After iOS 14, there's almost no reason to buy an Android phone anymore | Hacker News Reader

After iOS 14, there's almost no reason to buy an Android phone anymore

inputmag.com

18 pointsSirLJ55 comments

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.

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?

> 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 :-)

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.

> 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).

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.

The $399 iPhone SE is faster than any Android at any price.

Unfortunately it is as closed as other iOS devices and as such a no-go for those who value their freedoms. If Apple were to open up iOS to the same extent as Android is open - i.e. the basic system is open, on top of which proprietary services can be (but do not have to be) added - it might be more interesting. It would also be nice to have the possibility to add a microSD-card to the device. Add these options and a substantial number of Android users will consider iOS as a viable option.

Everything that makes Android Android outside of China is closed source Google Play Services. Google has been abandoning AOSP for years.

That's odd given that I've used nothing but AOSP-derived Android distributions since I got my first Android device. There is no Google-proprietary software on any of my devices, most software comes from F-Droid, some of it I build myself, two apps come from Aurora Store (an alternative front-end to the play store repository): Firefox Preview and Bank-ID (Swedish electronic ID app).

...and now you tell me I'm not running Android? Oh well, a rose by any other name...

You and I both know that most people in the West wouldn’t go near an Android device that didn’t have the Google Play Store. How many people do you expect to do like their own apps.

No, I do not know that, actually. It seems to depend on whether those people have someone at hand to introduce them to alternatives for the play store and the Google Services Framework (et al). Show them an Android device with F-Droid (or Aurora Droid pointed at the F-Droid repository) and Aurora Store and they'll feel right at home. As to whether that device runs microG [1] or GSF is of secondary importance to them just as long as it works.

[1] https://microg.org/

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

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.

If you ever get tired of Android’s failings as I did, know there is Microsoft Edge on iOS with adblock built in. You can still send tabs to desktop Firefox from Edge if you have iOS Firefox installed.

That said I use Firefox almost exclusively for the night mode, which is where I’m swiping this message from.

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.

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...

> 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.

This article is ridiculous flame bait.

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.

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

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

>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.

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.

That's just crazy talk

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

They lost a $500 million class action lawsuit. I'll try to be open minded but my time is valuable so can you provide a stronger heuristic than the settlement?

Yes Apple slowed down phones because the alternative was the phone completely shutting off when the battery was old. The settlement was because Apple didn’t disclose that they added the battery management feature and that the slowdown could be alleviated by buying a new battery instead of buying a new phone.

So they did slow down old phones and they lied about it and they had to settle a huge lawsuit as a result? And you were expecting that to change my mind?

>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.

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

I do believe the American legal system disagrees with you

The “shitty thing” was not disclosing that it was slowing down to keep the phone from cutting off entirely when the battery degraded.

That is shitty. Not a surprise they handed out $500 million to compensate for that.

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%.

Good job projecting your reasons to the world.

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