I'm an Android Failure

[cuzo]

Everything OP said is pretty well known about android, obviously OP doesn't listen to much tech news or browse boards.

Android isn't the IOS experience, it offers appeal in what IOS simply can't do, multitasking, downloading, and other features like call recording or IR blaster (certain phones). It's not IOS and will never compete with IOS on battery life, apps or games.

IOS doesn't even allow any mutlitasking so off course android is gona drain battery quicker since much more is going on in the backround.

Grab a IOS phone and find a good call blocker... I guarentee you that once in the white the application will reset or turn off, or simply miss a bunch of spam calls that will get through because IOS is so stritch on what they allow other programs or apps to see in the file system.

That's where android shines... freedom, you can literally turn it into whatever you want but you will miss out on some features.

I like my 11 pro max, my goal was to get something and stop the intense android switching, it's just a phone at the end of the day and it's more important things to life than the latest gadget but honestly it's some issues about IOS that I can't stand like no PIP for youtube, no multitasking, no AOD, and this damn file system that shuts everything off due to apple being so strict. No call blocker work well on IOS, they all have problems.

But I can type well and I like Face ID so I deal with it.

on the other side I am curious to see what android is like today my last android was the S10E

 

[Mr. Jenkins]

There was a time you couldn’t pay me to get an iPhone. My first few smartphones ever were Androids. They were good. I loved the experience of using them.

My only complaint about them were that when they got about 1.5 to 2 years old, they showed their aging. They got slow, laggy and buggy.

Meanwhile, my friends with their 2 year old iPhones were still running smoothly not showing much signs of aging. When I saw that, that’s when I made the switch to iPhone. I wanted a phone that worked smoothly for however long I decide to keep it, and Android just wasn’t doing that for me at the time.

I went to iPhone and stayed on iPhone ever since. iPhone does everything that I need it to do. People like to point to the customization factor on Android, which is fine if that’s what you want. I still have the same wallpaper on my current 13 pro max that I had on my first iPhone 5s that I got in 2013 (and it was the default wallpaper out of the box). My the layout of my apps on my home screen haven’t changed since 2013. I don’t really care about customization. I just need the thing to work.

Androids may have improved a lot since I’ve had one but i never looked back.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I've never owned an iPhone but I have no issues admitting that gosh, Apple makes some beautiful and stunning phones. I am the type of person that hates being glued to their phone, I don't do social media, never have and never will. So my phone usage is basic, when out on a service call I use Google Maps, take phone calls, send text messages to my customers and when I am sitting down at a local restaurant and i'm bored I take out the phone while waiting for my food.

A poster said there has to be or at least one need as to why you want to use Android and that is absolutely correct. I now use only because Apple doesn't offer what Android does and it's not what you think. It has NOTHING to do with customizations.

What it boils down to is that I think the core apps in Android are much better than what Apple offers in iOS. I think Google Maps is the defacto standard and is a much better and more refined product over Apple Maps. GMail is better than Apple Mail. The same goes for Google Calendar and Google Messages. IMO, Google Chrome. Google Assistant is vastly superior to Siri. Siri is still stuck in neutral and really is just a basic version of Google Assistant. Gosh, Google has Google Assistant answering your phone and they even demoed it making reservations for the caller in a natural voice where the person on the other end could not tell they were talking to A.I.

What sets Android apart from iOS is a feature that is standard on Android and that is the "Google Call Screener". That one feature has cutdown my Spam calls by 99.5%. I used to average between 250-300 Robocalls per month and now maybe 1-2 will sneak in.

The other reason I prefer Android is how Google treats the OS. They use their Play Store to update their Core Apps. So even when your device no longer gets updates, you can count on having a phone functioning because Google Chrome and the rest of the Core Apps still function unlike how Apple treats their OS. Once Apple no longer supports the device you have so much time before things like Safari stops being functional with certain websites because Apple ties their Core Apps to firmware updates whereas Google doesn't.

Those are all the reasons why I use and need Android over iOS and don't own an iPhone and I would love to own one but they don't fit my need. When they do I would gladly buy one as Apple has the leg up on everyone else when it comes to Service and Support.

Am I an Apple hater, no far from it. I own several Macs, i've purchased and just about every iPad under the sun. But iOS just lacks what Android can do in a much better way. So to the person who said you have to have a need for Android, I agree !

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

As someone that uses both platforms heavily for over a decade now. If I had only one choice, I would stick with Android.

 

[ian87w]

Decades? I'm sorry, Android as a Phone OS is barely 15 years old. You probably mean Symbian OS and all the predecessors. I haven't seen much dual SIM slot phones until China started to flood the market with cheap phones, probably around 2009(?).

Apologies on the details. Yes, I meant phones in general. We have had dual SIM since the feature phones. Pretty much any phone distributed in my country is expected to be dual SIM, with the iPhone being the rare exception.

 

[Johns12]

I have owned every non S Iphone from 1-6. I was not happy with some of the IOS restrictions so I made the switch first to a use a Samsung S7 edge. It took me maybe 2 months to get used to the difference. Then I bought a Note 8 which I still have. There are definitely things that I find worse on Android, but many things I find better. My Note 8 is 4 1/2 years old and still runs fine for me. I'll replace it this year. I use a Macbook pro and my wife uses an Iphone and Ipad. We have little to no issues interfacing with each other.

 

[cuzo]

I've never owned an iPhone but I have no issues admitting that gosh, Apple makes some beautiful and stunning phones. I am the type of person that hates being glued to their phone, I don't do social media, never have and never will. So my phone usage is basic, when out on a service call I use Google Maps, take phone calls, send text messages to my customers and when I am sitting down at a local restaurant and i'm bored I take out the phone while waiting for my food.

A poster said there has to be or at least one need as to why you want to use Android and that is absolutely correct. I now use only because Apple doesn't offer what Android does and it's not what you think. It has NOTHING to do with customizations.

What it boils down to is that I think the core apps in Android are much better than what Apple offers in iOS. I think Google Maps is the defacto standard and is a much better and more refined product over Apple Maps. GMail is better than Apple Mail. The same goes for Google Calendar and Google Messages. IMO, Google Chrome. Google Assistant is vastly superior to Siri. Siri is still stuck in neutral and really is just a basic version of Google Assistant. Gosh, Google has Google Assistant answering your phone and they even demoed it making reservations for the caller in a natural voice where the person on the other end could not tell they were talking to A.I.

What sets Android apart from iOS is a feature that is standard on Android and that is the "Google Call Screener". That one feature has cutdown my Spam calls by 99.5%. I used to average between 250-300 Robocalls per month and now maybe 1-2 will sneak in.

The other reason I prefer Android is how Google treats the OS. They use their Play Store to update their Core Apps. So even when your device no longer gets updates, you can count on having a phone functioning because Google Chrome and the rest of the Core Apps still function unlike how Apple treats their OS. Once Apple no longer supports the device you have so much time before things like Safari stops being functional with certain websites because Apple ties their Core Apps to firmware updates whereas Google doesn't.

Those are all the reasons why I use and need Android over iOS and don't own an iPhone and I would love to own one but they don't fit my need. When they do I would gladly buy one as Apple has the leg up on everyone else when it comes to Service and Support.

Am I an Apple hater, no far from it. I own several Macs, i've purchased and just about every iPad under the sun. But iOS just lacks what Android can do in a much better way. So to the person who said you have to have a need for Android, I agree !

That's my issue in a nutshell, thank you

The spam is sickening and none of the apps work well due to Apple security measures.

May I ask what watch you have sir? Or do you don't bother with a smartwatch on android.

 

[ozaz]

My Note 8 is 4 1/2 years old and still runs fine for me. I'll replace it this year.

Out of interest, does it still get security updates?

 

[cnnyy20p]

Apple provides better frameworks that‘s the reason why.

 

[Electrojake]

It could also be that you’re aligning your expectations with your spending. For example, if I spend $1800 for a phone, I expect to be blown away by it. If I spend $400, I’m more willing to accept compromises or a steeper learning curve.

Good point TechRunner,
As they say; "money can't buy happiness"
While I still think my Z Fold 3 is pretty much a complete miss, I have at least been getting some good use out of my Galaxy Tab 8+ which just arrive a few days ago.

And as for those here that stated my problem is that I went to Android with no good reason...
My reason was that I've been reading posts & comments for years about what garbage iOS is and how switching to Android would be this great experience. That stepping away from anything Apple would lift this great burden from my shoulders.

While I dont see much hatred for Android here on these Apple forums, I have seen tons of seething hatred of Apple on Samsung and some Android sites I have visited. <go figure?>

The crew here has at least got me to the point of understanding that using my new Samsung equipment is no reason to throw away all my Apple gear.
Thanks for the replies & opinions. All good input! ?

 

[Danfango]

The other reason I prefer Android is how Google treats the OS. They use their Play Store to update their Core Apps. So even when your device no longer gets updates, you can count on having a phone functioning because Google Chrome and the rest of the Core Apps still function unlike how Apple treats their OS. Once Apple no longer supports the device you have so much time before things like Safari stops being functional with certain websites because Apple ties their Core Apps to firmware updates whereas Google doesn't.

That's actually a bit of a misunderstanding.

Key example is the support for varying TLS versions which drop off on older OS releases on Android and iOS. At some point no apps can actually talk to the servers at the other ends because the older TLS protocols are removed as they are found to be insecure.

iOS releases seem to have a good 6 year lifespan on them where the TLS protocol stack is updated on each release. Android 18 months if you're lucky after which you're at the mercy of the server end's best practices adherence. A lot of the reason the older apps work is because the server end of things is running ancient insecure TLS protocols.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

That's actually a bit of a misunderstanding.

Key example is the support for varying TLS versions which drop off on older OS releases on Android and iOS. At some point no apps can actually talk to the servers at the other ends because the older TLS protocols are removed as they are found to be insecure.

iOS releases seem to have a good 6 year lifespan on them where the TLS protocol stack is updated on each release. Android 18 months if you're lucky after which you're at the mercy of the server end's best practices adherence. A lot of the reason the older apps work is because the server end of things is running ancient insecure TLS protocols.

Look, i'm not a programmer and all I care about is that I can use an Android tablet that's way over 8 yrs old and have NO problems on any website that I choose. That's all that really matters to me. Android still releases updates to Chrome as well as System Webview for older devices.

 

[HiVolt]

I myself have been a lifelong iPhone/iPad user, and I've never seen a desire to change. Why?

Because over the years, I've often been asked by friends, family, coworkers, to help them with this or than on an android phone, because i've always been the tech nerd up with technology etc... But whenever I grab an android device, I just want to pull my hair out. I dunno, its just not intuitive or easy to use for me.

And I'm by far a complete Mac sheep. I've preferred Windows PC's for a desktop, and been building my own desktop PC's and home servers since the early 90's. I've had a mac mini as a Mac desktop to fart around on since the G4 Mini, but that's as far as I go.

But I've had an iPhone since the 3G and an iPad since the iPad 3rd gen. I don't intend to move away from this combination, unless Apple makes some drastic changes to the way the devices look or work.

 

[LFC2020]

As they say; "money can't buy happiness"

It can buy you happiness, when it’s a iPhone 13 Pro Max, sierra blue sexy goddess with a A15 bionic beast of a chip, sexy finger licking good 120hz ProMotion and a battery that gets you 12 hours usage. ?

The honeymoon phase still isn’t over. ?

 

[Electrojake]

It can buy you happiness, when it’s a iPhone 13 Pro Max, sierra blue sexy goddess with a A15 bionic beast of a chip, sexy finger licking good 120hz ProMotion and a battery that gets you 12 hours usage. ?
The honeymoon phase still isn’t over.

Excellent point LFC2020 ?
I have every intention of buying an iPhone 14 Pro Max in October (even though an SE is all I really need).

 

[LFC2020]

Excellent point LFC2020 ?
I have every intention of buying an iPhone 14 Pro Max in October (even though an SE is all I really need).

ABSOLUTELY!!! iPhone 14 Pro Max for the W.

120hz on a iPhone is butter 24/7

Pro Max battery life is a beast, you’ll be getting 10-12 hours usage.

Face ID. ?

The list goes on and on and on……

Had my iPhone 13 Pro Max since launch day, it’s been a pleasure to use every day. A15 bionic chip, 120hz, battery life, macro camera.?

 

[antiprotest]

No, yours is an iPhone/iOS success story.

 

[Isamilis]

-

 

[Johns12]

Out of interest, does it still get security updates?

My last security update was a little over a year ago.

 

[edubfromktown]

Samsung is your 1st problem lol

Too much bloatware, expensive, ...

I switched from a long line of iPhones a year and a half ago. Only thing I had done years earlier was sync my contacts to Google. That made the transition from iPhone 8 Plus seamless.

Google Pixel 4a was awesome in many categories: size, battery life, camera quality, etc. Pixel 6 not so much (that old tech rigid OLED display was my #1 complaint).

Settled on a One Plus 8T for now. Might have a look at Pixel 7 or beyond assuming Google uses a better and more modern display, figures out how to charge efficiently and maybe sorts out consistent/stable A12 release management on Pixel 6 and higher hardware.

 

[mclld]

It's ok to not like, get or use android just as the same with iOS, get on with your life and use what you prefer. You are really overthinking it

 

[Electrojake]

A number of people here have stated that I (the OP) must have a concrete reason & purpose for using Android or I will drop it or at the very least not enjoy using it.

I'm not sure I fully understand that reasoning.
Me not being an IT guy that may be true. Switching to Android may simply be beyond my technical abilities or cognitive reach.
But it also leads me to wonder this: If I need a concrete reason for using Android, then what were my concrete reasons for buying my Apple phones? ?

It sounds as if you're saying iOS is for everyone but when a person needs to go beyond the simple capabilities of iOS then there is Android, (which may indeed be true). ?

At this point I'm enjoying using my Samsung Tab S8+ but still cant find any actual use for the Z Fold 3 that sits in my desk drawer collecting dust.

Closing thought. . .
You'll never realize how well perfected a simple 6.7" slab-phone truly is until you've experienced the clumsy, fragile, awkwardness of something that isn't a slab phone... Like say a Samsung Z Fold 3.

 

[Johns12]

A number of people here have stated that I (the OP) must have a concrete reason & purpose for using Android or I will drop it or at the very least not enjoy using it.

I'm not sure I fully understand that reasoning.
Me not being an IT guy that may be true. Switching to Android may simply be beyond my technical abilities or cognitive reach.
But it also leads me to wonder this: If I need a concrete reason for using Android, then what were my concrete reasons for buying my Apple phones? ?

It sounds as if you're saying iOS is for everyone but when a person needs to go beyond the simple capabilities of iOS then there is Android, (which may indeed be true). ?

At this point I'm enjoying using my Samsung Tab S8+ but still cant find any actual use for the Z Fold 3 that sits in my desk drawer collecting dust.

Closing thought. . .
You'll never realize how well perfected a simple 6.7" slab-phone truly is until you've experienced the clumsy, fragile, awkwardness of something that isn't a slab phone... Like say a Samsung Z Fold 3.

I have been interested in the Z Fold 3 but have never used one. I was hoping they would increase the folded screen to take up the whole space. You find it not usable. What do you find are the most undesirable features of it?

 

[Electrojake]

I have been interested in the Z Fold 3 but have never used one. I was hoping they would increase the folded screen to take up the whole space. You find it not usable. What do you find are the most undesirable features of it?

Z Fold 3. . .
Clumsy ergonomics in the nude but I put a big fat S-pen holder case on the phone and now at least I have a reasonably safe way to hold the phone when folded open.
https://vrsdesign.com/collections/g...z-fold-3-5g-case-terra-guard-s-pen-cover-type

Mind you that I had to go through three expensive cases before I found one that would hold the phone without causing damage.

The case also makes it easier to open (unfold) the phone.

In general cases must be glued onto the phone to work properly (pretty sad). Samsung needs to put a wider bezel on the phone so case manufacturers have something to work with (other than glue).

The outside screen has odd (tall skinny) size that doesnt fit any screen dimension standards.

The inside screen has odd (nearly square) size that doesnt fit any screen dimension standards.

Delamination of the built-in screen protector (both front & inner screens) are more frequent than Samsung will admit.

Folding screen cracks occur a lot more frequently than Samsung would care to admit.

In general the larger screen just doesnt seem to "deliver the goods" as I had hoped for. It's too much like a miniature folding Chromebook, and too little like my Tab S tablet. Sad to say but working Facebook or a forum is just simpler & cleaner on my slab phone.

On the positive side. . .
My Z Fold 3 is an impressive piece of technology!
If you like tech-gadgets and enjoy gaming on a portable device, be sure to have a reliable backup phone so when your ZF3 screen cracks you have a backup phone. If you're good with that then I would recommend a ZF3.

At this point in time I do not use my ZF3 at all so that it survives until October when I can trade it in on a new iPhone Pro Max or perhaps another Samsung phone.

Z Fold 4 rumors & leaks say that Samsung is working on using a more durable folding glass screen on the new ZF4. If that is true than I might upgrade to the new ZF4 in September.
I can live with the odd ergonomics and the crappy case selection but the rampant folding screen cracks need to be fixed and SOON!

Rumors also now say that Samsung has a third folding device coming out in 2022. It will be interesting to see what this new (yet unseen) folding device might look like.
Hopefully it will be larger than the current Z Fold3 phones... A lot larger.

Regards,
-Jake-

 

[Johns12]

Z Fold 3. . .
Clumsy ergonomics in the nude but I put a big fat S-pen holder case on the phone and now at least I have a reasonably safe way to hold the phone when folded open.
https://vrsdesign.com/collections/g...z-fold-3-5g-case-terra-guard-s-pen-cover-type

Mind you that I had to go through three expensive cases before I found one that would hold the phone without causing damage.

The case also makes it easier to open (unfold) the phone.

In general cases must be glued onto the phone to work properly (pretty sad). Samsung needs to put a wider bezel on the phone so case manufacturers have something to work with (other than glue).

The outside screen has odd (tall skinny) size that doesnt fit any screen dimension standards.

The inside screen has odd (nearly square) size that doesnt fit any screen dimension standards.

Delamination of the built-in screen protector (both front & inner screens) are more frequent than Samsung will admit.

Folding screen cracks occur a lot more frequently than Samsung would care to admit.

In general the larger screen just doesnt seem to "deliver the goods" as I had hoped for. It's too much like a miniature folding Chromebook, and too little like my Tab S tablet. Sad to say but working Facebook or a forum is just simpler & cleaner on my slab phone.

On the positive side. . .
My Z Fold 3 is an impressive piece of technology!
If you like tech-gadgets and enjoy gaming on a portable device, be sure to have a reliable backup phone so when your ZF3 screen cracks you have a backup phone. If you're good with that then I would recommend a ZF3.

At this point in time I do not use my ZF3 at all so that it survives until October when I can trade it in on a new iPhone Pro Max or perhaps another Samsung phone.

Z Fold 4 rumors & leaks say that Samsung is working on using a more durable folding glass screen on the new ZF4. If that is true than I might upgrade to the new ZF4 in September.
I can live with the odd ergonomics and the crappy case selection but the rampant folding screen cracks need to be fixed and SOON!

Rumors also now say that Samsung has a third folding device coming out in 2022. It will be interesting to see what this new (yet unseen) folding device might look like.
Hopefully it will be larger than the current Z Fold3 phones... A lot larger.

Regards,
-Jake-

If I did get one, I would wait until the 4 is released. Thanks for your thoughts.