2017 - A year leaving the Apple walled garden

[convergent]

I've been heavily using Apple products for much of the last 10 years, but over the last few years I found that my needs and the direction of Apple diverged. I believe this has a lot to do with Apple's current leadership, but that is just my opinion. The bottom line is that I discovered that its dangerous to be to "all in" with one company to the point of being trapped and at their mercy for your tech future. I got more and more unhappy with each keynote, and each trip to the Apple Store, and during 2017 finally did something about it. At the beginning of 2017 my MacRumors signature was all Apple... a year later its almost all not Apple.

Router - I have used Airport routers for years, and always had good luck. Over the last several years with no updates and the world advancing without Apple, I found that more and more my iDevices were not switching from one Airport to the other and I was getting crap wireless even though I recently had put in gigabit fiber to our house. This prompted me to do testing and discover how bad things were. I ended up replacing the Airports with a Netgear Orbi, and was also able to eliminate a MoCA backbone network due to the fast backhaul wireless on the Orbi. I now get very fast an reliable WiFi in the house and even in most of my yard.

Computer - About 5 years ago my job change took me from using a MacBook Air as my daily driver to having work on Microsoft's platform and home / small biz on a Mac. The MacBook Air got passed down to my daughter and I maxed out a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt Display on one side of my desk, and my Dell laptop was tied to a similar display on the other side. This worked OK for a while, but when I finally got to Windows 10, and saw that Apple had abandoned my two favorite machines - MacBook Air and Mac Mini, I decided to explore converging. I had always believed touch on a laptop was dumb, but I more and more was intrigued with using a pen for notes in OneNote. Midway through 2017 I jumped in with both feet and got the new Surface Pro to replace my Mac Mini and Dell laptop. The Mac Mini was retired to just backing up my wife's iPhone and iPad. I've really liked the Surface Pro... pen based notes, and a very compact package for travel. My travel backpack weight was cut by about half.

Phone and Watch - My last iPhone was a 6S+ and also an Apple Watch S0 that I used together for 2 years. I waited to see what was to be the iPhone X and wasn't happy with what was announced... no plus size, no FPS, and that notch... and also the headphone jack which caused me to not upgrade the 6S+. Alternatively, there was the 8+, but boring to me as it didn't much new for that much money. I decided to give the Note 8 a try, having only ever tried Android once before (Galaxy S5) and I really hated it. I gave it 6 months and was truly miserable. But with good deals from AT&T on the Note 8 and Gear S3, I decided I had nothing to lose to try it. Other than a little messaging friction with my all iOS family members, I have loved the Note 8, and especially the Gear S3. I was shocked actually that I liked the S3 better than Apple Watch.

Music - With the Gear S3, brought the problem of Apple Music not working with it. A switch to Spotify Family solved this problem and I've found that for discovery and interoperability with all my devices it works great.

Car - Now both of our cars have Car Play and Android Auto. I suppose they both give about the same service, but my wife and I can coexist ... she with iOS and me with Android. But any time there is traffic, Waze is the only way to roll. We both use Spotify for music, so that is roughly the same.

Home Automation - From Black Friday through New Years, I've jumped into home automation with Amazon Echo, Philips Hues, Smart Things Hub, GE Z-wave switches, TPLink Kasa outlets, Nest Protect fire alarms, and we already had a Ring doorbell and stick up camera. What I found so far is interoperability is really important. All that I have I can use on iOS or Android. Had I gone down the path with HomeKit, I'd be locked in.

TV - And over the last week the final piece to the puzzle came into place. I still had an Apple TV latest generation on our main Family Room TV and used an old Harmony One remote. After getting some more Amazon Echos and enjoying multi-room music with Spotify, I bought a Harmony Hub and Elite to replace the One. I experimented with Chromecast, FireTV, Roku, and Apple TV. With Apple TV, the only thing I could control from Echo was just turning it on and off. FireTV was nice, but way to "biased" to Amazon content. The closest to the Apple TV unified search was Roku, and its the more mature of the alternatives. So now the Apple TV is retired until we get a newer TV with an extra HDMI port. We have 3 Rokus, and when on sale again will also had ChromeCasts to each TV as well.

So here's the deal. Nothing wrong with someone wanting to do all of this with just Apple stuff. If you want to go all in on Apple, I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong. But, if you go too far into some of these areas, you are literally locked. A heavy investment into HomeKit automation, or Movie/TV content, and it would very difficult to move. I'm now investing more in open and interoperable stuff. The rest of my family uses iPhones and iPads. For computers, one has a Mac, one has a Chromebook, and one has Windows. We are all so far getting along OK and I think they realize I'm not changing back any time soon.

Hopefully this thread doesn't digress into a bashing and flaming thread like so many, with a few Apple fans trying to take the discussion off on futile tangents. I posted this to share my experience with this transition, to provide info for anyone else considering it, and to hear from others that have done similar.

 

[Wildo6882]

I've been heavily using Apple products for much of the last 10 years, but over the last few years I found that my needs and the direction of Apple diverged. I believe this has a lot to do with Apple's current leadership, but that is just my opinion. The bottom line is that I discovered that its dangerous to be to "all in" with one company to the point of being trapped and at their mercy for your tech future. I got more and more unhappy with each keynote, and each trip to the Apple Store, and during 2017 finally did something about it. At the beginning of 2017 my MacRumors signature was all Apple... a year later its almost all not Apple.

Router - I have used Airport routers for years, and always had good luck. Over the last several years with no updates and the world advancing without Apple, I found that more and more my iDevices were not switching from one Airport to the other and I was getting crap wireless even though I recently had put in gigabit fiber to our house. This prompted me to do testing and discover how bad things were. I ended up replacing the Airports with a Netgear Orbi, and was also able to eliminate a MoCA backbone network due to the fast backhaul wireless on the Orbi. I now get very fast an reliable WiFi in the house and even in most of my yard.

Computer - About 5 years ago my job change took me from using a MacBook Air as my daily driver to having work on Microsoft's platform and home / small biz on a Mac. The MacBook Air got passed down to my daughter and I maxed out a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt Display on one side of my desk, and my Dell laptop was tied to a similar display on the other side. This worked OK for a while, but when I finally got to Windows 10, and saw that Apple had abandoned my two favorite machines - MacBook Air and Mac Mini, I decided to explore converging. I had always believed touch on a laptop was dumb, but I more and more was intrigued with using a pen for notes in OneNote. Midway through 2017 I jumped in with both feet and got the new Surface Pro to replace my Mac Mini and Dell laptop. The Mac Mini was retired to just backing up my wife's iPhone and iPad. I've really liked the Surface Pro... pen based notes, and a very compact package for travel. My travel backpack weight was cut by about half.

Phone and Watch - My last iPhone was a 6S+ and also an Apple Watch S0 that I used together for 2 years. I waited to see what was to be the iPhone X and wasn't happy with what was announced... no plus size, no FPS, and that notch... and also the headphone jack which caused me to not upgrade the 6S+. Alternatively, there was the 8+, but boring to me as it didn't much new for that much money. I decided to give the Note 8 a try, having only ever tried Android once before (Galaxy S5) and I really hated it. I gave it 6 months and was truly miserable. But with good deals from AT&T on the Note 8 and Gear S3, I decided I had nothing to lose to try it. Other than a little messaging friction with my all iOS family members, I have loved the Note 8, and especially the Gear S3. I was shocked actually that I liked the S3 better than Apple Watch.

Music - With the Gear S3, brought the problem of Apple Music not working with it. A switch to Spotify Family solved this problem and I've found that for discovery and interoperability with all my devices it works great.

Car - Now both of our cars have Car Play and Android Auto. I suppose they both give about the same service, but my wife and I can coexist ... she with iOS and me with Android. But any time there is traffic, Waze is the only way to roll. We both use Spotify for music, so that is roughly the same.

Home Automation - From Black Friday through New Years, I've jumped into home automation with Amazon Echo, Philips Hues, Smart Things Hub, GE Z-wave switches, TPLink Kasa outlets, Nest Protect fire alarms, and we already had a Ring doorbell and stick up camera. What I found so far is interoperability is really important. All that I have I can use on iOS or Android. Had I gone down the path with HomeKit, I'd be locked in.

TV - And over the last week the final piece to the puzzle came into place. I still had an Apple TV latest generation on our main Family Room TV and used an old Harmony One remote. After getting some more Amazon Echos and enjoying multi-room music with Spotify, I bought a Harmony Hub and Elite to replace the One. I experimented with Chromecast, FireTV, Roku, and Apple TV. With Apple TV, the only thing I could control from Echo was just turning it on and off. FireTV was nice, but way to "biased" to Amazon content. The closest to the Apple TV unified search was Roku, and its the more mature of the alternatives. So now the Apple TV is retired until we get a newer TV with an extra HDMI port. We have 3 Rokus, and when on sale again will also had ChromeCasts to each TV as well.

So here's the deal. Nothing wrong with someone wanting to do all of this with just Apple stuff. If you want to go all in on Apple, I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong. But, if you go too far into some of these areas, you are literally locked. A heavy investment into HomeKit automation, or Movie/TV content, and it would very difficult to move. I'm now investing more in open and interoperable stuff. The rest of my family uses iPhones and iPads. For computers, one has a Mac, one has a Chromebook, and one has Windows. We are all so far getting along OK and I think they realize I'm not changing back any time soon.

Hopefully this thread doesn't digress into a bashing and flaming thread like so many, with a few Apple fans trying to take the discussion off on futile tangents. I posted this to share my experience with this transition, to provide info for anyone else considering it, and to hear from others that have done similar.

Thanks for posting this.

I’ve long said and felt that going all in with Apple was just too confining for me. If I got too buried in I wouldn’t be able to get out if/when better products and systems emerged. Even as I’ve used Apple and iOS I’ve made sure I’ve stuck to Google services and others so that I’m not locked in. I’ve used Keep, Google Play Movies/Movies Anywhere, Google Play Music (we have a family plan), and I’ve pretty much ignored Apple services. Google services are available on pretty much everything, so we have freedom.

I’ve been using Google Home and Amazon Echo for home automation stuff. That way I can use it with anything. I have no desire to lock myself into HomeKit. I also use only Roku and Chromecast for streaming.

My car has both Android Auto and CarPlay too so I’m good either way.

I’m still working on prying myself away from Apple for my phone, though. I think I’m on my way, most likely with a Pixel. Then I’m not sure about a secondary device. Don’t know if I should go with an iPad or a Chromebook. As we use Windows for our computers at home.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Nice write up.



For myself .......

Router ... The Airport router w/Time Machine that I purchased in 2015 is still working excellent for me. I live in a condo apt, I only have two floors to deal with 12 stories high, so I don't have to worry much about coverage and interference like I would in a house.

Wireless Time Machine with Mac OS is simply flawless. I also like the fact that I can plug in any external drive and have access to it wirelessly from any any platform.

One downside is the Airport application for Windows is complete trash. I had to uninstall it. I just use my iPad or 7+ if I need to configure something instead of opening up my MBP.

I know there's much better and robust routers out there, but the Airport has been doing just fine for me.


Computer... Recently, I just built a powerful Desktop. And I use that more at home over my MBP 2015. Windows 10 is so damn good on a high spec PC, but it's just average to plain bad on a mid to low spec PC. I have my Desktop connected to my bedroom and living room TVs, while using a wireless keyboard with built in trackpad. I still love MacOS though, but mainly use it for specific apps and music production.

One of my other laptops, I loaded Chromium OS on a low spec ASUS Q200e, and it basically gave it new life. That's my new travel laptop for now on. Eventually, I'm going to get a legit Chromebook.


Phone and Watch .... I kept my 7+ but sold my AW series 2 watch. The S8+ and Note 8 has been my daily driver for most of 2017. So I just didn't see the justification of keeping my AW. I did enjoy the AW very much though. My main gripe was the lack of 3rd party watch faces. I'm using a Gear S2 Classic watch, waiting for the S4 before I upgrade.


Music .... Spotify has been my go-to music app for the last 6 months. I like Google music as well, but the only reason I still have that is because I keep finding free deals that I can use on the same account. Spotify's integration and ease of use is just unmatched at the moment. Anything considered a smart device, most likely Spotify is compatible with it.


Home Automation .... I have a Google Home, Echo 2 gen, and Echo Dot. Have seven Phillips Hue color bulbs and a Phillips hub. That's really all I need since I don't live in a house. But I have been thinking about getting some light strips for the back of my TVs, and maybe a Phillips motion sensor.


Car .... My lease is almost up. Never experienced Android Auto or Car Play. Android Auto is a must for my next car lease or purchase. The fact that you can use Waze on Android Auto is a huge plus, since that's my favorite map UI.


TV .... I have everything except an Apple TV. Although I do have plenty of experience with Apple TV, from dealing with my family and friends. I just never seen any benefit that justifies the cost for myself to have one.


Tablets .... I have a Nexus 7(2013), iPad 2, and a iPad Mini 3. I rarely use any of them. The iPad 2 is damn near too obsolete be used, but it makes a damn good loud alarm clock. The Nexus 7 I use as just a media consumption device when I travel long distance. The iPad mini 3 is basically set-up 100% for complete use (apps and all) for when I need it.

I highly doubt I would purchase a tablet again, unless it's some type of folding display tablet.

 

[5105973]

This topic was on my mind when I realized the movies we were watching for New Year’s and the rest of this week are all from iTunes. I could have screamed. Yes we have Apple TV and iPads and iPhones, but I also have Android phones. I want the freedom of watching my movies on any device I own.

Generally we try to avoid getting trapped into one ecosystem anymore.

 

[The Game 161]

Don’t think there’s ever been a better time to try or move to android

There are so many amazing Devices.

Apple is my ecosystem which I couldn’t do without though as my devices work so well with each other so an iPhone will always be my daily driver. Works so well with my air pods, Apple Watch, iPad etc

Samsung are going from strength to strength and performance wise are at the level where they to compete.

Google are growing too in the market in terms of products. The google homes are awesome.

Been tempted for months to get the note 8 as a 2nd phone but couldn’t justify it at the moment.

 

[5105973]

Don’t think there’s ever been a better time to try or move to android

There are so many amazing Devices.

Apple is my ecosystem which I couldn’t do without though as my devices work so well with each other so an iPhone will always be my daily driver. Works so well with my air pods, Apple Watch, iPad etc

Samsung are going from strength to strength and performance wise are at the level where they to compete.

Google are growing too in the market in terms of products. The google homes are awesome.

Been tempted for months to get the note 8 as a 2nd phone but couldn’t justify it at the moment.

I agree it’s a good time to experiment. I love my Apple Watch and as someone with heart arrhythmia I am excited to see where Apple is going with putting more health monitoring sensors into wearables.

But for some time now I’ve had some discomfort at how they operate. Ack...All of a sudden a sinus headache is coming upon me so I can’t quite articulate that right now.

Anyway, what I can get out in words right now is this: now that the rumors are swirling that their budget-friendly “affordable” iPhones are going to be the ones costing what we had been paying for the top of the line flagship models only last year...hell yes, it’s time to explore alternatives. And is Apple really going to give us a lesser quality LCD than we currently enjoy at these same prices? I do hope I read that rumor wrong.

Our family is in a decently affluent income bracket in our middle age, but we have other expenses in a high cost of living area. In short, we are well off enough to splurge on some things, but we still aren’t made of the money Apple seems to think its customers are.

Getting two iPhone X’s specced out the way we like them at a total of $3000 including Apple Care Plus was in the end, excruciatingly uncomfortable. And frankly not worth it, which is why mine is going back.

For me, the camera is very important and if Androids like the Pixel 2 can give me the excellent photos and videos I want at just under the $1000 price level, I’m willing to live without some of the conveniences of iOS in the future.

For now I can afford to run iOS and Android concurrently and evaluate these options in order to pick one that will suit me when the budget grows tighter when we are living on a retirement income while paying college tuitions.

We shall see if, at $740 (on discount) the Pixel 2 can be what I want and need my smart phone/camera to be.

 

[convergent]

Don’t think there’s ever been a better time to try or move to android

There are so many amazing Devices.

Apple is my ecosystem which I couldn’t do without though as my devices work so well with each other so an iPhone will always be my daily driver. Works so well with my air pods, Apple Watch, iPad etc

Samsung are going from strength to strength and performance wise are at the level where they to compete.

Google are growing too in the market in terms of products. The google homes are awesome.

Been tempted for months to get the note 8 as a 2nd phone but couldn’t justify it at the moment.

I agree that we are at a good time to experiment... and its a good time in general to be in tech. Competition is good, and Apple is getting some real competition now. The value of the Apple ecosystem is under fire, as alternatives are giving similar and different value. For example, I am benefiting from Microsoft's exit from phones, because they are now concentrating on software integration and Android is more open to that. A lot of things there, but one very simple one that is just out of the box Microsoft is my ability to take pen based notes in OneNote on my Surface Pro or Note 8, and then edit them on the other device. This for me is a huge productivity gain. Other thing like continuity are coming along nicely as well... Android to Windows 10.

 

[eyoungren]

I have always found that being bound to just one company for everything is not a good thing for me.

Fortunately for me Apple made it so I couldn't.

All of my computers are 2003-2006 era Macs. Not a single one of them can sync with my iPhone 6s+. Consequently, I have always depended on third party services as these are services that WILL sync with my Macs.

I've never therefore been tied to Apple.

As far as networking equipment I've always seen Airport as limiting. There are things you can do with Netgear, D-Link and ASUS products you just cannot do with Airport - because Apple either won't let you, or makes it difficult. Third party software on a router also can expand your horizons.

Apple makes, or made, some stuff I like and I use it for whatever purpose I need(ed) it for. But that's it. I don't depend on Apple and because of that I can come and go.

This year will see Android devices in our house for the first time. We've either been Windows Mobile or iOS.

 

[rui no onna]

This topic was on my mind when I realized the movies we were watching for New Year’s and the rest of this week are all from iTunes. I could have screamed. Yes we have Apple TV and iPads and iPhones, but I also have Android phones. I want the freedom of watching my movies on any device I own.

Generally we try to avoid getting trapped into one ecosystem anymore.

This is why I don't really buy digital video. All the digital movies I have are through digital code redemptions from Blu-ray purchases.

Hopefully, MoviesAnywhere would gain greater support. It was really nice to have a number of my UltraViolet and iTunes videos transferred over to both services as well as Amazon and Google Play.


Router .... Asus RT-AC1900 running Tomato.


Computer .... Desktop: custom builds with processors ranging from Nehalem to Haswell. Laptop: Asus 13" dual-core Sandy Bridge and Lenovo 15" quad-core Haswell (aftermarket 500GB-1TB SSD and 16GB RAM upgrade). All running Windows 7.


Phone and Watch .... iPhone 7 256GB daily driver and a cheapie iPhone SE ($150) for backup. Moto E4 being used as an Android version of iPod Touch. No watch. Smartwatches are still too chunky.


Music .... Spotify, Pandora and Amazon Prime.


Home Automation .... None.


Car .... None. Considering getting an aftermarket CarPlay and Android Auto compatible system installed.


TV .... Custom Mini-ITX HTPC builds, Apple TV and game consoles.


Tablets .... iPad Pro 12.9 512GB, iPad Pro 9.7 256GB, iPad mini 4 128GB. These are my most used devices. I haven't updated any of my computers in years as those still work just fine for my usage. Directing most of the tech funds towards iPads since those are what I use 80-90% of the time.

 

[Strelok]

Apple products have their uses, as do others. For routers I’ve never gone with Apple since it doesn’t make much sense IMO, I can set up a router myself. Same for my personal desktop, I prefer building/customizing it myself. For a phone? Nope, I just need it to work for me. Played around with android long enough to realize it requires too much work on a daily basis for me to want it.

For music I’ve been using Spotify since about 2012, so no point in going to Apple Music for me.

 

[Roadstar]

I've been moving back and forth within the last couple of years, but the throttling issue is quite likely to accelerate my move more towards non-Apple solutions as my trust in the company took quite a hit. At least now it's hard for me to reason that an iPhone will be supported for years when the throttling starts after just a year. Also with the current MacBook Pro lineup it's not actually hard for me to buy something else as I despise the current keyboard for both its typing feel and the poor reliability. While I'd also prefer my next computer to have a USB-C port or two, I'd like to have also the currently common connections readily available without additional dongles.

I'm actually typing this on a nice & fast Windows 10 PC that blows both of my Macs out of the water performance-wise and stability-wise it's pretty much equivalent with High Sierra even though I'm running the Insider Preview version on the PC.

My current home automation setup is quite lightweight with just some IKEA smart lights, which work on Android as well. Granted, with the recently introduced HomeKit support it was nice to control the lights from my Apple Watch, but I can live with my brand new Gear S3 Frontier not being able to do that since my S8+ isn't typically too far away either. And who knows if the support gets added at some point. I'm just glad that I didn't purchase the HomeKit-only gear I was thinking about just before the throttling issue was revealed.

For me iPads will be the hardest to replace (if I ever end up doing so) as the competition still doesn't offer an equally good package, but I don't see a problem with keeping them around as long as they just work or something truly better arrives.

 

[timeconsumer]

I have always found that being bound to just one company for everything is not a good thing for me.

Fortunately for me Apple made it so I couldn't.

All of my computers are 2003-2006 era Macs. Not a single one of them can sync with my iPhone 6s+. Consequently, I have always depended on third party services as these are services that WILL sync with my Macs.

I've never therefore been tied to Apple.

As far as networking equipment I've always seen Airport as limiting. There are things you can do with Netgear, D-Link and ASUS products you just cannot do with Airport - because Apple either won't let you, or makes it difficult. Third party software on a router also can expand your horizons.

Apple makes, or made, some stuff I like and I use it for whatever purpose I need(ed) it for. But that's it. I don't depend on Apple and because of that I can come and go.

This year will see Android devices in our house for the first time. We've either been Windows Mobile or iOS.

I've seen you mention that you'll be moving over to Android this year. Have you decided on devices yet? I think our opinions about devices are fairly similar so I'm curious what you're looking at.

More on topic to the thread:
I actually went from an iPhone 7 to a Pixel 2 to an iPhone 6s. Sadly I find the 6s better than the 7. The Pixel 2 is much better than the 6s but iMessage makes it difficult to not have an iPhone as my main device I still have the Pixel 2 and plan to keep it as a backup device for awhile.

One thing I'm also going to look at replacing is my Apple Watch. I've yet to find a watch that's a good replacement. I would like one that works on both Android and iOS. The Garmin watches come close though.

I'm also currently tied to Apple because I have myname@me.com and that's just awesome to tell people. It's so easy. So I will probably have to give that up because I've found that I prefer to not get locked into certain companies. Plus with all the recent data hacks it may not be a bad idea to move email addresses occasionally.

 

[Fried_Gold]

Not sure if this is really what the thread is for but...

Router - I use an AirPort Extreme with a 500gb SSD attached for time machine backups, no issues what so ever, barely even notice it as it does everything I need it to. The SSD is from an old PC build.

Computer - I work from home on a Windows 10 PC, used to be big on PC gaming as well but sold mine to a friend (i5 4690k + GTX 1070) and just use my PS4 Pro now. My personal computer is a 2015 rMBP which I can't see me replacing for another 2 years at least, I only really use it for web browsing and email now. I do like the look of the Pixelbook and the Surface Book though!

Phone - Currently I have an iPhone 8 Plus sat in my drawer and my daily driver is a Pixel 2, had several iOS and Android phones over the last 10 years and have always been happy with iPhone/Nexus/Pixel the most. I usually have 1 of each iOS and Android phone so I can swap when I want.

Music - Have used Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music over the years, usually bounce between Spotify and Google though as they do a lot of free offers. Both apps work for me so not too bothered.

Car - My car supports neither and not looking to change it any time soon.

Home Automation - I currently have a Google Home, 8 Hue bulbs and a Honeywell smart heating system, all work perfectly with the Google Home, no reason to change it.

TV - Own a couple Chromecasts that get's used mostly in my office on my old 1080p LG, Apple TV 4K is connected to my OLED B7 in the living room.

 

[convergent]

I've seen you mention that you'll be moving over to Android this year. Have you decided on devices yet? I think our opinions about devices are fairly similar so I'm curious what you're looking at.

More on topic to the thread:
I actually went from an iPhone 7 to a Pixel 2 to an iPhone 6s. Sadly I find the 6s better than the 7. The Pixel 2 is much better than the 6s but iMessage makes it difficult to not have an iPhone as my main device I still have the Pixel 2 and plan to keep it as a backup device for awhile.

One thing I'm also going to look at replacing is my Apple Watch. I've yet to find a watch that's a good replacement. I would like one that works on both Android and iOS. The Garmin watches come close though.

I'm also currently tied to Apple because I have myname@me.com and that's just awesome to tell people. It's so easy. So I will probably have to give that up because I've found that I prefer to not get locked into certain companies. Plus with all the recent data hacks it may not be a bad idea to move email addresses occasionally.

I loved my 6s+... was definitely my favorite iPhone. It was my first big phone and sunset my use of iPads. I was also my first foray into smart watches paired with AW S0. I really like the Gear S3, so you may take a look at that but I'm not sure how well it works with an iPhone. I would imagine that its fine, but don't know for sure. The rotating dial for the UI is what I love most about it. Its similar in look and size to the Garmins.

I agree with you that iMessage is the biggest friction point, particularly in the US where everyone is so wedded to it. I've been getting along fine with a whole family of iPhone users so far. We use Groupme for family discussions that have pictures; and I've started using FB Messenger for individual messaging and most people I know also have and use it. No one has complained to me about it. And it mixes in SMS together with FB Messenger which is nice. Eventually the carriers will get the follow on to MMS fully deployed and this will become less of an issue, IF (and this is a big IF), Apple plays along with it and uses it as their green bubble mechanism. If they keep using SMS/MMS like they are doing now, it will be a problem.

 

[ramram55]

I loved my 6s+... was definitely my favorite iPhone. It was my first big phone and sunset my use of iPads. I was also my first foray into smart watches paired with AW S0. I really like the Gear S3, so you may take a look at that but I'm not sure how well it works with an iPhone. I would imagine that its fine, but don't know for sure. The rotating dial for the UI is what I love most about it. Its similar in look and size to the Garmins.

I agree with you that iMessage is the biggest friction point, particularly in the US where everyone is so wedded to it. I've been getting along fine with a whole family of iPhone users so far. We use Groupme for family discussions that have pictures; and I've started using FB Messenger for individual messaging and most people I know also have and use it. No one has complained to me about it. And it mixes in SMS together with FB Messenger which is nice. Eventually the carriers will get the follow on to MMS fully deployed and this will become less of an issue, IF (and this is a big IF), Apple plays along with it and uses it as their green bubble mechanism. If they keep using SMS/MMS like they are doing now, it will be a problem.

The imessage issue is not a big factor to switch from IOS to Android for me, I have relatives using IOS. SMS should take care of things, the idea is phone number related say you have android phone you want to text your aunt who has IPhone, you just get her phone number to text, your aunt does not care the sender using which device. As long as she gets her hello from you, she can read your sweet and kind message this is what counts. FB messenger is another way to communicate with others across all devices. Maybe I am missing something in this regard.

 

[eyoungren]

I've seen you mention that you'll be moving over to Android this year. Have you decided on devices yet? I think our opinions about devices are fairly similar so I'm curious what you're looking at.

I currently have my eye on the Huawei P10 Plus.

However, things move fast with Android as far as model releases so there are others, such as any upcoming Samsung device, the Google Pixel 2 XL and I think the Huawei P11 Plus (why get the 10 when there's an 11?).

 

[rui no onna]

Curious, apart from Pixel and Motorola, what other manufacturers use nearly stock Android? That's one of my primary requirements so no Samsung for me.

 

[convergent]

The imessage issue is not a big factor to switch from IOS to Android for me, I have relatives using IOS. SMS should take care of things, the idea is phone number related say you have android phone you want to text your aunt who has IPhone, you just get her phone number to text, your aunt does not care the sender using which device. As long as she gets her hello from you, she can read your sweet and kind message this is what counts. FB messenger is another way to communicate with others across all devices. Maybe I am missing something in this regard.

What you are missing is that using SMS/MMS, the quality of photos and videos attached to a message is crap. Videos are largely unusable. And the worse part is if one person in a group has the green bubble, then all images and videos in the thread are crap, even if sent from one iPhone to another iPhone (both blue bubbles). This is the issue that you are missing.

I primarily just message family members in group messaging, so its fairly easy for me to manage. But someone who is in many group message threads... say a Mom that is frequently communicating with other class Moms of their kids and exchanging pictures and videos... would be very tough if all the rest had iPhones. This is the case a lot in the US.

 

[widgeteer]

What you are missing is that using SMS/MMS, the quality of photos and videos attached to a message is crap. Videos are largely unusable. And the worse part is if one person in a group has the green bubble, then all images and videos in the thread are crap, even if sent from one iPhone to another iPhone (both blue bubbles). This is the issue that you are missing.

I primarily just message family members in group messaging, so its fairly easy for me to manage. But someone who is in many group message threads... say a Mom that is frequently communicating with other class Moms of their kids and exchanging pictures and videos... would be very tough if all the rest had iPhones. This is the case a lot in the US.

I think what you’re missing is most people just don’t care or think about this stuff. The photo/video quality isn’t a huge concern as most of the content is dogs or kids.

This is why Apple’s walled garden approach is so perfect popular. People don’t have to give this stuff a lot of thought. It’s just not that important to them.

 

[rui no onna]

I think what you’re missing is most people just don’t care or think about this stuff. The photo/video quality isn’t a huge concern as most of the content is dogs or kids.

This is why Apple’s walled garden approach is so perfect popular. People don’t have to give this stuff a lot of thought. It’s just not that important to them.

Quality kinda does for videos when all you can see via MMS are different colored blocks.

That's actually one of the nice things about iOS for the non-technically inclined. iOS has native support for high quality photo and video sharing using the regular messaging app. Caveat, it does require everyone in the group message to be on the same platform (iOS). I've tried teaching my parents iCloud Photo Sharing, but nope, they still use Messages to send photos and videos. At least they can upload to Facebook from their phones now. That's something I used to have to do for them pre-smartphones (import photos from digital camera to PC then upload via web browser).

 

[JakeT85]

Curious, apart from Pixel and Motorola, what other manufacturers use nearly stock Android? That's one of my primary requirements so no Samsung for me.

Essential, OnePlus, Google, Motorola, Blackberry, Nokia

 

[widgeteer]

Quality kinda does for videos when all you can see via MMS are different colored blocks.

That's actually one of the nice things about iOS for the non-technically inclined. iOS has native support for high quality photo and video sharing using the regular messaging app. Caveat, it does require everyone in the group message to be on the same platform (iOS). I've tried teaching my parents iCloud Photo Sharing, but nope, they still use Messages to send photos and videos. At least they can upload to Facebook from their phones now. That's something I used to have to do for them pre-smartphones (import photos from digital camera to PC then upload via web browser).

I hear you. This is mostly a US thing where folks are stuck on texting.

 

[convergent]

I think what you’re missing is most people just don’t care or think about this stuff. The photo/video quality isn’t a huge concern as most of the content is dogs or kids.

This is why Apple’s walled garden approach is so perfect popular. People don’t have to give this stuff a lot of thought. It’s just not that important to them.

I think you are not understanding what I'm saying. The video quality is not just "not good", its horrible. For a video sent from iPhone 8 to Note 8, I am unable to even tell what the video is of. Its unusable. Photos... pixelated and not much use other than a thumbnail. So if its a picture of a funny sign, OK.

The other OEMs and carriers need to align on combating it, because otherwise these groups of low tech "moms" (sorry, not meaning to be sexist... just a use case it applies) are going to push other products vs. iPhones out of the equation and it will be too late. That type of user is not going to take on trying to get all the others to change or install some other app.

There is a solution to this. Most US carriers are starting to roll out RCS - with AT&T its Advanced Messaging. It works from AT&T to AT&T phones that support it. Apple doesn't support it... big surprise. The OEMs and carriers need to quickly align for the use of RCS and put pressure on Apple to add support for it as the drop back for green bubbles instead of MMS. That would alleviate the whole issue and allow iPhone users to continue to use Apple Messages, and communicate with non Apple users who can use whatever messaging app they want and not have the quality issues.

Apple has zero incentive to do this. Everyone else needs to do this in a united way to force Apple to support it.

 

[macsforever]

I've been heavily using Apple products for much of the last 10 years, but over the last few years I found that my needs and the direction of Apple diverged. I believe this has a lot to do with Apple's current leadership, but that is just my opinion. The bottom line is that I discovered that its dangerous to be to "all in" with one company to the point of being trapped and at their mercy for your tech future. I got more and more unhappy with each keynote, and each trip to the Apple Store, and during 2017 finally did something about it. At the beginning of 2017 my MacRumors signature was all Apple... a year later its almost all not Apple.

Router - I have used Airport routers for years, and always had good luck. Over the last several years with no updates and the world advancing without Apple, I found that more and more my iDevices were not switching from one Airport to the other and I was getting crap wireless even though I recently had put in gigabit fiber to our house. This prompted me to do testing and discover how bad things were. I ended up replacing the Airports with a Netgear Orbi, and was also able to eliminate a MoCA backbone network due to the fast backhaul wireless on the Orbi. I now get very fast an reliable WiFi in the house and even in most of my yard.

Computer - About 5 years ago my job change took me from using a MacBook Air as my daily driver to having work on Microsoft's platform and home / small biz on a Mac. The MacBook Air got passed down to my daughter and I maxed out a Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt Display on one side of my desk, and my Dell laptop was tied to a similar display on the other side. This worked OK for a while, but when I finally got to Windows 10, and saw that Apple had abandoned my two favorite machines - MacBook Air and Mac Mini, I decided to explore converging. I had always believed touch on a laptop was dumb, but I more and more was intrigued with using a pen for notes in OneNote. Midway through 2017 I jumped in with both feet and got the new Surface Pro to replace my Mac Mini and Dell laptop. The Mac Mini was retired to just backing up my wife's iPhone and iPad. I've really liked the Surface Pro... pen based notes, and a very compact package for travel. My travel backpack weight was cut by about half.

Phone and Watch - My last iPhone was a 6S+ and also an Apple Watch S0 that I used together for 2 years. I waited to see what was to be the iPhone X and wasn't happy with what was announced... no plus size, no FPS, and that notch... and also the headphone jack which caused me to not upgrade the 6S+. Alternatively, there was the 8+, but boring to me as it didn't much new for that much money. I decided to give the Note 8 a try, having only ever tried Android once before (Galaxy S5) and I really hated it. I gave it 6 months and was truly miserable. But with good deals from AT&T on the Note 8 and Gear S3, I decided I had nothing to lose to try it. Other than a little messaging friction with my all iOS family members, I have loved the Note 8, and especially the Gear S3. I was shocked actually that I liked the S3 better than Apple Watch.

Music - With the Gear S3, brought the problem of Apple Music not working with it. A switch to Spotify Family solved this problem and I've found that for discovery and interoperability with all my devices it works great.

Car - Now both of our cars have Car Play and Android Auto. I suppose they both give about the same service, but my wife and I can coexist ... she with iOS and me with Android. But any time there is traffic, Waze is the only way to roll. We both use Spotify for music, so that is roughly the same.

Home Automation - From Black Friday through New Years, I've jumped into home automation with Amazon Echo, Philips Hues, Smart Things Hub, GE Z-wave switches, TPLink Kasa outlets, Nest Protect fire alarms, and we already had a Ring doorbell and stick up camera. What I found so far is interoperability is really important. All that I have I can use on iOS or Android. Had I gone down the path with HomeKit, I'd be locked in.

TV - And over the last week the final piece to the puzzle came into place. I still had an Apple TV latest generation on our main Family Room TV and used an old Harmony One remote. After getting some more Amazon Echos and enjoying multi-room music with Spotify, I bought a Harmony Hub and Elite to replace the One. I experimented with Chromecast, FireTV, Roku, and Apple TV. With Apple TV, the only thing I could control from Echo was just turning it on and off. FireTV was nice, but way to "biased" to Amazon content. The closest to the Apple TV unified search was Roku, and its the more mature of the alternatives. So now the Apple TV is retired until we get a newer TV with an extra HDMI port. We have 3 Rokus, and when on sale again will also had ChromeCasts to each TV as well.

So here's the deal. Nothing wrong with someone wanting to do all of this with just Apple stuff. If you want to go all in on Apple, I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong. But, if you go too far into some of these areas, you are literally locked. A heavy investment into HomeKit automation, or Movie/TV content, and it would very difficult to move. I'm now investing more in open and interoperable stuff. The rest of my family uses iPhones and iPads. For computers, one has a Mac, one has a Chromebook, and one has Windows. We are all so far getting along OK and I think they realize I'm not changing back any time soon.

Hopefully this thread doesn't digress into a bashing and flaming thread like so many, with a few Apple fans trying to take the discussion off on futile tangents. I posted this to share my experience with this transition, to provide info for anyone else considering it, and to hear from others that have done similar.

I can’t leave the garden... it’s just too beautiful to behold! I’ve had nothing but awesome results with my Macs and iPhones... I get done exactly what I’m going for. All my friends and fans LOVE my content and most are Apple bashers just like you!

 

[macsforever]

I think you are not understanding what I'm saying. The video quality is not just "not good", its horrible. For a video sent from iPhone 8 to Note 8, I am unable to even tell what the video is of. Its unusable. Photos... pixelated and not much use other than a thumbnail. So if its a picture of a funny sign, OK.

The other OEMs and carriers need to align on combating it, because otherwise these groups of low tech "moms" (sorry, not meaning to be sexist... just a use case it applies) are going to push other products vs. iPhones out of the equation and it will be too late. That type of user is not going to take on trying to get all the others to change or install some other app.

There is a solution to this. Most US carriers are starting to roll out RCS - with AT&T its Advanced Messaging. It works from AT&T to AT&T phones that support it. Apple doesn't support it... big surprise. The OEMs and carriers need to quickly align for the use of RCS and put pressure on Apple to add support for it as the drop back for green bubbles instead of MMS. That would alleviate the whole issue and allow iPhone users to continue to use Apple Messages, and communicate with non Apple users who can use whatever messaging app they want and not have the quality issues.

Apple has zero incentive to do this. Everyone else needs to do this in a united way to force Apple to support it.

I can take a screenshot of anything on my iPhone and it’s perfectly clear... on my Android, it’s unreadable! I’ve never had issues like your stating EVER!
I don’t know, all I do here is see Apple bashing threads and it’s “Mac Rumors” not “Apple Bashers” he he... go to the Android forums with your rants!
Apple just created 20,000 jobs and they gave out tons of $$ so Apple isn’t so bad really! I don’t see any oil companies doing it! Or OPEC nations!!!