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Setting up phones is a nightmare

joelchrono.xyz

61–70 of 257 posts

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#61
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many people around my area, iPhones are a status symbol choice. Not a coherent or direct software+ecosystem choice. I've seen arguments around chosing iPhone for their camera. But the vast majority that is tech iliterate stops around that argument.

For many people around my area, iPhones are a status symbol choice. People in your area are very forthcoming. Not once have I ever heard someone vocalize that they bought an iPhone as a status symbol. “Easy to use”, “it’s what my friends use, and they like it”, but never “it makes me appear higher in the social strata”. They might think it, and I’m sure some do, but it’s not said out loud. Or maybe that’s not why the…

It's just a "high-end" good here in the States. Elsewhere it's a luxury good, on par with a Rolex. I use an iPhone because of the smooth UI, the integration with my Mac, and the less-evil company that spies on me less. But let's not kid ourselves, these things are spendy, and conspicuous consumption is still a thing.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#62
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, I'll double-down if you really disagree with me. ChromeOS, the operating system/spyware installed on e-waste like Chromebooks, has a more serious OS than iOS. It is more functional and capable, and undeniably the better professional OS. I say that with no love for ChromeOS. iOS exists in a class of it's own, functionality-wise. A class much closer to game consoles than anything resembling a computer.

> Hell, I'll double-down if you really disagree with me. No wonder the world is in its current state, if when faced with disagreement the reaction is “I’ll plug my ears and dig my heels in deeper” instead of “I wonder if I’m missing something”. > ChromeOS (…) has a more serious OS than iOS. It is (…) the better professional OS. For starters, there are professionals (as in, people who get paid to do a job) who do thei…

let's maybe not engage the patently obvious troll?

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#63
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For many people around my area, iPhones are a status symbol choice. Not a coherent or direct software+ecosystem choice. I've seen arguments around chosing iPhone for their camera. But the vast majority that is tech iliterate stops around that argument.

For many people around my area, iPhones are a status symbol choice. People in your area are very forthcoming. Not once have I ever heard someone vocalize that they bought an iPhone as a status symbol. “Easy to use”, “it’s what my friends use, and they like it”, but never “it makes me appear higher in the social strata”. They might think it, and I’m sure some do, but it’s not said out loud. Or maybe that’s not why the…

Paying 2000 USD for a phone absolutely is a status symbol. And nobody actually says a status symbol is one - like nobody says look at my Rolex watch, I paid 50000 USD for it. Nobody needs a 2000 USD phone and nobody needs a 50000 USD watch.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#64
Sounds like setting up Windows. The amount of explaining of “why you don't want or need that” was insane. I got Ubuntu down to 10 min or so. Including my fav apps. (I won’t make the comparison to setting up NicOS with a ready to go config ;))

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#65

“Phones” in the title is doing lots of heavy lifting. “Android phones” is the key missing piece. I love Free software too, and I wish I could run more of my life on it, but it’s no longer my hobby. I like cars, too, but I don’t work on a hobby car. The author’s experience is why I use proprietary stuff like Apple for these parts of my life. A new Apple device is usually a non-event: charge it, authenticate, wait for…

95% of what was written in this article isn't required to set up an Android phone. You can literally log into your Google account on first boot and everything is done for you, automatically.

At least Samsung doesn't sync folders. Meaning: if they were organized before by topic they aren't there after syncing via their "Samsung Smart Switch Mobile" to a new Samsung phone. A lot gets synced, but it's not like an image with full DSC (desired state configuration) afterwards.

Pretty mediocre -- not totally useless, but far from a seamless experience.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#66
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I thought sideloading wasn't a real problem and Google is just locking it down because they're evil :-)

“Sideloading” does not play a role in this. All of the crapware is on Google Play.

Galaxy Store is the clown car version of Google Play-- luckily mostly unnecessary.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#67

“Phones” in the title is doing lots of heavy lifting. “Android phones” is the key missing piece. I love Free software too, and I wish I could run more of my life on it, but it’s no longer my hobby. I like cars, too, but I don’t work on a hobby car. The author’s experience is why I use proprietary stuff like Apple for these parts of my life. A new Apple device is usually a non-event: charge it, authenticate, wait for…

95% of what was written in this article isn't required to set up an Android phone. You can literally log into your Google account on first boot and everything is done for you, automatically.

Maybe Samsung has changed how the first boot works compared to stock Android, but this definitely has not been my experience across several Samsung devices. Also many apps store their data in different ways which doesn't always survive a device migration/backup. Only cloud-only apps have a good experience, wheras anything that stores data on device can be hit and miss depending on how easy individual apps manage its backup.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#68

“Phones” in the title is doing lots of heavy lifting. “Android phones” is the key missing piece. I love Free software too, and I wish I could run more of my life on it, but it’s no longer my hobby. I like cars, too, but I don’t work on a hobby car. The author’s experience is why I use proprietary stuff like Apple for these parts of my life. A new Apple device is usually a non-event: charge it, authenticate, wait for…

iOS now has a ton of dialogs and set up steps and the occasional dark pattern in selling you various cloud based subscriptions to Apples various services. Having said all that, yes Android is pretty bad. I think it's the in the nature of platform owners to get their hooks into yoh as much as possible. When I set up Linux Mint, there was none of this.

It took a good while for me to figure out that a family member had inadvertently signed up for an Apple Music account that they were not using.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#69
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hell, I'll double-down if you really disagree with me. No wonder the world is in its current state, if when faced with disagreement the reaction is “I’ll plug my ears and dig my heels in deeper” instead of “I wonder if I’m missing something”. > ChromeOS (…) has a more serious OS than iOS. It is (…) the better professional OS. For starters, there are professionals (as in, people who get paid to do a job) who do thei…

let's maybe not engage the patently obvious troll?

Only if you can't refute me.

I don't think my comment is controversial among most iPhone owners, it's only the hardcore ecosystem enthusiasts that debate it. Most people really do treat their iPhone and iPad like a set-top box or games console; it's the minority who rely on it for work. A passionate minority, certainly, but nowhere near the market share Windows and ChromeOS carved out. iOS and iPadOS compete from the sidelines, still struggling to displace (or match) Windows.

Re: Setting up phones is a nightmare

#70
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mother can no longer do the stuff she used to on her iOS phone because it is so complicated compared to the iPhone 4 I gave her a long time ago. I screen her emails with her consent, very easy to do with Fastmail that imports her Yahoo mail into a folder she doesn't see and then I move okay emails to her inbox.

Have you tried Assistive Access mode? https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/assistive-access-iphon...

I have not heard of it before, thank you. I will try it out.
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