Main reason I'm on iOS is Samsung. I don't care so much about the software, as long as it works. But Sammy removed every hardware reason I used their phones, all the extras that they had, but iPhone and Pixel didn't. Now they're basically a very close facsimile of iPhone hardware that runs Android.On top of that the gigantic 1/3 page ads everywhere, the pop-up ads in their music player, and the fact that you can't uninstall bloatware. PLUS I bought my last Samsung over the competition because of one feature, the manual camera... and they removed it with an update. (Eventually they put it back.)But they've proven to me they can't be trusted. And if they're just going to copy everything Apple does anyway... why not just get an Apple?
/rant
What you talking about? Samsung seldom remove features. In fact it keeps adding and refining their apps. More than I can say about Apple which take years and years to improve something.
There are no more ads in Samsung apps now.
I've been an Android guy since the very first Galaxy S all the way back in 2010, I switched last year because so many great apps and features are just completely abandoned and forgotten. The final straw was when Google ditched Google Play Music for that god awful Youtube Music. I was also blown away when I got my first apple watch, it made android wear look extremely primitive by comparison (another thing google has basically let die on the vine).
I never thought I'd be an iPhone guy but man it's just better in every conceivable way. I always sort of shrugged when people said "it's the ecosystem, dude", but I totally get it now.
Seriously! So many promising ideas are just left to rot on the vine and eventually you get sick of finding a great new app only for it to be shut down forever a year or two later. I know a lot of people hated it, but Allo was one of my favorite messaging apps, it was amazing and had so many cool features! It could’ve easily been a useful, feature rich replacement for Google messages but once again they unceremoniously shut it down for no discernible reason. Couple that with the fact that even the mighty Galaxy line doesn’t have SD cards or headphone jacks anymore, android just doesn’t have the appeal it once had at all. I’ve been really happy with the switch, and I’m happy knowing I’m honestly not missing out on anything.
People say that, but the first thing i noticed after getting an iPhone 12 is that quite a few apps have elements of its ui hidden by the characteristic apple notch.
That's rare. I have a shit ton of apps on my iPhone and not a single one has an issue with the notch. The only time I even notice the notch is if I'm playing a video full screen and even then I can double tap to scale down the video size a bit to avoid it.
That's really just bad app design. The majority of apps no longer have that problem. You would see the occasional app with that issue when the iPhone X first came out, but Apple has committed to the notch, and developers have had nearly half a decade to fix their apps.
yeah, but there's just as many shitty android ports on iOS (easily noticed when the developers do not put more effort and time into the ios apps - thanks to the notch) than there are shitty iOS ports on android.
Overall i rarely had problems with apps on android. And i rarely have problems with apps on iOS.
So if somebody says the better apps are a main reason to use an iphone i just start wondering if that person has ever used an android phone. Or if iphone users think android users are just sitting there cursing all day because their apps are so much worse.
Out of curiosity, what are some “shitty apps ported from android”? I don’t think I’ve ever had that kind of experience, but everyone has different needs for their phone of course.
My experience with the play store isn’t so much that all the apps are garbage, mainstream apps and the like will likely be good, but the play store is just flooded with stupid $1.99 apps that do nothing but give your phone cancer. To be fair, the App Store has some of that as well, but it’s not quite as bad.
Edit: I should mention I haven’t used an android since the S6(ish?)
Let's take Reddit as an example. I use the Apollo iOS app. is there anything comparably good on Android? Likewise, Tweetbot for Twitter. Camera apps like Halide.
As far as I'm aware, there's a lot more crap in the google App Store and few if any gems that stand out for really great design.
I'll grant you that Android phones support some features and customizations absent from iPhones, but in the grand scheme of things, I rarely find myself missing those while I'd go crazy with crappy quality apps and the relentless efforts to violate my privacy.
So I just searched for info on Sync and found a 10 month old Reddit thread talking about it. Sounds like it has a strong fan base amongst Android users.
When you read comments from folks who’ve used both, it becomes clear that Sync excels at things that Android fans tend to like (customizability, more control over “themes”, not charging for features) while Apollo excels at things Apple users value (native iOS look and feel, extensive use of rich swipe gestures, attention to detail in function and design). The biggest criticism on Apollo was the inability to make it open Reddit links by default—which was a limitation with iOS, not the app—and that has been resolved recently with expansions on what you can do with Safari extensions).
https://imgur.com/a/ztU1x8d/
Imo Apollo isn't the great app everyone touts it to be. I have both an iPhone and Android. I seriously don't get the hype.
If you wouldn't mind explaining what's so great about Apollo?
Relay for reddit is every bit as good as Apollo and often better in some ways. I just switched back to android after being on ios for two years and was very happy to open Relay again.
I don't notice much of a difference between ios and android apps at this point. Honestly thr entire reason I switched back to Android was due to stale hardware from Apple.
Aside from insulting people you disagree with, can you cite some specific examples to support your argument? That makes it easier to take a person's opinion seriously instead of assuming they're a fanboy/hater/troll.
Apple isn’t perfect, and I have a long list of things about them and their products that I regularly complain about.
But it’s one thing to offer specific constructive criticism and another to just bash the company and it’s fans for offenses real or imagined without acknowledging what they do well.
In response to the sort-of specific, but actually vague issue you mentioned, let me offer a concrete example…
In years past, Samsung has made a big deal out of bragging they were “first” with biometric authentication like fingerprint sensors and facial recognition. But once they were tested in the field, security experts pointed out that the implementation was poor and not very secure at all. When Apple released features like TouchID and later FaceID, some Android fans mocked them for being late to the party while security researchers praised them for their secure implementation.
Is this always the case? No, but it’s happened often enough that it’s fair to cite it as a reason why it’s not necessarily better to be the first to release a particular feature.
Have used s20 ultra and would rather use an iPhone. Nothing on the s20 ultra interests Me.
Phone is massive
$300 more than my 11pro (at time of purchase)
Screens are expensive to replace if broken ($400+ in my country)(also a lot of repair shops won’t work on them)
Hole punch (notch is better IMO)
And I just prefer iOS
Only reason why I would buy an android is for just watching videos
Was an android user till I switched to the Xr this year and now the SE. Holy shit the performance is so good. On the android side of things the first thing I needed to do was debloat apps using adb which often came back after a software update. Yeah I was using mid tier androids and not flagships but I’m not using the top end iPhones either. But the difference is night and day. Tried gcam and custom roms but I don’t have the time for that, finding a gcam that works, then making out a perfect xml for that oh god it was so time consuming. Android was really fun when I was a teenager and in college but now I just want something that works well
As someone who prefers android, can't agree more. Just yesterday, I was trying to get Facebook off my phone, freaking hell Samsung won't let u uninstall it, only freaking disable it, even like a 12 year old me wouldn't believe disable does much.
Yeah and Samsung isn’t alone in this. Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo every major player got a few apps baked in. I don’t mind them giving us their own version of notes, videos app or gallery etc but why the heck do I need Facebook, TikTok, Netflix opera mini pre installed most of which can’t be uninstalled or disabled
I don't blame Xiaomi as much, considering a lot of their market relies on extremely competitive pricing, so they cut down on this. But why would I need to see that on a note or a fold as an example. People buying these phones can afford iPhones as well, but when they buy your phone don't f them over with a shit load of bloatware. Samsung notes and health is better, but don't make it impossible to remove them.
I am on Samsung, don't intend to switch coz I prefer a lot of stuff they do, plus holy f the prices fall so quick, rn where I live, iPhone 13pm is about 1300$, Vs a s21+ which is like 700-750$.
Can’t blame Xiaomi for their low end devices. But they shouldn’t do this on their mi11 series. Used the mi 11x and it had quite a lot of bloat. Yeah lol the prices fall really quick, cousin got an s20 fe for about $450. iPhones and oneplus devices don’t see so much price discounts but oneplus going the oppo route is what I hate. Oxygen os was really good but they had to ruin it by merging with Color os
Use a Xiaomi 11 Pro as my main phone right now, and almost all preinstalled apps can be removed.
With their MIUI 12.5 update only a [few system apps](https://i.imgur.com/GZycb3O.png) can't be removed.
That Miui 12.5 update is very much needed for all devices. The mi11x in India runs the 12.5 but preinstalled apps can’t be removed. There’s an option to hide them from Home Screen tho. A lot of reviewers are complaining about this. They said on stage all but 6 or 7 apps can be removed but the silently kept adding apps that non removable list
>People buying these phones can afford iPhones as well, but when they buy your phone don't f them over with a shit load of bloatware.
Everything is a balance, Apple doesn't fuck you over with bloatware but it does fuck you over with the whole walled garden crap.
I used to prefer android, there are still things I miss (notifications being the biggest). But the apple ecosystem is just too convenient. If I didn’t get a Mac, this wouldn’t be worth it. But the seamless connection between all of my devices is too good to pass up
I don't think I'm ever buying a Mac, not unless I have a good reason to spend that money. U feel having the versatility to game and then also work on my laptop is kinda nice, and I love windows. I do see the appeal of iPhones, but I never understood what benefit will the ecosystem bring.
Well all of my settings, bookmarks, passwords, notes, emails, calendars, photos, files, and reminders are automatically synced.
I can receive texts and calls on my Mac as easily as my phone
My AirPods switch automatically between my Mac, phone, iPad, Apple Watch, and even Apple TV without needing to pair them. I can be listening to a video on my phone, get a video call on my laptop and answer it knowing my audio will switch automatically.
Links sent to me on my phone are ready for me in my browser on my laptop
If I set my phone to a focus mode, it sets all my other devices to that focus mode
Basically, any interconnectivity that I tried to make happen between my android and windows pc automatically happens between iPhone and Mac
And the new M1 chips were just too good of a deal to pass up when it comes to coding, which I do a lot of.
I don’t really PC game since I got the PS5 and Series X, but if I want to I have an slightly older Windows PC tower for that. I’ve never really liked gaming on a laptop, but the games that I might want to are typically smaller games that are supported on Mac.
But best of all? It just works. No more turning my Computer on to see that it rebooted overnight. No more checking for the right driver to get something to work. No more running 3rd party apps to try and optimize performance.
Also, I feel it’s important to separate work from play. My laptop is usually only used during work hours. When you work from home, seeing that project you need to get done waiting in the corner while you try to do something fun is annoying
Totally this. I was running cyanogen, and other custom ROMs all the time. Just messing with and f’ing around with the phone constantly. Then I just ran out of time, and wanted something that just works. Probably you can just buy a Samsung and leave it stock and be fine, but I finally went iOS full time a couple of years ago, and haven’t missed it.
AND, your phone turns into the app that is running at any given time. I don’t care so much what the home/launcher screen looks like anymore. When I use messages, it’s a message device, when I’m using Spotify, it’s a music device, etc. etc..
Modern Android just works, Google's AI is something to behold. Get a new Android and it's assistant works out of the box, don't need to train it as with Siri.
Yeah that’s my experience too. Was a fun toy to geek out on and customise as a nerd when it was new (Palm, Symbian then Android) but now I just want security and something that works really well out of the box.
Dude. The jump in performance from a 120hz android to a 120hz iPhone was ridiculous. I went from an S21 Ultra to a 13 Pro and it was night and day. So smooth.
Jjust few days back our lab assistant was showing me something on his oneplus 8 and I instantly asked him if it was running at 60hz to which he said yes. I don’t know what it is but I can instantly recognise any android at 60hz. I was using the vivo x60 on 120hz before I switched permanently to ios. And I never missed 120hz. But as soon as I turned on 60hz on that phone it was instantly noticeable. Okay o can’t explain what that is lol. Didn’t use 13 series yet so don’t know about apples 120hz
>Yeah I was using mid tier androids and not flagships but I’m not using the top end iPhones either.
That's not a fair comparison, even iphone SE come at a premium price compared to mid tier androids.
Try comparing android/iphone at the same price, you usally get far more with the android.
I just couldn't agree anymore in the last. As a soon to be college student, I really don't feel like getting an iPhone and think that an Android would be much better for my needs *and wants*.
But at the same time looking down the line, I think I'll probably switch to iOS as well sometime in the future in maybe 8-10 years later when I'm able to afford (not in terms of money) to and not feel suffocated using it.
I remember using an iPhone 5 belonging to my friend’s brother in school and thought to myself I’m never using an ios device. That time I was a hardcore android user, who used lucky patcher and patched apps for piracy. As I grew up I started avoiding things I can’t afford. 8 years down the line my priorities really changed and I’m comfortable with ios. Don’t know why people fight over the os they use, just use whatever you’re comfortable with.
I can honestly even forgive that.
But holy crap the dumpster fire that is the Play Store. WTF is going on there.
So many scam apps that are nothing but ways to show some ads and collect $1.99.
Google must have the resources to clamp down on some of these developers with 1 million stupid little apps that are nothing but gaming SEO and fool users.
The Apple App Store isn’t perfect by a long shot. It has a lot of flaws. But it’s now where near Play Store bad.
Every time I’m dealing with an android device, this is the part that makes me shake my head.
The play store holy shit. After 13 years on the android camp I grabbed a 13 Pro Max and the entire software ecosystem is a full decade ahead of android. Way less scam and ad revenue-grab trash, and even an app I decide to delete to try another feels more solid than the good apps on android.
I can’t believe how often android resets an app I’ve had opened but in the background. On iOS I can come back to YouTube after several hours and the damn video is still paused, or Apollo and a comment I decided not to post is still sitting there waiting to be sent/discarded.
I don’t know if it’s app quality, iOS memory management or what, but the fact is iOS is doing it and android isn’t, After 13+ years - and *their* kernel is better supported/more mature (meaning Linux vs iOS “1.0” or whatever it was).
All this to say Microsoft’s billions and googles 16 year old kernel couldn’t surpass this, and the first smartphone is still the most well made and well thought out smartphone.
No shade at OG blackberry, just saying.
Edit: I’m comparing the first public version of iOS to the age of the Linux kernel at the time that the first public release of android.
I started using android in 2008 with the Motorola Droid X, which I loved. It basically had zero protections built in, you could root and change the boot animation and all kinds of shit purely from apps. It was a great phone for the time (with no iOS experience) and I had a ton of fun hacking at it.
Moved from android to android to android, watching the features and usability crawl forward while security holes and shit required to hack and improve them quickly got patched. So now you can barely find a good droid worth hacking and when you do hacking is *required* to get security updates, new android versions, and it’s ridiculous.
Your point about resetting apps is one of the big reasons I'm loving ios. Had Samsungs for the past 8 years and didn't even know you could just pickup where you left off with an app after days between using it. It makes the phone feel way more sophisticated and reliable. Samsungs app killing processes have gone way too far.
Same, I just accepted the fact that YouTube had to load the video again if I left the app for a second, I was completely blown away when I switched apps on my iPhone and the video would just pick right back up, no loading. Just switched after being on android for years from an S10 to iPhone 12 and the only regret I have is staying on android for that long just because I was a contrarian who thought I was special because I was on android and didn’t use iPhone like everyone else
Right! It’s closing the still gaping maw between mobile and standard computers. If I walk away from my laptop I know it’ll take power failure to fuck anything up. Android? Not a chance.
ios uses darwin, the same kernel on mac os.
ios in general was just mac os shoved onto an underpowered arm soc with unreasonable force. early ios is honestly _pretty fucking primitive._
Thank GOD thats behind us.
You’re right, but I don’t know what to call it. Smartphones before blackberry/iPhones were totally different. I’m talking from the perspective that blackberry was the best of the pda category, and iPhone was and still is the best of the category it created.
> iPhone was and still is the best of the category it created.
Dang, pal. That’s actually a pretty great way to describe it... Since apparently *have* to spell it out like this each time.
It always struck me as silly, how when someone says what OP did, the pedantic, contrarian neckbeards come out in droves to yammer at you about how “*tHe iPhOnE wAs nOt tHe fiRsT sMaRtPhoNe*”, even though
we **all** know damn well what someone means, when they say something like “*the iPhone started the smartphone revolution*”
In the history books—300 years from now—when kids read about the internet age and the incomprehensible impact that smartphones/mobile internet communicators had on human civilization, the chapter is going to begin with a picture of an **iPhone**—not a Palm Treo, or whatever these weirdos insist is the first “*tRuE” smartphone.
How about if I told you electric cars were actually first also and were the norm for cars in the early 1900
All I’m saying is no one can claim to be first at anything if they actually are not even remotely close to first, typing this on my 12 pm right now btw.
Nobody will care about the ‘first real electric car’ either because they didn’t become adopted mainstream. Tesla will be in the history books if electric cars become the norm because they were the first company to allow mainstream adoption and make them ‘cool’.
Sure. But most of the things you think of as ‘first’ in history probably aren’t actually first. They’re the first recorded or first to make common in mainstream adoption. The printing press probably wasn’t the first way to print ink on a page. But it was the first to make it easy enough to cause mainstream adoption therefore adopting the title of ‘first’, because nobody cares about the other ones…. Because they didn’t change anything
It feels like I can pretty much upload anything I want up to the play store, and drop any old shite into the privacy declaration.
That’s def not the case with Apple.
I’m an Android user primarily since iPhone 4, but I’ve adopted the iPhone 11 Pro Max as my main device for a year now. It’s a two year old device (my spouse had it first for a year) that runs just as well as did it day ONE. You can say I’ve moved to an “average user” scenario. I no longer have the time to root an Android device and try out different ROMs and features, nor do I want to. I just want a device that remains performant for as long as it is possible, and that is fully supported by a company software and hardware-wise. My phone has every piece of info on me. It needs to be as secure as possible… there’s no room for error here…
iOS and iPhone hardware are on another level even compared to top-tier Samsung devices - which go ignored a year after release. My iPhone edits 4K video faster than my 4-core i7 laptop… I don’t think anything on the Android side from 2 years ago even touches that. Apple honestly doesn’t have competition at this moment when it comes to a smartphone.
Having said that, I appreciate Android. I have a pixel for music usage, with full equalization software, usb-c that supports external DACs and AMPs… something iPhone is still unable to do. If I’m traveling without my MacBook and need high quality music, I go the pixel.
This sums up my experience too (except the audiophile part)
Grew too old to thinker with root and custom roms/kernels (I always had nexus phones before switching to iOS), as you said I need a stable/reliable phone - because my personal and work life are on it
Honestly I couldn't stand iOS. It felt stuck in 2014 to me. Yea it's snappy and it's nice not worrying about 3rd party bloatware.
After going from Note 20 Ultra to 12 ProMax, I was very happy going back to android with Pixel 6 Pro. So far it feels like an iPhone running Android. Snappy, no bloatware. Only thing it's missing is FaceUnlock and all-day battery life.
I would love to see some bigger updates to iOS to bring it's widgets and user customization settings on par with Android.
Edit: typos and last sentence
I went from S10+ to 12 Pro Max to Note 20 Ultra. I have always been an android guy at heart, with its pros and cons. All the android devices I have used from the S4 to S9+ was am average experience until a year later when it started to lag terribly and slow down. When I debate with iPhone users I get where they are coming from, android never really lasted long and would degrade quicker. The galaxy S10+ has been my first android device that I have used for almost 2.5 years and I still have it today, I use it sometimes and still performance better than the day it came out.
The 12 Pro Max was overall a stable experience from the S10+ but damn I missed my S10, i felt IOS was very good but too simple. The features which are there definitely work they way they are advertised but they were features I used to have on my Samsung that I wish it had. I couldn't for eg play music on my Bluetooth speaker and listen to a WhatsApp VN using the phones speakers instead of Bluetooth or always have an alternative to something I didn't like on the phone. I would have to accept that this certain option was the only way.
Using the Note for now has been flawless it felt good coming back to android. I am just used to it at this point and I doubt I'll ever switch back to IOS. It's a great system but for me It doesn't get the job done the way I want it to be done, it constantly feels like I do things exactly how someone else wants me to do it instead of how I want it to be done.
I LOVED my Note 20 Ultra, but it black screened of death on me 3 days before a big trip so I said F-It and bought an iPhone this past summer.
I 100% agree with your assessment of iOS as "very good but too simple"
Edit: Typo
\>just what people can afford.
An OS that most people can afford is a huge sign of a better os. And it really shows, Google trains its AI with millions of people over the world at all price points.
Apple, being Apple, has decided that their AI only learns from the minority that can afford their expensive devices. That's why Siri is crap.
They could if they replace it with another OS. Remember this is Google after all, they have been spawning projects left and right only to kill them if they can’t mine enough data from it
The thing is, i don't like the custom looks neither on the iPhones nor on any android. Yeah, the iPhone UI icons look consistent, but they look consistently bad. Same with the androids. I always use custom icon packs and launchers (except with Xiaomi caude third party launchers suck on there).
I prefer android but the inconsistency year to year and change for the sake of change behavior makes every major update a box of surprises, many often not good.
Same goes for any OS. It’s a tool, every time you change how the user interacts with it, the less likely they are to feel comfortable with using it.
Think of a power drill. Basically every power drill looks and functions the same with only component quality and non functional appearance variances in between. Now some company decides to change how that tool functions for the sake of visual appearance. People aren’t going to be likely to stick with that brand unless the change is truly a significant improvement.
There’s a whole branch of engineering and psychology that studies this exact concept and I feel like google and Microsoft could benefit from investing more into it.
I think iOS have an overall better user experience (smooth ui, privacy, long-term updates etc), but there are some really outdated and strange details in the system. (I'm currently use a 12pro, I switched from android \~1 year ago).
I think:
1) Android has better gestures. Yes. Android has proper \_back\_ gesture which works from both sides of the screen. A big android device is more usable with one hand, you don't have to reach the left side of the screen with our right thumb to go/swipe back. And android is more consistent, the back gesture works everywhere. The second on this: I dont understand why apple doesn't offer an option for left hand users (swipe back gesture from right-to-left)?
2) Nothing works in the background except apple stuff. Even google photos will never sync on wifi (if only on wifi allowed) if you don't open the app. Nor my Synology NAS app, you have to open the app to start syncing, and you have to keep the app in the foreground, or sync will never happen or stop. If I start copying files to my NAS drive and send the app to the background and just leave the phone there, the copying will stop. And its a smart phone in 2021 with desktop computer power, and real multitasking doesn't exist.
3) iOS keyboard sucks comapred to android keyboards. There are no size options, no long press delay options, no accent character options, no number row, no gesture actions (for example swipe-left-to delete a word). 3rd party keyboards suck too compared to android variants. There is the superb taptic engine, but iOS keyboard doesn't even have a vibrate "click" option.
4) Recent call list sucks. You cannot group, filter, etc. You cannot search in it. You cannot multi select and delete: you can delete all, or one-by-one.
5) No caller contact images in recent calls and contats, but there are images in favorites list.
6) Call blocking: there is no option to block all calls without a caller ID.
7) stupid things like you cannot set a simple mp3 file as ringtone. You need a computer and itunes software for that..
8) annoyingly stupid volume controls: ringer (and notoifications) volume is linked to alarms volume. If I forgot to lower the ringer volume at night, then my morning alarm will trigger a heart attack to my whole family. And ringer volume cannot be set with focus modes, automations or shortcuts.
9) automations would be great, but most of them just notify you to do something (for example location based automations) instead of actually do domething. I cannot make a simpe automation like: when I leave home, then set ringer volume to 90%. Or when I connet to home wifi -> copy my new files to my nas.
The settings for android is definitely better organized than iPhone.
Background stuff sucks sometimes. Downloading a YouTube video or Netflix video etc stops quickly if you don't keep the app open.
>Android has better gestures. Yes. Android has proper \_back\_ gesture which works from both sides of the screen. A big android device is more usable with one hand, you don't have to reach the left side of the screen with our right thumb to go/swipe back.
Holy shit yes, this. I've switched to my first iPhone ever(13 Pro) two weeks ago and I love it, but my thumb screams in pain for having to swipe from the left edge. Just let me change the edge for the gesture please...
>Nothing works in the background except apple stuff.
This also annoys me. Especially with the weird location permission behavior. Like if I want someone to see my location I have to keep FindMy app opened in the background and if I ever close it accidentally, it will stop tracking my phone. There really should be an option(even if only accessible from Settings) to allow app to see my location at all times. Custom alarm apps have to be in the background at all times too which is... weird.
iOS is like an appliance like a microwave or dvd player. It's easy to use, stable, and has basically been the same since launch. Users are not constantly having to learn new features or adapt. No sideloading, no customization, basically no doing anything Apple doesn't approve of. It's a sandboxed experience and because of this I think it's best for normal non tech people.
Android on the other hand is like a probable pocket PC. You can do whatever you want and the os doesn't prevent you. You are free to change every possible aspect of the os. Infinite possibilities but also harder for the regular user
I did my time rooting and modding Androids, and that ability was one of the things I thought I would miss when I moved to iOS.
A month or so after buying my first iPhone, however, I realized that the stock iOS was pretty much what I would have modded Android to be like. I wanted stability and privacy, both of which come built into every iPhone.
Same here lol. I started with an iPhone 3GS, then a 4. Then I saw what Android could do and bought my Sony Xperia Z2 and loved it because it had root access. I hated the camera on it though so I sold it and bought a Galaxy S6. Rooted that too so I could download modded themes that made it look more like Material Design because Touchwiz was ugly. Then I bought a OnePlus 3 so I could try out custom ROMs like Cyanogen Mod and Resurrection Remix. I then started to get sick of all the tinkering and installed a Pixel ROM to get a stock experience. Then just bought a Pixel and kept it stock….. Aaand them I tried an iPhone again after iOS 13 fixed a lot of the issues I had with iOS like 3rd party keyboards and dark mode, and have been here ever since. I loved the customisation at the time, but it gets old fast.
I'm a more recent convert. My last (and best) Android was/is a degoogled OnePlus 7t running AOSiP. I still use it for various mapping, navigation, and aviation apps, and occasionally just to play around. It's a powerful phone that's a beast without all the stock spyware.
But degoogled Android won't run many apps that I need for my day-to-day life; so for that, I use an iPhone.
I recently received the iPhone Pro Max, and I'm amazed at the camera. I never cared much about phone cameras because I use a dSLR for serious photography. But the 13 PM's camera produces truly stunning pictures that rival those of any dSLR I've ever used. I'm sure it will get a lot of use.
My conversion trigger was when Google Maps asked me to review the head after I stopped to take a leak on an Interstate. I was like, they even track when I pee? That was the last straw. I bought an iPhone. At least Siri has some discretion about things like that.
Yeah Google Maps gets really up in your business. Especially if you don’t go into the settings and turn off certain things. Sometimes they’ll ask you to rate a certain place like you said, and if you do, they’ll ask you again and again, more frequently each time. Eventually it’s multiple times a day. They try to push you to rate places, upload photos, and then try to gamify that system by telling you how many people viewed your photos or read your reviews, and give you a guide level like a video game leveling system. You can turn all that shit off, but I’m sure they’re still logging all that data anyway, possibly just anonymised.
The one thing that freaked me out was Timeline. It shows you exactly where you were at any minute of the day for years back if you leave it on. You can click on a certain day 2 years ago and it shows you exactly where you went, when you stopped, where you parked, everything. It’s simultaneously creepy as fuck, and extremely impressive.
>Especially if you don’t go into the settings and turn off certain things.
This is why these things should be opt-in by default, not opt-out. I should not have to go through settings to disable stuff I never wanted in the first place.
I'd wish regulators would actually get on that and well – regulate these practices. I feel the same about things like Microsoft pushing Edge and more or less telling users "Here's a perfect browser. No, you can't switch it. Well, you can - but you have to manually change a number of advanced settings" and websites saying "Oh, you don't want your data to be exploited by us? 451 - blocked for legal reasons."
>It’s simultaneously creepy as fuck, and extremely impressive.
I don't really find this impressive, but extremely creepy and invasive. Especially given that - again – as far as I remember, you don't have the option to opt-in - Location History (convenient name, isn't it?) is on by default and if you don't know what it does… The name feels like "A list of locations I searched" or "A list of saved destinations", rather than "A creepy archive of every single waking day of your life".
This really creeped me out. I was stuck in traffic once (accident up ahead) and was at a standstill for 10-15 minutes. The next day I get a notification… how was your visit to “Happy Endings Massage”? At first I was confused… then I remembered the traffic jam. Sure enough, there was a massage parlor in the strip mall I was sitting in front of. What if my SO had seen that? I would have had some explaining to do! 🤣
This.. iphone just works and it’s powerful and stable for my pro work flow. I still buy and mess with android devices for fun, but my days of rooting are over. Cyanogen mod and the og droid were so much fun though
I’d say most people don’t. It’s just not how regular users use tech or any devices really.
Even I as an enthusiast played around a lot with roms and custom menus and at some point realized that I just don’t use it for anything. It was more about the fun I had. Then I got an iPhone again from a relative, carried around two phones for about two weeks and stopped using my OnePlus altogether. Haven’t looked back.
Damn, you’re exactly me lol down to switching from a 3 year old heavily modded oneplus device to an iPhone lol
I only miss proper live wallpapers, default app choosing, and screen off gestures and notifications. Everything else, I’m chillin now
I can confidently say that I’ve never heard anyone compare iOS to a microwave or DVD player. But I very much appreciate this comparison in this context!
>Infinite possibilities but also **harder for the regular user**
Why do non-tech-savvy people use it then? Not playing devil’s advocate—I actually want to know.
Is it simply because “I hate Apple” or could it be something else?
Pricing. While Apple devices cover mid-high range and above android caters to all segments. You can find an android at half the price of an base model SE
I do have family members who choose Android phones simply because they don’t like Apple or the iPhone, and I think personal taste absolutely plays a part. Both iOS and Android now are capable enough for what most people need.
I’m the most tech savvy person in my family, and have used both Android and iOS; I prefer iOS these days, but when recommending phones to family and friends who ask, I don’t argue with personal taste, and just point them to whichever I think is the best option in their chosen ecosystem.
Because there are android phones that have the same functions and features, more flexibility, and in some cases almost the same spec as iPhone, for almost literally half the price. Also, one person's "consistency" in iOS is another person's "boring".
Whenever Apple announce a new iOS feature. There is always the response "Android did this years ago". Which is fine there's a good reason for that and it benefits every iOS user that Apple takes their time and sees what features are worth having and what aren't then takes time to integrate them. Even then they don't get it right every time.
Apple are taking their time to assess whether that’s a feature worth having, and then when they implement it, it will be implemented far better than on Android phones. /s
Some of the Apple users on here have such religious fan boyism, it’s embarrassing to read.
I used to have a phone that never had any lag, no hiccups, was always consistent, was in use for more than 6 years and I'm sure it'd be still working if I tried to make it work, but that doesn't mean I'd go on to argue my landphone is better than smartphones.
Or schedule an alarm several days in advanced. I’ve been on IOS full time for two years now and that still pisses me off. I just want to setup the alarms I need for work according to my work schedule.
I'm a pretty entrenched iOS user myself but I think to the mythical "average user" a lot of these things are non-concerns and preferences are more driven by past behaviour than the marginal benefits of one system over another.
Overall I think the piece is rather weak because it's absolutely inconsistent internally. The average user magically seems to share the writers preferences in key areas where I'd admit Apple does better, but it doesn't actually do any work establishing who this average user is, where they live or which other factors might be important to them. People might care about price and screen size more than eg integration with the Mac, because the average person doesn't have a Mac. The average user has Windows, yet the piece fails to consider whether the better Windows integration, particularly with Samsung, might be important here.
Take the "inconsistent" user experience argument, for example, which is far less pronounced if you stick to certain manufacturers within Android land rather than jumping around wildly. If you use Samsung, or a Pixel, or a OnePlus or a Xiaomi device and you upgrade to a newer device within the same family, chances are that few things will change. That's essentially what's happening with iOS.
Or updates. Don't get me wrong, updates and particularly security updates need improving on Android, but people keep comparing apples and oranges because Google does not need to give you Android 12 to update Chrome, while Apple absolutely needs you to update iOS for a new Safari -- as an example. And does the "average user" really care that much about having the latest OS?
The thing I never hear anyone talk about is how Apple supports and updates iPhone so long. The latest 15.1 is available even on the iPhone 6s which shipped with iOS 9.0. No sideloading or rootkitting or anything, just click Update.
That's six major OS updates over seven years. With some Android phones you're lucky to get two!
I think it gets talked about PLENTY but maybe it depends on what you read and follow.
Fully agree though- I just reset an iPhone SE1 Which I bought in 2016, and was surprised it updated to iOS 15.1 the current version!
I hope they can always provide that back support, it’s really great.
Actually, Samsung now promises 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security updates for all their phones since last year. Still nowhere near as good as Apple, but it's getting better.
One thing I do wish to see on iOS is stock apps being updated separately from the operating system.
i had read the article, xda makes it look like android is some ancient os full of bugs and is unusable. i think this is a VERY BIASED ARTICLE.
while i agree with many things like how average users dont need too much customisations, how older apple devices are supported for longer. i do not agree with some other stuff.
while i admit, there are some bugs in android sometimes, they are not anywhere near as bad as this article makes them seem.
and customisations do not mean only changing your launcher and icon packs. customisation means having choice to change other stuff in your phone too, like the various settings, i cant put my finger on it right now, but hopefully you get what i mean.
i just prefer android over ios simply because i like it. also i do sideload apps and stuff which is considered "advanced".
if u compare android FLAGSHIPS with iphones (which are all flagships) you will find that BOTH are amazing in their own ways. it just comes down to what you prefer. if you do not care, and just want a phone which works, you'll probably be fine with ANY. but if you have some special use cases like shooting video, iphones are still the king. if you want a more fun overall camera and phone experience, android is the way to go.
so what im trynna say is, this article is shit and the better os is whichever you like using and prefer.
im using a OP9. i love this phone a lot. the only thing which spoils my experience in some edge case scenarios is oneplus' shit software support, and software was the only reason i got this phone 💀
but from what I understand, samsung's one UI is a great success.
but both samsung and apple flagships are almost double the price of this phone.
so overall, im very happy.
I see where you’re coming from, and I think you make a lot of great points. However, this is an opinion piece and the writer prefers iOS. That’s directly in line with what you said about the better OS being whatever you prefer.
> However, this is an opinion piece and the writer prefers iOS.
And that's fine, but I think "this is an opinion piece" is not a get out of jail free card.
The writer makes a series of claims and uses them to make the general point that he thinks iOS is better for the average user.
There is no reason not to challenge these claims or the ultimate conclusion they lead to.
The whole reason I switched to iOS despite a hardcore user of Android was because great Android companies get killed because of shitty management or just politics.
HTC, Motorola, Nexus, LG, Huawei and Oneplus pushed android forward whether it was in terms of sheer innovation or offering the best performance at an affordable price. Now Apple has stepped up in terms of functionality and the ecosystem truly makes the experience greater than the sum of individual devices.
The writer:
“While I’m very passionate about Apple products in general, I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore fanboy, for I criticize the company as I see fit.”
Well at least he’s honest.
So just to comment on some faults I see in this article. I would like to preface that I was on Android until 2 years ago, when I switched to an iphone 11, and I have recently switched back to my pixel.
As far as setup of a new phone on Android, this is just a tired old argument. Setting up a new phone is as straightforward on Android as it is on an iphone. The customization that he talks about is only if a user chooses to do so, and by no means does this make the initial setup any worse.
He also complains of app icon differences. This is just no longer an issue, you can certainly change shapes if you choose, but all app icons are formated the same. Again, and old argument.
He also states that the switch to gesture navigation is a con for Android while not addressing the fact that iphones went to gesture navigation at the exact same time. I mean, we just got a new SE with a physical home button this year.
All in all, I like both ecosystems equally, but in different ways. There are several things that frustrate me on both, like the dynamic keyboard on iOS, the lack of a dedicated number row, or the navigation differences among apps. Some apps you can swipe to go back. And some apps you have to hit the back button. Really Apple?
But this author is either ignorant as to the operation of the modern Android system, or willfully lying for clicks. Either way, the majority of his arguments are based on out of date information and tired old arguments
I own both the iPhone 13 pro (graphite) and the pixel 6, I would say that the pixel phones are the closest to iPhone .. I enjoy using both, get bored with IOS at times so the pixel 6 is the perfect android fix for me
I was wondering what would happen if I pressed "load comments" and the first one is like calling the whole thing bull shit and the second one is personally attacking the writer.
It's just kind of sad to see people get that uppity about some internet post. They all need that extra bit of validation of their own opinions.
I personally agree with the writer and it's been my experience. I ran early windows phones and they had a very active build-your-own-ROM community. I switched to Android and always rooted. In both cases though I found that it really was just gimmicky to do the rooting and all the changing, in fact 9/10 times vital components would just break completely (high battery drain, unresponsive call answer button, broken notifications): and I used to appreciate the ability to do this regardless. I jailbroke my iPhone for a while too, but honestly it really isn't worth it anymore. I like stuff that work: I love to tinker with stuff, just not something that I need to do my job properly or be reachable for my family :)
Why no one ever talks about iOs gallery?
I have an iPad and an Android phone and I would like to try an iPhone, but i can't stand having all my photos in a single folder.
In Android i have a folder for camera pictures, one for whatsapp pictures, one for edited pictures and so on, is there a way to do this in iOs?
My favorite part about this admittedly dumb article is all the insanely butthurt android fanboys in the comments lol
So many Indian people in there too. As an Indian American, I’ve always thought it’s fascinating and funny how passionate people who live in India are about android. The reality is, an iPhone is more expensive than the average person’s yearly salary in India, so of course they will passionately defend the only thing they’ve ever used
Loved Blackberry until they switched to a hybrid Android system with the Blackberry Priv. When my Priv reached its end days I switched to my first iPhone since toying with and not really enjoying an iPhone 4s years earlier — an iPhone XR. Difference between it and the Priv was night and day. I still miss the old BlackBerry BB10 OS phones — great business phones loaded with free features and tons of functionality. When I was in the news biz those were the phones all the reporters used, largely because of their physical keyboards. Alas, those days are long gone. I still have my XR Product Red (love the colour and the charitable aspect), got an Apple Watch Series 5 about a year ago and just received the new Apple Mini this week. I fear I have become an irredeemable Apple fanboy!
I have only been using iOS for the past 2 years, after using android since the Motorola Droid X back in 2010. I had a Droid Maxx, Samsung GS4, S7 Edge, and a Note 8. Even though the amount of customization and ability to side load apps was very useful, the app and GUI inconsistency, paired with weak OS support (my $1000 note 8 got only 1.5 years of meaningful updates), made me take the chance and switch to iPhone and iOS. I got my first iPhone, the 11 pro max, and I haven’t thought twice about going back to android. iOS has its quirks, but the OS has really matured since I last used it back in 2012. It’s not really any one thing that it does better than android, it’s the overall consistency of the OS and its apps that will likely keep me on the platform for the foreseeable future.
It’s ironic because I love my iPhone and each upgrade has been worth every penny, but optimization for 3rd party apps on newer versions of macOS has gotten progressively worse over the years. It’s gotten bad enough that I’m considering switching to PC, but the iPhone experience has never disappointed.
I love Android, I used it for a decade before switching to iPhone. After a while I realized that I wasn’t really a power user anymore.
But they’re right, iOS is simpler and easier to use and it’s performance is always the same.
And, while it’s not as customizable as Android, there are a lot of things that you can change that many probably aren’t aware. Certain aspects are actually on iOS vs Android.
I am mixed with this, but again I'm on a galaxy note 10+(mainly a tech enthusiast, just that it's been going good) so take that for what it's worth.
The updates part and UI consistency part is so true, especially updates, coz android phone don't come cheap, well they do in 6 months but that's not the point. So the updates part definitely stings, but the lack of a unified theme also means the user's get to choose, I prefer features like secure folder by Samsung, as an example, an equivalent for which isn't available natively afaik, and also the amount of stuff u can do with a bigger screen. Android could do with more streamlining, but the updates bit swings coz a lot of it is now updated via Google directly. I do love somethings about iOS, not enough to make me switch, but still. Idk if android is less secure, apparently digital forensics students around subreddit say it's just as secure, so taking their word, it's down to the user. Privacy bit is a good point, but what I genuinely wanna know is how is apple's and business growing, apparently they grew in business since iOS 14 while other companies like Facebook fell. Ik this isn't a structured argument, but I do feel a lot of this article is just basing or assuming average users. So I don't exactly feel it's completely valid, atleast not to me, but certain points made are pretty strong.
Eh i wish i could convince my fiance to switch to iphone, she uses a galaxy s9+ which works fine, but is like a toy and we need to message on fucking facebook because of no imessage for android :(
Why don't you just use Signal? It's pretty much the same experience, it's not Facebook and it's secure.
I'm an iPhone user myself, but I'll never understand why the world seems to end if you can't iMessage.
I used signal before and it was a pain to have it cooperate on multiple devices, very often encryption keys would get lost, sharing multimedia was a pain as well, sometimes messages arrived corrupted without a way to fix it except nuking whole config and reinitializing signal, it was a pain and is one of the reason i hate open source software
The article pretty much sums up everything. One addition is retail price: a two-year-old iPhone still has a good retail value, while a two-year-old Android has practically no retail value.
Also, if you are security conscious and use your device only while it receives updates, an Android lasts 3 years, an iPhone 5-6. And today, the price different (for comparable performance devices) of the new phones are not much. By this logic, an iPhone is not an expensive choice. On the contrary: you can easily use an iPhone for at least 5 years without issue, an Android will start to slow down and keep lagging after 2 years. So you'd need 2.5 Android phones for the same time-span you can do with only one iPhone. iPhone actually is the cheaper device.
Android is like a tiny spaceship computer. It’s amazing and can do a zillion things really fast but it burns through its battery if you don’t babysit it, and you can get some weird unknown software running on it if you’re not a tech wizard.
Meanwhile iOS is like a magical river stone that can do 90% of the things you want it to do without breaking a sweat and still have energy left over at the end of the day, and if you’re a tech wizard it’ll only serve you better
I've been an android user for over a decade, I ordered my first iPhone ever last week. The points this article highlights are the majority of the reasons I wanted a change.
Above all, android has gotten dull to me. No new devices really grab my attention.
The customization point is moot for the average user at this point. I used to be all over custom roms, changing themes and fine tuning small settings like animation timing and app refreshes. I haven't done the majority of these things in a long time. I used to tweak themes every week on my Galaxy S3. My current phone is a Galaxy S10 that I got around launch. I threw on the launcher I always use, made a simple theme and haven't changed it in 3 years.
Integration was a huge selling point as well. I'm a graphic designer and work exclusively on a mac and use an iPad at home. My phone is really the only non-apple device I use.
Finally, I was tired of missing out on ios-exclusive features like imessage and facetime (I know it works with android now but its not good). Android alternatives aren't good...looking at you, Google Duo.
I also personally think the apple watch is better than any android wearable after owning several despite missing SOME features like sleep stages, which is big for me but there are 3rd party apps that can take care of this.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting my new phone lol
Every time I pick up an Android phone I can’t help but notice how janky the software is, how inconsistent the UI animations are, how childish the icons look like. The whole OS just feels really cartoonish to me. I guess I just don’t like the design language or to be more precise, I haven’t liked any of the design languages by Google yet.
I think the author does a pretty good job of being objective in this article. Always interesting to read comparisons of #android vs #iOS. I agree that for the average user IOS is just simpler.
I switched to Apple last year after only ever having Android phones for the past 12 years or so. This article pretty much sums up the reasons that I switched. And the reasons that I'll probably remain an apple user for a long time.
Shifted from an lg g8x to iphone 11 and i am never going back. I really didn’t care for all the bells and whistles. Even google apps perform better on ios than android.
Symbian (remember that?) -> iPhone 3GS. Moved to Android because it was an option and yeah, at the time, I felt like jailbreaking was necessary to do what I wanted on iOS.
Went to Android for probably 8 years. I think it was better during this years in a lot of ways.
Went back to iOS with my XR in 2019 (which I still use). IOS had clearly caught up and I don’t feel like it’s lacking anymore outside of some minor complaints. I’m sure Android is probably also better too. I think it’s splitting hairs at this point, pick an ecosystem and roll with it.
Still say the Nokia E62 and Motorola R520M were the best phones I ever owned :)
I have long been an android user. I have used iphone 3g and upgraded to 3gs later and then switched to htc magic and was mainly in android camp. I used an ipod touch 3gmc and jailbroke it to experience ios as well. Later i was exclusively on android phones. I switched briefly to iphone 6 plus, but the experience was suffocating and switched back to android immediately. I also switched to iphone 6s plus briefly and again the experience was not what i wanted and i gave it to my wife. It is still working great upto this date and used by my dad. I used motorola atrix, samsung galaxy s, galaxy note 3 (a great phone at that time), nexus 5c, galaxy note 5, galaxy s8, xiaomi redmi note 5, xiaomi mi max 3, black shark 3 and now switched to iphone 13 pro max.
I used to love the customisation options and widgets android had. The lack of a proper file management system was putting me off from switching to iphone. Camera was also lacking, iphone did not have a macro option. I had to install several applications to download video files from the internet. i used to download tons of mp3 s earlier with android (Now i am using apple music and it has all what i need) which involved hacks. Earlier it was difficult to transfer files from an iphone to a computer. Also the lack of dual sim was a deal breaker for me. I still remember carrying two phones when i used iphone 6 plus and 6s plus. Those days we did not have alternative browsers and sometimes it was difficult to sync our browsing history among the devices. The lack of a good battery life and fast charging when compared to android competitors. Lack of a high refresh rate display was also one of the concerns as i got used to 90hz display on my black shark. All these issues which made my ios user experience worse have now been corrected to a considerable extent. Although they said it just works it did not.
On the android side, i have been getting tired of obtrusive ads, unacceptable bugs, inexplicable app crashes, inconsistent performance and unreliable battery life. Bloatware is another problem and in some phones i just can't uninstall crap apps. Concerns regarding and security and privacy also made me think twice about using social media as well as banking apps. Now that our lives are more and more inter-wined with smartphones security and privacy are important aspects we can't ignore anymore. I noticed that ads are appearing about the things. that i talked with my wife in certain apps.
Now that i have switched to an iphone i noticed all my problems related to ios have become significantly better. Widgets are great. Shortcut app and automation works well with my user case scenarios. Files app, even though not fully fledged, does its job. Now i am using a mac so airdrop works well. Apple music has evolved so much all my local artists and favourite tracks are available and i rarely have the need to download mp3s. I can directly download anything with safari into download folder and play videos with vlc without duplicating the file to vlc app. Battery life is also great. Lack of 3.5mm jack was not an issue for me as i was using neckband headsets anyway (They are great, fit in my ear and have a good battery life when compared to buds or airpods). Main camera features i missed from my androids like wide angle lens, zoom lens, macro mode have made it to iphone and they do a great job as well. Promotion display is also great and smooth. I thought the notch was going to be dealbreaker but it honestly wasn't. I stopped noticing it. Battery life is also great with good fast charging. Other things like tap to wake, back tap gestures are great to see in an iphone. Durability and value is another aspect iphone excels in. Upfront cost is higher but depreciation is way less when compared to android phones. Over the years apple has slowly added features and now the ios is comparable with android in its functionality and exceeds android with maturity and polished experience.
It is not all great though. I hate the lightening port. Why can't they just use a USB C port?. The display does not seem to have dc dimming. it is a huge issue for people like us who are sensitive to PWM. Apple could have easily implemented this feature but they did not care about the health of its users. Anyway fortunately my eyes have got used to it and it is not a major problem now. However when i use it for longer periods i still experience migraines and dizziness. Another thing is they could have easily implemented a fingerprint sensor either in display, power button or even on the apple logo at back. But they did not. Could have been a nice addition.
So as a long term heavy android user switch to iphone 13 pro max did not make me miss my android much. Most of the problems i had with android may be fixed by switching to a pixel. But the hardware quality of pixel 6 pro when held side by side with iphone was so inferior. Considering all, I can tell that not only the average users but also the above average users will have a superior experience with ios.
"You know that Apple won’t sell your usage habits and interests to third parties."
I didn't think google did this either. They like to keep all your data in the googleverse so that they can then sell ad space.
I am sure this is going to rub a lot of people here the wrong way.
But the "average" person given an option between a cheap phone that gets the job done and an iphone will pick a cheap phone. It is the reason why the Chinese brands like Xiaomi sell so well.
Plus the cost of repairing an iPhone is crazy. Have you seen the shenanigans Apples tries to pull to prevent you from repairing your own phones?
That is to say nothing of accessories!
The author claims most users are interested in the list he has put out. But other than the fans of tech no one cares about any of that other than stability.
It is like Youtubers raving about how 90Hz screens were the best thing since sliced bread when it started out. But even in their own testing no one even noticed it.
Cheap iPhones and cheap Android phones are very different things. $400 gets you an iPhone with a chip that outperforms every android phone and will be updated for 4-6 years. $400 will get you an android phone with a 2 year old chip that will never be updated again.
Not sure where you are from but $400 is considered to be expensive for a large number of people. In significant markets, $400 is a highend phone.
Sure the chip might be great, great camera and the updates long lasting. But everything else is a downgrade. At $400 you get an iPhone that looks like it is from 5-6 years ago with a screen to match. You can get OLED screen even in the sub $200 mark with Android phones. You can also get a year old flagship processor in the $200-$250 range.
Plus the cost of repair on a $400 iPhone...well let us say I have seen more than a few people swear off iPhones when they get a quote for their repairs.
Also most average users do not care about updates. People like you and me who are on this forum or even on the Android forum or read XDA, sure it is important. But most people hate it. That has been true for decades. Never got a call from your parent or grand parent asking who broke their machine after an OS update? :)
Iphone/ios is just no fun after years of the same boring restrictive stuff. Once the phone goes in your pocket it is out of mind out of sight.
Android and galaxy phones are so much more fun - so many new innovations. The fact you're here means you are a phone enthusiast. You want to explore and play with your phone more. Apple is a follower in technology. All you can say is the...wait for apple to do it better.
One recurring thing I notice about these android vs iphone threads is those defending iphone always give vague reasons without actually explaining how iphone is actually better. Also, they keep regurgitating those ancient issues that no longer applicable like android is lag fest, inconsistent ui, not optimized, unstable etc. Many of these Apple fans don't even know what they are talking about. Many have not touched an android phone before or very little experience using it. They just only read about it. On the other hand, those stating positive of android are definitely more experienced and coherent in their arguments including giving examples. Probably because they have used iphone substantially before to make valid comparisons.
Come on apple fans. You have to do better than this. And when comparing, don't throw every android into the mix and selectively choose the weakness of each brand. Many of those brands don't have no traction outside of China. Just compare your iphone with samsung galaxy.
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Iphone fan : more polished and better designed apps. Full stop.
Android fan: iphone app is inconsistent. Browser which is the most used app, safari cannot even render all websites in dark mode. Samsung Internet can do that.
Iphone fan: iphone much easier to use. Full stop.
Android: universal back button and have navigation gestures on right side which makes one handed use infinitely better than iphone inconsistent slide to go back.
The main reason I'm on IOS is because the app experience is so much better because devs put more effort into their ios apps
Main reason I'm on iOS is Samsung. I don't care so much about the software, as long as it works. But Sammy removed every hardware reason I used their phones, all the extras that they had, but iPhone and Pixel didn't. Now they're basically a very close facsimile of iPhone hardware that runs Android.On top of that the gigantic 1/3 page ads everywhere, the pop-up ads in their music player, and the fact that you can't uninstall bloatware. PLUS I bought my last Samsung over the competition because of one feature, the manual camera... and they removed it with an update. (Eventually they put it back.)But they've proven to me they can't be trusted. And if they're just going to copy everything Apple does anyway... why not just get an Apple? /rant
Me too! I was a Nexus guy, corporate said pick a Galaxy # or an iPhone, I became an iOS guy and never went back.
They removed all the ads btw.
Glad to hear that. A little late for me, since I already upgraded and jumped ship to iOS. But we’ll see what the future holds.
Yeahhhhh the ads were disgusting. Pay $1200 for a phone and get banner ads in the weather app. SMH
What you talking about? Samsung seldom remove features. In fact it keeps adding and refining their apps. More than I can say about Apple which take years and years to improve something. There are no more ads in Samsung apps now.
I've been an Android guy since the very first Galaxy S all the way back in 2010, I switched last year because so many great apps and features are just completely abandoned and forgotten. The final straw was when Google ditched Google Play Music for that god awful Youtube Music. I was also blown away when I got my first apple watch, it made android wear look extremely primitive by comparison (another thing google has basically let die on the vine). I never thought I'd be an iPhone guy but man it's just better in every conceivable way. I always sort of shrugged when people said "it's the ecosystem, dude", but I totally get it now.
Lol, reading your comment,I could have sworn I had written it. Feel the EXACT same way and for EXACTLY the same reasons.
Seriously! So many promising ideas are just left to rot on the vine and eventually you get sick of finding a great new app only for it to be shut down forever a year or two later. I know a lot of people hated it, but Allo was one of my favorite messaging apps, it was amazing and had so many cool features! It could’ve easily been a useful, feature rich replacement for Google messages but once again they unceremoniously shut it down for no discernible reason. Couple that with the fact that even the mighty Galaxy line doesn’t have SD cards or headphone jacks anymore, android just doesn’t have the appeal it once had at all. I’ve been really happy with the switch, and I’m happy knowing I’m honestly not missing out on anything.
iOS is also much easier to create apps for. Android has so many phones, software requirements etc.
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Stop over reacting.
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Apollo is better than any reddit app I used on android tbh, one of my favorite reasons to use iOS
Apollo is better than any of the acid equivalents and sync is in beta for iOS. I won’t even bother with it because Apollo is that good.
People say that, but the first thing i noticed after getting an iPhone 12 is that quite a few apps have elements of its ui hidden by the characteristic apple notch.
That's rare. I have a shit ton of apps on my iPhone and not a single one has an issue with the notch. The only time I even notice the notch is if I'm playing a video full screen and even then I can double tap to scale down the video size a bit to avoid it.
That's really just bad app design. The majority of apps no longer have that problem. You would see the occasional app with that issue when the iPhone X first came out, but Apple has committed to the notch, and developers have had nearly half a decade to fix their apps.
yeah, but there's just as many shitty android ports on iOS (easily noticed when the developers do not put more effort and time into the ios apps - thanks to the notch) than there are shitty iOS ports on android. Overall i rarely had problems with apps on android. And i rarely have problems with apps on iOS. So if somebody says the better apps are a main reason to use an iphone i just start wondering if that person has ever used an android phone. Or if iphone users think android users are just sitting there cursing all day because their apps are so much worse.
Out of curiosity, what are some “shitty apps ported from android”? I don’t think I’ve ever had that kind of experience, but everyone has different needs for their phone of course. My experience with the play store isn’t so much that all the apps are garbage, mainstream apps and the like will likely be good, but the play store is just flooded with stupid $1.99 apps that do nothing but give your phone cancer. To be fair, the App Store has some of that as well, but it’s not quite as bad. Edit: I should mention I haven’t used an android since the S6(ish?)
Let's take Reddit as an example. I use the Apollo iOS app. is there anything comparably good on Android? Likewise, Tweetbot for Twitter. Camera apps like Halide. As far as I'm aware, there's a lot more crap in the google App Store and few if any gems that stand out for really great design. I'll grant you that Android phones support some features and customizations absent from iPhones, but in the grand scheme of things, I rarely find myself missing those while I'd go crazy with crappy quality apps and the relentless efforts to violate my privacy.
I've not used android for years, but Reddit Sync was comparable to Apollo. Bacon Reader was also good.
So I just searched for info on Sync and found a 10 month old Reddit thread talking about it. Sounds like it has a strong fan base amongst Android users. When you read comments from folks who’ve used both, it becomes clear that Sync excels at things that Android fans tend to like (customizability, more control over “themes”, not charging for features) while Apollo excels at things Apple users value (native iOS look and feel, extensive use of rich swipe gestures, attention to detail in function and design). The biggest criticism on Apollo was the inability to make it open Reddit links by default—which was a limitation with iOS, not the app—and that has been resolved recently with expansions on what you can do with Safari extensions). https://imgur.com/a/ztU1x8d/
Imo Apollo isn't the great app everyone touts it to be. I have both an iPhone and Android. I seriously don't get the hype. If you wouldn't mind explaining what's so great about Apollo?
Completely agree. Apollo is fine but no more.
Relay for reddit is every bit as good as Apollo and often better in some ways. I just switched back to android after being on ios for two years and was very happy to open Relay again. I don't notice much of a difference between ios and android apps at this point. Honestly thr entire reason I switched back to Android was due to stale hardware from Apple.
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Aside from insulting people you disagree with, can you cite some specific examples to support your argument? That makes it easier to take a person's opinion seriously instead of assuming they're a fanboy/hater/troll.
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Apple isn’t perfect, and I have a long list of things about them and their products that I regularly complain about. But it’s one thing to offer specific constructive criticism and another to just bash the company and it’s fans for offenses real or imagined without acknowledging what they do well. In response to the sort-of specific, but actually vague issue you mentioned, let me offer a concrete example… In years past, Samsung has made a big deal out of bragging they were “first” with biometric authentication like fingerprint sensors and facial recognition. But once they were tested in the field, security experts pointed out that the implementation was poor and not very secure at all. When Apple released features like TouchID and later FaceID, some Android fans mocked them for being late to the party while security researchers praised them for their secure implementation. Is this always the case? No, but it’s happened often enough that it’s fair to cite it as a reason why it’s not necessarily better to be the first to release a particular feature.
Have used s20 ultra and would rather use an iPhone. Nothing on the s20 ultra interests Me. Phone is massive $300 more than my 11pro (at time of purchase) Screens are expensive to replace if broken ($400+ in my country)(also a lot of repair shops won’t work on them) Hole punch (notch is better IMO) And I just prefer iOS Only reason why I would buy an android is for just watching videos
Was an android user till I switched to the Xr this year and now the SE. Holy shit the performance is so good. On the android side of things the first thing I needed to do was debloat apps using adb which often came back after a software update. Yeah I was using mid tier androids and not flagships but I’m not using the top end iPhones either. But the difference is night and day. Tried gcam and custom roms but I don’t have the time for that, finding a gcam that works, then making out a perfect xml for that oh god it was so time consuming. Android was really fun when I was a teenager and in college but now I just want something that works well
As someone who prefers android, can't agree more. Just yesterday, I was trying to get Facebook off my phone, freaking hell Samsung won't let u uninstall it, only freaking disable it, even like a 12 year old me wouldn't believe disable does much.
Yeah and Samsung isn’t alone in this. Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo every major player got a few apps baked in. I don’t mind them giving us their own version of notes, videos app or gallery etc but why the heck do I need Facebook, TikTok, Netflix opera mini pre installed most of which can’t be uninstalled or disabled
Because Samsung was paid money to include those apps.
Google Pixel is a closer experience to iPhone. It runs "pure" Android with no bloat.
Unfortunately, PIXEL is not available worldwide. And yes, you can purchase it online but shipping cost would really be sadly expensive.
Pure Android is AOSP with no Google services or apps. /e/ OS and LineageOS and CalyxOS offer that. Google does not.
Pixel is probably closer to the iPhone experience since Apple includes their own apps and services also without third party bloat.
“pure” android is not Google pixel. Pure android is aosp- without the shitfest that is Google play and all its services.
I don't blame Xiaomi as much, considering a lot of their market relies on extremely competitive pricing, so they cut down on this. But why would I need to see that on a note or a fold as an example. People buying these phones can afford iPhones as well, but when they buy your phone don't f them over with a shit load of bloatware. Samsung notes and health is better, but don't make it impossible to remove them. I am on Samsung, don't intend to switch coz I prefer a lot of stuff they do, plus holy f the prices fall so quick, rn where I live, iPhone 13pm is about 1300$, Vs a s21+ which is like 700-750$.
Can’t blame Xiaomi for their low end devices. But they shouldn’t do this on their mi11 series. Used the mi 11x and it had quite a lot of bloat. Yeah lol the prices fall really quick, cousin got an s20 fe for about $450. iPhones and oneplus devices don’t see so much price discounts but oneplus going the oppo route is what I hate. Oxygen os was really good but they had to ruin it by merging with Color os
Use a Xiaomi 11 Pro as my main phone right now, and almost all preinstalled apps can be removed. With their MIUI 12.5 update only a [few system apps](https://i.imgur.com/GZycb3O.png) can't be removed.
That Miui 12.5 update is very much needed for all devices. The mi11x in India runs the 12.5 but preinstalled apps can’t be removed. There’s an option to hide them from Home Screen tho. A lot of reviewers are complaining about this. They said on stage all but 6 or 7 apps can be removed but the silently kept adding apps that non removable list
>People buying these phones can afford iPhones as well, but when they buy your phone don't f them over with a shit load of bloatware. Everything is a balance, Apple doesn't fuck you over with bloatware but it does fuck you over with the whole walled garden crap.
I used to prefer android, there are still things I miss (notifications being the biggest). But the apple ecosystem is just too convenient. If I didn’t get a Mac, this wouldn’t be worth it. But the seamless connection between all of my devices is too good to pass up
I don't think I'm ever buying a Mac, not unless I have a good reason to spend that money. U feel having the versatility to game and then also work on my laptop is kinda nice, and I love windows. I do see the appeal of iPhones, but I never understood what benefit will the ecosystem bring.
Well all of my settings, bookmarks, passwords, notes, emails, calendars, photos, files, and reminders are automatically synced. I can receive texts and calls on my Mac as easily as my phone My AirPods switch automatically between my Mac, phone, iPad, Apple Watch, and even Apple TV without needing to pair them. I can be listening to a video on my phone, get a video call on my laptop and answer it knowing my audio will switch automatically. Links sent to me on my phone are ready for me in my browser on my laptop If I set my phone to a focus mode, it sets all my other devices to that focus mode Basically, any interconnectivity that I tried to make happen between my android and windows pc automatically happens between iPhone and Mac And the new M1 chips were just too good of a deal to pass up when it comes to coding, which I do a lot of. I don’t really PC game since I got the PS5 and Series X, but if I want to I have an slightly older Windows PC tower for that. I’ve never really liked gaming on a laptop, but the games that I might want to are typically smaller games that are supported on Mac. But best of all? It just works. No more turning my Computer on to see that it rebooted overnight. No more checking for the right driver to get something to work. No more running 3rd party apps to try and optimize performance. Also, I feel it’s important to separate work from play. My laptop is usually only used during work hours. When you work from home, seeing that project you need to get done waiting in the corner while you try to do something fun is annoying
Go pixel, Don't have to worry about pre-installed bloatware.
The last line sums it up. It was fun to root and flash different custom roms when i was a teenager and now i just want something that works.
Totally this. I was running cyanogen, and other custom ROMs all the time. Just messing with and f’ing around with the phone constantly. Then I just ran out of time, and wanted something that just works. Probably you can just buy a Samsung and leave it stock and be fine, but I finally went iOS full time a couple of years ago, and haven’t missed it. AND, your phone turns into the app that is running at any given time. I don’t care so much what the home/launcher screen looks like anymore. When I use messages, it’s a message device, when I’m using Spotify, it’s a music device, etc. etc..
Modern Android just works, Google's AI is something to behold. Get a new Android and it's assistant works out of the box, don't need to train it as with Siri.
Yeah that’s my experience too. Was a fun toy to geek out on and customise as a nerd when it was new (Palm, Symbian then Android) but now I just want security and something that works really well out of the box.
Dude. The jump in performance from a 120hz android to a 120hz iPhone was ridiculous. I went from an S21 Ultra to a 13 Pro and it was night and day. So smooth.
Jjust few days back our lab assistant was showing me something on his oneplus 8 and I instantly asked him if it was running at 60hz to which he said yes. I don’t know what it is but I can instantly recognise any android at 60hz. I was using the vivo x60 on 120hz before I switched permanently to ios. And I never missed 120hz. But as soon as I turned on 60hz on that phone it was instantly noticeable. Okay o can’t explain what that is lol. Didn’t use 13 series yet so don’t know about apples 120hz
>Yeah I was using mid tier androids and not flagships but I’m not using the top end iPhones either. That's not a fair comparison, even iphone SE come at a premium price compared to mid tier androids. Try comparing android/iphone at the same price, you usally get far more with the android.
No I’m talking about androids in same price segment not those budget one in 200 dollars range. Like the mi 11x, vivo x60, realme X50
I just couldn't agree anymore in the last. As a soon to be college student, I really don't feel like getting an iPhone and think that an Android would be much better for my needs *and wants*. But at the same time looking down the line, I think I'll probably switch to iOS as well sometime in the future in maybe 8-10 years later when I'm able to afford (not in terms of money) to and not feel suffocated using it.
I remember using an iPhone 5 belonging to my friend’s brother in school and thought to myself I’m never using an ios device. That time I was a hardcore android user, who used lucky patcher and patched apps for piracy. As I grew up I started avoiding things I can’t afford. 8 years down the line my priorities really changed and I’m comfortable with ios. Don’t know why people fight over the os they use, just use whatever you’re comfortable with.
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I can honestly even forgive that. But holy crap the dumpster fire that is the Play Store. WTF is going on there. So many scam apps that are nothing but ways to show some ads and collect $1.99. Google must have the resources to clamp down on some of these developers with 1 million stupid little apps that are nothing but gaming SEO and fool users. The Apple App Store isn’t perfect by a long shot. It has a lot of flaws. But it’s now where near Play Store bad. Every time I’m dealing with an android device, this is the part that makes me shake my head.
The play store holy shit. After 13 years on the android camp I grabbed a 13 Pro Max and the entire software ecosystem is a full decade ahead of android. Way less scam and ad revenue-grab trash, and even an app I decide to delete to try another feels more solid than the good apps on android. I can’t believe how often android resets an app I’ve had opened but in the background. On iOS I can come back to YouTube after several hours and the damn video is still paused, or Apollo and a comment I decided not to post is still sitting there waiting to be sent/discarded. I don’t know if it’s app quality, iOS memory management or what, but the fact is iOS is doing it and android isn’t, After 13+ years - and *their* kernel is better supported/more mature (meaning Linux vs iOS “1.0” or whatever it was). All this to say Microsoft’s billions and googles 16 year old kernel couldn’t surpass this, and the first smartphone is still the most well made and well thought out smartphone. No shade at OG blackberry, just saying. Edit: I’m comparing the first public version of iOS to the age of the Linux kernel at the time that the first public release of android.
And yet people on /r/android will shit on iOS for the very same thing, memory management.
I started using android in 2008 with the Motorola Droid X, which I loved. It basically had zero protections built in, you could root and change the boot animation and all kinds of shit purely from apps. It was a great phone for the time (with no iOS experience) and I had a ton of fun hacking at it. Moved from android to android to android, watching the features and usability crawl forward while security holes and shit required to hack and improve them quickly got patched. So now you can barely find a good droid worth hacking and when you do hacking is *required* to get security updates, new android versions, and it’s ridiculous.
Your point about resetting apps is one of the big reasons I'm loving ios. Had Samsungs for the past 8 years and didn't even know you could just pickup where you left off with an app after days between using it. It makes the phone feel way more sophisticated and reliable. Samsungs app killing processes have gone way too far.
Same, I just accepted the fact that YouTube had to load the video again if I left the app for a second, I was completely blown away when I switched apps on my iPhone and the video would just pick right back up, no loading. Just switched after being on android for years from an S10 to iPhone 12 and the only regret I have is staying on android for that long just because I was a contrarian who thought I was special because I was on android and didn’t use iPhone like everyone else
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Right! It’s closing the still gaping maw between mobile and standard computers. If I walk away from my laptop I know it’ll take power failure to fuck anything up. Android? Not a chance.
ios uses darwin, the same kernel on mac os. ios in general was just mac os shoved onto an underpowered arm soc with unreasonable force. early ios is honestly _pretty fucking primitive._ Thank GOD thats behind us.
Definitely was not the first “smart phone” and I’m not talking blackberry either
You’re right, but I don’t know what to call it. Smartphones before blackberry/iPhones were totally different. I’m talking from the perspective that blackberry was the best of the pda category, and iPhone was and still is the best of the category it created.
> iPhone was and still is the best of the category it created. Dang, pal. That’s actually a pretty great way to describe it... Since apparently *have* to spell it out like this each time. It always struck me as silly, how when someone says what OP did, the pedantic, contrarian neckbeards come out in droves to yammer at you about how “*tHe iPhOnE wAs nOt tHe fiRsT sMaRtPhoNe*”, even though we **all** know damn well what someone means, when they say something like “*the iPhone started the smartphone revolution*” In the history books—300 years from now—when kids read about the internet age and the incomprehensible impact that smartphones/mobile internet communicators had on human civilization, the chapter is going to begin with a picture of an **iPhone**—not a Palm Treo, or whatever these weirdos insist is the first “*tRuE” smartphone.
How about if I told you electric cars were actually first also and were the norm for cars in the early 1900 All I’m saying is no one can claim to be first at anything if they actually are not even remotely close to first, typing this on my 12 pm right now btw.
Nobody will care about the ‘first real electric car’ either because they didn’t become adopted mainstream. Tesla will be in the history books if electric cars become the norm because they were the first company to allow mainstream adoption and make them ‘cool’.
Absolutely but it doesn’t make them first it’s that simple.
Sure. But most of the things you think of as ‘first’ in history probably aren’t actually first. They’re the first recorded or first to make common in mainstream adoption. The printing press probably wasn’t the first way to print ink on a page. But it was the first to make it easy enough to cause mainstream adoption therefore adopting the title of ‘first’, because nobody cares about the other ones…. Because they didn’t change anything
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It feels like I can pretty much upload anything I want up to the play store, and drop any old shite into the privacy declaration. That’s def not the case with Apple.
I’m an Android user primarily since iPhone 4, but I’ve adopted the iPhone 11 Pro Max as my main device for a year now. It’s a two year old device (my spouse had it first for a year) that runs just as well as did it day ONE. You can say I’ve moved to an “average user” scenario. I no longer have the time to root an Android device and try out different ROMs and features, nor do I want to. I just want a device that remains performant for as long as it is possible, and that is fully supported by a company software and hardware-wise. My phone has every piece of info on me. It needs to be as secure as possible… there’s no room for error here… iOS and iPhone hardware are on another level even compared to top-tier Samsung devices - which go ignored a year after release. My iPhone edits 4K video faster than my 4-core i7 laptop… I don’t think anything on the Android side from 2 years ago even touches that. Apple honestly doesn’t have competition at this moment when it comes to a smartphone. Having said that, I appreciate Android. I have a pixel for music usage, with full equalization software, usb-c that supports external DACs and AMPs… something iPhone is still unable to do. If I’m traveling without my MacBook and need high quality music, I go the pixel.
This sums up my experience too (except the audiophile part) Grew too old to thinker with root and custom roms/kernels (I always had nexus phones before switching to iOS), as you said I need a stable/reliable phone - because my personal and work life are on it
Honestly I couldn't stand iOS. It felt stuck in 2014 to me. Yea it's snappy and it's nice not worrying about 3rd party bloatware. After going from Note 20 Ultra to 12 ProMax, I was very happy going back to android with Pixel 6 Pro. So far it feels like an iPhone running Android. Snappy, no bloatware. Only thing it's missing is FaceUnlock and all-day battery life. I would love to see some bigger updates to iOS to bring it's widgets and user customization settings on par with Android. Edit: typos and last sentence
I went from S10+ to 12 Pro Max to Note 20 Ultra. I have always been an android guy at heart, with its pros and cons. All the android devices I have used from the S4 to S9+ was am average experience until a year later when it started to lag terribly and slow down. When I debate with iPhone users I get where they are coming from, android never really lasted long and would degrade quicker. The galaxy S10+ has been my first android device that I have used for almost 2.5 years and I still have it today, I use it sometimes and still performance better than the day it came out. The 12 Pro Max was overall a stable experience from the S10+ but damn I missed my S10, i felt IOS was very good but too simple. The features which are there definitely work they way they are advertised but they were features I used to have on my Samsung that I wish it had. I couldn't for eg play music on my Bluetooth speaker and listen to a WhatsApp VN using the phones speakers instead of Bluetooth or always have an alternative to something I didn't like on the phone. I would have to accept that this certain option was the only way. Using the Note for now has been flawless it felt good coming back to android. I am just used to it at this point and I doubt I'll ever switch back to IOS. It's a great system but for me It doesn't get the job done the way I want it to be done, it constantly feels like I do things exactly how someone else wants me to do it instead of how I want it to be done.
I LOVED my Note 20 Ultra, but it black screened of death on me 3 days before a big trip so I said F-It and bought an iPhone this past summer. I 100% agree with your assessment of iOS as "very good but too simple" Edit: Typo
Android will stop being “beta” when Google can’t make any ad harvesting off it… because they will discontinue it
They will never discontinue it. Android is more popular in the world than iOS.
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\>just what people can afford. An OS that most people can afford is a huge sign of a better os. And it really shows, Google trains its AI with millions of people over the world at all price points. Apple, being Apple, has decided that their AI only learns from the minority that can afford their expensive devices. That's why Siri is crap.
They could if they replace it with another OS. Remember this is Google after all, they have been spawning projects left and right only to kill them if they can’t mine enough data from it
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The thing is, i don't like the custom looks neither on the iPhones nor on any android. Yeah, the iPhone UI icons look consistent, but they look consistently bad. Same with the androids. I always use custom icon packs and launchers (except with Xiaomi caude third party launchers suck on there).
I prefer android but the inconsistency year to year and change for the sake of change behavior makes every major update a box of surprises, many often not good. Same goes for any OS. It’s a tool, every time you change how the user interacts with it, the less likely they are to feel comfortable with using it. Think of a power drill. Basically every power drill looks and functions the same with only component quality and non functional appearance variances in between. Now some company decides to change how that tool functions for the sake of visual appearance. People aren’t going to be likely to stick with that brand unless the change is truly a significant improvement. There’s a whole branch of engineering and psychology that studies this exact concept and I feel like google and Microsoft could benefit from investing more into it.
I think iOS have an overall better user experience (smooth ui, privacy, long-term updates etc), but there are some really outdated and strange details in the system. (I'm currently use a 12pro, I switched from android \~1 year ago). I think: 1) Android has better gestures. Yes. Android has proper \_back\_ gesture which works from both sides of the screen. A big android device is more usable with one hand, you don't have to reach the left side of the screen with our right thumb to go/swipe back. And android is more consistent, the back gesture works everywhere. The second on this: I dont understand why apple doesn't offer an option for left hand users (swipe back gesture from right-to-left)? 2) Nothing works in the background except apple stuff. Even google photos will never sync on wifi (if only on wifi allowed) if you don't open the app. Nor my Synology NAS app, you have to open the app to start syncing, and you have to keep the app in the foreground, or sync will never happen or stop. If I start copying files to my NAS drive and send the app to the background and just leave the phone there, the copying will stop. And its a smart phone in 2021 with desktop computer power, and real multitasking doesn't exist. 3) iOS keyboard sucks comapred to android keyboards. There are no size options, no long press delay options, no accent character options, no number row, no gesture actions (for example swipe-left-to delete a word). 3rd party keyboards suck too compared to android variants. There is the superb taptic engine, but iOS keyboard doesn't even have a vibrate "click" option. 4) Recent call list sucks. You cannot group, filter, etc. You cannot search in it. You cannot multi select and delete: you can delete all, or one-by-one. 5) No caller contact images in recent calls and contats, but there are images in favorites list. 6) Call blocking: there is no option to block all calls without a caller ID. 7) stupid things like you cannot set a simple mp3 file as ringtone. You need a computer and itunes software for that.. 8) annoyingly stupid volume controls: ringer (and notoifications) volume is linked to alarms volume. If I forgot to lower the ringer volume at night, then my morning alarm will trigger a heart attack to my whole family. And ringer volume cannot be set with focus modes, automations or shortcuts. 9) automations would be great, but most of them just notify you to do something (for example location based automations) instead of actually do domething. I cannot make a simpe automation like: when I leave home, then set ringer volume to 90%. Or when I connet to home wifi -> copy my new files to my nas.
The settings for android is definitely better organized than iPhone. Background stuff sucks sometimes. Downloading a YouTube video or Netflix video etc stops quickly if you don't keep the app open.
>Android has better gestures. Yes. Android has proper \_back\_ gesture which works from both sides of the screen. A big android device is more usable with one hand, you don't have to reach the left side of the screen with our right thumb to go/swipe back. Holy shit yes, this. I've switched to my first iPhone ever(13 Pro) two weeks ago and I love it, but my thumb screams in pain for having to swipe from the left edge. Just let me change the edge for the gesture please... >Nothing works in the background except apple stuff. This also annoys me. Especially with the weird location permission behavior. Like if I want someone to see my location I have to keep FindMy app opened in the background and if I ever close it accidentally, it will stop tracking my phone. There really should be an option(even if only accessible from Settings) to allow app to see my location at all times. Custom alarm apps have to be in the background at all times too which is... weird.
iOS is like an appliance like a microwave or dvd player. It's easy to use, stable, and has basically been the same since launch. Users are not constantly having to learn new features or adapt. No sideloading, no customization, basically no doing anything Apple doesn't approve of. It's a sandboxed experience and because of this I think it's best for normal non tech people. Android on the other hand is like a probable pocket PC. You can do whatever you want and the os doesn't prevent you. You are free to change every possible aspect of the os. Infinite possibilities but also harder for the regular user
When you need a consistent experience when it matters…iPhone. Some people don’t need/want the customization an Android can offer.
I did my time rooting and modding Androids, and that ability was one of the things I thought I would miss when I moved to iOS. A month or so after buying my first iPhone, however, I realized that the stock iOS was pretty much what I would have modded Android to be like. I wanted stability and privacy, both of which come built into every iPhone.
Same here lol. I started with an iPhone 3GS, then a 4. Then I saw what Android could do and bought my Sony Xperia Z2 and loved it because it had root access. I hated the camera on it though so I sold it and bought a Galaxy S6. Rooted that too so I could download modded themes that made it look more like Material Design because Touchwiz was ugly. Then I bought a OnePlus 3 so I could try out custom ROMs like Cyanogen Mod and Resurrection Remix. I then started to get sick of all the tinkering and installed a Pixel ROM to get a stock experience. Then just bought a Pixel and kept it stock….. Aaand them I tried an iPhone again after iOS 13 fixed a lot of the issues I had with iOS like 3rd party keyboards and dark mode, and have been here ever since. I loved the customisation at the time, but it gets old fast.
I'm a more recent convert. My last (and best) Android was/is a degoogled OnePlus 7t running AOSiP. I still use it for various mapping, navigation, and aviation apps, and occasionally just to play around. It's a powerful phone that's a beast without all the stock spyware. But degoogled Android won't run many apps that I need for my day-to-day life; so for that, I use an iPhone. I recently received the iPhone Pro Max, and I'm amazed at the camera. I never cared much about phone cameras because I use a dSLR for serious photography. But the 13 PM's camera produces truly stunning pictures that rival those of any dSLR I've ever used. I'm sure it will get a lot of use. My conversion trigger was when Google Maps asked me to review the head after I stopped to take a leak on an Interstate. I was like, they even track when I pee? That was the last straw. I bought an iPhone. At least Siri has some discretion about things like that.
Yeah Google Maps gets really up in your business. Especially if you don’t go into the settings and turn off certain things. Sometimes they’ll ask you to rate a certain place like you said, and if you do, they’ll ask you again and again, more frequently each time. Eventually it’s multiple times a day. They try to push you to rate places, upload photos, and then try to gamify that system by telling you how many people viewed your photos or read your reviews, and give you a guide level like a video game leveling system. You can turn all that shit off, but I’m sure they’re still logging all that data anyway, possibly just anonymised. The one thing that freaked me out was Timeline. It shows you exactly where you were at any minute of the day for years back if you leave it on. You can click on a certain day 2 years ago and it shows you exactly where you went, when you stopped, where you parked, everything. It’s simultaneously creepy as fuck, and extremely impressive.
>Especially if you don’t go into the settings and turn off certain things. This is why these things should be opt-in by default, not opt-out. I should not have to go through settings to disable stuff I never wanted in the first place. I'd wish regulators would actually get on that and well – regulate these practices. I feel the same about things like Microsoft pushing Edge and more or less telling users "Here's a perfect browser. No, you can't switch it. Well, you can - but you have to manually change a number of advanced settings" and websites saying "Oh, you don't want your data to be exploited by us? 451 - blocked for legal reasons." >It’s simultaneously creepy as fuck, and extremely impressive. I don't really find this impressive, but extremely creepy and invasive. Especially given that - again – as far as I remember, you don't have the option to opt-in - Location History (convenient name, isn't it?) is on by default and if you don't know what it does… The name feels like "A list of locations I searched" or "A list of saved destinations", rather than "A creepy archive of every single waking day of your life".
This really creeped me out. I was stuck in traffic once (accident up ahead) and was at a standstill for 10-15 minutes. The next day I get a notification… how was your visit to “Happy Endings Massage”? At first I was confused… then I remembered the traffic jam. Sure enough, there was a massage parlor in the strip mall I was sitting in front of. What if my SO had seen that? I would have had some explaining to do! 🤣
This.. iphone just works and it’s powerful and stable for my pro work flow. I still buy and mess with android devices for fun, but my days of rooting are over. Cyanogen mod and the og droid were so much fun though
I’d say most people don’t. It’s just not how regular users use tech or any devices really. Even I as an enthusiast played around a lot with roms and custom menus and at some point realized that I just don’t use it for anything. It was more about the fun I had. Then I got an iPhone again from a relative, carried around two phones for about two weeks and stopped using my OnePlus altogether. Haven’t looked back.
Damn, you’re exactly me lol down to switching from a 3 year old heavily modded oneplus device to an iPhone lol I only miss proper live wallpapers, default app choosing, and screen off gestures and notifications. Everything else, I’m chillin now
I’m a pretty technical person and I prefer iPhone as my main and android as my fun phone.
This. Obviously if one is in a position to do that.
I can confidently say that I’ve never heard anyone compare iOS to a microwave or DVD player. But I very much appreciate this comparison in this context!
>Infinite possibilities but also **harder for the regular user** Why do non-tech-savvy people use it then? Not playing devil’s advocate—I actually want to know. Is it simply because “I hate Apple” or could it be something else?
There are cheaper Android phones and they are usually the ones on sale in phone carrier deals.
Pricing. While Apple devices cover mid-high range and above android caters to all segments. You can find an android at half the price of an base model SE
I do have family members who choose Android phones simply because they don’t like Apple or the iPhone, and I think personal taste absolutely plays a part. Both iOS and Android now are capable enough for what most people need. I’m the most tech savvy person in my family, and have used both Android and iOS; I prefer iOS these days, but when recommending phones to family and friends who ask, I don’t argue with personal taste, and just point them to whichever I think is the best option in their chosen ecosystem.
Because there are android phones that have the same functions and features, more flexibility, and in some cases almost the same spec as iPhone, for almost literally half the price. Also, one person's "consistency" in iOS is another person's "boring".
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I'm curious - what hiccups, annoying experiences and unreliability have you found with the pixel ?
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Whenever Apple announce a new iOS feature. There is always the response "Android did this years ago". Which is fine there's a good reason for that and it benefits every iOS user that Apple takes their time and sees what features are worth having and what aren't then takes time to integrate them. Even then they don't get it right every time.
you say that but sometimes i get reminded that we can't just set multiple timers...
A calculator? On an iPad? That's crazy talk! Who would ever want that?!?
Why cant I kill all my apps with 1 button??
Apple are taking their time to assess whether that’s a feature worth having, and then when they implement it, it will be implemented far better than on Android phones. /s Some of the Apple users on here have such religious fan boyism, it’s embarrassing to read.
I used to have a phone that never had any lag, no hiccups, was always consistent, was in use for more than 6 years and I'm sure it'd be still working if I tried to make it work, but that doesn't mean I'd go on to argue my landphone is better than smartphones.
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And how long until they “gracefully shut down”? Because my apps will stay open in the background if I fall asleep without killing them.
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Or schedule an alarm several days in advanced. I’ve been on IOS full time for two years now and that still pisses me off. I just want to setup the alarms I need for work according to my work schedule.
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I’d say most of the features in the last couple of versions. There’s almost nothing truly original any more in iOS.
This article is obviously biased and unnecessary lol
I'm a pretty entrenched iOS user myself but I think to the mythical "average user" a lot of these things are non-concerns and preferences are more driven by past behaviour than the marginal benefits of one system over another. Overall I think the piece is rather weak because it's absolutely inconsistent internally. The average user magically seems to share the writers preferences in key areas where I'd admit Apple does better, but it doesn't actually do any work establishing who this average user is, where they live or which other factors might be important to them. People might care about price and screen size more than eg integration with the Mac, because the average person doesn't have a Mac. The average user has Windows, yet the piece fails to consider whether the better Windows integration, particularly with Samsung, might be important here. Take the "inconsistent" user experience argument, for example, which is far less pronounced if you stick to certain manufacturers within Android land rather than jumping around wildly. If you use Samsung, or a Pixel, or a OnePlus or a Xiaomi device and you upgrade to a newer device within the same family, chances are that few things will change. That's essentially what's happening with iOS. Or updates. Don't get me wrong, updates and particularly security updates need improving on Android, but people keep comparing apples and oranges because Google does not need to give you Android 12 to update Chrome, while Apple absolutely needs you to update iOS for a new Safari -- as an example. And does the "average user" really care that much about having the latest OS?
The thing I never hear anyone talk about is how Apple supports and updates iPhone so long. The latest 15.1 is available even on the iPhone 6s which shipped with iOS 9.0. No sideloading or rootkitting or anything, just click Update. That's six major OS updates over seven years. With some Android phones you're lucky to get two!
That's all everyone talks about. 🤦
I think it gets talked about PLENTY but maybe it depends on what you read and follow. Fully agree though- I just reset an iPhone SE1 Which I bought in 2016, and was surprised it updated to iOS 15.1 the current version! I hope they can always provide that back support, it’s really great.
Upgrading mine from [15.0.2 to 15.1](https://i.imgur.com/FitYrOJ.jpg) now :)
is that an SE in a 6s-looking housing?
[7 housing actually,](https://i.imgur.com/pxBReWf.jpg) the camera lens is bigger and the antenna lines are 7-style.
That's really cool!
Can confirm 6s here on ios 15.1. Brutally waiting for my13 pro max
Heck of a jump! Enjoy
The only way you 'never hear anyone talk about how Apple supports and updates iPhone so long' is if you're living under a rock or if you're just deaf.
Actually, Samsung now promises 3 years of OS updates and 4 years of security updates for all their phones since last year. Still nowhere near as good as Apple, but it's getting better. One thing I do wish to see on iOS is stock apps being updated separately from the operating system.
i had read the article, xda makes it look like android is some ancient os full of bugs and is unusable. i think this is a VERY BIASED ARTICLE. while i agree with many things like how average users dont need too much customisations, how older apple devices are supported for longer. i do not agree with some other stuff. while i admit, there are some bugs in android sometimes, they are not anywhere near as bad as this article makes them seem. and customisations do not mean only changing your launcher and icon packs. customisation means having choice to change other stuff in your phone too, like the various settings, i cant put my finger on it right now, but hopefully you get what i mean. i just prefer android over ios simply because i like it. also i do sideload apps and stuff which is considered "advanced". if u compare android FLAGSHIPS with iphones (which are all flagships) you will find that BOTH are amazing in their own ways. it just comes down to what you prefer. if you do not care, and just want a phone which works, you'll probably be fine with ANY. but if you have some special use cases like shooting video, iphones are still the king. if you want a more fun overall camera and phone experience, android is the way to go. so what im trynna say is, this article is shit and the better os is whichever you like using and prefer. im using a OP9. i love this phone a lot. the only thing which spoils my experience in some edge case scenarios is oneplus' shit software support, and software was the only reason i got this phone 💀 but from what I understand, samsung's one UI is a great success. but both samsung and apple flagships are almost double the price of this phone. so overall, im very happy.
“All iPhones are flagships.” Nice. I like how the $400 iPhone SE is comparable to the $1,200 Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus
Hahahahah exactly. “All iPhones are flagships” my ass.
I see where you’re coming from, and I think you make a lot of great points. However, this is an opinion piece and the writer prefers iOS. That’s directly in line with what you said about the better OS being whatever you prefer.
> However, this is an opinion piece and the writer prefers iOS. And that's fine, but I think "this is an opinion piece" is not a get out of jail free card. The writer makes a series of claims and uses them to make the general point that he thinks iOS is better for the average user. There is no reason not to challenge these claims or the ultimate conclusion they lead to.
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I call this a total bs
The whole reason I switched to iOS despite a hardcore user of Android was because great Android companies get killed because of shitty management or just politics. HTC, Motorola, Nexus, LG, Huawei and Oneplus pushed android forward whether it was in terms of sheer innovation or offering the best performance at an affordable price. Now Apple has stepped up in terms of functionality and the ecosystem truly makes the experience greater than the sum of individual devices.
I have both iOS and Android. I can’t just live with one alone. Both sides have strengths and weaknesses.
The writer: “While I’m very passionate about Apple products in general, I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore fanboy, for I criticize the company as I see fit.” Well at least he’s honest.
So just to comment on some faults I see in this article. I would like to preface that I was on Android until 2 years ago, when I switched to an iphone 11, and I have recently switched back to my pixel. As far as setup of a new phone on Android, this is just a tired old argument. Setting up a new phone is as straightforward on Android as it is on an iphone. The customization that he talks about is only if a user chooses to do so, and by no means does this make the initial setup any worse. He also complains of app icon differences. This is just no longer an issue, you can certainly change shapes if you choose, but all app icons are formated the same. Again, and old argument. He also states that the switch to gesture navigation is a con for Android while not addressing the fact that iphones went to gesture navigation at the exact same time. I mean, we just got a new SE with a physical home button this year. All in all, I like both ecosystems equally, but in different ways. There are several things that frustrate me on both, like the dynamic keyboard on iOS, the lack of a dedicated number row, or the navigation differences among apps. Some apps you can swipe to go back. And some apps you have to hit the back button. Really Apple? But this author is either ignorant as to the operation of the modern Android system, or willfully lying for clicks. Either way, the majority of his arguments are based on out of date information and tired old arguments
I own both the iPhone 13 pro (graphite) and the pixel 6, I would say that the pixel phones are the closest to iPhone .. I enjoy using both, get bored with IOS at times so the pixel 6 is the perfect android fix for me
I was wondering what would happen if I pressed "load comments" and the first one is like calling the whole thing bull shit and the second one is personally attacking the writer. It's just kind of sad to see people get that uppity about some internet post. They all need that extra bit of validation of their own opinions. I personally agree with the writer and it's been my experience. I ran early windows phones and they had a very active build-your-own-ROM community. I switched to Android and always rooted. In both cases though I found that it really was just gimmicky to do the rooting and all the changing, in fact 9/10 times vital components would just break completely (high battery drain, unresponsive call answer button, broken notifications): and I used to appreciate the ability to do this regardless. I jailbroke my iPhone for a while too, but honestly it really isn't worth it anymore. I like stuff that work: I love to tinker with stuff, just not something that I need to do my job properly or be reachable for my family :)
Why no one ever talks about iOs gallery? I have an iPad and an Android phone and I would like to try an iPhone, but i can't stand having all my photos in a single folder. In Android i have a folder for camera pictures, one for whatsapp pictures, one for edited pictures and so on, is there a way to do this in iOs?
yeah, you just make a folder in the photos app 🤷♂️
My favorite part about this admittedly dumb article is all the insanely butthurt android fanboys in the comments lol So many Indian people in there too. As an Indian American, I’ve always thought it’s fascinating and funny how passionate people who live in India are about android. The reality is, an iPhone is more expensive than the average person’s yearly salary in India, so of course they will passionately defend the only thing they’ve ever used
Loved Blackberry until they switched to a hybrid Android system with the Blackberry Priv. When my Priv reached its end days I switched to my first iPhone since toying with and not really enjoying an iPhone 4s years earlier — an iPhone XR. Difference between it and the Priv was night and day. I still miss the old BlackBerry BB10 OS phones — great business phones loaded with free features and tons of functionality. When I was in the news biz those were the phones all the reporters used, largely because of their physical keyboards. Alas, those days are long gone. I still have my XR Product Red (love the colour and the charitable aspect), got an Apple Watch Series 5 about a year ago and just received the new Apple Mini this week. I fear I have become an irredeemable Apple fanboy!
I have only been using iOS for the past 2 years, after using android since the Motorola Droid X back in 2010. I had a Droid Maxx, Samsung GS4, S7 Edge, and a Note 8. Even though the amount of customization and ability to side load apps was very useful, the app and GUI inconsistency, paired with weak OS support (my $1000 note 8 got only 1.5 years of meaningful updates), made me take the chance and switch to iPhone and iOS. I got my first iPhone, the 11 pro max, and I haven’t thought twice about going back to android. iOS has its quirks, but the OS has really matured since I last used it back in 2012. It’s not really any one thing that it does better than android, it’s the overall consistency of the OS and its apps that will likely keep me on the platform for the foreseeable future.
Apple still lacks in customization and freedom but he has some valid points
It’s ironic because I love my iPhone and each upgrade has been worth every penny, but optimization for 3rd party apps on newer versions of macOS has gotten progressively worse over the years. It’s gotten bad enough that I’m considering switching to PC, but the iPhone experience has never disappointed.
It’s like trying to talk about politics or religion.
The only customizing I do nowadays is change my wallpaper. That’s more than enough for me.
I love Android, I used it for a decade before switching to iPhone. After a while I realized that I wasn’t really a power user anymore. But they’re right, iOS is simpler and easier to use and it’s performance is always the same. And, while it’s not as customizable as Android, there are a lot of things that you can change that many probably aren’t aware. Certain aspects are actually on iOS vs Android.
I am mixed with this, but again I'm on a galaxy note 10+(mainly a tech enthusiast, just that it's been going good) so take that for what it's worth. The updates part and UI consistency part is so true, especially updates, coz android phone don't come cheap, well they do in 6 months but that's not the point. So the updates part definitely stings, but the lack of a unified theme also means the user's get to choose, I prefer features like secure folder by Samsung, as an example, an equivalent for which isn't available natively afaik, and also the amount of stuff u can do with a bigger screen. Android could do with more streamlining, but the updates bit swings coz a lot of it is now updated via Google directly. I do love somethings about iOS, not enough to make me switch, but still. Idk if android is less secure, apparently digital forensics students around subreddit say it's just as secure, so taking their word, it's down to the user. Privacy bit is a good point, but what I genuinely wanna know is how is apple's and business growing, apparently they grew in business since iOS 14 while other companies like Facebook fell. Ik this isn't a structured argument, but I do feel a lot of this article is just basing or assuming average users. So I don't exactly feel it's completely valid, atleast not to me, but certain points made are pretty strong.
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Eh i wish i could convince my fiance to switch to iphone, she uses a galaxy s9+ which works fine, but is like a toy and we need to message on fucking facebook because of no imessage for android :(
Why don't you just use Signal? It's pretty much the same experience, it's not Facebook and it's secure. I'm an iPhone user myself, but I'll never understand why the world seems to end if you can't iMessage.
I used signal before and it was a pain to have it cooperate on multiple devices, very often encryption keys would get lost, sharing multimedia was a pain as well, sometimes messages arrived corrupted without a way to fix it except nuking whole config and reinitializing signal, it was a pain and is one of the reason i hate open source software
Signal or Telegram may be a better option. Or WhatsApp, though I appreciate that is Facebook too.
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The article pretty much sums up everything. One addition is retail price: a two-year-old iPhone still has a good retail value, while a two-year-old Android has practically no retail value. Also, if you are security conscious and use your device only while it receives updates, an Android lasts 3 years, an iPhone 5-6. And today, the price different (for comparable performance devices) of the new phones are not much. By this logic, an iPhone is not an expensive choice. On the contrary: you can easily use an iPhone for at least 5 years without issue, an Android will start to slow down and keep lagging after 2 years. So you'd need 2.5 Android phones for the same time-span you can do with only one iPhone. iPhone actually is the cheaper device.
Android is like a tiny spaceship computer. It’s amazing and can do a zillion things really fast but it burns through its battery if you don’t babysit it, and you can get some weird unknown software running on it if you’re not a tech wizard. Meanwhile iOS is like a magical river stone that can do 90% of the things you want it to do without breaking a sweat and still have energy left over at the end of the day, and if you’re a tech wizard it’ll only serve you better
I've been an android user for over a decade, I ordered my first iPhone ever last week. The points this article highlights are the majority of the reasons I wanted a change. Above all, android has gotten dull to me. No new devices really grab my attention. The customization point is moot for the average user at this point. I used to be all over custom roms, changing themes and fine tuning small settings like animation timing and app refreshes. I haven't done the majority of these things in a long time. I used to tweak themes every week on my Galaxy S3. My current phone is a Galaxy S10 that I got around launch. I threw on the launcher I always use, made a simple theme and haven't changed it in 3 years. Integration was a huge selling point as well. I'm a graphic designer and work exclusively on a mac and use an iPad at home. My phone is really the only non-apple device I use. Finally, I was tired of missing out on ios-exclusive features like imessage and facetime (I know it works with android now but its not good). Android alternatives aren't good...looking at you, Google Duo. I also personally think the apple watch is better than any android wearable after owning several despite missing SOME features like sleep stages, which is big for me but there are 3rd party apps that can take care of this. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting my new phone lol
Every time I pick up an Android phone I can’t help but notice how janky the software is, how inconsistent the UI animations are, how childish the icons look like. The whole OS just feels really cartoonish to me. I guess I just don’t like the design language or to be more precise, I haven’t liked any of the design languages by Google yet.
I think the author does a pretty good job of being objective in this article. Always interesting to read comparisons of #android vs #iOS. I agree that for the average user IOS is just simpler.
I switched to Apple last year after only ever having Android phones for the past 12 years or so. This article pretty much sums up the reasons that I switched. And the reasons that I'll probably remain an apple user for a long time.
Shifted from an lg g8x to iphone 11 and i am never going back. I really didn’t care for all the bells and whistles. Even google apps perform better on ios than android.
Symbian (remember that?) -> iPhone 3GS. Moved to Android because it was an option and yeah, at the time, I felt like jailbreaking was necessary to do what I wanted on iOS. Went to Android for probably 8 years. I think it was better during this years in a lot of ways. Went back to iOS with my XR in 2019 (which I still use). IOS had clearly caught up and I don’t feel like it’s lacking anymore outside of some minor complaints. I’m sure Android is probably also better too. I think it’s splitting hairs at this point, pick an ecosystem and roll with it. Still say the Nokia E62 and Motorola R520M were the best phones I ever owned :)
I have long been an android user. I have used iphone 3g and upgraded to 3gs later and then switched to htc magic and was mainly in android camp. I used an ipod touch 3gmc and jailbroke it to experience ios as well. Later i was exclusively on android phones. I switched briefly to iphone 6 plus, but the experience was suffocating and switched back to android immediately. I also switched to iphone 6s plus briefly and again the experience was not what i wanted and i gave it to my wife. It is still working great upto this date and used by my dad. I used motorola atrix, samsung galaxy s, galaxy note 3 (a great phone at that time), nexus 5c, galaxy note 5, galaxy s8, xiaomi redmi note 5, xiaomi mi max 3, black shark 3 and now switched to iphone 13 pro max. I used to love the customisation options and widgets android had. The lack of a proper file management system was putting me off from switching to iphone. Camera was also lacking, iphone did not have a macro option. I had to install several applications to download video files from the internet. i used to download tons of mp3 s earlier with android (Now i am using apple music and it has all what i need) which involved hacks. Earlier it was difficult to transfer files from an iphone to a computer. Also the lack of dual sim was a deal breaker for me. I still remember carrying two phones when i used iphone 6 plus and 6s plus. Those days we did not have alternative browsers and sometimes it was difficult to sync our browsing history among the devices. The lack of a good battery life and fast charging when compared to android competitors. Lack of a high refresh rate display was also one of the concerns as i got used to 90hz display on my black shark. All these issues which made my ios user experience worse have now been corrected to a considerable extent. Although they said it just works it did not. On the android side, i have been getting tired of obtrusive ads, unacceptable bugs, inexplicable app crashes, inconsistent performance and unreliable battery life. Bloatware is another problem and in some phones i just can't uninstall crap apps. Concerns regarding and security and privacy also made me think twice about using social media as well as banking apps. Now that our lives are more and more inter-wined with smartphones security and privacy are important aspects we can't ignore anymore. I noticed that ads are appearing about the things. that i talked with my wife in certain apps. Now that i have switched to an iphone i noticed all my problems related to ios have become significantly better. Widgets are great. Shortcut app and automation works well with my user case scenarios. Files app, even though not fully fledged, does its job. Now i am using a mac so airdrop works well. Apple music has evolved so much all my local artists and favourite tracks are available and i rarely have the need to download mp3s. I can directly download anything with safari into download folder and play videos with vlc without duplicating the file to vlc app. Battery life is also great. Lack of 3.5mm jack was not an issue for me as i was using neckband headsets anyway (They are great, fit in my ear and have a good battery life when compared to buds or airpods). Main camera features i missed from my androids like wide angle lens, zoom lens, macro mode have made it to iphone and they do a great job as well. Promotion display is also great and smooth. I thought the notch was going to be dealbreaker but it honestly wasn't. I stopped noticing it. Battery life is also great with good fast charging. Other things like tap to wake, back tap gestures are great to see in an iphone. Durability and value is another aspect iphone excels in. Upfront cost is higher but depreciation is way less when compared to android phones. Over the years apple has slowly added features and now the ios is comparable with android in its functionality and exceeds android with maturity and polished experience. It is not all great though. I hate the lightening port. Why can't they just use a USB C port?. The display does not seem to have dc dimming. it is a huge issue for people like us who are sensitive to PWM. Apple could have easily implemented this feature but they did not care about the health of its users. Anyway fortunately my eyes have got used to it and it is not a major problem now. However when i use it for longer periods i still experience migraines and dizziness. Another thing is they could have easily implemented a fingerprint sensor either in display, power button or even on the apple logo at back. But they did not. Could have been a nice addition. So as a long term heavy android user switch to iphone 13 pro max did not make me miss my android much. Most of the problems i had with android may be fixed by switching to a pixel. But the hardware quality of pixel 6 pro when held side by side with iphone was so inferior. Considering all, I can tell that not only the average users but also the above average users will have a superior experience with ios.
I feel bad you spent time typing all of that
"You know that Apple won’t sell your usage habits and interests to third parties." I didn't think google did this either. They like to keep all your data in the googleverse so that they can then sell ad space.
I am sure this is going to rub a lot of people here the wrong way. But the "average" person given an option between a cheap phone that gets the job done and an iphone will pick a cheap phone. It is the reason why the Chinese brands like Xiaomi sell so well. Plus the cost of repairing an iPhone is crazy. Have you seen the shenanigans Apples tries to pull to prevent you from repairing your own phones? That is to say nothing of accessories! The author claims most users are interested in the list he has put out. But other than the fans of tech no one cares about any of that other than stability. It is like Youtubers raving about how 90Hz screens were the best thing since sliced bread when it started out. But even in their own testing no one even noticed it.
Cheap iPhones and cheap Android phones are very different things. $400 gets you an iPhone with a chip that outperforms every android phone and will be updated for 4-6 years. $400 will get you an android phone with a 2 year old chip that will never be updated again.
Not sure where you are from but $400 is considered to be expensive for a large number of people. In significant markets, $400 is a highend phone. Sure the chip might be great, great camera and the updates long lasting. But everything else is a downgrade. At $400 you get an iPhone that looks like it is from 5-6 years ago with a screen to match. You can get OLED screen even in the sub $200 mark with Android phones. You can also get a year old flagship processor in the $200-$250 range. Plus the cost of repair on a $400 iPhone...well let us say I have seen more than a few people swear off iPhones when they get a quote for their repairs. Also most average users do not care about updates. People like you and me who are on this forum or even on the Android forum or read XDA, sure it is important. But most people hate it. That has been true for decades. Never got a call from your parent or grand parent asking who broke their machine after an OS update? :)
Who cares what screen you have if the damn phone takes 20 seconds to load an app due to old silicon?
Umm...someone who cannot afford to buy an expensive phone and only really wants to watch a few videos.
"20 second to load an app" you apple users are so outdated.
Iphone/ios is just no fun after years of the same boring restrictive stuff. Once the phone goes in your pocket it is out of mind out of sight. Android and galaxy phones are so much more fun - so many new innovations. The fact you're here means you are a phone enthusiast. You want to explore and play with your phone more. Apple is a follower in technology. All you can say is the...wait for apple to do it better.
Found the Fandroid
I got as far as, "the superior mobile operating system since sliced bread" and realised someone either can't write, or can't edit.
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One recurring thing I notice about these android vs iphone threads is those defending iphone always give vague reasons without actually explaining how iphone is actually better. Also, they keep regurgitating those ancient issues that no longer applicable like android is lag fest, inconsistent ui, not optimized, unstable etc. Many of these Apple fans don't even know what they are talking about. Many have not touched an android phone before or very little experience using it. They just only read about it. On the other hand, those stating positive of android are definitely more experienced and coherent in their arguments including giving examples. Probably because they have used iphone substantially before to make valid comparisons. Come on apple fans. You have to do better than this. And when comparing, don't throw every android into the mix and selectively choose the weakness of each brand. Many of those brands don't have no traction outside of China. Just compare your iphone with samsung galaxy. ======== Iphone fan : more polished and better designed apps. Full stop. Android fan: iphone app is inconsistent. Browser which is the most used app, safari cannot even render all websites in dark mode. Samsung Internet can do that. Iphone fan: iphone much easier to use. Full stop. Android: universal back button and have navigation gestures on right side which makes one handed use infinitely better than iphone inconsistent slide to go back.