Why I'm Ditching Android • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#181

Post by NightlyDev » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

bunnycorn wrote: post #128

rando444 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you see this as an Android-only problem? Surely every possible operating system suffers the same problem, no?

Not me551ah, but the problem with Android is that: 1. iOS is an Apple operating system. Every iOS device has a daemon running a service that connects with Apple's APNS (Apple Push Notification Service), and that service routes the notifications of every App to the user's device. APNS is non-negotiable, every iOS device has it running, and every App that wants to [reliably] deliver notifications must use it. It's part…

GCM is replaced by FCM.

Also, sure, some user might run pure Android and not have a centralized push notification system, but that is not the problem people usually might be experiencing.

The power management and priority system is rather complicated on Android and incoming notifications might be deferred or not shown at all(to avoid wasting power on low priority notifications) depending on app, app usage and settings.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#182

Post by fyfy18 » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

dep_b wrote: post #10

me551ah wrote: post #4

Notifications, as you rightly mentioned, are a huge problem with Android. Some manufacturers implement battery saving measures which force kill applications so they can no longer process notifications. I used to work at a team messaging startup Flock and we used to get a lot of complaints from users about missing notifications. We were able to detect impacted users and reduce complaints substantially using duplicate…

That's a pretty horrifying story about those push notifications. The biggest use case of my customers for creating native apps around web apps for iOS is push notifications, that's immensely huge for businesses. Losing push notifications means your application loses it's value.

Why does push notifications on Android require the app to be running? On iOS, as I understand, you tell Apple to send a notification, which is received by a service on the device, which triggers your app to do a little processing and show the notification - why is Android any different?

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#183

Post by ricardobeat » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:19 PM UTC

Kirth wrote: post #7

A bit painful to read considering the iPhone SE-series is now discontinued. (Despite that the SE is still a very good phone. Wish more manufacturers made devices with these dimensions and polish.)

You can still buy one at local Apple stores (it's in stock but not listed anywhere), and most online retailers; won't last long though. I expect it to be fully supported for at least another 2-3 years considering it's 6S hardware.

Just got one myself a couple weeks back, after being disappointed by the new Max Extra Turbo-sized models.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#184

Post by ricardobeat » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:26 PM UTC

z6 wrote: post #163

da02 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where can they be bought? Via a cellphone provider or online retailer?

It's still a capable phone, but keep in mind the hardware is between 3 and 4 years old at this point.

The SE was launched in 2016, after the 6S. It is on par with many newer Android models, has a great camera, supports AR, and still feels faster and smoother than almost all of them due to iOS and better touch response time.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#185

Post by solarkraft » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:29 PM UTC

IronBacon wrote: post #106

josteink wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also tend to agree with the OP that the iPhone SE is a reasonable size, unlike every Android phone on the market. This the single biggest reason I abandoned android for iPhone: A premium phone in a reasonable form factor.

I like the form factor of my Xperia Compact, sadly with this year model they removed the headphone jack... By the way, Jolla should be installable on it, if I'm not wrong.

I also like a lot about this phone's hardware (too sad they decided to not continue it), but the stock software on it is quite annoying (glitches, insane loading delays, ads).

You can get Sailfish OS on it for 50€: https://forum.xda-developers.com/x-compact/how-to/sailfish-x...

I currently use an Omni ROM weekly build (Oreo, waiting for Pie). It's so much smoother and less terrible than the stock software.

Sure, this is not "It just works" (and I do like a lot about Apple's design), but I'm also glad it's not "fuck you, we decided this for you, take it".

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#186

Post by ricardobeat » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:35 PM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #35

I made the opposite move last month. Ditched my iphone 6+ and went with a Samsung Galaxy S9+. Apple soured me with their bullshit around throttling the CPU to make the battery last the same. No wonder my phone was performing like shit. But here's the bad news, this new phone I got is still not so hot. I still run out of battery despite working from home and only using the phone for google maps and calendar/slack when…

Did you try replacing the iPhone battery?

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#187

Post by cronix » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:36 PM UTC

SquishyPanda23 wrote: post #162

SamWhited wrote: post #12

I've been coming around to this way of thinking more and more lately. Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I've found at least 5 different privacy settings buried in various places around the Android menus in a confusing way (instead of just having a single switch in the privacy settings menu), an…

> Apple has a clear business model that involves selling high-end phones and other hardware and taking a percentage of app sales, not selling me to advertisers. I would just be a little cautious about this. Apple is currently sticking it to Google by making it easy to block ads and by offering appealing privacy features. But we don't know what Apple will do if everyone switches away from Android. I would guess that t…

Yes, and look at how much $ Apple made from Google by having Google as the default search engine on Apple devices (most people don't ever switch the search provider). I'm wondering how much longer Google will be willing to pay that much while Apple continues to limit the ways the data gets shared back to Google via the browser, basically stabbing Alphabet in the back. That can't last forever from Googles perspective.

I keep wondering why Apple doesn't just build their own search engine and provide unfettered results based entirely on popularity/rank (and other "real" metrics) like how google "used" to be in the beginning. Yes, I know search is hard, but it's not as hard as all of the extra steps Google has been doing the last 15 or so years to manipulate their results higher so they get more $ out of it. Certainly it's not as complicated as building a new mapping system from scratch. That would go a great deal further to "increase Apple users privacy" than anything else I can think of. It would also cause a lot of financial harm to Alphabet if all of the sudden all Apple device owners world-wide suddenly didn't have their data going through Google. And, it would provide top-notch results, which Apple consumers would presumably love. What is the downside to this that I'm (obviously) missing?

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#188

Post by ricardobeat » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:39 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #50

Yes their hardware is grossly overpriced, but the flagship Android phones are pretty much inline with Apple these days. So which is it, Apple is grossly over-priced or inline with what a decent Android phone costs? And then the author goes on to complain about the data firehouse back to Google and bloatware. Are we yet seeing that price is not always measured in dollars? I don’t mean to pick on the author, I guess it…

Apple devices have been historically overpriced. Most recently Android manufacturers wised up and realized they can also benefit from segmentation, and raised prices to match. Now everything is overpriced, and we all win! /s

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#189

Post by dvfjsdhgfv » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:45 PM UTC

ch4ck wrote: post #114

luxuryballs wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grabbed the SE before it went out of Apple stock recently and because I also loved the form factor. I ended up upgrading to the XS because the SE would drop calls consistently in my downstairs home office. The XS has to-date never dropped a call for me. Just thought I’d mention it for anyone else who frequents lower signal areas.

I am not surprised. http://vbn.aau.dk/files/240065248/Mobile_Phone_Antenna_Perfo...

I find it surprising because iPhone SE SAR levels are higher than those of iPhone 6. Actually, at the time of the release, it was the model with the highest SAR levels ever released by Apple.

Re: Why I'm Ditching Android

#190

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Nov 03, 2018, 9:52 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #141

tootie wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can say that if privacy is important to you, then you are probably more aligned with Apple's business plan. The article says as much. It's not like Apple are being more magnanimous, it's just that they don't profit off of user tracking so they use it as marketing ammo against Google users. As a developer, it constantly burns my biscuits that Apple software only runs on Apple hardware. The fact that I have…

The fact that I have no choice but to buy expensive Apple devices to develop for their platform is irritating. I've never understood this line of thinking. Maybe it's because I've been selling programs commercially since the 1980's. Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64. If you wanted to port it to a TRS-80, you bought a TRS-80. If you needed an Atari version, you…

> Back then, if you wanted to develop a program for a Commodore 64, you bought a Commodore 64.

I don't think anyone would object of all it took to develop for iOS was the device bring targeted, or even an iOS device. The fact that you have to buy a different piece of Apple hardware is this the issue.

You can build Android apps on an Android device. Optionally, you can use Linux, MacOS, or Windows, instead.

> The concept of "I want to build an iPhone app on a Windows box" is a strange new phenomenon to me.

The iOS situation isn't like “you must buy a PC to build PC software”, but more like “you must buy an IBM mainframe to build PC software”.