Have you switched from a Note 5? Hindsight Appreciated!

[sp44]

If you could take Samsung's Note 5 hardware and put a Nexus like software experience it would be great. Definitely more like an iPhone. But it doesn't so that's why I like my iPhone. Software and hardware are great together.

 

[Trees]

I think that would be a good combination. iPhone + iOS and Nexus + Stock Android are similar in many ways. No carrier interference for software updates, no additional carrier installed software, frequent software feature and security updates, and as you noted; a well integrated hardware/software experience.

Beyond that, positives for me with iOS are iMessage, great battery life (6S+), Support, Family Sharing, Apple Pay (supports all of our banks) and overall iOS smoothness and feature integration. Positives for me about Android (talking TouchWiz here) are the Google app/ecocystem integration and interoperability, ability to manage my homescreens how I want (put icons where I want), Android's ability to share among other apps or features, Google Now, and a local "My Documents" that allows me to drag/drop between the phone's filesystem and that of my desktop.

The above are a short list, and both iOS and Android do things well. Think it comes down to personal preference and fit for your specific use case(s) and needs.

 

[dlcpa]

The best of all the phones is the LG V10. Screen is beautiful, but from there it soars. To get something close to what I have on the lg v10 in a 6 S Plus, I'd have to pay at least an extra $10 a month and I wouldn't even come close to the capabilities of the v10. I could not have on an Apple a 256 gig, 512 gig, 2 terabyte Micro SD card. You don't always realize when you need extra power or storage but for me I use it for everything including backing up key files and directories in my laptop so that I have them with me all the time. I love the interchangeable battery. However battery has not been an issue since the problem with the Exchange server was corrected. And that problem actually affected my prior galaxy note 2 and even my laptop. You need to get the correct server when you have an outlook.com account.

There is no camera that's better then the one on the v10 and that's not even arguable. As far as lag, I don't know what people are talking about but I have no lag. Where I have seen horrible lag was on iPad, they are horrendous. I even got an LG tablet for free with my phone and that comes in handy as a great GPS device so that when it's time to make an incredibly important term a phone call doesn't screw up directions. Plus there is no lag.

To be honest, I despise Apple, not for its products but for its CEO and corporate tax policy in not paying US corporate tax to the United States. However, the LG is far superior to the 6 S Plus and I can get many programs and apps for free from the Google Play Store. There is no app that I need that Apple has that Android doesn't have. Android is owned by Google and Google is an American company that pays tax in the United States. Take a look at the LG and I'm sure you'll be very surprised.

Posted via the iMore App for Android

 

[dlcpa]

I've been an Android guy for about the last 3 years, using an iOS device here and there, but primarily on Android. I recently switched to a 6s Plus and have no intentions at this point in time of going back to Android. Since August I've used three phones (other than my current 6s Plus). Those are: Note 5, Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X. The Note 5 had a beautiful screen, took awesome pictures, was plenty fast, and had solid battery life. The Nexus 6P was similar in those respects to the Note 5. And the Nexus 5X was the worst of the bunch being that I noticed a fair amount of lag. These are the reasons I've moved on from Android at this point in time:

1) Lack of updates (Note 5 only) - this makes that phone a non-starter for me. In this day and age, I can't afford to wait for Samsung to push a security update and then have to wait for AT&T to approve of it. I use my phone for work, and have some sensitive material on there. I'd rather not leave myself open to an exploit. At least with Nexus devices you get the updates early. But nothing is faster on the update front than an iPhone.

2) Lack of cohesion in the ecosystem. There is no complimentary device to an Android phone like there is to an iPhone. I can use a Mac or iPad with my iPhone and they work together as one. I can answer calls and texts on my Mac or iPad without having to download a third party app. Sure you can do this on Android, but it isn't native and isn't nearly as intuitive.

3) Lack of support from the manufacturer. If I buy an AT&T Note 5 and something goes wrong, I have to deal with AT&T and not Samsung. And Samsung's customer service is terrible anyway. Google's customer service is solid, but honestly, nothing beats Apple's customer service. If you have an Apple Store nearby, you can go in there and get taken care of. Or if you don't, you can call and deal with (in my experience) very helpful people. It just gives me peace of mind.

4) Along the lines of #3, I just don't trust any Android phone to work as intended, or at least not for long. You hear/read of many horror stories of updates breaking a ton of things, Bluetooth not working properly, etc. Sure things don't always go as intended with Apple, nothing is without its faults, but they seem minor to me compared with the issues with Android devices.

5) For what I have come to use a phone for, iOS does it the best and the quickest. My 6s Plus is the most fluid device I've ever used. Battery life is insane. The main things I use my phone for are text messages (iMessage is great and even regular SMS seems to work better than anything on Android); pictures (may not be the best, but it is an all around solid performer and videos are fantastic); some apps and games - which always seem to be slightly better and come out earlier for Apple. Plus I can still use everything Google.

Hope this helps out, and sorry if it's kind of a stream of consciousness.

Lack of cohesion, that's what I thought too and one of the reasons why I was going to buy a Windows Phone. I never really used the cloud because I didn't like the idea storing everything in the universe which would be easy to pick off. But after my note 2 died, I realized I need to backup my information another way. Luckily I had everything on an SD card and I was able to transfer lots of information into my new LG v10 phone. Apple owners and Samsung owners, those having the note 5 in the s6, have no SD cards.

So, I backed up over 4,500 contacts into two places. 1 into the online outlook.com acct. and the other in to Gmail, from my laptop running Windows. The outlook.com account lost my categories and was slow as hell. The transfer into Google was like lightning and maintaines all the information I had on my outlook 10 contacts from MS Office on my laptop. So now, my laptop my phone and my tablet all use the same contacts and when one is upgraded they're all upgraded. There is the cohesion.

As far as support, when my note 2 died it wasn't be able to be used for any kind of transferring of information and Samsung wouldn't allow the newer phones like my lg to download their Smart Switch program which populates your new phone from your SD card. So after speaking to customer service at AT&T they told me to go to their customer support center in West Palm Beach where they would take my sd card, put it into a Samsung s5, populate that phone with my information and then do a wire to wire transfer into my lg. I was very appreciative of that support and and feel totally comfortable with AT&T and now LG.

I had an issue at first with my battery lasting less than 5 hours on standby and the phone heating up. I called the LG and with a little bit of work we figured out that it was the Microsoft Exchange Server for my outlook.com account that was causing the problem, they gave me the new Exchange server settings and the problem ceased to exist. This is a problem that affected my Samsung Note 2, and maybe was partly responsible for frying the phone, and I was getting terribly inconsistent linking and syncing to the Exchange account from my laptop, missing many emails. Microsoft must have changed the Exchange server and didn't tell anybody.

So with the LG and AT&T I feel completely taken care of. Plus the LG v10 phone is magnificent.

Posted via the iMore App for Android

 

[Laserbutt]

The best of all the phones is the LG V10. Screen is beautiful, but from there it soars. To get something close to what I have on the lg v10 in a 6 S Plus, I'd have to pay at least an extra $10 a month and I wouldn't even come close to the capabilities of the v10. I could not have on an Apple a 256 gig, 512 gig, 2 terabyte Micro SD card. You don't always realize when you need extra power or storage but for me I use it for everything including backing up key files and directories in my laptop so that I have them with me all the time. I love the interchangeable battery. However battery has not been an issue since the problem with the Exchange server was corrected. And that problem actually affected my prior galaxy note 2 and even my laptop. You need to get the correct server when you have an outlook.com account.

There is no camera that's better then the one on the v10 and that's not even arguable. As far as lag, I don't know what people are talking about but I have no lag. Where I have seen horrible lag was on iPad, they are horrendous. I even got an LG tablet for free with my phone and that comes in handy as a great GPS device so that when it's time to make an incredibly important term a phone call doesn't screw up directions. Plus there is no lag.

To be honest, I despise Apple, not for its products but for its CEO and corporate tax policy in not paying US corporate tax to the United States. However, the LG is far superior to the 6 S Plus and I can get many programs and apps for free from the Google Play Store. There is no app that I need that Apple has that Android doesn't have. Android is owned by Google and Google is an American company that pays tax in the United States. Take a look at the LG and I'm sure you'll be very surprised.

Posted via the iMore App for Android

I agree the LG V10 is a top tier device however dxomark just published that the S6 edge plus and the Sony Z5 were tied for best mobile cameras with the Note 5 just behind them and so on. I'm certain they tested LG as well, so it is actually arguable that the V10 does not have the best camera. Additionally the SD 808 and the gpu are both dated for late 2015.

I really want to like the V10 but am worried that perormance will be lacking in highly tasking scenarios.

The IR blaster is almost enough to entice me alone, though

Posted via the iMore App for Android

 

[MooMooPrincess]

If I missed all that I wouldn't have an iPhone!

I can't keep the same thing for long haha

 

[Ukemochi]

I just switched from having the Galaxy Note 5 to the iPhone 6S Plus. A lot of people went into detail above as you can see but I think I can make a more simple point that might help you out. Now I personally have used and owned every phone BB10 from Blackberry, all iPhones and every Flagship Android Phone sold state side. (yes a lot of money spent) After many years of listening to al the squabbling which is better at the end of the day it comes down to what you do and how you will use the device that's he most important. Now one key piece of advice that rings true in all aspects of tech in my opinion is that you want to use something that comes directly from the source. What I mean by that is if you want the Android OS for what it has to offer, you should be using a Nexus of you are wanting iOS for an operating syst

 

[Ukemochi]

Sorry hit the wrong button. You should be using an iPhone for the IOS system. It is extremely important for hardware and software to work as one and not against each other. When they work well together you get the experience of what Apple has to offer same for a Nexus device. But when you have 3rd party vendors adding extra crap ontop or needing more hardware to make up for the poorly written software or vise versa that's not a win for you or any other customer. Figure out which OS is most suitable to you and the phone choice becomes easy as pie.

 

[sp44]

I really wanted to get a Note 5 but at the end of the day I want something that just works. I want something that has good battery life without disabling stuff. I want a screen that works without disabling Facebook. Sure I miss the customization and other little things but I want stability more.

 

[tlo07]

I did the opposite. I went from an iPhone to a Note 5. I like the ability to customize the phone with different themes and fonts. I like the screen size and resolution. I love the Google Now widget. I love the S-pen. On the down side the N5 does freeze occasionally, updates are a joke and the compression of photos in the messaging app sucks. Plus, almost every single one of my contacts has an iPhone and I miss iMessage terribly!

I definitely would consider going back to the iPhone. I have never had a "plus" version but after the Note 5 the regular versions seem too tiny so I would go plus next time. I'm hoping the iPhone 7 brings a better screen-to-bezel ratio. If I'm going to carry a huge phone I want a huge screen, not a large-ish screen and fat bezels. Samsung does a great job with that. Also I want to decide where I put icons on my screen and I want to at least be able to choose my own font.

 

[Rob Phillips]

I did the opposite. I went from an iPhone to a Note 5. I like the ability to customize the phone with different themes and fonts. I like the screen size and resolution. I love the Google Now widget. I love the S-pen. On the down side the N5 does freeze occasionally, updates are a joke and the compression of photos in the messaging app sucks. Plus, almost every single one of my contacts has an iPhone and I miss iMessage terribly!

I definitely would consider going back to the iPhone. I have never had a "plus" version but after the Note 5 the regular versions seem too tiny so I would go plus next time. I'm hoping the iPhone 7 brings a better screen-to-bezel ratio. If I'm going to carry a huge phone I want a huge screen, not a large-ish screen and fat bezels. Samsung does a great job with that. Also I want to decide where I put icons on my screen and I want to at least be able to choose my own font.

I agree with your feedback about the large bezel but I also wonder how a smaller bezel would affect battery life. A good chunk of the inside of the phone is battery so I imagine a smaller bezel would equal a smaller battery. Tough call for me.

 

[Laserbutt]

I agree with your feedback about the large bezel but I also wonder how a smaller bezel would affect battery life. A good chunk of the inside of the phone is battery so I imagine a smaller bezel would equal a smaller battery. Tough call for me.

OR maybe reduce the width and increase the thickness, making the camera flush with the back..

Posted via the iMore App for Android

 

[Haalcyon]

I switched from a Note 4 to a 6s Plus and I'm more than happy. The iPhone is fast and fluid and the apps are just so much more polished. All the features just work.

 

[jbracy]

To be honest, I despise Apple, not for its products but for its CEO and corporate tax policy in not paying US corporate tax to the United States. However, the LG is far superior to the 6 S Plus and I can get many programs and apps for free from the Google Play Store. There is no app that I need that Apple has that Android doesn't have. Android is owned by Google and Google is an American company that pays tax in the United States.

You need to do a little research on how taxation works.

1. Apple pays US tax on all US income, it does not bring $ earned overseas back into the US because it has already paid taxes in the countries where it was earned and paying the US Gov't another 40% would be insane.
2. Google and Microsoft and any other large company also use offshore tax havens (look it up. I can't post links yet, but BGR has an article about it)
3. I personally don't care what you think about Apple or it's products - doesn't effect me, but I hate that people use the whole Tax thing as a reason. Do you pay extra taxes that you don't owe? Why should Apple? Why should Apple repatriate almost $200billion when it would have to just give $80billion of that to the Government?
4. To make it more relatable what would you do if... You live in another country, but maintain US residency as well. You buy a house and in a few years sell it for a substantial profit - let's say $100,000. You pay the proper taxes where you live for the proceeds, but then the US Gov't and the internet say "Hey, you are a US citizen, you need to bring that money over here and give us a piece." Would you say hey sure it's only fair to give the US $40,000? Or would you say, "I'm not bringing that money back to the US as I still live and work here, so why should I pay taxes on it there?

Sorry, very off topic, but it pisses me off

 

[thatcurveuser9350]

I switched from a note 5 to this phone. The only thing I liked better was the camera

 

[hylex]

I did the reverse. I switched away from iPhone to note 5 and then onto the Nexus 6p. Around here whatsapp is ubiquitous, so imessage is not missed at all.

I love the 6p. Fast, fluid, good build quality, great battery and timely updates. It does everything i want and gives me the freedom i want.

 

[tsparks1]

I have an iPhone 6+ (6S+ will be in my grubby little paws tomorrow by 10:30 am) and a Note 5, also own a Droid Turbo 2. Yeah, I know I spend waaay too much on phones, but I like all three phones and they are all great phones and all have their pros and cons. The difference maker for me is the watch. Can't stand Android Wear, Samsungs's Tizen is better imo than AW but the clear champ is the Apple watch. A watch is very important to me and to me it's not even close, that's what keeps me with Apple, plus the fragmentation and lack of timely updates with Android. Gotta have my Apple watch. Sorry, got a little off topic.

 

[mumfoau]

These are the reasons I've moved on from Android at this point in time:

1) Lack of updates

2) Lack of cohesion in the ecosystem.

3) Lack of support from the manufacturer.

5) For what I have come to use a phone for, iOS does it the best and the quickest. My 6s Plus is the most fluid device I've ever used. Battery life is insane. The main things I use my phone for are text messages (iMessage is great and even regular SMS seems to work better than anything on Android); pictures (may not be the best, but it is an all around solid performer and videos are fantastic); some apps and games - which always seem to be slightly better and come out earlier for Apple. Plus I can still use everything Google.

All reasons that I end up switching back...

 

[Wildo6882]

All reasons that I end up switching back...

Did you go back to iOS?

 

[mumfoau]

Did you go back to iOS?

I'm set up to trade a guy my 6P for his 6S Plus tomorrow afternoon. Unlocked T-Mobile but already checked with VZW and it looks good to go!