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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

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Who the hell still uses Dropbox when there are superior offerings like Google Photos/Drive. In fact even OneDrive is better from a reliability and cost viewpoint.

Google Drive wasn't able to handle 30gb of storage a couple of years ago when I tried it. It was lagging insanely. I now have 700gb of storage so i'm a bit scared to give Google Drive another chance. Dropbox works very well. Also I don't like how Google Photos and Drive work together. If you edit a photo in Photos, it doesn't update the file in drive. I like to have all my photos as files.

OneDrive looks good, I'll definitely give it a try once my paid year of Dropbox is done.

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

#462

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…

> "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues How is that a non issue? Just because one permission on iPhone prevents Facebook from sucking up that particular data point right now hardly makes it a non-issue. Surely someone in your family is texting an Android user any way. And Facebook is not upset by the lack of info your family is sending them, I'm sure. Dismissing major privacy concerns as non-issue just because you…

I could have been more clear, but with the "Facebook logs my sms" in quotes I ment:

One random app (Facebook in this example) can NOT access another random app's (sms in this case) data on an iPhone where it can (or could before the very current version) on Android.

YMMV: You might call that "Freedom" and "not a walled garden", I call that cross access to data a nightmare and am happy that it is a none issue on IOS.

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

#463

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…

> Result: You forgot: 6. You now all live in Walled gardens.

One random app (Facebook in my example) can NOT access another random app's (sms in this case) data on an iPhone where it can (or could before the very current version) on Android.

You might call that "Freedom" and "not a walled garden", I call that cross access to data a nightmare and am happy that it is a none issue on IOS.

YMMV

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

#464

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…

1: An example? Android's aggressive wifi roaming is... just not working.

2: Updates are an issue, even with popular phones.

3. The Facebook app on IOS can NOT read my sms on IOS. Yes it can and does on Android.

4: Age, I know since I have to thow them away myself. Apple may make the devices slow down (personaly not observed it, but I use no "benchmarks" just since the only thing I care about is my personal impression.

5: It is annecdotal, but it is how my family experiences it. On a daily basis.

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

#465

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…

FWIW, I move my family between iPhones every year and haven’t noticed any data loss. One exception to date is WeChat, for some godforsaken reason they only back up the most recent dozen conversations or so, so if you want your entire history, you have to jump through hoops to initialize a device-to-device transfer over WiFi, which can take an entire night in worst case. Would be curious to hear what kind of data loss…

Stuff like: in app purshases. In app authentication. In app settings. Two "trust" to be allowed to use particlar apps as second factor. Accounts.

BTW: WeChat shows the future of all (not limited to chat) apps. The governmental control included I am afraid, but man is it future rich!

Personally I only use it on a dedicated phone to maintain specific relations, but it is impressive.

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

#466
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 were waterproof phones with headphone jacks before the iPhone X. See some of the Samsung Galaxies as an example.

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

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that people want a headphone jack. More stereos and cars don't have BT than do (significantly many more in my experience). Bluetooth pairing is a faf compared to just plugging in a jack, and many devices still only remember pairing with two devices or just one so your friend may have to repair when you are done. Double adaptors (I still see people sharing a single audio source on headphones that way) a…

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

Maybe that adapter gets so popular that a phone designer comes up with the revolutionary idea of integrating it into the phone itself.

Those who were around during the days of early 'home computers' - think Commodore bread boxes, Sinclair door stops etc - might remember the evolution from those devices which generally lived in a jungle of cords emenating from their sides and backs, connecting them to power supplies and peripherals to the more streamlined versions which came later - Commodore 128D, Amstrad all-in-ones, various species of MSX and yes, the original Apple Macintosh - which had most of the essentials built-in. Having one of those on your desk really separated you from the plebs who still lived in the jungle.

Apple seems to have forgotten that part of its heritage.

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

#468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues How is that a non issue? Just because one permission on iPhone prevents Facebook from sucking up that particular data point right now hardly makes it a non-issue. Surely someone in your family is texting an Android user any way. And Facebook is not upset by the lack of info your family is sending them, I'm sure. Dismissing major privacy concerns as non-issue just because you…

I could have been more clear, but with the "Facebook logs my sms" in quotes I ment: One random app (Facebook in this example) can NOT access another random app's (sms in this case) data on an iPhone where it can (or could before the very current version) on Android. YMMV: You might call that "Freedom" and "not a walled garden", I call that cross access to data a nightmare and am happy that it is a none issue on IOS.

> One random app (Facebook in this example) can NOT access another random app's (sms in this case) data on an iPhone where it can (or could before the very current version) on Android.

But it can. You're just wrong here. The Facebook app running on other nodes in the network does have access to at least part of the data you are suggesting is totally private. That data is duplicated and not only on the phone you have 'control' over. That data is not private. Facebook can and does still get it.

Also, Facebook is not some 'random app', and you know it.

Facebook even has a history of having its own code embedded inside of iOS itself. This is not trusted and not safe and clearly not 'random'. Apple does not randomly include code from other 'random' apps into the core of iOS.

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

#469
Unfortunately, Google got careless with the regular updates to the Pixel phones. On the Pixel 2 and XL, back in February, they introduced an interop problem with the wifi access points on a variety of home broadband routers, including those from some of the biggest ISPs here in the UK. The problem causes data stalls even though the status icon for wifi shows it connected with good signal strength. The only remedy seems to be to toggle wifi off and on, which makes it work for a while until it stalls again.

It’s been months (with their further monthly updates) and this still isn’t fixed. See https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/73336431 for lots of people with the issue.

Regular updates are great until they break something fundamental like this. The fact that they are issuing the updates with breakages suggest their testing is inadequate. Google’s support on that ticket is non-existent, alas.

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

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem here is that the walled-garden approach is being used on communication services. It's arbitrarily impossible to send text to/from Android with iMessage. It's arbitrarily impossible to use Facetime with anything other than iOS or OS X. You may have found this walled garden to be a feature, but that doesn't mean every person you associate with does; yet you are likely imposing it upon them. This problem is…

Apple is not abusing anyone (maybe their assembly workers, but even that is a stretch). They are providing a service and no one is forced to use it. At the office, we use Slack and Webex for communication. With some friends, we use Skype and Messenger for video calls, with others it's FaceTime. No one is ostracized for having an Android. Not at work and certainly not in private. How do you feel like you're being impo…

From Wikipedia:

> Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit.

I would say that their actions clearly fit that description.

They are abusing their customers by preventing them from using software outside their controlled ecosystem, and they are purposefully creating incompatible communication protocols in order to make everything around them effectively worse.

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