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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

#331
post #135

What I find quite interesting amongst my colleagues is that they are deeply invested/locked into either the Google ecosystem or the Apple ecosystem. I know zero people who have recent experience of using both iOS and Android - they’re either in one camp or the other, and have only superficial knowledge of what it’s like to use the other. It feels like two parallel universes running side by side, just out of reach of…

There seems to be a level that some users reach where they truly engage their respective ecosystem efficiently. Those which can engage technology this way usually leverage the platform's abilities in a lifestyle enhancing way and switching isn't really a consideration: what they have works well, if it aint broke, don't fix it etc.

However, as with computers (or really anything), there exists a sizeable group which don't use their devices well and instead have a superficial grasp of their platform, for these people switching is relatively straightforward since they rely very little on the interconnecting magic that makes the various apps and services work well together and instead mostly use the basic functionality of each app, which is relatively identical.

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

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No way I let Facebook get access to my phone contacts. I guess this is worth billions for them, because it’s a huge social graph they were missing. Interestingly the option to use the app without giving away all your contacts has been removed years ago. It tells a lot. Note that Signal still works without your contacts.

So, you would never give up your contact list to one mega corp, but readily give it away to another. How do you made that decision? Asking not rhetorically and without sarcasm.

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

#333
post #322

The manufacturers of flagship Android devices are a major cause of this. I love being able to put an SD card in my phone to get a bit of extra storage, without paying Samsung the extra $200 to double the provided storage. In the S6 era, they removed the SD card, only for it to return (briefly) with the S7. Since the S20, it has once again been removed. I will keep my S10 until it dies, but there is no point me 'upgra…

I hate samsung, but was once lured in by a S10e on sale at bestbuy. Probably the greatest non-google android device I've ever used. Even with having to disable so many stock apps and hide them away.

DeX is a powerful tool even with all its faults. I managed to live off of that s10e for months with no desktop computer at home just a 27in 1440p screen and a usb-c dock I had from a previous laptop plus a normal keyboard and mouse. Once you get used to it and find the handful of apps that work as replacements for your usual programs its really not a bad device. If all you want to do is run a few chat apps and a browser for watching content on its near perfect. I could even run hearthstone while watching youtube without it skipping a beat.

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

#334
post #296

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.

> E.g. if you want to buy some FLAC music files from somewhere else, it won't "just work" anymore. The thing is nobody* does that. There are a few. That’s why I added the asterisk. But realistically very few people actually do it. Especially compared to the number of iPhones they sell every year. If you were using MP3 files, you wouldn’t have an issue. Or AAC. There might even be others. Apple really likes to make th…

> The thing is nobody* does that.

Because it is difficult to do.

> If you’re the kind of person who wants to do things that are far out of the mainstream you’re never going to be happy with an iPhone.

FLACs are not the act of an extremist.

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

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you somewhere where banks won’t let you use their website and force app usage?

NFC payments?

That’s fair. Although I personally don’t need that tied to my phone. Maybe it could be substituted with contactless cards?

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

#336
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is only really true outside of the US. I only have WhatsApp installed because I've spent time outside the US (Africa, specifically) and it's defacto standard there. I literally never use it to talk to people in the US, nor do I know anyone else here who uses it.

I'm well outside the US (Eastern Europe) and have never needed WhatsApp. I can talk with all the people I know over Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger. Perhaps it's also an age thing? I guess the youngsters use WhatsApp.

Also from EE, now in central EU. Everyone uses WA and Telegram, nobody on SMS

How far east are you?

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

#337
post #50
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…

Call me crazy, but I think there is room for a third platform. Especially if this platform was bootstrapped in a smart way, for example with an emulation layer to be able to run applications from Android. Or perhaps WebAssembly will make it viable to do more things from a (mobile) browser. I really miss the N700-N9 series with Maemo and Meego. It was so elegant and simple.

PostMarketOS is pretty great.

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

#338

At least in the USA, you have mainly three choices for "$500+ phones": Pixel, Samsung, and iPhone. The iPhone has been priced very competitively in recent years to the point that they are better hardware at cheap price points than Samsung. That has taken a large chunk of Android sales as people upgrade to iPhones instead of paying more for Samsung. A thought: It seems that as people get richer around the world they m…

> It seems that as people get richer around the world they move away from $200 Androids to what is more perceived as luxury: iPhones.

This but not only this. There’s also that phones have moved from being a simple voice communication device to the most essential item a person owns. It makes sense that a larger portion of income is spent on them when they get more important in peoples lives

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

#339
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is only really true outside of the US. I only have WhatsApp installed because I've spent time outside the US (Africa, specifically) and it's defacto standard there. I literally never use it to talk to people in the US, nor do I know anyone else here who uses it.

I'm well outside the US (Eastern Europe) and have never needed WhatsApp. I can talk with all the people I know over Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger. Perhaps it's also an age thing? I guess the youngsters use WhatsApp.

Whatsapp is the number one app in most EU countries. It's not age but the fact youve clearly never socialized outside of your country (or with foreigners).

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> dependence on Google This is silly considering you can de-Google an Android phone. You can't de-Apple an Apple phone.

But apple is not an advertisement company (and I don't have iPhone for information)
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