This post is from the old JoshAtticus Blog and is most likely out of date

I'm generally a hardcore Android fan, switching to Android a few months ago. I love using my Galaxy S9 on Evolution X with my Google Pixel Watch, but with iOS 17 and watchOS 10 public release just around the corner, I thought I'd try out the iOS 17 and watchOS 10 developer betas.

During my week with iOS 17 and watchOS 10, I'll be using my 128GB iPhone 12 with my GPS+Cellular 40mm Apple Watch SE 2nd Gen.

First Impressions

Switching to iOS from Android, I noticed a lot of things missing, such as that the customisation was no where near as advanced on iOS 17 compared to Android 13.

On the upside, the iPhone 12 had slightly better battery than my Galaxy S9 and it was a lot more responsive with apps loading near instantly, and no random glitches when recording videos. As for the cameras, I could barely tell the difference between my Galaxy S9 (using LineageOS' Camera app) and my iPhone 12 (using the stock iOS camera app). They each had their own pros and cons, with the iPhone having better video recording and HDR, while my Galaxy S9 had more detail and higher resolution zoom.

iOS 17 features already on Android?

There were quite a few features added to iOS 17 that already exist on Android. I'll list the most notable ones below.

• Check-in (Already on Google's Personal Saftey app)
• FaceTime voicemails (Already on Google Meet mobile app)
• Swipe to Reply for iMessage (already in Google Messages)
• Transcribe Audio messages (already in Google Messages on Pixel 6 and 7 series)
• Interactive Widgets (already on most Android phones from 2017 or later)
• Tap iPhone to iPhone for AirDrop (already existed on Android until Android 12 as Android Beam)
• Download Maps (already in Google Maps)
• Back-to-back Siri (already on Google Assistant for Android and Home Devices)

My week with iOS 17 + watchOS 10

Day 1

Day 1 started off with downloading all my apps, setting up my Apple Watch, and test driving iOS 17 for the first time. It was a rather uneventful day and not much else happened.

Day 2

Day 2 started off with getting ready for school. Usually, I'd swipe across to access my School homescreen page to see any announcements from my school and my timetable for the day, however this wasn't available on iOS, so I had to open my school portal manually.

Next, I caught the bus to school. I had 5G for most of the ride there, however there was no performance benifet over 4G and it ended up draining my battery a lot more than when I had 4G. During the ride, I was listening to my Spotify with my Sennheiser 458BTs and talking on Discord.

During the school day, I checked my phone a few times during break, and most of the battery drain came from app updates and my Apple Watch.

By the end of the school day (3:15pm), I was left with 47% battery left. This was more than enough and the battery lasted for the rest of the day.

Day 3

Day 3 started off exactly the same way as day 2, however this time I had already bookmarked my school portal and saved my login, making checking my timetable and announcements much easier.

While catching the bus, I switched from 5G on to 5G auto, which made my phone use 4G more and saved my battery. As usual, I was listening to my Spotify and talking on Discord.

I kept my phone in my pocket the whole day, not checking it at all, meaning by the end of the school day, I had 54% battery left. Instead, I used my Apple Watch for most of the day instead. I love the new watchOS 10 design, with less black areas and instead opting to make watchOS more colourful, along with adding widgets made it easier to naviagte and aesthetically pleasing.

Day 4

Day 4 was essentially the same as day 2 and day 3. I checked my timetable and announcements, caught the bus, and the day passed as per usual.

At the end of the day, I walked home with my friend to get changed for my school's annual open night, using Apple Maps to navigate. During the open night, I was sharing my location with my parents, which probably drained my battery a bit. I also got to fly a Tello drone using my phone for about an hour, which brought my battery down to 10%.

By 7:40pm, my battery was down to 5%, and at the end of the open night (8:20pm), my phone battery had died. I'd still say it lasted longer than my Galaxy S9 would have.

Day 5

On day 5, as per usual, I woke up and got ready for school, however this time I downloaded my Spotify playlist before I caught the bus. This saved a small amount of my battery as I wasn't streaming my playlist anymore, but rather playing it from downloaded.

Day 6

Day 6, I woke up very sick. I had a throbbing headache and sore throat. I also got a high heart rate notification on my watch alerting my that my heart rate rose above 120 bpm while I was inactive for 10 minutes.

During Day 6, I didn't use my phone or watch much, therefore my battery level remained relatively high during the day.

Day 7

On Day 7, I was no better than Day 6. I was still very sick. I explored watchOS 10 a bit more and scrolled through YouTube shorts on my iPhone. At the end of the day, I transferred all my new data back to my Galaxy S9 and Pixel Watch.

Final thoughts

At the end of the week, iOS 17 and watchOS 10 were pleasant to use, and were much more stable then their predeccesors, iOS 16 and watchOS 9, despite being Developer Betas, which were supposedly "less stable" than iOS 16 and watchOS 9 due to not being fully tested. The new features are a nice addition to the Apple experience, however I won't be fully switching to iOS any time soon.

I'd rate this year's new iOS updates as 3/5 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 compared to Android 13 and 4/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 compared to iOS 16.