Slade’s Corner

A few of you have pointed out the changes made to the “Phones” section of my setup page. I think we should briefly talk about that, as the conclusion isn’t ultimately what I would’ve hoped for.

• The Process of Switching
• Notifications? Who needs ’em!
• Dual SIM
• Galaxy Watch (One UI Watch)
• Conclusion

The Process of Switching

Switching itself was fairly straightforward, and has gotten a lot easier since the last time I had to do it. All I did was plug the two phones into each other, open Samsung’s Smart Switch app, and follow the instructions. I had all my texts ported and number swapped within the matter of an hour or so. It did not take long.¹

Notifications? Who needs ’em!

These are both better, and worse, at the same time. Let me explain three different scenarios I’ve run into FREQUENTLY, and then why these are all terrible.

1. Automatic App Updates: A messaging app with several important notifications received throughout my day updates automatically, and because of the way Android works, clears my notifications for that app. They don’t roll back in. New messages only!
2. Dead Battery: Sometimes on really long days (really just Fridays), I start getting really tired around 8pm and pass out around 10pm or so, and I forget to plug in my phone. I almost always wake up to it dead. When I plug in my phone, I expect all my texts and other notifications to roll back in…but they don’t on Android. And if I had any notifications, they’re ALL gone. New ones only!
3. System Updates: If there’s a system update, like a security update or Google Play System Update–notifications clear after those as well. I don’t know why!

This isn’t how it works on iOS at all. If you get a message, the notification generally sticks there unless it’s Twitter or something (in which case it stays there for a while). I use my notifications like a reminders list, keeping me on top of who messaged me back when. If I can’t see if my friend messaged me back, I won’t respond in a reasonable amount of time, and I look like a jerk.

I’ve had this happen many times. Google Messages, for instance, has updates pretty frequently — will update overnight to add some sort of functionality or patch — and then it’ll clear my texts and mark everything as read.² Why?!

iOS may not have a lot of customization or control (out of the box; or without some sort of third-party workaround) but they sure have simple god damn functionality down–and they don’t clear your damn notifications if you so much as breathe around the app or operating system. And I’m told it has been a long-standing issue on Android since… well, Android! So Google? Samsung? Other OEMs? Fix it. Backport the fix. Now. Thank you.

Dual SIM

I’m still not a huge fan of Dual SIM, though I like the way Samsung handles it more than Apple does. It was super simple to set-up, and the interface adapts to the labels I’ve set in Settings. It’s neat, but unlike on iOS, I have accidentally sent texts and made calls with the wrong number so many times — despite my default settings — that it is starting to get just ever so slightly annoying.

But hey, no battery drain! Good job, Samsung.

Galaxy Watch (One UI Watch)

I haven’t had the Watch 5 Pro long enough to really comment on, but I will give some preliminary thoughts. One UI 6 Watch definitely feels like it’s catching up with me more than my Apple Watch Series 6 from one generation prior. Messages notifications, for example, will glitch out and barely show the animation where it displays their name and float the message they sent up to the screen.

I assume that’s a bug, and one that’ll likely be fixed soon, but it’s something I had to mention because it was a bit jarring. I love the watch otherwise. Actually does more than my Series 6 (and has way better battery life³).

Conclusion

The truth is, this experience has been really weird and incredibly frustrating for me. There has been a lot of good — but a lot of bugs. Especially with camera apps like Snapchat. (I don’t really understand why that’s even happening on what was once a $999 USD phone…)

While I was hoping for a simple, drop-in replacement, I do miss my iPhone and how cohesive it is with the rest of my environment. There are few things I use on a daily basis that just do not work on this phone because it is on Android 14, or iOS due to Apple’s stupid restrictions⁴ — a stronghold grip that is only now getting loosened (forcefully, of course).

But maybe there are solutions and I’m just not seeing them yet. Who knows…

1. Well, okay, sort of… It didn’t take long to pull everything off the phone but for the S22+ to actually process the information? That was a whole other story. I think it took about two and a half hours. In the S22+’s defense, there were 84,000+ text messages to work through since I’ve kept everything for the past decade. ↩︎
2. Apparently, this does not happen on my dad’s Pixel 6 while it happens to me consistently. My parents also have a ton of Google Messages features I don’t have on my S22+ or my Pixel 6–and that’s frustrating. We’ve all got the same settings set and app versions. Same damn carrier, too. Just a whole lot of weird going on around this side of the fence. ↩︎
3. Before anyone says “go get your Apple Watch battery replaced,” I want to! But the problem is, Apple’s been turning off the blood oxygen sensor on watches that get battery replacements, so I’ve refused up until this point. That policy of mine hasn’t really changed, and likely won’t until the litigation resolves. ↩︎
4. Also worth reading on this topic: Eric Migicovsky’s (Pebble, Beeper) lovely post on why Pebble will suck with iOS due to Apple’s restrictions. Apple really wants you to get an Apple Watch. ↩︎