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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

#451

Post by JohnFen »

HelloMcFly wrote: post #197
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which bloatware and what problems does it make you? For me, I don't really consider Microsoft Office as bloatware as I can use it, plus, what's bloatware for you might be useful apps for others, and I found it stays out of my way once I push it to the side if I don't need it, so it's existence is a non-issue for usability. Samsung bloatware used to be bad in the past but now it's decent IMHO, and I think people are b…

> Which bloatware and what problems does it make you? Just about every single pre-installed app? Their store, their browser, Bixby, Bixby vision, messaging, their car mode, their friends, Galaxy smartwatch BS, SmartThings, their weather app. It's all - to an app - worse than the alternatives, and worse than Google's defaults if that's your preference.

At least they don't have that horrific Bixby Button anymore, though.

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

#452

Post by JohnFen »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #332
HelloMcFly wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which bloatware and what problems does it make you? Just about every single pre-installed app? Their store, their browser, Bixby, Bixby vision, messaging, their car mode, their friends, Galaxy smartwatch BS, SmartThings, their weather app. It's all - to an app - worse than the alternatives, and worse than Google's defaults if that's your preference.

> Just about every single pre-installed app? You can disable any app aside from the Galaxy Store, I believe. Takes like 5 minutes to do them all if you are a die hard Samsung hater. > Their store, their browser, Bixby, Bixby vision, messaging, their car mode, their friends, Galaxy smartwatch BS, SmartThings, their weather app. It's all - to an app - worse than the alternatives, and worse than Google's defaults if tha…

> You can disable any app aside from the Galaxy Store, I believe.

Yes, which is better than nothing, but not nearly as good as being able to uninstall that stuff.

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

#453

Post by jackvalentine »

SapporoChris wrote: post #432
foobarbazetc wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iPhones just work. Macs just work. 99% of people don’t want to spend time configuring anything. Both iOS and Android stopped innovating like 5 years ago, but at least the Apple ecosystem doesn’t feel dead like Android.

From a sim card set of instructions that I was working with today: For iPhone customers: Please install APN after inserting sim card. Open the following website with Safari-Browser: * .* .com. That isn't just working. It looks like iPhone users have an extra configuration step when using this particular sim card.

I’ve never seen that before and am interested. Can you post a link to those instructions?

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

#454

Post by tjoff »

Xeamek wrote: post #400
tjoff wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ALL OF THEM. It is utterly insane how much crap they have in baked in. Everything tries to connect to you ludicrous samsung account and the best selling point their apps have is that they try to masquerade them as standard android apps and not a cheap samsung knockoff. I have to support friends with samsung a bit and I get a headache even touching them. Great cameras, wouldn't touch one even if I was paid to actually…

>Everything tries to connect to you ludicrous samsung account So, exactly as with google trying to sign into google's account? >the best selling point their apps have is that they try to masquerade them as standard android apps and not a cheap samsung knockoff. Again, same for google's apps which people think "come as a part of android", but in reallity they arent? >The telemetry and the dark patterns they utilize ge…

>So, exactly as with google trying to sign into google's account?

Massive difference though. Samsung tries to trick people to use it by not being up front with what account it is and what it is for.

Now, don't get me wrong. Google would probably do the same, but in this case they don't have to - because it is their OS. It is trivial to skip the google account if you want but it actually has its place in android. A samsung account on the other hand just makes things objectively worse, and at every turn they dare they try to get you deeper into their dependence, always trying to trick you into depending on samsung for the same stuff google already does for you (if you went that route).

How you can compare the two boggles me.

And even if the shady practices doesn't bother you and you feel like they are equally bad, then both of them are twice as bad. Why on earth would I want to use one I didn't have to?

And above all, why would I tie my android experience to one vendor?

> Again, same for google's apps which people think "come as a part of android", but in reallity they arent?

Really not the same, but yes, google bundles crap too if that is your point. Samsung is way better at making crap though. Regardless, who should be bundling crap anyway? The OS vendor or the hardware vendor? The hardware vendor is more than fine to write apps directly related to hardware features but other than that they should just fuck off.

> As if google doesn't use telemetry?

You think it is ok if Dell installs telemetry on a Windows PC? As much as I hate google what samsung is doing doesn't compare.

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

#455

Post by kube-system »

Aerroon wrote: post #425
kube-system wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disconnect is that you're thinking about computers for their ability to do computing. Most people don't care about whether their computers are good at computing, but are instead trying to accomplish some other task. In fact, the more that the 'computer' disappears, the better in their mind.

They don't care until they need to do something that they can't do because their platform doesn't allow them to do it. There's no reason why compilers couldn't run on phones. Modern phones are more powerful than computers were even 15 years ago. And yet you can't do the things on a modern phone that you could on that computer from 15 years ago. At least you can't do it nearly as easily because of artificial limitatio…

> And yet you can't do the things on a modern phone that you could on that computer from 15 years ago. At least you can't do it nearly as easily because of artificial limitations.

This may be a con for enthusiasts, but these artificial 'limitations' are exactly why Apple has been successful with the mass market. 15 years ago, computers were plagued by drive-by downloads, malvertising, and other crap. People in the early 00s spent millions of dollars paying repair technicians to uninstall toolbars, adware, and other junk software they were duped into installing.

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

#456

Post by sourcecodeplz »

Apple is the only manufacturer that still sells a phone today with an actual physical button. It is hard for me to give that up. Also it is very small and slim. Barely feel it in my pocket, not to mention the nice feeling aluminium on the back.

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

#457

Post by JohnFen »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #443
JohnFen wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> expect to use it for 5+ years. I seriously doubt that there are any Androids out there that could get even close to that. Every Android phone I've had has lasted that long or longer. If I got less than 5 years out of any smartphone, I'd consider it faulty.

You must have gone without security or other OS updates then, which I would consider a deal breaker with a phone. Google only recently extended the Pixel OS support timeline to be on par with Android.

Yes, I don't care about getting updates. If they're important to you, that's fair.

But the phones don't suddenly stop working without updates. They're still perfectly fine.

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

#458

Post by lazide »

Tagbert wrote: post #442
lazide wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's things like iCloud Photos having no API to access them and no reasonable way to pull them out or back them up. So very much a trap. Among other things.

I back them up on my Mac to BackBlaze and TimeMachine . They are just local files at that point.

Do you see all the photos in the photos app (and hence iCloud Photos) in iCloud Drive? Near as I can tell, they're separate and this is by design.

This impacts pictures or videos taken on phones, iPad’s etc by default; as they go into iCloud Photos, not iCloud Drive.

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

#459

Post by kube-system »

rjh29 wrote: post #309
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thankfully only the US is afflicted with this stupidity.

The rest of the world chose a different stupidity, locking in their messaging to Meta's platform.

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

#460

Post by delecti »

cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #401
nordsieck wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm constantly amazed by how people spend so much of their income on Apple products I don't know about other people, but I went iPhone specifically for the value/$. Got a used iPhone SE 2020 for $150 in late 2021, and expect to use it for 5+ years. I seriously doubt that there are any Androids out there that could get even close to that. It really helps that Apple's CPU/SoC is substantially superior to what everyon…

I might be one of those value shoppers; I usually buy the "Pixel .a" version of the oldest available generation when it's time for replacement (I'm currently on a Pixel 4a). I like it. I used to have an iPhone, but I prefer the "feel" of Andriod-on-Pixel, but I don't know how to describe it. Less heavy-handed maybe? More minimalistic? I don't need the fastest, most powerful SoC. I don't need the best, super fast disp…

Your "usually" is doing a lot there. You bought the second ever "a", so you've done it once?

I understand your preference though, I've used google's phones (Nexus then Pixel) for about a decade. They have the benefit of having one fewer cooks in the kitchen. Any other brand has to adjust to whatever dumb thing Google has done to copy iPhone in each new OS release, and then also add their own layer on top of that.

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