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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

#411
post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real answer here is to use the lightning -> 3.5mm adapter which comes with the iPhone, I believe.

But then I cannot plug my headphones into my brand new laptop...

You forgot the /s

But I cannot plug my headphones AND charge my phone.

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

#412
post #13

Interesting to read this since I'm considering getting an iPhone; so far I've only used Android. Does anyone have comments who has done the switch in that direction?

Just got a iPhone 8 at the beginning of the year after probably 7 years of Android, mostly Samsung devices. Can’t wait to go back to be honest. Part of the problem was that iOS 11 was super buggy at the beginning. That really soured me to start and I haven’t found anything particularly worth changing my mind over since.

Yes, I've been quite happy with my Galaxy Note 4, now so old that I can't even remember when I bought it — must be 4 years or so. I haven't even replaced the battery, though I like having the option to do so ... oh well, I guess nobody lets you do that anymore.

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

#413
post #33
post #23

I was an an android user for many years but switched to an iPhone about 10 months ago. I have three complaints with android which will stop me going back again: 1. It demands my attention too much. Updates, problems, weirdness, random crashes. 2. I don’t trust any android handset vendor to look after me. I’ve had a handset abandoned by the vendor before I’d even bought it despite assurances otherwise. A promise is wo…

1. Buy a flagship phone. My S7 hasn't crashed once since I got it over a year ago. 2. Buy a flagship phone (or get better laws? Pretty sure EU has laws against that sort of behavior). 3. Disable the 2 or 3 settings in Google Maps that make your phone ask those nosy questions [a]. [a] https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/161704/turn-off-...

My Google Pixel 1 sometimes crashes from overheating without any heavy program or weather happens. My Nexus 6P had the common issue of shutting down with 15-20% battery estimated (arguably not a crash but same UX).

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

#414
post #333

It's clear from reading the threads in here that user experience on either side is not consistent. That's fine, get what works for you. If you have an android and it's not working for you, then switch to an iphone, and vice versa. Try a flip phone if you need simplicity. What I don't get it... is this fanboyism, this loyalty to a company that knows you as close as a number on a spreadsheet and a dollar amount on thei…

I think with Apple at least, it’s a sense of trusting the platform to make all the right decisions for you; it’s what you pay for in part. That also leads to the interesting problem of users feeling betrayed instead of just annoyed when something isn’t right. I ran a user feedback tool for help documentation when I was at apple, but people would just post whatever there greivences were about the product and not the d…

> there was immense trust, and lifestyle invested in the brand, and immense pressure as an engineer to live up to all these people’s expectations.

Agreed, and this emotional involvement goes a long way to explaining Apple's legendary margins and ability to sell upgrades with increasingly unexciting advancements.

> On the ground floor, we weren’t worried about missing earnings or slowing user growth, we were worried that “Bob” who runs his media company on a Mac will be frustrated by a change in numbers or iCloud, or that the new iPhone wouldn’t make people feel like they had the best technology in the world.

This seems much less true to me. There are many, many examples of poor design choices or imperfect implementations. A recent pet peeve of mine is that I simply cannot decipher how the Facetime contacts and call initiation design works. Somehow I got it working and now can pick a name from the recent calls list, but how I managed to get it to that state is utterly beyond me. This is an absolutely fundamental capability, and yet completely not clear.

This could be said about so many different aspects of Apple products that I find it hard to believe that concern for user happiness and understanding is really that big of an explicit concern. Rather, I suspect any concern is tangential to something else.

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

#415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wait for the Librem5 phone. Both mainstream options, whether it's Apple or Android, are terrible.

I always wonder about people who value security so highly. I like the idea of security but I can't justify the cost of more than $2,000 to protect myself from ad trackers. Like is this something that matters that much because of the line of work you do? Or is it just about being a high net worth individual.

$2000?? I'm looking at the page right now [0] and it says $600 — well within reason.

[0] https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

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

#416
post #333

It's clear from reading the threads in here that user experience on either side is not consistent. That's fine, get what works for you. If you have an android and it's not working for you, then switch to an iphone, and vice versa. Try a flip phone if you need simplicity. What I don't get it... is this fanboyism, this loyalty to a company that knows you as close as a number on a spreadsheet and a dollar amount on thei…

This isn't unique to technology, but can easily be seen in politics, sports, religion, etc. It's just not labelled fanboyism in other domains. My background is not in psychology, but I suspect is boils down to something like "I've made my decision, don't wish to admit I am wrong, and will therefore vociferously defend my position against all comers, as well as attack those who disagree with me."

> My background is not in psychology, but I suspect is boils down to something like....

The acknowledgement and discussion of this phenomenon is also one of the biggest reasons underlying the surging popularity of Jordan Peterson (Jonathan Haidt, etc). Human psychology is such that people like to self-segregate into teams, despite what they may say when they are being surveyed on the matter.

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

#417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is a subset of the family that uses facetime, they don't talk to the rest of us as often anymore. To me, this is one of the greatest shortcomings of video chat. We went from a universal phone system to a mostly universal SMS system (most private networks still supported SMS) to a segregated video chat system, and it hurts relationships if you're not careful.

And that is entirely Apple's fault. That is one of my main frustrations with Apple: In order to compel more people to use their platform, they made a proprietary communication service, and preloaded it on all of their devices. Now I have to deal with this arbitrary segregation, just because some corporation decided it would help their bottom line. This is exactly the kind of practice rms warned us about decades ago,…

> And that is entirely Apple's fault.

If Skype didn't suck so much it could be the cross platform standard.

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

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think with Apple at least, it’s a sense of trusting the platform to make all the right decisions for you; it’s what you pay for in part. That also leads to the interesting problem of users feeling betrayed instead of just annoyed when something isn’t right. I ran a user feedback tool for help documentation when I was at apple, but people would just post whatever there greivences were about the product and not the d…

> there was immense trust, and lifestyle invested in the brand, and immense pressure as an engineer to live up to all these people’s expectations. Agreed, and this emotional involvement goes a long way to explaining Apple's legendary margins and ability to sell upgrades with increasingly unexciting advancements. > On the ground floor, we weren’t worried about missing earnings or slowing user growth, we were worried t…

> There are many, many examples of poor design choices or imperfect implementations.

I'm thinking this isn't a contradiction: that the designers are striving for user-centered design. But many Apple apps aren't allocated a dedicated team. New apps are given birth but then not recognized as a new "thing" that will require continuous maintenance and care.

And then I also imagine that many UX decisions are made by just one or two people, and fairly quickly. They're not taking the time to think about the app, and whether the interaction makes sense to someone not intimately involved.

At least - these are my guesses as someone not inside Apple.

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

#419
post #333

It's clear from reading the threads in here that user experience on either side is not consistent. That's fine, get what works for you. If you have an android and it's not working for you, then switch to an iphone, and vice versa. Try a flip phone if you need simplicity. What I don't get it... is this fanboyism, this loyalty to a company that knows you as close as a number on a spreadsheet and a dollar amount on thei…

Sample size of this thread is too small. Based on the fact that almost all the profits in the phone market go to Apple, obviously they are providing something people want that others can't. In other words, Apple consistently provides a user experience that more people prefer compared to Androids.

I think you're being terribly US-centric here - iphone use there is far higher than the rest of the world

I also think the locked-in thing is strong - people use iphones/android because they've always used iphones/android not many people have done the switch and comparison to actually have the experience this person has had

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

#420
post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bluetooth is lossy compression. There are plenty of reasons to still stick with AUX and the 3.5mm jack. It does make a difference in sound quality. Additionally if I'm traveling and forget my headphones, it will cost me $5 to get a pair to get me through the week. Bluetooth headphones are more expensive. There is a guy who was able to fit a 3.5mm jack in his iPhone X. They just chose not to do it. It's not like havin…

The reason the headphone jack had to die was so they could waterproof it.

There are waterproof jacks...
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