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Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#41

Post by Arbalest »

taneq wrote: post #29
Der_Einzige wrote: post #5

I can buy Android phones that do nothing to stop me from rooting them or unlocking the boot loader (OnePlus). I have to fight Apple for root access, and frequently I will lose. You can do anything on an Android phone that requires root access. None of that is possible on iPhone unless it's been out for quite awhile.

"Install a ROM that respects my privacy" is right up there at the top.

I'm attempting to do that, but I've bumped up against an issue in which I have no radio access from the custom rom. Need to be picky with the hardware, and the stuff most likely to be supported is the most expensive.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#43

Post by Nextgrid »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #26
Nextgrid wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does indeed win in terms of performance, however the situation in terms of add-ons is depressing. There’s basically no add-on API other than a very limited content blocking API (which doesn’t allow you to do powerful things like uBlock Origin can). (full disclosure: I am a happy Safari user, and the content blocking API is good enough that I tolerate it but I do miss uBlock for sure)

I added to my comment just as you responded but I ended up looking at the declarative content blocker as an upside after developing my own. Have you tried 1Blocker X? I haven't missed uBlock Origin when using Safari. Though I can certainly appreciate the power of an onRequest(req) at-runtime API that you definitely lose with declarative rules. But for example I have a script that can convert Adblock format rules (lik…

1Blocker X is a disaster, and I’m saying this as a customer of the original 1Blocker and an early adopter (pre-order) of 1Blocker X - it appears they’ve given up on updating their block lists and weren’t ever clear on where the lists were sourced from (I want EasyList and I kind of assumed that’s what they used but I could never be sure). I’m currently using AdGuard Pro instead which uses EasyList/EasyPrivacy and can import and convert (to the best of its abilities) uBlock-style lists.

The problem with the declarative API is that 1) it’s just not as flexible as uBlock, especially in a world where billions are being poured into bypassing blockers and 2) each blocker extension is limited to 50k rules which is not enough (some apps work around this by registering multiple blocker extensions, but frankly this limitation is BS and should not exist to begin with) and 3) blockers don’t run with the browser, so you have to open the app every so often to update the blocking rules.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#44

Post by adriftincode »

redhale wrote: post #27

1) Notifications are much better. Taking direct action to read and archive/delete emails directly from the notification is great. Not sure if iOS has this yet, but last time I checked iOS Notifications were primitive by comparison. 2) Direct sharing to/from ANY app. iOS is frustratingly limited. On a similar note, being able to assign default apps for specific types of content.

iOS notifications have gotten a lot better. With 3D touch you can quickly respond from the notification.[1]

3D touch is rumored to be replaced with long-presses.

[1]https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/view-and-respond-to-n...

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#45

Post by qwerty456127 »

Install apps that are not available in the store, block ads system-wide, use custom keyboard and launcher, view files of wide selection of formats (e.g. my audio files collection is in OPUS and I don't know how do I load the files to an iPhone and listen to them) and manage them the same way I do on my laptop.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#46

Post by diafygi »

Have a fully functional ad-blocker. Firefox + uBlock Origin is the only thing that makes mobile browsing tolerable.

IPhones don't let you install add-ons in browsers, so you're stuck with rule-based content blocking, which has caps and can't do some of the things add-ons can do.

I'd love to switch to an iPhone, but this feature is a deal-breaker for me.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#47

Post by ToniCipriani »

walterbell wrote: post #38
ToniCipriani wrote: post #10

Having a hardware keyboard. I just can't get away with it so I'm still using my 3 year old BlackBerry Priv.

Blackberry KEY2 is quite good, with timely security updates from both BB and Google.

Until that keyboard breaks. Quite a few reported issues for both the KEYone and 2 where the space bar and fingerprint reader just stops working, thanks to TCL build quality. And they are terrible with upgrades, KEYone only got Oreo, and certain versions didn't even get that upgrade at all, in particular the CDMA version, both locked and unlocked.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#48

Post by windexh8er »

axaxs wrote: post #8

One thing to keep in mind that drives me insane is that the default animation speed on android, 1x, is very slow. It makes the UI feel heavy. Turning this to .5x, or even off, makes it feel more performant.

First thing I do on any new Android phone. It's also a great parlor trick, people are almost always amazed you can make their phone "faster" in under a minute.

For those who don't know, enable Developer Options, then change "Window animation scale", "Transition animation scale" and "Animator duration scale" all to "0.5x". It should really be the default and I'm surprised there isn't a "0.25x" as of yet.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#49

Post by senectus1 »

Backup my Signal history.

Use the phone without getting stupidly angry.

Use my Samsung Level U Pro properly.

MicroSD card (though admittedly my note 9 with 512gb storage doesn't need it.)

PIP with you tube i think doesnt work on iphone.

a bunch of other things.

Re: Ask HN: What do you do on an Android phone that cannot be done on an iPhone?

#50

Post by dredmorbius »

Termux. https://termux.com

I've got an actual userland Linux shell and package ecosystem, with 1,231 available packages (compare against ~6k for Red Hat / CentOS, 70k for Debian), including standard shell tools, editors, and scripting languages, plus several Android-specific tools and APIs. The scripting tools open up broader archives via pip (python), npm (node.js), and cpan (perl). Many of the "Linux" shell and scripting examples I've posted to HN over recent years have actually been run on and via Termux.

This replaces other Android tools, including console, SSH, audioplayer (mpv/mps), backgroundable and playlistable YouTube audio (mpv, mps-youtube), remote sync (rsync, scp, mc), editors (vim, emacs, nano, etc), and other tools. An sshd daemon allows remote (ssh-key-only) access to the tablet itself, useful for admin and substantial tasks at a bigger screen and better keyboard.

The develooment is active, response to bugs (I've found several) prompt and satisfactory, and growth in packages available (~500 when I first installed Termux) impressive and assuring.

This is by no means a full Linux system replacement, for numerous reasons, but it very much, and more than any single other feature, makes Android Not Completely and Utterly Suck (which it otherwise largely does).

Coupled with a Bluetooth keyboard (another long tale of frustration), a tablet becomes a surprisingly capable (albeit still frustrating) laptop adjunct. The biggest frustrations remain Android-imposed: Lack of full filesystem access and unpredictable process termination, by Android.

The lack of an equivalent IOS feature utterly kills that platform for me. I'm very much looking forward to Purism's tablet offerings.

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