Last month on a family holiday, I did a

little experiment. I had my iPhone as

usual, but I also brought with me an

Oppo FindX9 Ultra to take photos with.

And I ended up so blown away by this

phone in more ways than one that I had

an entire midlife crisis. I made every

arrangement to finally put my iPhone to

rest the moment I got home and escape

from the Apple ecosystem once and for

all. That was a giant mistake.

So, I started this holiday with a very

simple mission. Anytime I was going to

take a photo on my iPhone anyways, I

just take one on the OPPO 2. What I

didn't expect, though, is how much fun

this was going to be. It got me

thinking. The iPhone's camera system is

kind of designed to be boring. Apple

sells over 200 million iPhones every

single year. And that's between not very

many different models. So, just because

this one has a Pro in its name does not

change the fact that it's designed for a

mainstream audience. What does a

mainstream audience need? Balance. Every

aspect of the iPhone, including its

cameras, is meticulously crafted around

a never too much, never too little

goldilocks philosophy because that's the

only way to make a one sizefits device.

Something for which it doesn't matter

who you are. It doesn't matter which

lens you're using. Doesn't matter what

lighting condition, front camera, back

camera, you just know that it's going to

be dependable, if not exciting. And so

what I noticed was as soon as I started

using this tool that instead of being

reliably good, was capable of

exceptional, it all of a sudden made me

care about what I was shooting again,

like this shot here taken on the Oppo

phone. It started to become a bit of a

game on this holiday. I'd take these

photos on both phones and every time I'd

show my family, it was the difference

between, "Ah, thanks for taking the

photos with the iPhone and, "Wow, you're

such a good photographer with the OPPO."

They stoked my ego and that's the

quickest way to my heart. And after a

few days of this, I started to realize

there was no point in taking photos on

the iPhone if I had this OPPO around.

So, I just focused on using this. I

started to play around with what was

possible thanks to the OPPO's higher

number of cameras, much bigger sensors,

higher resolutions, and wider apertures

to let more light in. I was taking

stunning footage like this, which, let's

be honest, was just never going to

happen before. Not to mention this 10

times optical zoom camera that can go a

lot further than that and feels

borderline violating. You're taking

shots that look like this, only to

completely forget that this is how far

away you shot them from. And the sixx

zoom preset that produces my absolute

favorite close-up macro shots of any

phone ever. And so, you can imagine at

this point, having gone from son who

owns lots of phones to son who actually

takes such good photos that he must take

ours, too. I started to wonder, why am I

even using this iPhone? Why am I not

using a phone that's tailored to what I

love and just permanently aura farming

with every clip I take? Plus, I actually

capture content for a living. So,

wouldn't switching to something with

crazy good cameras, and by the way, a

battery that's nearly 50% larger, too,

actually just be a work perk as well as

a life one.

And what's intensified this feeling is

the sheer gap in intelligence that I've

noticed between the two phones. For

example, I'm someone who strongly

prefers to talk things out instead of

typing. I like getting my thoughts out

quickly. It just feels efficient. Plus,

I get a lot of finger pain when I spend

too much time on a keyboard. So, on my

iPhone, I'm constantly setting reminders

using my voice, using dictation to give

big chunks of feedback to my editors, or

even when on a walk, where I always seem

to have my best ideas brain dumping into

my notes app as new things occur to me.

Problem is, Apple kind of sucks for

this. And it's only when you live with

both Siri and Gemini at the same time

that it dawns on you how much better an

Android phone right now understands what

you're saying to it. Gemini is not

perfect, but it does get the words

right, and you have way more control

over the grammar, too. So, you end up

with sentences that you could actually

send to someone without looking like you

learned English yesterday. Plus, Google

specifically just announced that they

are doubling down on their speech to

text quality later this year with the

new rambler feature. That's me. I'm that

rambler.

>> Yeah, can confirm.

>> And with reminders, I just kind of come

to expect that if I ask Siri to remind

me of something, it's going to

completely butcher it. But that is now

tomorrow's problem to figure out what I

originally meant. It's been so

refreshing for this to not be an issue

with the Oppo. Or another example, let's

say I'm in Sy. I'm buying an ESIM for my

next trip. Kyrgyzstan,

oh my god, the Android gets me. iPhone,

not so much. Point being, there are all

sorts of benefits that you start to

notice from the lurking presence of a

higher intelligence on Android. Like

yesterday, I was searching for a

specific photo of Disher and I. Being

able to just type something vague like

couple and trust that your phone

actually gets that you mean two adults,

maybe a baby, nothing more, is so

useful.

Now, of course, Apple will get smarter

software and a better Siri. Probably

soon they have to announce big changes

at this year's WWDC. They will make

iPhones with better cameras and longer

battery life. But my thought process was

it could be months or even years before

this better Siri and better software is

actually on my iPhone and working well.

And by then, will Google and Gemini be

just as far ahead? It certainly seems

that way based on the mountain of

upcoming features announced at Google

IO. And frankly, I don't think Apple is

ever going to close this camera and

battery size gap. It doesn't make sense

for them to because of the Goldilock

zone that they need to stay in to remain

mainstream.

So, I dove in. I went through every

single app I use on my iPhone and

downloaded them one by one again. I

painfully peeled away like 16 years

worth of photos from iCloud and started

paying for Google Photos. Called my

banks to reauthenticate my cards for

Google Pay, relogged in to every single

account and created new ones for those

that I had initially foolishly signed up

for with Apple. Damn you guys for making

it so easy to do that. This process was

a reminder of just how locked into the

Apple ecosystem you can become without

really realizing it's happening. And

that's without even talking about the

whole shared iCloud library and iMessage

stuff. Thankfully in the UK, most people

just use WhatsApp. It's things like if I

want to keep using my AirPods with this

OPPO, I'd lose about 10 of their key

features, like whatever I'm watching

pausing when I take one earbud out. How

with the iPhone, you can actually use

the microphones inside of your AirPods

as a portable lav mic to pick up your

voice a lot clearer when you're taking

video. And it makes a massive difference

as you can see as we now flick to using

the iPhone's in-built microphones. And

probably the most useful, audio sharing.

So both Disha and I can both connect our

pairs of AirPods to one phone. None of

this is possible on the OPPO, at least

on Oppo's current latest software. My

MacBook would lose the ability to

instantly paste something the moment

that I've hit copy on my iPhone. And

being able to use my phone's internet

with just one tap from my Mac as opposed

to needing to go onto the phone first to

activate Hotspot and then back onto the

phone to turn off hotspot when I'm done.

Not to mention the most painful loss of

all, AirDrop. and then my Apple Watch

that would be literally dead on arrival.

This will not even pair to an Android

phone, which is really upsetting given

that this played such a core role in my

recent fitness transformation. I was

determined though. So, one by one, I

found the best current workound for each

potential issue, and I am 7 days into

this being my main phone with my main

SIM card in.

And uh

I screwed up. Now, of course, not

everything I found is going to be an

issue for everyone, but I just want to

show you why this switch was such a bad

idea for me in case you see parallels

with your situation. So, first, there's

definitely some nitpicks that have crept

in about this OPPO. Things you don't

realize when you're in the honeymoon

phase. Like, for example, when you're

buying a niche phone like this, it's

really hard to get quality accessories.

Like on my iPhone, not an ad, by the

way, I love my Taurus brand case with

this fancy stand. This is the best

alternative I managed to find on my

OPPO. It sounds absolutely atrocious

when you rotate it. And literally just

yesterday while using it, the back plate

fell off.

Yeah, this ain't it, Chief. The OPPO

regularly takes an extra second or two

to figure out what app you're looking

for in the universal search bar. So,

while I'm used to bashing in three

letters and then instantly hitting the

app icon I want, here unless you wait,

you actually end up going into the wrong

apps. The apps themselves on Android do

not feel as polished. Like why with Uber

does it feel like the categories are

actually measured to fit within my

display on the iPhone but on Android I

have to scroll? Why is the Boots logo

every time I open the app high

resolution on iPhone but low resolution

on Android? Why does NT Games on iPhone

get this custom fancy dock at the bottom

while Android gets this animationless

personalityless alternative? Why does

the British Airways app on iPhone

remember who I am but on Android it

makes me log in again every single time

I open it? Why on Google's own YouTube

Studio is the app better formatted to

read your titles on iPhone even though

OPPO is set to minimum text font? And

why does Android take me to the bottom

of the page every time I switch views?

These are all minor things that you

could get used to, but I think anyone

switching from iPhone to Android will

notice their apps go from clearly the

developer's first priority to eh, it

works. I've started to notice that

Oppo's display is not as bright as the

iPhones. kind of ironic given that it's

quoted brightness is actually higher.

And you know when those SMS verification

codes come in, I've got very used to

them consistently appearing on my

keyboard so that all I need to do is

tap. Half the time on the OPPO, they

just don't. All of these things, I would

class them as irritating but tolerable.

This though is where this transition

started to break down for me. There's

still no good alternative to AirDrop.

It's pretty clear that Google's working

on it. And very impressive that they've

already got to a stage where they've

reverse engineered AirDrop to make new

Android phones compatible with it. So, I

can now pull up a file on this Oppo and

send it to my Mac via Quick Share. And

my Mac will receive that file as if it

were from an iPhone using AirDrop. It is

seamless, but it's much slower on

Android than when you're doing Apples to

Apples. There's another popular option

called local send, but it's buggier and

just fails for no apparent reason a

third of the time. I feel like I've gone

through every single recommended option.

They're either slow, unreliable, or

filled with ads. So, I'm back to Quick

Share. It's the best option. But you can

also see how potentially quadrupling the

amount of time I'm waiting for my files

to transfer doesn't feel like a sensible

life decision. Of course, I could just

ditch the MacBook 2 and go Windows. But

as a general purpose laptop, I will die

on this hill. Nothing beats the MacBook

right now. I've realized another pretty

fatal flaw in my plan. So, obviously, a

big part of the reason that I shifted

from iPhone to OPPO was the rear

cameras. But in doing so, I also kind of

just assumed that the front camera would

be as good as the iPhones.

It isn't. And that's kind of annoying

because half the time when I'm filming

shots on my phone, it's because I don't

have a camera person with me. And so I

need to see what I'm doing. You know how

we talked about this idea of the iPhone

being such a balanced phone and then me

proceeding to say that that doesn't

matter to me? Well, now's kind of where

I eat my own words because I think it

does. I actually think there's something

very nice and useful about having this

parity on all of your cameras because

when I'm shooting clips on my phone, if

I'm being really honest, I want it to

look nice, but the most important thing

is that it doesn't look bad. And so,

which phone allows me to better ensure

that? That's actually the iPhone. It's

not looking good, but this has been the

most critical blocker for me. So,

switching out the earbuds has been fine.

If anything, I've upgraded from the

AirPods Pro 3 to the Sony XM6s, and I

love these things, but it's having to

swap the watch that's become a problem.

At the start of this search, I was

excited by the idea, cuz the Apple Watch

has its flaws. This switch up was my

chance to fix them. But then I started

to go through the options. I checked out

Garmin smart watches, but their user

interface is so laggy and unpolished is

the Google Pixel Watch. But after I

tested it at the Sideman charity match

and it claimed that I'd burned over

2,000 calories in 2 hours, I don't have

a lot of faith that I could rely on it,

especially since calories are one of the

very few things that I need from my

watch. There's the Oppo watches. You

know, in theory, those should have very

good synergy with the Oppo smartphone.

But wait, no one uses this product.

Literally, there isn't one review on

Amazon UK. So, there's just no way that

this watch is going to be well supported

within third party fitness apps and on

gym equipment. a function which I use

all the time by the way to make sure

that I'm getting the stats from both the

watch sensors but also the settings of

the machine so you get the most accurate

results. The warp band seemed promising.

I know enthusiasts swear by it. So I

went and bought one, set it up, used it

for like 5 days, did not like it either.

It's not that it's bad, it's just not

for me. I have simple needs and Whoop

gives you so much information that

sometimes actually comes at the cost of

the clarity of the simple stuff. Not to

mention how still having to wear

something on your wrist without getting

any of the perks of a smartwatch, like

being able to set a quick reminder, see

your heart rate, or hell, check the

time, feels like such a waste for me.

So, eventually, I caved. I sucked it up

and bought the one smartwatch I'd been

avoiding the whole time, the Galaxy

Watch. The watch where they forgot that

the screen was a circle when designing

the body. And even this, it's not

working out.

while I am working out. See, for the

first 3 months of this year, you might

know I used the Apple Watch to track a

strict exercise plan. And the changes I

saw in my body composition lined up

almost perfectly with the calories that

this watch said I was burning. And now

for the 30 days after that, I've been

using the Apple Watch calorie numbers

again to try and maintain the weight

that I'm at. And so, the fact that in

that time, my weight hasn't gone up or

down one bit shows that while of course

this is not lab grade accuracy. calorie

counting is a very weird imprecise

thing. It shows that it's accurate

enough to be useful. But if that's the

case, then this is not because every

single day I've been wearing these two

watches side by side, the Galaxy tells

me that I've burned quite a lot more

calories than the Apple says. And all of

this is compounded by the extra issues

I'm facing by straddling multiple

ecosystems. I've already forfeited a lot

of the Galaxy Watch's standout features

by not using it with a Samsung phone,

and it's not syncing very reliably at

all with the Oppo. I got very used to

how with the Apple Watch, as soon as

your stats update on this, almost

instantly they update on Apple Health,

and then pretty much instantly they

update on all your third party apps

connected to Apple Health. Not the case

with my Samsung Oppo Combo. Sometimes

the Samsung Health data will update in

real time. Like here, it's telling me

I've burned 49 calories, but then that

number doesn't translate to the app,

which still thinks I've burned 11 until

I manually pull down to refresh it. Then

it syncs up. Sometimes my widget will

tell me I burn one number, but then I

click into it and the app behind it says

another. I feel like I've had every

combination of this type of syncing

issue. It's all technically working.

It's just not working well together. And

that's especially true when it comes to

charging the stuff. I've got used to

this super slimline thing being the only

charger that I need to take with me when

I'm going away. Now, my phone doesn't

have a magnet. I mean, yes, you could

add one with a phone case, but frankly,

this magnet is so terrible that I kind

of wish I hadn't tried. So, I've just

ended up plugging the thing in each

night. The Samsung Watch has its own

bespoke charging puck. And the Sony

earbuds, you can charge them wirelessly,

but they don't have a magnet like the

AirPods do. And at the point where I'm

charging both of my other products with

wires anyway, I actually might as well

just plug that in, too. So, basically,

this jump to Android would mean that

even my travel charging setup would

deteriorate to this. Ultimately, too

many compromises. I've been getting

bored, right? I've been getting bored of

iPhones every single year looking and

feeling so similar. So, when finally an

Android phone came out that felt so far

beyond my iPhone's capabilities, it

triggered a tipping point. But while I

was of course ready for some compromises

to make this switch, I was not ready for

just how impactful they'd end up feeling

for the way that I use my devices. It's

reminded me that even though many Apple

devices individually are not necessarily

bestin-class, the synergy that they form

together or the disguised lockin,

depends how you see it, actually is. And

I'm currently getting more from that

than individually upgrading any one

piece of hardware. At least messing

around with the eims hasn't added to the

headache because I use salar sponsor

anytime I go away. The moment I logged

into the app on my OPPO, I already had

my data packages ready to go. And it's

just sick how the next time I decide I

want to gallivant off somewhere, I can

just download the data for that country

like you're downloading an app. And you

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