Surprise.
Bet you didn’t see this one coming.
This week’s post has been pretty late. I’m a bit troubled by yesterday’s thread on Apple. So, a foreword: It’s OK to prefer something over another, it’s not OK to say people who like different phones than you are somehow more childish or less intelligent than you. Again, we are going for casual, yet intensely helpful here, so please don’t call people names over petty reasons, we have rules here.
Previously on Lemmy:
Past Discussions:
In this post, it’s not about saying how bad iPhones are, but I’d just like to hear the perspective on iPhones from Android users. I, for one, had an old iPhone 4 for a long time (call it nostalgia, or laziness, or just being cheap), and it was my general frustration with the device that ultimately led to my preference for Androids, (It was quite a while back though).
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It was absolutely painful to transfer files from the phone to my computer (Ugh, iTunes).
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I got it pre-jailbroken and didn’t realize you can’t just update the system casually, so it was really fun trying to find ways to downgrade the system until I realized that I can’t and have to pray for the next jailbreak to get half my things working again.
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The 40-pin cable wears out so fast, and always in the same spot on the strain relief. I swear I’ve gone through 3 of these cables in one year just from normal use.
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All the browsers are somehow flavors of Safari. To do anything, I will have the choice of ad-filled websites, or ad-filled apps.
It always just seemed like I’m fighting against the system. Never did I have that “it just works” moment, until I’ve got my first Android, and realize I have the freedom to do whatever I want with it, and I can install what I want, and if there’s a problem, I can look things up and fix it myself.
(Having a back button is also a game changer.)
Of course, there is a lot that Android manufacturers can learn from Apple as well, one of the most obvious one is the time for software support: I think my old iPhone has gone through like 3 version updates over the years, whereas currently I’m lucky to get 2 out of any Android manufacturer.
But it seems that Android manufacturers are more content on copying things that works for iOS, but doesn’t work for Android, like removing the headphone jack. Or big notches. (It makes no sense to do that because of Android’s notification system uses the full length of the bar.) It’s gotten to the point that I don’t think people who makes Android phones actually uses Android but are content to copy superficial features from Apple without understanding why Apple do them.
Like a bunch of lemmings. (Heh)
Again, these are my personal preferences, I have nothing against people who prefers iPhones, nor do I think they are lesser for it, but it’s just not for me.
I’d use a one as a work phone/for iMessages though.
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ITT: people who haven’t used anything later than an iPhone 6 /s
Seriously though, I am curious if anyone has spent more than a month with a 13 Pro or later; it sounds like most of the gripes are about shittier/older iPhones/iOS versions.
Lots of good points here (like the universal back button/gesture 🤤) and it’ll be interesting to see how things change after the 15 gets USB-C and maybe some sideloading at some point over the next couple of years 🤞
I’m planning on getting the iPhone 15, now that they’re switching to USB C. My last iPhone was an iPhone 4.
To be honest, some of the cultish gimmicks have swayed me. The “in group” mentality of having the right color of text messages. The ability to send videos that aren’t garbage quality. The ease of having shared photo albums with people in my family who also have iPhones. I know these are mostly underhanded tactics from Apple to make their product a status symbol, but I’ve grown tired of being on the outside. Still, I’m keeping my Android as a second line for various reasons.
There are a few hardware components that made me consider spending the money on an iPhone. The biggest one is the Lidar sensor. I don’t know of any other phone that gives you the ability to combine Lidar and camera technology to create full color 3D models of your surroundings. I can’t wait to 3D print my cat.
It’s those social life things like mostly the garbage quality of MMS that makes it so hard to switch away from iPhone. I know it’s a tactic but damn does it suck because half of my friends are on android and I use Signal with most of them, but sometimes SMS/MMS just happens and it’s SO BAD.
I feel this as well. I’m in a mixed device household, and sharing images and videos between each other is a real pain. Nobody wants to mess around with going to an iCloud or Google Photos link and grabbing images or video. In the USA, few people want to use third party messaging apps. My family certainly doesn’t. My kid’s friends certainly don’t, and so everyone sticks to iMessage.
Because iMessage really is the best in this region given what is actually used by non-outliers. I use both Android and iOS, Windows and Mac. There’s no comparison. iMessage has more features than Google’s solution. Google’s “RCS” is better than SMS/MMS but isn’t equivalent to iMessage. And cross-device support for it is a joke. Samsung has their own little bridge if you buy entirely into their ecosystem–apps included (sorry, Google Messenger). But there isn’t the same identical experience that happens like with Apple: iMessage on iPhone is the same as on iPad is the same as on Mac. No web QR codes to scan, no weird per-device limitations, it really just works. Handoff works like magic. I know, cliche, but Google doesn’t have anything that competes with the feature set. iMessage is so much more than group chats and text messages and pictures like Android users tend to characterize.
Google has no room to call out Apple for its b.s. with iMessage, either; Google has its own proprietary messaging apps. They’ve tried several times to replicate iMessage and lock people in. Their latest is RCS, which is really a misnomer because Google took the actual RCS standard and made it proprietary. That’s why there aren’t third party apps outside of a tiny number of outliers with special business arrangements with Google (such as Samsung). That’s why Google’s entire campaign to “shame” Apple (really, remind iPhone users of the pain of interacting with Android users) doesn’t go anywhere. Google is just as proprietary as iMessage. Google requires all traffic route through Google’s proprietary Jibe middleware and cloud infrastructure.
At this point I doubt Google would actually share their proprietary RCS with Apple given that they don’t share it with anyone else except Samsung, and only then because Samsung was moving to fork Android (or abandon it entirely) after Google got into the hardware business. We know Google has a private API for their RCS implementation and that they actively choose not to share it, because they’ve accidentally leaked it before and XDA devs picked up on it. There are a million SMS/MMS apps available, not so much for “RCS.”
It is ironic that many Android fans complain that iPhone users are ignorant about what features Android phones have (“haha, we’ve had that feature for years!”) yet seem to have just as little of a clue what modern iPhones can do.
I recently got a 13 pro for work, and had to admit I was surprised at how good their software has become.
I was iPhone only from whenever the pixel 1 launched until the 12 pro max. I had a nexus 6p when the pixel 1 happened and was pumped for the next nexus and then got pissed at what Google replaced the nexus lineup with. So I jumped ship and was very happy with apple for a while. iOS has matured a lot and now lets you do a lot of things android does; widgets, always on display, USB c soon, file explorer. That’s not to mention the ecosystem; airpods are incredible to use, apple watch is so much better than android wear, everything syncing and It Just Working ®. The thing that ultimately got me to switch was the z fold 3. I believe foldables are 100% the future and using one for the past 2 years now has been incredible. I actually bought a 14 pro max just to try going back but it just wasn’t the same at all. Apple is still really good and I understand why people cling to it so much. When I was younger green bubble hate was a legit thing if you weren’t a nerd so that social pressure helps. Ultimately the flexibility that android offers is what’s worth it for me but if apple makes a foldable I’d definitely be tempted to come back.
I wrote this very drunk so I apologize if this stream of consciousness text makes no sense. I just get very enthused when I can somehow segue a conversation back to foldables👍
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Used an iPhone 13 Pro Max for six months, ended up going back to Android in January this year. There were just many small things adding up that made me switch back. I think notifications were the biggest issue, and the fact that it’s so difficult to tweak things to my liking.
Loved the build quality, battery life, smooth OS and apps, and the lightning charger was not a problem for me. Still have my Apple Watch and Airpods Pro.
They’ve tried so hard and got so… nowhere with notifications. It’s truly a clusterfuck. I don’t blame ya on that one.
You’re using your Apple Watch without an iPhone? How?
I have an iPhone SE that I connect it to now and then so it’s updated. Works for now, so I’m happy.
Yup have a 13pro just now, it for me is an ergonomic slab of less than ideal comfort, like who thought that sides sharp enough to grate cheese was a good idea?
It was ok on the iPhone 4 as it was small and light, but the newer iPhones are just too damn heavy in my opinion.
I keep going back and forth between iOS and Android, for me the iPhone 11 was a design sweet spot.
Being stuck with an none sizeable keyboard is also a constant niggle in iOS.
Can’t wait for USB-C on iPhone so everyone can share cables.
I feel like I’m the only one on Lemmy who isn’t confused by USB specs though.
I mean, I think it’s pretty easy to get confused by all of the different protocols there are that can’t all run on the same looking cable/connector.
Just by picking up an errant wire, it’s pretty hard to tell if it has power delivery, can do Thunderbolt 3 or 4, a low wattage, but high throughput USB 3.2 cable (which in itself could do 5, 10, or 20Gbps), or just basic USB 2.0 especially if both ends are USB-C.
Oh, it’s actually not that hard. Now Lemmy explain:
The 3.x are spec revision numbers, it’s the fhe Gen number that indicates the data speed, so USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 Gen 1 are all 5Gbps.
All USB-C cable can do 100W PD regardless of data transfer, EPR labeled ones can do 240W but it’s very recent and not very popular.
You can just look at the number of pins inside the plug to see if the cable only supports USB 2.0, as the 3.0 data pins will be missing and there will only be 14 or 16 pins total instead of the full 24.
Overpriced. It maybe used to be worth it, but these days all phones look and work the same anyway.
I used to be an iPhone person, bought a new one every two years from the iPhone 4 in 2010 until my iPhone SE broke in 2018. That was when iPhones jumped to being like $1000, so I thought fuck it and bought a $150 Android.
I was ready for a really rough transition but it turns out these days all apps are cross platform React Native with data stored in the cloud. Once you’re logged in literally everything is exactly the same.
Sideloading:
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I’d be restricted to the apps on the app store that have to restrict themselves to the app store policies.
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I wouldn’t have an alternative way to download an app if it gets banned from the app store for any reason. I remember hearing about Fortnite getting banned from both app store and play store but android users can still play it.
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I couldn’t use modified apps like revanced.
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I think you’d be restricted to region locks in app store which you can circumvent on play store by running a vpn, force stopping play store and then clearing data on it.
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Being restricted to app store only means some extraordinary apps wouldn’t be developed like the cool apps on android that aren’t on play store.
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Sometimes developers make different versions of the same apps. One is a bit restricted and is for play store. It’s restricted because it has to follow play store policies. The other version ends up having more features. I don’t see this happening on iOS. I heard about EU asking them to make a way to sideload, but I also heard that that might be restricted to EU only which means it wouldn’t pick up as much as it could.
Aesthetics:
Nothing much to say except I don’t like the iOS ui. I even fine it ugly. I much prefer the material you thing android is doing.
Lack of your own choice:
- Apple decides for its users. They removed headphone jacks and then the sim card thing in US for no reason. Since they only have flagships, that’s all the users are restricted to.
Android flagships sadly seem to follow their example soon enough
- All the browsers on iOS are just reskinned safari.
General bias:
I don’t like apple handles their things and many of their users. That affects my decision so I think I should put it here as a reason. I don’t think I have to mention what apple does but for their users, I live in Asia and a lot of people see iphones as a status thing which I find annoying. Feels like a matter of shoving cash in your face to flex. There’s also the bubble thing I hear in US which I find ridiculous.
Other points:
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No back button
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No revanced.
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Ecosystem locked.
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Only expensive phones.
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IPhones are irrepairable, good looking, feature packed, reliable, android mocking, mostly great phones with intentional design flaws, from whose platform you can’t easily switch away, created by an unethical company trying to squeeze every penny out of you
I think that Apple makes a quality product, but I can’t stand the company and their mindset towards consumers. I don’t like that they tell me what my user experience will be and demand that I enjoy it. Their products remind me of America Online (AOL), where they put the internet into a can and fenced off the user experience. It’s great for the most basic of users, but frustrating if you want to have control and do things your way.
I’m forced to use iphones for work, so I’m not unfamiliar with ios, but I prefer my S23 much more.
I’m considering moving to Apple just for a “mini” phone, and i know it would be supported for a good few years yet. Android has no comparable phone.
But I prefer pretty much everything else about Android. Not just prefer, actually I really dislike iOS, the way it’s organised, the way it handles “Back” gesture, etc.
the way it handles “Back” gesture, etc.
Literally they put it in the worst possible place for 95% of the population. The top left hand corner is the hardest part of the screen to touch if you are a right-handed. Such a bizarre decision.
You can just swipe off from the left hand side of the screen
I want to swipe in from the right edge of the screen though, where my thumb already is…
Plus it doesn’t even work consistently, some apps use different “back” swipe direction, depending on where in the app you came from to the screen you’re on. I hate it.
It’s got better recently, but it used to be that you can only do that sometimes, and it wasn’t clear when the gesture would work and when it wouldn’t. Fortunately, it seems that most apps have added support for that recently, so it’s closer to the Android back gestures.
Not sure how recently you mean “recently”, but i last tried (for 6 months) iOS last year, and it was still exactly as you described.
I have an iphone 13pro as second phone because of work. A lot of times i cant use the back gesture and then i need to hit a small button in the app. Its super annoying…even after a year it is not consistent
I ended up using my Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact for 4 years, waiting for Sony (or any other manufacturer) to release another phone of the exact same size. No, the Xperia 10 is not compact at all. I ended up with an Asus Zenfone 8. I still miss the dedicated shutter button the thw Sony.
The Asus Zenphone line seems to get great reviews in terms of small Android phones
Yes, but it’s not small imo, it’s the same size as the iPhone 14 (regular/Pro, not Mini) or S23, etc.
Had an iphone11 and it was fine. I switched to a pixel 6a for multiple reasons though, mainly Google Fi. The iPhone would use data when it didn’t need to and I couldn’t control the data limits easily because the cellular settings would switch whenever the phone would get an update. I was hesitant but I’m glad I switched. Face id is the only thing I really miss.
Face id is the only thing I really miss.
Is that what your username is referring to? 🙂
Ha, not exactly but that’s a good catch!
It has been so long so I couldn’t remember the details. But when I got an Iphone 4 back in the day (1st ever iPhone, after many Androids). It got me so frustrated doing anything on it.
One of my biggest frustration was: There’s no “bulk selection” AT ALL! Want to delete pictures? One by one. Delete phone history? One by one. Delete Contacts? ONE! BY! ONE!.
I thought to myself “How could ANYONE use this thing?”
Get rid of it after 4 months and never looked back.
Why I use Android:
Sideloading
- As far as I know, hosting apps on the Play Store (and App Store) costs money. This means that many apps have to be downloaded via other means. Sideloading facilitates this.
- Piracy isn’t possible without the ability to sideload apps.
- Modifying apps isn’t either. This means apps like Revanced can’t exist on iOS.
Rooting
- I use Viper4Android, an amazing equalizer app that only works on rooted devices. Wavelet is a non-root alternative by the same developer, but it lacks many features and has some technical limitations.
- I take care of my phone’s battery by limiting how full it charges overnight. This is only possible on a rooted device (or on Samsung, but 85% is the only option).
- I want the ability to uninstall system apps. They consume resources in the background and take up unnecessary space. I imagine people with more powerful (expensive) phones don’t necessarily desire this ability.
- I want to be able to customize the UI. I don’t want an alarm clock icon, a vibrate icon, two signal bars, a 4G or wifi icon and the battery icon taking up half the status bar.
Custom ROMs
- With an open-source custom ROM, I can be sure that my device doesn’t have any spyware as part of the operating system.
- Custom ROMs often allow more customizations and use less memory because they aren’t cluttered with useless OEM stuff.
Excellent hardware, mediocre software, too expensive. To elaborate on the software, long software update is good. And the iPhone is certainly smooth. However it requires too many workarounds for/straight up can’t do what I would consider basic features on Android. And it certainly isn’t bug free. For the average user though, I don’t think they care about any of that, they only care about the brand, which is why the iPhone still sells so well.
Excellent hardware
More like excellent industrial design, good chip design and good software support*. The hardware itself is nothing special; having a badly engineered aspect has been the “standard feature” for many Apple devices (butterfly keyboard, soldered SSD-s, phone chassis prone to bending are some examples that come to mind).
For comparison, I had a Huawei P7 phone (back when Huawei was still in good graces everywhere) that was thinner, and had better screen than the contemporary iPhone while also having a strong, beautifully machined aluminium chassis. It proved a very durable and dependable tool, and cost ⅓ of the price of an iPhone. The weak point was update support—it was shipped with Android 4.4.2, updated to 4.4.4, and that was that. Android 5 was supposedly released, but never arrived via OTA and when I updated manually after spending some time searching for the new firmware, it proved to be buggy and half-baked.
*Caveat: when I tried to download KDE Connect for an older iPhone, I couldn’t because the OS is no longer supported and Apple store doesn’t offer older versions of the apps. On Android I can still dig up an old version from Github or some other source and install what I need—I was still able to install Kodi on my old 4.4.4 phone to use as a DLNA music streamer. On an old Apple device, you’re shit outta luck.
I worked at AT&T when iphones first were a thing. Everything was proprietary (still is) with them, and employees weren’t allowed to own phones for the first few years on employee accounts for some unknown reason. When I became a case manager for the executive response team, I finally got to have an iPhone. And… It was boring. I couldn’t customize it (granted this was the iPhone 3G in 2008) and it just really didn’t excite me. Then I got an Android phone on a whim, and fell in love. All the options!! The things you can do or choose not to do! Amazing! And still to this day whenever I play with an iPhone… It bores me to death.
besides the price being outrageous, dealbreakers for me are forbidden sideloading and no usb-c cable support. when the eu law requiring both kicks in i think iphones could be fine.
Android is great for customization, price and choice. Android sucks because some vendors stop os updates only after a couple of years. Granted you can manually install a costum rom from a stranger.
Apple good hardware, should performance. Regular updates. Boring?
Ha ha 🤣 I don’t know. You mostly get what you pay for.
iOS is too restrictive for me. Not being able to access the file system, no sideloading, no background apps, limited app access to the hardware, etc. Apple has the best mobile SoCs, but then you can’t even run an app like Syncthing to keep some folders in sync (it can’t even access those folders) or use some app to re-encode a video in the background.
I like the UI consistency between apps and OS (Android is a bit more “messy”) but overall it’s a bit like ChromeOS. Good for basic stuff and sometimes the best for specific tasks, but try to do anything more advanced and you’ll quickly find a wall.
On my phone I have apps like Syncthing running in the background. Sometimes I run an app that gives me detailed info about battery usage, track/map the signal of mobile networks, contribute to Mozilla Location Service, can see to which bands my phone is connected to (and if rooted, even control which are used). If an app needs to use bluetooth to send a file or NFC, it can. On the other hand, Android still struggles to do fast file transfer well (at least it never works as well as Airdrop for me)… there are trade-offs.
Again, it’s a bit like ChromeOS/Chromebook vs Linux/Windows/macOS. Perfect for my parents, but not enough for me.
The hardware is fine. Things like the display (Samsung), modem (Qualcomm), cameras (Sony) can be found on Android devices (or at least similar hardware). Their SoC is the best there is, but then is restricted by software… a bit like buying a Ferrari to drive it in a city. Imagine a “gaming phone” with the latest A16?
Regarding software updates, Google and Samsung (at least on the more expensive devices) now have 5 years of software updates. Not as good, but not a problem for those buying a new phone today. Some brands are still bad though.
I like them, but I like Android more, I was an iPhone user since the 4 model up to 6s, my girlfriend still is, she currently has an iPhone 13 and I am amazed of how well iOS feels and behaves, we also share an iPad it’s so good to use and with Apple you get a shit ton of versions support as well.
The iOS apps also have its charm, I think many of them are better crafted on iOS than Android…
I like Android for everything that has been discussed here already, but who knows if I go back someday to iOS, still need to improve, for now I think it is that good that jailbreak does not feels like a necessity like back in the days…
