So, I did it. I finally did it. I switched from Android to iOS. Specifically, from OnePlus 7T to iPhone 12 Pro. I’ve been an avid Android user for more than 8 years. In this video, I’m going to talk about what you should be aware of if you’re thinking of moving from Android to iOS.
So, let’s get started.
Disclaimer: All these are my personal experience and my usage of the phones. These might vary for each and every one of you. So, if you don’t agree to what I say, don’t worry, we still love you!
A little of history…
My first ever Android phone was a Huawei phone, which I only used for a couple of months and I started hating Huawei ever since. And now you can pause the video and put that comment saying Huawei is the best and I’m stupid. You know the drill. You might love it, but I don’t. That’s how the world works.
Then I bought a Nexus 5, one of the best smartphones I’ve used. Then I briefly used a Windows phone, and as you already have guessed, it didn’t go well. Then I moved to OnePlus. OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 6T, and finally OnePlus 7T.
When OnePlus released the OnePlus 8T, I didn’t see a drastic difference and it didn’t convince me enough to upgrade. I could have stayed with OnePlus 7T, but 1) would like to upgrade to the latest, but I didn’t see anything promising. 2) It was a little bit lagging and was giving some issues, which I’m not going to go deeper in this video.
So I thought, I will finally make the move. I knew all, rather almost all the complications I would face. But I took the leap. So I bought an iPhone 12 Pro. One of the biggest motivations is seeing that iOS has changed a lot during the last couple of years.
So, let’s see what things I had to face.
I will break this down into three parts. the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Good
Form factor
I like the form factor of this phone. This has a 6.1” screen, but it’s way smaller than my OnePlus 7T in size which has a 6.55” screen. I like the boxy design and it feels more premium. Even if I put a case like I usually do, it still feels smaller than my OnPlus 7T. Now when I try to use the 7T, I immediately feel the difference. It feels… old… I know, it’s weird, but it’s true. I’m not an Apple fanboy any means. I rather used to hate Apple. But this is surprising. I really like how it feels on my hand. And I know for a fact, I can sell this a way higher price than I would sell my OnePlus phone.
Software and apps
One of the major issues I was having in my OnePlus 7T was the instability of apps. Sometimes it wouldn’t show notifications, lags when I try to pull down the notifications panel or switch between apps. I know this sounds weird, but I felt all these started happening after they released OnePlus 8T. I’m not suggesting that OnePlus intentionally slowed down the older phones, maybe it’s just because I used it for almost a year. I don’t know. The point is, it got slow.
But iOS is quite responsive, at least for now. The animations are super smooth. Everything is fluid. Yes, I remember I said I won’t be able to go back to a 60Hz display again when I reviewed the 7T, but it’s not true anymore. The animations are smoother and pleasing.
Oh god, what have I become 🙁
The apps are more stable, and they’re fast and responsive. The same app performs differently on Android and iOS. Well, iOS opening an app half a second faster is not a proper reason to justify that. I’m talking about apps lagging behind, it just kills the experience. The most common recommendation I get is just to reset the Android phone and it will be fine. But it’s not that simple as it sounds. And I don’t want to make it a reason to keep using it. Or maybe I never used a phone this long to feel the lag.
My point is, iOS feels snappy, and clean at least for now. Probably it’s just the honeymoon period. Even the Google apps work better on iOS. But let’s see.
One additional thing is the one hand usage of the iPhone. I dropped my OnePlus 6T back then on a concrete floor because I was trying to use the phone on a single hand! And I had to replace the screen. <shakes head> Google, why don’t you fix it!
The camera
I know this is not a fair comparison, but this is what I have. And I’m pretty sure normal people who already have a OnePlus 8T or a Galaxy S20 or 21 won’t switch to iPhone 12.
So, when I compare the photos coming out of the OnePlus 7T and iPhone 12 Pro, I can clearly see the iPhone is doing better. Photos from the 7T are a little bit over-saturated, while the 12 pro gives a little bit more flat profile, which I can edit later.
And iPhone 12 pro is doing really well in video recording. The video stabilization is probably the best on any smartphone. And yes, it has Dolby Vision HDR, but I’m not super hyped about it, because it’s not that common in consumer grade devices yet. But the video quality is really good, and I might even use it to record my YouTube videos.
One thing I miss for sure is the macro camera from the 7T, which is not there in the iPhone 12 Pro.
Integration with Apple devices
This is only true if you have more Apple devices, such as a Mac computer, Apple Watch, iPods and what not. You can work seamlessly between devices, such as unlocking your devices with another, changing music source and output from one device to another, multi-device clipboard and much more. The only Apple device I have for now is this phone and the Apple Watch 6, and it seems I have to buy more to keep up. So let me know if you need separate reviews of them in the comments section below.
I tried to use my TicWatch Pro with the iPhone, but it doesn’t live up to its potential. However, Huawei Watch GT2 surprisingly works better with the iPhone compared to with my Android phone.
Anyway, If you’re using Apple devices, the integration between then is AMAZING…!!!!
Everything is super smooth and synced perfectly. If my phone is on bed-mode, the watch automatically goes to bed mode, and even turns off the watch screen. And when I wear the watch, I can make the phone not vibrate at all. I know it was already there, but it was quite a pleasant surprise for me as a long term Android user.
And if because I’m getting older, and value convenience over struggle. That’s another reason I moved out of Linux, specifically Arch Linux. I’m too old to spend days customizing my devices. I just want it to work now. Maybe it’s just me. So let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Action Center and notifications pane
It was a little bit confusing at first, now I’m used to it, and I actually like it. I initially wanted to mark this ugly, but then I realized it’s actually very convenient.
Security and privacy
Well, this is quite debatable. But I like the stance of Apple-related to the privacy of the users. You know all about Facebook selling user data and all those drama. Well, I like Apple’s stand on that topic. Might not be a huge reason to buy an iPhone, but worth mentioning.
Before moving into the next section, hear me out. YouTube tells me only 0.5% of my viewers are subscribed to the channel. That’s just sad! It takes quite a lot of research and especially money, because I don’t get sponsorships and I buy these with my own money. So, if you like my content, it would be awesome if you subscribe to the channel, and make sure to enable bell notifications as well.
Okay, let’s get into the bad.
Bad
You already know the significant ones such as there is less capability for customization on iOS, high prices for the devices etc. To be fair, I didn’t customize my Android phone a lot anyway. I think I’m getting old now.
But we already know all these limitations before getting into the ecosystem anyway. Let’s talk about other stuff.
Charging cable
Well, I’m not going to rant about not having a charger on the box. It’s old news anyway. And I’m fine with that, even if it’s not to save the environment and Apple just wanted more money from us. I don’t mind. But the lightning port. The f***ing lightning port! Why the hell it’s still not USC-C! Now, I need to carry an additional cable whenever I’m going somewhere. I mean, IF and WHEN I can go somewhere. It’s not even compatible among other Apple devices! Hmmmm, anyway. Just remember to carry this freaking cable with you.
Paid Apps
If you have paid apps in Android, most probably you’d have to buy them again on iOS, unless the subscription is linked to your account. One issue I still have is, I bought Google One to get 200 GB on Google storage because I take a lot of photos from my phone. Even though I still can use Google Photos on my iPhone, I’m totally relying on Google Photos backup. It works without an issue, but not the best way to backup your photos on your iPhone. So I might need to switch to iCloud storage.
Transferring files
I still have a Windows laptop to edit my videos. I recorded a few videos of my PS5 when I did the review, and man, it was a nightmare to copy those videos to my PC. Hold your horses please. I know it’s much easier to do it with AirDrop if you have a Mac, but not everyone does. On the contrary, I can easily transfer files from an Android phone into a Mac.
File management
This brings me to the file management capabilities of the iPhone. We don’t have access to the file system in iOS, and that’s fine for most of the people. There are workarounds, but it’s painful. One thing I really miss is restricting apps from adding images to the galley. Yes, some apps allow you to disable it, but not all of the apps. In Android, I can simply create an empty file named .nomedia and that folder won’t be scanned by the gallery. But now I have to live with this.
Picture in Picture
Yes, some native apps such as Facetime support this. But, I heavily use WhatsApp to call my family back home, it can only go into picture in picture mode within the app. I can’t simply minimize the app and check something on another app. It simply kills my video. Not just when minimizing, even when you pull the notifications drawer or the control center, it stops my video stream. Maybe it’s a feature, but I’m not enjoying it.
Transferring files, messages, and WhatsApp chats
Well, this is not straightforward. Especially for transferring WhatsApp chats from my Android phone to the iPhone. I had to use a paid tool called Wondershare MobilTrans, but it worked like a charm. It was just a one time payment, so I don’t mind. I mean, I didn’t have another option anyway.
Ugly
Let’s talk about the ugly stuff. The things that are hard to get used to, but eventually will be fine.
Camera shortcut
Ohhh man, I miss this a lot from my OnePlus phone. Whenever I want to take a picture, I just double press the power button and it brings up the camera. And I was so used to the gesture, the camera app was already open by the time it’s in front of my face. I cannot say the same for the iPhone though.
Close all apps
There is no close-all apps feature in the app switcher. So I realized that there are tens of apps open in the app switcher because the default swipe up gesture just minimizes the app. Maybe it’s a design decision. Many people mentioned that Apple uses the RAM efficiently and even apps from a few days ago can be loaded back again. Well… I can’t agree to that. It usually is the case, but not always. But I don’t mind that TBH. But with my partially OCD brain, I would love to have a clean app drawer.
Google Assistant
Yes, Google Assistant is here, but Siri gets the priority in iOS, because why not. You still can trigger Google Assistant as an app and do whatever the stuff you do. I never used to use Google Assistant on my phone, because I always used my smart speakers to do stuff. But if you’re highly depending on Google Assistant on your phone, this might be an issue. But I’m happy that I still use the Google Home app on the iPhone to control my smart devices.
Those are the significant ones. There are some small things like FaceID vs FingerPrint, Google Pay vs Apple Pay, and many small things. But I don’t want to complain about them, because it’s easy to get used to the platform.
Well, these are the Good, the bad and the ugly about switching from Android to iOS. I’ve been using the iPhone 12 Pro for more than 2 months now and I honestly love it. I never thought I would say that, but I really do.
So, do I regret switching to iOS? No, I don’t. Yes, I might need more money to get into the ecosystem, but I knew this was going to happen. As I mentioned, now I prioritize convenience over other features.
And, if I missed any of the goods, the bads or the uglies, please put a comment down below. And, also let me know if you’d like to see a full in-depth review of the iPhone 12 Pro.
Finally, if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up. If you hate my face, click it twice and share it with someone you don’t like.
Stay home, stay safe, and I will catch you in the next one.
