Earlier this summer, I begrudgingly traded my iPhone 6 in for an Android (specifically an LG G5, if that means anything to you).
Long story short, my mom was upgrading and there was a buy one get one free deal for the G5 (they had the same deal for the iPhone 6s but she wouldn't even consider it, I'm still salty but whatever) so I decided to do the financially responsible thing and use my upgrade to take the essentially half priced phone, instead of getting a full priced iPhone in a few months.
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Growing up is hard.
For some reason, I had always thought that Androids were slower, uglier, and in general just worse than iPhones. But after owning one for several months, I've realized that that's not really the case. My G5 runs totally fine, and even has a lot of cool features going for it.
Now, I'll just be straight up and tell you that I'm not really a tech person, so none of what's discussed below will be very technical. They're just things I've noticed while using my phone that I either like or dislike - take them as you will.
Pros:
Battery Life
The battery on the G5 is 2800 mAh while the iPhone 6's is 1810 mAh. If those numbers don't mean anything to you (I had to Google it, let's be honest), that basically means that the G5's batter lasts longer over time than the iPhone 6's, and in my experience that really has proven true. The battery on my G5 lasts way longer into the day than my iPhone's ever did, which is obviously sweet because it gets pretty inconvenient to be constantly worried about finding an outlet to charge up.
Maps
I don't drive anywhere outside of my hometown or farther than 5 miles away from my college campus without using my phone for directions. And when you're driving on a 5 lane highway outside of Chicago, you really need clear directions. What I love about Google Maps is that it gives you the exit number, and it shows all the lanes of traffic with the lane you need to be in specifically labeled (Apple Maps doesn't) - which is super helpful when there's multiple highway exits, entrances, and mergers all happening at once. Plus, Google Maps does a better job than the Apple Maps at warning you about traffic and even predicts how much time will be added to your trip so you can plan accordingly.
Google Opinion Rewards App
This is an app on the Play Store that you can't get on the Apple Store. Basically, you answer surveys and they give you Google Play Credit that you can then use on purchases on the Play Store. Granted, I haven't made loads of money from it, but even a couple bucks can add up when it comes to buying apps, music, or movies from the Play Store. As far as I'm aware there's nothing similar on the App Store.
Cons:
160 Character Messaging Limit
This is really the only thing that annoys me about my Android. My texts have a 160 character limit on them and once you exceed that limit they send in multiple parts. Plus, each emoji counts for 68 characters, and that really adds up. Fortunately, when my texts do send in multiple parts, all of the parts are received in the correct order, so this is more of an annoyance than a real inconvenience.
No More iMessaging
Obviously when I bought an Android phone, I stopped being able to send and receive iMessages. This hasn't really affected me at all, except for it has given my iPhone owning friend's reason to regularly berate me for quitting #TeamiPhone since their texts to me now show up in the green bubbles reserved for SMS messaging instead of the blue bubbles reserved for iMessages. What a bummer, right?
At the end of the day, a phone is a phone. My Android allows me to Snapchat embarrassing pictures of myself to my friends, become a master Pokemon trainer, and play my fire Spotify playlists for my friends on road trips, just like my iPhone did.
The biggest difference I noticed when I switched phones? My Android purchase saved me $450 (and even when it's not buy one get one free, the G5 is almost $200 cheaper than an iPhone 6s).
Are any of these reasons to take your iPhone in and buy an Android? No, probably not. But if you're going in for a new phone and notice that the Androids are cheaper than the iPhones, I would say at least do some Googling before you buy another iPhone, just because it's what you've always bought.
