It’s been three days with my new smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra, and I confess that it’s been pretty boring.
Well, the phone is fast and responsive compared to my old iPhone 11 Pro Max, but my learning curve has been slower than I antecipated, given that I haven’t had any contact with Android for at least 6 years. Unlike iOS, there are many layers of customization (which is a positive point), but my mindset is still geared towards a simpler, more objective interface, which has been causing me some mental confusion.
I’m still learning how to customize app permissions, and I’ve organized the Home Menu to resemble what I was used to on my old phone. I’ve migrated almost all the possible apps and replaced those that didn’t have Android versions like NetNewsWire.
What I like so far:
I’m using the original (Samsung) keyboard, which seems infinitely better than the Apple one. The number of mistyped keys has been greatly reduced and there are other built-in functions that make typing easier;
The screen is gorgeous. I dare say it’s better than the screen on my wife’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, especially outdoors;
I can install apps from stores like F-Droid, which is inconceivable on iOS;
Fingerprint reader is amazing, especially for unlocking the phone at night;
One battery charge gives me around 10 to 12 hours of screen-on time. This point is a double-edged sword, since my iPhone with a battery of less than 3000mAh and 80% of its capacity allowed me 6 to 7 hours of screen-on after almost 5 years of use. Historically, Apple phones optimize battery use much better than any other manufacturer;
File management seems more fluid and functional, especially with Nextcloud files;
The Firefox and Brave browsers use, respectively, Gecko and Blink as engines, which provides a desktop-like experience;
The promise of 7 years of software and security updates.
What I didn’t like or didn’t adapt to:
I couldn’t find an easy way to configure carddav and caldav in the standard system applications. This was only possible with 3 or 4 different apps. On the iPhone it was possible with a simple profile configuration.
Autofill password, either with Bitwarden or KeepassDX, works very badly.
I don’t get notifications as quickly as on iOS.
What I miss about iOS
Everything I mentioned under “didn’t like” above.
Apple Pay. Here in the US, almost every establishment accepts Apple Pay, and it’s very convenient.
Airdrop (due to easeness of sharing files with my wife).
Clean and simple interface.
Final thoughts
My decision to switch devices was due to the fact that my iPhone - although I still consider it to be an excellent hardware-wise device -, due to recent software updates, provides a less fluid experience and screen stuttering in some applications, even with just 4/5 years of use.
The choice of an Android device over iOS it is philosophically a more open system, allowing better interoperability with other operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, whereas Apple devices only work well (and perfectly well) between their ecosystem.
I considered buying the Ultra model because of the $200 credit I got on the pre-order and the storage upgrade to 512GB. Added to the 5% Credit Card Cashback, the phone cost me a whopping $1115.00. The value didn’t exceed my Budget of US$1200. If I manage to use this device for its entire planned life, it will cost me around US$14 a month, whereas the iPhone has cost me around US$23 a month so far. I did took a look at a Pixel phone, but it seems like the Samsung hardware is better.
Not that I’m not happy with the new phone, but if I were to make a decision with the information I have today, I would buy the s24 or the s24 plus. I’m not a photographer, I don’t really understand all the camera settings and I don’t see the difference between a 200MP photo and a 50MP photo. Besides that, I can’t see myself using the S-Pen, even though I think it’s amazing. I don’t know if the extra $300 on top of the S24 Plus is justifiable.