Advantages of using Samsung devices in the family

[_nok_]

TL;DR: Converted wife to use Samsung phone. Built-in "Share" features really works well if you both using Samsung.

Been trying to convince my wife to switch to Android for sometime now. She's been a fruit user for a long time and been hesitant to switch as she is not really a power user. But that changed when she saw and tried using my Z Flip5. She fell in love and amazed with the new features.

Since Samsung is known for having secret sale time to time, voucher codes, good trade-ins.. I managed to get a Z Fold5 for me and Z Flip5 for her on a very very very good price. 😁

I will not do a review on both device but will list down the features that I think are underrated and Samsung not marketing enough. 

Hope this can help those still on the fence deciding to move to same ecosystem. "Share" features really made a difference on how we use our phones. It helps us automate somethings that we mostly do manually before when we are still using different brands.


Shared Album (Gallery)

You can create a Shared Album and have both of you add photos. This is very handy if you want to share Family pictures. No need to send it via messages, email or bluetooth.

Quick Share

Don't want to create a Shared Album? Messenger apps downgrading the image quality when sending? Then use Quick Share! File sharing has never been easy after we both using Samsung device. There's no issue even sending very large files.

You can even share it with your SmartThings devices.

Shared Reminders

No need to remind your partner to create a reminder. 😅 Just create a Category in Reminders and share it to your partner.

After that, just create a reminder and save in the shared category. A notification then will pop-up in your partner's phone.

This will also show automatically in her Calendar.

If someone marks it completed, a notification will be sent to the other.

Shared Notes (Samsung Notes)

This is still on Beta, but really works well. You can create and share a note with your partner. You can even see if someone is editing it.

RCS (Google Messages)

Not really Samsung exclusive, but it's good to know that RCS works very well. If you don't want to use Whatsapp, FB Messenger or alike, RCS on Google Messages is a good option.

Shared Calendar

Just like for Reminders, you can create a Shared Calendar. Every time you create a record, it will automatically show in your partner's phone.

Steps Challenge (Samsung Health)

In your Samsung Health app, you can create a challenge with your partner. Can't decide where to go this holiday? Decide it via Step Challenge. 😁

Apple might have their own version of some of these features, and there are 3rd party Android apps that can all also do these. But the approach from Samsung works seamlessly and well thought.

Below are my wish list for Samsung to improve on.

Shared Album - hopefully in the future thay can add feature where it can automatically add pictures on the album based on person, pets or objects. Just like how it works currently on Google Photos.

Find My Friends - please Samsung copy Apple's Find My Friends app. Location Sharing in Google Maps works too, but it will be good if Samsung can bake it in the system like Find My Friends. Where you can set notification if someone reaches or leaves the location etc. As of the moment I don't think it can be done in Google Map or even via Samsung Modes and Routines. If anyone know how, please let me know. 😁

I might have missed some already available features. But that's one of the good things for using Samsung phone, everyday you discover something new. 😂

[HS_NzAu]

Wow great post 👌🏽

[AmeetM]

Awesome post ....very well narrated & good presentation for everyone to follow😉

[El3ctric]

I am glad you managed to convince your wife to switch. I am sure she will enjoy many aspects of her new phone but, and I am sorry to spoil the joy somewhat, the certain 'fruit company's' family/friends sharing features are way ahead of Samsung's.

First of all, there is no way to define a family group with whom you can enjoy advanced sharing features. This means that your wife is treated just like any other Galaxy user with no special features available to you both. There are signs Samsung is working on this but it's currently not available in Australia (see links below for more info).

In the Samsung ecosystem there is no concept of Family Photos library that allows seamless sharing across the family group without duplicating photos. QuickShare is convenient when you want to send a file/photo to someone but it creates duplicate files that then everyone has to manage separately (so no master family or file library). 

Shared Albums are a very limited and poor implementation. You only get 5gb of space even if you are syncing with OneDrive and have a Family subscription giving you 6TB of family space. It is very easy to blow the 5gb limit even for a single holiday if you are sharing videos. There is not even an option to purchase additional storage. Similar to QuickShare, Shared Albums create additional copies of files rather than consolidating them to shared location where everyone can see and manage them. There is no way to comment or have any kind of social interacton in a shared album. Incorporating photos shared by other members of a shared album into your own library is an awkward process (download, then move, etc).

I was hoping OneUI 6 might start addressing some of the above, but still no luck :(

A few links on the above topics for your info:

Creating a family group and family album sharing n... - Samsung Members

One UI 5.1 Gallery Enhancements - Samsung Members

Lift your game Samsung! - Samsung Members

On the messaging front I am totally for RCS but I don't get why Samsung seems to be pushing Google messages instead of Samsung Messages. Frustratingly, Samsung Messages does not support reactions. 

Not sure if you have kids in your family but parental controls are non-existent in the Samsung ecosystem. Another area where Samsung seems to be relying on Google. Of course the result is ecosystem fragmentation as you now have to manage your family group in a different ecosystem.

[_nok_]

To be honest I'm not really familiar with sharing features on iOS. Wife's been a fruit user for a long time and me as an Android user. Our only way of sharing photos before is via Synology Photos. Single account logged in on both phones so all of our photos goes to one account in NAS. 😂 

But 100% agree that current implementation on Shared Album is kinda limited. Not a lot of bells and whistles but works enough for normal usage. Really hope they can improve it over time and not drop features that they haven't released for other countries yet to try. Like this link you shared https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00091962/

Luckily, wife's not really a shutterbug. So Shared Album and Quickshare are good to have for us but we're okay so far with it's current features.

Photos related aside, the other shared features Samsung have are really good. My personal favourite is the Shared Reminders. So easy now for us to keep notes/reminders on tasks we need to do. I really like how it notify the other phone and automatically show in her calendar.

As for messaging app, I think Samsung will fully drop their own and go full Google Message in the future. Atleast that's what I'm hoping for. For me personally, I prefer the Google one.

Yup I have kids, but they are too young to use phones. 😂 Hope Samsung have parental control when time comes. 

But very good feedback mate. Really agree 100% on the points you mentioned. 

[MaitreHorloger]

Trying to convert my wife as well. One day...

[_nok_]

🙏