Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
FWIW I was just pointing out that I thought Apple services were an exception to the “gotten worse” thing, because to me they seem better than they were a few years ago.
I learned long ago than mentioning Apple to non-Apple users is dangerous enough, let alone actually trying to sell anyone on it.
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As a tech industry employee who could go completely overboard on rooting, customizing, tweaking... I like my iPhone.
I had my BlackBerries (RIP), Windows Phones (RIP), iPhones, and Android devices. My daily is an iPhone 11 Pro, because over my years of using various devices, I've found I can rely on them the best for the vast majority of my use cases. I don't need to go wild customizing it or tackling these little edge cases, I just need it to work for what it's advertised to do. And for that, it is a stellar product. There are a couple apps I have to run on an Android (Highway Radar), but largely everything else can be handled by my iPhone. Oh, all this is including the fact that I am running iOS developer betas because I like new things, so my experience could be far more volatile... but it isn't. I need it to do what I want it to do, and it does without any fanfare or grief, and with pretty damn good battery life even this many years on.
I have an Android phone (Galaxy S10e) for work. The device itself is very nice, great form factor, I love the side fingerprint reader. But the software is where it gets let down. The OS just feels like it lacks cohesion sometimes. Android Work Profile is annoying to maintain policy sync on, so sometimes my calendar will be blank for 8 seconds while the damn device ensures the policy is correct. Never had this issue when I was trying out work access on my iPhone. Android can be laggy and stuttery even now. The freedom, well I can sideload custom apps, custom launchers, and use developer mode to tweak things, which Apple won't allow. But somehow, I can't install Android betas because
Samsung won't allow me to.
My take on iPhone is this: It is absolutely the case that some other manufacturer will be first on the scene with [shiny new innovation] and then a generation or two later, Apple will announce they've added it or an equivalent to their device and act as though it's never been done before. The truth is usually that it has never been done
that well before. The amount of polish on the user experience has always been very high, and this is something it took me a long time to appreciate about them. They aren't keeping up with the Joneses on features, but when they're ready, what they do release tends to be very good. Having complete control over the hardware and software gives them that advantage.
This isn't an endorsement of any of Apple's other products. I refuse to buy an iPad or Apple TV, and I have no interest in an Apple Watch. AirPods are meh and AirPods Pro are vastly overpriced (though the pairing experience is very easy). A MacBook Pro would be a paperweight to me (and no touch-screen after all these years
is a deal-breaker). I'll give it to them on AirTags, I have four of them. They pair easily, great accuracy, and the fact that every other person wandering around has an iPhone means the communication network for AirTags to report their location is robust.