Hacker News Reader

Comment by gandalfff | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone else in the US feel like there's a stigma against Android users? I have a Pixel 4a, which does everything I need it to do. But some of my friends think that it makes me look like I'm broke.

I have been added to a number of group messages where I am at fault for downgrading the chat to green bubbles. I am seriously considering switching to iPhone, if only to appear more professional.

View on HN

Having spoken to a lot of Android users, and being a former rampant Android fanboy myself, I think people are fed up of getting screwed by Android vendors. The software support doesn't last particularly long, the support and repair networks for all the devices are terrible leaving you in the hands of dubious independent repairers and the longevity of the devices is poor. Also the accessory ecosystem is the usual crapfest of not knowing what you're getting, it barely even working properly and then being stuck with it.

My Android phone -- Samsung entering the end of it's support life -- started popping up ads, annoyingly when I launch Maps. Driving is the /worst/ time to see ads.

They're trying to get me to use some crappy Samsung service.

Between that, GSuite/free, and all the other Googly debacles, my next phone will be an iPhone.

Uhg. The GSuite/Free thing pretty much is forcing a great reckoning between myself and google.

I am completely de-googling my life as I don't trust them not to break infrastructure I rely on. This is somehow worse than their mismanagement of Chat/Messaging platforms, and is indicative of a direction I just don't think I can support going forward.

FWIF iCloud+ custom e-mail is pretty good, shared inbox for all your domains (can do server-side rules on iCloud.com to move to address specific subfolders though), and reasonably simple webmail platform + imap access. For $0.99/m for 50gb of "shared" storage quota with up to 5 domains x 3 custom address x 6 family members isn't bad.

It is the most absolute utilitarian solution to custom domain hosting. Zoho and Cloudflare have more feature parity, but iCloud.com is pretty dang close to my needs.

Weirdly, I feel like there's an Anti-Apple stigma by engineering types in my circles.

There's 2 main Android users in my circles:

Engineers under 50 and people over 50 that hate or dislike Apple.

Engineers that have to use Solidworks/CAD workflows that don't exist on Mac (and wish they could).

I use iMessage + Signal for secure messaging between groups, which resolves the "green bubble" issue and preserves security. I don't get any other arguments re: group chat with Android users.

I also don't get buying Android devices at this point given that OS updates/device longevity is shorter, and iOS has basically hit feature parity with Android.

I originally only switched when no one would make a Droid Razr M-sized phone but Apple anymore (iPhone SE), and found the whole Mac/iPhone/iMessage/AirDrop/etc. ecosystem just more pleasant to deal with and considerably more reliable, consistent, and most importantly less expensive.

> I also don't get buying Android devices at this point given that OS updates/device longevity is shorter, and iOS has basically hit feature parity with Android.

There's a few good things to think about:

Engineers still have good reasons, as Apple's App Store limitations pretty much just hamper tools power users could want. (e.g. Termux, Tasker, etc)

One other good reason is the very large catalogue of open source apps on Android. There's a lot of good quality free apps that Apple's fees, terms and the necessity of Macs to develop scare away.

Longevity kinda depends on your threat model. Of course Android devices will stop getting security updates sooner as we all know, but one extra thing to think about is that Apple does not backport new features and APIs, while Google generally does. This means that most apps on iOS are -strongly- encouraged to move their minimum supported iOS version up often. All this to say that an iPhone that doesn't get any more OS updates will stop getting app updates very quickly, while an Android Marshmallow phone still supports the majority of apps. It's a tradeoff between OS updates vs app updates, the majority of people would care more for the latter (Though engineers would likely never keep a phone for that long, but the merit stands)

> Engineers still have good reasons, as Apple's App Store limitations pretty much just hamper tools power users could want. (e.g. Termux, Tasker, etc)

Yeah, this isn't even most engineers I know, but its a legitimate argument. I used to run Cyano/AOSP builds on my LG/Droid phones.

> One other good reason is the very large catalogue of open source apps on Android. There's a lot of good quality free apps that Apple's fees, terms and the necessity of Macs to develop scare away.

I really, really don't think even 0.001% of users care about this. The engineers I know with Android all tend to be either neutral-to-anti-Linux/FOSS, they are "Windows" engineers. All the Linux/FOSS guys use Mac laptops + Linux Desktops/Workstations and iOS devices.

>Longevity kinda depends on your threat model. Of course Android devices will stop getting security updates sooner as we all know, but one extra thing to think about is that Apple does not backport new features and APIs, while Google generally does. This means that most apps on iOS are -strongly- encouraged to move their minimum supported iOS version up often. All this to say that an iPhone that doesn't get any more OS updates will stop getting app updates very quickly, while an Android Marshmallow phone still supports the majority of apps. It's a tradeoff between OS updates vs app updates, the majority of people would care more for the latter

I really don't think this tradeoff exists. The iPhone 5S got 9 years of OS and security updates. None of my apps broke during that period, and I still use that phone in WiFi mode as a remote for home automation/Roku/etc. and two-factor RSA apps/tools.

It's really insane when you consider just how long iOS devices are supported:

https://img.gadgethacks.com/img/original/84/99/6367296924559...

> (Though engineers would likely never keep a phone for that long, but the merit stands)

Yeah, most of my engineer friends who stayed android liked the upgrade cycle so the OS-update/support cycle didn't matter. Problem is that things have been very, very stale for Android flagships the last 4-5 years in comparisons to iOS devices.

I just don't think the value proposition is there anymore for Android. It's basically the Anti-Apple/Niche Poweruser/Low-end phone platform of choice.

I was close to dropping Apple entirely over on-device CSAM scanning (I don't mind iCloud server scanning) and looking at a Pixel/Calyx/Graphene alternatives for privacy, and really found myself not liking my options. You give up a lot of battery life, privacy functionality, and cross-device integration moving away from iOS.

Wikipedia says the iPhone 5S was released in September 2013, So that's about 6-7 years of updates. The chart you linked seems wrong to me. Am I missing something?

You're right, the chart is showing OS releases not precise iPhone releases.

It still closer to 7-8 years for the 5S of OS/security updates (just because a new OS version came out doesn't mean security updates stopped completed).

> Does anyone else in the US feel like there's a stigma against Android users?

I've heard about kids being bullied for having an Android, yes via the green bubbles you're talking about. I've also heard about kids being bullied for having non-Pro AirPods (teased as 'straight tips'!)

You'll get bullied if you have the old AirPods instead of the new one anyway.

You’ll get bullied for anything, really.

If they can’t find anything to bully you about that you actually are or are not doing, they’ll invent something for you to be blamed for doing or not doing.

Bullies are bullies and they need to be kicked in the balls or have their jaws broken repeatedly, until such time as they stop being bullies.

> I am seriously considering switching to iPhone, if only to appear more professional.

Are you implying that working professionals have stigma against Android users? Then they are naive. There were reports of teenagers acting differently, but if working professionals still act that way, then maybe just ignore them. The Android vs iOS debate is never ending, so it would make more sense to pick one based on your needs rather than other's naive perceptions.

I am wondering about this issue in regards to working professionals, yes.

Similar to how a good outfit or nice watch comes across as professional.

If anything, the high-end Android phones are associated with hacker types who want more control over their devices. But there are enough factors that make people move away from Android. So I doubt there is one answer, unlike a good outfit.

Don't worry, Apple took notice of this and is growing its SE series. Affordable yet not sacrificing quality, which will eventually overtake Android.

Also, why would you support an evil ad company anyways? People use Google because they had no other choice, if not they will change in a heartbeat.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30347719

Because I can install anything I want on my android regardless of what Google approves. Because I can drag and drop files onto it like it's a thumb drive. Developing software for it is tenfold easier and cheaper

They aren't particularly strong reasons, but these came to mind:

I'm a diehard fan of the 3-button navigation layout.

I use Google Fi, though I realize there are other affordable phone plans that work with iPhone.

I occasionally use app pinning to stay focused while using a particular app. iOS doesn't have this yet, I don't think?

In the past, I would have argued "Lower cost of ownership" but I don't know if that's true anymore.

I don't know if this has changed, but the lack of a contextual back button on Apple phones made it feel like I was driving a stick shift car. Otherwise I think their phones are really nice.

It’s just an adaptation issue. After switching from Android to iPhone, I forgot about the back button maybe in a couple of weeks.

You just swipe from the left part of the screen.

Damn. I seriously never knew this. Thanks for making me aware.

Anecdotally, there is a social status attached to iPhones, as seen by my nephew's experience with teenagers and early 20ers. All the android users I know are older users who grew up with the Google ecosystem.

Since I've switched over to iPhone my social presence with my friends is a lot better. When I had an android it always messed up group texts and messages would come in wrong orders, or I wouldn't receive them at all. I ended up being excluded from a lot of group texts because of it. Not that it really bothered me, because I could see why it would be a minor annoyance.

Also I think the green color for non iPhone messages is an ugly green by design, to encourage the "blue is better" mentality. It's already working on you ;) But its a dark pattern for sure

The various shades of green background with the text color has gotten progressively more uncomfortable to look at over time... To the point where it's so low contrast that it violates Apples own UX guidelines

Stigma... stigma... yeah, try using a flip phone... or anything other than an android or iphone smart phone XDXDXD

No buddy likes my webkit OS anymore

Reply on news.ycombinator.com