Ready to buy my first smart phone & need advise

One of the issues with Android is "fragmentation." How you do things from one to another can vary so you learn to look around at your or another phone to figure it out. While there is usually no user manual, there is google and Youtubes.

So try this on google.com.
How to speed dial on Android.

What phone do you have now?

I have the galaxy note 5 but I also used to own an iphone. Both are good phones. The biggest difference between the two will depend on what you need. You can do a lot more customizations on android phones. You can make it easier to use depending on the launcher. You can completely change the look by changing launchers. You can download apps from more places though this could cause security issues. The newer galaxy phones have samsung pay which will work in a whole lot more stores than apple pay but is still limited to banks.

The apple is more secure because it is more of a close environment - you get everything through apple. Apple pay currently has more banks and will let you use rewards cards through them. In a lot of ways, the phone itself is a lot easier to use than android. The biggest difference it having an iphone is it is the thing, a status symbol.

This thread will eventually turn into a argument from both android and apple fans. Your best bet will be to go to a local store and check out their demos and see which one you like the best. Go to their respected websites and check out their phones features. As I said, they both are good phones, they both do the same things and generally have the same features.