It's been over a year since I switched from
an Android device to an iPhone as the main phone that I use. And I'm going to take you through my experience
over the past year, the benefits to using an iPhone, what you miss out on when you switch
away from Android, and who ultimately I think should make the switch. So let’s start with the benefits of switching
to an iPhone and the first one for me has been the Apple Ecosystem. And what I'm referring to with that term is
how well all of Apple's devices work together. And as you acquire more Apple devices, the
better the overall experience gets. Now for the iPhone, the first Apple ecosystem
feature that has really benefited me is with certain AirPods and Beats headphones.
YYou can effortlessly switch the audio between
your iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iPads which is something no other headphones can do with
these devices and is very covenant if you’re listening to something on your Mac or iPad
and need to go outside and pick up your iphone and start playing media on it. Another benefit of the AirPods ecosystem is
spatial audio with movies and TV shows. When you watch something on your iPhone with
a compatible set of AirPodslike my AirPods Max which I absolutely love or certain Beats
earbuds, when watching content it’ll sound like you’re watching with a surround sound
system even though you only have headphones on.
This feature is really impressive and so far,
no one has been able to execute it as well as Apple has. Now, the next feature in the Apple ecosystem
that you get a benefit from when you have an iPhone is called continuity. CContinuity with your iPhone allows you to
pick up where you left off in an app on your iPhone on another device like my iPad Pro,
or my favorite feature, universal clipboard, which allows you to copy text or a link or
even an image on your iPhone, and paste it on another Apple device. AirDrop is another Apple ecosystem feature
that I use a ton with my iPhone. and while yes, Android does have Nearby share that works
well between Android devices, it doesn’t actually compare to AirDop in situations where
you’re trying to get a file from your phone to a Mac or iPad, only AirDrop or Bluetooth
sharing can do that, but AirDrop in my experience has been the more convenient and faster option.
Another Apple Ecosystem feature that I've
been using a lot with my iPhone is focus mode syncing. Whenever I have a focus mode enabled on my
iPhone, it'll sync to all of my Apple devices which is extremely useful and beneficial to
my productivity. I also love how tightly integrated my HomePod
Minis are with my iPhone, allowing me not only to hear and reply to text messages from
the speaker but also make outgoing phone calls and switch incoming phone calls over to my
HomePod Mini as well, which is something I can’t do with my Google speakers and works
very well.
The last Apple ecosystem benefit that I've
enjoyed while owning an iPhone over the past year, is being able to use an Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is arguably still the best
smartwatch on the market today and only Samsung has come close to matching everything it offers
for Android users, The Apple Watch to me acts as an extension
of my phone. I use it to screen notifications without having
to take my phone out to check something, for tracking my fitness and sleep, being able
to see information like the weather, time, calendar events etc at a glance and one of
my favorite things about the Apple Watch, music controls through the now playing screen. It makes it incredibly convenient to set my
phone down with some headphones in and be able to still have full control of the media
playing from my phone on my headphones with the Watch.
So those are the things with my iPhone and
the Apple ecosystem that I really like. Now the next benefit that I found using an
iPhone is iMessage. Now this might be more of a US-centric benefit
since I know in other countries people use WhatsApp or other platform agnostic messaging
services. But here in the US at least in my family and
friends circles, pretty much everyone uses iMessage.
Only like two people I text with on a regular
basis use Android. This makes for a very consistent messaging
experience, with the only downside being that the social pressures of staying within the
iMessage ecosystem which makes it very hard to switch back to an Android phone. Now I did switch to an Android phone for a
year and I survived. So for me at least, the social pressure to
stay on iMessage, it's not as key. But what is, is how easy iMessage makes it
to sync all of my messages across all of my Apple devices, which on Android is somewhat
matched by Google’s messages web app, however in my experience, having dedicated apps for
messaging on my Mac and iPads has been a better and more reliable experience than my experience
with Android messages through the web on iOS devices. Another benefit of owning an iPhone that I'll
mention is iOS first apps. Sometimes I’ve noticed that smaller developers
of hardware devices or services will sometimes still develop for iOS before Android.
When using an iPhone, I haven't run into the
scenario where an app is available on Android, but not iOS. Now, that could just be where I'm located
here in the US, the iPhone does have a pretty significant chunk of the smartphone market
share, but still, it is a scenario that I ran into when I was on Android, where something
was available in iOS but not for Android. I haven't run into it so far while being on
iOS. Or you run into a scenario like I did where
a beloved app is just gobbled up by Apple and made an iOS exclusive app like Dark Sry,
that’s another benefit of being on iOS, you can still use Dark Sky and Apple’s new
excellent weather app that includes a lot of the info from the Dark Sky app.
Google’s default weather app on Android
isn’t as good in my opinion. Another thing I much prefer with the iPhone
and iOS is having not only a back, swipe gesture, but a forward, swipe one as well in certain
apps like Chrome and Safari. The last main benefit I've noticed about owning
an iPhone is the hardware accessory ecosystem that has been built up around it. Because Apple sells millions of these devices
every year, that means there are thousands of iPhone accessories to choose from like
cases, screen protectors and car mounts. Depending on what Android device you have,
because there are so many different devices out there and some sell better than others,
unless a major Android phone like those made by Samsung, you’re not likely going to have
the same level of choice in accessories to choose from as you would have with an iPhone.
All right. So that's everything I've enjoyed about switching
over to an iPhone. Now, let me take you through some of the things
I miss about Android. The first feature I miss is smart lock, which
can keep your phone unlocked when its on you as well as being able to stay unlocked in
a specific location or when connected to a certain bluetooth device like my car.
The iPhone just doesn't have anything comparable
to this great quality of life feature on Android. Now, another thing I miss about Android is
it's notification system, Android is still superior with notifications grouping when
you pull down the notifications shade, sectioning off conversations from alerting notifications
and then silent notifications. The spacing and stacking also just looks much
better than it does on iOS. Also, there are some notifications like from
my camera feed from my Nest doorbell that'll actually show little clips in the notification
itself which is super useful and something my iPhone can't do. Also Android as an OS in general is just more
open. The UI is more customizable and flexible which
is something that I appreciate. You can place widgets and icons where you
want, without adhering to a certain order like on iOS and I love the new Material You
automatic colors and icon matching you get with Android 12.
It makes the OS look much more in sync with
my phone’s hardware design compared to my iPhone. Another huge benefit of Android is the OS
allows you to sideload apps like Fortnite. Now, a lot of people in some tech pundits
have made a big deal about how hard it seems to sideload an app on an Android phone but
in my experience it's not that hard at all. Like if you can side load an app on a Mac
you can side load an app on an Android device. It's really not that hard. This flexibility is something you don't get
on iOS. Though Apple is certainly capable of implementing
a similar system, like they do on their Mac, they refuse to and force everyone to download
apps through their App Store. Android's flexibility here is something I
really appreciate. Now, another Android feature that I missed
quite a bit, is the always-on display, it’s still something Apple hasn’t implemented
and I like having the flexibility to enable this feature on Android and be able to see
the little app icons to see what apps I have notifications from, which at a glance contextually,
is very useful.
So if I see it's just a notification from
a news app, I'm not going to bother opening up my phone to go view that notification,
But if I see the Snap icon, I'm definitely opening up my phone because I likely need
to respond to someone. Cast support is another thing I miss about
Android. If you have a lot of cast enabled devices
like Google and Nest speakers in your home, Android has way more options to connect to
and cast media to these devices than iOS does. Now, another thing I miss about Android and
I find very cool, is how easy it is to switch from one phone made by manufacturer to another
phone made by a different Android manufacturer. Android has a lot more experimentation with
form factors than iOS does, like flip screen phones from Samsung, or Google’s new Pixel
phones with their custom Tensor chips which enables all sorts of cool features. The last thing I miss about my Android devices
is USB-C.
Most Android devices nowadays have USB-C as the charging port of choice where
Apple stubbornly refuses to switch to USB-C for their iPhones even as other apple devices
like the iPad Air, iPad Pro and Mac lines have all switched to this port. All right, so that's everything I like about
using an iPhone and what I miss about using an Android device. Now, let's talk recommendations. After spending one year on Android and now
one year back with an iPhone, here’s my general advice on which phone ecosystem is
better for certain use cases. You’ll notice that I spent a lot of time
with the iPhone talking about the Apple Ecosystem experience.This is where I think the iPhone
sells itself, really well, If you already have Mac, iPad, Apple TV, etc.
Getting an iPhone seems like a no-brainer
because having all of your devices in one ecosystem is just going to be easier. And the more Apple devices you have the more
features and benefits, you'll get out of the ecosystem as a whole. Now, if you really like having a Mac and an
iPad but you really want an Android phone. It's not like when you get an Android phone,
you're going to lose out on all of the Apple ecosystem functionality. you’ll still get automatic headphone switching
between your mac and iPad, you can still use spatial audio on an Apple TV etc, What you
do miss out on are features tied to iMessage and phone calls which can actually matter
a lot. like all of your messages syncing across all
of your Apple Devices, being able to take phone calls on a Mac or iPad, switch which
device you’re listening to a call with in real time and you’ll loose out on being
able to send text messages with your HomePod Mini which is something you cannot do with
a Google Assistant or Amazon speaker with an Android device.
Now, if you're not already in the Apple ecosystem,
you don't necessarily see the benefit of being in it, or you just absolutely are dead set
against locking yourself into the Apple ecosystem. Like totally get it, or you're someone who
you've already got a PC, you've got an Android tablet, etc,
An Android device in those use cases, that's likely going to be the best way to go. YYou’ll get the flexibility to own a wider
variety of phones from different manufactures in different form factors that come with their
own software and hardware benefits, and with Windows especially, you’ll be able to have
your phone sync well with that OS. Now, if you're curious, which one I'm going
to continue using, I have acquired so many Apple devices over the past year for reviews
on this channel. And I've continued using almost all of them. I am very deep into the Apple Ecosystem at
this point and I really appreciate how tightly integrated all of my Apple devices are. so for now, even though I’m very tempted
to switch over the Pixel 6 I bought or the Pixel 6 Pro I got from Google, which we’ll
be reviewing soon, so subscribe to see those reviews.
I’m tempted to switch to an Android phone
because of the creature comfort features and more flexible OS, but for now, personally
I think I’ll be sticking with my iPhone as my main phone. Now, if you have any questions remaining around
switching from Android to iOS or vice versa, because I've done that as well, or you want
to share your experience switching from one of these phone operating systems to the other,
leave a comment below, hit that thumbs up button Ii you like this video and found it
helpful, and subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one. For 6 Months Later, I'm Josh Teder, thanks
for watching..
