I live in Germany for almost 3 years now and for the first half I just used EUR account of my Polish bank. I only needed an account here, because I moved to a new apartment. And to sign up for Internet connection available provider needed German bank account number. It's prevalent to pay for all recurring costs with Lastschriftmandat. That's totally alien to me. I prefer just to manually pay it myself with bank transfer. Generally it's a form to fill out, sign and send - then they go to your bank and get paid.

Anyways I tried with two other banks first. One did not answer at all. A second one after 4 weeks or so just answered that they will not open an account for me, with no reason why. With N26 it was really fast and pleasant.

From my Polish bank I have Visa card and at least in Berlin it's not widely accepted. N26 gives Maestro card that is accepted a bit wider. However German EC card is a standard one that will be accepted everywhere where cards are accepted, while it's not the same with Maestro. However there are many many places that require cash. N26 gives 3 free withdrawals. My Polish bank gives me free withdrawals everywhere. That's why I still use it. Even more, in Poland cards are very widely accepted. Lately I could get by with just a phone in my pocket - Android pay is supported.

N26 has quite nice application, but it does not even begin to compare to my Polish bank. In Polish bank when I want to setup a transfer it gives ability to fill out everything based on history. In N26 I have to copy the amount and the message, it's tiresome.

Now I think about account in more traditional bank to get EC card and set up join account with my wife, that's also not possible in N26.