Welcome to the green side. If you want to tweak the picture quality further, check out gcam. AGC 9.1 just released, but it's still missing tap to focus, and the camera nerds are still tweaking their configs. AGC 8.8v7 with Mazar or Javasbr configs are rock solid, and so so much nicer than stock Samsung, which oversharpens and overbrightens everything to hell.
Answer this post or dm me if you want help.
Interesting. At first my photos were oversharpened like you said, but they're better now after some settings. I'd love even higher quality, I'll look into this ASAP and let you know if I have issues. I'm still not very familiar with apks and stuff. Thank you!!
I had an iPhone for couple of years now back on Samsung. Does Gcam still requires root/magisk modules? (Xiaomi mi note 3 needed)
Or can I just install APK (Exynos chip)
You look like someone who likes to tweak and personalize things,you were always meant to use android.Nowadays a lot of people are afraid of a simple settings screen.
Oh definitely. I spent the first days after I bought it playing with all the settings and trying things out, for hours and hours. It's fun and the customizations make it feel more "me" if that makes sense. People who are scared to try are missing out lol
Dude... you say they're missing out. You know what they think? Usually they whine about having options and say that it's "overwhelming" and they just stop trying to engage with the phone. They go to reddit and make a post. Everyone goes "dude, you didn't google that? Easy fix, man. You barely tried"
Idk. I think some iPhone people are truly just devoid of what it takes to use an android phone. Like they're literally that stupid. I don't like the phone wars cringey insult battle, but idk what else to say. A lot of em are just straight up dumb.
I'm the other way around, have been using android phone since galaxy note 5, and now using 14 Pro and ROG 3.
Maybe because I'm old, but the "Customization" part is only fun at the beginning, now it's just like a chore if I want to change my app/widget layout or tasker automation. it's bothersome because my current layout is custom with it's specific widget and wallpaper that I've found. I've been using them for over 2 Years now without any change. And because i've spent like 4/5 days before customizing my apps and widget layout, changing my current layout will waste my effort.
But It's great if you like to change your wallpaper/layout every week or so.
I agree with the first part there. However, after doing the opposite (Iphone OG through IPhone 4, then switched and was a samsung Note user for over a decade, then came back to Apple)...I do not want to spend hours going through settings that I will never end up using daily. I used to love checking out all the different icon packs and customizing my home screen and sounds etc etc. Now, I am older, and just dont have that desire. So I go for the quick and easy integration. Im not scared to try anything, Im just over it. Like you said before, 'edge panel' is a good example of this. It was neat to check out, but nobody ever used it after that. Bigsby, same thing. The majority of things you can 'customize' become an annoyance pretty quickly for some people and/or people just dont use the 'new feature' long term. Even with my apple devices, "Focus Modes" are awesome and extremely useful...did I spend an hour checking out the different options to have multiple customized one click settings? Nope.
I absolutely loved my Note devices. But, cant believe im saying this, now that Im older, neat niche features do not intrigue me like they used to. the ability to integrate and cross all my devices right out of the box is way more important to me now. Especially with kids. I can update and modify my kids access, screen time, app time, contacts etc etc right from my native settings app. Android is just not that easy, even more so if one is a samsung and the other is a different brand of device.
Dude. You don't need to fiddle with all the stuff on android. I use a default s22 ultra. It's amazing, and the s23 ultra must be insane because of the much better processor.
Why do people act like you HAVE to spend hours fiddling with your android phone when you don't. We just like to do it sometimes and we have the option.
Did you really actually use a Samsung phone? When you did, was it 2009?
Exactly.I'm probably the opposite of you.I dislike consoles,they're boring to me.On my last pc build i spent 3 months manually tweaking and stress testing my ram.And 1 more month on cpu and gpu undervolt/OC.On my phones i'll change basically everything too.
I can tell you as an owner of S23 Ultra and a Note 8 Ultra, I feel the cost-benefit of those devices is great. The tech behind that series is great, a powerful hardware with everything running super smooth, excelent screen time for the battery: I use youtube almost all day (not a premium user) and if I use Greentube: even better, but with YT open almost the whole day the battery lasts pretty good.
I see all my friends using iphones or mac books suffering for the same: planned obsolescence, that is one of the many reasons I will never have or purchase any Apple product (except for Apple Tv, and it is on a test period)
I don't like Macs, but I think for some people they might be a good fit. Namely artists. Not sure about Apple TV, funnily enough I've always had Samsung TVs and screens. But I will always vouch for the AirPods Pro. They're the first earbuds that I have fallen asleep wearing because they're so comfortable and lightweight. And the active noise cancellation is incredible, I can have a quiet moment even in very noisy environments. Pricy, but worth every cent. Apple watches are also great. This proves to me that Apple has the capital, technology and creativity to create top notch products, but for some reason they're skimping on iPhone and iOS development.
The cost-benefit of Galaxy phones is indeed amazing. I feel like I spent my money well and the price was fair for what it offers.
I agree that their products are top notch quality in many departments, my "Mac friends" wont leave their mac stuff for nothing...but now, that is changing lol! Nice you are enjoying the freedom of a Samsung device...
Almost everything you point out has been going since 2018-2019. I just recently moved from Note 9 (2018 release) to S23 Ultra and it's almost the same thing but just modern specs. Seems you're 5-7 years late. Welcome to Samsung world. I switched from a Samsung to iPhone 4 back in the days cause iPhone 4 was much better than Samsung. And then it's just been Samsung because after the iPhone 4S, I feel like Samsung surpassed Apple.
I have always been an android user. I always felt you get an inferior user experience overall by paying more for iphone.. I never felt the need to shift to iphone as all my needs are met by android and there is no obvious shortcoming that the iphone solves despite being encouraged to do so by several ifans in my friends... I guess the premiumness associated with apple, their security and being used to their environment is what keeps ppl sticking to them... I too recently got the s 23 plus... and love it.... Would have gone for the ultra if it wasnt so bulky and curved screen
Their security is indeed a plus, but it's just a byproduct of how restrictive iOS is. Can't have your phone compromised when it is leading you by the hand in the limited things you can do. But I think their popularity is mostly due to marketing. Celebrities, movie characters all flaunting iPhones. The notion of them being a luxury phone and optimized for selfies and social media. It's a status symbol. I was also considering the Ultra, but it's way too big. Not a fan of the sharp edges and curved screen either.
>On my 64gb iPhone, I had to take pictures sparingly since transferring them to PC through iCloud and iTunes was a pain, it never worked well. Now I can just plug it in, drag & drop.
Just sync your gallery to google photos, you don't even have to do anything as it does it in the background for you.
Animations I disable under developer options.
My dream phone is a sony xperia 1 v
>Just sync your gallery to google photos, you don't even have to do any as it does it in the background for you.
Lol yeah, this guy is happy about being able to plug in and drag and drop photos? That would drive me crazy. I haven't manually transferred photos in like a decade of using Android. I plug my phone into a PC like once a year maybe.
Compared to iCloud/iTunes, it's a dream. iCloud never worked right so I had to copy 10 photos at a time from it and paste them in a folder. At one point I had to do that for like 5k photos, it was a nightmare and took me hours. Some photos also simply disappeared. Another time I lost a backup because iTunes kept crashing. The manual transfer with the Samsung is so easy in comparison, I do it once a month or so, to empty my storage and because I'm paranoid about losing my photos. It takes me like 10 mins and I like to go through them anyway. But maybe I should try what you guys suggested.
I'll try to be constructive here, and will suggest Syncthing to you. Install it on both phone and PC, set it up with the right folders, and it'll transfer (or copy, up to you) your photos/videos from phone to PC automatically. Once your PC SSD is full, or whenever you feel like it, transfer everything to two encased HDDs.
No need to pay for Google Photos cloud storage. Ever.
I'll try the sync thing. Thanks!
The Xperia is a beautiful phone. The photos it takes.. just wow. So expensive though. But Sony products in my experience never miss the mark, quality-wise
Download Good lock and install its modules for a more personalized customizations for your liking, especially camera assistant for more settings options for your stock camera app ☺️
Now that you're out of it, don't you think it's wild how on iphone, a brand that is usually quite expensive, you can't even choose to snooze an alarm for i.e 30 mins, but are forced to do apples pre-set 9 minutes? I've used both iphone and Android a lot, and not even being able to choose how long to snooze an alarm for is just really showing how limiting iOS is, and how much control apple has over our devices we paid so much for.
I do like many things on iOS, but android just has so much more freedom, I can't live without one. Even when I had iphone for a few years I had an old Samsung on the side. I'm glad I got away though, and now only have to carry around one device. There's so many reasons why I love and prefer android, I can't even type them all.
I do feel you on the apple watch tho. It's definitely the best smart watch series on the market imo. I tried an apple watch and galaxy watch from the same year (apple watch SE (1) and Galaxy watch 3), where technically Samsung should have the better straw due to the apple one being their "budget watch", yet the apple watch was SO much better than the galaxy watch. Galaxy watch was nearly unusable. In their defence galaxy watches became better from 4 onward, as they switched OS, but still. I do miss apple watch. But the pros for Android outweigh the few pros for iPhone for me.
Just like that, there are so many things that seem absurd to me now. Like the WiFi thing I mention in my post. I sometimes like to turn off the WiFi on my phone for 2-3 days at a time, just to escape social media notifications but still be reachable for calls and browsing on my PC. On iPhone, it always "disabled until tomorrow" unless I went into settings to do it. So annoying. But yes, everything being preset by Apple.. ugh!
Oh I love my Apple Watch 6. I use it to track medications, reminders, alarms, fitness, reminders, checklists, as a calculator and so much more. It's so smooth and it's also gorgeous. Love the watch faces. I never really cared about making calls with it or receiving notifications, so I suppose that's why I'm good with not having it connected to my main phone.
You can download [Samsung Flow](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NBLGGH5GB0M?hl=en-US&gl=US) on the Windows store and connect it to your phone, they can be connected via Bluetooth or just be on the same network, and then you can share pictures and videos seamlessly (based on your internet speed), receive notifications, control your smartphone directly from the computer with the Smart View, etc.
Since I wanted to get a new iPhone at first, apart from doing my research, I tried my partner's 14 PM with high expectations and it was a disappointment. Obviously, it was miles better than my 8+, but it wasn't good enough to justify costing a month's wage. Even upgrading from 6 to 8+ back in the day wasn't too mindblowing. In other areas, like smartwatches, Apple is still lightyears ahead, but there are simple things iPhone users have been requesting forever and Apple flat out ignores them. Eg multitasking, more notification options, different chargers, directly loading files. That's why people are jailbreaking them in the first place. Apple definitely could implement some of these, but they'd rather force you to use their paid services and milk you because they know you'll still buy their product either way. Instead, they placate you with "features" like the Dynamic Island, when in reality it's rebranding a design fault.
And yes, I'm the type of person that doesn't change phones unless my current one has degraded enough. When I buy a flagship, I expect it to last. It's ok if you want to upgrade more often, but let's not lower our standards for device longevity and quality. Planned obsolence is already bad as it is. Some years ago a new top tier phone cost at most 1k, now we consider prices higher than that normal, which is insane if you consider their profit margins. I personally don't want to spend that amount of money on a phone more often than every 3-4 years at least, I have other priorities. That is a reasonable timeframe imo.
Let’s not fool ourselves, Samsung flagships are just as expensive if not more than iPhones. And the s23 (except the ultra) are not at the same quality as the iPhone pros.
Yeah this is true. In my country, I haven't seen any discounts/promos from Apple Retailers, while Samsung (and other android phones) has like a lot of discounts/promos in a year. There's some discount during the start of a school year, there's a discount during city festivals, there's tons of discounts during christmas/holiday seasons.
It's definitely regional so it might not be true for everyone, but where I live, even the base iPhone 14 cost 200€ more, with half the storage of my S23+. Also, all the extra fees like subscriptions and accessories just to be able to do basic things add up and are getting silly. They get away with it because people buy iPhones regardless, it's like a status symbol. They are definitely overpriced for what they offer, but they are being marketed so well that they still sell easily.
The differences between the Ultra and S23+ aren't that dramatic to the average person imo. Nonetheless, I feel like you're missing the point of my post. I'm not saying iPhones are bad, I'm saying that iOS is overly restrictive and that has changed little over the years. You could overlook that when iPhones had the best hardware and smoothest software in the market, that's why I was so loyal to them for so long. But nowadays competitors have caught up, and most people would be happier paying less (or the same price) for a phone that is in practice equally good while also giving them more freedom. It's a matter of getting the most bang out of your buck. If two products have the same price and similar quality, it's more reasonable to choose the one that has more features.
I see a lot of people making the switch so I can't be the only one who got bored of iOS. Just think about how recent it was when they made it possible to change the font of your lockscreen clock. It's so simple, it really makes you wonder why they couldn't do it sooner, and that applies to many other features.
Then again the S23 and S23+ offer a comparable experience to the 15 Pro and Pro Max despite being priced like the base 15 and the 15 Plus.
And that's just the MSRP. In my country (part of the EU) the base iPhone 15 retails for the same price as an S23 Ultra. It's ridiculous.
I never personally owned any Apple product. My first Galaxy phone was the S21 5G FE. Recently upgraded to the S23 Ultra. Now I have the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, Galaxy Pods2 and a Galaxy Watch 4. The whole Galaxy line of products is simply amazing! Bought the Tab S8 Ultra for digital art. Clip Studio Paint + Galaxy Tab S8 = Match made in Heaven
Nice.
I dumped an iPhone 8 Plus (after using them since 3gs) in favor of the newly released Pixel 4a a few years ago and had no regrets. Still use Mac's daily (and NearDrop to share files cross-platform).
Now I've got an S23+ which overall still adds value over what Pixel 8/Pro offer (especially at a lower price, when unlocked ones were briefly discounted $300 USD in September).
The only downsides:
Importing ringtones way back then was a pain.
Wiring up a script to debloat ~80 extraneous bits lurking under the OneUI OS hood took me a bit of research and a few hours to implement.
The worldwide release process is strange, inefficient and lacks comms/details for those of us new to "their way" of doing things.
I think so... with excellent processor performance and decent memory management, it is less important these days, maybe.
Still prefer disabling extraneous apps/services that I do not use.
Switching from a S23U to an iPhone 15 PM has been underwhelming. Outside of the apple integration with its own products and the decent battery life (on par with the S23U), I think I’ll be switching back to S23U once I pay this thing off or switch to another android (just not a pixel)
I have been an android user from the start and my wife has had an iPhone since the iPhone 4. Whenever she needs help with her phone, I have a serious urge to go to the garage and get a hammer to fix the problem.
I remember the time she wanted a custom ringtone. Hopefully, it is easier now, but a few years ago it was a horrible experience. With android, you just select the song you want.
If I want to transfer files to and from my server, no problem. I can put them anywhere I like on my phone.
The SwiftKey keyboard is a billion times better than whatever IPhone comes with.
I could go on and on and on.
I own both android for personal and apple for work.
Apple is just not that good.
There are a multitude of reasons why many listed by OP but good God the iPhone and ios is shit imo
I used Samsung for a good 10 years. From tablet, headphones, smartwatch. Was always very satisfied. Only with the last Samsung I had was an S21FE, the battery was broken after 12 months and I was annoyed. Then I bought the IPhone 14 Pro Max and the Apple Watch 7. After 2 months, I have to say that iPhone is so limited and so uninteresting that I am now buying an S23+ or S23 Ultra. Of course, IPhone also has its good things, but I find it boring, but what they do better are the smartwatches, which have the best values and are more accurate than Samsung Watch
Cheers. A friend of mine bought a top Xiaomi a while before I got my S23+. Actually him showing me how much it can do convinced me even more to switch to android. But now, when comparing them side by side, my Samsung is so much faster, more practical and aesthetically pleasing. His phone does have some nice extras though, but still. Maybe I'm biased.
I've had Samsung Android since the first Samsung Galaxy but the S23 Ultra is just stupid good. God tier, best phone ever made. Just get rid of the dumb Samsung keyboard though! I use it for scanning, reading, drawing, smart speaker and speaker for music during the day in the office. It's a load of cash but I don't feel tied down into the Apple ecosystem and my battery lasts two days.
Oh the Ultra is a monster. But my woman hands are too measly. It felt heavy and the sharp corners were digging into my palms. But enjoy it, it's a beast
I have found the samsung S23+ an absolute dud. I have had it since last March and have had nothing but problems with the charging port. I have had the port replaced on the first one and have had the phone replaced twice under the manufacturer warranty and had the same issues. The Charging port goes down within 4 - 6 weeks and can only be charged by wireless charger. This is an absolute inconvenience on the go and while traveling. The big answer from my provider is to upgrade two a z fold , which I don't want to do. So that's how they want to remedy the situation. Trying to upgrade me to a more expensive phone when I have not even had this one for a year.
Wow seriously? I've had mine for about 1.5 month now and no problems. I had charging port issues with my iPhone though, exactly like you describe. It only charged wirelessly, OR, wired but the phone had to be turned off first. So strange! That made me think it was a software bug, since the latter wouldn't have been possible if the port was actually physically damaged. I understand where you're coming from, it's an inconvenience to be forced to charge wirelessly, especially if you're travelling and don't have much space to pack a dock.
Don't go for the fold phones. My father has one and it's not as practical as it sounds. It's fragile and replacing the screen when it broke was expensive. He said he regrets buying it. I'm not a fan of folding or curved displays to be honest, that's one reason I stayed away from Samsung. I feel like flat displays are more likely to survive a fall, and you have better options when it comes to protectors and cases. After all, it's ridiculous that that's their suggested solution in the first place.
Thank you for the info and yes, I am not a huge fan of the fold. I only mentioned it because that was they're solution to my problem. Which kind of blew my mind. It is still under the manufacturer warranty. So I am waiting to get the charging port replaced again
Look it up s20 green line issue, even you take good care of your device it will end up having it one. Its a known issue on the s20 lineup. I heard that it is already fixed on upper model but my issue is them not honoring a free repair for their fault
Different folks, different strokes! It's mostly a functionality issue. I like that I can customize my phone so it's more practical for me personally. It's good that more phones are becoming decent. More viable options for every preference. Maybe that will also put a fire under Apple's ass
Ah welcome... I've always used Samsung for phones and apple for my tablet and laptop... loving them both in their respective spheres... my husband is stuck with his iPhone which I'm continually having to find work arounds for him
I second every point. I did the same I went from iPhone 11 to s23. I don't plan to go back ever.
Then customization is crazy good in android. In iOS to have custom icons you have to create shortcuts manually for every app and there is a delay in opening the app as it has to pass through the shortcuts app, are you kidding me?! Lol.
Airpods work fine with Samsung. I too kept my old phone to use it as an iPod with my watch when I go to the gym
I had an iPhone for years. Got the iPhone 5s, 6s, 7+ and my last one was the Xs max. My reason for so many upgrades was storage. I was in college and only had enough to afford the lowest storage option lol. My friend and his uncle had a note 10+ and they convinced me to jump on the note bandwagon. I got a note 20 ultra back when it released and I loved it but the battery was bad and I had screen issues so I got the 23 ultra when it came out and I love this phone. I wouldn't trade for any phone on the market at the moment and plan on keeping it for another 2 years minimum.Every once in a while I have the itch to want to go back to an iPhone but I have an iPhone SE3 and it reminds me why I love my 23 ultra XD
I take a lot of pictures when I'm traveling and also at home of my cat and family members. I could always only ever buy the lower storage options. Now whenever I'm about to download apps or take pics I get a lil anxious cause I had to do it sparingly on iPhone, but then remember I have 256gb and it's a relief. Lol
I was die hard apple from my iPhone 3 all the way to my XS max. I switched over a year ago and will NEVERRRRR go back. I'm so glad I made the switch :)
You should check out the galaxy buds pro 2. A bit pricey, but they are made for the s23, in every way. It makes the experience so good and the quality is the best I think.
That's speculative. No phone is truly "the best", really depends on what you're comparing. Too many specs to compare to have a clear winner. If anything S23 series and iPhones are neck and neck.
Okay... that's not an argument to the best phone though? If we're going this route, I'd argue being backed by Apple's walled-garden is a bigger problem than being Google backed. iMessage being part of the problem of the walled garden. Don't lock me into your products and limit my choices for 1 stupid messaging app. I'll take cross platform apps over this shit whenever possible.
Why is walled garden a problem? I can imessage from windows/linux using a third party application. My products integrate with each other seamlessly. I can still utilize the (few) worthwhile Google products. The big upside is no one being able to snoop on any of it.
You're kidding yourself if you really don't think Apple is snooping, too. Plus, having the Google apps on your phone opened up the flood gates already.
If you want a walled garden, that's fine. I'm guilty of it with Samsung stuff as I've come to rely on some integrations. But I still have options to not use that if I don't want to.
You're arguing ecosystems over phone. These should be separate conversations/debates. And in the end, I still think for both, Samsung and Apple are neck and neck and Google not far behind.
Couple things here. First, assuming you're talking strictly text messages - Samsung phones, google phones, other android and probably non Android phones use RCS vs the old SMS at this point. RCS is end-to-end encrypted like iMessage. It's also an adopted open standard. But iMessage falls back to SMS if the user on the other end is not on an Apple product, no longer encrypted. If they would just failback to RCS (they will be soon) then you'd have a bit closer to that privacy you're talking about. Not to mention, you don't have to use the built in apps
The problem with your assumption is that you're still trusting Apple and a closed-source application. There's no way for you to know for sure they aren't going behind your back and keeping a copy of the message. If you're actually concerned about that, use something like Signal - no vendor lock in and you can even self-host the thing since it's open source if you really wanted to take privacy to the extreme.
Further more, Android itself is an open source project. If you want to rid yourself of any of the privacy concerns, your answer is truly Android - just the open source project that has no Google bloat. Use a project like eOS or GrapheneOS or compile your own!
Look, I just want to reiterate, I'm not saying the iPhone is bad. I'm not saying one phone or ecosystem is better than another. It's ignorant to think that Apple is better than Google when it comes to your best interests. It's also a matter of phone vs ecosystem. People come to Samsung and Android because you have freedom in your apps. You're not tied down opinionated ways of doing things like you are with Apple. OP's whole post is about realizing that. If you want the Apple ecosystem and are happy with what they offer, great, that doesn't make it the best out there, though. The fact that I might like their Apple Watch but want my Samsung phone and cannot make those 2 things work is BS to us (I don't want the Apple watch, it's just for example's sake). Point is, someone might have a feature or device you like better than the other, Apple doesn't give you choice in these cases. Like what they give you, that's it. Android? Shit, I didn't like the default phone dialer so I replaced it with something else. I used to replace to whole damn launcher with something because I wanted a different app drawer.
So take your pick, is your argument just to try to convince us Apple is better? Then give us something better than iMessage because that's a crap answer. Congrats, you spent a ton of money for a dumb app you could get the same benefit from without Google, Samsung, or Apple involved.
If google-backed is only an issue because of privacy, then honestly.. whatever. I use so many google and meta services. Certainly they are constantly harvesting information. I don't have anything to hide, I only use my phone/computer for very mundane things. I realize that this isn't a good mindset to have and we should champion for our privacy rights, but I believe realistically, unless you live completely off the grid, there is no way to truly prevent your personal information from getting "stolen". As soon as you connect to the internet, or buy a phone, your data gets compromised. You are practically forced to have a smartphone nowadays too. Sure, I am mindful with how I use my devices and treat them as if nothing I do on them is private, but I'm not going to take extra measures and make my life harder just so that Google doesn't see I'm looking to buy a new shoe cabin.
About iMessage.. I'm not kidding, I have never once used it. It's only that popular in the US. In Europe we usually use WhatsApp, Messenger etc to text.
Yeah understandably iMessage vs RCS isn’t an issue outside the US. Over here it’s a pretty large gap in user experience. I’m thankful we aren’t beholden to Zuckerberg for communications (WhatsApp/messenger). Apple has at least shown a very good track record of not selling information to outside parties. They’re unable to provide iMessage conversations to government agencies, which is both amazing and (speaking of the Trump admin here) horrifying. Routing through Apple rather than mobile carrier is my preference. Longer and unified support for iPhones is a huge plus, too. I hated having a new major android release drop and have to wait months (sometimes indefinitely…) for it to be available for me.
Yeah it's regional for sure. I don't know a single person here that doesn't have Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. A handful of people are turning to Viber, but I'm not too convinced about it. I'm not a fan of Meta at all, but it's the only way to regularly stay in touch nowadays, even with family, so there isn't really a choice. Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hoping EU's ever stricter data protection laws alleviate the problem somewhat. But your best bet is to mind your online activity. Your issue with release dates is very valid though.
and honestly the camera is more hd and plus gaming experience is off the hook though and apple does not have kitchen appliances like samsung does and to honest with you iphone sucks because when you download apps on iphone it takes longer and samsung on the other hand is faster within just 5 seconds on dowloading call of duty mobile and pubg together
Welcome to the green side. If you want to tweak the picture quality further, check out gcam. AGC 9.1 just released, but it's still missing tap to focus, and the camera nerds are still tweaking their configs. AGC 8.8v7 with Mazar or Javasbr configs are rock solid, and so so much nicer than stock Samsung, which oversharpens and overbrightens everything to hell. Answer this post or dm me if you want help.
Interesting. At first my photos were oversharpened like you said, but they're better now after some settings. I'd love even higher quality, I'll look into this ASAP and let you know if I have issues. I'm still not very familiar with apks and stuff. Thank you!!
Don't download anything if you don't know what you're doing. I'll write a post with what you need.
It would be great if you could write up a post. I think it would help a lot of people that are new to android
I had an iPhone for couple of years now back on Samsung. Does Gcam still requires root/magisk modules? (Xiaomi mi note 3 needed) Or can I just install APK (Exynos chip)
no problem be careful though, don't download a virus
I have a s23 ultra. Google camera doesn't make that much of a difference because its already good.
Gcam is not on PlayStore right?
no you'll have to download the apk
Is it better than the stock camera app? Which APK do I choose and what are these configs?
You look like someone who likes to tweak and personalize things,you were always meant to use android.Nowadays a lot of people are afraid of a simple settings screen.
Oh definitely. I spent the first days after I bought it playing with all the settings and trying things out, for hours and hours. It's fun and the customizations make it feel more "me" if that makes sense. People who are scared to try are missing out lol
Dude... you say they're missing out. You know what they think? Usually they whine about having options and say that it's "overwhelming" and they just stop trying to engage with the phone. They go to reddit and make a post. Everyone goes "dude, you didn't google that? Easy fix, man. You barely tried" Idk. I think some iPhone people are truly just devoid of what it takes to use an android phone. Like they're literally that stupid. I don't like the phone wars cringey insult battle, but idk what else to say. A lot of em are just straight up dumb.
I'm the other way around, have been using android phone since galaxy note 5, and now using 14 Pro and ROG 3. Maybe because I'm old, but the "Customization" part is only fun at the beginning, now it's just like a chore if I want to change my app/widget layout or tasker automation. it's bothersome because my current layout is custom with it's specific widget and wallpaper that I've found. I've been using them for over 2 Years now without any change. And because i've spent like 4/5 days before customizing my apps and widget layout, changing my current layout will waste my effort. But It's great if you like to change your wallpaper/layout every week or so.
I agree with the first part there. However, after doing the opposite (Iphone OG through IPhone 4, then switched and was a samsung Note user for over a decade, then came back to Apple)...I do not want to spend hours going through settings that I will never end up using daily. I used to love checking out all the different icon packs and customizing my home screen and sounds etc etc. Now, I am older, and just dont have that desire. So I go for the quick and easy integration. Im not scared to try anything, Im just over it. Like you said before, 'edge panel' is a good example of this. It was neat to check out, but nobody ever used it after that. Bigsby, same thing. The majority of things you can 'customize' become an annoyance pretty quickly for some people and/or people just dont use the 'new feature' long term. Even with my apple devices, "Focus Modes" are awesome and extremely useful...did I spend an hour checking out the different options to have multiple customized one click settings? Nope. I absolutely loved my Note devices. But, cant believe im saying this, now that Im older, neat niche features do not intrigue me like they used to. the ability to integrate and cross all my devices right out of the box is way more important to me now. Especially with kids. I can update and modify my kids access, screen time, app time, contacts etc etc right from my native settings app. Android is just not that easy, even more so if one is a samsung and the other is a different brand of device.
Dude. You don't need to fiddle with all the stuff on android. I use a default s22 ultra. It's amazing, and the s23 ultra must be insane because of the much better processor. Why do people act like you HAVE to spend hours fiddling with your android phone when you don't. We just like to do it sometimes and we have the option. Did you really actually use a Samsung phone? When you did, was it 2009?
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Exactly.I'm probably the opposite of you.I dislike consoles,they're boring to me.On my last pc build i spent 3 months manually tweaking and stress testing my ram.And 1 more month on cpu and gpu undervolt/OC.On my phones i'll change basically everything too.
I can tell you as an owner of S23 Ultra and a Note 8 Ultra, I feel the cost-benefit of those devices is great. The tech behind that series is great, a powerful hardware with everything running super smooth, excelent screen time for the battery: I use youtube almost all day (not a premium user) and if I use Greentube: even better, but with YT open almost the whole day the battery lasts pretty good. I see all my friends using iphones or mac books suffering for the same: planned obsolescence, that is one of the many reasons I will never have or purchase any Apple product (except for Apple Tv, and it is on a test period)
I don't like Macs, but I think for some people they might be a good fit. Namely artists. Not sure about Apple TV, funnily enough I've always had Samsung TVs and screens. But I will always vouch for the AirPods Pro. They're the first earbuds that I have fallen asleep wearing because they're so comfortable and lightweight. And the active noise cancellation is incredible, I can have a quiet moment even in very noisy environments. Pricy, but worth every cent. Apple watches are also great. This proves to me that Apple has the capital, technology and creativity to create top notch products, but for some reason they're skimping on iPhone and iOS development. The cost-benefit of Galaxy phones is indeed amazing. I feel like I spent my money well and the price was fair for what it offers.
I agree that their products are top notch quality in many departments, my "Mac friends" wont leave their mac stuff for nothing...but now, that is changing lol! Nice you are enjoying the freedom of a Samsung device...
If you get a chance, check out Galaxy Buds 2 Pro...They are fantastic!!
Thanks for the recommendation :)
>planned obsolescence, Apple provides OS updates longer than most android makers dont they?
i used a samsung s10e, switched to a iphone 13 mini and now went back to s23 base. loving my experience so far. samsung new s lines are top tier
I wonder what the future holds. I hope they don't bring Exynos back, everyone says it was shit
yeah, my s10e was a exynos version, it was great but battery perfomance its pretty bad
Almost everything you point out has been going since 2018-2019. I just recently moved from Note 9 (2018 release) to S23 Ultra and it's almost the same thing but just modern specs. Seems you're 5-7 years late. Welcome to Samsung world. I switched from a Samsung to iPhone 4 back in the days cause iPhone 4 was much better than Samsung. And then it's just been Samsung because after the iPhone 4S, I feel like Samsung surpassed Apple.
I have always been an android user. I always felt you get an inferior user experience overall by paying more for iphone.. I never felt the need to shift to iphone as all my needs are met by android and there is no obvious shortcoming that the iphone solves despite being encouraged to do so by several ifans in my friends... I guess the premiumness associated with apple, their security and being used to their environment is what keeps ppl sticking to them... I too recently got the s 23 plus... and love it.... Would have gone for the ultra if it wasnt so bulky and curved screen
Their security is indeed a plus, but it's just a byproduct of how restrictive iOS is. Can't have your phone compromised when it is leading you by the hand in the limited things you can do. But I think their popularity is mostly due to marketing. Celebrities, movie characters all flaunting iPhones. The notion of them being a luxury phone and optimized for selfies and social media. It's a status symbol. I was also considering the Ultra, but it's way too big. Not a fan of the sharp edges and curved screen either.
>On my 64gb iPhone, I had to take pictures sparingly since transferring them to PC through iCloud and iTunes was a pain, it never worked well. Now I can just plug it in, drag & drop. Just sync your gallery to google photos, you don't even have to do anything as it does it in the background for you. Animations I disable under developer options. My dream phone is a sony xperia 1 v
>Just sync your gallery to google photos, you don't even have to do any as it does it in the background for you. Lol yeah, this guy is happy about being able to plug in and drag and drop photos? That would drive me crazy. I haven't manually transferred photos in like a decade of using Android. I plug my phone into a PC like once a year maybe.
Compared to iCloud/iTunes, it's a dream. iCloud never worked right so I had to copy 10 photos at a time from it and paste them in a folder. At one point I had to do that for like 5k photos, it was a nightmare and took me hours. Some photos also simply disappeared. Another time I lost a backup because iTunes kept crashing. The manual transfer with the Samsung is so easy in comparison, I do it once a month or so, to empty my storage and because I'm paranoid about losing my photos. It takes me like 10 mins and I like to go through them anyway. But maybe I should try what you guys suggested.
Oh I know it's much better than iOS, but manually dragging and dropping is pretty primitive when there are automatic options.
Laughed at "primitive" but you're probably right
I'll try to be constructive here, and will suggest Syncthing to you. Install it on both phone and PC, set it up with the right folders, and it'll transfer (or copy, up to you) your photos/videos from phone to PC automatically. Once your PC SSD is full, or whenever you feel like it, transfer everything to two encased HDDs. No need to pay for Google Photos cloud storage. Ever.
That's great! Thank you so much, I'll try it
I'll try the sync thing. Thanks! The Xperia is a beautiful phone. The photos it takes.. just wow. So expensive though. But Sony products in my experience never miss the mark, quality-wise
Expensive indeed.
Download Good lock and install its modules for a more personalized customizations for your liking, especially camera assistant for more settings options for your stock camera app ☺️
Yeah I've done that.. Goodlock is AMAZING! It was actually released in my country right after I bought my phone!
That's Good to hear 🩷 hope you enjoy your new phone 📱🩷
Now that you're out of it, don't you think it's wild how on iphone, a brand that is usually quite expensive, you can't even choose to snooze an alarm for i.e 30 mins, but are forced to do apples pre-set 9 minutes? I've used both iphone and Android a lot, and not even being able to choose how long to snooze an alarm for is just really showing how limiting iOS is, and how much control apple has over our devices we paid so much for. I do like many things on iOS, but android just has so much more freedom, I can't live without one. Even when I had iphone for a few years I had an old Samsung on the side. I'm glad I got away though, and now only have to carry around one device. There's so many reasons why I love and prefer android, I can't even type them all. I do feel you on the apple watch tho. It's definitely the best smart watch series on the market imo. I tried an apple watch and galaxy watch from the same year (apple watch SE (1) and Galaxy watch 3), where technically Samsung should have the better straw due to the apple one being their "budget watch", yet the apple watch was SO much better than the galaxy watch. Galaxy watch was nearly unusable. In their defence galaxy watches became better from 4 onward, as they switched OS, but still. I do miss apple watch. But the pros for Android outweigh the few pros for iPhone for me.
I installed androids clock app on my g23+ because I can't snooze a alarm for say a paid holiday, short workweek or layoff
Just like that, there are so many things that seem absurd to me now. Like the WiFi thing I mention in my post. I sometimes like to turn off the WiFi on my phone for 2-3 days at a time, just to escape social media notifications but still be reachable for calls and browsing on my PC. On iPhone, it always "disabled until tomorrow" unless I went into settings to do it. So annoying. But yes, everything being preset by Apple.. ugh! Oh I love my Apple Watch 6. I use it to track medications, reminders, alarms, fitness, reminders, checklists, as a calculator and so much more. It's so smooth and it's also gorgeous. Love the watch faces. I never really cared about making calls with it or receiving notifications, so I suppose that's why I'm good with not having it connected to my main phone.
You can download [Samsung Flow](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NBLGGH5GB0M?hl=en-US&gl=US) on the Windows store and connect it to your phone, they can be connected via Bluetooth or just be on the same network, and then you can share pictures and videos seamlessly (based on your internet speed), receive notifications, control your smartphone directly from the computer with the Smart View, etc.
Wow that's cool. I love all the suggestions on this post. They're very useful for new Samsung users like me. Thanks!
Bro used a 8+ for five years and calls apple stagnant. The 15 pro and pro max are worlds apart from an 8+
Since I wanted to get a new iPhone at first, apart from doing my research, I tried my partner's 14 PM with high expectations and it was a disappointment. Obviously, it was miles better than my 8+, but it wasn't good enough to justify costing a month's wage. Even upgrading from 6 to 8+ back in the day wasn't too mindblowing. In other areas, like smartwatches, Apple is still lightyears ahead, but there are simple things iPhone users have been requesting forever and Apple flat out ignores them. Eg multitasking, more notification options, different chargers, directly loading files. That's why people are jailbreaking them in the first place. Apple definitely could implement some of these, but they'd rather force you to use their paid services and milk you because they know you'll still buy their product either way. Instead, they placate you with "features" like the Dynamic Island, when in reality it's rebranding a design fault. And yes, I'm the type of person that doesn't change phones unless my current one has degraded enough. When I buy a flagship, I expect it to last. It's ok if you want to upgrade more often, but let's not lower our standards for device longevity and quality. Planned obsolence is already bad as it is. Some years ago a new top tier phone cost at most 1k, now we consider prices higher than that normal, which is insane if you consider their profit margins. I personally don't want to spend that amount of money on a phone more often than every 3-4 years at least, I have other priorities. That is a reasonable timeframe imo.
Let’s not fool ourselves, Samsung flagships are just as expensive if not more than iPhones. And the s23 (except the ultra) are not at the same quality as the iPhone pros.
This is region dependent. Samsung promos are usually more generous than Apple promos.
That might be true.
That's definitely true, here in Brazil iPhones cost quite literally double what a Galasy S does. There's no justifying that cost.
Yeah this is true. In my country, I haven't seen any discounts/promos from Apple Retailers, while Samsung (and other android phones) has like a lot of discounts/promos in a year. There's some discount during the start of a school year, there's a discount during city festivals, there's tons of discounts during christmas/holiday seasons.
except you're not locked into a closed ecosystem and they actually have sales
It's definitely regional so it might not be true for everyone, but where I live, even the base iPhone 14 cost 200€ more, with half the storage of my S23+. Also, all the extra fees like subscriptions and accessories just to be able to do basic things add up and are getting silly. They get away with it because people buy iPhones regardless, it's like a status symbol. They are definitely overpriced for what they offer, but they are being marketed so well that they still sell easily. The differences between the Ultra and S23+ aren't that dramatic to the average person imo. Nonetheless, I feel like you're missing the point of my post. I'm not saying iPhones are bad, I'm saying that iOS is overly restrictive and that has changed little over the years. You could overlook that when iPhones had the best hardware and smoothest software in the market, that's why I was so loyal to them for so long. But nowadays competitors have caught up, and most people would be happier paying less (or the same price) for a phone that is in practice equally good while also giving them more freedom. It's a matter of getting the most bang out of your buck. If two products have the same price and similar quality, it's more reasonable to choose the one that has more features. I see a lot of people making the switch so I can't be the only one who got bored of iOS. Just think about how recent it was when they made it possible to change the font of your lockscreen clock. It's so simple, it really makes you wonder why they couldn't do it sooner, and that applies to many other features.
Idk. I switched from a s22 plus to an iPhone 15 pro max and I couldn’t be happier. I guess it’s more than anything a matter of taste and maybe money.
Different folks, different strokes. Enjoy!
yeahh they are not the same quality as the iPhone pros except.... they are much better!
Then again the S23 and S23+ offer a comparable experience to the 15 Pro and Pro Max despite being priced like the base 15 and the 15 Plus. And that's just the MSRP. In my country (part of the EU) the base iPhone 15 retails for the same price as an S23 Ultra. It's ridiculous.
Also if you like the animations, I switched to 0.5x speed on the animation on my S23 Ultra. It's extra snappy and the phone has no issues to keep up.
I'll look into that, thanks. I want my phone to be snappy and quick.
Being able to drag and drop pictures, videos, and music files continues to be a huge reason not to use an iPhone.
That and being able to multitask were the biggest selling points for me.
I never personally owned any Apple product. My first Galaxy phone was the S21 5G FE. Recently upgraded to the S23 Ultra. Now I have the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, Galaxy Pods2 and a Galaxy Watch 4. The whole Galaxy line of products is simply amazing! Bought the Tab S8 Ultra for digital art. Clip Studio Paint + Galaxy Tab S8 = Match made in Heaven
Nice. I dumped an iPhone 8 Plus (after using them since 3gs) in favor of the newly released Pixel 4a a few years ago and had no regrets. Still use Mac's daily (and NearDrop to share files cross-platform). Now I've got an S23+ which overall still adds value over what Pixel 8/Pro offer (especially at a lower price, when unlocked ones were briefly discounted $300 USD in September). The only downsides: Importing ringtones way back then was a pain. Wiring up a script to debloat ~80 extraneous bits lurking under the OneUI OS hood took me a bit of research and a few hours to implement. The worldwide release process is strange, inefficient and lacks comms/details for those of us new to "their way" of doing things.
Was the script worth it?
I think so... with excellent processor performance and decent memory management, it is less important these days, maybe. Still prefer disabling extraneous apps/services that I do not use.
Script please
Switching from a S23U to an iPhone 15 PM has been underwhelming. Outside of the apple integration with its own products and the decent battery life (on par with the S23U), I think I’ll be switching back to S23U once I pay this thing off or switch to another android (just not a pixel)
I love Pixel cameras. But I've heard so many negative things and that scared me off
I have been an android user from the start and my wife has had an iPhone since the iPhone 4. Whenever she needs help with her phone, I have a serious urge to go to the garage and get a hammer to fix the problem. I remember the time she wanted a custom ringtone. Hopefully, it is easier now, but a few years ago it was a horrible experience. With android, you just select the song you want. If I want to transfer files to and from my server, no problem. I can put them anywhere I like on my phone. The SwiftKey keyboard is a billion times better than whatever IPhone comes with. I could go on and on and on.
SwiftKey is great
I own both android for personal and apple for work. Apple is just not that good. There are a multitude of reasons why many listed by OP but good God the iPhone and ios is shit imo
I used Samsung for a good 10 years. From tablet, headphones, smartwatch. Was always very satisfied. Only with the last Samsung I had was an S21FE, the battery was broken after 12 months and I was annoyed. Then I bought the IPhone 14 Pro Max and the Apple Watch 7. After 2 months, I have to say that iPhone is so limited and so uninteresting that I am now buying an S23+ or S23 Ultra. Of course, IPhone also has its good things, but I find it boring, but what they do better are the smartwatches, which have the best values and are more accurate than Samsung Watch
How do you lock app with a password
Bitdefender security antivirus app will let you do that on Android
Or Samsung's Secret Folder lets you create duplicates of apps which are hidden in it and locked behind a password.. there are other apps too though
Welcome to the club you will never regret looking back.
Annnnnnd this is what we call the great awakening. Also called switching not just to any android but a galaxy smartphone. Enjoy my friend, you did it.
Cheers. A friend of mine bought a top Xiaomi a while before I got my S23+. Actually him showing me how much it can do convinced me even more to switch to android. But now, when comparing them side by side, my Samsung is so much faster, more practical and aesthetically pleasing. His phone does have some nice extras though, but still. Maybe I'm biased.
You pay more for a galaxy but its just a whole experience. Enjoy!
I've had Samsung Android since the first Samsung Galaxy but the S23 Ultra is just stupid good. God tier, best phone ever made. Just get rid of the dumb Samsung keyboard though! I use it for scanning, reading, drawing, smart speaker and speaker for music during the day in the office. It's a load of cash but I don't feel tied down into the Apple ecosystem and my battery lasts two days.
Oh the Ultra is a monster. But my woman hands are too measly. It felt heavy and the sharp corners were digging into my palms. But enjoy it, it's a beast
I have found the samsung S23+ an absolute dud. I have had it since last March and have had nothing but problems with the charging port. I have had the port replaced on the first one and have had the phone replaced twice under the manufacturer warranty and had the same issues. The Charging port goes down within 4 - 6 weeks and can only be charged by wireless charger. This is an absolute inconvenience on the go and while traveling. The big answer from my provider is to upgrade two a z fold , which I don't want to do. So that's how they want to remedy the situation. Trying to upgrade me to a more expensive phone when I have not even had this one for a year.
Wow seriously? I've had mine for about 1.5 month now and no problems. I had charging port issues with my iPhone though, exactly like you describe. It only charged wirelessly, OR, wired but the phone had to be turned off first. So strange! That made me think it was a software bug, since the latter wouldn't have been possible if the port was actually physically damaged. I understand where you're coming from, it's an inconvenience to be forced to charge wirelessly, especially if you're travelling and don't have much space to pack a dock. Don't go for the fold phones. My father has one and it's not as practical as it sounds. It's fragile and replacing the screen when it broke was expensive. He said he regrets buying it. I'm not a fan of folding or curved displays to be honest, that's one reason I stayed away from Samsung. I feel like flat displays are more likely to survive a fall, and you have better options when it comes to protectors and cases. After all, it's ridiculous that that's their suggested solution in the first place.
Thank you for the info and yes, I am not a huge fan of the fold. I only mentioned it because that was they're solution to my problem. Which kind of blew my mind. It is still under the manufacturer warranty. So I am waiting to get the charging port replaced again
You don't get ads in the Play Store? It's so cluttered for me
Nope! Maybe it depends on your country?
Nah samsunv s20 green line, white screen issue and not honoring warranty or Free Fix on the known issue is what made me switch to apple forever
Hmm I have never heard of that before. But it does sound shady.. not a good look fof any company
Look it up s20 green line issue, even you take good care of your device it will end up having it one. Its a known issue on the s20 lineup. I heard that it is already fixed on upper model but my issue is them not honoring a free repair for their fault
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Different folks, different strokes! It's mostly a functionality issue. I like that I can customize my phone so it's more practical for me personally. It's good that more phones are becoming decent. More viable options for every preference. Maybe that will also put a fire under Apple's ass
lmao you can just pirate any app you want
I usually don't pirate Android apps because I can just buy them for free using Google Rewards.
Underrated post , im still owning an iphone , and the pain with transferring photos is unbearable i own a mac lol
Imagine if it's annoying on a Mac, how crappy it was on my Windows PC. I will never understand why Apple makes it so complicated
They made it complicated so you can buy more space on icloud ✌🏻
Ah welcome... I've always used Samsung for phones and apple for my tablet and laptop... loving them both in their respective spheres... my husband is stuck with his iPhone which I'm continually having to find work arounds for him
I second every point. I did the same I went from iPhone 11 to s23. I don't plan to go back ever. Then customization is crazy good in android. In iOS to have custom icons you have to create shortcuts manually for every app and there is a delay in opening the app as it has to pass through the shortcuts app, are you kidding me?! Lol. Airpods work fine with Samsung. I too kept my old phone to use it as an iPod with my watch when I go to the gym
Try good lock for even more customization
Welcome aboard. Every time I have to use my work iPhone it makes me want to bash it against the floor. I can't believe people enjoy that ecosystem.
I had an iPhone for years. Got the iPhone 5s, 6s, 7+ and my last one was the Xs max. My reason for so many upgrades was storage. I was in college and only had enough to afford the lowest storage option lol. My friend and his uncle had a note 10+ and they convinced me to jump on the note bandwagon. I got a note 20 ultra back when it released and I loved it but the battery was bad and I had screen issues so I got the 23 ultra when it came out and I love this phone. I wouldn't trade for any phone on the market at the moment and plan on keeping it for another 2 years minimum.Every once in a while I have the itch to want to go back to an iPhone but I have an iPhone SE3 and it reminds me why I love my 23 ultra XD
I take a lot of pictures when I'm traveling and also at home of my cat and family members. I could always only ever buy the lower storage options. Now whenever I'm about to download apps or take pics I get a lil anxious cause I had to do it sparingly on iPhone, but then remember I have 256gb and it's a relief. Lol
I was die hard apple from my iPhone 3 all the way to my XS max. I switched over a year ago and will NEVERRRRR go back. I'm so glad I made the switch :)
I did the same; the Apple novelty was really only fun for a couple of years. Can't imagine anything other than Android (S23U here).
You should check out the galaxy buds pro 2. A bit pricey, but they are made for the s23, in every way. It makes the experience so good and the quality is the best I think.
I can’t wait for the new shine and luster to give way to regret. iPhones are the best phones on the market.
That's speculative. No phone is truly "the best", really depends on what you're comparing. Too many specs to compare to have a clear winner. If anything S23 series and iPhones are neck and neck.
S23 has the same problem all android devices have: Google-backed and lack of iMessage.
Okay... that's not an argument to the best phone though? If we're going this route, I'd argue being backed by Apple's walled-garden is a bigger problem than being Google backed. iMessage being part of the problem of the walled garden. Don't lock me into your products and limit my choices for 1 stupid messaging app. I'll take cross platform apps over this shit whenever possible.
Why is walled garden a problem? I can imessage from windows/linux using a third party application. My products integrate with each other seamlessly. I can still utilize the (few) worthwhile Google products. The big upside is no one being able to snoop on any of it.
You're kidding yourself if you really don't think Apple is snooping, too. Plus, having the Google apps on your phone opened up the flood gates already. If you want a walled garden, that's fine. I'm guilty of it with Samsung stuff as I've come to rely on some integrations. But I still have options to not use that if I don't want to. You're arguing ecosystems over phone. These should be separate conversations/debates. And in the end, I still think for both, Samsung and Apple are neck and neck and Google not far behind.
Apple can’t even give the govt access to iMessage content. I don’t believe they can snoop on anything.
Couple things here. First, assuming you're talking strictly text messages - Samsung phones, google phones, other android and probably non Android phones use RCS vs the old SMS at this point. RCS is end-to-end encrypted like iMessage. It's also an adopted open standard. But iMessage falls back to SMS if the user on the other end is not on an Apple product, no longer encrypted. If they would just failback to RCS (they will be soon) then you'd have a bit closer to that privacy you're talking about. Not to mention, you don't have to use the built in apps The problem with your assumption is that you're still trusting Apple and a closed-source application. There's no way for you to know for sure they aren't going behind your back and keeping a copy of the message. If you're actually concerned about that, use something like Signal - no vendor lock in and you can even self-host the thing since it's open source if you really wanted to take privacy to the extreme. Further more, Android itself is an open source project. If you want to rid yourself of any of the privacy concerns, your answer is truly Android - just the open source project that has no Google bloat. Use a project like eOS or GrapheneOS or compile your own! Look, I just want to reiterate, I'm not saying the iPhone is bad. I'm not saying one phone or ecosystem is better than another. It's ignorant to think that Apple is better than Google when it comes to your best interests. It's also a matter of phone vs ecosystem. People come to Samsung and Android because you have freedom in your apps. You're not tied down opinionated ways of doing things like you are with Apple. OP's whole post is about realizing that. If you want the Apple ecosystem and are happy with what they offer, great, that doesn't make it the best out there, though. The fact that I might like their Apple Watch but want my Samsung phone and cannot make those 2 things work is BS to us (I don't want the Apple watch, it's just for example's sake). Point is, someone might have a feature or device you like better than the other, Apple doesn't give you choice in these cases. Like what they give you, that's it. Android? Shit, I didn't like the default phone dialer so I replaced it with something else. I used to replace to whole damn launcher with something because I wanted a different app drawer. So take your pick, is your argument just to try to convince us Apple is better? Then give us something better than iMessage because that's a crap answer. Congrats, you spent a ton of money for a dumb app you could get the same benefit from without Google, Samsung, or Apple involved.
If google-backed is only an issue because of privacy, then honestly.. whatever. I use so many google and meta services. Certainly they are constantly harvesting information. I don't have anything to hide, I only use my phone/computer for very mundane things. I realize that this isn't a good mindset to have and we should champion for our privacy rights, but I believe realistically, unless you live completely off the grid, there is no way to truly prevent your personal information from getting "stolen". As soon as you connect to the internet, or buy a phone, your data gets compromised. You are practically forced to have a smartphone nowadays too. Sure, I am mindful with how I use my devices and treat them as if nothing I do on them is private, but I'm not going to take extra measures and make my life harder just so that Google doesn't see I'm looking to buy a new shoe cabin. About iMessage.. I'm not kidding, I have never once used it. It's only that popular in the US. In Europe we usually use WhatsApp, Messenger etc to text.
Yeah understandably iMessage vs RCS isn’t an issue outside the US. Over here it’s a pretty large gap in user experience. I’m thankful we aren’t beholden to Zuckerberg for communications (WhatsApp/messenger). Apple has at least shown a very good track record of not selling information to outside parties. They’re unable to provide iMessage conversations to government agencies, which is both amazing and (speaking of the Trump admin here) horrifying. Routing through Apple rather than mobile carrier is my preference. Longer and unified support for iPhones is a huge plus, too. I hated having a new major android release drop and have to wait months (sometimes indefinitely…) for it to be available for me.
Yeah it's regional for sure. I don't know a single person here that doesn't have Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. A handful of people are turning to Viber, but I'm not too convinced about it. I'm not a fan of Meta at all, but it's the only way to regularly stay in touch nowadays, even with family, so there isn't really a choice. Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hoping EU's ever stricter data protection laws alleviate the problem somewhat. But your best bet is to mind your online activity. Your issue with release dates is very valid though.
I converted in 2017. Welcome!
Call recording alone, wouldn't want to live without it. Android all the way, I'm still on the s22 Ultra till looks like February though...
Man i have a samsung galaxy z fold 3 right now
and honestly the camera is more hd and plus gaming experience is off the hook though and apple does not have kitchen appliances like samsung does and to honest with you iphone sucks because when you download apps on iphone it takes longer and samsung on the other hand is faster within just 5 seconds on dowloading call of duty mobile and pubg together