If there is an Apple store nearby, being able to walk in with a broken phone and walk out a half hour later with a new/replacement phone is more valuable than people realize.

I was an Android user back in the Nexus days, and had something similar happen to my Nexus 7 tablet. It worked fine, updated Android, became unusable. I read they finally addressed it later, but I had already moved on.

> If there is an Apple store nearby, being able to walk in with a broken phone and walk out a half hour later with a new/replacement phone is more valuable than people realize.

And if not, my single experience with Best Buy is that I can get my iPhone replacement the next day.

Like many others in this discussion, I switched to Apple after Google screwed me with one of their phones.

Yeah, they pushed an update that made the device completely unusable. I'm not sure if that was related to the issue with the storage on it also degrading. I still have it and I managed to load a custom rom on it but it's still remarkably slow. It's too bad, too. The device itself was (and still is, IMO) something that I'd love a modern version of without all the issues. I also had a nexus 5 phone which was great (and aesthetically it's still my favorite phone ever)... until it got stuck in a bootloop 2 weeks after warranty... which they helped me out with and sent me another one out of warranty, but that replacement also almost immediately started bootlooping.

After that I just can't trust Google at all with hardware and since then my opinion of Google as a whole has largely soured. The Galaxy S6 I got to replace it worked quite well but after several years went back to the iPhone .

This is a fantastic point, thanks for bringing it up. I mentioned in my original post that my S.O. uses a 4a these days -- I'm still using an iPhone from 2016, the SE. Which is still receiving current iOS updates. Things aren't all rosy on the iPhone side of things (some iOS updates, particularly iOS 12, iirc, were full of bugs, and battery estimation has occasionally fallen apart after system updates)... but overall it's nice that I've been able to use the same phone for 6 years now. And it only cost me $400, so... the same as the 3a.

It's very, very nice that you can go into an Apple store for iPhone support. Mailing in your phone to another manufacturer to deal with an issue is a miserable experience, and Google's uBreakifix relationship is not perfect for regular customer service and manufacturer defects.

I'm having exactly the same issues with bluetooth on my Pixel. You are not alone. I can't connect to my car or any wireless device, it just crashes the phone.

>Now that I can afford one, I think an iPhone is the only viable choice

On a low budget used iPhones are pretty good choice. I've a couple of 2016 SEs bought for ~$100 each. Work well, usual Apple plus points. Easy to get fixed when you break screens, batteries etc. too - go to any phone fixers.

Chiming in to say I had the same bluetooth issue that resulted in the phone telling me that my storage was corrupt shortly after pairing a new device. Managed to resolve it by updating the Google app and all other Google Play Services related apps that I could.