I think it has to do with you being unfamiliar with the phone and more friction that comes with it.
And regarding Messaging, in EU the default is pretty much Whatsapp anyway, with some pockets of Viber and Telegram, so iMessage or Google Hangout was never a real option here.
On Android, I was constantly using new Apps, looking at /r/android for release announcements, and getting excited about all the new releases. Then, at some point, I realized I just wanted a phone that works. That's when I switched to Apple. That's not to say my Pixel didn't do everything my iPhone does. It could do it all and in many cases it could even do it better or in a more customized way. But, it also required effort. Effort to learn the new apps, effort to change all the settings, and effort every time Google decided to change something that I thought was already working just fine.
Then I switched to Apple and I realized I didn't want necessarily want to spend all my time learning my phone, I wanted to spent my time USING it. To me, my iPhone is more like an appliance than a new tech gadget. It doesn't necessarily provide you with all the options and capabilities that an Android phone does, but it absolutely nails its core competencies and is very easy to use. I don't spend a single extra second trying to figure out HOW to use it, it just works.
oh, and shake to undo, which i not once used intentionally.
I actually think it’s easier. It’s hard to do a three finger swipe while holding the phone.
I bet you will be looking at /r/Apple in a few months.
Just did a factory reset and restore via iCloud. My fear of loosing my phone, incomplete backups and messed up restore is gone. Works.
Might be possible with Google phones, too. For all the others it’s just messy.
(I‘d agree with you, until I tried it three weeks ago. Working with computers all day, I need others to take care of my personal and pocket computers...)
Sort of unrelated - I hate these kinds of comment chains. One clarifies something, other comes up - what about this though. And this whole chain itself when the article is about RCS.
Also disc that I am a Googler.
My iPhones usually got janky after using tons of apps but always after jailbreaking them (and installing yet more apps). Same with Android. Stay clean on mobile!
Everything just works great, I never need to worry about stuff randomly slowing down or my battery dying midway through the day (mind you, my previous device was a flagship android phone Galaxy S8+, so it isn't like I am comparing my iPhone to a cheap entry-level android device).
First week or two were a bit confusing, because the UI/UX shortcuts and flow are so different from android. But after that, I found things to be more intuitive and efficient. The phone displays zero signs of battery degradation or slowing down, everything is just as blazing fast as it was the day I bought it. Battery lasts me easily over a day of normal usage, almost 2 days if I use it lightly.
OS updates arrive fast and to all phones at the same time, without me having to wait 6+ months for my manufacturer to finally push them. With Android, it was extremely annoying to see all those cool new features that people got, but I have to wait many months for (not even talking about security patches). And that's assuming I will ever receive any kind of OS updates on Android 2+ years after the release.
Also, App Store experience is definitely more refined than the garbage pile that Play Store is.
Switching out iPhones is painless too, as all your session data is included in the (encrypted) backups. So you don't need to log-in again into every single app and set up all your custom settings again when you get a new phone. You just wait until the restore from backup completes, and you are set.
I realize that my take might sound a bit biased, and it probably is, but I am just very glad I've made the jump. My last iPhone before going all android until the last year was iPhone 4, and imo it is miles ahead of where it is used to be in terms of overall user experience.
tl;dr: if you want a solid device that just works well and performs exactly as you want it to, you won't be disappointed. If you want to fully customize your phone, sideload a different OS, do some hacky stuff, then Android would be a better choice.
Like it telling me what song is playing from lock screen, while offline. Certain maps and local features are just better.
* Google apps (Calendar, Tasks, GBoard) really helped with the transition and were imo superior to the corresponding native apps
* Used Outlook for mail to ensure that I still got push notifications for imap accounts (vs. polling on the native Mail app)
* Used Resilio Sync to bring my ebooks over to the device vs. pfaffing about with cloud storage
* Was able to find good free apps for ssh and otp
* I appreciated the fact that incognito on Safari appears to have per-tab isolation
It took me a lot of struggling to get the device working as I wanted, so hopefully it helps you somewhat.
For me Apple Watch is the star, the battery life is a bit short but it can do everything I need in a wearable device (calendar, notifications, chat) and nothing I don't need which is a bonus.
I would buy a cheaper phone and get the best watch, but your use case might be very different.