this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
42 points (59.5% liked)

Apple

17491 readers
68 users here now

Welcome

to the largest Apple community on Lemmy. This is the place where we talk about everything Apple, from iOS to the exciting upcoming Apple Vision Pro. Feel free to join the discussion!

Rules:
  1. No NSFW Content
  2. No Hate Speech or Personal Attacks
  3. No Ads / Spamming
    Self promotion is only allowed in the pinned monthly thread

Lemmy Code of Conduct

Communities of Interest:

Apple Hardware
Apple TV
Apple Watch
iPad
iPhone
Mac
Vintage Apple

Apple Software
iOS
iPadOS
macOS
tvOS
watchOS
Shortcuts
Xcode

Community banner courtesy of u/Antsomnia.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
42
My experience switching from Android to iPhone (lemmy.cafe)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
126 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

After spending over a decade with various Android phones, I finally made the switch to an iPhone. Here’s why I made the switch and what I’ve discovered since.

The Struggles with Samsung/Android

  1. Slow Shutter on Samsung Flagships: One of my biggest gripes with Samsung’s flagship phones has been the slow shutter and shutter lag. Trying to capture a moving subjects often resulted in blurry photos or missed shots entirely. This has been an issue with Samsung phones for many years.

  2. Google’s Service Abandonment: Google has a notorious history of abandoning services. The most recent one being the Podcasts app. The podcast experience on YouTube Music is just terrible.

  3. Hardware Design: The Samsung S24 Ultra has sharp corners that make it uncomfortable to hold. The Pixel 8 phones have issues with connectivity and overheating. The S24+ comes with an inferior Exynos processor.

  4. Performance: No matter how fast the hardware is, Android phones always seem to slow down and stutter after a few months of use. It’s like they age in dog years. (My most recent Samsung phone was the S23+, and it already started lagging).

  5. Apps: Android apps have an inconsistent look and feel. It’s like a patchwork quilt made by someone who doesn’t know how to sew. Also, a lot of Android apps require excessive permissions.

  6. Disaster: A Samsung update once made my phone unbootable. I had to do a full reset and lost some data. People said I should have made a backup before the update, but Android doesn't provide an easy way to completely backup the phone. That was the last straw.

The iPhone Revelation

  1. Shortcuts: The Shortcuts app on iPhone is a game-changer. It automates tasks in ways I never thought possible.

  2. Face ID: Face ID on the iPhone is leagues ahead of Samsung’s version and even better than Touch ID. It’s fast, reliable, and just works. With the amount of unlocks I need everyday, this turns out to be more impactful than I expected.

  3. Files App: The Files app is actually useful, and it has built-in support for Windows file shares.

  4. Look & Feel: Everything on iOS feels smoother and more premium. The animations, the UI design – it’s all just so polished.

  5. Audio: It’s much easier to select audio output in-app when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and AirPlay.

  6. Driving: CarPlay is a joy to use compared to Android Auto. Plus, Apple Maps has better voice directions.

  7. Emulators: Emulators are now possible to use on iPhone without jailbreaking.

Switching to iPhone has been a breath of fresh air. While Android gave me more freedom and customizations. The consistency, reliability, and overall experience of iOS have won me over.

What was your experience switching to/from "the dark side"?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Few months ago I switched to an iPhone 15 Pro Max after being on Android for years. I think I briefly tried an iPhone 6s back in the day? For maybe a month and gave up. I only switched because I happened to be able to get the phone without having to pay anything down, and the one good thing I've always heard about iPhone is the camera. Going to be honest, I despise iOS as much as I remember. Navigating around is a nightmare. The number of times I try to use the android back gesture, only for nothing to happen, is in the dozens of times per day. The fact that there is no dedicated back button or gesture, unless a specific app graciously decides you get to have one(in the most inconvenient location possible), is obscene. Back on Android, not only do I get said feature, I can tweak and customize it to my liking. And for that matter, I can do the same to pretty much the entire UI. The nearly non-customizable UI on iOS is infuriating. The fact that I can't seem to predict which volume is about to be adjusted when I hit the volume buttons is even more infuriating. As is the phone's insistence on not switching audio devices when it should. Or refusing to connect to Bluetooth headphones or other devices automatically, constantly forcing me to going into the settings and do it manually. And just countless other things I absolutely hate about this thing. The only thing I have found to be an improvement is the battery life, which after a full day is still at 90% when I am ready to go to bed. But that's only because I just don't touch the phone anymore. I check an email or two during the day, and the phone otherwise just sits in my pocket untouched. Switching to an iPhone is probably the single biggest technology-related mistake I've made in years. And that's coming from someone who is running Arch as the only OS on my gaming laptop, and owns multiple VR headset and AR/XR glasses.

I'm glad other people seem to like their iPhones, but I absolutely despise this thing, and oh my god am I desperate to get the hell back onto Android at the first opportunity. I got this through Boost Infinite, so I'm hoping that when it's time, they'll let me "upgrade" to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Which is the phone I wanted to begin with, but they were conveniently only advertising the iPhone at the time, so I didn't know they had other phones.

Moral of the the story is, if you tend to do any customization at all when you get a new Android phone, you're probably going to hate iPhone. If you tend to just log in your email account and use the phone as it comes, you might fare better. In either case, do what you have to, to get your hands on a borrowed iPhone and spend some time with it before even considering making the switch.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

FaceID is what keeps me on iPhone..

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

That's a new one

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I kinda wish ios had a fdroid equivalent. Apples $99 yearly dev fee basically forces apps to rely on subscriptions or advertising (rarely one time iap).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think it isn't a one-time, but rather a yearly fee, so more like a subscription. And on top of that they take their third.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Forgot to mention yearly updated (thanks for the catch).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

I hate how the files app doesn't give me access to shit.

The file apps on android aren't perfect due to no root access but it's leagues ahead of the awful iOS app.

They usually support SMB shares too.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

No idea why Samsung is seen as the best manufacturer of Android phones. Bloated crap.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

I have a Pixel 8 and don't have connectivity or overheating issues. I say this as it's 38°C right now 🥵

The lack of being able to use extensions in Firefox on iOS is a deal breaker for me.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

These look like all Samsung issues and not Android issues

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

1, 2, 4, and 5 are universal across Android OEMs and versions.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

  1. Slow Shutter: Its instant on the Pixel, in fact the Pixel is known for its fast camera. The instant shuttet was a selling piece for the Nexus phones on ICS and the Pixel maintains this speed.

  2. Google’s Service Abandonment: This affects iPhones too, it's a Google problem not an Android problem. The historical Google Services for Android remain to this day.

  3. Performance: Ive only experienced stutter on social apps, and I've seen the iPhone stutter on ReactNative apps as well.

  4. Android apps have an inconsistent look and feel: This is subjective. The only apps I see not on Material You are social apps that try to use their look, or are abandoned and using Holo. Abandoned iPhone apps also look out of place.

However on Samsung this is made worse by the fact that Samsing restyles applications. Some apps may still show Material You instead of OneUI theme.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

Is OP an Apple shill? Does OP know that Samsung is not Android and viceversa?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Apple devices could literally be the best device ever created and they should still never be purchased because Apple is a garbage company.

The shit state of the world right now is largely because we keep giving garbage companies our money because they make the shiny shit we like to be distracted by.

The absolute strategy of the billionaire corporate class is "who cares if the world burns as long as we collect all the money and keep people looking down at their screens so they don't notice."

Fuck them. And fuck anyone who keeps the status quo going by shelling out for their shit. And doubly fuck anyone who then shills for them on social media.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And Samsung is a shining star of a tech company? Google, too?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hell no. Fuck all of them. My point is get off the corporate cycle.

You're phone isn't dead just because two years have gone by and Apple/Samsung/Google tell you so. Stop giving them money and use your phones for longer, or preferably (though understandably much more difficult for most regular people so not really feasible for most) replace the built in software with privacy respecting alternatives that don't send all your data back to their home office.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sure. Keep your phone until it’s dead, I’m all for that. Same with cars. But when it goes, what do you replace it with?

Are you going to build your own car? That’s awesome if you can and have the time. Otherwise, you’re going to buy a car, hopefully used, that was still built by EvilCorp.

Same with your phone.

I drive a Tesla; bought it used. Elon is a shit human. Know who else is a shit human? Literally every CEO of every car company in the world.

I have an iPhone. Bought it used. Tim Cook is a shit human. Know who else is a shit human? Literally every CEO of every major tech company in the world.

I work for NVIDIA. I make them a lot of money and they pay me very well. Do I think Jensen Huang is a shit human? Fuck yes I do, he exploits people the same way every other CEO ever does.

But what can I do? I self-host most of my services and pay for privacy-respecting ones that I don’t. But I’m a career IT worker; I know how to do that. Most people don’t even know what Linux is.

Sure, I could just move to Baja and live a Mexico beach bum lifestyle. Doesn’t sound so bad until one thinks a little deeper about it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

You do what you can, when you can. Every bit helps. Buying your iPhone used is a great thing. Self-hosting services. Also great.

There is no "one" solution that is ever going to be perfect, because the corporate greed has been allowed to run rampant as far back as the 80s. Reaganomics took us from a world where company "x" would make a product, attach a reasonable profit margin to it (usually 30-40 percent) and be happy with that. Then shareholders came along and suddenly it wasn't about a profit margin, it was about INCREASING a stock price at the expense of everything else. At the expense of customers. At the expense of employees. At the expense of the environment.

But all we can do is do what we can, when we can. Otherwise we're rapidly heading for the movie "Elysium", where the super rich live on a space station (or other paradise) while the rest of us are in slums. The only difference being is that unlike Elysium, no one in the slums will notice or care, as long as long as they can spend a months wages on the new hotness each year.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)
  1. Files App: The Files app is actually useful, and it has built-in support for Windows file shares.

It does? How can you access that?

load more comments
view more: next ›