the iphone keyboard. I rarely make mistakes on the iphone yet make tons of mistakes on the galaxy.
12) . Integration with mac doesn't come close to the experience with an iphone.
13) . Weather app is garbage on main screen. It does not update automatically. I have to refresh anytime I want to know weather.

The one area where the S7 excels is the screen. I personally think the screen looks better than the X screen

BTW all my phones are free so whichever phone I decide to buy I don't pay for so I need no justification for whatever phone I use.

 

[AmexGG]

1) Battery life is atrocious. Was great for about the first 6 months. I am not a power user. I use email, a few apps, internet, music (a little). I will be below 50% by noon. Unplugged my phone at 7AM today. Have spent maybe 30 minutes total on phone overall. 9:24AM I am at 70%.
2) Internet experience is horrible. Constantly on a few forums and espn and webpages are constantly choppy or missing buttons, or the button simply don't work. There are constant situations where you get the "wait or close option" because the page freezes.
3) Message app is garbage. If I send a video or picture it is downgraded in quality (almost unwatchable).
4) No facetime. Almost every person i would want to facetime with has an iphone but of course I can't do it. Video chat that is available is worthless to me because anyone I would want to video chat with doesn't use it.
5) Choppy , choppy, choppy. The whole experience is not smooth at all.
6) Many times when I get a phone call and try to swipe answer the swipe does not register. After swiping about the 8th time it finally works.
7) Search function. With apple I can swipe down and search for an app. Very simple.
8) Music app is garbage compared to ios. So much so I don't even use it very often.
9) Getting to visual voicemail is such a pain compared to ios when in the phone app. i.e. Get out of phone app, find the visual voicemail icon and select it compared to having the icon at the bottom of the actual phone app in ios
10) One thing I thought I would love is wireless charging. I have a case on and it works less than 50% of the time. Yes I realize this will be an issue with the X as well.
11) . Keyboard is terrible compared to the iphone keyboard. I rarely make mistakes on the iphone yet make tons of mistakes on the galaxy.
12) . Integration with mac doesn't come close to the experience with an iphone.
13) . Weather app is garbage on main screen. It does not update automatically. I have to refresh anytime I want to know weather.

The one area where the S7 excels is the screen. I personally think the screen looks better than the X screen

BTW all my phones are free so whichever phone I decide to buy I don't pay for so I need no justification for whatever phone I use.

You just described the Samsung experience perfectly

 

[mi7chy]

One thing I noticed that has noticeably improved on the iPhone X is Safari browser scrolling. It's faster than the iPhone 8 and previous models but still slower than a 2012 Android device.

 

[jamezr]

Apple customers call police because the Apple store didn't have any iPhone Xs in stock.....

 

[Puddled]

1) Battery life is atrocious. Was great for about the first 6 months. I am not a power user. I use email, a few apps, internet, music (a little). I will be below 50% by noon. Unplugged my phone at 7AM today. Have spent maybe 30 minutes total on phone overall. 9:24AM I am at 70%.
2) Internet experience is horrible. Constantly on a few forums and espn and webpages are constantly choppy or missing buttons, or the button simply don't work. There are constant situations where you get the "wait or close option" because the page freezes.
3) Message app is garbage. If I send a video or picture it is downgraded in quality (almost unwatchable).
4) No facetime. Almost every person i would want to facetime with has an iphone but of course I can't do it. Video chat that is available is worthless to me because anyone I would want to video chat with doesn't use it.
5) Choppy , choppy, choppy. The whole experience is not smooth at all.
6) Many times when I get a phone call and try to swipe answer the swipe does not register. After swiping about the 8th time it finally works.
7) Search function. With apple I can swipe down and search for an app. Very simple.
8) Music app is garbage compared to ios. So much so I don't even use it very often.
9) Getting to visual voicemail is such a pain compared to ios when in the phone app. i.e. Get out of phone app, find the visual voicemail icon and select it compared to having the icon at the bottom of the actual phone app in ios
10) One thing I thought I would love is wireless charging. I have a case on and it works less than 50% of the time. Yes I realize this will be an issue with the X as well.
11) . Keyboard is terrible compared to the iphone keyboard. I rarely make mistakes on the iphone yet make tons of mistakes on the galaxy.
12) . Integration with mac doesn't come close to the experience with an iphone.
13) . Weather app is garbage on main screen. It does not update automatically. I have to refresh anytime I want to know weather.

The one area where the S7 excels is the screen. I personally think the screen looks better than the X screen

BTW all my phones are free so whichever phone I decide to buy I don't pay for so I need no justification for whatever phone I use.

Nah.

Im not buying most of that.
In fact some of it is complete nonsense.

Sounds like most of this could be resolved with a reset. And before you carp on about iphones not needing resets, dont. They do.

Samsung direct link offers full cloud hosting of video and pictures (free btw) and it works a charm. You probably haven't gone through your phone properly to learn what it can do. Its common enough for people to spend $$$$ on something and not read the instructions. I dunno why tbh.
Its not an iphone. Complaining about it not being an iphone isnt a valid critique. For messaging you can you a host of services. Unlike Apple, google or viber or whatsapp etc dont exclude other manufactures. I cant itext or facetime my wife on her iphone from my android so in my opinion its a poor service which we dont use.

Wireless charging not working? How? Do you have a case or magnetic holder on it (which btw would tell you it isnt compatable with wireless charging in the instructions)
My 0.75c charger i got from aliexpress works a treat on my S6.

This leaves you with the weather app. Have you turned it on? Looked in the settings for it and set the refress rate?

As for Mac integration, a iphone will always be best obv. But samsung has Flow and other apps which allow cross platform syncing. You are using android so use android cloud services. Google and samsung are very good.

Reset your phone. Set it up as new. Do all of its updates, read through all of the settings and options, look to use android native apps and not elastic bands to get to ios and your "experience " will be much better.

 

[mikef07]

Don't care if you are not buying it. It is what it is. Wife has an iphone bought same day. None of these issues are present. Never had to reset one of my iphones. Ever.

I'm here to share my experience. You trying to make excuses for why things happened matter little to none to me.

Ironically a poster below me seemed to share his experience was similar to mine, but you probably think we conspired to come up with this.

 

[AmexGG]

Don't care if you are not buying it. It is what it is. Wife has an iphone bought same day. None of these issues are present. Never had to reset one of my iphones. Ever.

I'm here to share my experience. You trying to make excuses for why things happened matter little to none to me.

Ironically a poster below me seemed to share his experience was similar to mine, but you probably think we conspired to come up with this.

Samsung fans just can't accept the truth that Samsung hardware is OK and the software is a huge steaming POS!

 

[tbayrgs]

Apple customers call police because the Apple store didn't have any iPhone Xs in stock.....

Hilarious.

 

[Puddled]

Don't care if you are not buying it. It is what it is. Wife has an iphone bought same day. None of these issues are present. Never had to reset one of my iphones. Ever.

I'm here to share my experience. You trying to make excuses for why things happened matter little to none to me.

Ironically a poster below me seemed to share his experience was similar to mine, but you probably think we conspired to come up with this.

No i dont think its conspiracy. I think you are being bull headed in your approach and somewhat dramatic in your description.

You come across as a very typical iphone user who doesnt get on with android. Instead of taking a step back and trying to resolve your issues you resort to a "its not an iphone" stance.

I will admit to these (frequent) posts from same fustrating me. Android isnt perfect but it is very powerful and sacrifices some of the simplicity of IOS in being flexible.

If you do as i said, youll have a much better experience. I suspect tbough its just a case of it not being an iphone in which case go and change it.

 

[mikef07]

No doubt it is more flexible. I copied and pasted my problems from another one of my posts. In that post I was very up front that I am not a power user. I simply want to open my phone up and use the default programs for the most part. Some of my issues no doubt can be overcome with different software likely, but many do not. In the end my goal is to not be dramatic. It is what it is and my experience is honest.

The reality is the visual voicemail problem is not fixable. The battery life is not fixable because I don't have many apps using battery nor do I have many apps installed. The management of boarding passes is not fixable (which I did not even post about). No facetime is not fixable (knew this going in though and was willing to live with it). Search function is not fixable. Keyboard is nt fixable. The other things might be with some tinkering.

I have no issue with every single person selling their iphone and going with Samsung. I could not care less what anyone uses. I hope OP has none of my experience. I would rather him know my experience though as that is the point of a forum.

 

[840quadra]

When did Apple say there was supply constraints? I think you are conflating what analysts say with Apple’s complete lack of comments on the subject. Also, if you know this happens every year, why are you surprised you couldn’t walk in and get an X?

Things aren’t adding up.

I do agree that it is tiresome to have constraints every year, and you would think that a company that is touted for having some of the best control over their supply chain, could perhaps figure out a smooth launch for a change. That said, it appears that the X is shipping quicker than expected, has more in stock at stores, and is available in more contries
than previous launches. I think analysts (as often happens) were wrong, and filled the web with total FUD.

On your situation.

If you are tempted by Android, go for it. There is a lot to like, and there is plenty of choice in devices and hardware out there for nearly every need!

 

[convergent]

Samsung fans just can't accept the truth that Samsung hardware is OK and the software is a huge steaming POS!

No, I don't agree with that at all. Why would someone knowingly put up with all the things that this guy listed as problems? Just so they can come on a forum and lie about it? Personally, I can buy any smartphone I want, and I depend on it as a tool so my motivation is 100% based on which one works best for my needs. If anything it's the Apple fans that have blind support no matter what the company does. Android users can choose another hardware vendor so no need for it.

There are a couple of things I agree with him on... easier integration with a Mac and other iPhone users, and messaging with attachments which is not a Samsung issue but an "everything except imessage" problem. This needs to be solved by Google or a consortium of carriers or something. MMS has run its course. Other than that, his list is mostly nonsense for the Note 8. I've never used the 7 Edge so will leave others to affirm or deny.

The Note 8 is by far the best smartphone experience I've ever had and been a joy to learn.

 

[mikef07]

Well if you think I am lying then you are lying about the Note 8 being the best phone you have ever had. See how that works.

I don't know enough about the android system to make things up. Like I said my experience is 100% accurate. If you can't accept that then that is a you problem.

If that is not or has not been your experience with Android I can 100% accept that.

 

[Michael Goff]

Samsung fans just can't accept the truth that Samsung hardware is OK and the software is a huge steaming POS!

Compared to what? I'm wondering what OS you're comparing it to when you say the OS is a PoS.

 

[hallux]

You want faster access to search? Home screen widget.
Visual voicemail is as much on the carriers as on Samsung. The Google-provided dialer supports this feature but on Android devices the carriers have chosen to provide their own app, or Samsung has replaced the dialer with their own that doesn't support the feature. I have visual voicemail in the dialer on my Nexus 6p using project Fi for my carrier.

 

[840quadra]

Well if you think I am lying then you are lying about the Note 8 being the best phone you have ever had. See how that works.

I don't know enough about the android system to make things up. Like I said my experience is 100% accurate. If you can't accept that then that is a you problem.

If that is not or has not been your experience with Android I can 100% accept that.

I don’t have a log to throw into this argument other than I think you didn’t fully grasp how to access / use some of the features on your phone, and secondly, I do agree with some of your gripes, though very few have to do with limitations Android or the devices you used.

SMS
Reduction in video quality is a limit of SMS, your iPhone will do the same thing, it is not iMessage. Though, there are ways to share full videos on Android too.

Search
It is also built into Android, and works quite well.

Browsers
Not sure what you were running, but, I have run into pages not rendering properly here and now. It is no different than Safari when it chokes on a site or two. Having an alternative browser for those types of pages is good to do on either platform.

Music
Apple Music is available on Android, including iTunes Match. Works flawlessly and I have it on my Pixel 2 (Love it).

Keyboards
There are plenty out in the marketplace that function a lot like iOSs. I agree, the stock keyboard is trash, if you are used to the way iOS does things. A quick google search, or posting a question on a forum like this could yield some friendly advice on that subject.

Launcher / widget issues
Change them. You are not locked into a singular launcher like you are on iOS (Springboard is what runs on the home screen). With some advice from Android users, you could setup something like Nova Launcher to essentially run just like you are used to in iOS.

As a rule, I find iOS to be a bit more put together straight out of the box. But, with some tuning you can setup your Android device to work similar, if not a little better.

For the Record, I daily drive a Pixel 2 (previously Nexus 6P), and many iOS devices.

 

[mikef07]

I don't disagree with you 840quadra. I realize there are definitely some workarounds to some of the issues and if someone decides those workarounds work for them or provide an even better experience I have no issue or argument with that. Makes total sense.

I will acknowledge that if I were going to keep the S7 I would have implemented some of these workarounds. My biggest issues are with the battery, stability of the internet browser, Integration with Apple Music and transferring music through itunes, the messaging app to message almost exclusively other apple phones who use imessage only, video chat with people who use facetime only, the keyboard, the handling of boarding passes on the main screen, and the visual voicemail access.

ios just provides a much more polished experience.

 

[840quadra]

I don't disagree with you 840quadra. I realize there are definitely some workarounds to some of the issues and if someone decides those workarounds work for them or provide an even better experience I have no issue or argument with that. Makes total sense.

I will acknowledge that if I were going to keep the S7 I would have implemented some of these workarounds. My biggest issues are with the battery, stability of the internet browser, Integration with Apple Music and transferring music through itunes, the messaging app to message almost exclusively other apple phones who use imessage only, video chat with people who use facetime only, the keyboard, the handling of boarding passes on the main screen, and the visual voicemail access.

ios just provides a much more polished experience.

You are confusing issues with the device, with services that are locked into a different ecosystem.

You need / like some services from Apple that they don’t have open to people using Android. It is not the fault of Android, Samsung, or the S7 that it lacks pieces from a closed ecosystem. You should have known that before going to an Android device.

There are easy solutions for your other issues, and it is no more difficult than adding an app. Do you just run stock applications (nothing else) on your iPhone? Highly unlikely.

 

[mikef07]

You are confusing issues with the device, with services that are locked into a different ecosystem.

You need / like some services from Apple that they don’t have open to people using Android. It is not the fault of Android, Samsung, or the S7 that it lacks pieces from a closed ecosystem. You should have known that before going to an Android device.

There are easy solutions for your other issues, and it is no more difficult than adding an app. Do you just run stock applications (nothing else) on your iPhone? Highly unlikely.

Certain ones sure. Facetime for example I knew and was Ok with it. If that was the only limitation I would have been ok with it. Messages downgrading video I did not know about. Buggy browser, bad battery, visual voicemail access, handling of boarding passes, poor keyboard I did not know about.

I pretty much use mostly stock apps in IOS for mail, messages, photos, internet, keyboard, maps, music, video, handling of boarding passes, apple pay, and notifications. So yes I pretty much mostly stock applications. For the ones I do not use stock apps such as AA, Facebook, Instagram, Southwest, a couple games, and a few other apps I have no issues with the Android apps. They are virtually identical which is why I do not complain one iota about apps for Android.

Having to swipe multiple times on the S7 to answer a call (at times I have missed calls because the swipe would not register at all) is unacceptable.

Adding a different browser sure might fix my browser issue, but it won't fix multiple things I listed. For example being able to access visual voicemail through the call menu.

 

[840quadra]

Certain ones sure. Facetime for example I knew and was Ok with it. If that was the only limitation I would have been ok with it. Messages downgrading video I did not know about. Buggy browser, bad battery, visual voicemail access, handling of boarding passes, poor keyboard I did not know about.

I pretty much use mostly stock apps in IOS for mail, messages, photos, internet, keyboard, maps, music, video, handling of boarding passes, apple pay, and notifications. So yes I pretty much mostly stock applications. For the ones I do not use stock apps such as AA, Facebook, Instagram, Southwest, a couple games, and a few other apps I have no issues with the Android apps. They are virtually identical which is why I do not complain one iota about apps for Android.

Having to swipe multiple times on the S7 to answer a call (at times I have missed calls because the swipe would not register at all) is unacceptable.

A lot of it is getting used to different ways of doing things, and understanding the limitations of services you are using.

FWIW, I am not trying to steer anyone in any direction. If you like / prefer iOS (for whatever reasons), go with it. I just think it is good to have an open mind, understand limitations, and try new things.

You did more than many, you tried something different.

 

[Puddled]

Itunes?

*shudders*

In my opinion, (and yes im going to be dramatic here) Itunes is the worst program i have ever had the misfortune to use in my life; for two reasons.

1. Why on earth does it exist in the first place?
2. It's huge, cumbersome and slow. Behaves like a virus in windows PC's.


God awful idea. Quite how or why you apple people put up with it i dont know.
[doublepost=1509906853][/doublepost]

Certain ones sure. Facetime for example I knew and was Ok with it. If that was the only limitation I would have been ok with it. Messages downgrading video I did not know about. Buggy browser, bad battery, visual voicemail access, handling of boarding passes, poor keyboard I did not know about.

I pretty much use mostly stock apps in IOS for mail, messages, photos, internet, keyboard, maps, music, video, handling of boarding passes, apple pay, and notifications. So yes I pretty much mostly stock applications. For the ones I do not use stock apps such as AA, Facebook, Instagram, Southwest, a couple games, and a few other apps I have no issues with the Android apps. They are virtually identical which is why I do not complain one iota about apps for Android.

Having to swipe multiple times on the S7 to answer a call (at times I have missed calls because the swipe would not register at all) is unacceptable.

Adding a different browser sure might fix my browser issue, but it won't fix multiple things I listed. For example being able to access visual voicemail through the call menu.

In settings (I'm getting bored saying this tbh) there is an option to answer calls with just a press of the home button.

Works.

 

[Michael Goff]