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I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

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Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#431
post #70

I did the opposite and can't believe how much better my life had gotten because my iPhone is just a simple tool that I use for communications and don't think about it as a project. With Android, I always wanted to tweak silly things and run Cyanogenmod because the handset firmware was always so bad and vulnerable. On several occasions I'd bricked my phone requiring hours of recovery, or had transient failures of cell…

> With Android, I always wanted to tweak silly things and run Cyanogenmod because

So effectively, you prefer to use tools that give you less flexibility and that's why you prefer the iPhone.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#432
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These things that you mentioned, you didn't really have to do. Buy a nexus, and it's as clean as it gets. What you're saying is that you left the freedom of your device to jail yourself into simple interface...? I do agree though, that those samsung/lg/etc phone have lots crapwares + carrier crapwares.

> What you're saying is that you left the freedom of your device to jail yourself into simple interface...? No, he's saying that he got himself out of being the prisoner of his device (time, maintainance, etc wise) to being the casual user of his device.

He could have been a casual user of an Android phone.

All you need is learning how to prioritize your time. A lot of adults can do that.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#433
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Buy a nexus, and it's as clean as it gets. Until it gets infected with malware that requires a firmware reflash to close: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/rooting-bug-in-andro...

Ugh. $100 to anyone who actually knows somebody who has been exploited.

I dont know about that exploit. But I clicked on a twitter link which installed malware and I didn't even realise.

What happened was paid apps would pop up adverts. And the browser would redirect to adverts before navigating to page links.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#434
> Of course I don’t know the full backstory, but it sure seemed like the original plan for 3rd party developers on iOS was to have us all just build apps using the web.

Correct, there was no SDK on the first generation iPhone. It was a closed device, like all Apple devices. And that's how Jobs wanted it, he just thought that the idea of third party applications running on this device was pure absurdity.

Then Android came out and Jobs had to adapt.

> Apple made what turned out to be a really smart business decision: they released an iOS SDK and an App Store and the rest is history.

Kind of. Apple made a really smart business decision: they realized that if they didn't match Android and provide an SDK as well, they would lose. So they followed suit.

> The end result, for those of us still trying to build installable web apps for iOS was that with nearly every new iOS release some key feature that we were depending on broke.

This makes it sound as if these features got accidentally broken. No, they were intentionally removed or crippled because they either threatened Apple's dominance or cut into their profits. You could call that another set of "really smart business decisions"

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#435
post #70

I did the opposite and can't believe how much better my life had gotten because my iPhone is just a simple tool that I use for communications and don't think about it as a project. With Android, I always wanted to tweak silly things and run Cyanogenmod because the handset firmware was always so bad and vulnerable. On several occasions I'd bricked my phone requiring hours of recovery, or had transient failures of cell…

Same. I had Android for probably 6 years. Top of the line phones. Nexus one and Nexus 4. The Nexus one was great. The 4 irritated the crap out of me. I can't answer an incoming phone? Hello, this is a phone. Charging issues. Weird lag all the time. When it came time to upgrade I switched.

Bought an iphone last year. Couldn't be happier.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#436
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nexus devices have pretty much proven out to be that way. I was going to move to a Nexus before abandoning Android (after about 7 years of using various phones) but they cut off updates way too early. My friend has one and overall I was just not pleased with it. Build quality as well. I ran Cyanogenmod on my phones usually and helped a lot but I'm still happier with my iPhone. I ended up moving to an iPhone 5S and I…

Well, I have nexus 4 since 2012 and have been using to this day. I just might use it for another year (unless the new Nexus phones this autumn really impress me). Some of my relatives still use Samsung Galaxy S3. It is possible to use an Android phone for more than a year. I have no clue why you went through them so fast. 4 phones in 5 years? So you upgraded nearly every year. Why?

I had to upgrade almost every 1 1/2 years due to various problems. I wanted to stick with Android. I kept hoping the next one would be the "iPhone" of Android but it never landed. I don't think it ever will. The last GS phone I looked at was damn near an exact copy of Apple's all-metal design but Samsung is really wearing on me.

The best phones I had were the Droid 1 (for its day it was ok) and GS4. I don't have a ton of bad things to say about them, but the GS4 was too locked down and got returned for a 5S. Androids bigger appeal is easy hacking with CM and other mods. My GS3 just started randomly restarting, so it flaked out. My HTC Thunderbolt was definitely the worst piece of electronics and software that I've ever put my hands on. It was an absolute abomination. They all had strange slowdowns, lockups and restarts at one point or another. The Tbolt took the cake on that behavior though. I still have the GS3, it works but it gets used as an Alarm Clock Xtreme that sits next to our bed. It's running CM and reliable enough for that. But when I really use it, seems to flake out eventually.

The biggest things I appreciate from the Android space is the great variety in smartwatches, and GearVR is pretty neat. If Apple has their own GearVR someday I'll definitely be onboard. I think that's the future of VR for the masses and Apple will swoop in and perfect it.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#437
post #70

I did the opposite and can't believe how much better my life had gotten because my iPhone is just a simple tool that I use for communications and don't think about it as a project. With Android, I always wanted to tweak silly things and run Cyanogenmod because the handset firmware was always so bad and vulnerable. On several occasions I'd bricked my phone requiring hours of recovery, or had transient failures of cell…

And how is this bad? I bricked my phone several times and fixed it. I cannot buy a phone that I can't tinker with (which is i have a Nexus now). I don't understand how inability to tinker is a good thing.

Take that argument one step further and it's the net neutrality condition.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#438
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These things that you mentioned, you didn't really have to do. Buy a nexus, and it's as clean as it gets. What you're saying is that you left the freedom of your device to jail yourself into simple interface...? I do agree though, that those samsung/lg/etc phone have lots crapwares + carrier crapwares.

Don't buy a Nexus. I have and it's a huge disappointment. I had a perfect Nexus 10 device running KitKat. And then it keeps nagging to upgrade to Lollipop, so I did. Ever since that, it runs every application slow as hell. If you allow the battery to run out, prepare for pain. Once you fill up the battery and it restarts it will start "optimizing" all installed applications. I have about 80 applications and this take…

Talk to anyone who is running iOS 8 on iPhone 5 . it's worse. But the best part - you can't run iOS 8 on iPhone 4...even if you want.

A Nexus may be hardware limited after 2 years, but it doesn't stop you.

Nexus 6p is still considered to be the best phone (and camera) all around even though it's last year's phone. And it's selling for massive discounts.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#439
post #70

I did the opposite and can't believe how much better my life had gotten because my iPhone is just a simple tool that I use for communications and don't think about it as a project. With Android, I always wanted to tweak silly things and run Cyanogenmod because the handset firmware was always so bad and vulnerable. On several occasions I'd bricked my phone requiring hours of recovery, or had transient failures of cell…

And how is this bad? I bricked my phone several times and fixed it. I cannot buy a phone that I can't tinker with (which is i have a Nexus now). I don't understand how inability to tinker is a good thing. Take that argument one step further and it's the net neutrality condition.

I don't think he is talking about the "inability to tinker" but about the "necessarily to tinker". Most Android phones a loaded with bloated crab ware.

I have an Android and I made sure before I bought it that it runs Cyanogenmod. I don't like the locked-in systems from Apple but sometimes I miss something that runs out of the box.

Re: I switched to Android after 7 years of iOS

#440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mod at all, I've got a Nexus 6p and am confident it is the perfect phone right now.

"Perfect" is a stretch. It was one of the better options in its release window, though. One flaw: tough to repair (2/10 on ifixit [0]) which will be fun when the battery starts to go. Another issue: Android Marshmallow (admittedly not Nexus-specific) doesn't play well with AdBlockPlus, and if you want AdAway or another hosts mod, you still need root. Rooting will allegedly break Android Pay, too. [0] https://www.ifix…

AdGuard is an alternative android app that doesn't require root.

You may also install the Firefox android app then add the Adblock extension

Also there are lots of other android Chromium browser apps in the playstore and many with ad blocking built in

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