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.
Personally, after being on Android since the first Motorola droid and switching to iPhone a few years ago with the 12, I wouldn’t move back to Android at all.
I had Motorola for a while, then the LG g series for a bit, then galaxies until the s8, and then a pixel 4xl.
Google pissed me off with their warranty and support. My pixel had the internal battery cable fuck off and they wouldn’t repair it even though they acknowledged it was design fault. Because I was one week out of warranty.
I hated Samsungs bloatware, Lg was gone, Motorola was pretty nonexistent, and I didn’t want a Chinese owned brands like one+, oppo, or Huawei.
So Apple was pretty much it. I got a regular iPhone 12, and everything I wanted to do was easier than Android. Apple had a built in app for it without me having to fuck around with side loading or installing third party apps.
Android is undoubted better for customization and if you love having extremely fine grained control over your phone. Plus the benefit of being able to side load completely different loads of Android. You have MUCH more control over your environment than an iPhone.
Personally, I don’t give a shit about that. I do that shit at work 60 hours a week. For my personal devices I just want the shit to work. I also want Google in my life as little as possible.
Just curious, why don’t you want Google in your life but you’d want Android in your life? Both are mega corporations that are taking our data.
I’m personally not a privacy focused individual, but your sentiment is just odd to me because it seems inconsistent.
I assume you mean Apple there instead of Android? I got rid of Android because I wanted less Google in my life.
Sure Apple collects some data, but comparing them to Google is like comparing a broom to an industrial vacuum. Apple doesn’t collect nearly the same amount of data and makes privacy features much more integrated with the phone. With the advanced data protection, virtually everything is end to end encrypted where they don’t even have the keys, including iCloud.
It’s not perfect at all, but of the two OSs, I’ll take iOS every day.
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.
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 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.
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
Really expensive over here, so people only buy them for status basically. Having an iPhone signifies that you’re well off enough to not worry about price.
I had a friend who said exactly this. She was just buying it to show off basically. She didn’t even believe me when I said the back was glass for some reason lol. And when she got it, she had to get used to counter-intuitive behaviour like the power button cutting a WhatsApp call. She did this multiple times on a call with me, it was pretty funny!
Another friend kinda regrets buying it now because he feels locked in to the Apple ecosystem.
Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever switch because F-Droid is a huge part of my phone experience. When my Pixel runs out of support, I’ll probably just root it.
It’s a great phone. Solid hardware, good software. Just not for me.
I haven’t liked iPhones in over a decade. The locked down OS, iTunes, no MicroSD, etc just make them a non-starter for me. Android is far from perfect but I cannot stand to use an iPhone. My wife loves hers and so do some of my in-laws but I won’t be getting one.
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 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.
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.
If apple allowed you to open up the software and increased ease of hardware repair they’d be my choice. The products are high quality but you have no choice in anything. I enjoy being able to install custom roms on my android. That being said Samsung is getting just as bad as apple. Can’t even put a custom roms on my zfold cause unlocking the bootloader disables the cameras. Google is also pushing more and more to make android less open and more like apple and Samsung is really trying to do the same thing. I’d like to see another OS enter the market. Linux for Android is looking promising but I’m afraid there will never be a market ready model. Pine phones are close and libre is nearly there but phosh is disgusting and not a viable replacement.
I see iPhones as remarkable feats of technology shrouded by greedy business practices and a cultish fan base that alienates everyone that doesn’t conform to the Apple way. If Apple had an execute shakeup and started becoming pro-consumer instead of pro-shareholder then the Apple ecosystem could be an amazing tool that everyone can use, not just iPhone fanatics. I’d love to bring a Macbook around with me because of the portability and reliability, but the cost and lack of support for anything non-apple makes me consider other options, like Framework, Samsung or Lenovo, which I’m fine with. They all build fantastic machines, but they’re limited by the instability of the operating systems I can choose from.
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I think that iPhones are unacceptably locked down. But I also think that stock Android is unacceptably privacy-invasive (as in, illegally so, here in the EU).
So, I actually recommend iPhones to non-techies, while running an Android Custom ROM myself. Not particularly happy with that solution either, though. Might see, if I can help push along the Linux phone ecosystem…
What’s your current phone and which custom rom are you using? I’m in the market for a new phone but I’m not sure which will have good custom rom support.
I’m using this thing with GApps-less LineageOS: https://www.shift.eco/en/shift6mq/
(GApps = Google Apps)
It is expensive. But if I remember correctly, they’re the only manufacturer I could find, who actually officially advertised basic Custom ROM compatibility.
So, they obviously can’t promise compatibility with all Custom ROMs and forever, but unlocking the bootloader is literally just a toggle in the Developer Settings and your warranty doesn’t expire, if you do dabble with Custom ROMs.
(They do also actually help out the Custom ROM community, and therefore the community does support that phone quite well.)As for LineageOS, I’ve never looked around terribly much for other Custom ROMs. I find stock ROMs too limited in features and I especially appreciate being able to wipe all that pre-installed crap by just installing a fresh OS. LineageOS is perfectly alright for that and it’s widely supported.
Alternative phones that I’d also expect to work fine:
- FairPhone 4. My mum still uses my old FairPhone 3 with LineageOS. Unlocking the bootloader was also just one ADB command, if I remember correctly.
- Google Pixel phones. I wouldn’t buy one myself, because they make me feel icky, but from what I’ve heard, they generally work well with Custom ROMs. In particular, they have a special encryption chip, so for example GrapheneOS only really works on them.
- Most flagship phones of non-stupid manufacturers. If it’s a popular phone from a manufacturer, who doesn’t lock down the bootloader to ridiculous levels, then there’s usually folks who’ve made Custom ROMs available for those phones and written guides for installation.
But yeah, this list is basically sorted from easy to not-so-easy, as the concrete steps can vary wildly.
I should also add that “easy” is on your second rodeo. The first rodeo is always a bit tricky, even for techies.
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.
I prefer Android, but use iPhone 12 Mini instead. The thing is, more than two years ago I was looking for a new phone to replace my aging Oneplus 6, I wanted something more compact. One that really caught my attention was Pixel 4A (Zenfone 8 wasn’t released yet, neither was Pixel 5A and I wasn’t really looking for Galaxy A or S series full of bloat either).
Out of nowhere a friend of mine offered me barely used iPhone 12 Mini for 400€ so I got that one instead and it serves me well. I still don’t like the iOS (apart from the fact that it just works), but other than that the phone itself is still very relevant, camera is good enough, it’s got plenty of power for what I need from it, only the battery will need to be replaced in a couple of months. I don’t really plan on getting something else yet, this pocket rocket ticks most of the boxes for me, even tough I can’t really tinker with OS itself and I’m fairly limited in regard to what apps do I get to use.
