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Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

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Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#51
post #7

I’m not surprised. I used Android devoutly, had a Galaxy S4, then an S8 when that started showing its age. I upgraded to an iPhone 12 when AT&T ran the promotion to get a free one. I wanted to keep liking Android. The amount of time I spent arguing vehemently that Android was superior made the switch hard, but several factors came into play for me: - Extremely slow and fragmented upgrade of OS. This resulted in subst…

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Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#52
post #24
post #15

And? Does it really matter? Android is the #1 OS of all user devices worldwide. When you're at the top only one direction to go... iOS gained a bit in the developed world but Android enables tons of people all over the world to communicate and do things.

> Android enables tons of people all over the world to communicate and do things. This... sounds like an ad.

It's the truth. Go to Africa, go to South America, a bunch of places, people running businesses and whatnot off their phones. Hardly anyone uses iOS outside a few rich countries. Because most people use them to do stuff, so most open/ubiquitous (and yes cheap) wins.

People somehow worried about an OS given away for free that is still the #1 OS of all user devices including desktops...

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#53
post #21
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pick your poison. The only reason I'm still on android is because at least I can (still) have root there. I'm saying still because of safety net. But if apple let me have root, i'd probably prefer an Apple over Google. Mobile phones and their user hostility is a cancer. I'm seriously considering using a full GNU/Linux handheld for mobile things i can do in a browser, and keep an android phone for app garbage tha…

Is it seriously worth it for people to do stuff like this? I remember when stallman said he was giving the one laptop per child program a shot. Since the drivers for the wifi were non free he used some USB device instead. Last I read that lasted a few months because he got sick of it. I can't imagine adding all those steps to use a smartphone is any less annoying.

If you want to have control over the UI and functional aspects of your phone, it can be - the thing is, there are enough leeways currently - Rootless XPosed, Samsung NiceLock, custom DNS for system-wide adblock, etc - that it's often not needed. Custom ROM scene pretty much dried up because of this. But with vendors more than ever locking up, and Google cutting back features and API access agressively, this could change.

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#54

I've been heavily considering getting an iPhone because of how terrible the Android experience but my problem with Apple is that you are either fully in their ecosystem of you aren't a worthy enough customer in their mind. I have no desire to use iCloud or Apple mail or have an AppleID. I just want a small phone that gets updates, has maps, and has a decent music app.

Is it easy to buy a degoogled android phone? Aiui you need a google account to use the play store.

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#55
I have to say that my Android phones have gotten more buggy and less user friendly over the years.

One thing I do like about Android is that I can develop and publish apps for a reasonable fee. Apple wants $100 per year to be a developer. My apps are free so they don't make money. I would simply stop developing if I had to pay that.

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#56
post #52
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Android enables tons of people all over the world to communicate and do things. This... sounds like an ad.

It's the truth. Go to Africa, go to South America, a bunch of places, people running businesses and whatnot off their phones. Hardly anyone uses iOS outside a few rich countries. Because most people use them to do stuff, so most open/ubiquitous (and yes cheap) wins. People somehow worried about an OS given away for free that is still the #1 OS of all user devices including desktops...

They use android because they can't afford iphones, not because "you can do more" with androids

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#57
post #7

I’m not surprised. I used Android devoutly, had a Galaxy S4, then an S8 when that started showing its age. I upgraded to an iPhone 12 when AT&T ran the promotion to get a free one. I wanted to keep liking Android. The amount of time I spent arguing vehemently that Android was superior made the switch hard, but several factors came into play for me: - Extremely slow and fragmented upgrade of OS. This resulted in subst…

I did the same, roughly two years ago. I'd been Android since the Nexus One. The lack of commitment to long-term support is what did it for me. Between Apple's support for OS updates for much older hardware than Google, and the fact that we can get a phone battery replaced at an Apple store rather than a sketchy phone repair place is what did it for me. For me, the downsides are: - Notifications really suck. Everythi…

A minor note on your last point: since the last major iOS release, Safari now supports extensions. I use one for adblocking, for redirecting every AMP link to a non-AMP version of the page, as well as the one that automatically redirects every reddit link from a webpage to Apollo (a third party reddit app).

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#58
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the iPhone only "just works" if you completely buy in to Apple's ecosystem. E.g. if you want to buy some FLAC music files from somewhere else, it won't "just work" anymore. Android is still the lesser of two evils in terms of allowing more choice on its platform.

Not sure what you're talking about. I have zero issues using my FLAC files from elsewhere on my iPhone.

How do you play it? How do you import them into your library? If it's not mp3, aac, or m4a, iTunes won't index it, it won't end up in your library, and any of the standard music apps will not play it.

Speaking from experience because this is a continuing pain point for my music collection that includes oddball formats like flac, ogg, and others--none of which I can even get on my phone without using a cloud service.

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#59
post #12
post #7

I’m not surprised. I used Android devoutly, had a Galaxy S4, then an S8 when that started showing its age. I upgraded to an iPhone 12 when AT&T ran the promotion to get a free one. I wanted to keep liking Android. The amount of time I spent arguing vehemently that Android was superior made the switch hard, but several factors came into play for me: - Extremely slow and fragmented upgrade of OS. This resulted in subst…

It's pick your poison. The only reason I'm still on android is because at least I can (still) have root there. I'm saying still because of safety net. But if apple let me have root, i'd probably prefer an Apple over Google. Mobile phones and their user hostility is a cancer. I'm seriously considering using a full GNU/Linux handheld for mobile things i can do in a browser, and keep an android phone for app garbage tha…

What does having root on your phone improve for you?

Re: Android loses 8% of its global OS market share in five years

#60
post #10

I've always used Android, thinking that it would improve with age. But eventually I had to face the fact that Android is always going to suck. On top of that every year it gets more and more locked down. Why not buy an iphone instead? At least it works well.

What sucks about Android?

Performance, battery life, dependence on Google, inconsistent UIs from different manufacturers, bloatware from networks, networks control updates, most phones don't even get much in the way of updates.
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