Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows
- Thread starter LiE_
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Going to bid 8 weeks this time.
The Pixel 6a is being returned. Really frustrating because it’s a excellent phone in many ways let down by some fundamentals.
This leaves me with no viable Pixel phone, as I’m doubtful the 7 will be any different. I’m also only interested in stock android and a good camera so that doesn’t leave me any other phones.
My current options are basically go for an iPhone 14 Pro and run Google apps or that Google don’t half arse the Pixel 7.
FWIW, here are the things that I didn’t like about the 6a:
- On cellular data and browsing the web the phone got very warm.
- The adaptive brightness is too slow. If I take my phone from my pocket and it’s bright out, I can’t see the screen for what feels like an age while the brightness adjusts to a level where I can see the screen.
- The edges of the plastic back aren’t flush with the side of the phone in several places meaning it’s quite sharp when holding the phone.
- The gap between the bezel and the frame is bigger than normal so it collects a lot of dust.
- The grill for the ear piece is huge and collects a lot of dust.
- The screen doesn’t feel as responsive I’m used to.
- There are tons of random micro shutters and lags in various places. Some of the animations are junk.
This bugs me every time I switch to Android, I even have animation scaling set to 0 in developer settings. Probably barely noticeable to most people along with app UI/UX inconsistencies, make me come crawling back to iOS, though I'm biased towards it.
Haven't been impressed with the Pixel line, the Nexus 5 remains the longest Android I've owned. I think that bootlooped after it went to the next owner.
I think it's too compromising going fully in one camp, just pick hardware and software that works best for me. Unless you really want to seamless switching between devices which benefit being all in the same ecosystem.
On my frequent "let's be all in on windows and android" attempts, the above annoys me too. Along with notifications not being as nice as on ios.
I too prefer stock android for frequent updates rather than waiting for some manufacturer to update their horrible bloatware before I get the update (plus although samsung make great hardware that bixby thing is crazy bad)
I've had every pixel so far but just can't live with it. I've told myself the usual "you're just used to ios, give it time" but there are things which are just simply and objectively poor with android at this point in time. I've tried to show them to my android friends and somehow they just shrug, doesn't bother them at all.
Yep it’s basically where I am, it’s looking like iPhones are the only viable option if you want the best experience. The fact I’m on a 7 year old iPhone 6s right now running the latest iOS and it’s usable say it all.
thing is though, when you have android with windows, it's not as if the combined experience is significantly better than having windows+iphone IMHO. The windows phonelink app is, well, pretty basic at best. So you don't need to go back to macos if you prefer ios over android.
(the only problem is, you start using imessage and then you think this would be a nice native app on my desktop if I was on macos and ARGHGHGH ;-) I do have a VM of mac in the bottom left corner of windows when I use it which helps with that problem.
Yea it’s more that on a Pixel phone Google default apps are already there and what I use on Windows. On iPhone I use Google apps where needed (tasks, keep, Google photos, drive). These work well and Apple Mail + Calendar integrate well with Google. I’m not a fan of the Google calendar and Gmail app on iOS.
There are some draw backs like Google photos app having all your photos in the cloud so photos aren’t there in the camera roll unless they were taken on the phone. Gmail doesn’t support push in Apple Mail. Calendar updates aren’t pushed either.
I received an Apple mouse from someone. So, am going to test using it tomorrow. The last time I tried one, it hurt my hand.
Slowly switching to macOS. The switch continues...
Slowly switching to macOS. The switch continues...
I've come to the conclusion that I am a Google fan living in an Apple world. lol
I love everything about the Google ecosystem - the fact you could essentially do the majority of everything in a browser is crazy good to me. But given virtually everyone on both sides of the family have iPhones or some sort of Apple tech it's virtually impossible to move away at this point.
I mean that is bad isn't it? Like I admire everyone's dedication on here to try move away and use different tech but when you have instances like the above where it's clear that the Apple ecosystem is that polished and refined that any sort of change from that and you're immediately back can't be a good thing.
I love everything about the Google ecosystem - the fact you could essentially do the majority of everything in a browser is crazy good to me. But given virtually everyone on both sides of the family have iPhones or some sort of Apple tech it's virtually impossible to move away at this point.
I mean that is bad isn't it? Like I admire everyone's dedication on here to try move away and use different tech but when you have instances like the above where it's clear that the Apple ecosystem is that polished and refined that any sort of change from that and you're immediately back can't be a good thing.
The good thing about Google is you can use whatever hardware you want.
Yeah I know, the point that I was trying to make is that you are physically trying to move platforms/ecosystems but the Apple side of things is that more refined compared to Android (see your 6a woes) that it's making it difficult for you to achieve that.
That shouldn't be a thing imo.
Honestly, why didn't anyone tell me about the three finger swipe to get another desktop?
Seriously, this is making it harder and harder to go back to/use Windows...
Seriously, this is making it harder and harder to go back to/use Windows...
If I wasn't a gamer (currently stuck on Star Trek Online), I'd be a Apple guy exclusively.
Windows also has this. Windows had gestures for a long time now.
Works great on Microsoft Surface devices.
Do you ever use the Surface Pro 8, with a monitor, too? That in the past, has been where I've felt the Surface Pro has failed me, repeatedly...
Oh wow, I thought Star Trek Online had a Mac client. Looks like they discontinued it. Shows how out of date I am. I remember playing that for a few months - that was pretty cool. Felt a little Star Wars online like with the - blast them 100 times with a phaser/blaster to kill them lol.
Looks like one has to use Crossover now to use it. How interesting.