Hacker News Reader

Comment by fortylove | Hacker News Reader

I tried avoiding the iPhone bandwagon for practically a decade, going from flip phone to the HTC Droid Incredible, to some HTC M<#>, to Samsung S4, and then a series of Pixel phones, starting with the OG Pixel, and ending with the Pixel 3.

I have to say: besides a few clunky swipe experiences, the iPhone is better in every single way. The camera opens when I click the camera button. The phone pairs wonderfully with my airpods. With Android, the camera would inevitably lag after pressing the button, sometimes taking 10+ seconds to load, and making me miss a photo.

I don't miss Androids/.

View on HN

>The camera opens when I click the camera button

I've been a lifelong Android user but this problem is very real and has only gotten worse, and even with a brand new current-generation device it still takes 2-3+ seconds (sometimes up to 10 seconds like you mentioned) for the camera to open. Extremely infuriating. Does no higherups at Google use an Android phone and see this happening? Or maybe they just don't give a shit

I switched recently due to divorcing myself from Google services and products. Overall I've found the iPhone experience to be basically the same, but with a much worse notifications system.

And with a much better regard for security!

For instance, you could still own an iPhone 5s, released in 2013, and receive security updates.

< 7 is now unsupported for the latest OS. Maybe will get one more bugfix.

Apple releases security updates for older OSes. They recently released iOS 12.5.6, for example.

Not for long as my comment alludes.

> ...Pixel 3. ... The camera opens when I click the camera button.

I still have a Pixel 5 and one of my favorite features is double pressing the power button to activate the camera. It works so well that my camera is ready to go before I have even focused on the subject. I don’t know if this feature is available on an iPhone.

You can set iOS so that a double or triple tap on the rear of the phone case can trigger almost whatever you want including opening the camera.

Technically it's possible but not reliable due to many false positive/negatives in my experience on my 13 mini. I wanted to use it for quick flashlight, but double had false positive and triple had false negative.

It's not available.

On the iPhone you need to take it out of your pocket, wake up the screen by tapping it once, or lifting it to some angle that the screen turns on. Then you need to long press the on screen camera button.

If you enabled the double tap, you still need to take it out of your pocket and wake up the screen before you can double tap.

On Android you could have the camera ready before the phone is even out of your pocket.

Also, from an awakened lock screen, as an alternate to the long press of the camera button, you can just swipe left on the screen, revealing the ready camera app, which saves a second or two.

I was forced to iPhone 18 months ago and while it isn’t as bad as I’d feared, notifications just don’t seem right to me on iOS. I’m constantly missing things that I never would have on a Pixel.

There's a learning curve with any new platform.

Apple recently added "modes", which I like about 80% of the time, and 20% of the time I'm in the wrong mode for whatever reason and the wrong set of notifications get sent.

You can turn it off if you'd like.

Really? My Android phone gets notifications way way late compared to my iPhone.

Same. Used android for eleven years and switched a year ago the iPhone.

You can feel the dedication and craftsmanship with the iPhone.

In the budget range it's the other way around though.

For €300 you get a decent phone with bezelless 120Hz OLED screen. The iPhone SE that is almost €600 doesn't even have any of that. Cool that it's made from finely crafted aluminium but the screen is what I interact with constantly.

When I refer to craftmanship, I'm referring to the software experience. No slugishness, no crashes - everything just works.

To each their own, iOS software had quite a few bugs I experienced on mobile and all the bugs were part of the reason I switched back

You think a modern Android crashes or is sluggish? Because it's not :)

I am on an Android bandwagon since first Samsung Galaxy. The sheer joy of being in a total control of my hardware and software is still here. I am installing some apps directly from vendors and thus avoiding big companies censorship. My current phone is more than four years old for now and I am thinking about buying a new one only because the battery is slightly degraded. This is just a phone, a tool, used mostly for communication (including right now).

That is a camera problem in the Google Pixels, specially 3s and 4s. Never a thing in old Samsungs and Motorolas I had.

> The phone pairs wonderfully with my airpods.

For some users. If you somehow fall through the cracks or off the happy path of AirPods usage, modern iPhones that lack the headphone jack are miserable experiences. I've had enough struggles getting AirPods to connect to switch back to wired IEMs for good.

I don’t mind the Android OS but other than one of the Google models I had the handsets were crappy, with pocket dialling or freezing on the numeric pad to make a call, sometimes full of telco adware. I could only handle 3 years or so of it before switching back to iphone.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com