I loved my iPhone. I really did. I never thought l would switch and truth be told, I was one of the ones who looked down on those who didn’t have iPhone smartphones. Living in Los Angeles for so long had rubbed off on me somewhat l guess. Why did l switch from iPhone to Android? Here are my reasons why switching from iPhone to Android was a no brainer for me and how l feel about it two months later.
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Switching from iPhone to Android Aquaris X: Do l regret it?
The answer is a big fat NO! It took me quite a bit of time to switch. I was still using the iPhone 4s which l’ve had for the past 4 years. It had been giving me problems for a few months, including:
The battery charge wasn’t holding and l often found myself with a useless phone while out.
I could no longer shut off the phone itself which contributed to the short span of use.
I could no longer screenshot capture.
For some reason, newer emails started loading with the older emails body content which totally sucked.
I had taken it to a shop to get it fixed at least twice which provided very temporary relief. Ultimately, I had to decide on upgrading to a refurbished iPhone 5 or 6 (the frugal part of me refused to consider a new phone). I’ve talked about buying previously used and cared for products before.
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BQ Aquarix X
is perfect for me in every way. The Aquaris X is made by a Spanish company and is not available in the U.S. The closest in specs, look and feel is the Huawei p10 lite
which is available in the States and is a very popular brand over here. Hey, if it’s good enough for Lionel Messi :-). The prices of Huawei phones are almost identical to the Apple ones.
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Why switch from iPhone to Android?
The overriding factor was cost. In the old days, I just upgraded the phone with my cellular contract. The phone companies made it easy. Looking back, I think it would have been better to pay outright considering how much each one cost after all the monthly payments are added up. Keeping up with the Joneses was the norm for us. I considered an iPhone because we are an Apple family. From Mac desktop to laptop to iPad to cell phones. The integration was easy and so it made sense to consider it.
I, however started researching other options because of the cost. After hours of comparing and looking up stats and specs, holding various phones in hand to get a feel, I ultimately decided l liked the BQ Aquaris X better than all the others, with the Huawei a very close second. I ultimately decided on the BQ because they had the black one in stock.
I originally intended to compare the iPhone 6 to the BQ Aquaris X, but l am going to be bold and take on the iPhone 7. Reason being, when you compare the two, they are almost neck to neck in what they have to offer. The big difference? Price. The Aquaris X is almost $400 cheaper. $400 cheaper!!! Is it any wonder why l switched to the Android phone?
Reluctance to switch from iPhone to Android dissipated thanks to the price difference. I had thought l would love a phone with a gigantic screen, the 5.5 inch. I however found it unwieldly in my hand. It was too bulky. The Aquaris felt just right.
Comparing the iPhone 7 (on the left) to the BQ Aquaris X (on the right)
| iPhone 7 Screen Type Aquarix X | |
|---|---|
| Candybar, Touchscreen | Candybar, Touchscreen |
| Dimensions | |
| 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in) | 146.5 x 72.7 x 7.9 mm (5.77 x 2.86 x 0.31 in) |
| Weight (slight iphone advantage) | |
| 138 g (4.87 oz) | 153 g (5.40 oz) |
| Colors | |
| Jet Black, Black, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Red | Mineral Black, Pearl Rose |
| Main Features | |
| IP67 certified dust and water resistant Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) Wide color gamut display 3D Touch display & home button Display Zoom Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter incl. |
24-bit/192kHz audio Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic |
| Display Type | |
|---|---|
| LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | LTPS IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size (X for the win!) | |
| 750 x 1334 pixels, 4.7 inches (~326 ppi pixel density) | 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.2 inches (~424 ppi pixel density) |
| Multitouch | |
| Yes | Yes, up to 10 fingers |
| Protection | |
| Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating | Dinorex glass |
| – | |
| Network | |
| 2G Network | |
|---|---|
| GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 A1660, A1778 CDMA 800 / 1900 / 2100 A1660 |
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 SIM 1 & SIM 2 |
| 3G Network | |
| HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 A1660, A1778 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO & TD-SCDMA A1660 |
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 |
| 4G Network | |
| LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 27(800), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) A1660, A1778 | LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 20(800) |
| Notifications | |
| Alert Types | |
|---|---|
| Vibration, proprietary ringtones | Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones |
| Speaker Phone | |
| Yes, with stereo speakers | Yes |
| Memory | |
| Internal (advantage Aquaris) | |
|---|---|
| 32/128/256 GB ROM, GB ROM, 2 GB RAM | 32 GB ROM, 3 GB RAM |
| Card Slot (This is huge, especially if you take loads of pictures) | |
| – | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) |
| Phonebook | |
| – | – |
| Call Records | |
| – | – |
| Connectivity | |
| GPRS | |
|---|---|
| Yes | Yes |
| EDGE | |
| Yes | Yes |
| Speed | |
| HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (3CA) Cat9 450/50 Mbps, EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps | HSPA, LTE |
| WLAN | |
| Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | |
| 4.2, A2DP, LE | 4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX |
| USB | |
| 2.0, reversible connector | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go |
| Infrared Port | |
| – | – |
| GPS | |
| Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO |
| NFC | |
| Yes (Apple Pay only) | Yes |
| Camera | |
| Primary (Aquaris wins) | |
|---|---|
| 12 MP, f/1.8, 28mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, quad-LED (dual tone) flash | 16 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash |
| Camera Features | |
| 1/3″ sensor size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama) | 1/2.8″ sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama |
| Video ( iphone has the edge) | |
| 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@240fps | 2160p@30fps, 720p@120fps |
| Secondary | |
| 7 MP, f/2.2, 32mm, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps, face detection, HDR, panorama | 8 MP, f/2.0, 1080p@60fps, LED flash |
| Multimedia | |
| Audio Format Support | |
|---|---|
| MP3/WAV/AAX+/AIFF/Apple Lossless | MP3/AAC/WAV |
| Video Format Support | |
| MP4/H.264 | MP4/H.264 |
| Radio | |
| – | FM radio |
| Software | |
| Operating System (OS) | |
|---|---|
| iOS 10.0.1 | Android |
| Upgradable | |
| Upgradable to iOS 10.3.2 | – |
| Java | |
| – | – |
| Browser | |
| HTML5 (Safari) | HTML5 |
| Organizer | |
| Yes | Yes |
| Messaging | |
| iMessage, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM |
| Games | |
| – | – |
| Hardware | |
| SIM | |
|---|---|
| Nano-SIM | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| Chipset | |
| Apple A10 Fusion | Qualcomm MSM8953-Pro Snapdragon 626 |
| CPU | |
| Quad-core 2.34 GHz (2x Hurricane + 2x Zephyr) | Octa-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | |
| PowerVR Series7XT Plus (six-core graphics) | Adreno 506 |
| Sensors | |
| Fingerprint (front-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Keyboard | |
| – | – |
| Soft Keys | |
| – | – |
| Side / Additional Keys | |
| Volume keys, Power/Lock key | Volume keys, Power/Lock key |
| Navigation / Controls Keys | |
| – | – |
| Audio Jack | |
| – | 3.5 mm |
| Flashlight / Torch | |
| – | – |
| Dual Sim | |
| – | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| TV Out | |
| – | – |
| Battery | |
| Battery Type | |
|---|---|
| Non-removable Li-Ion 1960 mAh battery (7.45 Wh) | Non-removable Li-Ion 3100 mAh battery |
| Standby | |
| – | – |
| Talk Time | |
| Up to 14 h (3G) | – |
| Music Play | |
| Up to 40 h | – |
| Additional Features | |
| Features | |
|---|---|
| Siri natural language commands and dictation iCloud cloud service Audio/video/photo editor Document editor |
Fast battery charging (Quick Charge 3.0) Document viewer Photo/video editor |
| SAR US | |
| 1.19 W/kg (head) 1.19 W/kg (body) | – |
| SAR EU | |
| 1.38 W/kg (head) 1.34 W/kg (body) | |
Why l love my Aquaris X:
- There was no learning curve. I unpacked it and was ready to go. Even for someone like me who had never used an Android based anything, I was up and running in less than ten minutes because everything was so intuitive.
- The size is perfect. The iPhone 4s was smaller, and the extra 3 inches of real estate makes a huge difference. I love to play games like Scrabble and Words with Friends and can’t say enough about what a pleasure it is to be able see clearly. I hated typing on my old phone, but this..with the bigger letters and numbers makes it painless.
- I love the option of the fingerprint scan on the back of the phone as opposed to the front. I also like the fact that you can scan up to 10 fingers. I have 4. This makes it easy for me to sign on with either my left or right hand
- I love the fact that l still have a headphone jack. As someone who travels a lot, l often download movies on Netflix to watch on the plane or train. The quality of the 4k video is amazing. I have now stopped carrying my iPad on trips as l find this smartphone sufficient.
- It takes amazing pictures. The 16MP Sony camera rocks!
- It charges quickly and holds its charge. Better (3100Ah) battery than the iPhone 7 (1960Ah).
- Fingerprint resistant. You know it’s a big thing with the glass on smartphones. There is some sort of coating that makes this very resistant.
- aesthetically pleasing. Hell yeah! It looks good, very sexy.
- Google integration. It makes it so much easier to google something online as the search bar is right there on the home screen.
- Right price point. Perfect for someone who wants the bells and whistles without the high price.
What about the Apps?
It used to be that most of the cool apps where only available in the Apple store. No more. Most of the apps are now available on both platforms, so it has become a moot point. I still enjoy my same favorite games like Dots and Word.
Moving your goodies from iPhone:
Thanks to the cloud, it’s easier to bring your files and images with you. Just back up to the cloud and access it from the Android. Your music can be accessed from iTunes and uploaded to the google cloud. It’s even easier if you already use gmail on your old phone as it transfers your mail over.
Would l switch back from Android to iPhone?
Not at this point. I am enjoying this platform massively. I was a non-believer, but my eyes have been opened to a world beyond Apple. My husband still has the iPhone , but seeing how much I’m loving the Aquaris X, he says he is going to switch once his phone finally dies. My only complaint about the phone so far in the 2 months? Having to “download” image attachments. I wish it would just be like in iPhone where you could just “save image”. I can live with that though.
Final Thoughts:
My switching from iPhone to Android had nothing to do with hating the iPhone. I just figured out what was best for me. I also realized that l am at a point in my life where l want things of value and not for bragging rights. Remember how l said want versus need can impact your finances? This is a good example. There are of course even cheaper models than the Aquaris X that l could have chosen. I just feel like this one gives me the best bang for my buck.
Are you an Apple or Android fan? Are you partial to either one, and would you ever switch?