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).

  • It was absolutely painful to transfer files from the phone to my computer (Ugh, iTunes).

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • jacktherippah@lemdro.id
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • Shurimal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      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.