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    12 things I learned by switching from the $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra to the $399 iPhone SE

    It’s been a very long time since I used a cellphone with a 4.8-inch display screen and a house button for quite a lot of minutes. But when the iPhone SE arrived on my doorstep final month, I popped the SIM out of the Galaxy S20 Ultra and stepped again into 2016.

    Update 6/13: Added two new observations about switching.

    After the preliminary shock—which was initially like leaping from a luxurious automobile to a motor scooter—I settled in and instantly started to study some vital issues about Android vs. iOS. I knew the digital camera could be method higher on the Galaxy S20 Ultra so that you gained’t discover any shootouts right here, however such a drastic change made the 2 telephones’ strengths and weaknesses crystal-clear, and in some instances painfully so.

    Size doesn’t actually matter

    Over the previous nonetheless a few years, we’ve come to equate greater with higher in the case of telephones, whether or not it’s the S20 Ultra or the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I believed that transferring from a 6.9-inch cellphone to a 4.7-inch one could be torture.

    I used to be improper. There had been fewer tweets in my feed and extra scrolling whereas studying, nevertheless it was a suitable trade-off to take pleasure in true one-handed operation. The SE has proven me that it’s actually not so dangerous to return to a sub-6-inch show, particularly with such an inexpensive price ticket. When I choose up the S20 Ultra now, it feels comically giant and heavy.

    Michael Simon/IDG

    Buying a brand new Android that’s as small because the Galaxy S9 from 2018 is principally not possible.

    I’m not going to argue that Samsung return to the times of the Galaxy S6, however I’d prefer to see the upcoming Galaxy S21 technology go a bit smaller. There are rumors that Apple can be making a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 with an edge-to-edge design, which is likely to be the candy spot for individuals who need a cellphone they will use with one hand with out sacrificing on the trendy design or show tech.

    Apps on Android are merely inferior

    Size won’t matter, however pace does. As I do with each new cellphone, the very first thing I did on the iPhone SE was set up a dozen or so apps that I take advantage of frequently: Slack, Ring, Twitter, Chrome, and a handful of others. While they’re all primarily the identical on each platforms, the consumer expertise on iOS is across-the-board higher. Even in case you don’t use Apple’s apps, apps on iOS are quicker, menus are smarter, and navigation is extra intuitive on iOS, even with a few of Google’s personal apps. I is likely to be gaining much more display screen with the S20 Ultra, however there’s little level when the apps don’t know what to do with it.

    An always-on show is a necessity in 2020

    Apple doesn’t even provide an always-on show choice for its OLED telephones, so I wasn’t stunned that the LCD-based iPhone SE doesn’t have one. But man, do I miss it. It’s most obvious once I need to test time in the midst of the evening, nevertheless it’s equally annoying at work once I look over to see a clean display screen just a few seconds too late after a notification seems. I don’t know why Apple refuses to have an always-on show on any of its telephones, nevertheless it’s a particular knock on the expertise. The SE would not even have the tap-to-wake choice that the Face ID fashions have. I imply, who desires the entire display screen to gentle up each time a message is available in?

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