New Phone Recommendation

Mrs. BadPax needs a new phone.  She is trying to decide between the Iphone 11Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.  Her number one priority for the phone selection is camera quality.  She takes lots of family photos and lots of kids playing sports photos.  She is really on the fence and can't decide which phone to buy.  Looking for advice on which phone would have the better all-around photo quality from indoor lower light family photos to indoor/outdoor action photos.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

IMO, both have excellent cameras, so it probably comes down to whether she's more comfortable with Android or iOS. The best camera in the world doesn't do much good if you hate using the phone it's in.

I've been looking at options for a new phone. 

I've come across multiple consumer reviews of the newer Samsung Galaxy phones which had complaints of very poor signal reception. Lots of, "I wish I'd kept my old phone."

The consensus was that they had a great camera, but it was useless as a phone, almost non-functional without a WiFi signal.

Since I was looking at the S9 and S10, that may not be relevant to the Note phones, but I'd be careful. 

I have a Galaxy S9 after having an iPhone for the last 8 years.  I won't be getting another one.  The last iPhone I had was the 7 and I hated it too.  I really want to try a Pixel next time around, everyone I've talked to with one seems to like it alot.  The last phone I had that I really liked was my iPhone 6 plus.  I think that was the last one that had a headphone jack.  

Relevant to my interests. Currently running an iPhone SE but thinking of switching carriers and getting something a little more up to date. Love my iTunes subscription so that may sway my decision...

I kind of like my BlackBerry.

Floating Doc said:

I've been looking at options for a new phone. 

I've come across multiple consumer reviews of the newer Samsung Galaxy phones which had complaints of very poor signal reception. Lots of, "I wish I'd kept my old phone."

The consensus was that they had a great camera, but it was useless as a phone, almost non-functional without a WiFi signal.

Since I was looking at the S9 and S10, that may not be relevant to the Note phones, but I'd be careful. 

My whole family has had mostly Galaxy phones since the S4, and we've never had a problem with reception on either AT&T or Verizon.

bearmtnmartin said:

I kind of like my BlackBerry.

I actually have the new Blackberry and love it. Blackberry Key 2 LE, runs on android and has a physical keyboard a huge battery. It's also built like a tank. I hate cases, and I've dropped it as a bare phone on all 4 corners on hard floors and/or sidewalks. It has taken 12 months of abuse without flinching. 

Thanks for the input.  We went to a couple of phone stores today and talked with reps.  Tom was spot on, seems like the differences between the IPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy Note are mostly boiling down to personal preference.  Mrs. BadPax was really hoping that there was some thing that would make one phone the obvious choice, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I had the same debate not long ago, except not iPhone. Research, and grm led me down the rabbithole, and now I have a OnePlus pro7. Awesome camera, 4k60fps.video recording, 90hz screen, and about 500 bucks cheaper than the note. I don't get an s-pen, but I don't get Samsung bloatware or overlays. 

Caveat- I have no interest in smartwatch or adjacent devices so Galaxy whatever and or i-whatever hold no appeal. Instant connectivity could change that for some consumers. 

Tom_Spangler said:

Floating Doc said:

I've been looking at options for a new phone. 

I've come across multiple consumer reviews of the newer Samsung Galaxy phones which had complaints of very poor signal reception. Lots of, "I wish I'd kept my old phone."

The consensus was that they had a great camera, but it was useless as a phone, almost non-functional without a WiFi signal.

Since I was looking at the S9 and S10, that may not be relevant to the Note phones, but I'd be careful. 

My whole family has had mostly Galaxy phones since the S4, and we've never had a problem with reception on either AT&T or Verizon.

I haven't read anything negative about the older Galaxy phones. I've been looking at the newest models, the S9 and S10, and my comments only apply to those. In fact, some of the consumer reviews do state that their previous experiences with the Samsung phones were good, and that's why they're so disappointed.

I would like to be wrong about this. I'm still using a phone from 2016, but I'm not seeing an option I like.

I am writing this on a Samsung S9+ that I have had since shortly after they came out.  It has been a very solid piece of equipment.

When I got the S9+, I moved from Verizon to T-Mobile.  That has definitely been a problem.  T-Mobile's network in far Northern California / Southern Oregon leaves a lot to be desired... mostly like actually having coverage. 

When I move carriers <again> in June, I will be looking at the S10+.

Thread Derail - anyone have experience with Spectrum Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network?

Floating Doc said:

Tom_Spangler said:

Floating Doc said:

I've been looking at options for a new phone. 

I've come across multiple consumer reviews of the newer Samsung Galaxy phones which had complaints of very poor signal reception. Lots of, "I wish I'd kept my old phone."

The consensus was that they had a great camera, but it was useless as a phone, almost non-functional without a WiFi signal.

Since I was looking at the S9 and S10, that may not be relevant to the Note phones, but I'd be careful. 

My whole family has had mostly Galaxy phones since the S4, and we've never had a problem with reception on either AT&T or Verizon.

I haven't read anything negative about the older Galaxy phones. I've been looking at the newest models, the S9 and S10, and my comments only apply to those. In fact, some of the consumer reviews do state that their previous experiences with the Samsung phones were good, and that's why they're so disappointed.

I would like to be wrong about this. I'm still using a phone from 2016, but I'm not seeing an option I like.

Avoid the Galaxy S10 phones right now. I've been a Galaxy user since the S6 and they've always been great. I upgraded to the S10e this year and it's great at everything except being a phone, and having a fairly poor battery life. The signal reception is miserably bad. In places where I had 4 bars with my S8 I now can't make a call or receive texts. Even with full signal I cant send or receive photos by text. I've been round and round with tech support with AT&T and Samsung. No success either place, and my wife's S10e has the same problem. 

Do some reading - google Galaxy S10 signal problem. This is a common problem on all S10 models, including the Note, across all carriers. It's not EVERY phone, but it's a LOT of them. The cause is something hardware related but Samsung has offered no real solutions so far. Which is a shame, because otherwise it's a great piece of hardware.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S10+ on Verizon. I upgraded from a S8 last summer, which in itself was a great phone (I've had nothing but Galaxy phones since the S3). To be completely honest, the thing is incredible. It has comparable specs to one of my decent laptops! It's instant fast all the time.

The cameras are beyond awesome. The front has two lenses, and the rear has three and does ultra-wide shots for some cool effects:



Close-up shots are similarly great:


I've taken some really great shots with this thing; it's to the point that if I'm covering a small event, I can almost leave the DSLR in the car!

Battery life on the S10+ has been excellent. I can get through an entire day on it with heavy usage. The screen is awesome, and I don't even use it at max resolution most of the time. And I haven't had any issues with reception at all, but YMMV depending on the carrier and location. If there is a hardware issue, mine isn't doing that at all.

I'd at least consider one, especially if you can find a deal. The S11 should be out soon if you feel like waiting a few months.

 

I am a huge Apple fan-boi, but each new iPhone I get seems to have more and more issues. I can't get more than 2 bars of reception on my 8, even if I climb a cell tower and place the phone against an emitter. (OK, I didn't actually try that, but you get the point.)  I would go with the best plan you can get and chose a phone based on the UI and the camera. 

I recently upgraded to an iPhone 11 and love it. My biggest gripe is one that I knew of coming in - the lack of a headphone jack. It still gets me from time to time and it's really annoying. Otherwise, the phone is fast, the camera is awesome, and the screen is great.

Actually another gripe is iTunes still sucks. Putting MP3s on the phone shouldn't require such a lumbering and bloated piece of software.

ultraclyde said:

Floating Doc said:

Tom_Spangler said:

Floating Doc said:

I've been looking at options for a new phone. 

I've come across multiple consumer reviews of the newer Samsung Galaxy phones which had complaints of very poor signal reception. Lots of, "I wish I'd kept my old phone."

The consensus was that they had a great camera, but it was useless as a phone, almost non-functional without a WiFi signal.

Since I was looking at the S9 and S10, that may not be relevant to the Note phones, but I'd be careful. 

My whole family has had mostly Galaxy phones since the S4, and we've never had a problem with reception on either AT&T or Verizon.

I haven't read anything negative about the older Galaxy phones. I've been looking at the newest models, the S9 and S10, and my comments only apply to those. In fact, some of the consumer reviews do state that their previous experiences with the Samsung phones were good, and that's why they're so disappointed.

I would like to be wrong about this. I'm still using a phone from 2016, but I'm not seeing an option I like.

Avoid the Galaxy S10 phones right now. I've been a Galaxy user since the S6 and they've always been great. I upgraded to the S10e this year and it's great at everything except being a phone, and having a fairly poor battery life. The signal reception is miserably bad. In places where I had 4 bars with my S8 I now can't make a call or receive texts. Even with full signal I cant send or receive photos by text. I've been round and round with tech support with AT&T and Samsung. No success either place, and my wife's S10e has the same problem. 

Do some reading - google Galaxy S10 signal problem. This is a common problem on all S10 models, including the Note, across all carriers. It's not EVERY phone, but it's a LOT of them. The cause is something hardware related but Samsung has offered no real solutions so far. Which is a shame, because otherwise it's a great piece of hardware.

Huh, maybe we're just lucky, but as I said, my whole family is on S10s right now, my wife and daughter have the E, and my son and I have the Plus. No reception issues whatsoever, excellent battery life, especially on the Plus, amazing cameras, etc. Honestly, the only thing I don't like about modern Samsungs is the stupid curved screen edge.

I thought the Pixel line up have had the best phones for awhile now?

If you live in a Metro area I'd pickup a new Pixel and use GoogleFi. 

pinchvalve said:

I am a huge Apple fan-boi, but each new iPhone I get seems to have more and more issues. I can't get more than 2 bars of reception on my 8, even if I climb a cell tower and place the phone against an emitter. (OK, I didn't actually try that, but you get the point.)  I would go with the best plan you can get and chose a phone based on the UI and the camera. 

I think that may be carrier dependent. In my rural home we have 2 bars. I have 4 at work on my 8. 
 

we do iPhones because if resale. And we don't buy new. (I can't personally imagine spending $1100 for a cell phone) I sell the old ones and we almost break even in the long run. 

Not necessarily a carrier issue - I use two phones, on personal (iPhone X) and one that's also mine but used for work (Essential PH-1). The PH-1 often manages to eek out slightly better reception on the same network.

IME you can often squeeze out slightly better camera performance using a third-party app instead of the manufacturer's. If that's on the agenda, make sure that the third party apps support all available cameras on the phone. From what I read not all phones give third party apps access to the third, usually ultra-wide camera.

From memory, the iPhone 11 cameras are good, but I recall reading that the S10 ones are slightly better. I would suspect that both of them are likely "good enough".

In reply to Tom_Spangler :

Like I said, it's not all of them. Maybe I'm just UNlucky. I've found it to be a very frustrating issue with no sign of a positive resolution yet.

Note 10 (regular, not plus) on Verizon and its great.  One word of caution, the glass is SOFT!  scratched it decent on some riveted jeans within the first week I had it.  Like a scratch on a new car, it stings a bit.

BoxheadTim said:

From memory, the iPhone 11 cameras are good, but I recall reading that the S10 ones are slightly better. I would suspect that both of them are likely "good enough".

DXOmark tests and rates smartphone cameras, they have the iPhone 11 Pro tied with the Note 10 and slightly better than the S10+. Granted, taking all aspects of camera performance and turning it into a single number is a bit of an oversimplification, but it's another data point. By the way, according to them, the phone you really want is a Huawei Mate 30 Pro.

But I absolutely concur that any of them are more than "good enough" these days.

I'm waiting for the new upcoming batch of iPhones to be released in hopes that they include the smaller one that is supposed to come. It is still bigger than my SE, but I am planning on upgrading when they come out.