Samsung 9+ vs iPhone x

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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I am looking to upgrade and these are what I've narrowed to. I'm particularly interested in the cameras overall and specifically for digiscoping. I would also like general impressions. What are your thoughts?

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Doc89

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That's what I'm looking at right now as well. I switched from IPhone to the S7 edge when it came out a couple years back and now I'm due for an upgrade. I think the IPhone has the market over the Samsung now but I'm not a fan of the charging port on the IPhone personally. I'm curious to see what people say.

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William Hanson (live2hunt)

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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That's what I'm looking at right now as well. I switched from IPhone to the S7 edge when it came out a couple years back and now I'm due for an upgrade. I think the IPhone has the market over the Samsung now but I'm not a fan of the charging port on the IPhone personally. I'm curious to see what people say.

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The Verizon rep that I talk to said that the iPhone x has a lower quality camera than the Samsung 9 plus, but you never know with those guys actually know what they're talking about or not. I'm also curious about the dual-lens camera and how well that works with digiscoping, they both have them.

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Doc89

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The Verizon rep that I talk to said that the iPhone x has a lower quality camera than the Samsung 9 plus, but you never know with those guys actually know what they're talking about or not. I'm also curious about the dual-lens camera and how well that works with digiscoping, they both have them.

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Yeah I don't really know enough about the internals to say what really is better for which application honestly. I've heard it both ways. I'm not a real fan of the edge feature on the new Samsung's which is why I've looked at the IPhone's again. But I'm not a fan of the IPhone package and system as a whole. I do remember it had a nicer feel when typing though compared to my current phone. I think every consumer needs to decide for their own reasons. I did hear the newer iPhones are water resistant now as well btw, that was a selling point for me on the Samsung a while back.

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colonel00

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Not sure if it matters to you but I don't think the iphone has a headphone jack
 

UtahJimmy

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That's what I'm looking at right now as well. I switched from IPhone to the S7 edge when it came out a couple years back and now I'm due for an upgrade. I think the IPhone has the market over the Samsung now but I'm not a fan of the charging port on the IPhone personally. I'm curious to see what people say.

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Android makes up 80-90% of the global phone market.

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Trial153

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The camera on my S8 is one of the few things I actually like about the phone. It is a nicer camera then my wife’s iPhones, she has had both the 8 and X since I have had my S8 . Can’t speak for the S9 and if it has been been further improved but the S8 camera is pretty sweet. All that said I will be ditching it for an iPhone. Sometime in the near future.
 

bz_711

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The camera on my S8 is top notch in my opinion...particularly great at night time kill photos which has always been an issue in the past. Sorry no experience with the S9
 

Trial153

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Why?

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I have had the phone less than a year and it’s performance has already degraded. Battery life is starting to diminish as well. The interface is insanely prone to miss hits. You will find apps and programs running without the slightest idea of how they or when they were deployed. The home bar is sluggish at times, or will deploy went clicking on another function. It also will not rotate with the screen in portrait mode. bixby is an annoyance, no rather a constant pain in the ass. The phone program interface can be annoying as well.
In short it’s a lot of small things that need improvement to make it a more seamless user experience.
 

Brendan

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I was a long time iPhone user, and switched over to the S8 in October. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the switch, and may actually consider going back. Some observations, all my opinion.

I have a lot more trouble with the compass in Android and the bearing / heading in an app like Gaia than I ever did with iPhones. With the iPhone, it just worked, not always true with Android. Noticed this with a friend's android phone too.

The built in notes app for apple worked a lot better and more seamlessly than OneNote which is what I'm using now. I spent 10 minutes trying to get the damn thing to select the right text I wanted the other day and have no idea why it wouldn't work. Something that never happened to me on iPhone. Sync isn't always automatic either between phone and my Macbook.

My android phone randomly erased itself and everything on it sitting in my pocket one day out hunting. If that every happened when I was in the woods for an extended trip, I'd be F**ked, and pissed if I lost all my photos, waypoints, etc.. Literally - I had NOTHING. Once on network, basic stuff came back, but I still lost a lot of stuff that I wouldn't have with the iPhone

Phone Backup through ITunes works MUCH better than through Android if you want everything on the phone backed up. Seriously - if I got a new iPhone, came home, plugged it into my laptop. Everything from the backup would load in and there wouldn't be a thing missing from photos, text messages, etc...

I still haven't found a mail app that works quite as well as the integrated mail app on iphone. Maybe I was just used to it.

The fact that apple locks down car play SUCKS - no way I'm using apple maps. Waze and Google Maps with me - so basically means no CarPlay for me with an apple phone. I mount the phone next to my steering wheel.

Love wireless charging on my S8, but apple has that now too.

I do like the Google Integration better with Android, including Google Photos. Didn't use it with iPhone and haven't looked to see if it was available.

Have had on and off weird notification problems and battery problems with the S8 that were much easier to resolve, or just didn't occur with the iPhone

I do like the S8, but felt like the iPhone always just worked.... Much more "seamless" user experience across the board.

If your an apple user, unless you have a real defined reason to switch, I personally wouldn't.
 

2ski

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I really like my note 8. Haven't had any of the issues people talked about with their s8. Battery life degrades with any phone. Just is what it is.

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Brendan

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Battery life degrades with any phone. Just is what it is.

Mine had nothing to do with degrading - we're talking with an almost new phone. It had to do with phantom google apps using up ridiculous amounts of power very quickly. It's been on and off though, unrelated to setttings / sync etc, and for the time being has cleared up.
 
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I love my S8 active. It's definitely better than the S4 it replaced. I have been an android fan for years. One reason is the settings capabilities. You can change just about anything on the phone. I also like the widgets. I'm not sure if iPhones have them or not. I know my kids iPhones don't have them, but that might their choice. I have a weather widget on my home screen that keeps me up to date on current conditions. Also, the ability to mirror my screen through my Amazon fire stick. I can show pictures, YouTube, whatever's on my screen will be displayed on my TV. Did I mention my S8 active is waterproof and still has a normal phone jack. My nephew got a lifeproof case for his iphone to make it waterproof and it has some kind of weird screw in adapter for the phone jack.

Hope this helps.

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Brendan

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I love my S8 active. It's definitely better than the S4 it replaced. I have been an android fan for years. One reason is the settings capabilities. You can change just about anything on the phone. I also like the widgets. I'm not sure if iPhones have them or not. I know my kids iPhones don't have them, but that might their choice. I have a weather widget on my home screen that keeps me up to date on current conditions. Also, the ability to mirror my screen through my Amazon fire stick. I can show pictures, YouTube, whatever's on my screen will be displayed on my TV. Did I mention my S8 active is waterproof and still has a normal phone jack. My nephew got a lifeproof case for his iphone to make it waterproof and it has some kind of weird screw in adapter for the phone jack.

iPhone is not as customizable. That is one thing I agree I like about my S8. I actually really like the always-on display too. Coupled with an upright wireless charger - makes for a good alarm clock.

Weather Widgets exist on apple too, but not sure if you can do it right on the home screen the same way - it's in a notification pane I think. Similar functionality, but a win for Android here. With that said - sometimes my Android one refuses to update, and I get stuck with old temp data.

Screen mirroring you can do on the iPhone too, but might need an AppleTV as opposed to a Fire Stick. iPhone X is waterproof as well.

Can't comment on the iPhoneX - but the 6/6s was too delicate. Cracked the screen several times, at least apple made it easy to get it fixed. My samsung might be worse though - damn curved screen has a small crack now. Will have to break down and get a case if/when I get it replaced.
 
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My son has the Google pixel 2 xl. It's camera is noticeably superior to either the I phone x or the s9+. He's super happy with it and he's a super picky tech savvy 19 year old.
 

colonel00

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My son has the Google pixel 2 xl. It's camera is noticeably superior to either the I phone x or the s9+. He's super happy with it and he's a super picky tech savvy 19 year old.

How so? Do you happen to have any examples? Also, how are you viewing the photos and is it the photo or the processing behind it?
 

dotman

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I really like my note 8. Haven't had any of the issues people talked about with their s8. Battery life degrades with any phone. Just is what it is.

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Apple batteries in my experience don't start to degrade until close to 24 months of use.
 
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