So, I see Cook and Zuck are going at it again regarding user’s personal data and how or if it gets used.
I haven’t actually looked into it, just glanced at the headlines, but it’s enough to cause me to re-evaluate my stance on Apple products. Well, that and my experience with samsung since replacing my aged j3 galaxy with a s10 a few months ago.
So, alla youse iclones 
out there, do you think you can convert a confirmed drone?
I’ve long used Apple PowerBook/MacBook laptops because I wanted a *nix machine and got tired of trying to get FreeBSD to work properly with everything and found the Linux community too fractured to cope with. Anyway, I was resistant to the iPhone (and smartphones in general) when it first came out and waited until the 3S. I was actually waiting for Garmin to release a long-delayed G60, only to find it underwhelming. That 3S lasted for the better part of four years, after which I bought a 6S that is still going (with an iFixit battery swap). I’ve also had a couple of iPads which have served well in a web browsing/email/light utility function when I haven’t wanted to cart around a laptop. Aside from the seemingly inevitable battery drain at every major version release which they fix a couple of minor releases after, upgrading has been mostly painless other than the iOS7 upgrade fiasco. The general complaint is how expensive Apple products are in comparison to Google, Samsung, et cetera, but frankly most people who have Google or Samsung Android phones seem to have to replace them every year or two as the OS becomes out of date or unstable where I’ve been able to get several years out of each device, and while that means I’m not on the bleeding edge of camera resolution or whatever other features, it also means that I have a device that is stable with relatively few novel flaws.
I’m not really a fan of Apple’s marketing strategy or the cult of consumerist enthusiasm around their products, but they are well made (the company has never had to recall a product because of a rash of unexplained fires and explosions), and the interoperability and functionality of their ‘device ecosystem’ has often been really convenient when transferring data from one device to another. And I’m also a fan of their priority of user privacy and not monetizing user information, which is an issue I would have zero confidence about with a Google product, and over which Apple has actually been taken to court and made a legal stance.
Should you get an iPhone? Well, I guess it depends; how much do you value privacy, how long do you want or expect to keep a phone, how much will you use the proprietary interoperability features, and how willing are you to at least live in the periphery of an adoring cult of technology worshipers, many of whom immediately run to the “Genius Bar” whenever they have a problem because reading a manual and online forums is too hard?
Stranger
Speaking of cults of consumerist enthusiasm…
Well, ok, so here are my more in depth questions;
Will apple reset my settings to whatever they think they should be with each update?
Will apple do or allow apps to do things I don’t want with no way to stop that activity, for example, put a spotify widget on the lock screen with no way to get rid of it?
How much bloatware can I remove from the phone, ie facebook, Twitter, snapchat etc?
No, they don’t reset the settings with each update. And the only way to get Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc on the phone in the first place is for you to download those apps and put them there. So the level of “bloatware” is really up to you. And I’ve never had any widget of any sort on my lock screen. I’m not even sure it’s possible to put an app there.
There are intrinsic apps that come with iOS like Apple Maps, Apple Podcast, et cetrea that you can’t remove but they aren’t obtrusive and you can turn all notifications, location tracking, and alerts off. iOS does not come with any social media apps installed, and as previously noted, Apple is agnostic toward all social media, so you can pick and choose what you want to install. As Dewey_Finn notes, they don’t reset settings with updates (although on occasion older apps that are unsupported or having been updated can stop functioning because the OS features they use are deprecated).
You can have certain applications show badges or provide limited functionality, but the user has complete control about what is allowable from a locked phone. Other than emergency calls, you can disable access from a locked screen to any app, and I believe that is disabled by default, e.g. you have to select it to be accessible during installation or in Settings.
Stranger
You can delete most of the built-in apps that come with your iPhone, including Maps and Podcasts. And every app (I think) can be removed from the Home Screen and placed in the App Library where you never have to see it again if you don’t want to.
So they can. I stand corrected.
Stranger
And thus I am dragged, unwillingly, into getting something I don’t want, but have come to need for peace of mind, to mangle a quote from someone or other
I don’t understand; if you don’t want an iPhone, don’t get an iPhone. Stay with your Android phone if that makes you happy. Or you could get a non-smartphone or even not have a cell phone at all.
If you’re concerned about privacy, do a web search for how to set your Android phone for privacy. (Although there would be some irony in using Google to search for this.)
But keep in mind that you are voluntarily carrying around a device that by its very nature requires that your exact location be known at all times.
In my personal opinion, most people who pay over $250 for their phone are overpaying anyway. That seems to be the spot for a phone running an up to date operating system with enough processor power and memory to handle modern apps and a nice enough screen to consume media on. And a good enough camera to take photos you’re never going to look at again. I’m sure individual people can convince me that they personally need a $900 phone because reasons but, generally speaking, that’s not what I see people using their phones for.
So I guess the question is whether Apple has an iPhone available for $250 that matches the specs of a new $250 phone. They might (or maybe a used $250 iPhone is comparable), I dunno.
I think the cheapest new iPhone is $399.
I’ve owned and operated a Samsung Galaxy phone as well as numerous iPhones. They were all great devices, but in the long run Apple won out.
IIRC the Samsung Galaxy I owned had bloatware (a game?) that could not be removed.
I switched to an iPhone a few months ago after years of using Android. I stuck with Android because it was cheaper as well as being Linux-based, which theoretically meant I could “work on” it using skills from my day job (never really happened, truth be told).
Here are reasons I switched:
Here are some things I noticed:
Bottom line, I don’t need to get under the hood of my phone if it’s designed well. I just need it to accommodate my needs and interoperate with other devices. I feel like the open-source influence does not help the Android ecosystem, as there are too many security risks being downloaded by too many naïve users and being policed by too few unaccountable eyeballs.
For me, the ecosystem makes all the difference, and that is clearly what Apple intended.
Occasionally I have considered going with Android devices and found this app or that app lacking but with alternatives out there (music score software was a sticking point for me), but there was never enough of a gap for me to say “No” to Android.
And considering the super cool hardware with stuff like a built-in IR camera? Neato.
But it makes all the difference that my iPad, Mac, and iPhone all share photos documents and pretty much everything one would normally expect to find under one’s “Documents” folder.
I take photos on the iPhone and they immediately appear on my Mac.
I’m sure Google has similar functionality for the Android world, but surely it would be unpleasant to try to use a heterogeneous mix of devices that don’t talk to each other.
So the answer may be “what are your other devices?”
On the other hand, I deliberately have different devices to prevent from being locked into an ecosystem. I have an iPad Pro, a Surface Pro 4 (though I may get a new laptop next year and an M2 version of the MacBook looks intriguing), a Pixel 4xl, multiple Google Homes and Amazon Echos around the home, and Chromecasts and an Apple TV.
I would hate to feel like I have to buy a product I think is not as good because it works better in my ecosystem.
So that should be considered as well.
An absolutely valid point of view–the lock-in is a reality.
If you don’t want bloatware and don’t want to be locked into an ecosystem, I’d suggest some brand other than Apple or Samsung. I bought a Moto G Stylus and am very happy with it. 2 full days of battery life, 128GB of storage, SDCard slot, and headphone jack.
I also don’t think you need to pay $1000 to get a good phone. This is a good article on affordable phones: https://www.wired.com/story/best-cheap-phones/
And finally this is a good site to compare phone specs: https://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare
Job requirements, need to have a smartphone. I could demand that my employer supply one for me, but that relenquishes too much control of the phone, the apps, and usage of it to them, and they’d give me an iphone anyway.
I was happy with android up till this year and am no longer happy with the system or samsung.
The one thing that comes to mind that I will miss is being able to cast my phone to my tv. Apparently apple doesn’t allow for that unless it’s an apple tv, whatever that is. Something to look into I guess. Couldn’t find an app for Vaderling’s iPhone but maybe there is one I can put on the tv.