Why I finally switched from Android to iPhone after 10 years
Sorry for the long post. Can't add TL;DR because I cant summarize it.
First of all, I'm a big Google fan and still am. I have been using Android since the Nexus One days in 2010 and have only been using Nexus/Google play edition/Pixel phones. IMO, Pixel is the only true Android phone, everything else is just junk. So, you can see although Android is diverse, I have only one option. It's either Pixel or iPhone. Though I'd switch to iOS I'd still use some of Google's services because they are the best. iPhone with google services is a better combo. Here are the main reasons that drove me towards the iPhone.
Efficiency
It is a known fact that iOS runs much more efficient than Android. Android OEMs usually compensate this by just adding huge batteries(30% larger). Still, they have the same or worse battery life. It comes down to how the OSes are designed from the beginning. iOS more closed and Android more open. However in recent times both seem to converge. iOS has always been strict with background processes which Android also seems to be doing off late. But Irony is Google's own system Apps are the biggest abusers. Ever seen Gboard in your battery usage charts? It always has a background process(can be seen in Developer options->Background processes). When you install an alternative keyboard it shows up in the battery chart with high background usage! (I don't understand why some system Google apps dont show at all).
Battery life on Android is not consistent to say the least. There may be some Android phones which have better battery life than iPhones but I'm pretty sure there'd be one day when the battery just dies on you even though you didn't change anything(more about this in the next section). I'd prefer a consistent battery life to a better battery life but inconsistent.
Google play services
This is the backbone of Android OS so much so that even though Android is open source, basically every major app is broken without these services. So, even if you install some ROM you would basically have to get these services for apps to run.
As I mentioned above, on one fine day, your phone would die in a day and the Google play services shows up in battery usage, but there is nothing much you can tell what was the actual source of the drain. I would like to have detailed information about which of the services was causing it which app was responsible for it.
Also, if you search 'Google Play Services' on the play store, you can't get to the listing. Only way afaik is to go to App Info->Google Play Services->App details. And one cannot disable updates for it! It can update whenever it wants.
Atleast, battery life has been very consistent with my iPad Pro. Yes, there would be some system update which has some bug and causes battery drain but it will be fixed in the following update. At least I don't have any surprising days.
Google vs Apple
Apple is basically a Hardware company. That's where their major revenue comes from. Google on the other hand made 130B$ (81% of total revenue) from ad business alone in 2019. So, the purpose why the OSes were created is very clear. That's why Android is designed to be open to accommodate faster adoption and it worked. Android devices upload 40 times more times more data when idle compared to iPhones. No matter how much I try to opt out of ad personalization and activity tracking, the battery usage doesn't get better during idle.
Personally, I don't mind sharing my data to avail some free services. Infact, some of Google's services are the best and there aren't even any paid alternatives that come close. I also dont mind seeing a personalized ad rather than some irrelevant ad for adult diapers. But why is it necessary to collect the data when the phone is just sitting there idle. I already share my Mail, Photos data, Maps data, Chrome history etc. Why doesn't Google just collect whatever is necessary and upload it when connected to a charger?! I don't mind that. Basically, I want Android phones to be more reliable and consistent in terms of battery life.
iOS off late is awesome
I have been using Android since 2010 from the Nexus One days. I hated iOS since the beginning. I had an iPod touch. I always felt iOS is more suitable for kids and elderly and to get any kind of productive work out of it is not possible. I also have an iPad pro since a couple of years which I was just using like a chrome book. Even till the recent times, you had to open the calendar app to see your daily agenda. On Android, you can add a widget to the home screen. Thanks to iOS finally adopting widgets. Also App drawer or the lack of it, having gazillion apps sitting on your home screen with all that clutter! I wonder how people lived with iOS all through. Thanks to recent changes in iOS 14 like widgets, app library, default apps, SHORTCUTS.
Shortcuts
Wow, when Apple introduced it in iOS 12? I was excited because I knew having system level automation would make iOS very powerful. I'd have expected something like this on Android first. But even after two years, there is no sign of any equivalent on Android. Yes, I know Tasker, I'm a big fan and have a lot of profiles. If there is something that I don't like I can just get it to work with Tasker. The problem with Tasker is its lack of ability to easily interface with other apps and it doesn't have system level integration. Tasker is basically one main reason why I stick to Android. When I thought of giving iOS a try, I went through my Tasker profiles to see if I can implement them using shortcuts. To my surprise, most of the profiles were to optimize battery life like turning off location, BT, WiFi, enabling battery saver etc. Like I said, battery life would be terrible some day and I'd be spending that day with Tasker to find the culprit or find a way to limit usage somehow but all efforts were vain because if some system level apps are to be blamed, you can't do much. Some other profiles I could replicate using Shortcuts like showing day's agenda and so on. I hope Apple opens Shortcuts for 3rd party developers to integrate their apps deeper and makes it much more powerful.
Why spend >700$ on an Android?
I don't understand why people spend premium(>700$) on an Android! When Android devices are just uploading 40 times more data, it is your resources that are being used to send your data to Google/OEMs for its advantages. The CPU, Cellular, WiFi Antennas are just used 40x more. The hardware just degrades much faster. That's why Android devices degrade faster. Shouldn't Google subsidize all Android phones? because they are working for them. IMO, Android is very good if you are spending 400$(Pixel 4a for e,g) but only till Apple introduces a competitive phone in this price range (iPhone SE is not bad but it is just outdated). And it is out of my mental ability to understand why people spend 1400$ on Samsung's crap not so good phones.
Google's Priorities
There is an Android version of Shortcuts called Rules and also Assistant shortcuts. Chances you have never heard of it. They are let's just say, very basic. Even though Assistant shortcuts was introduced almost a year ago, there's been absolutely ZERO progress ever since. No third party has implemented anything yet. Also, have you noticed how rapidly Gboard and Photos were developed in the recent past. They kept on adding features on every update. Because they are helpful in harvesting more data about users. The features which actually add value to users but have no value to Google's business model get very less attention. That's why I don't see Android ever getting Shortcuts' equivalent. The past few Android releases have added nothing significant. There is immense progress in solving the Android fragmentation issue. The amount of system level and architectural changes they made at such advanced stages of OS is commendable. But they are just trying to solve an unsolvable problem(it is a side effect of opensource OS). There aren't any significant user facing changes where as iOS is just getting better and better.
I will be using my iPhone 11 Pro for next few weeks and I will write another post about what I find good/bad. As I'm already used to iPadOS, I know what to expect and what I should compromise. Hopefully, there won't be any nasty surprises. Of course, if Android gets better over time, I'd happily go back and give it a try but till then...
Sorry for the long post. Can't add TL;DR because I cant summarize it.
First of all, I'm a big Google fan and still am. I have been using Android since the Nexus One days in 2010 and have only been using Nexus/Google play edition/Pixel phones. IMO, Pixel is the only true Android phone, everything else is just junk. So, you can see although Android is diverse, I have only one option. It's either Pixel or iPhone. Though I'd switch to iOS I'd still use some of Google's services because they are the best. iPhone with google services is a better combo. Here are the main reasons that drove me towards the iPhone.
Efficiency
It is a known fact that iOS runs much more efficient than Android. Android OEMs usually compensate this by just adding huge batteries(30% larger). Still, they have the same or worse battery life. It comes down to how the OSes are designed from the beginning. iOS more closed and Android more open. However in recent times both seem to converge. iOS has always been strict with background processes which Android also seems to be doing off late. But Irony is Google's own system Apps are the biggest abusers. Ever seen Gboard in your battery usage charts? It always has a background process(can be seen in Developer options->Background processes). When you install an alternative keyboard it shows up in the battery chart with high background usage! (I don't understand why some system Google apps dont show at all).
Battery life on Android is not consistent to say the least. There may be some Android phones which have better battery life than iPhones but I'm pretty sure there'd be one day when the battery just dies on you even though you didn't change anything(more about this in the next section). I'd prefer a consistent battery life to a better battery life but inconsistent.
Google play services
This is the backbone of Android OS so much so that even though Android is open source, basically every major app is broken without these services. So, even if you install some ROM you would basically have to get these services for apps to run.
As I mentioned above, on one fine day, your phone would die in a day and the Google play services shows up in battery usage, but there is nothing much you can tell what was the actual source of the drain. I would like to have detailed information about which of the services was causing it which app was responsible for it.
Also, if you search 'Google Play Services' on the play store, you can't get to the listing. Only way afaik is to go to App Info->Google Play Services->App details. And one cannot disable updates for it! It can update whenever it wants.
Atleast, battery life has been very consistent with my iPad Pro. Yes, there would be some system update which has some bug and causes battery drain but it will be fixed in the following update. At least I don't have any surprising days.
Google vs Apple
Apple is basically a Hardware company. That's where their major revenue comes from. Google on the other hand made 130B$ (81% of total revenue) from ad business alone in 2019. So, the purpose why the OSes were created is very clear. That's why Android is designed to be open to accommodate faster adoption and it worked. Android devices upload 40 times more times more data when idle compared to iPhones. No matter how much I try to opt out of ad personalization and activity tracking, the battery usage doesn't get better during idle.
Personally, I don't mind sharing my data to avail some free services. Infact, some of Google's services are the best and there aren't even any paid alternatives that come close. I also dont mind seeing a personalized ad rather than some irrelevant ad for adult diapers. But why is it necessary to collect the data when the phone is just sitting there idle. I already share my Mail, Photos data, Maps data, Chrome history etc. Why doesn't Google just collect whatever is necessary and upload it when connected to a charger?! I don't mind that. Basically, I want Android phones to be more reliable and consistent in terms of battery life.
iOS off late is awesome
I have been using Android since 2010 from the Nexus One days. I hated iOS since the beginning. I had an iPod touch. I always felt iOS is more suitable for kids and elderly and to get any kind of productive work out of it is not possible. I also have an iPad pro since a couple of years which I was just using like a chrome book. Even till the recent times, you had to open the calendar app to see your daily agenda. On Android, you can add a widget to the home screen. Thanks to iOS finally adopting widgets. Also App drawer or the lack of it, having gazillion apps sitting on your home screen with all that clutter! I wonder how people lived with iOS all through. Thanks to recent changes in iOS 14 like widgets, app library, default apps, SHORTCUTS.
Shortcuts
Wow, when Apple introduced it in iOS 12? I was excited because I knew having system level automation would make iOS very powerful. I'd have expected something like this on Android first. But even after two years, there is no sign of any equivalent on Android. Yes, I know Tasker, I'm a big fan and have a lot of profiles. If there is something that I don't like I can just get it to work with Tasker. The problem with Tasker is its lack of ability to easily interface with other apps and it doesn't have system level integration. Tasker is basically one main reason why I stick to Android. When I thought of giving iOS a try, I went through my Tasker profiles to see if I can implement them using shortcuts. To my surprise, most of the profiles were to optimize battery life like turning off location, BT, WiFi, enabling battery saver etc. Like I said, battery life would be terrible some day and I'd be spending that day with Tasker to find the culprit or find a way to limit usage somehow but all efforts were vain because if some system level apps are to be blamed, you can't do much. Some other profiles I could replicate using Shortcuts like showing day's agenda and so on. I hope Apple opens Shortcuts for 3rd party developers to integrate their apps deeper and makes it much more powerful.
Why spend >700$ on an Android?
I don't understand why people spend premium(>700$) on an Android! When Android devices are just uploading 40 times more data, it is your resources that are being used to send your data to Google/OEMs for its advantages. The CPU, Cellular, WiFi Antennas are just used 40x more. The hardware just degrades much faster. That's why Android devices degrade faster. Shouldn't Google subsidize all Android phones? because they are working for them. IMO, Android is very good if you are spending 400$(Pixel 4a for e,g) but only till Apple introduces a competitive phone in this price range (iPhone SE is not bad but it is just outdated). And it is out of my mental ability to understand why people spend 1400$ on Samsung's crap not so good phones.
Google's Priorities
There is an Android version of Shortcuts called Rules and also Assistant shortcuts. Chances you have never heard of it. They are let's just say, very basic. Even though Assistant shortcuts was introduced almost a year ago, there's been absolutely ZERO progress ever since. No third party has implemented anything yet. Also, have you noticed how rapidly Gboard and Photos were developed in the recent past. They kept on adding features on every update. Because they are helpful in harvesting more data about users. The features which actually add value to users but have no value to Google's business model get very less attention. That's why I don't see Android ever getting Shortcuts' equivalent. The past few Android releases have added nothing significant. There is immense progress in solving the Android fragmentation issue. The amount of system level and architectural changes they made at such advanced stages of OS is commendable. But they are just trying to solve an unsolvable problem(it is a side effect of opensource OS). There aren't any significant user facing changes where as iOS is just getting better and better.
I will be using my iPhone 11 Pro for next few weeks and I will write another post about what I find good/bad. As I'm already used to iPadOS, I know what to expect and what I should compromise. Hopefully, there won't be any nasty surprises. Of course, if Android gets better over time, I'd happily go back and give it a try but till then...
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