The Samsung Galaxy Ace was my first smartphone, and I have been loyal to Android ever since. Nonetheless, I might be mendacity if I stated I have not glanced over to the opposite facet often, questioning if I may swap from Android to iOS. I made a decision to enterprise out of my consolation zone and begin 2024 with an iPhone in my pocket. The cameras are unbelievable, the audio system are loud, and iOS would not draw back from showcasing its easy animations. But, I miss just a few issues from my time utilizing Android telephones.
5 A greater typing expertise
How has Apple not figured this out but?
After establishing my new iPhone with apps I take advantage of and a cleverly positioned wallpaper to cover the Dynamic Island, I bumped into my first and largest annoyance: the keyboard. The autocorrect is atrocious, there is not a fast strategy to enter numbers, and the idea of a clipboard supervisor is overseas to iOS.
There’s additionally a noticeable lag with my iPhone’s keyboard. Regardless of scouring by way of several Reddit posts, I discovered that switching to a third-party providing was the one strategy to have a usable typing expertise. SwiftKey is my keyboard of alternative. There aren’t many choices on the App Retailer, particularly with Gboard lacking half the options on iOS in comparison with its Android counterpart.
SwiftKey can add a sticky quantity row on the prime, encompasses a clipboard, and offers stronger haptic suggestions when typing. A built-in GIF picker, a strategy to generate AI images using the SwiftKey keyboard, and different additions add worth to the typing expertise or keep out of your approach in case you choose to not use them. I often take care of the dreadful default keyboard when typing in passwords for authentication, however the shift to SwiftKey has stored me from switching again to Android.
4 Sooner charging
0 to 100 in half-hour is now only a reminiscence
I’ve used OnePlus smartphones since 2015. Whereas OxygenOS has matured through the years into one thing totally different, OnePlus smartphones have all the time been recognized for his or her snappiness and quick charging. Dropping from a charging velocity of 65W to lower than 30W on my iPhone appeared like a downgrade on paper, however it shortly boosts previous the primary 70%.
Nonetheless, I needed to recalibrate my charging habits. A few of the fastest-charging Android telephones take underneath half-hour to totally prime up. I leveraged this performance to my benefit for years and charged my telephones a couple of minutes earlier than my day started. The iPhone wants a minimum of an hour to cost it with sufficient energy to final a full day. I’ve largely switched to charging my iPhone wirelessly by way of the night time and waking up with a full battery. Nonetheless, I miss the comfort of five-minute fast prices from my OnePlus cellphone.
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When you go quick, there is no going again
3 The snappier really feel of Android
The iPhone loves taking its personal time
Each evaluation of the iPhone talks about iOS’s easy and detailed animations. The way in which your apps and widgets crawl into place once you unlock your cellphone seems magical. Nonetheless, this shortly will get outdated once you wish to accomplish a job however should sit by way of convoluted transitions. Because of this I velocity up animations on Android. Dropping the period of all transitions to 0.5x makes interacting with the UI snappier. You’ll be able to flip off system animations on iOS by navigating to Settings > Accessibility > Movement and turning on the Scale back Movement toggle. Nonetheless, the result is sluggish.
Android and iOS have inertial scrolling, which supplies a easy deceleration feeling once you let go of your finger. Nonetheless, the iPhone scrolls slower than Android telephones, which I needed to get used to. I recognize the common back-to-top shortcut on iOS, which might be triggered by tapping the highest of the display screen.
There have additionally been experiences of iOS 18 throttling the refresh rate of the Professional fashions to 80Hz. It did not take a side-by-side comparability to note this. My iPhone is stricter relating to sustaining the graceful 120Hz refresh price throughout all apps. That is doubtless performed to advertise higher battery life, however I want iOS had a Power Peak Refresh Fee toggle, like some customized ROMs on Android, which results in one other side I miss probably the most about Android.
2 The power to put in customized ROMs
Energy of a OnePlus with the guts of a Pixel
This one has much less to complain about iOS however shines a lightweight on how open and customizable Android is. Do you not like how the current updates to OxygenOS ruined the inventory expertise? Flash a customized ROM that borrows the feel and appear of a Google Pixel. That is what I did when OnePlus dropped official software program help for my cellphone. Now, I’ve the flagship-grade internals of a OnePlus system however with the fluidity and clear expertise of a Pixel.
Customized ROM growth has slowed down through the years. Producers now ship extra years of software program updates, leaving little motive to swap the OS in your cellphone.
5 ways Google nerfed custom ROMs and rooting
Rooting is never price it these days, and there are some main drawbacks
1 The little issues
Extra sacrifices than I might hoped to make
I put an excessive amount of religion within the iOS 18 replace, which was imagined to be a UI overhaul. I like which you could place icons wherever on the house display screen with out inventive workarounds, broaden their dimension, and select a distinct tint. Wanting customizing the Management Middle, my iPhone appears fairly vanilla.
As an alternative, my complaints revolve round how the iOS working system handles actions. There is not a common again gesture, and swiping in from the left or proper would not all the time work. Typically, it’s a must to swipe all the way down to exit a dialog field in an app or faucet the tiny X icon within the upper-left or upper-right nook of the display screen. This unpredictability within the UI is irritating.
I will not contact on notification administration. Even die-hard iOS customers acknowledge how horrible it’s. An even bigger annoyance for me is how iOS pauses background actions for apps that ought to be capable of bypass this restriction. I’ve seen the “Story hasn’t completed importing” notification from Instagram numerous instances, which solely resumes once I open the app.
If the iOS 18 Pictures app redesign wasn’t controversial sufficient, the best way your pictures and movies go right into a single Recents folder in your gallery is annoying. I’ve taken with no consideration how Android neatly organizes the media I obtain on my cellphone from totally different sources. Pictures I save from Instagram seem in their very own folder, and pictures I obtain from Chrome populate in one other listing. Whereas the Pictures app on iOS makes it simple to seek for a picture utilizing key phrases, the issue is extra pronounced in third-party apps and their media pickers that present your pictures and movies as one large, cluttered mess.
Will I be switching again to Android?
With a MacBook changing my laptop and a pair of AirPods Professional in my pocket, I am invested too deeply within the Apple ecosystem to return to utilizing Android. I additionally recognize conveniences like AirDrop and Discover My. Nonetheless, when my iPhone requires two prices a day and I lose considered one of my earphones, I will be reluctant to hit the Apple Retailer once more as a result of Android 15 stands out over iOS 18.
