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US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

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Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#111

Post by notyourwork »

khazhoux wrote: post #108
_ea1k wrote: post #16

Apple messaging lockin is having the desired impact. Combine that with Google's mess of a strategy and it is easy to see why this is happening. It is why it is so critical to hire the right people in leadership to avoid squandering key, already successful, strategic positions.

What is the messaging lock-in? I have lots of text threads with mixed Android+iPhone users, and never have any problem.

A simple example is the media sharing quality is horrendous when you transcend the iPhone/Android boundary. Can you communicate, yes. Is it as good as an all iMessage interaction, no.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#112

Post by joelfried »

meepmorp wrote: post #46
tiahura wrote: post #23

I wonder if the 15 and USB-C might be a surprisingly big upgrade driver?

IMO, outside of the tech world, nobody really cares about USB-C - or at least - not enough to drive upgrades. It's just what one end of the power cord looks like.

For people who already have USB-C phones and are considering switching it means "All of the cords you have right now will still be useful", which is a definite improvement over "All of the cords you have right now are junk you will throw away and have to replace with new cords".

I'm not trying to say that will drive massive upgrades in and of itself, but I can definitely see it being a nice-to-have at the margins and help a nontrivial set of people pull the trigger.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#113

Post by oh_sigh »

notyourwork wrote: post #111
khazhoux wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the messaging lock-in? I have lots of text threads with mixed Android+iPhone users, and never have any problem.

A simple example is the media sharing quality is horrendous when you transcend the iPhone/Android boundary. Can you communicate, yes. Is it as good as an all iMessage interaction, no.

Yup...my parents share videos from their iphone to my android and it is of a quality where you can literally count the pixels. Maybe there is a way to share higher quality, but they're not tech savvy and just do what is the default.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#114

Post by wing-_-nuts »

AuthorizedCust wrote: post #48

Android’s problem is Pixel is the only good one, and it has not been flagship quality since the Pixel 2. The 3 had odd issues, the 4 had a laughable battery life, and 5-7 are a weird mix of midrange and flagship capability (trending towards flagship, but not in the club yet). All other Android vendors are on a continuum of crap, between these points: 1. loaded with bloat and customizations that aren’t better than wha…

>Android’s problem is Pixel is the only good one

Lol ok. I have a pixel 5a and honestly, I regret getting it over a $200 moto g power. Those phones are fantastic and you can slap a third party rom like lineage on there and use it basically forever.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#115

Post by alistairSH »

khazhoux wrote: post #108
_ea1k wrote: post #16

Apple messaging lockin is having the desired impact. Combine that with Google's mess of a strategy and it is easy to see why this is happening. It is why it is so critical to hire the right people in leadership to avoid squandering key, already successful, strategic positions.

What is the messaging lock-in? I have lots of text threads with mixed Android+iPhone users, and never have any problem.

Those plain SMS threads are green instead of blue. That lets iPhone owners judge Android owners from afar. /s

Only half kidding. The real issue is just SMS vs data. And a little bit of feature parity - it's changed a few times, but until recently, if I "liked" a message in an SMS thread, we'd all see something like "Alistair like 'something said by somebody'" instead of just applying the thumb-up icon. This only gets worse for media sharing, link shares/snapshots, etc.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#116

Post by fgeahfeaha »

thedriver wrote: post #41

iPhones end up being cheaper in the long run. They get software updates much longer than almost any Android phone, and at least here even small cities have local shops that repair them. It's also just a superior user experience. I wish they kept on making the mini models though. I'm using a 13 mini, which has been really nice. Most modern smartphones are uncomfortable to carry in the front pocket of slim pants.

Yup, you just can't beat standardization

The support is way better because there isn't a million different models

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#117

Post by alistairSH »

khazhoux wrote: post #107
tomjen3 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its annoying as hell, because iMessage isn't really useful when most of the people I write to don't have an iPhone. 100% I blame Google though, they need to get their ass together and make their own. It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum. Then it is reasonable for Apple to create a system so they can talk together.

I don't understand -- are Android users not able to receive your iPhone text messages? I've never had that problem.

SMS vs data. iPhone to iPhone uses a data connection with richer media sharing features. Plus SMS is in a different color, so you can easily/remotely judge your peer for using Android.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#118

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

wcoenen wrote: post #104
tomjen3 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its annoying as hell, because iMessage isn't really useful when most of the people I write to don't have an iPhone. 100% I blame Google though, they need to get their ass together and make their own. It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum. Then it is reasonable for Apple to create a system so they can talk together.

> It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum This already exists. 10 years ago, Google Hangouts was separated from Google+. It is currently accessible through the Gmail web interface, Gmail app, and "Chat" app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

Did that ship with Samsung phones?

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#119

Post by alexdbird »

pretext-1 wrote: post #53
matchbok wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... there is a back swipe gesture. And it works much more consistently than Android's "Where the heck is this gonna take me" back button. Every app you can swipe back, and it's a much nicer animation than Android. The back button is a cudgel: a sign of a poorly designed UX. Apps aren't websites, the concept of "back" is not universal, so a universal button doesn't make sense. It only exists on Android because it star…

It works better because iOS had this for many years and apps implement it natively. Android's implementation is basically a workaround. The back gesture is recognized by the system and forwarded as back button event to the app. On iOS the gesture is handled by the app, which can provide proper animation, giving users the ability to “preview” what’s behind (and pull back to the left to stop going back). Android is try…

> it will take many years for apps to adopt it

This is the flaw with the Apple back gesture, sadly, as although it's generally really easy to support this in native app — essentially it comes for free and you just don't break it — plenty of developers just don't care about invisible quality of life things.

The gesture is properly called 'Interactive Pop'.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#120

Post by duskwuff »

sho_hn wrote: post #36
prox wrote: post #5

iPhone has always been a superior experience to me. While it may not have that tinkering ability like an Android, on the whole Apps are much higher quality, more paying customers as a dev, lots of things that just work between devices. I think it’s deserved in that sense.

I have both types of phones, an Android one privately and an iPhone for work, and in direct comparison I honestly prefer the Android user experience. It's not that I love Android, but the iPhone feels so often clunky to me. - There's a greater reliance on gesture-based tricks, which I find unintuitive and undiscoverable - I often feel stressed when using the iPhone because I can't figure out how to do basic things wh…

> There's the green bar at the top indicating I'm still in the call, but I cannot figure out how to get back to it.

You may be overthinking things. Just tap the bar. :)

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