Other Android v/s iOS - 2021

[rdst_1]

I won’t go into a point by point rebuttal as it’s futile
However I don’t understand why people have the misconception that there is no hierarchical file management in ios.
I get the exact same desktop/document/downloads etc folder structure (along with subfolders) and files as I have on my windows or mac laptop

e.g. if I want to attach a file in gmail, i could either use:

Metadata - search for a known attribute/ name of file and share to gmail (which is what I prefer)

But if i must stick to the traditional route:
Hierarchical - click on attach - > attachments -> to browse to my (e.g.) documents>2021>August folder - which as mentioned is an exact replica of my PC

Granted this relies on enabling cloud backup (which one should anyway) - but nothing prevents a user from recreating same folder structure on the local device either.

what am I missing here?

I haven't used iOs in a very long time, so don't know what has changed or become better.
When I choose to attach a file in gmail, even in Android, it goes to the metadata option at first only. I am guessing hierarchical method is preferred by people like me whose storage is completely cluttered. For example, all my files are in the download folder and nothing in other folders. Apart from my music collection which is properly categorized and synced with my laptop over wifi by using an old app (not supported supposedly by latest android, but works flawlessly), everything is haphazard. One would think, metadata based browsing would be perfect for someone like me, but I still prefer searching through and arranging my files when I want to. I am guessing, the main problem people have is not about whether iOs metadata based browsing works or not. People like me just want to have the choice to choose. Why should Apple or any other company decide that for us. Again, I don't really know what changes have happened over the years, so I'll let others chime in.
This reason about choice is why I had to sell off my first iPad within 3 days of buying it and after spending 2k on softwares trying to get something specific to work. I wanted to play a video file stored on my laptop, on the iPad. At that time (I think it was the 4th gen iPad), Apple wouldn't allow local playback of video files and one had to have a server side app installed which would do the actual playback using the laptop's resources. I think I even had a thread here on TE about that and the conclusion was that nothing could be done, because Apple had decided that it would somehow make their experience less polished. So this lack of choice and freedom is the most irritating thing that can make one despise iOS despite the other good factors about it.

P. S. - I've had this happen with me that people fail to see the point I've made and start responding by saying how one can play a video now etc. That is not my point. The point, again, for people who might miss it, is that the same feature was available on Android even 2 years prior to when I bought the iPad. And the main point being that Apple chose not to give the freedom of choice to their buyers just because they had this notion that it would diminish the user experience. This methodology of theirs of not providing even basic functionality just because they felt that it wouldn't be needed or whatever reason they felt, is why it makes it very difficult for someone like me who is a long time android user to switch to an Apple device.

 

[yugaaa]

My only argument would be that the android phones /crome books /windows laptops vs apple are much more expensive for similar feature sets .
Comparing displays , software experience and proprietary vs open source one can wonder why apple phones are much more value .
I am not an apple user since i prefer a low end android as i keep slipping my phone and replacing every 6 months . so no I am not a fan boy .

 

[smnrock]

ios file browser is getting better as others mentioned... but still it is not easy as android. For example, handling of compressed files or files from NAS is painful in iPhone. In Android i can simply select external utility like solid explorer to get the files from NAS.

Another thing, being in India, Microsoft SMS app and truecaller is god send. As long as it's not supported, iPhone will be a secondary device for people like me(mainly used as remote for Apple TV )

Regarding missing T9 dialer, i think Apple users are fine/happy with spotlight search which is almost easy as T9 option. Of course i do not know why ios dialer has alphabets

Another thing i hate is, how long they will go on without usb-c... This is a company which supposed to make more user friendly!

 

[belictony]

I am sorry for going off-topic. I am putting my thoughts since the discussion had already went this path.

I was playing around with iPhone 12 today. I was able to notice a very huge list where I find iOS lacking in regards to Android. iPhone is good for my parents but not for me. I find it dumb. I can only hope for an iPhone with MacOS instead of iOS in the future. Better to buy a decent android phone and replace it every 3 years. iPhones are good for long update support (6-7 years of security patches), camera quality and error free experience. But that comes at the cost of limiting the user. Androids are also catching up with updates now. Project Mainline, Treble and Longer OEM commitments is making the experience better.

Lack of features in iOS which makes it dumb: (Call it my opinion but it's the truth. Counter it if you can)

1) Limited File Management Capabilities - You need to save files to find it later. What a joke! Difficult to navigate files. It's much easier to navigate / find files in Android and there are powerful file explorer apps which you can use to get more things done.

2) Easy Sharing of Files between Devices - I want to plug my phone into my pc and access my files with ease on Windows devices as well. I want to start a file server from my device and access them on PC. I want something like Syncthing which automatically syncs the Downloads Folder on My PC and my Mobile. It also syncs the backups and the keepass file to access the passwords. I don't want to go to cloud route for these things.

3) Standard Charger - I can charge my phone anywhere. All devices at my home uses type c including my Soundcore headphones. iPad have moved towards type c and hopefully iPhones will follow.

4) Notification Management - Android handles notifications way better.

5) Always on Display - I like to have the calendar and some information metrics on AOD on my samsung display.

6) Sideloading - Sideloading apps on android is child's play. Apple can defend all they care about user's security but the real goal is to make money off their App Store.

7) Ad-blocking - I use Adguard as system wide dns and have ad blocking all across the phone.

8) Fingerprint Sensor - Using a big notch for face id sensor for better security but when face id is itself less secure than a finger print sensor. Get TouchID and be done with FaceID & the notch. You can be all covered and still unlock your phone with a more secure option (fingerprint unlock)

9) Poor Battery & Slow Charging - Android is packed with larger battery and tops it up with fasting charging. My phone have 7000mah battery and the freedom to charge your phone once in 2 days is a bliss.

10) Lack of FOSS Apps - There is growth in the number of open source foss apps on iOS but still very few. I personally enjoy using Aegis (2FA), AnySoftKeyboard (Keyboard), Bromite (Chromium based browser), Material Files (File Manager), KeePassDX (Password Manager), Syncthing (File sync between devices), NewPipe (Youtube Client)

11) Limited Automation Capabilities - I have found no app comparable to Tasker on iOS. Even the shortcuts app is pretty limited. It is because iOS restricts the user which might be good for average user. Automation apps on android can change system settings, manage ui via accessibility settings and draw over other apps permissions. You can give more permissions via ADB. Ofcourse you need to trust the apps which you give these permissions. There are apps with no network permission or open source code to use. You can also disable network access for apps on Android. It's native AOSP features but some OEMs do not deploy it. You can use VPN based firewall in that case.

I can go on but this gives you an idea. Just try AOSP based UI for once and you will never feel like using anything else.

Many things that you have mentioned are specific to you and does not apply to an average mobile user. ex. syncing mobile with pc, side loading, automation, etc. But there are alternatives to some of these use cases in iOS.

1) Limited File Management Capabilities - You need to save files to find it later. what's this?. obviously in any OS, one has to save files to find it later. if you don't save it, it won't be there to find it later.

2) Easy Sharing of Files between Devices - one case use Airdrop with Mac or use iCloud Drive with windows.

8) Fingerprint Sensor - its nowhere proved that Face ID is not secure. moreover, Face ID is fare more convenient to use than fingerprint. its as if you don't know its there.

10) Lack of FOSS Apps - I haven't bought any apps on IOS so far. I use free apps and apple provided apps. for KeepassDX, apple provides their own keychain password manager and it works with windows as well. Safari is quite good for a browser and with iOS 15 it supports extensions. I don't feel the default keyboard as insufficient anyways that I have to download another keyboard app in Ios.

9) Poor Battery & Slow Charging - I used Samsung s9+ which is the flagship at that time. I used to charge my phone at least twice a day. moved to iPhone 11 and I charge it once a day or once in 2 days.

11) Limited Automation Capabilities - the default shortcuts app is very powerful. I wouldn't want any app to change systems settings or its access permissions. its the most dangerous thing to allow in an OS. From my personal experience, I know of many android apps which on installation won't work when some of the permissions are denied. Some change their own permission temporarily or use workarounds to bypass the denied permissions and gather data like most dialled contact, sms dump, call log dump, information about other apps the user uses, etc.

 

[Sammoka]

Many things that you have mentioned are specific to you and does not apply to an average mobile user. ex. syncing mobile with pc, side loading, automation, etc. But there are alternatives to some of these use cases in iOS.

1) Limited File Management Capabilities - You need to save files to find it later. what's this?. obviously in any OS, one has to save files to find it later. if you don't save it, it won't be there to find it later.

2) Easy Sharing of Files between Devices - one case use Airdrop with Mac or use iCloud Drive with windows.

8) Fingerprint Sensor - its nowhere proved that Face ID is not secure. moreover, Face ID is fare more convenient to use than fingerprint. its as if you don't know its there.

10) Lack of FOSS Apps - I haven't bought any apps on IOS so far. I use free apps and apple provided apps. for KeepassDX, apple provides their own keychain password manager and it works with windows as well. Safari is quite good for a browser and with iOS 15 it supports extensions. I don't feel the default keyboard as insufficient anyways that I have to download another keyboard app in Ios.

9) Poor Battery & Slow Charging - I used Samsung s9+ which is the flagship at that time. I used to charge my phone at least twice a day. moved to iPhone 11 and I charge it once a day or once in 2 days.

11) Limited Automation Capabilities - the default shortcuts app is very powerful. I wouldn't want any app to change systems settings or its access permissions. its the most dangerous thing to allow in an OS. From my personal experience, I know of many android apps which on installation won't work when some of the permissions are denied. Some change their own permission temporarily or use workarounds to bypass the denied permissions and gather data like most dialled contact, sms dump, call log dump, information about other apps the user uses, etc.

There are quite a few flaws in this argument, don't take it the wrong way but let me point them out.

1 Limited File Management Capabilities- This is common for those who have a NAS preferably, you may need to store data locally to search it instead of using the drive immediately, same thing for external pendrives. The indepth per folder search like android is definitely not available here, say the Whatsapp folder is not there so all documents related to whatsapp wont go there, you need to save it to something else that may create its own folder

2. Easy Sharing of Files between Devices - Not convenient if there are large files or you're on the move and travel, has happened to me too while I was travelling in Singapore and the internet there was expensive and horrible. (Was a family vacation so lots of photos, videos were on the device). Especially not convenient at all if you have Windows, what youre suggesting is a work around not a true solution. Instead of jumping through hoops connect a cable and transfer the data, thats always much more simple and faster.

3) Fingerprint Sensor - We are now in Pandemic days and the no mask rule wont be coming in any time soon, so we are going to live with covid. With that in mind, while I am on the travel I find pulling my mask everytime really annoying. A fingerprint scanner would have solved all of those issues. You could have both options fingerprint and face scanner but its not there.

10) Lack of FOSS Apps - Lots of organisations use their own inhouse authentication software's nothing new some of them based on open source some not, the main point being a user shouldnt be subjected to use a particular app even if they dont like it if options are available you should be free to use it, keychain has been pretty buggy and doesnt register quite a few times but does work well if you are in the apple ecosystem.

9) Poor Battery & Slow Charging - I can attest to this, I don't know about your use case but I have used a iPhone 6s, currently using the 8 Plus and for a really small time the 4s. The phone youre referring to the 11 even when it came out used a 720p screen (for reference the 8 plus is 1080p) and I dont know if you bought it in 2019 itself but even around me I have seen lots of people have horrible battery backup after a year or 2 of use. I have already given an example of something like the M31 which I think after years of use of an 8 Plus makes you think on what you are missing out on (have made an comment in this thread itself do let me know your feedback!)

Again I am not bashing you, but we need to keep an open mind while using a phone after all these companies at the end care about their margins first never the actual user first so lets treat it that way!

 

[raksrules]

If a hardcore iPhone user asks he wants to try Android, which phone would people with more knowledge (about android) can recommend? I am not trying to switch but curious what would I switch to if I decide or plan or just want get my feet wet.

Obviously this means, don't want to be bombarded with spurious ads and unnecessary bloatware and even if there is, I should be able to delete and please don't go custom ROM route as I have no interest in doing all that.

 

[xkcd0137]

If a hardcore iPhone user asks he wants to try Android, which phone would people with more knowledge (about android) can recommend? I am not trying to switch but curious what would I switch to if I decide or plan or just want get my feet wet.

Obviously this means, don't want to be bombarded with spurious ads and unnecessary bloatware and even if there is, I should be able to delete and please don't go custom ROM route as I have no interest in doing all that.

Budget? If you don't want to go the custom rom route, get any latest Samsung phone with non-Exynos SoC - M32 5G, M52 5G, S20 FE 5G etc.

Edit: how did I forget Pixel!! @rdst_1 has better recommendation. Pixel is a better buy at ₹25k

 

[rdst_1]

If a hardcore iPhone user asks he wants to try Android, which phone would people with more knowledge (about android) can recommend? I am not trying to switch but curious what would I switch to if I decide or plan or just want get my feet wet.

Obviously this means, don't want to be bombarded with spurious ads and unnecessary bloatware and even if there is, I should be able to delete and please don't go custom ROM route as I have no interest in doing all that.

Safest bet would be a Pixel device. Stock, zippy Android OS with regular and long update cycle, something which Apple users are usually fond of.

 

[rkkaranrk]

Safest bet would be a Pixel device. Stock, zippy Android OS with regular and long update cycle, something which Apple users are usually fond of.

A friend bought a used super mint condition pixel 3 for 16.5k I think, After using S21 ultra fold 2/3 I was like Dam this phone looks super sexy and sleek.... Was in love with it. Thinking of buying one for myself just to play with it.

 

[raksrules]

I wish Google didn't give step motherly treatment to India when releasing Google phones.