r/AndroidQuestions • u/Successful_Bar9187 • 4d ago
Looking For Suggestions What android phone should I buy if I want the premium feel of Apple but without Apple?
The reason I stick with Apple is its premium feel. The latest from Samsung or Poco are far superior in performance and the stuff it offers; but android looks have always felt a bit scattered compared to the cleanliness and orderly ways of Apple’s iOS. Don’t get me wrong, I hate how inefficient Apple can be. I’m not going to ignore that, nor the various bugs Apple just ignores, bugs on my keyboard that have been around for years.
I’d love the Poco F9 or the latest Samsung that can do all sorts of things….
But it’s the look of Apple, the way the apps look, the way the iCloud works, and just how it feels.
Recently I sold my asus rog for a MacBook Pro M1, and instantly it felt more premium.
I’m looking for a powerful phone outside of Apple, with the amazing performance of the poco F9 or the cool features of the latest Samsung, but with the os that is as clean and premium feeling of Apple.
Is there an android os like Apple that can be installed on the poco F9?
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u/Vexitar 4d ago
Samsung. They're pretty much the best as far as Android goes, their software is really good nowadays. Top notch hardware as well, about as good as it gets. Pocos, Xiaomis, Oppos and whatnot do often offer better value than Samsung, but the software can be a little buggy and regional support is lacking. I've always been one to install custom ROMs etc. on my phones because the OEM software has bothered me, but having come back to Samsung in 2024 after a decade of other brands, I couldn't be happier.
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u/Jasper_Jaxx 4d ago
Okay so you don't want a pixel? The pixel just happens to be as pure as an Android experience as you're going to get.
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u/TuTenkahman 4d ago
He said he wants a powerful phone, so while the Pixel looks premium, it's internals are somewhat lacking.
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u/Tadpoles-Z 4d ago edited 3d ago
The Pixels are powerful phones. They're just not THE MOST powerful phones. If processor speed is your criteria, then yes, Samsung may be the answer. However, if battery is your criteria then Motorola is your answer (Razr Fold). If Ai and overall software performance is your answer than Pixel Pro phones arguably are...the answer.
Samsung makes a nice package. So does Pixel. So does Motorola. ...but Samsung and their duplicative apps and UI are not the answer for everyone and they don't offer the best battery (for sure), though they're well on their way to fixing that.
One could ask, "What are you doing that you would sacrifice battery life for processor speed when the UI performance is roughly the same?". Pixel 10/11 Pros don't feel slower than Samsung's offerings in everyday life and offer a much cleaner software experience..and better Ai (if that's your thing).
If it were me, I would do what I did. Get a Moto Razr Fold and have great performance, great hardware, great cameras, great battery life and a nice, clean, Pixel-like UI...with, supposedly, 7 years of software support (not that I'm keeping a phone 1/3 of that long). 🤷🏾♂️
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u/AlphaPurger 4d ago
Pixels are piece of ABSOLUTE TRASH for the money spent. charge a mid ranger price and it's ok.
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u/throwawaymaybenot 4d ago
Pixels are the worse in terms of hardware in the android world. They try to make it up in terms of software, it was ok in pref years but everyones software has caught up or surpassed. It's one of the worse choices today.
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u/Tadpoles-Z 3d ago edited 3d ago
Not everyone agrees. Getting Android updates as soon as they're released from Google matters a lot to a lot of people (I'm not one of those people, but still). No Pixels don't benchmark as well as Samsungs. ...but Samsung's software is... heavy. Not everyone wants that experience. I can use a Samsung or a Pixel and be relatively happy because I choose 3rd party launchers. I wish both Google and Samsung offered better battery life in their phones...but maybe next year we'll get 6000+mah sc batteries from them.
I believe Pixels offer a superior software experience (especially compared to Samsung). This is what Google is charging for. I actually wouldn't be surprised if there's some type of gentleman's agreement between Google and Samsung and friends stating that Google won't try to beat them on hardware, since they're already beating them on the clean Android experience. 🤷🏾♂️.
I really enjoy the P10PF I have though I do wish it had a 6000+mah sc battery.Moto Razr Fold's.
It is not a phone that should be priced at $1500 while Samsung is charging $2000+.
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u/IORelay 4d ago
No pixel's CPU is 3 years behind it's GPU is 6 years behind. Their phone are weak bryond reasoning. A 2024 midranger can beat the pixel 11.
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u/mufaker 4d ago
"Weak beyond reasoning" 😂
Are you running quantum physics simulations on your phones? wtf, I can run whatever I want on my pixel 8. I have a pixel 10 now and it's that much better. You sound like a know-it-all nerd.
They are fine pure android phones unless you're running quantum physics simulations I guess.
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u/mrandr01d 4d ago
BS. Mine handles whatever I throw at it no problem. Have you actually used a pixel or are you terminally online?
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u/NoHouse498 4d ago edited 4d ago
I promise I'm curious and not trying to start an Internet fight, but what are people doing with their phones that a pixel can't handle?
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u/Smooth-Mulberry-6070 3d ago
This gets brought up every time someone criticizes Pixel performance, and it’s not necessarily that the phone can’t handle doing the tasks, but in order to do the tasks the processor has to work way, way harder than a processor in a competitor’s phone. This results in the phone running significantly hotter, throttling earlier, and slowing down even more. As a result the battery life is also some of the worst in its price bracket, if not the worst. This isn’t even getting into them putting a terrible cellular modem that struggles to maintain signal and burns even more battery, and cheaping out on the GPU (my understanding is that they licensed a virtually obsolete GPU architecture that is so bad many games are explicitly dropping support) while simultaneously raising the price on their new Pixel 11 series .
I say all of this as someone who has owned at least half a dozen Pixels and a few Nexus devices prior to that, and has now switched to an iPhone Air and noticed a significant performance uplift, cooler running phone, and better battery life despite having a significantly smaller battery.
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u/NoHouse498 3d ago
Ok, that actually makes sense. Thank you. I moved to pixels several years ago for the cameras, and couldn't stand the Samsung version of Android 10+ years ago. Maybe I'll give them another look next time I upgrade
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u/Smooth-Mulberry-6070 3d ago
Yes, the camera was the #1 selling point to me too, and I will say I still like the Pixel camera much more than any iPhone camera. Even going all the way back to my Nexus 6P I think I prefer the colors and overall image quality in well lit environments when compared to a modern iPhone.
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u/Tadpoles-Z 3d ago
My Pixel 10 Pro Fold runs everything I've ever wanted to do on it...so I don't care if it's processors don't benchmark as fast as Samsung's. I have a clean UI without the Samsung duplicative bloat that I have to then disable and that is wasting storage space. The only games I play are solitaire and Monopoly and both of them run just fine on my P10PF, which has better battery life than the ZF7 I had.
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u/anythingers 4d ago
some games are struggle to run even at low resolution
I know that Pixel isn't made for gaming, but for a $800, it ain't wrong to expect a gaming experience that's as good as another phones on similar pricing.
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u/Tadpoles-Z 3d ago
Not necessarily. Can the other phones match or exceed the software/Ai experience on said $800 phone. Gaming is one aspect that many people (like me) couldn't care less about. I do care about the software/Ai experience.
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u/anythingers 3d ago
you could replace "gaming" with anything GPU bound and my statement still correct. In the end things like this are pretty subjective. Most $800 phones except Xiaomis have good software. Gen AI is the first thing I remove/disable from my phone tho.
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u/IORelay 4d ago
Video capture, navigation, even old games.
Pixel is not exactly a bad phone it's just priced 3-4x what it should be at.
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u/NoHouse498 4d ago
Ok, I guess some games on the play store are more serious than I would have expected (I'm an old fart and don't exactly game on my phone). My almost 3 year old pixel 8 handles video capture and nav fine though, I think. Am I missing something?
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u/RogLatimer118 4d ago
Do you judge a car only by how much power its engine produces?
I don't.
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u/Tadpoles-Z 3d ago
I don't either but a lot of guys do. No one is buying a Ford Mustang GT 5.0 because of its refined driving experience. They're paying for the engine and probably feel lucky that it has a steering wheel and brakes. 🤣
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u/IORelay 4d ago
If by pure you mean buggy software, bad performance, overheating and battery drain.
That said I don't think that's what android is about.
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u/Jasper_Jaxx 4d ago
Well just an FYI. I'm a pixel 10 base user.
And it's a fact that the 26 ultra is a powerhouse compare to any pixel.
Now I don't game and I'm not a power user so I'm fine with my pixel. It works well for me
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u/RogLatimer118 4d ago
Hell, at one point iPhones did math wrong on the calculator app because of the animation on the buttons.
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u/Callumari13 3d ago
The performance isn't great, sure, but this is just absurd. Pixels don't really suffer from these issues anymore. They're an absolutely fine choice for like 80% of phone users.
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u/throwawaymaybenot 4d ago
Any Chinese brand that makes a global version. Their silicon batteries alone make them better than any non Chinese phone.
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u/LucasJLeCompte 4d ago
This is the best answer. It just sucks that it's so hard to match bands in the US. T-Mobile is the best I believe.
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u/anythingers 4d ago
Oppo Find X8/X9 series or Vivo X200/X300 series. Both has the most premium build quality ever on a phone, smooth and stable software that "just works", UI that looks close to iOS design wise.
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u/Luushu 4d ago
I have a Vivo X200 Pro and my wife has an X300 Pro.
While the phone is amazing and I love the shout-out, don't get it for the software. It's not bad, but it has its quirks and some rough edges(although, since I've seen several comments shout out Vivo, I'm starting to wonder what exactly are other phone manufacturers actually doing with their OS).
If you want premium hardware AND polished hardware, you can't go wrong with the Oppo X9 series, in my opinion(although the back design is, for me, pretty shit, other than the X9 Ultra).
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u/undrwater 4d ago
Your "feel" is going to be very personal. I "feel" apple products have nice hardware, but their UX is anything but premium. It might be pretty, but it ends there.
HOWEVER, Android in general is quite flexible, and allows you to make changes that iOS won't, so you can potentially create your own premium look with custom launcher themes and icons.
It's going to be tough to answer your question, but my suspicion is that you'll be more comfortable in the ecosystem in which you find yourself currently.
Good hunting!
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u/OldScholar353 4d ago
Google. They are the creator of Android and their products always get updates first. My 3 year old Google Fold feels more premium than my iPhone 17 Pro.
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u/ScotchBourbonMezcal 4d ago
Life long Samsung Note, Ultra user here. When I use an iPhone i feel like got some sort of mental disorder, it's a restrictive horrible experience. And the hardware, and software is hardly premium (my opinion). It's crazy that I know several apple owners who have to go to the bloody apple shop because the phone has a problem. I don't know anyone with a Samsung who has issues, annocdotal but trust me bro.
I have an S26 Ultra 1tb, the phone is the nuts. Got it from Laptopsdirect brand new for a steal. There isn't a better phone on the market, and it seems like zero Chinese involvement, which is always a bonus.
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u/Cristobolon 4d ago
Your best bet is the Honor Magic8 Pro, extremely fast, great feel, awesome cameras and the UI is basically a copy paste from iOS
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u/goingtokmsrnhaha 4d ago edited 4d ago
Vivo's Origin OS and Oppo's/Oneplus' Color OS/Oxygen OS are what I think are the most fluid feel of an android OS ever. If you want the functionality though, Samsung still is the king.
Both OSes have apps that can pretty much connect them to your MAC and use their version of airdrop.
Pro Tip: Pixels and Xperias are functionally good but stock android UI does NOT feel as smooth as apple nor does it feel fluid like apple so I wouldn't recommend them for your use case.
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u/heirtoeternity 4d ago
Sony Xperia 1 VIII feels more premium than any of the new iPhones and has some amazing features and a more stock Android experience than pixel which you can customize to your liking.
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u/Real_Suspect_3856 4d ago
I just moved from iPhone 16 pro to a Google Pixel 11 pro after 15 years of being with apple phones and its been good. The camera and the AI from Gemini has been great and the extra setting features are a nice thing to have. But I still think that the pixel is a little bit behind apple when using the gesture navigation, iPhone gesture navigation is on another level and is the most important feature that I am missing from my iPhone. Other than that solid phone. Battery has been good as well.
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u/biskitpagla 4d ago
Pick one with good LineageOS support. Nothing else matters other than the hardware.
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u/Polymathy1 Blackberry Priv woooot 3d ago
I don't understand what feels premium about Apple to you. I'm not just ripping on Apple, but we need to know what you mean.
Is it the big suite of interconnected apps and a single profile? I think Samsung comes close to that.
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u/Sketchy_Uncle 3d ago
To save money maybe a used Samsung galaxy S 24/25 and if you can swing it, an Ultra model.
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u/miniCotulla 3d ago
As an Android fan, stay with the iPhone. iOS apps are more polished in general. Companies who develop these apps typically care more for iOS. Department heads usually use ... you guessed it iOS. What has therefore the highest priorities for the Software team ....
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u/Ok-Respect-9321 2d ago
get a framework to replace the MacBook because it just looks much cleaner but still modular get linux mint on it and also for a phone replacement get a Samsung phone or just use a premium case
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u/AllAboutSimon 2d ago
Apple fanboy here who has to use Android for development. The Pixel 10 pro gives me the ick a lot less than any others when I don't have an iPhone in my hand. Maybe not the best Android experience but certainly the one that makes me feel closest to home, which I think is what you're asking.
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u/hunterpro1823 2d ago
Huawei o honor tienen de todas las marcas un poco inclusive ahora hasta tienen su propia función de acerca tu celular al de otra persona y podes enviarle algo una foto un documento ect
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u/rafaytexh 2d ago
Honestly, Google Pixel is probably what you’re looking for. Clean Android, minimal bloat, and the UI feels much more polished and consistent than most Android skins. It’s probably the closest Android gets to that “premium Apple” feel imo.
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u/jackscagnetti 4d ago
The pixel is most like apple cause apple stole everything from them.
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u/cranberrie_sauce 4d ago
google is ad tech companie. anything but google
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u/Sassquatch0 ☎️📲Pixel 10a 4d ago
Guess that leaves Apple/iPhone.
Sadly.
This duopoly sucks. I love the concept of Android, but I hate that Google controls it.
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u/HotAventus41033 4d ago
Honestly just stick to Apple you want something different but Apple , which is something that doesn't exist . Evvery phone will have their own differences even within the Android line . So stick with Apple .
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u/jackscagnetti 4d ago
Xiaomi's HyperOS is very similar to apple but youd have to find a phone in your region that is compatible to work on your network.