Because of what I have been provided by my employers over the last few years I’ve been working on a Macbook Pro. These are fine machines, but they have not converted me to being a convert to all things Apple. I have two machines with Ubuntu at home that I have no problem with using (one of them has a dual-boot where I have a copy of Windows which I use every six months or so to make sure that security updates are installed).
In any case, my current phone has been acting erratically over the past few weeks. Up until now I had been resisting getting a new phone because it wasn’t as if I really needed one…but when there is a jeopardy that your phone will decide to not boot up, one has to act.
So I was agonizing over the Samsung 8 or iPhone 8. I’ve had multiple Samsung’s before. And the Samsung 8 seemed fine. The flip side is that everyone in my office uses an iPhone 8, and I get crap for staying with Android. This is not a major issue…but I can’t lie, I’m curious about the iPhone.
In the end, I probably stayed with Android for one primary reason: people in the Apple ecosystem seem totally hostage to Apple. Upgrades are a total pain, and there are minor things I need to get fixed in regards to my Macbook Pro‘s OS which is going to require a “Genius.” The whole situation strikes me as farcical and not futuristic. I’d rather tinker with my Ubuntu distribution than wait in line at a crowded Mac store.
So pass for now….
It seems to me that it’s all about balancing frustration. I used to have an iPhone until Apple annoyed me too much and I switched to Android. Then that started annoying me too much and I switched back to Apple. If they get to be too much again (they’re already annoying but not in excess of psychological switching costs).
Does being an Apple fan mean you actually like them and aren’t just less annoyed by them than by Android and/or Windows?
Deciding today between a MacOS and a WindowsOS computer. I prefer MacOS, but the price premium is insane at the high end. Roughly comparable laptops at $3000 v. $1800 for example.
If you can make do with an iMac desktop, you get a lot more for the price, plus a really nice big screen you can watch HD movies on. For a while I made do for mobile devices with a small screen iPhone + iPad mini, but then I decided that lugging two devices around was dumb, so I retired the iPad and just got a big screen iPhone, synched to the iMac, so full data sharing. Daughter now uses the iPad mini for playing games, but just got herself a Kindle Paperwhite for reading – much better on the eyes + a very neat little device.
Why are Apple stores always so crowded? Before Apple opened a physical store near us, I got all of my Apple stuff from a licensed seller who was never crowded, knows me from repeat business and gives me excellent service. Now that the Apple store has opened, the licensed seller’s business has been largely crippled, and the Apple store is wall to wall people (so I still go to the licensed seller, although he’s clearly struggling). Same stuff; licensed seller is much better on service; no queuing. I don’t get it.
I mount the big screen iPhone next to the instrument cluster in the car to serve as GPS (no car in HK comes factory fitted with GPS – reasons unclear), but Google Maps really need to employ a Cantonese speaker for voice guidance mode in HK; my family go into hysterics at the American lady’s attempted pronunciation of HK street names. But what I really want, have wanted for a long time, is a heads-up display. Looks like now maybe I could get one, some time fairly soon:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-22/a-dashboard-gadget-that-will-totally-change-how-you-drive
That choice is going to be on me pretty soon. My existing phone is nice, but it’s a couple years old and I’ve been thinking for a while about upgrading and getting a good new one.
Apple’s been good for me, but I’m leaning towards a top of the line Samsung like that because it’s much cheaper to upgrade the amount of memory storage, and because it has most or all of the same features as a top-of-the-line iPhone (including induction charging I think).
Motorola makes a fine phone and you get a giant battery. I value battery life.
the big thing apple has going for it is security/privacy, imo. i’m not a fan of the walled garden approach philosophically but i find it much easier to entrust my bitcoin wallet (for example) to the secure enclave than my ubuntu laptop.