Mashable India [Unofficial]OnePlus Summer Sale Announced: OnePlus 13 Price Drops Up To Rs 12,000 With Offers
TheClassicBeeI tried Android phones for more than a year, now I’m moving back to iOS!
Background
Last year I decided to move to Android side for various purposes, to experience how Android side of things have developed while I was on the Apple ecosystem for more than 5 years. Initially I went with One Plus 13 and used it for about 9 months. Then I exchanged it for Samsung S24 Ultra and used it for around 6 months more before I finally decided to settle back to iOS.
The Android experience
What I Liked
- Hardware
- Both OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra had excellent hardware.
- OnePlus felt lighter and more comfortable with the leather back and curves.
- Samsung’s flat, squared display just looked and felt premium.
- Performance
- Absolute performance beasts.
- Multitasking, split-screen, PiP all worked flawlessly without hiccups.
- Charging & Battery
- Charging speeds are great on both.
- OnePlus SuperVOOC was insanely fast and actually useful in daily life.
- Useful Extras
- IR blaster on OnePlus was surprisingly handy for controlling TVs and ACs.
- S-Pen on S24 Ultra was genuinely useful for quick notes, calculations, and even as a camera shutter.
- Launcher Flexibility
- Niagara Launcher felt weird on OnePlus but worked really well on Samsung.
What Didn’t Work for Me
- Accessories Ecosystem
- OnePlus had poor third-party accessory(cases and screenguards) support.
- Samsung was better, but still not great in terms of quality and consistency.
- No native Magsafe! S-pen won’t work with magsafe if you got the case for it.
- Fingerprint Scanner + Screen Guards
- This was honestly a mess.
- Many screen guards don’t work properly with the in-display fingerprint scanner.
- You end up doing hacks like registering the same finger multiple times.
- Even then, reliability is hit or miss.
- Face unlock sometimes interferes when you are scanning your finger and it leads you to lockscreen edit screen instead of going to the Homescreen.
- Older rear fingerprint scanners were simply more reliable, like from the early Pixel phones.
- Software Updates
- Samsung promises long-term support, but updates often felt delayed.
- OneUI 8.5 is still in beta since maybe forever. And will be available to the latest gen flagship first, then you have to wait for the older flagships to get it.
- Even monthly security patches were often a month late.
- No excitement around updates compared to iOS.
- App Experience
- iOS still gets better treatment from developers.
- Apps arrive earlier and feel more polished.
- Automation & Customization
- iOS Shortcuts is still miles ahead.
- Samsung Routines is decent, but not at that level.
- OnePlus doesn’t offer much here.
- Android customization relies heavily on third-party tools, which I personally don’t enjoy using.
- Lockscreen Experience
- iOS offers cleaner, more useful lockscreen customization out of the box.
- Android needs effort (or third-party apps) to get close.
- Camera Gimmicks
- The 100x zoom sounds cool but is mostly useless.
- I never really used those shots for anything meaningful.
How did my week with iOS go?
I went with the popular iPhone 17. It finally has the 120Hz refresh rate screen with AOD, most of the ‘pro’ features. I think the LiDAR, ProRAW and extra zoom are the only thing that I feel could be useful to me going forward, but I’m sure I won’t mind missing those. The standard phone actually feels complete now.
- I am loving the magsafe wallet and stand.
- Camera apps, native and 3rd party, capture amazing photos.
- The Shortcuts app! How I use my shortcuts and automations deserves another post. But I love exploring these.
- I have customised the control center as per my preference.
- I haven’t finalised my homescreen setup yet as I am not sure what I should put there. Everything is just a quick search away(the way I like).
- I love the built-in background noises feature. No need of additional app.
- The cases and screenguard – I don’t even have to overthink about this anymore. FaceID works flawlessly most of the time.
- I don’t mind the Liquid Glass much. Still getting used to the new phone app.
- What I don’t like is that if I tap on an item from a list, there’s a halo-ish effect? instead of showing I selected a row. I don’t know if I tapped the correct row item.
What I miss coming from Andriod?
3 things –
- Split screen or PiP mode for better multitasking. Useful in calculations etc.
- App cloning. Using same app with different accounts.
- Secure folder is actually secure. It is hidden quite well, both in OxygenOS and OneUI, locked with a different password than your phone’s passcode. On iOS, that’s not the case. Hidden folder is well visible to everyone with your phone’s password and that doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Going forward
While it felt like an adventure giving Android phones a go, I think I’ll stick with iOS as wife also has one, a few of my close friends have it as well and I like the excitement of getting the software update when everyone gets it, and that it has a much wider accessory support. This post is not about Android vs iOS or which one is objectively better. We are way past that debate. Both are amazing. It’s up to the individual which OS fulfils their purpose. Which one are you sticking with? And are you planning to switch anytime soon?
#Android #apple #Ecosystem #iOS #iOS26 #iPhone #iPhone17 #LiquidGlass #OnePlus #OnePlus13 #review #S24Ultra #Samsung #shortcuts #smartphone #Tech #technology
HeadphonesNeilReviewed my #AI upscaled images of the #northernlights with the pro photographers in the group and these were the 2 best. The rest are fine but a bit outside our comfort level for what we saw
#GoogleGemini prompt: "Enhance this image and make it HDR"
#Android #Alaska #Fairbanks #OnePlus13 #ShotonOnePlus #OnePlus
Capturing the #northernlights with a device in my pocket will now forever be amazing technology to me 🤓
*Both were shot using just night mode in the stock camera app and no tripod
#Alaska #Fairbanks #OnePlus13 #OnePlus #ShotonOnePlus #Android
If you told me in 2010 that my smartphone would be able to free arm a photo of the night sky with stars and clouds, I wouldn't have believed you...
...shout out to, still my favorite camera app, #ABetterCamera 🤓
SoyaCincauTop 5 OnePlus smartphones: Looking back at a once-beloved enthusiast brand #featured #oneplus #oneplus13 #oneplus5t #oneplus6t #oneplus7tpro #oneplusone #opinions #smartphones #tech
https://soyacincau.com/2026/02/09/top-5-oneplus-smartphones-ranked-malaysia/
CEOTECH.ITOnePlus 13, 12 e Pad Go 2 ricevono la ricarica bypass
#Aggiornamenti #OnePlus #OnePlus13 #OnePlus13R #OnePlus13s #OnePlusPadGo2 #OxygenOS #RicaricaBypass #Smartphone #Tablet #TechNews #Tecnologia #Update
https://www.ceotech.it/oneplus-13-12-e-pad-go-2-ricevono-la-ricarica-bypass/
Saw some more stars than usual so thought I'd practice some more night #photography 🤓
Nikhil 🐧