iPhone to Android - 1 year later

Well , it's been over a year now since I switched from using an iphone as my primary mobile device to using an Android device , specifically the pixel four XL .

And in this video , I'm gonna walk you through one .

Why I switched to what I like about Android better than I O S3 .

What are some things I about using I OS ?

And then I'm gonna take you through why someone may want to switch between phone OS S How easy is it to switch in between Android and I OS ?

And then I'll walk you through my decision making process on whether or not I'm going to stick with Android or if I'm going to switch back to I OS , let's dive in .

So why did I originally switch to a pixel four XL last year and move from my iphone a couple of reasons .

One as part of the team pixel influencer program , I get the latest pixels from Google and I was curious to see what using one as my main phone would be like two .

I was tired of the same basic user interface of the iphone that hadn't changed all that much over the years .

It was just a rid of apps .

You had multiple pages that you had to scroll through or just folders everywhere .

And I was just tired of it .

I wanted something that felt new and fresh and Android offers that to a certain extent .

Finally , I wanted to use a phone that had the Google Assistant as the default assistant .

I predominantly use Google services because I find them incredibly useful .

They're great and they work directly with the Google Assistant that integrates into is just tighter than what you get with Siri .

And at the time that I switched , the Google Assistant could play music and media from Spotify and youtube music which even today , Siri can't do you have to add the phrase on Spotify or on youtube music when asking Siri to play music from those services .

So when I finally got the pixel four XL last year , it had enough of the experience I wanted where I was like , OK , I'm going to finally do it .

I'm switching to an Android device .

So what do I really love about Android ?

Well , first part of it is it's just a bit different from I OS in its user experience when you've been using the same software year after year .

Sometimes you just want a change , you want to make it feel fresh .

That's at least how I felt towards Android .

When I switched .

I find the notification system in Android is better .

It's easier to quickly wipe away notifications , they're automatically sorted into conversations , your regular notifications and then silent notifications , which I think is really smart .

Also being able to set certain contacts through apps like messenger messages , et cetera as a priority contact .

So they show up at the top and you definitely get notified any time they message you is really smart .

The Google assistant is faster on the pixel specifically and does a lot of the processing for your requests on the device itself , which allows Google to implement some pretty awesome features like call screen where the assistant will screen incoming calls from unknown numbers or it'll wait on hold for you when you call customer support for a company and will notify you when the customer support person is there .

The call screen feature basically eliminated all spam calls from ringing my phone , which was a huge benefit .

Another thing I love about Android is its integration with Google cast devices like Google Nest speakers and speaker groups at the OS level .

Like when you cast from Google podcasts to a Google nest speaker group .

And then no matter where you are in the phones , you are , if you hit either the volume up or down button , it'll control the volume of the speaker group you're casting to .

I use my Google speakers to play music and podcasts constantly , especially during the pandemic .

So this feature has been really nice to have Android still has better customizable options on their home screen , you're not forced to have an app at the top left corner like you are on I OS , which I appreciate Android also has an app drawer , which I found to be a much better U X design decision than forcing everybody to just have pages of grids of apps or force you to put apps into a ton of folders .

Now , I OS 14 has significantly closed the gap in terms of home screen customization with the new app library feature widgets and the ability to have a clean home screen .

Even some of Google's own widgets are nicer on I OS than they are on Android .

So there's definitely less of a difference between the two than there used to be .

A couple of other things I really like about Android are those little app icons that appear at the top left corner of the screen letting you know that you have a notification from that app .

In general .

I do like that .

Android is a more open Os .

I'm able to customize it more and I can freely download things outside of the play store if I wish to .

Though in reality , I do have to admit I basically downloaded everything I have on my Android phone through the Play store , which is owned by Google .

So in reality , I've just used my Android phone exactly how I would use an iphone where I would download everything just through the app store , which Apple owns smart lock is a feature that I've really come to love on Android .

It allows you to keep your phone unlocked when it's connected to a certain Bluetooth device .

When Android detects it's still on you or when you're at a certain location like your house .

Lastly , gestures are really nice in Android though .

Technically , they're borrowed from I OS , but I found them to work well and I much prefer them over the previous standard Android buttons .

Now , speaking of I Os , let's talk about what I do miss about using an iphone , considering I still have quite a few Apple devices around that I use like my imac my new ipad air my Apple watch .

There are some things I definitely miss about using an iphone .

The first one is airdrop .

There's just not a great comparison on Android that's as easy to use as airdrop to move files wirelessly between my phone and Mac handoff is another feature I miss with the iphone being able to have a certain app open and then pick up where I left off on it on my Mac was nice though , with Android .

I've adapted to just using mostly Google's apps which have real time cloud backup .

So I don't miss this feature as much as I thought I would plus Android and chrome sync .

So you can read an article on your phone and pick up where you left off in the chrome browser on your Mac though .

I still think handoff is a bit easier to use .

And more polished video recording is something that I OS and the iphone do really well and pretty much better than almost any other Android device I've either seen or used , especially the pixel and as somebody who's very invested in video , I don't always have my fancy Sony camera that's recording me right now everywhere with me all the time when I want to shoot video , but I usually always have my phone with me .

So that's definitely been something I've missed about the iphone .

I have missed its video recording capabilities .

Last thing I miss about I OS in general are for some apps , their I OS versions are still nicer to use and designed better than on Android .

Still , it shouldn't be that way .

And thankfully , most of the time , I didn't notice that much of a difference , but sometimes the difference is still there .

All right .

So that's what I like about Android and what I miss about I OS .

Now , you're probably wondering with phones like the pixel five , the iphone , 12 , the iphone , 12 pro and 12 Pro max coming out this year .

If I'm going to stick with Android or if I'm going to switch back to I OS .

And I'm wondering the same thing myself .

I have not made any decisions on that yet , but I have a hunch .

It's going to come down to the camera capabilities of either the iphone or the pixel let me explain when the iphone was first announced back in 2007 , Steve jobs' infamous keynote introduced the iphone as a wide screen ipod with touch controls , a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device .

The iphone did turn out to be that leapfrog product , Steve Jobs wanted it to be and arguably one of the most important tech products ever released today .

Though 13 years after the launch of I phone , how would you describe what a smartphone does and should be in 2020 ?

For me , it should be a great communications device , internet browser , music , and media player , and a capable still photography and video camera .

Now , that last category has become increasingly important these past few years to a lot of people out there .

And that's why phones like the pixel and the iphones cameras in terms of still photography are so highly regarded with the latest releases of Android 11 and I Os 14 .

I think it's become obvious that both operating systems have reached a consistent level of maturity and stability less and less is changing with them each year .

And both operating systems , in my opinion , are now more similar than they've ever been when looking at their U I and U X experience .

To me , minus a few edge cases like with assistant call screening or iMessage , both operating systems represent pretty equivalent experiences when it comes to making a phone , a communications device , internet browser and music slash media player .

However , the still and video capturing capabilities of each operating system are dependent on their software but also heavily rely on the camera hardware as well .

Since I live and breathe cameras and video , that's likely going to be the deciding factor in which phone I go with this year .

Plus the ability to have an accessory ecosystem that just effortlessly integrates with the phone that I choose .

Now when I originally switched to Android , I did miss getting calls and notifications on my Apple watch and I wanted something like airpods that were just easy to pair with my Android phone and just worked really well .

But over the course of the past year , I've been able to get a relatively comparable experience with my pixel buds , which I love and the fitbit Sense smart watch I picked up about a month ago .

So the camera capabilities are going to be my deciding factor for which platform and phone I decide to go with this year .

Now , if you don't care all that much about taking photos or videos with your smartphone , the equation for what platform and what device you go with is going to look incredibly different from mine .

Now , are there other scenarios that we should cover here as well ?

Yes , if you're a serious mobile gamer , you're likely going to skew towards I OS because of Apple's superior hardware and games ecosystem .

Or if you really like to tinker with technology and you want to phone in a crazy variety of form factors like folding , flip phones or whatever the heck L G is doing .

Android will likely be your platform of choice .

Now , if you're like me and you like both operating systems for different reasons and you're gonna happen to have multiple devices around that use either OS or if you just plan on switching from I OS to Android or Android to I OS and you want to know how easy it is to actually switch in between these two mobile operating systems .

Well , the good news is if you're switching apps and data from major companies and services like Google , Facebook , Spotify , ever note , you know , et cetera , you're gonna be fine .

However , some apps don't switch as nicely between operating systems like take whatsapp for example , which backs up to icloud on I OS , but on Android , it backs up to Google Drive .

So switching between operating systems and trying to migrate your data backups over to another platform is actually really difficult .

Plus you can only have whatsapp installed on a single device tied to your phone number versus other Facebook products like Instagram messaging or Facebook messages which are backed up and stored to Facebook's cloud and can be accessed on multiple devices at once .

Another issue I had when switching from I OS to Android was merging I OS contacts with Google contacts .

I already had contacts in Google contacts from other sources .

Like gmail .

So depending on how many contacts you have in I OS and how many of them already exist in Google contacts when you actually do that merge , just be prepared to do some cleanup .

All right .

So after a year of using Android , what are my thoughts ?

Well , overall , I've thought the experience of using Android has actually been pretty great .

I like Android a lot more as an operating system than I thought I would going in , especially the pixel version .

It's just a joy to use and it's much more like I OS in its gestures and overall user experience than I would have thought .

Now , while this year video capabilities are likely going to be the deciding factor in what phone I decide to pick up and use as my primary phone .

The lucky thing for me is because I review so many tech products and I like using both of these operating systems .

I'll have devices around that .

I'll heavily use that use both Android and I OS .

So it's really for me , at least like I don't actually have to make a tough choice between them .

I can use both of them .

It's like a best of both worlds thing .

Now , obviously , that's it's not gonna be the case for everyone , but for me personally , that will be my uh case .

So well , that's it for this video .

If you like this video and found it informative and helpful , make sure you hit that thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more videos on Apple and Google products like this one for six months later .

I'm Josh Tedder .

Thanks for watching .