4 Underrated Android Features that Surprise iOS Users

It’s safe to say that both Android and iOS are amazing. You can’t go wrong with either! As both systems mature, the once-wide gap that separated the two is slowly vanishing.

However, Android still has some tricks up its sleeve, and these 4 features might surprise iOS and Android veterans alike.

WiFi extension

While not every Android phone has this feature, most flagship phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, can extend your wifi as a hotspot and share the internet with other devices. This is convenient because you don’t have to spend money on additional hardware, such as a wifi extender. It’s also great if you don’t want to share your home wifi password with guests.

In contrast, iOS devices can only hotspot cellular networks and it remains uncertain whether Apple will introduce this capability in the future.

To learn how to extend WiFi on your Android phone, simply click here to read more.

Camera manual mode

Camera manual mode on Android phones is a powerful feature that often goes unnoticed or underutilized. It allows users to have full control over the camera settings, including ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance, among others. This level of control can greatly improve the quality of photos and videos taken on smartphones, especially in challenging lighting conditions. With manual mode, users can adjust the settings to capture sharper images with better color accuracy and reduced noise. Additionally, it allows for more creative control, such as capturing motion blur or shallow depth of field.

However, while Android offers manual mode as a built-in feature, iOS does not. Nevertheless, there are third-party apps available on the App Store that offer similar manual controls for iOS users.

Desktop environment (Samsung DeX, EMUI desktop, Mi Desktop mode)

Samsung DeX is a feature that allows users to extend their Samsung Galaxy smartphone’s functionality to a desktop-like experience by connecting it to an external display. With DeX, users can use their smartphone as a desktop computer, complete with a PC-like user interface.

DeX can be used with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and it works wirelessly with certain Smart TVs. It also allows for multitasking, allowing users to open multiple windows simultaneously and switch between them.

Other Android manufacturers have also developed desktop-like environments for their devices. For example, Huawei has developed EMUI Desktop, which is similar to Samsung DeX. Additionally, Xiaomi has developed Mi Desktop Mode, which allows users to connect their devices to an external monitor and use them as desktop computers.

Imagine if Apple did something similar; an iPhone that can easily boot Mac OS when connected to a display. It’s safe to say that it would be game over for Android.

RAM+

RAM Plus is a feature that Samsung introduced on One UI 4.1. It allows users to allocate a portion of their internal storage as virtual memory, which can help improve app performance and multitasking. However, some experts doubt the effectiveness of this feature, as virtual memory is slower than physical RAM and may not make a noticeable difference. Nevertheless, it’s cool to have that option.

For more comparisons between iOS and Android, here are 8 things iOS does better than Android.

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