Ok, Apple haters, convince me

mtn said:

gixxeropa said:

But perhaps my most unpopular opinion is that windows phone was pretty good, actually

I think that is an unpopular opinion only among people who didn't use one. I know 3 people who used one, and they all held onto it for as long as possible and really loved them.

They were too expensive for me though. 

 

EDIT: Obviously not, based on the prior posters. 

I had one of the colorful nokia flagships. 9 something. Phone was awesome, the app selection was decent but not great, and the phone was incredibly durable, only phone ive used without a case and not broken  it. There was a video of someone driving a nail in a little with the screen. I also held onto it as long as I could

If I could get an updated version of that phone with android OS, id have one now.

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

All the ownership and admin rights in the world won't let me install W10 on the old W7 laptop I have upstairs.  Maybe I could run some weird artisanal system?  I don't know.  But I'm not bitter at either Dell or Microsoft for not keeping >10-year-old hardware relevant.

But again, haters gonna hate and all that. Feel free to rebut me if you wish, but I'm done beating this dead horse too.

Duke said:

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

All the ownership and admin rights in the world won't let me install W10 on the old W7 laptop I have upstairs.  Maybe I could run some weird artisanal system?  I don't know.  But I'm not bitter at either Dell or Microsoft for not keeping >10-year-old hardware relevant.

But again, haters gonna hate and all that. Feel free to rebut me if you wish, but I'm done beating this dead horse too.

 

I think his point is you can choose to stop and stay with Win7 on your ancient dell.  The Apple device auto-updated to an OS that crippled it, and there is likely no way to undo it.  I understand that frustration.

(correct me if I am misinterpreting this).

In reply to ProDarwin :

That's why I don't have automatic updates. I generally do them fairly quickly, but I've had several older devices that I opted not to update the OS. I had a first gen iPod touch that I used well past relevancy that way. For me it was just for music, but the apps available to download/run were very limited. Basement flooded and finally killed that one a couple years ago. 

Duke said:

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

but I'm done beating this dead horse too.

what a wild take. 

I didn't realize dead horses were being beaten here.  The OP asked for opinions, and I gave mine. You decided my opinion was wrong when I didn't ask for yours, and then proceeded to strawman my position, repeatedly. 

It must be tough living life certain that you're the smartest person you know.

ProDarwin said: I think his point is you can choose to stop and stay with Win7 on your ancient dell.  The Apple device auto-updated to an OS that crippled it, and there is likely no way to undo it.  I understand that frustration.

(correct me if I am misinterpreting this).

 accurate

Jesse Ransom said:

Opti said:

Android with custom firmware. Sandboxed Google Services, and quit being tracked so much.

I understand this is not the choice for many, but it is for me, and I wont go back

This is a thing I'm really curious about. Found an article on the de-Googled Android used by Fairphone (and others). Is your custom firmware a broadly available thing or more, well, custom?

Ive used a few different ones over the years that ranged quite a bit. They do have a couple of bigger players that are released across most of the common phones. GrapheneOS comes to mind. I used to "know" I was being tracked, then I started paying attention more to it and looking at some of the research being done, and its considerably worse than most know or could imagine.

There have been a handful of start ups like fairphone and even a linux based setup Pine phone, or something like it, but in my experience, they all tend to be mid-tier phones, and I prefer the better specs of a flagship, which allow me to hold on to them for longer, so my only choice has been using CFW.

Folks. Let's all take a step back. I appreciate the input, but things are getting hotter than my old raz'r. 
 

I was thinking maybe there was something simple like "android model xy3 has a super awesome camera that Apple can't touch." Or maybe "the pixel 32.4 has all the features and reliability at half the price."

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

In the Android world, Samsung is hard to beat as long as you stay away from their folding phones. The folding phones sound great on paper but in the real world, not so much. The screen on mine failed after a year and a half. I'm currently carrying a S23 Ultra. It is very fast, has an outstanding screen, an outstanding camera, and a battery that will run for 2 days of normal usage.

On the used market, I really like LG's V40 and V60. Unfortunately, they are both discontinued and LG is out of the phone business. 

I have heard good things about the Google phones but I don't have any direct experience with them. 

I have very little experience with the iPhones beyond trying to figure out what my parents have done to theirs. They are phones. Old people screw them up as much as they do Android phones. 

My middle son carries an LG for personal use and a company-supplied iPhone 10 for work. He prefers the LG. He grew up as an Android user so he may be biased. 

That's all I got. 

barefootcyborg5000 said:

Folks. Let's all take a step back. I appreciate the input, but things are getting hotter than my old raz'r. 
 

I was thinking maybe there was something simple like "android model xy3 has a super awesome camera that Apple can't touch." Or maybe "the pixel 32.4 has all the features and reliability at half the price."

 

Well, pretty much every flagship-level smartphone has a great camera these days. They do have different strengths, though. Samsung has more post-processing and produces warmer, more colorful images. Pixels are more naturalistic and probably have the best "pure" photography. iPhones have better video than any Android phone. It's all personal preference, IMO.

For value, it's hard to beat the Pixel "A" line. They get a top-line camera with the rest of the specs being mid-level, which is perfectly adequate for 97% of people. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Nah. All the major players have figured out how to make a good phone (as long as you avoid new gimmicks like folding screens). The differences will be in percentages rather than big leaps between them. Mostly it's preference based on what you're used to.

Anecdotally, my Samsung seems more robust than an Apple (or other manufacturer short of an old Nokia) for an incrementally better price. I think it's not nothing. If I spend 20% less and keep it 20% longer... that's 40% more value!

My biggest condemnation of Apple is that they don't design things to be easily repaired. Apple products "just work"... until they don't. They're not magic. Even if they were twice as reliable as the competition (which they are not), something is still going to go wrong. On an Android, I can very easily open up the back and get to the battery and SIM card.

I prioritize a more rugged phone that can stand the abuses of a hot and wet environment where it will suffer frequent drops onto concrete. A Samsung Galaxy line with an Otter Box case wins for those uses.

In reply to Beer Baron :

At the risk of being branded an Apple iApologist™, my current iPhone XS Max is 5 years old and I plan to keep it at least another year.  I get 2 days of fairly heavy use out of a battery charge.  It's active 18 / 7 / 365.  It's running the current iOS with the quickness and the case is pristine (it's in a minimal polymer shell, no screen protector).  I don't use it in a wet industrial environment, granted, but it goes into the garage and on job sites and in the field with me under all conditions.

I've been using iPhones since... 2007?  I usually get about 4 years out of them before I decide I want a new one.  I've never broken one or had one fail. 

DD#2 broke the screen on hers once (she won't use a case), and I was able to replace it myself without issue.  DD#1 tends to be hard on equipment in general, so we put hers in an Otterbox.  I think she's broken one screen on an older phone.

barefootcyborg5000 said:

Folks. Let's all take a step back. I appreciate the input, but things are getting hotter than my old raz'r. 
 

I was thinking maybe there was something simple like "android model xy3 has a super awesome camera that Apple can't touch." Or maybe "the pixel 32.4 has all the features and reliability at half the price."

Samsung S and Google Pixel are hard to beat. There isnt much differentiation in the android market anymore, so not much reason to leave the aforementioned brands. 

Contrary to others, my wife had the last Galaxy Fold. The big one thats like a tablet. She loved it, I hated it. We had no problems. It held its value well, and was just as fast 2 years later when we sold it. Screen survived with no problems.

I havent broken an Android or an iPhone.

I have had Androids become borderline unusable due to aging out/poor support/????.  Granted, those were lower end phones than my iPhone.  (Google Nexus, Motorola, etc.)  I was trying to save a buck.

In the end a nightmare user experience wasn't worth saving $100 a year.  I'm betting the upper end Androids (which carry $Apple pricetags) don't have those issues.  The best advice I can give a prospective Android phone buyer is A) buy a brand like Google or Samsung B) DO NOT GO CHEAP

My last two Androids were OnePluses. They're not as discounted as when they first arrived, but i found them to be good phones for a meaningful discount.

i had a Galaxy quite a few years ago (single digit model number?) and it was incredibly durable, but i feel like my experiences went downhill after that one, though they are clearly well liked.

Sticking with Samsung and Pixel makes finding cases and such easier. Although their phones are very different from their other appliances, as i wait for my oven's main relay board to arrive at a third party PCB repair facility, I'm not sure I'll ever buy another Samsung anything.

woot.com Cell Phones and Accessories - its an Amazon clearance site that will work with your Amazon login and pay method. Occasionally they will get an influx of new Samsung flagships of yesteryear. I found a new in factory box Samsung S22+ earlier this summer for <$500. No activation, no additional fees. Dropped my sim in and it immediately worked with full 5G functionality on my CDMA carrier. They also coincidentally had an Otterbox defender on the site for $5. Pretty big deal off MSRP.

Samsung reliability, good size screen, great camera, and 18+hr battery performance. Half the price for brand new, no carrier bloatware, full factory warranty.

EDIT: full disclosure, they also often have new iPhones and Pixels. Refurbs are very common on the site too

I've replaced batteries, screens, cases etc on apple products that I guess people think are hard to work on? Never understood the stigma n apple phone repairs. Get the tool set and go to work. 

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

The RCS thing is moderately annoying. I get why Apple doesn't want to support it. They've somehow convinced the US market that green bubbles are bad, and if they decide to start supporting RCS on iMessage, they'd lose that. So, they default to SMS, which is very outdated, less capable and way less secure. That's their prerogative. It's worth pointing out that the "green bubble" thing is really just a US market issue. The rest of the world uses WhatsApp or Telegram or one of the other messaging apps.

Well, slap my ass and call me Sally, Apple is doing it.

In a surprising move, Apple has announced today that it will adopt the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard. The feature will launch via a software update “later next year” and bring a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android users.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

That's flipping fantastic!

Jesse Ransom said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

That's flipping fantastic!

It really is. It'll be nice to be able to exchange higher-quality images and secure texts with my daughter again.

Having owned a Motorola, a few S-Galaxies, and a couple Pixels, if I were choosing right now I would pick the Pixel three times a day and six times on Sunday.

With a Pixel, you get a whopper of a phone and camera.  It's all google.  With a Galaxy, you get a great phone and camera that has been practically ruined by all the crap that Samsung puts on it.  Samsung texting, browser, email client, security, photo gallery, you have to make a Samsung account.... My old Pixel 3 was light years faster than my current S21 because it wasn't bloated with a complete re-programming of everything Samsung.

Google = Android, so a google phone doesn't come with all the extra junk.  Samsung = Samsung with Android software AND a full suite of Samsung apps that they really want you to use.  They try to make it "better" and "different" so that you smoke the crack and get hooked.

Or stick with iPhone.  Both fine choices.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

A very concise summary. Thank you. 
My last flip phone was a Samsung something that I disliked immensely. Except the pull-out antenna, that was cool. 
Seems the Pixel line is worth considering. I'll shop those too. 
 

Does anyone know offhand if there are any pending releases or announcements that might make current models into yesterdays news (meaning cheaper)?

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

With a Pixel, you get a whopper of a phone and camera.  It's all google.  With a Galaxy, you get a great phone and camera that has been practically ruined by all the crap that Samsung puts on it.  Samsung texting, browser, email client, security, photo gallery, you have to make a Samsung account.... My old Pixel 3 was light years faster than my current S21 because it wasn't bloated with a complete re-programming of everything Samsung.

None of which you have to use. I use Google Messages for texting. Chrome for a browser, and Outlook for email on my S22 Ultra. I do use Samsung's photo gallery, because I can use it without it automatically uploading all my pics to the cloud like Google Photos does. I also use Samsung Health because it has about 10x the features of Google Fit.

My problem with the direction Google is going is that it's all cloud and AI, and that's not what interests me. The big calling card of the Pixel 8 seems to be all the fancy AI-based photo stuff you can do. Well, I just want to take pictures. The new "Tensor" CPUs, which are optimized for AI, lag behind the latest Qualcomm chips in performance. And the modems that Google puts in the Pixels are still nowhere near what others are using. A phone that can't connect is not much more than a paperweight, so until Google addresses that, I will continue to buy Samsungs.

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

With a Pixel, you get a whopper of a phone and camera.  It's all google.  With a Galaxy, you get a great phone and camera that has been practically ruined by all the crap that Samsung puts on it.  Samsung texting, browser, email client, security, photo gallery, you have to make a Samsung account.... My old Pixel 3 was light years faster than my current S21 because it wasn't bloated with a complete re-programming of everything Samsung.

None of which you have to use. I use Google Messages for texting. Chrome for a browser, and Outlook for email on my S22 Ultra. I do use Samsung's photo gallery, because I can use it without it automatically uploading all my pics to the cloud like Google Photos does. I also use Samsung Health because it has about 10x the features of Google Fit.

yes, this↑

I also am running a Samsung, and I also only use their Gallery app as far as their preinstalled software goes. I use different email and browser apps than Tom, but theyre similarly not the Samsung native apps.

I realize that any modern cellular device is more of a information gathering service than anything else, so none of the players in this game are clean where anonymity or privacy are concerned. But using a Google device outright just feels like Im walking into the lions mouth for him...

3rd what Tom and 4Cyl said. It takes about 2 minutes to kill off everything Samsung. I use the same browser and email on my phone, laptop, and desktop and it all works together seamlessly. 

If all you want to do is use the native phone apps, you may be better off with Apple.