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Was it worth it? First impressions and how I live in the Apple & Samsung ecosystem

It’s been a while since I last switched my primary phone and with my trustworthy iPhone 14 Pro Max starting to show its age, I finally decided to make a switch.

It wasn’t an easy decision, I mean I wanted a phone that I can comfortably use as my main phone for at least the next two to three years. There are some fantastic phones on the market, but I was primarily deciding between another iPhone, Samsung and Google Pixel.

After visiting a few stores to try the products myself, I finally made the decision to go with Samsung, and the phone I went with was the Samsung S25.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the size of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but I wanted something smaller and the Samsung Galaxy S25 was the perfect size. But above all, I wanted to try something different from my iPhone, and the Samsung S25 seemed the perfect choice.

I’ve actually been considering a Samsung Phone for a while and when I saw some rather good deals, I finally decided to make the switch.

In this article, I will be sharing my first impressions of the Samsung S25, and I will be discussing how I find it three weeks later.

So, without any further ado…

First impressions

Starting with the unboxing experience, I found it pretty standard. But I liked the look of the box, I thought it looked cool and minimal. Inside the box, you find the phone, and a USB-C charging cable, which is standard.

Setting up the phone for the first time was very easy. I used the Smart Switch app to transfer data from my iPhone to the S25. Although it took a while to transfer everything over and to download and sign in to my apps, the experience was effortless.

One of the first things I noticed was the widgets on the home screen. In the past, I always preferred the way widgets looked on iPhones, but Samsung have done a fantastic job with their widgets as they look really nice and modern.

The phone also felt smooth and snappy. Don’t get me wrong, the animations on iPhones are fantastic and I think they make the device feel more premium, but sometimes speed is better.

Another thing I noticed was AI, the iPhone 14 Pro Max isn’t on the list to get Apple Intelligence, but I know have AI with my Samsung Galaxy S25. I’m already a big fan of the Now Brief feature, which shows me personalised briefings throughout the day, helping me stay organised and on top of things.

This isn’t really a difference between Apple and Samsung, but another thing I noticed was that a smaller phone feels more comfortable to use in my opinion.

User experience

So far, one of the biggest improvements I see is the battery life.

As someone who travels via public transport to work on a weekly basis, I rely on my phone having a good battery life. Just so you know where I’m coming from with this, on office days I either walk, cycle or take the bus to the train station, from there I catch a train which takes around an hour to get me to the office. I take this journey twice a day while listening to podcasts, music or audiobooks. I also like to browse social media during that time and catch up on some of the latest news.

In the past, the iPhone 14 Pro Max was fantastic for this, I would only charge the phone in the morning, and then I could comfortably use it throughout the day without having to worry about charging it. However, over the last couple of months, with the same usage, I would usually have to charge the iPhone before catching the train home. This was particularly noticeable on day trips. It meant that I had to start carrying a power bank with me regularly. It’s worth remembering that this kind of battery wear and tear is normal with phones as they age.

The S25 comfortably lasts me the entire day with the same usage.

Apple have introduced some fantastic customisation features to the iPhone, but since the S25 is running on Android, you can do so much more, such as changing the launcher which can change all sorts of things such as the look of the interface and the animations. I however decided to stick to the default Samsung launcher.

My new Apple + Samsung ecosystem

Switching to the Samsung S25, doesn’t mean I’m moving away from Apple, especially my beloved MacBook Air and iPad Pro.

Because of this, I will now be living in a multi-platform ecosystem, which is something I’ve done before, but based on my three weeks with the S25, I think I have a much better system now.

I was a big iCloud fan, and I still am to some extent, but a few months ago I decided to switch to OneDrive as I needed Microsoft Office for a project, and I haven’t looked at switching to any other cloud storage provider since.

I find that OneDrive works well on my MacBook, my iPad, my iPhone and now my Samsung S25. Having that freedom to use it on multiple devices and not having to worry about transferring data from one service to another just so that I can have access to my files is a good feeling.

Speaking about Microsoft, as Apple Reminders is not available on Android, I decided to switch to Microsoft To Do, which I think is a very underrated app. On top of that it syncs with Samsung Reminders allowing me to get the most out of the Samsung experience.

I’ve been using OneNote as my default notetaking app for a while, and just like with Microsoft To Do, OneNote syncs with the Samsung Notes app which is pretty cool.

In terms of photos, my default photo backup app has always been Google Photos.

Traditionally, there are a few ecosystem features I miss from the full Apple experience, with the main one being AirDrop, however, I discovered a cool workaround with the help of an app called LocalSend. I also miss the universal clipboard feature.

In terms of browser choice, on the iPhone, I’ve primarily been using Microsoft Edge and Safari, but Samsung Internet Browser seems to work really well for me.

Things I like

I think it’s fair to say that so far, my experience with the S25 has been positive, but it’s still early days in my view.

I like the camera on the S25, I’m not a photographer, but I like how the S25’s camera is easy to use and how some of the photos I took came out.

I also like the AI features such as the Now Brief and Google Gemeni which proves to be extremely useful.

I find that the Samsung default apps such as Notes, Reminders and Calendar are also pretty good.

I also like the overall look of the phone. I went with the Silver Shadow version as I wanted something different, and I think it makes the device look premium and cool at the same time.

Although I haven’t had much experience with it, I like the idea of Samsung Dex. If you use Samsung Dex, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions as well as any tips and suggestions.

Challenges and drawbacks

I haven’t really experienced any problems during the switch. I found the whole process easy.

The only thing that was a bit of a hassle was having to reach out to my sim provider to switch my eSim to my new phone. But this was the first time I had to do that, as with most other networks I’ve been on over the years, I could simply do it from the website myself. But in all fairness to them, it took less than 5 minutes to sort through the support chat, which I thought was fantastic.

I already mentioned that I miss the Universal Clipboard and AirDrop, but apart from that I also miss the Apple Watch and Apple Fitness. I’ve had many smart watches over the years, but I still think that in terms of smart features, the Apple Watch is still best. I’m currently on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, but I’ll talk more about that in a dedicated article.

How I use the Samsung S25 in my daily life

Since switching to the S25, my daily usage hasn’t changed much, especially when it comes to my productivity system.

That’s because my productivity system primarily sits within Notion. With the help of the Ultimate Brain template, Notion has become my second brain. I use it for projects, notes, managing my side hustle and any task that has an actual output. Within that ecosystem, I use Notion Calendar as my primary calendar app across devices.

When it comes to the S25, I primarily use the Samsung Calendar app as I simply prefer it. But there is one drawback which is that in order for my Notion calendar to appear in it I have to use a workaround involving Pipedream and Google Calendar. Specifically, I found that this workaround by Thomas Frank works great for my needs, the only thing to bear in mind is that it looks like the pricing has changed since the guide was written and you only get 10 credits per day. I set mine to sync once per day which is more than enough for me.

In terms of reminders that I don’t need to keep track of or that don’t have a project I can assign them to, I used to use Apple Reminders, but since moving to the S25, I’ve moved to Microsoft To Do, which as I already mentioned, I think is a very underrated app. But on the S25, I primarily use Samsung Reminders which synchronises to Microsoft To Do.

In terms of my digital wallet, I have options such as Google Wallet, but I decided to stick with Samsung Wallet as I like the overall experience it provides and the fact that when on the home screen you can simply swipe up.

When it comes to messaging, I primarily tend to use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, so iMessage and FaceTime aren’t really a problem for me.

In terms of my primary email app, I still use Spark Mail and in terms of password management I use Proton Pass, so not much has changed there for me.

Three Weeks In: My overall thoughts

To summarise this article, I think that getting a new phone was worth it, especially as the battery life on my iPhone 14 Pro Max was starting to show its age. Now, I like the Samsung Galaxy S25, I think that it is a fantastic phone with a great camera and some awesome features. However, I think it’s too early to make a decision on whether switching was worth it.

For that reason, I’m not sure if this is a permanent move, but I would like to think so as so far, my experience has been fantastic.

If you are thinking of switching from iPhone to Android or vice versa, I strongly recommend that you visit stores so that you can play with the device, watch reviews and read blog posts. Just because I switched from iPhone to Samsung, doesn’t mean that Samsung is better, it’s all about what works for you.

Speaking of which, have you ever switched or are you considering switching? What are your thoughts?

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