Back to iOS after years of Android use

Camera

I'm filing this in the 'neither here, nor there' category. The iPhone 13 Pro has the same cameras as the Pro Max, which was instrumental for enabling that best-you-can-get feeling in this generation - the feature parity was lacking in last year's Pros. It's the best you can get on an iPhone; however, and Androids have as good or better alternatives, so the camera was hardly a major argument in favor of the 13 Pro when I was contemplating getting it. It was the other way around - the camera wasn't a dealbreaker, unlike with the 12 Pro.

Naturally, it has its specifics, and I don't necessarily agree with everything Apple is doing. For example, I'd take a more aggressive Night mode - if not in the auto state, at least at the max end of the slider.

Also, this whole thing with the photographic styles is keeping me uneasy all the time. Am I using the right one? Maybe I like it now, but what if I want to change it later on? Am I going to forget to put it back in the 'standard' position after I'm done using it? Did I put it back in the 'standard' position last time I used it? Should I pick just one style and stick with it?

A handful of tiny UI quirks bug me as well, like the little shift of the viewfinder when you pull up the quick settings menu. And the fact that the other settings aren't within the camera app itself, but the main settings menu instead. But I guess I've just accepted that iOS is iOS, and that's that. At least they now let you disable the auto macro mode, which switches from the main to the ultrawide camera when you get too close to a subject - that was a major source of frustration in the beginning.

A feature Apple introduced with iOS 14, Back Tap, has meant that I can launch the camera with no touch input. I've always appreciated phones that can open the camera with, say, a double press on the power button because that lets you operate it with gloves on and launch it from any state of the phone - locked, unlocked, in an app. That's the case with the iPhone, and Back Tap has worked very reliably for me. Now, if only it could change between cameras somehow.

All things considered, I enjoy using the camera, little as I actually do - when not going places, you're left with your cats as subjects, and you can only take so many pictures of your cats.

Conclusion

I've been jumping back and forth between different Android phones this year with particular intensity - it's more or less how it's been after the Galaxy Note 10, but 2021 was especially tough. While I did spend the most time with the Galaxy S21, it never quite felt right. So with Androids being just different enough between them to irritate me but not special enough to make me look past their flaws, it made sense to do a total reboot and switch to iOS.

That is to say, a switch to iPhone because I maintain that iOS is a dated and backward excuse for a mobile OS. It's got downright stupid UI choices that are stuck in the past and get in the way of daily usage, even if you do eventually get used to them. But it's the OS that goes with the phone, and I've accepted the bad with the good.

The iPhone 13 Pro itself is a pretty great phone. It's just the right size for me, and it's the most premium offering in that footprint. The superb battery life and top-quality display are easy to love, too, while FaceID and even the notch took practically no time to get used to. Meanwhile, the Magsafe Wallet has been a true gamechanger for my EDC.

I'd be the first to admit that as GSMArena staff, we've been privileged and even spoiled if you like. Even when picking up a new phone, you can already hear the question in the back of your mind "That's fine, but where do you go next once this one inevitably ceases to excite you?" I almost felt compelled to write this piece as a way of explaining that, for once, I am happy where I am, only to be met with comments like 'it's articles like this one that make you reevaluate your choices, and you'll be replacing that iPhone in no time." But I don't think I will - not this time around. January 2022 will seemingly be heavy on new phone announcements, but I don't see anything on the horizon that can potentially change my mind. Until it does, of course. Stay tuned!