
After iOS 14, there's almost no reason to buy an Android phone anymore - SirLJ
https://www.inputmag.com/tech/after-ios-14-theres-almost-no-reason-to-buy-an-android-phone-anymore
======
newscracker
Someone commented in another thread (on an article about virtualization on
Macs) about the flood of low value articles being posted now, especially
related to Apple and the WWDC announcements. This title is so hyperbolic that
it fits that description.

FWIW, I’m an iOS user and wouldn’t consider Android for many reasons. But I
would never say “almost no reason” to describe choices people make among the
two main smartphone OSes.

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gambiting
Lol, I assume the author is either a troll or extremely privileged, or both.
Iphones are still crazy expensive in most of the world, even the SE hasn't
changed that, where I'm from SE is worth a month of your salary, the higher
end models are nearly untenable.

The most popular smartphones around are all different Xiaomis and Huaweis,
since you get good hardware for like $100-200 max. Do you think people buy
them for android and now that iOS has widgets those people will move to iOS?

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st3fan
> Who needs Android when iPhone finally has proper widgets?

Well, iOS 14 widgets are read-only while Android widgets are fully
interactive. So I would not call them _proper_ just yet. Maybe in iOS 15 :-)

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trzeci
Writing that as a mobile game developer: As long as supporting variety of
devices on Android makes me suffer during long debugging evenings - I think
that open nature of Android makes the mobile innovating much faster.

Competition between Android phones is enormous - which results with such great
hardware features like 90Hz+ displays, truly full screen displays, under-
screen fingerprint reader. Picture-in-Picture, Split view - those things were
available for a long time on Android - and I loved to add support for them.

I think iOS would be never like nowadays if no Android was released, without
Android will never innovate as much - due monopoly of one company using that
OS.

~~~
newscracker
> I think iOS would be never like nowadays if no Android was released, without
> Android will never innovate as much - due monopoly of one company using that
> OS.

The same would be true the other way too. Without iOS and Apple, Android-the-
OS would be stuck with data sucking, data slurping, battery draining apps and
users being buried in an ecosystem that thrives on this right from the company
making the OS (most Android users wouldn’t know what rooting is or how to
avoid all the data being collected and exfiltrated). Google has also started
to change its tune and some of its behaviors on this front (though it’s still
not as much as iOS).

~~~
kyriakos
I think the idea is that there's competition in android lands because of
multiple companies providing hardware and android custom roms to go along
with.

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Squarex
Until there is a full fledged Firefox with uBlock Origin, there is no way for
me to leave Android.

~~~
newscracker
If you aren’t using the element blocking features in uBlock a Origin (not sure
if it’s supported on mobile) and are using only subscribed blocklists, then
using NextDNS as the DNS provider could be an option. It’ll take care of
blocking for all apps, not just for one app (like Firefox). It’s kinda like
running a pi-hole on the cloud.

------
timrichard
Like other commenters, I think price is the big one.

I used to go for Android developer phones since the first in 2008, and liked
the fact it wasn't cluttered with manufacturer or carrier bloat. Over time, I
became exasperated at the short lifespan of the soldered-in batteries, given
the price of each device. The (Huawei) Nexus 6P was the final straw.

In January, I picked up a Nokia 4.2 Android One device, and I use it without
any contract on a PAYG SIM[1]. On Android One, there should be two years of OS
updates and three of security updates following the device launch last May. It
works well, and the battery performance is fine[2]. I chose a smaller device
unlike my previous phablets, and haven't dropped it during use yet. The Nokia
design is good, and so is the build quality (Foxconn?). I appreciate the
vanilla Android without the aforementioned bloat.

The unlocked handset was £99 ($122) at the time from a shop on the high
street. I don't think Apple is going to be attracted to that end of the
market. When this one dies, I'll look around for another Android One device
with the longest update prospects.

[1] The phone is not my primary computing device, and I mostly receive calls
and use WiFi for data when using apps and browsing. I'm not a gamer.

[2] I keep battery saver mode on pretty much all the time, which is great for
battery life but probably not so much for chatty background services.

------
Yetanfou
Great, point me at the source repo so I can build my own distribution with a
few things removed, some changed and others added.

What? No source? Really? But you said there was no more reason to get Android
devices...

------
st3fan
> Who needs Android when iPhone lets you choose your own default apps?

Well, iOS 14 makes a little bit of progress here. Which is great. But it will
be very far away from Android. iOS will just "allow" this for Web and Email
applications, while Android has a rich and open intent and app system that
doesn't need permission from Google.

Android also has a great app chooser. Click on a web link and it will ask you
in which browser you want to open it. Or set a default from there.

So, good small step forward, but still miles away from what you can do on
Android.

------
StavrosK
This article is ridiculous flame bait.

~~~
bootloop
Without that headline nobody would have even looked at it so understandable.
Just a reminder that you don't have to click on every link (or read every
article) on the internet.

~~~
StavrosK
I wanted to give it the benefit of a doubt, but then my suspicions were
confirmed and I wanted to warn others.

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ur-whale
Terrible article, beyond the obvious bias, it is rather shallow and misses
then entire walled garden side of the story.

------
ur-whale
>Why wouldn't you buy an iPhone now that Apple has copied all of Android's
best ideas?

Because I can still - albeit with some amount of work - run whatever I want on
my Android phone.

Not that it'll last, I guess, but as of today, still possible.

------
vincengomes
After reading the article, i have a feeling that the author has not actually
used an Android phone, instead has only read about what features an Android
Phone has.

------
skyhigh007
That's just crazy talk

~~~
artsyca
My favourite feature on an unlocked android phone is having a call recorder

~~~
pyprism
Care to explain ? I have an "un-rooted" android phone, I can use call recorder
without rooting

~~~
artsyca
There are many call recorders, from ones that activate the speaker and record
through the mic to others that activate a threeway call and record that way.

The one I prefer is one which taps into the audio at the core level and
captures the stream ->
[https://callrecorder.skvalex.com/get](https://callrecorder.skvalex.com/get)

------
i_am_proteus
Myriad Android phones are substantially cheaper than even the iPhone SE. $200
is a lot of money for a lot of people.

~~~
BuckRogers
Considering how important they are for most people at this point, it’s worth
it. For most people’s only device, it’s got to work and work reliably.

------
ulam2
I have one, money. If there were apple phones on every price point it'd have
been a different story. Add in modular customizations (camera options, camera
locations, # of wifi, size options) and I'd be a fan.

------
FatalLogic
Even if there's no reason, there's still a reason: choice

------
slenk
Ah yes, because everyone can afford a MacBook and a $1k license fee to publish
on their store

~~~
scarface74
$1K license fee? And you can also buy a used Mac mini.

~~~
slenk
I am mistaken, I did not realize it was down to $100. It used to be a lot more
- I was paying.

It's also a yearly fee where Google is a one-time fee.

~~~
scarface74
It’s always been $100. I spend $90 a year on my R# license. Of all things to
complain about, the $100 is the least objectionable.

~~~
slenk
For free apps, maybe? I know back in 2011/2012 we had to pay more than $100
directly to Apple.

------
pjmlp
Sure there is, price for pre-paid customers, which is what most of the world
uses, and their phones get used until they either die or get stolen, there
isn't a two year free exchange program in place.

Ideally I would be using Windows Phone, but given how it all ended up, Android
it is, even if Google's stewardship leaves very much to be desired.

------
anoniuyiu33412
hahaha, And Iphone here where I live is around U$S 1500-2000

A Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is around U$S 1000, and a Xiami, top of the line,
similar hardware, is U$S 500-700.

But the 90% of the really good non-premium phones are in the range of U$S 300
to 500

------
wolco
Apple can't compete on price and more apps are available for free on android.

Having the most features only matter to a very small population.

Something rarely talked about. Having an iphone gives the impression you have
more money than technical ability.

~~~
auggierose
What kind of "technical ability" do you need to operate a phone?

~~~
wolco
Rooting your phone would require a certain technical ability. Possible on
andriod..

Side loading apps?

Technical ability like making an app for andriod cost me 10 dollars once. 100+
yearly for apple.

But you missed the key point. It doesn't matter both can be operated by non-
technical people. If you look at the populations who own each one group has a
higher technical ability than the other. One has people willing to pay 10x
more for a phone, willing to pay for apps that are freely available in the
other's store app store.

------
tchaffee
I don't love Google but the fact that Apple has been caught doing shitty stuff
like slowing down older phones and having to pay out a $500 million settlement
when they were caught is enough reason for me to stay away.

~~~
danieldk
Can this myth die? They throttle phones with old batteries that cannot provide
enough current. This avoids that phones reboot spontaneously. Replace the
battery and it is as fast as ever.

I used an iPhone 6s (2015) until recently and it was still butter smooth on
iOS 13. I gave it to my niece who is still happily using it.

~~~
encom
>They throttle phones with old batteries that cannot provide enough current.

Stop gaslighting. They were forced to admit to doing so, after enough people
made a stink about it for a very long time. And iphone batteries are not user
servicable.

~~~
scarface74
You can find places that will replace an iPhone battery easily many of the
places are authorized.

------
ylyn
By this logic, there's no reason to buy Windows laptops over MacBooks, because
MacBooks can _actually_ do anything a Windows laptop can.

Yup, so I guess that's why Mac market share is a whopping 10-20%.

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nercury
Good job projecting your reasons to the world.

