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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

#291

Post by martimarkov »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #248
dopamean wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the switch at the end of 2021 after only having an android phone since the very first one. I wouldn't say I regret the change but I would say I'm not impressed. The way so many of my friends mocked me for having an android phone and talked up their iphones made me think I _must_ be missing something. Alas, I don't feel that I was. Every once in a while I boot up my old android phone (oneplus 6) and use it and…

Apple's real genius is in their marketing. This was clear as day over 10 years ago, and is just as clear today. Back in the early days of iPhone vs Android, there was a huge meme of iPhone users praising Apple for "inventing" features that Android had years ago [0]. I remember (but can't find right now) a screenshot of a conversation of an iPhone user all happy about iPhone getting SwiftKey and then saying "When is A…

To me it's the fact that it just works and I use it as a smart phone and not as a General Purpose Computer. There is a lot of ecosystem stuff on iOS that are just missing from Android. Plus the skinning of each manufacturer is/was terrible. Samsung's early TouchWiz was incredibly terrible...

I also use Android when I need more access to different things e.g. portable pocket pc that runs Linux.

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

#292

Post by lockhouse »

avgDev wrote: post #280
lockhouse wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One Drive is working for me just fine on my iPhone, and there are other options available like DropBox and Google Drive as well.

iPhone doesn't not allow phone backups using another cloud provider? Are you talking about backing up images?

Yeah sorry, thought that’s what you meant.

For whole phone backup it’s either iCloud or hook it up to a computer.

Does Android allow whole phone backups to third parties without rooting?

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

#293

Post by pyrophane »

AuthorizedCust wrote: post #205
kyriakos wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just got an S23U 2 weeks ago. Its an impressive device both hardware and software. I was expecting a lot of bloat but looks like only MS Office apps where Non-Samsung apps pre-installed and I was going to install them myself either way.

The bloat is mainly in two forms: -All the pointless OS customizations. -Samsung-developed apps that do the same thing as extant, better Google apps.

As a counterpoint:

> -All the pointless OS customizations.

I actually like Samsung's OS customizations and missed them when I switched to a Pixel.

> -Samsung-developed apps that do the same thing as extant, better Google apps.

Some of them are nice, though! I wish they would make their Notes app available on more platforms. I actually really like it!

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

#294

Post by JohnFen »

GeekyBear wrote: post #252
djhworld wrote: post #131

I'm thinking of making the switch to iPhone this year once the USB-C model comes out Whether I regret it, not sure, I mean Android isn't _that_ bad really and the Samsung phones are good, but I think Apple have nailed the ecosystem thing a lot better than what google have.

> Android isn't _that_ bad From a support after the sale perspective? Yes it is. The $399 2016 iPhone SE is still getting security updates today. The original Google Pixel is also from 2016 but stopped getting any sort of updates at the end of 2019. If you want a basic phone that will be supported as long as possible after the sale, the support length per dollar spent proposition of the SE models is pretty unbeatable…

> I think this is a major factor that is driving market share towards iPhone.

I personally couldn't care less about this. I just want a phone that works well for me.

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

#295

Post by cma »

alistairSH wrote: post #115
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.

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…

Due to the distribution of cone cells of different colors in your retina, white on green is the hardest to read. Apple has probably caused car wreck deaths with the green bubble, even though you shouldn't read texts while driving, but they probably think a few deaths is worth it for the lock-in and stock incentives.

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

#296

Post by MildRant »

My Pixel is rapidly coming out on it's drop dead date for security updates and I'm considering just switching to an iPhone SE. I want a small phone that will be supported for a long enough time that I don't have to constantly remind myself when the EOL date is.

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

#297

Post by wilsonnb3 »

kube-system wrote: post #215
avgDev wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhone is not what it is cracked up to be. A lot of lock in. Some things are absolutely annoying. When I went to Poland, I had to change my region to download apps from appstore, it messed up all my purchase history and subscriptions. One thing I like is that I have an iPhone 12 and have no need to upgrade, the phones have a much longer life imo. The statement "apple stuff is just so easy and it works" is EXTREMELY m…

What lock-in do iPhones have that isn't a thing on Android? Honestly curious.

iMessage and FaceTime are the biggest ones, leaving the ecosystem will make the experience of talking to you worse for anyone using an iPhone still.

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

#298

Post by BossingAround »

JohnFen wrote: post #285
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"there really is no alternative if you want a decent cell phone in 2023" is just plain wrong. I try to avoid lumping all of the android manufacturers together and treat them individually when comparing them to apple. LG, Motorola, and Xiaomi are not as good as apple but Samsung is. Decent argument to be made for OnePlus, Google, and Asus matching apple as well.

> but Samsung is My current phone is a Samsung and I find it disappointing. Perhaps their good ones are limited to specific models?

The Galaxy models compete with iPhones. I've got an old Galaxy S10 that I got like 4 years ago and it still works great, even the battery is holding up so far.

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

#299

Post by silisili »

collinc777 wrote: post #94

In the US, having an Android is one of the biggest social status negative signals I can think of. I used to have an android and when I'd meet people the primary thing they'd remember about me was that I had an android. Their blinders were up after they had that information. I think phones like the Galaxy line might be better than iPhones, but the experience of owning an iPhone far exceeds owning a Galaxy.

So wait, we're basing purchases now on what others think of them and not our own metrics?

I'm not saying you're wrong, but this is absolutely wild to me. We must live in very different places with a very different group of cohorts.

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

#300

Post by silon42 »

JohnFen wrote: post #277

Android phones stopped being attractive to me a few years back. They've become overpriced and it's much harder to make them work acceptably well. iPhones don't appeal to me at all, though. The decline of Android phones is one of the reasons that I've decided go without a smartphone entirely when my current one dies.

yeah... IMO Android 5 I think was more or less the optimum (Nexus 5)
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