Moved from Android to iPhone 11 - Think I made a big mistake?

[FishLicker]

@TheOracle - I deduce from your detailed post above that you'd take the Samsung Tab S7 over the iPad Pro?

I'm sitting here with a 2017 iPad Pro 12.9 which I've had for a couple of years, and have always liked, but never really truly loved, and an old T460 laptop that I keep around just for stuff the iPad can't do, or is crap at (surprisingly, for me, web browsing is still not up to snuff though I've not installed iOS 14 yet).

I've been fancying a device that could consolidate, and the way you describe it, this one machine would probably do everything these two do, as well as possibly having a better screen than either (the iPad is suffering from white spots now). Quite probably more likely to be subject to a discount too I would guess?!

Also, although I like the look of the Pixel 5, the new Snapdragon S20 FE is looking a bit more tempting at this point, especially with some money off.

 

[glenimp617]

@TheOracle - I deduce from your detailed post above that you'd take the Samsung Tab S7 over the iPad Pro?

I'm sitting here with a 2017 iPad Pro 12.9 which I've had for a couple of years, and have always liked, but never really truly loved, and an old T460 laptop that I keep around just for stuff the iPad can't do, or is crap at (surprisingly, for me, web browsing is still not up to snuff though I've not installed iOS 14 yet).

I've been fancying a device that could consolidate, and the way you describe it, this one machine would probably do everything these two do, as well as possibly having a better screen than either (the iPad is suffering from white spots now). Quite probably more likely to be subject to a discount too I would guess?!

Also, although I like the look of the Pixel 5, the new Snapdragon S20 FE is looking a bit more tempting at this point, especially with some money off.

Yes, it's bloody brilliant, and works really well with both my windows 10 PC and my now Samsung Galaxy S20 5G (which I got brand new for £499). Using both together has a very ios like feel to it, especially since they sync phone calls and text messages between each other.

In fact, how my adventure started out was wanting a cheap netflix tablet so I bought the new 2020 Samsung A7. To be fair, for the money it was ok, but I wasn't happy with the fuzzy wallpaper thing so I sent it back. It was nippy(ish). Anyway, that lead to a load of research into these samsung tabs, and I ended up picking up a brand new Tab S6 for £440 off ebay. It was the 8gb/256gb. It's fantastic, so much so, that I ended up buying an S7 and an S7+ a few days later. The S7 will be my daughters christmas present (it's got an LCD screen), and the S7+ has replaced the mrs ipad pro.

Horses for courses and all that.

iPad Pro 2020 12.9" & Keyboard = £1,318
Samsung S7+ & Keyboard - £100 Very code = £899 (plus you get the pen in the box!)

The S7+ has a glorious 120hz HDR OLED screen and amazing quad AKG speakers with atmos. It trounces the ipad for media playback. Where it really comes into its own though is as a laptop replacement. Prior to me ever using dex, I thought it was one of those features these companies bang on about, when in reality it's crap. It's not, dex is brilliant.
If you haven't used it, you press a button and it changes to a different launcher which makes it look like a proper desktop machine. Very linux like. You can plug keyboards, mice, monitors, printers, hdds in and basically use it as a laptop. You can of course do all of those things without dex, but dex just makes it look more like a computer. The keyboard case is both good and bad. The keyboard can be pulled off, leaving the kickstand at the back (like a surface pro), which is good.....but the bad bit is that the keyboard sits flat on the table. It's not that bad to be honest, I'm being really picky, but they could have given it a little incline.

It's just better for our use. Torrents work lol (flud app is great), the remote desktop app from Microsoft works with a mouse plugged in, the samsung apps are also really good. The files and notes app are actually really useful. The ipad ones are ok, but as you say, it's still missing something. I still felt like there was a wall inbetween me and the work I was trying to do.

We're really happy with it. The kids have been using it all week for their school homework and have gotten on fine. Don't know if you like colouring, but the colouring apps on ipad are all subscription based and get really expensive. Samsung gives you an app called pen-up which is free social colouring. Kids love it!

People say android tablets are crap because none of the apps are tablet optimized. That's true most of the time, but we just use the chrome browser instead. Samsung and Google apps are all ok.....it's just all the others lol

 

[FishLicker]

@TheOracle - you should be a salesman It does sound good though. I probably have too many computers. I work in IT so I can't really be bothered with them anymore. I figure I could probably still get £600+ for the iPad, T460 and the Apple keyboard, and it wouldn't be that much of a stretch man maths at work, but I should have been going on a lads holiday this weekend, so I would have spent £400 on beer and crap food, so....

 

[Squink]

It’s good to hear some positive impressions of semi unified hardware that isn’t made by Apple. I like how Samsung are tying up with Win 10/Microsoft, especially since vastly more people use Windows than MacOS. Most savvy and non savvy tablet buyers have only really got the iPad as an option, so I’m pleased to hear Samsung have made steps to produce a viable alternative.

 

[glenimp617]

@TheOracleI work in IT so I can't really be bothered with them anymore.

Yeah, I'm the same. The "Wndows is installing updates" and having a million different ways of trying to do something, all convoluted, and never working first time is getting real old, real fast.

My XPS won't change the brightness and it's stuck on full. Having an OLED trying to burn your eyes out isn't fun. Reading on reddit, it's a common problem and you need to keep re-installing the intel drivers.

I've had enough of it. The surface laptop 3 it replaced was full of problems. It seemed to always want to keep hibernating and never wanted to wake up. I know the feeling!

 

[benparker]

It's a shame no other OEMs bother with Android tablets anymore.

 

[Tephnos]

Interesting, I tried a Samsung tablet way back in the day but it was pretty crap compared to the iPad, couldn't get on with it at all. The main problem with Samsung is their non-existent support, compared to Apple.

Although, at least with the Samsung Tab you could actually throw on excellent emulators onto it, which cannot be done for Apple!

 

[marcg868]

Couldn’t go back to a Android tablet again. I’ve tried a Samsung Galaxy one back in 2014, terrible replaced it with a IPad Mini 2. Tried a Huawei Mediapad M5 lite when my mini 2 died, was mostly fine for what I used it for, but it felt slower than my mini 2. Replaced with a hand me down Air 2 for 6 months then go a IPad Pro 11 2018.
It’s my main device at home, I don’t do anything taxing with it, but it’s replaced my need for a desktop computer or laptop for light photo editing and using Microsoft word.
The S7 tablets look great but I just don’t trust Samsung to support them as long as Apple does with their iPads.

 

[Tephnos]

Couldn’t go back to a Android tablet again. I’ve tried a Samsung Galaxy one back in 2014, terrible replaced it with a IPad Mini 2. Tried a Huawei Mediapad M5 lite when my mini 2 died, was mostly fine for what I used it for, but it felt slower than my mini 2. Replaced with a hand me down Air 2 for 6 months then go a IPad Pro 11 2018.
It’s my main device at home, I don’t do anything taxing with it, but it’s replaced my need for a desktop computer or laptop for light photo editing and using Microsoft word.
The S7 tablets look great but I just don’t trust Samsung to support them as long as Apple does with their iPads.

Oh they definitely won't, but after looking into the S7 more I'm starting to see the appeal. The only thing it lacks for artists is Procreate, but Clip Studio and Krita have android ports now, and SuperDisplay basically turns it into a Cintiq.

Plus, for content consumption it hands down slaps the iPad. Honestly very tempting. Just sucks that they expect me to pay that amount of cash for another crappy tablet keyboard that won't compare to the magic one at all, and the UK version only gets 6GB of RAM.

 

[marcg868]

Oh they definitely won't, but after looking into the S7 more I'm starting to see the appeal. The only thing it lacks for artists is Procreate, but Clip Studio and Krita have android ports now, and SuperDisplay basically turns it into a Cintiq.

Plus, for content consumption it hands down slaps the iPad. Honestly very tempting. Just sucks that they expect me to pay that amount of cash for another crappy tablet keyboard that won't compare to the magic one at all, and the UK version only gets 6GB of RAM.

Yeah they are getting better definitely. I’m liking that Samsung is creating a ecosystem similar to Apples.
I’m tempted to go back to my Samsung phone and iPad combination again inJune it worked well with google apps in all honesty.
I hardly use any of the iOS apps on my iPhone I just use google apps to be honest.
Will see what happens when the iPhone 12 and S21 release.

 

[Spit]

I've moved from Apple to the Fold 2 and Buds Live. Fantastic experience and zero regrets.

 

[Iron Man]

Iphone is pretty good once you get used to it.

 

[sw2000]

I've gone the other way myself, Android user for over 10 years or something and I like to tinker and change phones.

List includes : All PIxels (apart from 4), Nexus , Note 1, 9, 10, S5,6,7,20, OnePlus 7pro, H p30 and various others along the way. Also had samsung tablets and a Pixel Book. I haven't touched an iPhone for years since the 4 or 5 but had iPads.

Hates the iphone when ever I picked up my wives, being a techincal person used to love customising my Android experience, rooting, changing icons etc.

After changing phones every 5 - 6 months as I could never find a phone that was quite right. Note 10+ was close but the camera was a let down. I was about to buy an S20 Ultra in John Lewis but they were out of stok so decided to try an Phone 11 Pro max.

Hated it at first but then got used to IOS and there were some things that were pretty good but still didn't like the Apple way of doing things, IOS 14 beta came out and it changed a lot of what was bad. I also purchased a S20+ in a deal a few months back and used them side by side.

Technically the S20+ is a better phone and the 120hz display is nice, camera is mostly great apart from beauty modes which still smooth even when turned off completly, a couple of things drove me nuts 1) Battery life and 2) Exynos chip that would get redhot some days and kill the battery faster (this was not even always playing games). Had to switch the phone off a few times to let it cool it got that bad.

I then got a Macbook pro in June and started to use the iPhone and Mac together, then decided to get the latest iPad pro 12.9 and then the other day got an Apple Watch, the level of integration between them if brilliant and far more then I can get in Android. Samsung has some great ideas but its Samsung and not Android. I also got a free Galaxy Active Watch with my S20+ but once again it's running another OS (Tizen) with doesn't have much 3rd party support so is limited on some of the things I do i.e. Google Pay, Okta verification for MFA

I've put the S20+ up for sale and I'm keeping the iPhone as the battery life is amazing (doesn't do true multitasking but it's not a huge issue these days), Camera is consistently good when I take pictures of my kids.

Whilst I still have issues with Apple, I'm annoyed that Google always seem to fall short.

Great at developing concepts but never really see it through. My PixelBook and Galaxy Wear are prime examples of where they just don't bother building out a great concept. I really wanted the Pixel 5 and had it preordered but then cancelled as it's a bit of a weird spec sheet. Should have added a tele photo and then a better processor and it could have been near perfect.

Come on Google raise your game and give us a decent flagship, tablets and other bits, there are still lots of things I prefer on Android , I'm hoping in 21 Samsung realise they can't sell us rubbish Exynos chips and also stop forcing face smoothing on cameras even when disabled everywhere. Update wise Samsung are now the best of the bunch on Android, every patch I received on the same day it came out for Pixels if not before on the S20+

That's my view on it, will be back on Android I have no doubt but am glad I looked at the Apple side of things also.

 

[FishLicker]

Must admit I'm tempted by the pixel 5 especially as I sort of fancy a smaller phone, but I'm disappointed at the lack of telephoto, and although I generally like Android first and foremost, the standard iPhone 11 Pro could be a tempting proposition as it'll retain the battery life of the pixel 5 and offers a full suite of camera lenses. Face ID Vs fingerprint sensor is a bit of an open battlefield at the minute what with mask wearing and whatnot, and losing the 90hz screen.

Difficult choice.

 

[benparker]

Any indication on base iPhone 12 price?

 

[FishLicker]

£649 - £699 would be my guess

 

[joelk2]

im going to wait for the 12 before deciding about my switch, either waiting for the price of the 12 or seing how much the 11 drops by.
i lothe spending as much as they charge for the phones but they do work well and when the time comes to sell you do get more for it.
i dont need flagship specs so have pretty much narrowed my choices down to the Nord or the Iphone 11.

 

[MM-Seat]

I'm also convinced I'm going to make the switch. I bought an 8th Gen iPad to dip my toe in and I'm really enjoying it.

 

[marcg868]

im going to wait for the 12 before deciding about my switch, either waiting for the price of the 12 or seing how much the 11 drops by.
i lothe spending as much as they charge for the phones but they do work well and when the time comes to sell you do get more for it.
i dont need flagship specs so have pretty much narrowed my choices down to the Nord or the Iphone 11.

The 11 is a Great phone, the battery life is absolutely brilliant, cameras very good also.

 

[joelk2]

The 11 is a Great phone, the battery life is absolutely brilliant, cameras very good also.

It's the battery lIfe which I'm most curious about to be honest. I think I will wait to see what the new iphones bring and then either get one of them or get an 11 which would hopefully reduce in price.

My maths at the moment is as follows. I pay £10 a month for a smarty SIM card but the signal is horrible so I want to go back with EE. So I'm looking at £20-£25 a month for decent data.

£20 a month SIM only
£30 a month to buy the 11 on 0% through apple over 2 years

Or I just get a contract which is £41 a month on EE including the phone. So it works out cheaper that way.