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I'm a loyal iPhone user, but I switched to Samsung's Galaxy S20 and found 5 things I liked better compared to the iPhone 11 Pro (AAPL)

I typically use an iPhone, but after temporarily switching to Samsung's Galaxy S20 I found several advantages that Samsung offers over Apple.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra iPhone 11 Pro Max Google Pixel 4XL smart phone
  • Samsung's new phone stands out for its ultra-fast display, edge-to-edge design, and amusing camera features.
  • Plus, like all Android phones, the Galaxy S20's software generally offers more customization and personalization.
  • Some of those perks come at a trade-off, however. The Galaxy S20 has a more subtle camera cutout than the iPhone, but Apple's facial recognition tech is generally perceived as being more secure.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .
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If you never leave the house without AirPods in your pocket and an Apple Watch on your wrist, it's probably going to take a lot of convincing to get you to consider any smartphone that's not an iPhone.

One of Apple's biggest advantages is how well its ecosystem of products works together, surely an asset that helps secure its installed base of more than 900 million iPhone owners as loyalists.

I usually fall into that category while I occasionally switch to Android devices for a couple of weeks or months at a time, I've used the iPhone as my primary smartphone of choice for years.

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Whether an iPhone or an Android device like the Galaxy S20 is best for you depends on a variety of factors, including how much you're willing to spend, what features matter to you most, and what software ecosystem you feel most comfortable in.

But switching to one of Samsung's latest smartphones, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, has served as a reminder of the key ways in which Apple and Samsung 2 of the world's most popular phone vendors differentiate themselves. While the iPhone 11 Pro stands out for its sharp camera, lower price compared to the S20 Ultra, and lighter design, Samsung's top-of-the-line smartphone has an ultra-fast screen, a massive display that truly feels like it extends from edge-to-edge, and a fun camera feature I've come to appreciate.

It's also worth keeping in mind, however, that some of my favorite things about the S20 require certain trade-offs. You can turn up the refresh rate, but you may have to sacrifice battery life and screen resolution, for example.

Here's a closer look at the characteristics that stood out to me the most after regularly using an iPhone for years.

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Crystal Cox/Business Insider

All three models of the Galaxy S20 support the option to crank the screen's refresh rate up to 120Hz, double the standard 60Hz refresh rate that's considered normal.

That essentially means the S20's screen feels smoother, faster, and more responsive when scrolling. I noticed this the most when checking notifications and scrolling through the app drawer. With this feature turned on, the display is so responsive that I barely have to pull up from the bottom of the screen to launch my app library.

In the past, I've struggled to see the appeal in smartphone screens with higher refresh rates. In those cases, I had been using phones with 90Hz refresh rates, which in my experience didn't feel like a noticeable enough jump. The switch from 60Hz to 120Hz is much more significant.

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If you do turn on the Galaxy S20's 120Hz refresh rate, however, you should know that it may decrease the device's battery life. You'll also only be able to set the resolution to 1080p, rather than the device's highest setting of 3200 x 1440.

Apple's iPhones don't have an option to increase the screen's refresh rate. But its iPad Pros do have a feature called ProMotion, which increases the refresh rate to 120Hz.

Crystal Cox/Business Insider

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Starting with the Galaxy S10, Samsung began using a newly designed screen for its Galaxy S smartphones that nixes the top and bottom bezels and instead implements a small hole punch-shaped cutout near the top of the screen for its camera.

This, combined with the S20's slightly curved display, gives the front of the phone a sleeker and more seamless look than the iPhone 11 Pro, which has a much more noticeable cutout near the top of the display for the phone's front camera and Face ID sensors.

As a result, Samsung is able to fit a larger display on its device without making the phone itself all that much bigger. The Galaxy S20 Ultra has a massive 6.9-inch screen, while the iPhone 11 Pro Max's display measures 6.5 inches.

It's worth noting, however, that the iPhone's Face ID has generally been considered to be more secure than Samsung's facial recognition thanks to all the sensors included in that notch cutout. Apple devices project thousands of invisible dots across your face to create a depth map and also capture an infrared image of what you look like. Samsung devices just use the front camera to map your face, and previous reports have suggested that Samsung's facial recognition tech can be easily fooled.

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Crystal Cox/Business Insider

There are some characteristics of the iPhone's camera that I prefer over Samsung's like its ability to capture more realistic detail when taking portrait shots but the Galaxy S20's Single Shot is worth highlighting.

With Single Shot, you can press the shutter button once while the phone captures multiple versions of the scene in different styles. This could include a black-and-white photo, a short video, or sped-up footage of the scene. It's a particularly fun shooting mode if you're capturing scenes with a lot of movement, like kids playing, sporting events, or your pets.

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Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

As is the case with just about any Android phone, the Galaxy S20 allows for more customization when it comes to the home screen and other aspects of the operating system.

Just hold down anywhere on the home screen, for example, and tap the "Widgets" button to add more content to your home screen. A widget is essentially a piece of an app that stays pinned to your home screen for use. You can add the Google search bar as a widget, for example, as well as bookmarks from Chrome, shortcuts to your Gmail or Outlook inbox, and more.

On an Android phone like the Galaxy S20, you can also drag and drop widgets to place them where you like on the home screen.

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Apple's alternative to home screen widgets is the iPhone's "Today View," which is located to the left of the home screen. The "Today View" is a customizable stream of widgets where you can see information like the weather, news headlines, how much battery life is left in your AirPods, and more.

Apple's "Today View" may look cleaner than pinning widgets to the home screen, but I prefer the widget layout on Android phones. You don't have to swipe, since the information is located right there on the home screen, making it easier to see weather data at a glance. And being able to pin only the certain pieces of information I care about directly to the S20's home screen makes it feel more like I'm personalizing it, whereas "Today View" doesn't really feel like it's part of the home screen at all.

"Today View" feels more like an answer to the customized news feeds that Android device makers offer on their phones, like the Google feed and Samsung Daily, both of which are accessible when swiping right from the home screen.

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Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider

The software will vary slightly depending on the Android device you're using, but most Android phones offer some level of flexibility when it comes to the user interface and how apps are run.

For example, a small but useful software characteristic I've always appreciated on Samsung phones like the S20 is the granular controls available for tweaking the volume. When pressing the volume key, you'll notice that a dropdown arrow appears next to the volume indicator. Tapping this arrow will launch a mini-menu that lets you control the volume for specific things like your ring tone, media, and notifications.

On an iPhone, you can only control the general overall volume by pressing the volume key.

Android phones also let you run apps in split screen mode, which allows you to view 2 apps at once on screen. I don't find myself using this too often since dividing the screen in half on most phones makes apps feel too cramped. But it's still a nice option to have for times when you may feel like you're constantly switching between apps.

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The iPhone doesn't have a feature like this, although Apple does offer split screen view for the iPad.

All told, Samsung's phones stand out for their impressive design, sharp and smooth screen, and flexible software, even if some of those features come with their own trade-offs.

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