iPhone X to Note 9

Man of Honour
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Has anyone done this? Any regrets?

I've previously had 'Plus' sized iPhones, so I find the X a little small to hold sometimes. With the CPW trade in offer I think I can effectively swap my iPhone X 256GB for a Note 9 512GB for a total cost of £279, versus nearly £400 to get the XS 256GB and £572 to get the XS 512GB.
 
Soldato
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The main things you find different are:

No gesture system
Samsung's UI doesn't run as smooth as iOS or stock Android

Note 9 is quite a large device, so I do recommend having a look at it in store first :)
 
Man of Honour
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Cheers. I like iOS, I have a MacBook and an iPad too. I think I should just keep what I have for another year maybe.
 
Associate
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I switched from an iPhone X to a Note 9 and love it, only thing I miss is the convenience of having my calls coming through my MacBook but can't think of anything else, The UI on the Note is easily as smooth as IOS, not missed a beat yet
 
Man of Honour
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I switched from an iPhone X to a Note 9 and love it, only thing I miss is the convenience of having my calls coming through my MacBook but can't think of anything else, The UI on the Note is easily as smooth as IOS, not missed a beat yet
How did you find the switch from iOS? Do you miss anything about the X?
 
Soldato
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Switching ecosystems is the hardest thing imho. Moving to android you obviously lose any paid ios apps you have (and vice versa)

also, icloud, photos, imessage, facetime, find friends...basically any locked-in ios service

Family plans? or sharing photos with other ios users

It's actually easier the other way as most if not all google services work on ios
 
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I'd look at the apps you use on your device, and if there are any missing that will help make the choice. The underlying OS has very little to do with your day-to-day usage unless you have it heavily integrated with your ipad and macbook, in which case unless you can change you are 'locked' into the Apple ecosystem which is just what the marketing people at Apple wanted.

I use e-mail, a web browser, banking app and Google Drive (inc. docs) on my phone, and that is it other than phone calls and text messages. I don't play games, don't have loads of random apps for websites that already exist and don't play games on it. So for me I could literally be given any reasonably modern device and be fine with it, but a lot of people put the focus on the device, not what they actually do with it.
 
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I switched from ios to android recently (iPhone 6s to Galaxy s9) and it's been fairly painless. I've now got the only android device in my household.

My phone apps are pretty much laid out as they were on ios there weren't any that didn't have android versions.

As all the devices have office and google drive, etc on them it's easy to go from one to the other and pick up where you left off.
 

LiE

LiE

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I made the switch from Apple to Google/Android last year. It's been good in the year I migrated. I completely moved over, so MacBook pro to Windows 10 and iPhone 7 plus to Pixel 2.

  1. Photos - I had all my photos in iCloud (60gb) and had to download them all to upload to Google Photos. The good news here is Google photos stores photos for free, so I no longer needed to pay for cloud storage. Also the app is easily as good as Apple photos, with the added benefits of being able to share photos with anyone with share links and a better web interface.
  2. Messaging - I was worried about loosing iMessage because all my family have iPhones. In reality, I use WhatsApp 99% of the time which provides a excellent messaging experience. I used to love using iMessage on my MBP, and I now use the WhatsApp desktop app which does an excellent job. Google has a web version of messages so you can send/manage SMS on your browser.
  3. Calendar - I rely heavily on calendars and shared calendar with my wife. Google calendar has been up to the job, the web interface is lovely. Only thing I miss is push notifications when someone modifies a shared calendar.
  4. Phone - I was a massive Apple fan, and in many ways I still am. I love all the little things and the tight integration. Moving to Google services and Android I also get some nice integration. I think ultimately when you break down your phone usage you will find that the stuff you use is no different on Android, with the exception of iMessage. The quality is negligible between iOS and Android when it comes to core Apps. The Google apps are better obviously on Android. Banking apps work just as well. You won't find tons of high quality games and other utility apps on Android like you will on iOS, but if you're like me and don't use tons of apps (use mainly banking, photos, calendar, messaging, music a bit of social media) you'll find the move painless.
  5. Music - As I was so heavily into the Apple rabbit hole I used Apple Music. I now use Spotify and it's better in so many ways. I love how it works across connected devices.
There are lots of nice little things on Android that you will appreciate. A few that come to mind:
  • Always on screen, it's very nice being able to see the time and notification icons at a glance.
  • Notifications - I love how Android handles notifications. It means I don't have to go into Apps to take an action for the notification badge to disappear. I just swipe it away.
  • Google Assistant - so much better than Siri.
  • Android Auto - Love how it's not as locked down as Car Play. I can reply to messages on Facebook, WhatsApp and SMS the same as I could just reply to iMessages. All the various music players are there, so you have choice. The home on Android Auto provides useful summary slices like time to get home from current location, missed calls, weather, messages you have received, upcoming reminders and calendar appointments. You can click into those calendar appoints if they have an address to launch Google maps. You also have the power of Google Assistant.
  • Choice - you don't like Chrome? Choose another browser and make that your default. The freedom is really nice, with Apple you have added hassle if you don't want to use Safari.
I went all in on Google services, they are really strong. The hardware difference between phones is becoming negligible these days, the real value/innovation will come from software/AI and this is where Google is very strong. The camera on the Pixel 2 for example is very good because of the software.
 
Man of Honour
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Cheers all and to @LiE for the comprehensive write up. I used to be on Android and I switched back to iOS as there was too much of a minefield at the time in terms of phone choice.

I think I'm going to order a Note 9 from Samsung and try it out for a few weeks. If I like, return the Note 9 for a full refund (this can be done within 30 days I believe) and then to go CPW and trade in my X for the £620 + £200 top up.

Does anyone know of any better deals?
 
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Posted in the Note 9 thread yesterday, there are a couple of offers on HotUKDeals for ~£650 but admittedly I have never heard of either company. Worth checking out the deals and specifically the comments/Trust Pilot.
 
Soldato
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Until Android sort out their network features I’d never be able to switch back, not knowing if you have full access to stuff like WiFi Calling and VoLTE would annoy me, that stuff is never a question on iPhones, you know it will work because all iPhone software is the same, only carrier files are custom.
 
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There's a lot to like about iPhones. One of the reasons I was thinking of moving back was the overall polish and experience.

I used to agree, but stock Android is, in my opinion, significantly smoother than iOS. The pixel 2xl has frustrated me quite a bit though - I get far too many apps reloading where they're not being kept in memory.

The biggest frustration for me on iOS is the fake multi tasking. When opening an older app from multi tasking, you have to wait for it to "resume" before you can do anything. E.g. if I've got mail open, and then I switch back to safari, I can't scroll or anything - it just shows a screenshot of what was on the screen the moment I switched to another app.
 

LiE

LiE

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I used to agree, but stock Android is, in my opinion, significantly smoother than iOS. The pixel 2xl has frustrated me quite a bit though - I get far too many apps reloading where they're not being kept in memory.

I haven't ever found iOS lacking in smoothness. The little things like apps reloading all detract from the Android experience. Occasional blank screens or apps crashing as well aren't great. Weird animation snapping and frame drops are also somethings I've seen on my Pixel 2.
 
Soldato
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I haven't ever found iOS lacking in smoothness. The little things like apps reloading all detract from the Android experience. Occasional blank screens or apps crashing as well aren't great. Weird animation snapping and frame drops are also somethings I've seen on my Pixel 2.

That's one thing I never get on my Pixel 2 XL - stuttering/frame drops. It's butter smooth 24/7. When I had an iPhone 7, I could press the home button, and instead of getting a nice smooth animation, I'd just skip straight to the home page.

Never have app crashes either. Now, I will admit I get apps reloading, but I didn't on the OnePlus 5.

Overall, I can perform actions much more quickly on Android than iOS, if only because of the app pausing.
 
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