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I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

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Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#221

Post by tjoff »

matte_black wrote: post #212
tjoff wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Royally disagree with the headphone jack. That is a huge issue that I don't ever see an end to. You never know when you need a headphone jack and there is no realistic way to carry an adapter all the time. And that is even if I'm willing to buy $100 worth of worthless adapters and do my best to sprinkle them out in my life. Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? Buying bluetooth headphones doesn't mitigate…

Many stereos and cars should accept Bluetooth connections by now, so I’m not sure what the problem is.

1. Many more don't. Home stereos typically don't. Regular radios typically don't.

2. Bluetooth is pure crap, the UX for connecting and managing temporary devices is absolutely insane on all devices. This is something you do on your own car but is a major hassle to setup for temporary occasions. And hardly something that is done on a whim just to demo something. It is just that bad.

And this is even before considering compatibility issues and security issues, of which there are plentiful. And cars also have this habit of trying to harvest all your contacts etc. (Wonder how many contacts are floating around in rental cars... sigh)

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#222

Post by sergiotapia »

YouKnowBetter wrote: post #136

My whole family (parents, sister & her kids, wife & our kids) have switched to iPhones (and macos devices) years ago. Result: 1. no "technical" issues anymore. As the go to IT guy in the family this alone is worth the supposed premium price one pays for the Apple logo. 2. Everything is updated, at all times. 3. "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues 4. All devices die of old age (even the devices that have since lo…

Completely mirrors my experience as well. My wife used to have a Note and she would constantly have issues with the phone that I would have to deal with.

Since buying her an iphone 6 years ago, ZERO issues. NO tech support from me. That alone is worth the price of admission. Same with dropbox, I pay the $99/yr gladly because it means my wife isn't asking me about the baby photos and if they're safe in the flash drive in the desk drawer.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#223

Post by hellofunk »

efdee wrote: post #97
hellofunk wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you install FB or any other app you get a nice list of things the App is allowed to do, if you do not want the app to do those things you should not install the app. This is actually a fairly recent change to Android. It did not used to provide you with these choices. It demonstrates that user privacy is a bit of an afterthought with Android. For Apple, these kinds of user choices have been there since the sta…

I've been using Android since 2.x and I sell to remember it has always been like this. The recent change iirc is being able to decline a certain privilege and still use the app.

No, only Android 6 and later has provided proper user permissions [0] :

> You declare that your app needs a permission by listing the permission in the app manifest and then requesting that the user approve each permission at runtime (on Android 6.0 and higher).

> Beginning with Android 6.0 (API level 23), users can revoke permissions from any app at any time

[0] https://developer.android.com/training/permissions/requestin...

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#224

Post by microtonal »

e40 wrote: post #198
YouKnowBetter wrote: post #136

My whole family (parents, sister & her kids, wife & our kids) have switched to iPhones (and macos devices) years ago. Result: 1. no "technical" issues anymore. As the go to IT guy in the family this alone is worth the supposed premium price one pays for the Apple logo. 2. Everything is updated, at all times. 3. "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues 4. All devices die of old age (even the devices that have since lo…

When my 80 year old dad went from Android to iPhone, the mistakes went up and his ability to get things done went down. Cognitively, he's the same, so it's not that. Maybe he was ruined by using Android first. For example, he never used to send texts to my home phone number. Now half of them are, though I seem to have got him to switch to email. He still can only send me pictures from his phone about 1 out of 4 times…

These discussions are not very useful, because they are based anecdotal evidence.

Just to offer a counterpoint: my mother never used a computer and is non-technical, but she manages great with her iPad (she does chat, Facetime, and web browsing). She had a couple of hand down Android phones (IIRC, Moto E, Moto G, and later a Samsung Galaxy Note 4). The Android phones were very confusing to her and she had difficulty contacting anyone while on the go. She recently got an iPhone and she manages without trouble.

The problem is that there are a so many factors: prior experience (my mom used an iPad before), extremely small sample sizes, biases (if you are an iOS fan you like to believe that iDevices work better for your loved ones), etc.

There are only some aspects that we can objectively evaluate (iDevices get security updates for longer periods, iDevices typicaly get more frequent updates). When it comes to usability, you can only get meaningful information from large samples.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#225

Post by ubernostrum »

boudin wrote: post #170
teekert wrote: post #55

I'm thinking of going from android to iPhone for privacy reasons. But, whenever I hold an iPhone that list of notification puts me off, in android they are grouped, meaning 3 new exchange mails is 1 notification, I can pull on the notification to expand the 3 and then even more for every email. Short replies can be done inline in the notification even. I use that constantly. You can also swipe away a notification gro…

I don't see how Apple is better with privacy. I get it's a big part of their marketing, but it's.... marketing. Phone still comes with siri, with apps you can't remove, with location tracking. Apple cloud is, as all clouds, you giving away your data to Apple, so you end up having to trust them blindly. I know it's not part of their business model so far, but they still collect and own a lot of your data. As long as a…

Apple is "better with privacy" because Apple's model is to have you pay for things with your money instead of with your personal data.

If you really have a difficult time distinguishing any difference between Apple's and Google's business models, I don't know how to even begin explaining to you.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#227

Post by iaml »

boudin wrote: post #170
teekert wrote: post #55

I'm thinking of going from android to iPhone for privacy reasons. But, whenever I hold an iPhone that list of notification puts me off, in android they are grouped, meaning 3 new exchange mails is 1 notification, I can pull on the notification to expand the 3 and then even more for every email. Short replies can be done inline in the notification even. I use that constantly. You can also swipe away a notification gro…

I don't see how Apple is better with privacy. I get it's a big part of their marketing, but it's.... marketing. Phone still comes with siri, with apps you can't remove, with location tracking. Apple cloud is, as all clouds, you giving away your data to Apple, so you end up having to trust them blindly. I know it's not part of their business model so far, but they still collect and own a lot of your data. As long as a…

What? You can completely disable siri, remove almost all apps (excluding phone, clock and stuff like that) and completely disable location tracking. Also, you can use it without logging into icloud, or disable sync.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#228

Post by derekp7 »

andrepd wrote: post #215
YouKnowBetter wrote: post #136

My whole family (parents, sister & her kids, wife & our kids) have switched to iPhones (and macos devices) years ago. Result: 1. no "technical" issues anymore. As the go to IT guy in the family this alone is worth the supposed premium price one pays for the Apple logo. 2. Everything is updated, at all times. 3. "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues 4. All devices die of old age (even the devices that have since lo…

1. I don't understand, why would Android phones have more technical problems than Android? I don't recall experiencing any major problems in 8 years of having android phones, and I've even experimented with custom ROMs and kernels and the like. 2. Granted, updates are an issue. Not with very popular and/or Google-supported phones, like the pixel. 3. Why so? How do you know fb doesn't spy on your sms? 4. Do they? Or d…

I would really like to know the answer to that ("why"). My most recent experience is with a Motorola Nexus 6 -- worked great for the first couple years after I got it. But recently a lot of things have been really glitchy. For example, Android Auto takes about 15 minutes to come fully alive, find my position, and plot a route when I plug it into my car. And video playback started stuttering bad. And the CPUs were maxed out periodically

I've uninstalled all third-party apps, cleared cache, and that fixed the issues for about a week, then they all came back. Only thing I didn't do is reflash back to factory defaults. Bought a Pixel 2 to replace it, and am wondering how long it will last.

BTW, this has also been the same experience with several family members, mostly with Samsung android phones -- they work great for a couple years, then start slowing down.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#229

Post by microtonal »

kossae wrote: post #175
Saaster wrote: post #168

I wish I could switch to the iPhone, and I've tried several times. The hardware is excellent. But these are my deal-breakers that keep me on Android (I've only ever had Google Nexus / Pixel phones): - Lastpass or any other password manager on iPhone is a joke, requiring multiple convoluted steps and using the "share" menu in the browser because of the Apple lock-down. Lastpass on Android? Click the password field in…

Wow. As an iPhone user I actually wasn't aware of how easy LastPass is on Android. I, too, hate all of the steps (leave browser to open the app, search for your site, copy password, go back to the browser, paste password). Hopefully I'm missing something? Re: Google. Their apps are certainly subpar as opposed to Android, which is to be expected. They are getting better, though. And Google Photos is a must for me as a…

leave browser to open the app, search for your site, copy password, go back to the browser, paste password

In the browser, you can tap the share icon and choose 1Password, this will open 1Password and you can confirm the entry to log in.

Re: I switched from iPhone to the Pixel 2: One-week report

#230

Post by towndrunk »

intended wrote: post #207
matwood wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Siri is definitely Apples biggest weakness, but the headphone jack? The phone comes with a little adapter. If you're a person who has tons of nice headphones laying around, but a couple more adapters and call it a day. Is it a bit of inconvenience at first? Sure, but don't act like there is no way to plug in headphones or that it's the end of the world. And Duo? I'm a tech person and I can't keep all of the Google co…

Head phone jack is a big issue. I have no desire to keep one on me at all times on the off chance that I will need it. I just stop listening to music or using the device for that use case. Basically dropping the functionality of the phone significantly, unless I’m home or near my tech storage locker. This is assanine design.

...and you can't charge the damn thing while using the headphones... what the hell?
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