Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone' • Hacker News Board

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#91

Post by chimeracoder » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

windowsrookie wrote: post #59

kurupt213 wrote: post #4

Why is iMessage even an issue? All phones can send conventional texts to each other

iMessage sends high quality pictures and videos, try to send a video thru mms and it is unusable. iMessage also has read receipts, you can see if they are typing. iMessage works over wifi without a cellular connection (which was a big deal, but I believe carries now support this for android phones) Also iMessage automatically just works by default. You don't download an app and make an account. So for anybody who is…

> iMessage sends high quality pictures and videos, try to send a video thru mms and it is unusable. iMessage also has read receipts, you can see if they are typing. iMessage works over wifi without a cellular connection (which was a big deal, but I believe carries now support this for android phones)

To add to what you're saying: RCS (which everyone except Apple uses) offers all of those things as well, and offers them in a way that is interoperable with all non-Apple phones.

iMessage doesn't actually do anything that RCS doesn't do. Apple simply refuses to adopt RCS (or make iMessage interoperable) because they want to use the lock-in to drive more sales of Apple products.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#92

Post by hbosch » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

The comedy of this whole thing is that if the roles were reversed, and Google had a dominant messaging platform and a popular line of phones that kept Apple users "outside of the circle" a la "green bubbles" or otherwise, it's hard to imagine that they would actually do what they are asking Apple to do.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#93

Post by gnicholas » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:51 PM UTC

windowsrookie wrote: post #59

kurupt213 wrote: post #4

Why is iMessage even an issue? All phones can send conventional texts to each other

iMessage sends high quality pictures and videos, try to send a video thru mms and it is unusable. iMessage also has read receipts, you can see if they are typing. iMessage works over wifi without a cellular connection (which was a big deal, but I believe carries now support this for android phones) Also iMessage automatically just works by default. You don't download an app and make an account. So for anybody who is…

> Also iMessage automatically just works by default

I would imagine Apple would say that this is one of the big features of iMessage, and is partly because they control the system end-to-end. I'm sure they could make a system that interoperates with Android and works quite reliably, but it's not quite so easy to argue that they have a legal obligation to build and maintain such a system.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#94

Post by cs02rm0 » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

zffr wrote: post #23

princevegeta89 wrote: post #11

Tried an iPhone for a month when my Samsung S21 went in for repair. The perceived sheer lack of features and big UX gaps and missing features instantly made me profoundly dislike iPhone. Just my opinion.

Can you be more specific? I feel that an iPhone user might say the same about android if they were to switch.

A few off the top of my head.

The keyboard swiping is off the charts awful compared to Android. It has no idea what word I want unless I'm incredibly specific, it recommends words I'm highly unlikely to use, adds punctuation almost randomly in its word suggestions, gives me multiple choices from the same stem.

You can't just press the cursor into the middle of a word, you have to do the hold and swipe thing.

You can't record your own calls. WTF, it's my phone?! I guess I'm supposed to just buy another iphone to record the audio onto from via its microphone.

As far as I can work out, Facebook messenger links don't open, full stop. Unless your default browser is Safari.

Want to choose how many icons you have on your screen? Nope. Smaller font size? Nope. Long press on an image to do a Google image search? Nope, not even to open in a new tab.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#95

Post by nyuszika7h » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

hbosch wrote: post #71

cloogshicer wrote: post #42

Thankfully, shit like this will soon be illegal in the EU when the Digital Markets Act hits. Hopefully they'll plug all the loopholes and actually enforce it. I don't understand how anyone can defend business practices like this, which are exclusively there for the purpose of platform lock-in.

What will be illegal, exactly? There is actually nothing stopping iPhones from communicating with Android phones. iMessage, a proprietary messaging app, colors data messages blue and SMS messages green for the user's benefit. There is an entire world of messaging apps that aren't iMessage. The main gripe from Android users seems to be a mere social issue. Also, isn't it my understanding that in EU most people use oth…

Not everyone is American. Texts are usually not free in Europe unless you're on the highest plan. And some people don't use other apps. Before iOS 15 I had a problem even though my mom uses Viber: iOS didn't allow me to set Viber to bypass Do Not Disturb, it was only possible with calls and SMS/iMessage.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#96

Post by bananarchist » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

dougmwne wrote: post #53

He is right on multiple levels. If your mom is suffering the buggy, slow, bad UX of an android phone, be a good child and buy her an iPhone. It’s objectively better unless you are harboring some irrational grudge. The walled garden is Apple’s thing. They have no reason to interoperate with Android unless they are legally forced. And why are you sending SMS anyway? There’s a universe of messaging apps that are far mor…

Yeah idk why people are still texting. This must be a North American/European thing? In Asia and Latin America nobody texts.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#97

Post by d_tr » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

pwgentleman wrote: post #73

Overtonwindow wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a big issue for me. I got a galaxy S3 when it came out to replace my iPhone, and it was a pretty miserable experience. Way too much need for customization, very few preinstalled apps, and really the device just became a time suck and using it. I don’t want my phone to require a lot of my time. The iPhone has been really great at doing what I need it to do, without absorbing my time tweaking, or learning. It…

I personally consider "very few preinstalled apps" a big plus! Uninstalling useless apps (if they are even uninstallable) is always a drag. To each it's own I guess...

I like vanilla Android and currently own a Motorola exactly because of this. Installing just what you need is trivial anyway.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#98

Post by dpkirchner » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

Overtonwindow wrote: post #57

Nomentatus wrote: post #3

The lack of interoperability is strictly illegal since it's being leveraged to expand Apple's already formidable market power (using market power to extend market power is the strictly illegal part) by pushing people to buy an iphone. Cook can hardly deny that's a conscious thought at Apple, 'cause he just said the quiet part out loud. FRO - IINAL but I do know "monopoly" is not the correct term in law, "market power…

I don’t understand, where is the interoperability issue?? I can send someone who has an android phone a text message. I can send them a photo, or a video. It would seem the two are completely interoperable. Does having your messages turn green really upset people that much?

Back in my day we had ircII and Microsoft Comic Chat. They were interoperable, however only Comic Chat users could enjoy the graphical interface, automatic speech bubbles, and avatar placement functionality. We got by but there were definitely a lot of hurt feelings and jealousy.

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#99

Post by toast0 » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

larsnystrom wrote: post #43

I don’t get why RCS has to involve carriers. Apple could implement iMessage without involving carriers, so it should be possible to implement a messaging protocol which doesn’t rely on them (but also isn’t proprietary). By involving carriers you’re making it harder (impossible?) to create a client to be used on devices not on the cellular network. I just don’t see the point.

RCS involves carriers because the username is a phone number. iMessage also involves carriers when using the phone number as the username (there's verification of the number that you usually don't see).

RCS is also a standard the GSMA (gsm carrier association) came up with and didn't deploy terribly much. I don't think 'it's a standard' stands for much when it's only moving forward because one company is pushing it unilaterally. (It doesn't help that that company has a history of abandoning messaging products)

Re: Tim Cook's response to Android texting compatibility: 'buy your mom an iPhone'

#100

Post by nyuszika7h » Thu, Sep 08, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

cs02rm0 wrote: post #94

zffr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you be more specific? I feel that an iPhone user might say the same about android if they were to switch.

A few off the top of my head. The keyboard swiping is off the charts awful compared to Android. It has no idea what word I want unless I'm incredibly specific, it recommends words I'm highly unlikely to use, adds punctuation almost randomly in its word suggestions, gives me multiple choices from the same stem. You can't just press the cursor into the middle of a word, you have to do the hold and swipe thing. You can'…

> Smaller font size? Nope.

You can do that actually.

> Long press on an image to do a Google image search? Nope, not even to open in a new tab.

It won't be as convenient as a simple context menu option, but technically you can use a Shortcuts app to create a shortcut for reverse image search.