Switching from iPhone to Android: After 1 month – can it stick?

We gave reader Rob an Android phone to see what the experience of switching from iPhone to Android would be like.  We asked him to document that on day one, after two weeks, and after a month.  Here are his final thoughts

So here I am, a full month into the experiment of moving from the iPhone to the Samsung A7, running Android. My first two posts, it would be fair to say, I was struggling a fair bit with the move. I’ve been a long time iPhone user so I knew going in that the changeover would be difficult but I was determined to give it a crack.

The number one question I asked myself is, would a mid level phone such as the Samsung A7 do everything I needed without the high price tag of the flagship phones such as the iPhone 7 or Samsung S8? After a solid month of use, I can categorically answer that yes absolutely a $799 phone ticks all the boxes. If I was heading out to buy an Android phone tomorrow, I honestly think that there is no genuine need to drop $1200 on the flag ship phones, unless having the best looking phone is super important to you.

So after a month living and breathing Android, I have slowly but surely grown to appreciate the other side. The annoyances such as the keyboard have been solved by downloading the Google keyboard. I have accepted the different way notifications are shown and I have seen just how awesome using widgets are.

I have enjoyed using the Play Store instead of iTunes and I’ve been lucky that the apps I formerly used on the iPhone are available on Android and work just as well. The Play Store has some work to do, ridding itself of the rubbish and potentially dangerous apps. It’s one thing that iTunes does well by ensuring every app is safe to download.

One thing I loved about the iPhone was that it was so simple. This experiment has given me the time and freedom to get truly comfortable in the Android ecosystem and I’ve become comfortable using Android.

So now it’s time to return the phone back to Trevor and I have a decision to make. Do I go back to the iPhone or do I fully embrace my conversion over to Android? After my day 1 blog and even my day 15 blog, this decision would have been easy. I couldn’t get back to the iPhone quick enough. But now, I’m not so sure.

The mid level price tag that are on offer in the Android space are so attractive that I could buy a phone outright and be in a position to shop around for the best phone plans with the telco’s. The price of the flagship iPhone puts an outright purchase out of reach for most people and this means committing to a 24 month contract.

Whatever decision I make in time, this I know, that after this experiment I would be very comfortable committing to Android for the long term.

Listen to Rob’s chat with me on Your Tech Life about just what’s next and whether here will buy the next iPhone