iPhone 13 Pro… love it.

Consider the Samsung Z-Flip3. Specs are the same as the S21.

It came out later last year, it is on the latest operating system. It is super convenient. I have this as my secondary phone (Idaho). My primary is an S21 Ultra (I like the S pen for some things).

I really like the flip form factor and the screen is surprisingly good. The closing lid protects the screen very well. And I run some clear half covers for the main body.

I just bought a second one for my wife to replace her standard S20.

I switched to an iPhone many years ago and went back to Android. If you are used to Samsung, you might have issues with an iPhone, since things are different. Nothing wrong with an iPhone, just that things are setup different, and you have to unlearn a bunch of things and relearn.

Note, my wife went from an S8 to the S20. The S9 to an S22 will be an excellent upgrade. The biggest difference will be 5G cellular service which started with a few S10 phones but was fully implemented with the S20 line.

I had issues with my S20+ and my wife is having some issues with her S20, which is why I upgraded after only 1 year. She's had the S20 since fall of 2020, so the Flip is a good upgrade.

My S21 Ultra has been excellent, except for the screen dying and having to be replaced.

The more I read, the more I lean towards the Iphone. Seems the S22 and the Pixel 6 are having a lot of glitches. The Iphone 13 Pro Max that each of my kids have seems like a pretty well sorted system. I can't stand waiting for Samsung or Google to fix their damn flagship phone when it should have been well sorted before it came to market.

Your s9 probably has more up to date features than the latest iPhone.

I have the Note 20 Ultra. I feel no need to upgrade to anything.

The S22 Ultra is the new Note

I had the Note 5 for the longest time. Was extremely happy with it. When it got trashed a couple months ago, I wanted the Note 20 but there was a month back order on them, so I went with the S20FE instead. Happy with it, but still liked my old Note 5 better. Should have just gotten a refurb. Really miss the S pen too.

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My battery life has progressively gotten worse this year. I don't really want to upgrade but the battery life is going to force me to.

I’m usually a upgrade every two years guy. This is the first phone I want to hold onto for a bit.

For myself, a smartphone doesn't make sense unless it works 100% of the time. Drawing apps are pretty cool to doodle with but if they can't port to a bigger screen on another computer then it stays a doodle. If I buy music then it needs to port to other devices. Same with any other data/photos/vids. Surfing the web or typing email on a tiny screen with limited functionality works in a jiffy but I guess I'm behind these modern times. Swiping my phone over a point-of-sale for automatic credit payment is incomprehensible.

Maps and in particular dependable offline GPS maps are about the only function which I would purchase a smart phone for. AppleMaps don't work offline. GoogleMaps do. There are other programs such as HereWeGo that only work on iOS 13+ so my hand-me-down iPhones are basically bricked.

Google/Android has way too much marketplace dominance for just about every piece of major functional software out there, and collects more centralized customer information on you than your mom. Even government websites don't function without it. It also has been known to 'steer' search results in a major way. That is the crux whenever it comes time to find or use essential info or network. Take that information as you will.

Apple is a bit tricky to use unless one is fluent in the complex tap-swipe-givethedogabone language that it uses. Using simplified icons over words makes me shake my head. Apple also takes photos of the user every ~7 seconds which is about as highly intrusive as it gets. Not only are your biometric credentials being stolen but your very reactions to all types of different content is being monitored and categorized as a total profile. I hope Apple users get paid to be lab rats.

Those are the only smartphone OS commonly available.
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A couple interesting phones:

The Kyocera are bulletproof and Android-based.
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/ultra-rugged-kyocera-phones-gps-smartphones-my-guide.1206076/

Purism is privacy-based and uses it's own OS, but YMMV on network and specific apps.
https://puri.sm/news/

Samsung Z Flip 3 100% my fav phone to date..tricked my GF into needing one, to see how good it worked. Ended up getting my own three months later. It actually fits in all my pockets, preforms exactly as I need. Love the thing. I have it paired to a Samsung smart watch. When I'm feeding hay off the back of the pickup and the phone rings I can answer it with the watch and use the watch to talk and listen, text, and change the song on the radio. And I don't have to dig out the phone anymore for the little stuff, just glance at my watch.-WW

Was looking at the Z Flip. Seems pretty cool, but I was concerned with the durability of them. I'm pretty rough on my phones.

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Look for an unlocked smartphone on Amazon, Ebay, or wherever
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPhone-64GB-Midnight-Green/dp/B07ZQRMWVB/ref=sr_1_15?crid=BZ6HOS7P3323&keywords=unlocked%2B apple%2Bsmartphones&qid=1649620470&sprefix=unlocke d%2Bapple%2Bsmartphones%2B%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-15&th=1
.....and activate your service through TracFone. Pay a quarter (or less) of what the other carriers want.
Have all the services and features of the others.

Honesty I'd say its tougher than a regular smartphones...if its closed. Pretty hard to bust the screen if its closed as its protected by the shell. It's a smart phone folded in half so you have half the contact area to bash. I broke the screen on a biggish smart phone one time cuz my shotgun butt was against it in my coat pocket when I pulled the trigger. I think the only way to bust it would be to have it open and sit on it or fold it backwards some how? I've dropped mine a lot of times in the closed postion with no damage. I'm way hard on phones myself. I miss the old rugged GZones. I acutally plowed one up in the field and ended up recovering it and it was GTG. -WW

The single biggest reason to go with one platform or the other is the menu and setup. If your family and friends are using that platform, you can get "tech support" from them.

I am still using my iPhone 11 Pro. Great phone, and great camera. I will say I HATE with a passion the iTunes app for my PC. To back my phone up or set up photos is just an exercise in frustration and total non logic.

You will be assimilated.

A lot of the Apple stuff, if you have an Apple phone, tablet, and or computer will port back and forth pretty effortlessly. That and the fact that the Apple stuff all does a little more or works a little better when talking to other Apple stuff.

Using a phone (or better yet, watch) to pay for stuff is fantastic.

I've never used Apple Maps. I actually haven't used Google maps in forever either, but you can use Google maps on iPhones last I heard. I usually use Waze. I don't know if there's an "offline" mode in Waze, but that's never been a problem for me.

I suspect just about any and every big tech co collects as much data as they can. I'm sure that Google and Apple both collect a ton of info. You can go into settings and turn most/a bunch of that stuff off (and I do).

My phone shows my icons with the names of the apps underneath the icons. I can also create folders and name the folders and group apps in the folders.

iPhones do not take your picture every 7 seconds. But it does check to see if you're paying attention. It is also a setting that you can disable. I suspect any phone with some sort of face detection is doing it. It's the same as any device that you can talk to "Hey, Siri" or "Hey, Alexa". The device has to be listening to work with that.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/woman-claims-iphone-takes-photo-24110883
I'm pretty sure that any cell phone that uses some sort of face detection (most of them these days?) does the same.

Weird, you'd never mentioned that bolded bit before. :D

Run quickly away from the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

I had four in 16 days. All were defective. Then the ceullar provider could not locate anymore to replace the first 4. They are difficult to find because they are bad phones and are getting replaced at an alarming rate.

1st one could not be activated.
2 and 3 had batteries that overheated. Phones spent the night on the lawn cooling down
4 showed no signal standing underneath a repeater tower located down the street. Could not get reception and would not ring at my house.

Never had these problems with a Pixel 3 or Pxl 3 XL.

All sent back. Then took 4 months to get refunds from the provider in the form of a gift card after speaking to 27 individuals who could care less about customers. Cancelled my account after 23 years with Sprint/Nextel. They seem to feel it should cost me to have service and a device when they were unable to provide either. They have no customer service in the US any longer. All outsourced to the Phillipines, Brazil and Dominican Republic.

Then that merger with T Mobile? Its bad , really bad.

Good luck!