Title: Long-time iOS user considering switch to Android - Need advice on $1000 flagships
Body:
Hey everyone, I’m looking at phones around the $1000 price point and would love some input. I’ve been an iOS user for years but I’m seriously considering making the jump to Android this time.
Here’s what I’m looking at:
iPhone 17 Pro - The safe choice since I’m already in the ecosystem
Samsung Galaxy S25 - Hearing good things about this generation
Pixel 10 Pro - Probably crossing this one off the list due to the stability issues I’ve been reading about (the 911 call failures, overheating problems, etc.)
Nothing Phone - The design looks really cool, but I’m not sure if they have anything in this price range
For those who’ve made the switch from iOS to Android (or vice versa), what would you recommend? Any major gotchas I should know about? And is the Nothing Phone even worth considering as a daily driver at this price point?
Thanks in advance!
I agree and disagree. I switched from a Pixel to an S series and I have to say I like the Samsung better.
While the Samsung UI used to be a sore spot, I think the Pixel design language shift of the past couple years is far worse. All the big colorful pills with too much whitespace… Samsung brings back a proper notification shade with lots of quick buttons, like it used to be 3 or so versions ago with a Pixel. I put my custom launcher on and basically forgot it’s Samsung.
There’s spots all over Android that have been rough that Samsung just, smooths out. It’s like they’re actually using the phone and willing to take matters into their own hands when Google isn’t, because Google is focused on AI assistants and letting everything else rot. Samsung lets you customize, whereas Pixel keeps walking you toward an iOS style experience one step at a time.
DeX, if you have a use for it, is awesome. During my lunch break at work can unplug my laptop from my dock, connect my phone, and have a personal workstation for watching videos, whatever. I also have a much better Private Folder with multiple apps. It’s like Samsung understands that with one device we need separation. Google has been saying a competitor to this is coming, but at this point it’s so far behind I’ll believe it when I see it.
Samsung doesn’t hold you hostage in format wars. My old Pixel in 20fucking23 couldn’t support external storage with anything but FAT32. That’s insane. It was screwing me up trying to easily back up a large file and that was no problem for the Samsung. Same with casting, Google is all in on Chromecast and nothing else, Samsung can CC but it can also Miracast. So now I can cast to any TV instead of only some.
Samsung’s hardware is usually better. They try new things sooner so you have a refined ultrasonic fingerprint sensor while Pixel was still doing illuminated, depending on your version the processors are better.
Now, places where Samsung sucks are obvious and you stated a few. No unlocking is bullshit. I own the phone, I should be able to unlock it. If you’re into tinkering then stay away, but Samsung’s do tend to have higher resale value, so if you want to get into ROMs then you can always sell the Samsung and grab a cheap used Pixel. Samsung kept the headphone jack and uSD around a little longer, but they’re both long gone on today’s models so that’s moot.
Samsung (and I can see where they’re coming from) was concerned with how much control Google had over Android so they made their own first party apps for everything. This means a lot of duplicate apps. I will say that while some can’t be easily uninstalled, they can be easily ignored. I just don’t use most of them and I’m fine. They don’t really force them on you or keep changing them to the default handler or anything. I’m OK with it, but I could see some people being annoyed.
That’s about it honestly… Samsung reminds me a bit of the early Nexus era days. Lots of customization, interesting tech, and work being put into the OS. Google is just plodding along, content to lock people into an iPhone clone and sell AI. I say give them both a try. If you pick up used or a refurb you can save a fortune and easily switch if you don’t like it without losing much if anything.
It’s been a while since I used Samsung. My work phone is a Samsung flip of some sort that gets powered on once a month.
However, it’s not just their phones that have me turned off. Their TVs built in OS is shit and they just had a whole lot of bad press for their fridges that will start showing ads. Not to mention how their appliances tend to have the shortest lifespan of comparably prices appliances.
Good hardware, but consistently anti consumer software.
My very fist Android phone was a Samsung and while it had all kinds of cool features like TV out and an IR blaster, the software never got updated. I ended up installing and tinkering with custom ROMs and that led me to the Nexus line when it first launched. I stayed with Google ever since because they kept the Nexus and A series affordable, and had a much nicer clean OS with constant updates.
When they switched from Nexus to Pixel they decided they wanted to price it like an iPhone, even though it totally lacked the polish and value proposition. I stuck with my Nexus until they introduced the A series. It was affordable and new, but lacked video out, wireless charging, and thr SD card. Things the Nexus line all had. It was the beginning of the iphone-ification of Android IMO, but there were no other good options because every other vendor abandoned their phones after a year.
Now several years later things have only gotten worse. The amount of brands selling Android phone that are actually decent is like 2, maybe 3, they all are just slate designs with nothing interesting, and only a few actually give you proper updates. Samsung stands out in that crowd for having the most interesting phones and still decent support, but I agree that they are too expensive when new, and the locked bootloader sucks.
As you mentioned I’m 100% I’m just talking about Samsung’s phones here. Samsung as an entire company is one I would stay away from in most cases. I also would never buy one of their appliances and while I may have considered their TVs in the past due to them being an excellent panel manufacturer, I would think twice today.
Totally fair.
I do admit the phones look cool and have some very nice features. But they’ve been on my “never buy” list for a long time for all their products, phones included.
I think not being able to uninstall Facebook was one of the breaking points when I last trialed their phone.
Eww, yeah that’s not cool. Was that Samsung forcing that on the phone or the carrier? I know US carries are atrocious for their uninstallable apps like that. Regardless shame on Samsung and the others for allowing it. The only apps that came on mine were Samsung apps.
Regardless, your dislike is completely justified. I really wish someone else could step up and make the phone we need. Repairable, jack/slot, small-midsize, proper updates, but I just don’t think the market is there. The iphone-ification of smartphones is basically complete, and now Microsoft is trying to do it to the desktop. In the future there’s going to be a lot of old people telling stories to their grandkids about how they used to own a computer and choose what was installed…