Thinking of upgrading from iPhone 5S to Samsung Galaxy S8, Pixel 2 or iPhone 8

I've been using an iPhone 5S for a few years now and while it has been a nice stable phone the last few updates seemed to have slowed my phone down. Newer apps and likely age has taken its toll on its battery life to the point where I need to charge it daily even if I only use it for a few minutes. Needless to say, I need a new phone.

I have been thinking of giving Android a try and my choices would be a Samsung S8 or Pixel 2, but I am also considering an iPhone 8. I've encountered a few limitations within iOS when it comes to basic (IMO) customization and don't like the stupid cost of extra charging cables and whatnot. At the same time I would prefer a simpler plug and play experience, and I have little desire to tinker with my phone. I am far from a heavy phone user.

Any advice on what would be best? Any things I should note if I switch from iOS to Android? Do Verizon S8 / Pixel 2s come with a lot of crappy bloatware pre-installed?

Quick answers:

IOS Will always be the simplest most easy to use experience.
If you want to refresh your 5s performance, get a new battery, which in that phone can be easily installed yourself.

Don’t buy a Verizon Pixel 2. Verizon has locked the Rom and placed bloatware on it. It’s better to buy an unlocked one from Google and use that on Verizon if you want that phone.
I generally dislike Samsung because of lagwiz. That’s up to you whether that’s acceptable or not. Also Samsung has made it increasingly hard to modify the phone.

Which to buy? Up to you. If iOS has been serving you just fine, it’s probably okay to stay. Android will be a different ecosystem that will require (in my opinion) a lot of messing with to get it to work precisely the way you want it to. Whether that is worth it or not is up to you.

Personally I’d get iPhone 8 plus. And barring that Pixel 2 XL.

I would recommend the S8. The S8 Plus has 0 advantages other than it's bigger. The price increase is not justified IMO. The S8 is the perfect size IMO. I don't like touchwiz either, but I will say Samsung has revised it light years beyond the previous phones. My S8 never lags, even on the battery saver option.

I hate to reply to myself, but whatever: just to ride on what FlawleZ said, the Pixel 2 has the opposite "problem" vs the S8. The Pixel 2 XL is barely bigger than the regular Pixel 2. Honestly, see them side by side, you may as well get the bigger phone. The Pixel 2 basically has massive bezels, the XL doesn't and instead has a much bigger screen. The difference in overall size is marginal, and you might as well just have the bigger screen real estate and the bigger battery.

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/styles/larger_wm_brw/public/article_images/2017/10/pixel-xl-vs-pixel-2-xl-display.jpg?itok=H3Mpnbkq&f=1

I guess see it in person for yourself if you must. But I think any photos you see online will make it apparent.

iOS tells you how your phone will look and operate. Android will let you customize a fair amount of it. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Between the Pixel and the Samsung I think the Pixel would be the most similar to your iPhone experience. Updates straight from Google with no delay and their version of Android but you can still modify a fair number of things to your liking.

I've had a few older Galaxy phones that were fantastic, still using my S5 work phone. My S4 died and a OnePlus 5T is coming in next week. Touchwiz has its problems. It works well but there can be some hangups. Newer hardware has less of an issue with it unless you like to run every application all of the time.

The main reason I shied away from the S8 / waiting for the S9 was I could not justify 900 or so dollars for a piece of glass. Everyone (my work provides S7's right now for work phones and numerous people bought Note 7's and 8's) that I know with one has in some way damaged it within the first week of normal use. Even something like pushing it back across the desk a foot scratched the phone. I do not care about the pho wireless charging and want something that can eat a reasonable drop so I ditched Sammy. I have had no major issues or complaints with my 4 and 5. More recent iPhones are heavily glass as well so you may not have an issue with it.

As to the Pixel and the XL the main issue with the XL is the potential blue shift on the screen which they have improved. If you look head on its nothing but from angles some people have a big annoyance with it and others do not care. I liked the regular Pixel 2 but the huge bezels looked weird with nothing other than the moderate speakers to account for it.

If you do go Samsung I agree with FlaleZ, the plus is not really worth it. Depending on the 9's implementation of dual cameras if they do put dual there and single on the regular it may be worth the cost, time will tell.

Go down to the Verizon store. With Verizon giving 300$ off pixel phones see which phones you like the best. IMO you can't go wrong with either. Not sure if Verizon has any deals on the s8 atm. It does go on sale for 500 to 550 if you can swing the cost up front. Pixel is pure android always getting latest full updates and security patches. Samsung has alot of extra features. One which I love and use every day is wireless charging on my s7 sdge

Got the galaxy s8 and it is nice..

UnknownSouljer said:

Quick answers:



Don’t buy a Verizon Pixel 2. Verizon has locked the Rom and placed bloatware on it. It’s better to buy an unlocked one from Google and use that on Verizon if you want that phone.
I generally dislike Samsung because of lagwiz. That’s up to you whether that’s acceptable or not. Also Samsung has made it increasingly hard to modify the phone.

/QUOTE]
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Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if he gets a Verizon branded pixel or not. Read what he wrote. Do you think he's the type to run ROMS on a phone? Also what bloatware are you referring to? I have a Verizon XL and the only Verizon apps were the My Verizon (which let's you check your bill, so kinda useful but can be uninstalled) and the Verizon messenger which can also be uninstalled. That's it

Buy a Pixel 2 directly from Google. I'd chose that over Samsung simply because it will be less of a learning curve as the process trees for stock Android are virtually identical to iOS. In fact t, most people probably wouldn't notice any difference.

Samsung's skin makes it quite a bit different. Between that and their historically bad software you're better off with a Pixel.

well I am pleased with my S8 got all of my apps on it and even convinced Cortana to come on over...phone is working out really well for me so far....