Why I Ditched Apple for Samsung for a Week

I've been locked into Apple's ecosystem for more than 10 years but I can't help but wonder what am I missing out on presenting the first Samsung Galaxy AI phone Samsung has sold more phones around the world than any other company since 2011 except last year when Apple beat it so I set myself a challenge no Apple products for a whole week I'd only use Samsung products and would focus on three areas productivity Leisure and health to make sure I behave I locked my most used Apple devices in this t

imed box set to 7 Days oh my God I'm replacing them with Samsung devices here's how it went Samsung partnered with Google and Qualcomm to bring generative AI smarts to its Galaxy s24 lineup because Apple doesn't have any generative AI features right now I was Keen to see how Samsung's might improve my workflow I'll start by recording an interview Jin how's it going I am well how are you now that my call is over I'm really excited to see how well the phone not only transcribes but also summarizes

the conversation I clicked two buttons so let's see how long it takes to summarize it oh that was fast I mean this is the core of my story and it kind of summarized it in three bullet points I think that that's that's useful generative AI can be very valuable and companies are projected to spend even more on it in the years to come Apple is behind when it comes to generative AI but it's investing to create new features for later this year and it may even partner with Google or open AI to bring

it to the iPhone phone moving on to Samsung's laptop I didn't have to use it for long before I realized I liked the touchcreen sometimes it was actually easier to tap and move a window than it perhaps would have been to click it I'm just so accustomed to doing things on Mac working with Windows will take some getting used to my phone keeps requiring the pin when it came to unlocking the s24 ultra face scanning wasn't reliable I added my fingerprint as a backup to get into my phone faster this li

ke airdrop Samsung version one of Samsung's answers to Apple's file transfer feature airdrop is called Samsung flow it worked seemlessly with a photo transfer oh I guess it's Samsung flowed but failed with other files oh actually receiving failed what was I saying about seamless another time saer was the new AI feature called Circle to search with Google I was just watching a YouTube video and I saw a chair that I really liked normally on my iPhone I would have to screenshot it upload it to Goog

le do run an image search literally all I had to do was hold down the home screen tap it and Google runs an image search but if I shrink it down to just the chair here it is on Amazon for $250 so easy I was really enjoying these AI tools I thought I'd asked my colleague Joanna Stern why Samsung leans so heavily on them I think they did this so they would keep people in their own apps keep people in their ecosystem as people get more used to using these AI tools they're going to seek out the apps

to do that chat GPT some photo editor some photo generator and you're going to get those from the App Store and that's going to mean less time in Samsung's own apps and are we expecting some of this to make its way to Apple's ecosystem this is definitely going to be the year that we see AI or generative AI from Apple I am spending a lot more time on my iPhone these days in that chat PT app I just am that takes me away from another Apple app and from being in that ecosystem next I was ready to t

est Samsung's all important photo and video capabilities outside the office a 2019 study from the research firm gwi found young users are more likely to consider cameras the most important feature on a smartphone getting the camera and editing tools right is important so I just had to turn on generative edit that's another new AI feature that lets you erase unwanted objects from photos it's also something the iPhone doesn't have oh there we go I don't want this thing in the photo it's a neat tri

ck and it worked better than expected maybe Apple will offer something like this someday as for the selfie cam frankly I like how I look here more than I do often times when I'm taking selfies on my iPhone when it comes to communication I tend to use FaceTime a couple times a week to connect with my friends and family luckily I didn't have to go without it a friend just texted me a link and I'm going to see if I can join a FaceTime hey how's it going FaceTime actually worked fine as as long as a

friend is willing to send me a link the experience is basically the same greetings sir I am unaware of the whereabouts of your office then there's AI messaging not helpful where the phone will suggest different responses for you in different tones like chill excited and formal yo what's up yo homie okay so apparently when you make things sound chill you have to add a yo or a sup most of the time the AI suggested text felt like a gimmick I mean I know how to write my own messages finally on to h

ealth and fitness almost one in three Americans now use a smartwatch to track their health and fitness in some way most are using an Apple Watch the apple watch's design hasn't changed much over the years so I wanted to see what Samsung had to offer with its Galaxy watch 6 classic it has a rotating bezel that helps you navigate through menus I'll use the watch to track my workout pretty cool when I stopped running it Auto causes the running workout my Apple watch doesn't do that I also tried Sam

sung Health an app available on phones and Samsung TVs that offers a wide range of Fitness options good breathe yourself a little bit longer best part it has unlimited free workouts last night I slept with Samsung's Galaxy watch 6 and I'm pleasantly surprised it's at 16% so I wore it for actually longer than 24 hours and the battery life is still holding up typically I find my Apple watch only lasts up to 18 hours which is consistent with what Apple promises on the downside some Samsung features

were a nightmare to set up and others never worked at all like trying to pair my go-to fitness app future with the watch on my iPhone it would just launch on the watch there's an exclamation point on the app which probably tells me something's a problem whatever I'm just going to work out finally back with my iPhone this week was both exhilarating and daunting I realized that Samsung's gadgets can interact almost as seamlessly with each other as all my other Apple stuff but just because they ca

n doesn't mean they always did yeah this is annoying it's not pairing with the watch I'm definitely going to miss Samsung's AI it'd be nice if my Mac had a touchscreen I wish Apple Fitness Plus was somehow free and I'd love it if my Apple watch's battery lasted longer so is that enough to get me to stick with Samsung not quite I'm switching back to Apple now that I've experienced some of the innovation and versatility of Samsung's ecosystem I can't help but hope that Apple brings some of it to i

ts devices [Music] someday