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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

#441

Post by nordsieck »

kernal wrote: post #382
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 seriously doubt that there are any Androids out there that could get even close to that. It's probably because you didn't really do any research into it. A $100 or less Pixel 4a released in 2020 will easily last 5+ years if you take care of it.

> It's probably because you didn't really do any research into it. A $100 or less Pixel 4a released in 2020 will easily last 5+ years if you take care of it.

I'm not optimizing for years alive in retirement; instead, it's years of active, healthy life.

Similarly, I don't just care about years of software support in a phone - it's important how long the phone feels like it's still a snappy, responsive phone. I just don't have a lot of confidence that I'd feel that way about the Pixel 4a in 2027.

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

#442

Post by Tagbert »

lazide wrote: post #315
mgh2 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, why do you "resent" your money going to Apple?

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.

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

#443

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

JohnFen wrote: post #402
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…

> 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.

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

#444

Post by GeekyBear »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #393
JohnFen wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Maybe I’m just old, but the idea of have a device on the internet that no longer gets security updates just seems wrong. Learned too many lessons back in the 90s and the oughts.

Didn't some recent Google Pixels have a baseband issue that allowed a remote takeover of an unpatched device by hackers knowing nothing more than the device phone number?

Security updates are not optional.

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

#445

Post by lambdaba »

sofixa wrote: post #346
pmontra wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you could use any app asking WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Signal or even Messenger (is it still a thing?) They work well with video. WhatsApp wouldn't be running Europe if its videos were bad.

Telegram is by far the best one for video/photo quality because it doesn't do any (visible) compression, meanwhile WhatsApp and Messenger (yep, still exists) noticeably degrades the quality.

It's basically impossible to share e.g a long screenshot of text because WhatsApp compresses so aggressively, it's a joke.

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

#446

Post by glimshe »

bitsandboots wrote: post #358
glimshe wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android Auto is able to show your current route/map to the car's screen. Android can do that reasonably successfully, so it's worth the price of admission for this reason alone. This said, there are a few usability annoyances and other failures elsewhere in the overall experience. But this particular feature works pretty well.

I don't understand the value of this. Is it just "big screen=better"? Because, my phone's screen is already bigger than the standalone GPSs of the past, and has voice, so I've never thought that I needed a bigger screen for navigation. In fact I want less: A few new cars have very slick HUDs on the windshield which are very elegant in their simplicity. A recent BMW rental had this, all without any smartphone integrat…

Yes, it's a LOT better. Charging the phone connected to it is automatic and the screen is positioned in a safe location and much more visible to not only the driver, but other people who can help with navigation. It's a game changer, I'll never have a car without a screen again.

My Mazda has both Android Auto and its own decent mapping solution, but Android/iPhone is just better than what ships with the car. The phone also has more information on speed traps, detours etc.

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

#447

Post by JohnFen »

dotnet00 wrote: post #69
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…

This "Pixel is the only good Android" sentiment is so bizarre to see. Similarly the point about Samsung devices being loaded with bloat and customizations that aren't better. That second argument was valid like 5 years ago, but definitely not today. Samsung devices do still have a lot of customization, but most of it is actually pretty useful in my experience. Lots of little features that I hadn't realized would be n…

> That second argument was valid like 5 years ago, but definitely not today.

I disagree. It's still valid.

> Samsung devices do still have a lot of customization, but most of it is actually pretty useful in my experience.

Ahh, that may be why we have different experiences. You consider their stuff to be useful -- which is a totally fair opinion -- but I consider it all to be worthless bloat -- which is another totally fair opinion.

I don't mind that it's there. I do mind that I can't delete it.

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

#448

Post by lazide »

filoleg wrote: post #403
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.

There was a thread on HN in the past few days linking this[0] post about a tool that seems to solve just that problem. 0. https://eclecticlight.co/2023/07/17/how-does-icloud-work-plu...

Thanks! I looked into it when that article got posted actually, and near as I can tell that isn't a solution to this problem - and that is fully intentional on Apple's part - because:

1) That article is for things in iCloud Drive, which is everything EXCEPT iCloud Photos. Though you can put photos in iCloud Drive (as files), they just won't be seen as photos, visible in iCloud Photos (or the Photos app), etc. without importing them on an Apple device manually into the Photos app. Where they'll then be synced into iCloud Photos.

The photos that are imported/stored in the Photos App on Apple devices also are not visible in iCloud Drive after being imported into iCloud Photos.

2) It only works on Mac/Apple devices. And only locally. So you'd need to sync to a Mac device, then backup the mac device, then hope it all works. No direct backup is available. So even if it did allow syncing iCloud Photos, it is a really awkward and brittle way to back them up.

3) There ARE APIs for iCloud Drive. But not iCloud Photos.

The web iCloud Photos interfaces also only does manual per-album level downloads (no Takeout or global download equivalent) of photos using the web interface), which stops working at scale VERY quickly.

Notably, Google Photos stopped providing the Google Drive interface to Google Photos shortly after Apple made this their standard operating procedure. So it's a common theme.

Though Google Photos does have APIs and Takeout, so it's lockin is less 'firm', and they're definitely less obnoxious about it. The Takeout data requires some significant massaging to get equivalent from what is visible in Google Photos though.

This is the kind of sneaky trap I've learned to be wary of, as Apple does this a lot for lock-in purposes with their hardware too.

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

#449

Post by cjsplat »

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…

That 2016 phone couldn't be protected from Spectre family attacks without a ridiculous performance penalty.

What is the point in "security updates" for a CPU that can't be made secure?

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

#450

Post by NovaDudely »

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.

Really depends on your use case if you are constantly piping various files from one app into another - android still has that down fairly well. Browser > NewPipe > VLC for instance.

If you are more focused on the curated ecosystem Apple does it much better.

I mostly use Android because of my work flow but I do not think many people in the grand scheme work like this.

Give iOS a try you could be plesantly surprised with it.

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