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Testing Android smartphones has made my iPhone feel old and slow

It's hard to not come to the conclusion that Apple is being blown away in terms of performance, power, and usability by Android devices that cost far less than the iPhone.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Over the past few weeks, I've been using Android handsets more and more, and I've discovered that devices that are less than half the price of the iPhone are faster, better, and more fun to use.

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I've been using several devices, from the super-rugged brick-like Getnord Lynx, to more mainstream devices such as the Motorola Moto g7 Power or the Xiaomi Mi 9, and well, I'm blown away.

Take the Xiaomi Mi 9 for example. From a user perspective, it's fast, it's powerful, it is kitted out with a beautiful 6.39-inch AMOLED display, and has an amazing array of cameras capable of taking stunning photos.

It also has a really sweet in-display fingerprint reader that feels nice and intuitive to use and works reliably, which is more than I can say for Face ID on newer iPhones.

On the hardware side of things, it's also incredibly impressive. Powered by a super-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, backed with 6GB of RAM, it's no wonder that it feels as smooth as silk in use. It also features a mind-blowing 48-megapixel image sensor that captures fine details that the iPhone simply cannot.

And despite being thin and light, it has a battery that's big enough for me to be able to go the whole day without recharging.

It's everything you want from a smartphone. And it's about half the price of an iPhone.

Even the Getnord Lynx feels fast and smooth, and its hardware specs aren't anywhere as good as that of the Mi 9 or the Moto g7 Power (its thing is extreme ruggedness, a challenge it handles really well).

Best Android smartphones (July 2019)

I have to say that there are a lot of very nice Android smartphones out there at a reasonable price (well, reasonable compared to the iPhone). It's clear that when you exist inside the iPhone bubble that it's easy to compare new iPhones to old iPhones and come to the conclusion that they are good because they feel better than their predecessor.

But look sideways at Android handsets, and it's hard not to conclude that Apple is being blown away in terms of performance, power, and usability.

Over the coming weeks, I'm going to be looking in more depth at a few different Android smartphones and seeing how they compare to the iPhone.

And who knows, I may even decide to make the leap from iPhone to Android.

Has anyone made the switch from iPhone to Android? What did you think? What were the upsides? Did you have any regrets?

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