My last iPhone was a 4 which I lost somewhere on Doris and Burt at Friston forest..

Since then its been android all the way, mainly Samsung S series and a pixel 3 which broke after about 6 months.

So Im at home bored with covid and ive just transferred my number to a new sim except that true to the trajectory of my life recently the 2 providers involved have lost my very old number in the transfer. Quite common apparently.

So as Im strrting from scratch again my thoughts turned to an iPhone.

Anyone done it recently? Was looking at some fairly good deals on 12’s now the 13 has nust come out – probably the 12 Pro as I like to take photos.

After years of Android I finally switched to an iPhone about 2 years ago.

There’ll be a couple of things that annoy you probably (most likely not being able to change all default apps) but overall I find it’s much better. I haven’t had to tweak or fix anything in that 2 years, I just use it now and it works. I used to find I had to faff about with Android phones quite a lot to get things how I wanted.

My last Android lasted about 3 months before software updates rendered it useless, which is what finally made me switch.

(Saying I’ve had no issues I did have to un-brick an old iPhone 6S that I wanted to resurrect, all sorted now. Also wife’s iPad Air 3 has killed itself. So they’re not 100% bullet proof).

Had several iphones which all had hardware issues within contract. Gave up and went to Samsung. Had an S7 which lasted 5 years (still works, just kept as a spare phone) and just replaced with an S20 which has been brilliant so far.

It depends on what you’re looking for. I’d say IOS is a better software than Android for apps, integration and stability. On a hardware level android phones are really pulling ahead at the moment and its something I wish apple would put more effort into.

If you’re spending iPhone 12 Pro money you aren’t going to be buying a android with a short support lifespan. Samsung now offer 4 years support and the OS is not the mess it used to be. Sure you might get 5 years on an iPhone but the trade off is your stuck with a phone that was behind the times when it was new.

I’ve recently picked up an S21 Ultra and work have given me an iphone SE. I realise that they aren’t in the same price bracket but the SE took me right back to my iPhone 4S. Tiddly screen, big bezels, murky screen and so on. The A71 my S21 replaced is better in every way.

There’s not even privacy to recommend the Apple any more. They’ve shown they’re happy to bend to government requests now and have begun the process of building in the ability to rummage through your files into their phones.

Tbh lifespan is a primary driver. Mainly due go an evironmental concern I want the phone to last sevral years. I have looked at fairphone but another driver is an amazing camera and display..the fairphone doesnt have that.

What tipped me toward Apple is that my current phone, an S10e has barely lasted 2 years before showing battery drain and now only lasts half a day with moderate use. Has other issues too. The reason I got the e varient was also because it was the only samsung without the stupid curved sides and it still had a phone jack

Im not sure your comparison stacks up at all as my wife also has an SE for a work phone and I agree its tiny and a bit retro. However she had an 11pro in her last job and that was amazing to use. Even my daughters XRs are much better than the se.

Samsung have lost both the jack and the card slot in the s21 plus all if them have curved sides which makes screen protection difficult and has all the accidental touch issues. Battery life also seems rubbish at 120hz so many of the selling points are falling away.

I

I got an 8s for work at the same time I bought a personal S10e. The S10e is exibiting the same issues Winston reports albeit not as bad – 1.5 days use down to 1. but the iPhone shows 94% battery health.

Thing is, its all so expensive. I can’t bring myself to spend the best part of £1000 on a phone. I’d considered a Xaomi a while back.

Glad to see it’s not just me that finds the SE so underwhelming, I’m always surprised to see it so heartily recommended on here.

I leave my S21 at full resolution and 120hz and life is good if not amazing. I could turn it down to adaptive refresh and 1080p but it always lasts the day and charges up quickly. I don’t miss the headphone jack as BT headphones are so cheap and so good but the A models still have them, along with SD card slots. I thought I might miss the SD card but as 128gb is the smallest the S21 comes with and the upcharge to 256gb wasn’t huge I opted for that.

Your S21 should be good on battery, to be fair, it’s a new top-of-the-range phone! I’ve had my SE for 5 and a half years of solid heavy use, and the original battery lasted 4 years before being eligible for replacement. It’s good for another 18 months before it stops getting security updates. I have to confess I am planning to trade up to a 13 Pro sometime soon though, mostly for the better camera.

My wife has my old iPhone 7 and it still works perfectly fine, fast, no glitches, it had a new battery at 2.5 years old from Apple for £25. It’s now 5.5 years old and apart from her wanting to take better pics (so am considering an upgrade for her) there’s no reason to change it. It’ll easily last 6 years.
Just out of curiosity I’d like to try a different make of phone but ever since my iPhone3 I’ve neve had a single problem or issue and I really can’t be bothered to start having them!
Oh and the SE was always rubbish, people only got them as they thought they wanted a smaller phone, so all it was was the previous iPhone (was it a 4 or 5) with a newer processor in it but the old screen/battery etc. It was meant as a budget phone when it came out!!

Having cracked my screen on my S10, which replaced an excellent A8, I was toying with an iPhone 13, however Samsung have offered me an S21 5g for £250 because they can’t replace my screen due supply issues.
Can’t argue with that!

In the main, I’m pleased with android. If Apple did proper dual sim models (not eSIM) I’d consider them but they won’t for whatever reason.

Once you make the leap to phones with no headphone jack it is no real hassle. And I didn’t think people still used phones with an SD slot – plenty of decent phones with large internal memory. Have never even coe close to running out with cloud storage etc.

Biggest issue for a long term phone is likley to be battery life (over time I mean, not how many hours per charge). My Pixel 2 is still going strong, but I do need to pop it on charge on days when I am using it a lot.

One other thought for environmentally friendliness would be to get a second hand phone?

I’ve got an ex-demo S7 that’s been flawless over three years (touch wood) but the battery is starting to get really bad.

I’ve had an iPhone before but not massively impressed. I’d like a more ethical alternative than Apple or Samsung for the next phone.

My wife has a Fairphone and camera aside, it seems ok, but I’d also like something with greater water resistance – the S7 copes well with water and most rides I do in the sub-tropics end up with me drenching the phone even through the Evoc case I use.

May end up going for an ex-demo phone again from the perspective of cheapness.