I want to get an Android Phone after being Iphone all my life

[IR76]

My current phone is an iPhone SE and I want to get an Android but I have no knowledge about Android and would like some recommendations, please. I'll list what I consider may be useful but if you have any questions about specifics please ask. Thank you very much the Linus community you are fantastic Thank you. 

• I live in the UK
• nothing above £500 but if it is really good in your opinion still mention it and I'll take a look
• I mainly watch YouTube, use Office 365, and game on Clash of Clans and Pokemon GO and use Instagram
• A Long Battery is my primary objective
• I'm not bothered by audio since I can just use headphones or a speaker
• I don't want the Androids where they fold in half unless you recommend otherwise if it meets my needs 
• I think I heard OLEDs are great screens so if it has that that's a bonus 

If you have any questions please ask, thank you. 

[jaslion]

A pocophone x5 pro will do you nicely and is currently on a really good sale since it is to be replaced by the next one so it basically drops to half price. As per usual with xiaomi phones.

 

It's still a great specced phone and has everything you want and is comparable to most 500pound + units.

[porina]

Pixel 7a perhaps? I've been a lifetime Android user and regret every time I deviate away from Google's own. It will be a pretty pure Android experience, although there may be some extra Google sauce added on top of minimum vanilla. Pixels historically have a good camera. I know that's not mentioned as a requirement, but presuming you're used to iPhone quality then lesser phones without OIS will suffer quite a bit in lower light. It's OLED, in budget, you'll have to look up other things but I'm sure it'll be ok for those games.

[venomtail]

If it's your first time on Android I might suggest only go for Pixel phones. Software wise they're the most polished it seems, aka less rough edges that to android users are a non issue but could be headaches for people who's first time it is and not people ok with messing with tech. A pixel should keep your first android experience pretty tame and not scare you off I think. Latest budget model is the 7a.

[IR76]

42 minutes ago, porina said:

Pixel 7a perhaps? I've been a lifetime Android user and regret every time I deviate away from Google's own. It will be a pretty pure Android experience, although there may be some extra Google sauce added on top of minimum vanilla. Pixels historically have a good camera. I know that's not mentioned as a requirement, but presuming you're used to iPhone quality then lesser phones without OIS will suffer quite a bit in lower light. It's OLED, in budget, you'll have to look up other things but I'm sure it'll be ok for those games.

I forgot to mention a good camera so the Pixel phones seem to be the winner thank you very much Venomtail. 

[E-waste]

10 hours ago, IR76 said:

I think I heard OLEDs are great screens so if it has that that's a bonus

Quick summary, my post basically says get a Fairphone, to avoid the PWM frequency of new OLED screens as it has a setting to enable DC-dimming, an excellent camera, a planned EIGHT (possible 10+) years of software support, and because it will have an unlocked bootloader (think putting in a Ubuntu Linux install usb flash drive to bypass windows) you can use LineageOS to keep going, and even build your own LineageOS system if support from community members stop.

 

Brands to avoid due to new emergence on the market and possibly buggy software:

 

Xiaomi

Hauwei

Honor

Poco

Realme

Redmi

TCL

And any other similar newly established names.

 

Brands I recommend:

 

Sony - **ALL** with no exceptions at all, Xperia devices, a line that has been around since about 2011 or possibly earlier, have specific, device individual instructions for every device on how to unlock the bootloader on Sony's web page.

 

This means, currently, it is possible to purchase a smaller sony Xperia X or even a Z1 compact, and update it to the latest Android version with LineageOS with instructions avaialble at

 

https://forum.xda-developers.com

 

Motorola, clean android experience without bloat, but no sd cards

 

Samsung devices with LCD displays, or any with high-frewuency, or low amplitude pwm cycles on OLED displays.  Many samsung devices, at release, can have bootloader unlocked, but is usually patched to prevent this after a couple years, so if you want to keep the device longer, do this as soon as possible.

 

Motorola looks like a good option, but does not include a micro sd slot, so I do not recommend it. They also have a model with an LCD display, the Moto G power.

 

https://www.androidcentral.com/phones/best-phones-for-pwm-flicker-sensitive

 

I would recommend a used phone with a basic LED-backlit LCD or one of the new very-high-frequency OLED displays, like the motorola edge.  While your data is at risk of being inaccessible if the screen is ususable, as is a fact with any device without sd card storage, you won't fatigue your eyes or possibly headaches or any of that.

 

I believe most iPhones, from the first iPhone X to even the current iPhone 15 use a visible frequency of PWM, pulse width modulation.

 

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x-and-up.2085427/

 

This is switching on and off, not always 100 on to 100 off, but a rapid drop and spike in the brightness output hundreds of times per second.  Wanna see it?

 

Just wave your hand over the screen on low, medium and high brightness. 

 

iPhone X uses 235 Hz PWM which is highly visible to me just looking at the display.

 

iPhone 13 operates at 480 Hz dimming cycle, but uses it even at maximum brightness, I forget how much it drops the brightness but is is between 20-50% of maximum brightness, which is especially annoying or possibly fatiguing when high brightness has usually eliminated the pwm duty cycle.

 

iPhone 14 uses a 480 Hz pem frequency which will very likely still cause all of these issues, especially with a large drop in amplitutde shown on this graph:

 

https://www.dxomark.com/apple-iphone-14-display-test/

 

This was not always an issue.  The very antiquated Droid Incredible S had an OLED screen and did not have any detectable PWM flicker to my sensitive eyes, but only screens in maybe the last two years

 

Here's an excellent explanation of PWM on organic light emitting diode displays.

 

https://www.dxomark.com/flicker-the-display-affliction/

 

The pixel 7 is at 360 Hz so if you are senitive to this style of pulsing the light output to acheive the perception of reduced brightness, stick with LCD technology for the time being.

 

Advantages of Android:

 

Some models have MicroSD card ports for data storage.  Without them, if you do not backup your data to a computer, or, hopefully not the cloud, then if your screen is unusable, you have locked ypurself out of your own data.  I recommend a SD card for picture and download storage, which the Pixel line does not allow.

 

I think is a avoidable risk of data loss to choose a device with expandable memory via an sd card, as if the screen is unusable, just eject the sd card and keep all of your pictures and other things you'd like to keep in the palm of your hand.

 

The thing to watch out for with Android is software updates.  It is all over the place, some companies only offer updated software for just a couple years.  The ONLY company offering software updates at the length equivelant to iPhone, is fairphone.

 

Fairphone also has DC-dimming on their new 5 model with their OLED screen:

 

 

Fiarphone offered nearly EIGHT years of software updates for their fairphone 2, and since the bootloader is unlocked or unlockable, you can continue installing updated software with

 

https://lineageOS.org

 

https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9979180437393-Fairphone-OS

 

Fairphone is probably the best android company to support, but they could take things further.  They let you swap in a replacement for the following components:

 

Camera

 

Display

 

Main circuit board

 

speakers

 

battery

 

But, as of now, you cannot buy a fairphone 3 and swap in a fairphone 4 camera.  I would like to see them improve in this area.

 

Fairphone 4 is planned to be supported until 2026 regarding new Android software, which not only brings new features from the Google Android side, but also possibly patches some security issues over time.

 

The fairphone 5 is planned to be supported for EIGHT years with a goal of TEN years.

 

Check before buuing a device and research exactly what updates are planned for the device, and also, the history of that company offering updates for previous devices.  This is to reduce electronic waste from disposing of horribly artificially obscolete devices, which will end up either in the ground or burned in Africa.

 

I have a device which is a few years out of date and no updates, on a version of android called Oreo 8.0.  Still, all programs I use only require Android 6 at the most.  I'm saying it is not at all necessary to have these updates to use new programs in complete contrast to iOS, where you maybe get a year or so of app compatibility after your device is no longer updated by Apple.

 

Also, if you delete an app on iOS and you no longer recieve updates, you cannot install that previously/currently compatible version, as the app store will only carry the newest version which will very quickly become incompatible with the current "outdated" software, so you lose access to that program unless you buy a new device.

[Commodus]

On 10/12/2023 at 9:22 AM, IR76 said:

My current phone is an iPhone SE and I want to get an Android but I have no knowledge about Android and would like some recommendations, please. I'll list what I consider may be useful but if you have any questions about specifics please ask. Thank you very much the Linus community you are fantastic Thank you. 

• I live in the UK
• nothing above £500 but if it is really good in your opinion still mention it and I'll take a look
• I mainly watch YouTube, use Office 365, and game on Clash of Clans and Pokemon GO and use Instagram
• A Long Battery is my primary objective
• I'm not bothered by audio since I can just use headphones or a speaker
• I don't want the Androids where they fold in half unless you recommend otherwise if it meets my needs 
• I think I heard OLEDs are great screens so if it has that that's a bonus 

If you have any questions please ask, thank you. 

I would lean toward the Google Pixel 7a myself. Great photography for the money, solid performance, a relatively clean Android interface, good battery life and a healthy OS update policy. It's a good way to dip into Android without being overwhelmed by customizations. If you're willing to use a customized Android interface, Samsung's Galaxy A54 5G should be a viable alternative.

 

Don't fret about PWM on an OLED screen unless you know you're sensitive to it. I've used many OLED phones over the years (including my current iPhone 13 Pro and Pixel 6) and haven't had issues.

 

Likewise, don't worry about unlocking the bootloader. You should generally buy a phone based on the officially promised OS support, not what the community offers. You're not guaranteed to get custom firmware for as long as you intend to use the phone, or for everything to work as intended. An unlocked bootloader should be considered a nice bonus if you're willing to tinker with the software.