Other Would you ever switch to Android?

[Shanghaichica]

I’m too invested into the Apple ecosystem to switch over. I love the continuity I get switching though out each device. Also, reliability. my iPhone X is still efficient for me and it soon turns 3 years old. my old 2013 MacBook Pro still works fine. I upgraded to a 2019 MacBook Pro only because I had the money. i handed down my old 2013 to my brother and it still boots up fine.

I didn’t know how well Android devices work over time as I’ve never had one for longer than 15 months. The rest were even much shorter than that. I do know that none of my windows computers lasted more than 2 years and they all started having problems before the first year was up. I’ve had my MBA since 2015 and it still works well enough to use as my daily driver today. I’ve never had a single issue with it. I upgraded my iPad Pro 10.5 recently but it still worked well after 3 years. Before that I had an iPad Air 2 which I used for 2.5 years without any problems. My Apple TV 4 is almost 5 years old and has no issues. I had my iPhone 4 for almost 2 years and it had no issues. I’ve had a good track record with Apple devices.

 

[Fred Zed]

I’ve switched the other way around. Been on android for 8 plus years. Got fed up with Google and wanted to try something different. I’ve so far been pleasantly greeted.

 

[freeagent]

I just googled “Android vulnerability”...

Didn’t look inspiring if I’m honest..

 

[BMox81]

Yep, moving over in October! Can’t wait.

Time for some freedom.

 

[waldoputty]

switched to iphone 12 years ago.
love the iphone
would switch back to andriod if wechat is banned

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

switched to iphone 12 years ago.
love the iphone
would switch back to andriod if wechat is banned

I’d never heard of Wechat until your post and it look like a Chinese version of WhatsApp. I’d probably have more trust in the latter personally.

 

[ian87w]

I’d never heard of Wechat until your post and it look like a Chinese version of WhatsApp. I’d probably have more trust in the latter personally.

WeChat is not just the Chinese version of WhatsApp. It’s also a cashless system in China that is used from retail purchases to paying for electricity. It also has “apps” within itself, and it has its own Facebook-like social media within the app.

Wechat has around 1.1billion active users. You can kinda tell the loss for Apple if WeChat is not available on iOS.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

WeChat is not just the Chinese version of WhatsApp. It’s also a cashless system in China that is used from retail purchases to paying for electricity. It also has “apps” within itself, and it has its own Facebook-like social media within the app.

Wechat has around 1.1billion active users. You can kinda tell the loss for Apple if WeChat is not available on iOS.

It would be a loss on that basis. Is it popular in China due to all the restrictions on global forms of social media there? I’ve heard discussed on here that a lot of the features on iPhones are deactivated for the chinese market too.

 

[SmugMaverick]

If the 12 Pro ends up being a boring let down as it's looking then I will go

Surface Duo for productivity and a real pro experience or Pixel 5 for value with a flagship camera

 

[Cookie18]

Every couple of phones I get bored and make the switch. Last time was to a Note 9 when the iPhone XS was released, I was underwhelmed with the OS. I had the Note for a month before switching back, I have a XS Max now lol.

 

[contenteduser]

Would you ever switch to Android?

I switched to Android, with pleasure. I'm a long-time Mac OS user (7100, G4, Intel) and figuring out how to move files between my iPhone 6 and an Intel Mac was a nuisance. After I "upgraded" my iPhone 6 to a newer OS -- I held out for over a year, ignoring regular update announcements -- it could no longer communicate with my "desktop" Mac running Mountain Lion (10.8).
After getting a cheap Android phone (Moto G6), it was amazing to see how easily I could move files on and off of my phone. Plug it into my Mac with a simple USB cable using Mountain Lion or High Sierra (dual boot), start Android File Transfer, and there was a Finder-like window showing me every folder and file on my Android phone; file size, date of creation, total storage space remaining. Drag files on and off of the phone, create new folders... just like an old-time Mac user would expect. Music, movies, PDFs, images, screen captures... a breeze. Command-Delete files off the phone. No wrestling with iTunes and incompatibility messages when I attempted to connect two products both made by Apple.
Now I have a Moto G Power and connect under Mountain Lion or Mohave (still dual boot) and it's fast and simple, that is, Mac-like.

 

[mtcislak]

Want to try the pixel 4a but I feel like I would miss my Apple Watch too much

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I had a 'cutting edge' Windows phone. It was close to worthless. The address book would disappear, twice being deleted off the computer it synced to. SMS never worked, email never worked. The local Verizon office couldn't get the dang thing to work either. They said there were 'many' people who couldn't get it to work, and then offered a 'new and improved' Windows phone that would fix all of the issues. Sure. I ended up going back to a standard flip-phone until the iPhone came out. And It Worked. My address book has stayed. Texting works. Email works. Internet works. I couldn't be happier. Apple made the cell phone work, and it's reliable. No games. A friend of mine, a few years ago lamented about his address book disappearing, on his droid phone. *sigh* You can lead someone to better tech, but can't make them buy it.

 

[Jason2000]

I try every so often but always end up coming back to Apple. Everything works so well together and I absolutely love my Watch S5. But it is not Android that makes me switch back. Android is fine in my opinion. I don’t like Google.

 

[waldoputty]

I’d never heard of Wechat until your post and it look like a Chinese version of WhatsApp. I’d probably have more trust in the latter personally.

for those who does business with china partners and customers, losing wechat is a non-starter.

i am not worried about security, as i try very hard not to have critical sensitive discussions by any electronic media.

 

[waldoputty]

WeChat is not just the Chinese version of WhatsApp. It’s also a cashless system in China that is used from retail purchases to paying for electricity. It also has “apps” within itself, and it has its own Facebook-like social media within the app.

Wechat has around 1.1billion active users. You can kinda tell the loss for Apple if WeChat is not available on iOS.

the key is that all of china use wechat and nothing else is relevant.
losing wechat is a devastating to my work as that is how i communicate with partners and customers.

i dont use the cashless system. at least not yet.

i made friends in china and i use it like facebook.
funny thing is i never had facebook.

all electronic media is at risk
not just wechat.
i try very hard not to say anything super secret or critical on any electronic medium.

 

[waldoputty]

It would be a loss on that basis. Is it popular in China due to all the restrictions on global forms of social media there? I’ve heard discussed on here that a lot of the features on iPhones are deactivated for the chinese market too.

wechat may well be that popular in china because of the restrictions on other social media there.
i am not interested in stupid politics or things like that.
if i lose access to wechat, i will change to android immediately.

i really dont care about all the various fancy features.
i use my phone as a phone, text, and check the weather, get email, and wechat. when i am in china, baidu maps is also critical to find my way around.

 

[Ixon2001]

Over the years I've switched between Android & iOS I currently have the new iPhone SE 2020 along with the iPad Air 3 & Airpods Pro's this setup atm is good for me & will be for a while yet, but there no saying i won't switch back to Android when 5G have more coverage in the UK.

Android now has good few of mid range phones with 5G, where Apple has nothing yet until the iPhone 12 & i won't pay over £500 for a phone, so it could be a long wait before 5G comes down to the next version of the SE.

I intend keeping my SE until 2022, then I'll see what on offer from both Apple & Android for around £500.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

for those who does business with china partners and customers, losing wechat is a non-starter.

i am not worried about security, as i try very hard not to have critical sensitive discussions by any electronic media.

I work with Chinese companies but only via email. We are trying to remove as much association with China at the moment in the market I work in but that’s by the by. I can see removing this app would be a blow for some but I suppose if Android continues to support it then it’s not a big problem.

wechat may well be that popular in china because of the restrictions on other social media there.
i am not interested in stupid politics or things like that.
if i lose access to wechat, i will change to android immediately.

i really dont care about all the various fancy features.
i use my phone as a phone, text, and check the weather, get email, and wechat. when i am in china, baidu maps is also critical to find my way around.

For the very basic things you’ve admitted to using your phone for and the fact you are not worried about security, Android sounds like the better option for you anyway. You don’t seem to have any reservations about switching to Android immediately so this might be an ideal time.

 

[tann]

I switched in 2016 initially due to the removal of the Headphone Jack, but ultimately stuck there (even now without a headphone jack) due to the much more freedom that it has brought.

I was very tempted to return to iOS this year, thinking iOS 14, PIP, 120hz, 6.7" screen, smaller notch would finally mean Apple have "brought" some good competition but since YouTube won't support PIP, 120hz and small notch are out of the question I'm thinking there's no real benefit. Also Apple's recent stance on things like xcloud and new app categories has shown that they aren't truly willing to evolve with the times, which I would be worried about in an ecosystem as enclosed as the Apple one.

Even if I swapped back, I'm not using many of the Apple features and would use Google's (mail, contacts, calendar etc) just because it's much more cross platform and available on a variety of devices. It would mainly be for the consistency and Apple watch!

I do like my iPad Pro, but after seeing the Tab s7+ I'm thinking maybe I'll swap to an Android tablet next time too, but my Pro 10.5 is doing so well even 3 years in, that might not be for another 1-2 years.

I do like the sheer variety that manufactures are able to deliver on Android too and the future of folding phones has really captured my attention!

 

[waldoputty]

I work with Chinese companies but only via email. We are trying to remove as much association with China at the moment in the market I work in but that’s by the by. I can see removing this app would be a blow for some but I suppose if Android continues to support it then it’s not a big problem.


For the very basic things you’ve admitted to using your phone for and the fact you are not worried about security, Android sounds like the better option for you anyway. You don’t seem to have any reservations about switching to Android immediately so this might be an ideal time.

we have partners in china so helps build trust and friendship when we are friends on wechat. we comment on each other's posts and life etc. i am surprised you do business with china and do not use wechat. are you just sourcing parts from there?

i am involved in a covid19 startup at the moment so things are a bit crazy. furthermore the election may get rid of my problem. thus i am not bothering to switch until it becomes necessary. and many think that wechat can still continue to operate but users may no longer make financial transactions through it.

though a thought just came up. what if iphone wechat actually gets shut down, and a new android phone can no longer load wechat. i am now going to have to look into this. i still think a vpn would solve the problem if necessary...

 

[Polly Mercocet]

To be honest, I have an Samsung S7 Edge and not to bash any company but I was using a iPhone 6s more because of how slow the S7 was with apps

This made it even more obvious that I should stick with Apple products..

Would you ever switch to Android?

I had bad experiences with the S7 Edge too. Glitchy software and very poor accidental palm rejection on that curved screen. It still to this day looks really cool, but it was never a great phone. I think I sold it after only a few months. Got most of my money back though to be fair.

To answer the primary question yes I tend to switch back and forth from iOS. I just get bored and want to try something new all the time, honestly no other reason. Before switching back to iOS again recently I was using my Samsung Galaxy A71 which is actually an extremely solid phone with every feature I want hardware-wise, but while it's come very far from the TouchWiz days I'm still not a massive fan of Samsung's software. And the cameras are very subpar compared to my iPhone.

Main thing I miss about Android phones when I am using iPhones is the huge batteries you can get in so many Android phones (A71 is 4500mAh), headphone sockets (I'm a bit of an audiophile and bluetooth audio is all lossy), and the in-screen fingerprint scanners which I personally prefer to Face ID. Plus the big open source scene Android has amassed - I use F-Droid a fair bit.

But without a doubt iOS dominates in one very important area - privacy - while any Android phone with GApps on it tracks every single little thing you do. Unless you want to run a custom ROM without GApps and the compromises that come with that (many apps rely on Google Play Services to work properly) you can't get away from it.

That said, Graphene OS is a very cool and promising project that could well bring iOS level privacy to the Android ecosystem in the future. Many security (anti-exploit) upgrades are already there as that's the primary focus of the project. I have a Pixel 3a purely to run Graphene. Very clever the way it works. You relock the bootloader after flashing the ROM and it updates like stock and updates are cryptographically verified like stock too.

Anyway rambling aside, for the moment I'm back on iOS. I missed my Apple Watch so much glad to have it back. All the Android watches I looked at came with terrible reviews so I never bothered. I'm amazed no one has made a decent Android Wear watch yet after all this time. Especially when the higher end models are more expensive than my £200 Apple Watch Series 3. Apple has this kind of stuff down.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

we have partners in china so helps build trust and friendship when we are friends on wechat. we comment on each other's posts and life etc. i am surprised you do business with china and do not use wechat. are you just sourcing parts from there?

i am involved in a covid19 startup at the moment so things are a bit crazy. furthermore the election may get rid of my problem. thus i am not bothering to switch until it becomes necessary. and many think that wechat can still continue to operate but users may no longer make financial transactions through it.

though a thought just came up. what if iphone wechat actually gets shut down, and a new android phone can no longer load wechat. i am now going to have to look into this. i still think a vpn would solve the problem if necessary...

Yeah I am a design engineer and outsource to Chinese manufacturers to make parts for us but a lot of our customers are actually stating they don't want Chinese parts going forward. The challenge for me over the past 3 years has been to redesign certain things to make them cheaper to manufacture in Europe. To be honest I am happy communicating via email with suppliers and don't want to mix business and pleasure. Having them as contacts on LinkedIn is far enough lol.

I hope you get a solution to this if Apple block WeChat in future

 

[Polly Mercocet]

though a thought just came up. what if iphone wechat actually gets shut down, and a new android phone can no longer load wechat. i am now going to have to look into this. i still think a vpn would solve the problem if necessary...

You would still be able to sideload it on any Android phone regardless. Just make sure you get the APK from an official source and you are fine.

This is why Chinese Android phones will not have a problem if the ban goes through. They do not use the Play Store in the first place.

This is one of the beauties of open source. Flexibility.

Although personally I predict if this ban does happen, Apple will coincidentally release a minor update to enable sideloading on Chinese iPhones. No way are they actually going to lose their second biggest market over political games.

 

[1144557]

I was very tempted to return to iOS this year, thinking iOS 14, PIP, 120hz, 6.7" screen, smaller notch would finally mean Apple have "brought" some good competition but since YouTube won't support PIP, 120hz and small notch are out of the question I'm thinking there's no real benefit. Also Apple's recent stance on things like xcloud and new app categories has shown that they aren't truly willing to evolve with the times, which I would be worried about in an ecosystem as enclosed as the Apple one.

Reportedly 120hz nor smaller notch are happening Just an iPhone 10S/10S Max,S,S model; third year of an S upgrade. Ooooo with square sides, that 90% or more will hide with a case anyway. And LIDAR in one will ever use past tinkering like all other AR. YUGE redesign!

The hardware is getting long in the tooth now basically the same phone since 2017. Yes small screen size changes and flat vs rounded edges, but generally the same. No strive in screen tech or shrinking the George Jefferson haircut notch. If in 4 generations Apple, a nearly $2 trillion company, cant shrink it then in my mind it's a dead-end tech (maybe why both Google and Huawei abandoned it after 1-2 years) Under display cameras are still many years off.

This may be the first year I dont upgrade my iphone and look elsewhere as well. I own no other Apple products so not "in the ecosystem" to lose anything.

There are too many good phones for less. The Pixel 3a and Oneplus Nord are smoking deals for under $500 each. See what the higher end 4a or 5 bring. 3 years of support is compelling. Ideal world the Note 20 but not spending $1300 on another phone.