[0:00] Last month on a family holiday, I did a
[0:02] little experiment. I had my iPhone as
[0:03] usual, but I also brought with me an
[0:05] Oppo FindX9 Ultra to take photos with.
[0:07] And I ended up so blown away by this
[0:10] phone in more ways than one that I had
[0:12] an entire midlife crisis. I made every
[0:14] arrangement to finally put my iPhone to
[0:17] rest the moment I got home and escape
[0:19] from the Apple ecosystem once and for
[0:20] all. That was a giant mistake.
[0:25] So, I started this holiday with a very
[0:26] simple mission. Anytime I was going to
[0:28] take a photo on my iPhone anyways, I
[0:30] just take one on the OPPO 2. What I
[0:32] didn't expect, though, is how much fun
[0:33] this was going to be. It got me
[0:35] thinking. The iPhone's camera system is
[0:37] kind of designed to be boring. Apple
[0:39] sells over 200 million iPhones every
[0:41] single year. And that's between not very
[0:44] many different models. So, just because
[0:46] this one has a Pro in its name does not
[0:48] change the fact that it's designed for a
[0:50] mainstream audience. What does a
[0:51] mainstream audience need? Balance. Every
[0:54] aspect of the iPhone, including its
[0:56] cameras, is meticulously crafted around
[0:58] a never too much, never too little
[1:01] goldilocks philosophy because that's the
[1:03] only way to make a one sizefits device.
[1:07] Something for which it doesn't matter
[1:08] who you are. It doesn't matter which
[1:09] lens you're using. Doesn't matter what
[1:11] lighting condition, front camera, back
[1:12] camera, you just know that it's going to
[1:14] be dependable, if not exciting. And so
[1:17] what I noticed was as soon as I started
[1:19] using this tool that instead of being
[1:21] reliably good, was capable of
[1:23] exceptional, it all of a sudden made me
[1:25] care about what I was shooting again,
[1:27] like this shot here taken on the Oppo
[1:30] phone. It started to become a bit of a
[1:33] game on this holiday. I'd take these
[1:34] photos on both phones and every time I'd
[1:36] show my family, it was the difference
[1:37] between, "Ah, thanks for taking the
[1:39] photos with the iPhone and, "Wow, you're
[1:42] such a good photographer with the OPPO."
[1:44] They stoked my ego and that's the
[1:45] quickest way to my heart. And after a
[1:48] few days of this, I started to realize
[1:49] there was no point in taking photos on
[1:51] the iPhone if I had this OPPO around.
[1:53] So, I just focused on using this. I
[1:56] started to play around with what was
[1:57] possible thanks to the OPPO's higher
[1:58] number of cameras, much bigger sensors,
[2:00] higher resolutions, and wider apertures
[2:02] to let more light in. I was taking
[2:05] stunning footage like this, which, let's
[2:07] be honest, was just never going to
[2:08] happen before. Not to mention this 10
[2:10] times optical zoom camera that can go a
[2:12] lot further than that and feels
[2:14] borderline violating. You're taking
[2:16] shots that look like this, only to
[2:18] completely forget that this is how far
[2:20] away you shot them from. And the sixx
[2:21] zoom preset that produces my absolute
[2:24] favorite close-up macro shots of any
[2:26] phone ever. And so, you can imagine at
[2:28] this point, having gone from son who
[2:30] owns lots of phones to son who actually
[2:32] takes such good photos that he must take
[2:34] ours, too. I started to wonder, why am I
[2:37] even using this iPhone? Why am I not
[2:40] using a phone that's tailored to what I
[2:41] love and just permanently aura farming
[2:43] with every clip I take? Plus, I actually
[2:45] capture content for a living. So,
[2:48] wouldn't switching to something with
[2:49] crazy good cameras, and by the way, a
[2:50] battery that's nearly 50% larger, too,
[2:53] actually just be a work perk as well as
[2:55] a life one.
[2:58] And what's intensified this feeling is
[3:00] the sheer gap in intelligence that I've
[3:02] noticed between the two phones. For
[3:04] example, I'm someone who strongly
[3:06] prefers to talk things out instead of
[3:07] typing. I like getting my thoughts out
[3:09] quickly. It just feels efficient. Plus,
[3:11] I get a lot of finger pain when I spend
[3:13] too much time on a keyboard. So, on my
[3:14] iPhone, I'm constantly setting reminders
[3:17] using my voice, using dictation to give
[3:19] big chunks of feedback to my editors, or
[3:22] even when on a walk, where I always seem
[3:24] to have my best ideas brain dumping into
[3:26] my notes app as new things occur to me.
[3:28] Problem is, Apple kind of sucks for
[3:31] this. And it's only when you live with
[3:33] both Siri and Gemini at the same time
[3:35] that it dawns on you how much better an
[3:37] Android phone right now understands what
[3:39] you're saying to it. Gemini is not
[3:41] perfect, but it does get the words
[3:42] right, and you have way more control
[3:44] over the grammar, too. So, you end up
[3:46] with sentences that you could actually
[3:47] send to someone without looking like you
[3:49] learned English yesterday. Plus, Google
[3:51] specifically just announced that they
[3:53] are doubling down on their speech to
[3:54] text quality later this year with the
[3:56] new rambler feature. That's me. I'm that
[3:59] rambler.
[4:00] >> Yeah, can confirm.
[4:02] >> And with reminders, I just kind of come
[4:04] to expect that if I ask Siri to remind
[4:06] me of something, it's going to
[4:07] completely butcher it. But that is now
[4:09] tomorrow's problem to figure out what I
[4:11] originally meant. It's been so
[4:12] refreshing for this to not be an issue
[4:14] with the Oppo. Or another example, let's
[4:16] say I'm in Sy. I'm buying an ESIM for my
[4:18] next trip. Kyrgyzstan,
[4:21] oh my god, the Android gets me. iPhone,
[4:24] not so much. Point being, there are all
[4:27] sorts of benefits that you start to
[4:28] notice from the lurking presence of a
[4:31] higher intelligence on Android. Like
[4:33] yesterday, I was searching for a
[4:34] specific photo of Disher and I. Being
[4:36] able to just type something vague like
[4:38] couple and trust that your phone
[4:40] actually gets that you mean two adults,
[4:42] maybe a baby, nothing more, is so
[4:44] useful.
[4:46] Now, of course, Apple will get smarter
[4:48] software and a better Siri. Probably
[4:50] soon they have to announce big changes
[4:51] at this year's WWDC. They will make
[4:53] iPhones with better cameras and longer
[4:55] battery life. But my thought process was
[4:58] it could be months or even years before
[5:00] this better Siri and better software is
[5:02] actually on my iPhone and working well.
[5:03] And by then, will Google and Gemini be
[5:07] just as far ahead? It certainly seems
[5:09] that way based on the mountain of
[5:10] upcoming features announced at Google
[5:12] IO. And frankly, I don't think Apple is
[5:14] ever going to close this camera and
[5:16] battery size gap. It doesn't make sense
[5:17] for them to because of the Goldilock
[5:19] zone that they need to stay in to remain
[5:21] mainstream.
[5:23] So, I dove in. I went through every
[5:25] single app I use on my iPhone and
[5:26] downloaded them one by one again. I
[5:28] painfully peeled away like 16 years
[5:30] worth of photos from iCloud and started
[5:32] paying for Google Photos. Called my
[5:34] banks to reauthenticate my cards for
[5:36] Google Pay, relogged in to every single
[5:37] account and created new ones for those
[5:39] that I had initially foolishly signed up
[5:41] for with Apple. Damn you guys for making
[5:43] it so easy to do that. This process was
[5:45] a reminder of just how locked into the
[5:47] Apple ecosystem you can become without
[5:49] really realizing it's happening. And
[5:51] that's without even talking about the
[5:52] whole shared iCloud library and iMessage
[5:55] stuff. Thankfully in the UK, most people
[5:57] just use WhatsApp. It's things like if I
[5:59] want to keep using my AirPods with this
[6:00] OPPO, I'd lose about 10 of their key
[6:02] features, like whatever I'm watching
[6:04] pausing when I take one earbud out. How
[6:06] with the iPhone, you can actually use
[6:07] the microphones inside of your AirPods
[6:09] as a portable lav mic to pick up your
[6:12] voice a lot clearer when you're taking
[6:14] video. And it makes a massive difference
[6:16] as you can see as we now flick to using
[6:18] the iPhone's in-built microphones. And
[6:20] probably the most useful, audio sharing.
[6:22] So both Disha and I can both connect our
[6:25] pairs of AirPods to one phone. None of
[6:27] this is possible on the OPPO, at least
[6:29] on Oppo's current latest software. My
[6:31] MacBook would lose the ability to
[6:32] instantly paste something the moment
[6:34] that I've hit copy on my iPhone. And
[6:36] being able to use my phone's internet
[6:37] with just one tap from my Mac as opposed
[6:39] to needing to go onto the phone first to
[6:41] activate Hotspot and then back onto the
[6:43] phone to turn off hotspot when I'm done.
[6:44] Not to mention the most painful loss of
[6:46] all, AirDrop. and then my Apple Watch
[6:49] that would be literally dead on arrival.
[6:51] This will not even pair to an Android
[6:53] phone, which is really upsetting given
[6:55] that this played such a core role in my
[6:57] recent fitness transformation. I was
[6:59] determined though. So, one by one, I
[7:00] found the best current workound for each
[7:02] potential issue, and I am 7 days into
[7:04] this being my main phone with my main
[7:06] SIM card in.
[7:09] And uh
[7:11] I screwed up. Now, of course, not
[7:13] everything I found is going to be an
[7:14] issue for everyone, but I just want to
[7:16] show you why this switch was such a bad
[7:17] idea for me in case you see parallels
[7:20] with your situation. So, first, there's
[7:22] definitely some nitpicks that have crept
[7:24] in about this OPPO. Things you don't
[7:25] realize when you're in the honeymoon
[7:26] phase. Like, for example, when you're
[7:28] buying a niche phone like this, it's
[7:30] really hard to get quality accessories.
[7:32] Like on my iPhone, not an ad, by the
[7:34] way, I love my Taurus brand case with
[7:36] this fancy stand. This is the best
[7:39] alternative I managed to find on my
[7:41] OPPO. It sounds absolutely atrocious
[7:44] when you rotate it. And literally just
[7:45] yesterday while using it, the back plate
[7:47] fell off.
[7:50] Yeah, this ain't it, Chief. The OPPO
[7:52] regularly takes an extra second or two
[7:53] to figure out what app you're looking
[7:55] for in the universal search bar. So,
[7:57] while I'm used to bashing in three
[7:58] letters and then instantly hitting the
[7:59] app icon I want, here unless you wait,
[8:02] you actually end up going into the wrong
[8:04] apps. The apps themselves on Android do
[8:06] not feel as polished. Like why with Uber
[8:08] does it feel like the categories are
[8:10] actually measured to fit within my
[8:11] display on the iPhone but on Android I
[8:13] have to scroll? Why is the Boots logo
[8:14] every time I open the app high
[8:16] resolution on iPhone but low resolution
[8:18] on Android? Why does NT Games on iPhone
[8:20] get this custom fancy dock at the bottom
[8:22] while Android gets this animationless
[8:24] personalityless alternative? Why does
[8:26] the British Airways app on iPhone
[8:28] remember who I am but on Android it
[8:30] makes me log in again every single time
[8:32] I open it? Why on Google's own YouTube
[8:34] Studio is the app better formatted to
[8:36] read your titles on iPhone even though
[8:38] OPPO is set to minimum text font? And
[8:40] why does Android take me to the bottom
[8:42] of the page every time I switch views?
[8:44] These are all minor things that you
[8:45] could get used to, but I think anyone
[8:47] switching from iPhone to Android will
[8:50] notice their apps go from clearly the
[8:52] developer's first priority to eh, it
[8:55] works. I've started to notice that
[8:57] Oppo's display is not as bright as the
[8:59] iPhones. kind of ironic given that it's
[9:01] quoted brightness is actually higher.
[9:02] And you know when those SMS verification
[9:04] codes come in, I've got very used to
[9:06] them consistently appearing on my
[9:07] keyboard so that all I need to do is
[9:09] tap. Half the time on the OPPO, they
[9:11] just don't. All of these things, I would
[9:13] class them as irritating but tolerable.
[9:16] This though is where this transition
[9:18] started to break down for me. There's
[9:20] still no good alternative to AirDrop.
[9:22] It's pretty clear that Google's working
[9:23] on it. And very impressive that they've
[9:25] already got to a stage where they've
[9:26] reverse engineered AirDrop to make new
[9:28] Android phones compatible with it. So, I
[9:30] can now pull up a file on this Oppo and
[9:32] send it to my Mac via Quick Share. And
[9:34] my Mac will receive that file as if it
[9:35] were from an iPhone using AirDrop. It is
[9:38] seamless, but it's much slower on
[9:39] Android than when you're doing Apples to
[9:41] Apples. There's another popular option
[9:43] called local send, but it's buggier and
[9:45] just fails for no apparent reason a
[9:47] third of the time. I feel like I've gone
[9:48] through every single recommended option.
[9:50] They're either slow, unreliable, or
[9:52] filled with ads. So, I'm back to Quick
[9:54] Share. It's the best option. But you can
[9:56] also see how potentially quadrupling the
[9:58] amount of time I'm waiting for my files
[10:00] to transfer doesn't feel like a sensible
[10:02] life decision. Of course, I could just
[10:04] ditch the MacBook 2 and go Windows. But
[10:06] as a general purpose laptop, I will die
[10:09] on this hill. Nothing beats the MacBook
[10:11] right now. I've realized another pretty
[10:13] fatal flaw in my plan. So, obviously, a
[10:15] big part of the reason that I shifted
[10:17] from iPhone to OPPO was the rear
[10:19] cameras. But in doing so, I also kind of
[10:22] just assumed that the front camera would
[10:24] be as good as the iPhones.
[10:26] It isn't. And that's kind of annoying
[10:29] because half the time when I'm filming
[10:31] shots on my phone, it's because I don't
[10:33] have a camera person with me. And so I
[10:35] need to see what I'm doing. You know how
[10:37] we talked about this idea of the iPhone
[10:39] being such a balanced phone and then me
[10:42] proceeding to say that that doesn't
[10:43] matter to me? Well, now's kind of where
[10:46] I eat my own words because I think it
[10:49] does. I actually think there's something
[10:50] very nice and useful about having this
[10:53] parity on all of your cameras because
[10:56] when I'm shooting clips on my phone, if
[10:58] I'm being really honest, I want it to
[11:00] look nice, but the most important thing
[11:02] is that it doesn't look bad. And so,
[11:04] which phone allows me to better ensure
[11:07] that? That's actually the iPhone. It's
[11:10] not looking good, but this has been the
[11:11] most critical blocker for me. So,
[11:13] switching out the earbuds has been fine.
[11:15] If anything, I've upgraded from the
[11:17] AirPods Pro 3 to the Sony XM6s, and I
[11:20] love these things, but it's having to
[11:21] swap the watch that's become a problem.
[11:23] At the start of this search, I was
[11:25] excited by the idea, cuz the Apple Watch
[11:26] has its flaws. This switch up was my
[11:28] chance to fix them. But then I started
[11:30] to go through the options. I checked out
[11:31] Garmin smart watches, but their user
[11:33] interface is so laggy and unpolished is
[11:36] the Google Pixel Watch. But after I
[11:37] tested it at the Sideman charity match
[11:39] and it claimed that I'd burned over
[11:41] 2,000 calories in 2 hours, I don't have
[11:44] a lot of faith that I could rely on it,
[11:45] especially since calories are one of the
[11:47] very few things that I need from my
[11:49] watch. There's the Oppo watches. You
[11:51] know, in theory, those should have very
[11:52] good synergy with the Oppo smartphone.
[11:54] But wait, no one uses this product.
[11:57] Literally, there isn't one review on
[11:59] Amazon UK. So, there's just no way that
[12:01] this watch is going to be well supported
[12:02] within third party fitness apps and on
[12:05] gym equipment. a function which I use
[12:07] all the time by the way to make sure
[12:08] that I'm getting the stats from both the
[12:10] watch sensors but also the settings of
[12:12] the machine so you get the most accurate
[12:14] results. The warp band seemed promising.
[12:16] I know enthusiasts swear by it. So I
[12:18] went and bought one, set it up, used it
[12:20] for like 5 days, did not like it either.
[12:23] It's not that it's bad, it's just not
[12:24] for me. I have simple needs and Whoop
[12:27] gives you so much information that
[12:29] sometimes actually comes at the cost of
[12:31] the clarity of the simple stuff. Not to
[12:33] mention how still having to wear
[12:35] something on your wrist without getting
[12:36] any of the perks of a smartwatch, like
[12:38] being able to set a quick reminder, see
[12:40] your heart rate, or hell, check the
[12:43] time, feels like such a waste for me.
[12:45] So, eventually, I caved. I sucked it up
[12:47] and bought the one smartwatch I'd been
[12:49] avoiding the whole time, the Galaxy
[12:51] Watch. The watch where they forgot that
[12:53] the screen was a circle when designing
[12:55] the body. And even this, it's not
[12:57] working out.
[12:59] while I am working out. See, for the
[13:01] first 3 months of this year, you might
[13:02] know I used the Apple Watch to track a
[13:04] strict exercise plan. And the changes I
[13:06] saw in my body composition lined up
[13:09] almost perfectly with the calories that
[13:10] this watch said I was burning. And now
[13:12] for the 30 days after that, I've been
[13:14] using the Apple Watch calorie numbers
[13:16] again to try and maintain the weight
[13:17] that I'm at. And so, the fact that in
[13:19] that time, my weight hasn't gone up or
[13:21] down one bit shows that while of course
[13:23] this is not lab grade accuracy. calorie
[13:25] counting is a very weird imprecise
[13:27] thing. It shows that it's accurate
[13:29] enough to be useful. But if that's the
[13:32] case, then this is not because every
[13:35] single day I've been wearing these two
[13:37] watches side by side, the Galaxy tells
[13:39] me that I've burned quite a lot more
[13:40] calories than the Apple says. And all of
[13:42] this is compounded by the extra issues
[13:44] I'm facing by straddling multiple
[13:47] ecosystems. I've already forfeited a lot
[13:49] of the Galaxy Watch's standout features
[13:51] by not using it with a Samsung phone,
[13:52] and it's not syncing very reliably at
[13:54] all with the Oppo. I got very used to
[13:56] how with the Apple Watch, as soon as
[13:58] your stats update on this, almost
[14:00] instantly they update on Apple Health,
[14:01] and then pretty much instantly they
[14:03] update on all your third party apps
[14:05] connected to Apple Health. Not the case
[14:07] with my Samsung Oppo Combo. Sometimes
[14:09] the Samsung Health data will update in
[14:12] real time. Like here, it's telling me
[14:13] I've burned 49 calories, but then that
[14:15] number doesn't translate to the app,
[14:17] which still thinks I've burned 11 until
[14:19] I manually pull down to refresh it. Then
[14:21] it syncs up. Sometimes my widget will
[14:23] tell me I burn one number, but then I
[14:24] click into it and the app behind it says
[14:26] another. I feel like I've had every
[14:27] combination of this type of syncing
[14:30] issue. It's all technically working.
[14:32] It's just not working well together. And
[14:34] that's especially true when it comes to
[14:36] charging the stuff. I've got used to
[14:37] this super slimline thing being the only
[14:40] charger that I need to take with me when
[14:41] I'm going away. Now, my phone doesn't
[14:43] have a magnet. I mean, yes, you could
[14:45] add one with a phone case, but frankly,
[14:47] this magnet is so terrible that I kind
[14:49] of wish I hadn't tried. So, I've just
[14:51] ended up plugging the thing in each
[14:52] night. The Samsung Watch has its own
[14:54] bespoke charging puck. And the Sony
[14:56] earbuds, you can charge them wirelessly,
[14:58] but they don't have a magnet like the
[14:59] AirPods do. And at the point where I'm
[15:01] charging both of my other products with
[15:03] wires anyway, I actually might as well
[15:05] just plug that in, too. So, basically,
[15:07] this jump to Android would mean that
[15:08] even my travel charging setup would
[15:10] deteriorate to this. Ultimately, too
[15:13] many compromises. I've been getting
[15:15] bored, right? I've been getting bored of
[15:17] iPhones every single year looking and
[15:18] feeling so similar. So, when finally an
[15:20] Android phone came out that felt so far
[15:23] beyond my iPhone's capabilities, it
[15:25] triggered a tipping point. But while I
[15:27] was of course ready for some compromises
[15:29] to make this switch, I was not ready for
[15:31] just how impactful they'd end up feeling
[15:33] for the way that I use my devices. It's
[15:35] reminded me that even though many Apple
[15:37] devices individually are not necessarily
[15:40] bestin-class, the synergy that they form
[15:42] together or the disguised lockin,
[15:45] depends how you see it, actually is. And
[15:47] I'm currently getting more from that
[15:48] than individually upgrading any one
[15:50] piece of hardware. At least messing
[15:52] around with the eims hasn't added to the
[15:53] headache because I use salar sponsor
[15:56] anytime I go away. The moment I logged
[15:58] into the app on my OPPO, I already had
[16:00] my data packages ready to go. And it's
[16:01] just sick how the next time I decide I
[16:03] want to gallivant off somewhere, I can
[16:05] just download the data for that country
[16:07] like you're downloading an app. And you
[16:09] can get an exclusive 15% discount on
[16:11] sale eim plans using the code boss at
[16:13] checkout.