You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[PepsiFree]

All of Apple’s services are the same or better.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Well, if you're unfortunate enough to be the sort of person who uses Apple products and is locked into their ecosystem, sure.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

All of Apple’s services are the same or better.

Apple fanboys just can't help themselves.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The only time I hear “Out of Pocket” used is when referring for paying to something/expense

What is the instance it’s being used pretentiously ? I feel a TIL moment coming up

I think it's an American thing - I've had it used twice this week by Americans scheduling times for online meetings. Synonym would be out of office/unavailable.

Context was, "I'm out of pocket next week at a conference so can't meet then."

These people were both middle managers at huge tech companies. Neither of them was a quarterback.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

All of Apple’s services are the same or better.

Interesting. If I ever take a time machine back to 2010 I'll be sure to check them out

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I think it's an American thing - I've had it used twice this week by Americans scheduling times for online meetings. Synonym would be out of office/unavailable.

I hear this all the time here too from Canadian based business people, it's not just a US thing.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Well, if you're unfortunate enough to be the sort of person who uses Apple products and is locked into their ecosystem, sure.

You’re right, complaining about every other service and how they’re all so much worse has really sold me on them.

[btimbit]

Wait, Apple has their own Amazon? And Youtube? Since when?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Apple products are also demonstrably getting worse, I just wasn't complaining about them because a) I don't use them so it doesn't affect me, and b) they were never an option I would ever consider to begin with.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Apple products are also demonstrably getting worse, I just wasn't complaining about them because a) I don't use them so it doesn't affect me, and b) they were never an option I would ever consider to begin with.

You have to admit it was kind of funny to mock being locked into the Apple ecosystem after talking about how you use your Alexa to play your Amazon Music and order Amazon products from a selection you proceeded to complain about.

Sorry, I’m not going to pay $12 and sit through a 45 minute ad to watch your YouTube link. Nice try, loser!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I hear this all the time here too from Canadian based business people, it's not just a US thing.

In that case it's geographically neutral pretentiousness.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You have to admit it was kind of funny to mock being locked into the Apple ecosystem after talking about how you use your Alexa to play your Amazon Music and order Amazon products from a selection you proceeded to complain about.

Eh, in the case of the Alexa stuff the bigger issue is more privacy with a touch of "Bezos' evil empire", rather than the actual functionality. It's not like Google Home is somehow inherently superior, or Alexa is massively overpriced for a more restrictive, dumbed down experience running on inferior hardware, like Apple is.

I see the Apple ecosystem as akin to paying twice as much to use outdated technology. It's objectively worse in most ways, but you pay more money. That said, I recognize that the ways in which it is objectively worse might not matter to you and thus it might be subjectively better than Android/PC/Nvidia Shield/Whatever... in which case, do you, but don't try to sell me on that junk, because it's a non-starter.

Sorry, I’m not going to pay $12 and sit through a 45 minute ad to watch your YouTube link. Nice try, loser!

Yeah, I wouldn't either, honestly. I'm vaguely aware when Apple does X new anti-consumer thing, like locking you out of one Apple product unless you own another Apple product to set it up, but I don't really pay much attention because I have no reason to care.

[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.

[Sainters7]

Haha I could see that, though to be fair if you saw things many Apple users say to others on the socials as soon as they find out you don't have Apple, it'd make more sense. They seem to equate Droid users as having a gas station flip phone, and quickly let us know about our inferiority.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

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.

Well, in many ways they just didn't have as far downhill to go - in terms lack of repairability, planned obsolescence, lack of upgradeability, limiting user access to features... all of those things have long been staples of the Apple ecosystem so it's hard to see how they could have gotten much worse. That being said, from my admittedly limited knowledge of Apple news, they do seem find new ways to be terrible, like the recent "Homepod won't work unless you also own an iphone" thing, or the M2 somehow using downgraded components vs the M1, and probably lots of other stuff that I haven't heard of because I don't follow it.

But again, these things may simply not matter to a lot of the people who buy Apple products.

[TorqueDog]

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.

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.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

But again, these things may simply not matter to a lot of the people who buy Apple products.

They don't. Few people other than hobbyists care about upgrading or customizing their devices. That's why even a lot of Windows laptops are moving towards soldered-on RAM and SSDs. And people will absolutely trade repairability/upgradability for a nicer or more functional form factor.

As for phones; I've mainly only used Androids but I got too good of a deal on an iPhone to pass up. Despite several annoyances, I'll just say that Face ID is basically worth any hassles all on its own. It's light years ahead of anything I've used on Android in terms of biometrics.

It's sort of similar to Macbooks and their trackpads. Other than maybe the Surface devices, they're just so far ahead of the competition, that it's not even a real comparison.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by opendoor

They don't. Few people other than hobbyists care about upgrading or customizing their devices. That's why even a lot of Windows laptops are moving towards soldered-on RAM and SSDs. And people will absolutely trade repairability/upgradability for a nicer or more functional form factor.

While the former is true - almost no one cares about fixing, replacing parts, or upgrading their device, particularly their laptop - the move in the PC space towards less repairability is partly just greed (e-waste is good for business) and partly because it's just easier to design a very slim machine in that way.

As for phones; I've mainly only used Androids but I got too good of a deal on an iPhone to pass up. Despite several annoyances, I'll just say that Face ID is basically worth any hassles all on its own. It's light years ahead of anything I've used on Android in terms of biometrics.

This used to be true, but now there's no difference. Before my current phone I had to use an iPhone loaner from work for a couple of months and the face ID on my Samsung works the same, maybe a fraction of a second slower to unlock.

[opendoor]

That's news to me. Anyone I know with Samsungs just uses fingerprint unlock because the face unlock is so unreliable. In good lighting and if held at the right angle, sure camera-based ones can work OK. But iPhones can unlock in the dark or if your phone is just sitting flat on a table, as long as your face is anywhere near in front of the screen.

And unlocking is only a small part of it. Is Samsung's Face Unlock secure enough to authenticate things that need high security? Using Face ID, I can log into banking apps, trading platforms, password managers, etc. and pay for things with my phone without even noticing that any authentication has taken place because it's nearly instantaneous. With my prior phones I'd have to make sure my finger was on the sensor and if I had gloves on, wet hands, etc. it was a pain. Or in the case of my Pixel, when it was mounted on my dashboard if it locked itself Id have to try to reach around it to get to the fingerprint sensor on the back.

[Weitz]

I heard the term “unbanked” on the radio today when referring how it could become unfair to those who pay cash for groceries when the vast majority of people use credit or debit.

That ground my gears.