461–470 of 539 posts
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Well, I don't really know the iOS system, but Android lets you authorize (or block) each different interface of notifications (like text, sounds, or appearing at the top) for each different application, and you can do that right from the notification itself. I imagine this is what the GP is talking about.
You can do all of this on iOS
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I switched recently, and honestly have found the experience on iPhone to broadly be worse. There are a few things that are a bit nicer, but the downgrade in the notifications system alone just tanks the experience. That said I switched for mostly privacy reasons, so won't be going back.
I have a company issued iPhone, and the atrocious notification system is enough to assure I will not buy an iPhone personally. If notifications in iOS were ever completely overhauled to the Android model, I would probably jump ship.
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What does having root on your phone improve for you?
A few example of the top of my head: - DriveDroid to boot a PC, I haven't used a USB stick to boot off in... years? - /etc/hosts - Viper4Android for system wide EQ - Messing with user hostile apps such a firefox when they disable your addons although they still work, proven by the fact that I was able to make them work again as root Edit: more things - Wireguard kernel module - Adding a CA to the trust store to MITM…
- UMS Enabler to expose your external SD card as an USB drive (accessing it via MTP isn't really fun and doesn't work everywhere [1])
- proper local backups and therefore the ability to e.g. relatively painlessly revert borked app updates
- sometimes due to bugs cruft accumulates in data directories that as a regular user can only be cleaned by – depending on the nature of the bug – clearing the whole application data [2] (which is already annoying enough as it of course also means wiping all your settings and other stuff you might actually want to keep), completely uninstalling and reinstalling the app [3], or even wiping the whole phone [4].
[1] E.g. the local state library has a nice book scanner available for public use. You can either e-mail yourself the results (but that only works reliably up to a certain file size), or else save them on an USB drive. I didn't have an USB drive with me, but thanks to UMS Enable I could just plug in my phone, switch my external SD card to USB mode and voila.
[2] It seems that e.g. possibly as a result of /etc/hosts blocking via AdAway some apps accumulate telemetry data that they cannot send (Fabric / Crashlytics seems to be the particular culprit here) and after a few weeks that amount of data can reach a notable size.
Another example was that due to some sort of bug Google's TTS app (Speech Services) kept accumulating TTS voice packs after updates and wouldn't delete the old versions, and by the time I noticed they were occupying a few hundred MB.
[3] Don't know of a current example, but during the days of Android 4.1.2, Android had a bug whereby if a native library was removed from a future APK version (respectively renamed), then Android wouldn't remove the old copy of the library when installing an update. Skype was a particular culprit there, because their native library was around 25 MB and included a version number in its filename, so each time that library was upgraded an additional 25 MB file was plonked onto the file system, with the old file remaining behind. Without root, the only way to remove those superfluous files was by completely uninstalling the app.
[4] I occasionally find system RAM dumps appearing under /data/ss-ram-dumps. I've got no idea whether they eventually get cleaned up automatically, or if they would just accumulate and take up more and more space until you're forced to wipe the whole phone.
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…
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.
https://www.reviewgeek.com/105739/googles-pixel-6-is-disappo...
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How do you even get the files on the iPhone? I see long blog posts discussing the steps needed for this. Not really "just works" is it?
VLC is currently #18 in the app store in the media player category. It's not just some linux app. As to how to get flac files on the iPhone, 1) you can connect it a computer open Finder go to apps section drag the file there 2) put the file in the iCloud and access it from any device with the files app on 3) in Safari if a link is a media file you can share it with VLC and that's just 3 off the top of my head, I thin…
2. Requires a proprietary apple service. I'm starting to notice a trend with your suggestions.
3. Are you really suggesting people manually download their files one by one? Rofl.
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 definitely miss frequent OS and security updates, but I wasn't prepared to spend a similar amount on a slightly newer secondhand iPhone, or three times the amount or more on a new iPhone, which still won't have as good a battery as the Ulefone Power Amor 13, the thing weighs in at a little over 1 pound, just under half a kilogram, and requires recharging so infrequently I forget to, versus having an iPhone charge cable every couple metres at home and work.
Another added benefit of having a phone that is mostly battery and weights over a pound it that I rarely drop it, because you certainly know you've got hold of it!
If Apple did an iPhone that had a huge battery, and was ruggedized for us in the trades, and others who work in dusty / greasy environments, I'd be straight on to it.
If my only choice was between a flagship Android from any manufacturer or an iPhone, it'd be the iPhone.
Fortunately they aren't the only two options, and Android doesn't feel disappointing below about the $500 mark.
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…
1) I can't afford that shite.
2) I don't want control of my device taken from me.
On #1 - I buy a cellphone to be contactable, and to browse the web on the move with a reasonable modicum of speed. I rather dislike the whole "hey, our app is far better than our website" movement in the industry, because I know that "far better" means "far better for tracking and targeting you", based on my experience in adtech. And I don't need whatever bollocks tech (two cameras so your photos can do a little swoopy thing!) Apple is chucking in and charging big bucks for. I just need a smartphone that has enough CPU to run things okay.
But I get other people might want fancy camera stuff without forking out for a proper camera, all good.
And I find Android phones offer far more options at varying price points along the spectrum in this regard than Apple.
On #2 - I've never had to wait for someone to find a vulnerability in my phone before I can root it, and do whatever I like with it. I can easily install APKs from others or myself without going through an app store, or paying Apple for a developer licence to write code to run on my own frigging phone.
My non-technical wife can't grok Android, she's been on iOS since the earlier iPhones, so when her iPhone 5S' browser began to routinely crash when loading websites she read on the regular, I caved and got her an iPhone 13, at much expense, and she's generally unimpressed at the upgrade (she really misses that physical button). She doesn't care about any of the bollocks that they're advertising as a reason to upgrade - macro-photography, night photography, cinematic mode? She gives zero shits.
Having to Google how to restart her phone when an app wouldn't stop playing audio really pissed her off though, I will say.
The price of that thing was fucking ridiculous, but she can at least use it for the things that she always used her phone for, until something happened that caused the browser in her last iPhone to start shitting the bed - lack of browser upgrades? Bad browser upgrades? I'm unsure. I'm not a fan of Safari on any platform, so I'm just going to glare accusingly in that direction.
TL;DR - iPhones are pricey AF, glad you got the iPhone 12 for free, and I really dislike Apple's approach to letting me do stuff with the small computer I bought that can incidentally do phone calls.
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I switched recently, and honestly have found the experience on iPhone to broadly be worse. There are a few things that are a bit nicer, but the downgrade in the notifications system alone just tanks the experience. That said I switched for mostly privacy reasons, so won't be going back.
How is a completely proprietary OS more private? I think LineageOS is the most private.
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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).
It's really interesting reading these comments. I'm in Australia, more of my friends use iphone (but it's close), nobody I know uses iMessage though, everyone uses WhatsApp. I had to go read about iMessage to understand the context here. Not a fan of Google but this stuff is not endearing me to apple at all.
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Android phones don't break even if they stop getting updates. Big popular apps like Firefox, Kindle, etc. work on old versions of Android like 6.0. $400+ is still a steep upfront cost to a lot of people.
> Android phones don't break even if they stop getting updates. So when Google issues a kernel patch for an actively exploited zero day you aren't vulnerable? Don't be ridiculous.