Something surprising happened to me this week that is making me ask the question is android starting to win me over?
Over the weekend I put my personal sim into my Samsung S22 Ultra to finish testing on the Galaxy Watch 4 (Post coming soon). I used it solely for the whole weekend so left my iPhone 13 Pro Max in my office to not distract me from my testing. Then Monday came and I went to switch my SIM back into the iPhone and this is where the surprise came I missed using the Samsung.
I must admit that I did enjoy using it over the weekend and didn’t have the urge to switch back within a day or so as usual. And even when Monday morning came I was in no rush to swap back but I did and it was then when I start to miss some of the things that I had enjoyed over the weekend of getting to know this phone again.
The Screen:
For me, this screen is the best smartphone screen I have come across. The curved AMOLED display is just gorgeous and has that 120hz refresh rate which can drop right down when it is not needed. It was pretty sunny this weekend in the UK and I had no problem with viewing the screen I found that the auto brightness worked great so that 1750 nits come into its own.
I also find the screen resolution so pleasing to the eye. I find reading and watching content on this phone a real pleasure. The resolution makes a difference for me when I am on apps like Facebook and Instagram it just feels that bit sharper in my opinion.
Feel In-hand
Something that I had not considered before is how the Samsung S22 Ultra feels in your hand. I find that this is a much more comfortable phone to hold than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, I think it’s because the edges are a bit rounder and therefore a bit softer in hand.
This is a big phone but I find it sits nicely when I hold it. It doesn’t feel as wide as the iPhone so I can at a stretch use it one-handed but to be honest like the iPhone you mostly need two hands to use it, but still, it feels that bit more comfortable.
Always on Display
I love this feature. Being able to just glance at my phone and see what notifications I have is just great, it means that I don’t need to pick up my phone to look at what has come through, which in turn means that I don’t get dragged into my phone and on to apps like Instagram.
I hoped that this was going to be coming to iPhone with the new IOS 16 but it’s not and for me, this is a big disappointment. Hopefully, they will have this feature on the iPhone 14 lineup.
Nova launcher
So recently discovered the world of Nova Launcher which completely changes up the UI on the phone. I really like this launcher it’s allowed me to have a seriously minimal Home Screen. You can change up the size of the icon, and add different icon packs to change it completely.
it also allows you to choose how many apps you want in the dock and the rows above. Another great thing about android is that you can put those apps anywhere on the screen which has allowed me to have all my main apps at the bottom of the screen leaving plenty of space to show off my wallpaper.
Keyboard
This might seem like a strange one. I downloaded the G-Board keyboard straight away as it’s fast becoming my favourite keyboard (also use this on my iPhone). I really like that I can change the height of the keyboard to best suit me. I tend to go for the tall height as it makes the keys nice and big but not overly.
It is not a big thing but it’s these little bits that you can customise that make it your own and tailored to how you want to be able to use your phone.
Fingerprint scanner
I do enjoy using the finger printer scanner on this phone. It is an optical scanner that Samsung has used and I have not had any miss fires when using it.
I would say that I am starting to prefer this to Face ID and in fact, I do not have Face ID enabled on the Samsung. I just like being able to unlock the phone and present my phone to a card machine, it just seems so much quicker than when I use Apple Pay. I also don’t end up unlocking my phone every time I pick it up, which can be annoying on the iPhone.
Camera:
I wasn’t going to mention the camera as it is something that everyone talks about and it’s not something I really put through its paces but playing with zoom on this phone was fun.
Maybe I will investigate the camera a bit more as I have read that there are some cool features available.
Conclusion:
So these are just some of the things that I can say I found myself missing to the extent that I have put my SIM card back in the Samsung. I am going to keep it in there as long as I feel I want to use it. It may be that I decide in a few days that I want to go back to my iPhone as my main phone, and there are still certain things that I will continue to use the iPhone for first (uploaded photos to Instagram). I will also be using my iPhone to test the public beta of IOS 16 so keep an eye open for that blog post coming your way.
I also have a couple of MagSafe accessories coming for the S22 Ultra so for now I will be carrying on with it and hopefully continue to enjoy the variety that it gives you.