My parents, sisters, and any aunts/uncles nearby that I support are all on windows 10 with android phones.
My results.
1. Time spend supporting family 1/10th compared to before. Android phones just work for us, update often and cost less so the occasional "OMG I dropped my phone and its broken" issues pretty much went away.
2. Android phones are all running the latest OS, give or take a minor update (usually stick with google or samsung flagship or mid-range models). Updating doesn't brick or blow away app settings or cause issues for users.
3. Never had this issue, but most of my family doesn't use facebook on their phones.
4. I have yet to have an apple product last more than 2-3 years. My last iphone lasted 1.5 years before it started randomly crashing/glitching. My current android is 2 years in without any issues.
5. Skype/Duo works great for my family. There is a subset of the family that uses facetime, they don't talk to the rest of us as often anymore.
I use apple products for work. I tend to get a HW replacement for laptops every 18-24 months due to HW failures, I'm on my 4th laptop in 6 years all due to HW issues.
Sometimes its got to be just luck. we have almost exact opposite experiences
To me, this is one of the greatest shortcomings of video chat. We went from a universal phone system to a mostly universal SMS system (most private networks still supported SMS) to a segregated video chat system, and it hurts relationships if you're not careful.
That is one of my main frustrations with Apple: In order to compel more people to use their platform, they made a proprietary communication service, and preloaded it on all of their devices. Now I have to deal with this arbitrary segregation, just because some corporation decided it would help their bottom line.
This is exactly the kind of practice rms warned us about decades ago, and there is nothing any individual can do about it.
If Skype didn't suck so much it could be the cross platform standard.
Apple tries very hard to convince its users that its practices are not the problem, but those who choose not to use Apple products. Anything that doesn't come preinstalled is seen as an unnecessary inconvenience by most iPhone users.
WhatsApp doesn't seem to have this issue, for instance.
Unfortunately, many iOS users do, and Apple cultivates that attitude as its culture.
I've never downloaded WhatsApp, mainly because I don't know anyone who's on it. That's a bigger barrier than anything being preinstalled.
I had apple products as well as others, I chose the rest of the family anyways :p
I haven't encountered a bricked phone via an updated iOS, but I have had android folks who weren't running flagships try to get the latest OS, and brick their phones.
Lastly, when I do have an issue, the apple customer service has just been too good to me over the years. My friend dropped my phone recently, and unluckily for me, it landed on a metal rail, damaging the sleep button. But Apple replaced the phone for free. As well as a wireless keyboard my coworker had me bring in. I had no receipt for that one, but it took too long for them to locate a buyable replacement of that particular model, so the CSR just gave me a newer model, for free. YMMV of course, but they seem empowered to do far more than typical companies.
But this is all pointless; we can go round and round with anecdotes all day.
I've never dealt with an apple support person, all my interaction has been through my companies tech staff who are competent.
Specific to apple hardware, it just seems better than the average windows/linux/android hardware, but you pay for it and can often find equivalently good hardware for a similar or less premium.
at the end of the day, use what your family IT guy will support for free, and if you're an IT guy, use what you like.
My parents both ditched their iPhones before the plus came out due to size and eye sight. They haven't gone back to an iPhone plus.
Video Conference: Best in class I would say is Google Duo. It is dead simple and works across all devices.
Apple's weakness: Siri. Now as an adult I don't use voice commands much but both my two youngest 11 and 7 and their friends use voice commands all day long (On my computer and Google Home). I see this being a big issue if they don't fix this in about 3 or 4 years. We see a big upswing in voice commands and Google's recognition has a 95% recognition rate is about on par with humans ability to carry a conversation. http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
And Duo? I'm a tech person and I can't keep all of the Google communication options straight. iMessage and FaceTime are dead simple and work.
Finally, if your daughter is having that many issues take it into an Apple store. I know there are anecdotes of bad service at Apple stores, but by and large the service they provide is great.
Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house?
Buying bluetooth headphones doesn't mitigate this in any sense.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/analog-last-defense-ag...
I regret finally "jumping ship" and getting an Iphone 8 plus soley because of this. I am experiencing the exact same thing with the f___king stupid MBP and needing to carry a dongle on me at all times in order to present. It's absolutely infuriating.
After holding off for so long (Iphone 8 plus was my first iphone), and having androids since Samsung Galaxy S3, my recent phone was a Note and I really don't get what I was missing out on. I really miss my swype keyboard, the apple keyboard is an absolute pain, and it's "AI" autocorrect is worthless. Siri is worthless. Facetime was the only appeal and even that has been minimized now.
With the direction they went with the IPhone X screen real estate, this will without a doubt be my first and last IPhone I ever buy.
I carry one of these on me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MJMV0GU/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?ps... when I travel to a summer vacation home.
Never have an issue.
2. Bluetooth is pure crap, the UX for connecting and managing temporary devices is absolutely insane on all devices. This is something you do on your own car but is a major hassle to setup for temporary occasions. And hardly something that is done on a whim just to demo something. It is just that bad.
And this is even before considering compatibility issues and security issues, of which there are plentiful. And cars also have this habit of trying to harvest all your contacts etc. (Wonder how many contacts are floating around in rental cars... sigh)
cable > connect > go. Every time without fail
More stereos and cars don't have BT than do (significantly many more in my experience). Bluetooth pairing is a faf compared to just plugging in a jack, and many devices still only remember pairing with two devices or just one so your friend may have to repair when you are done. Double adaptors (I still see people sharing a single audio source on headphones that way) are a thing with simple audio jack that there isn't a BT solution for (at least when I've tried phones won't play down two BT audio sinks at the same time).
I've used the audio jack on my phones only a couple of times in the last year or so as I do use BT for general headphone use, but that is a couple of times more than zero and in all those cases BT would not have been an option.
Of course the obvious answer is: if you want a jack and Apple doesn't provide one on their devices then switch allegiance - but a lot of people feel tied to Apple for other reasons (lock in through apps they'd have to repurchase on Android, lock-in through add-on device compatibility, or just the extra usability that comes from personal or group familiarity) and would like to stay without losing that feature.
Another option is bluetooth receivers, which can be bought quite cheaply these days: pair one of those with your iDevice and plug other devices into that when needed. That is an extra device (a very small one, but still an extra) to carry around and remember to keep charged and I doubt it will happen much because people won't even carry charging adaptors around with them (the amount of times I've have the look that suggests it is my fault that someone can't borrow my portable battery because their device doesn't follow the same standard as everything else and they didn't bring an adaptor!)
Those who were around during the days of early 'home computers' - think Commodore bread boxes, Sinclair door stops etc - might remember the evolution from those devices which generally lived in a jungle of cords emenating from their sides and backs, connecting them to power supplies and peripherals to the more streamlined versions which came later - Commodore 128D, Amstrad all-in-ones, various species of MSX and yes, the original Apple Macintosh - which had most of the essentials built-in. Having one of those on your desk really separated you from the plebs who still lived in the jungle.
Apple seems to have forgotten that part of its heritage.
That is OK much of the time, but a faf is you want use your iDevice for music while working for some hours or while mobile for long enough that you might normally plug in a portable battery.
Unless they've started including the two function adaptor as standard but that will irritate people who don't want the extra bulk...
If you are someone who charges your phone while listening to music on a regular basis, then I can see the lack of headphone jack being an issue.
The real solution for that problem, in my opinion, is to just put two USB C or two lightning ports on the phone. They have much more usage than a 3.5mm port. Two places to charge from, charge and have external storage attached, etc.
But I cannot plug my headphones AND charge my phone.
If Apple was using USB C like they should be, then you could just plug them straight into that port.
Plugging in a cable is often a lot simpler, and it works every time.
Going on a plane? Probably bring an adapter. Like to listen to music in your car? Keep an adapter in your car. Listen to music at work? Keep an adapter at work.
So, I should have travel, car & work adapters instead of a working, non-proprietary, universal standard?
Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement.
Bluetooth sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. It tends to lag. It’s just … not that great.
You can blame Apple for using lightning if you have problems with non universal, non proprietary standards. USB C is both universal and non proprietary. It's even capable of sending analog audio exactly like the 3.5mm port does so you don't need an adapter with a DAC in it, just a USB C -> whatever you want to plug your phone into cable.
That said, most phones (including my Pixel 2) don't support that feature and require an external DAC in the adapter. I only bring it up because many people don't seem to realize that USB C is capable of doing anything the 3.5mm port can do.
>Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement.
The PS/2 ports worked for your mouse and keyboard. They did have some issues but I would be okay with saying that they worked really well. They didn't need to be replaced with USB. They were replaced with USB anyways. That's the whole point of USB. It's universal. As long as USB is capable of transmitting audio then there is no reason to keep the 3.5mm port around. It's redundant.
I understand it may is a non issue for some people, for others however it is not even a real option.
> Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house?
Bluetooth speakers are pretty much ubiquitous nowadays. I don't think I've seen an aux cord in 2 years.
Why should a tech company design for old tech? Do you also dislike monitors that don't have VGA just in case? I'm not saying there are scenarios where that would be an issue. But I think you overestimate the issues and most people really don't care.
> Why should a tech company design for old tech?
a) Apple isn't a tech company, it's a style / aspiration company that sells some bits and bobs that occasionally are high-tech, and b) 3.5mm headphone jacks have been around since the 1950's -- so presumably this was 'old tech' when Apple first came up with the iPod ... and yet ... and yet, they still put this 'old tech' into every device since then, up until the last iteration of their mobile phone. 'Old tech' is a canard.
Exactly, sometimes I think people forget not everyone owns the latest and greatest of each and every product category.
For example, I finally gave in and bought a Pixel 2, but I've also held onto my '03 Jetta and still use a cassette adapter to play music. I'm used to shuffling cassette adapters between vehicles, so I speak from experience when I say that buying extra adapters or always having one on hand is too much of a hassle and I'll end up stuck with just the radio on occasion.
Even if I were to get a new car with bluetooth, I'd still be hosed in: my SO's car ('06 Rav4), my parents' cars ('99 Wrangler and '02 A6), my best friend's car (Saturn Ion), and my sister's car (older Impreza). In fact, the only car I'm ever in that has bluetooth is my brother-in-law's Mazda. Even solely looking at playing music in the car, I'd still need an adapter the overwhelming majority of the time. Now maybe my circle hangs onto cars longer than average, but I don't think it's too far off the norm.
Press pause
Wait 5 seconds
Press pause again, only the original pause has now registered finally, and turned back into a play button, so the audio is playing again.
Turn on NPR instead.
Also, anecdotally, I drive a Chevy from 2012 with no bluetooth for anything but answering calls. Cars without bluetooth are still very common.
There is a guy who was able to fit a 3.5mm jack in his iPhone X. They just chose not to do it. It's not like having a 3.5mm jack excludes you from also having Bluetooth technology. We've had both in phones for years. Apple just wanted to sell more air pods. I'm not hating on Apple, they're a business, but to act like Bluetooth is a strict upgrade is just blatantly wrong and I will continue to use my AUX jack.
I also wonder if anyone considered sending the media over another protocol. There's BT, NFC, IR, MMS, OTA, Wifi, sharing sites, etc. And if the DJ had 1/4", XLR, USB, HDMI, optical, SPDIF, or RCA, then they'd still have needed adapters, splitters, or converters.
None of my audio equipment has 1/8" inputs, so I'm about as sympathetic to the universal argument as I was when cars stopped having CD-audio players and roughly as optimistic in our ability to get over this as a people.
I have no desire to keep one on me at all times on the off chance that I will need it.
I just stop listening to music or using the device for that use case.
Basically dropping the functionality of the phone significantly, unless I’m home or near my tech storage locker.
This is assanine design.
Yep, sounds like an Apple product.
I've got two headphones (good sound or active noise cancellation) that I use and every single day I have to keep extra track of the adapter to make sure that I didn't leave it with the other pair - that's even if I don't use it. I mostly use it for long calls but that's typically just once a week.
But even that doesn't save you from times where you don't bring any headphones but still want to listen in your car or any other scenario. Has happened multiple times to me already despite all that hassle.
Also, a big use case is to listen to music while charging your phone at work etc. With an adapter that isn't possible.
I need to literally spend $50 to be seriously inconvenienced because the manufacturer wanted to save $0.2 ?
Also, no. We still have some to wait before anyone produces a $700 phone worth the money.
I don’t need the irritation of managing extra jacks for an obvious attempt to force me to give up a standard configuration.
No thanks.
It’s a massive pain.
And then, when you want to plug them into an (even Apple) laptop, you detach the adaptor and forget to bring it with you.
Technically it draws power but it's not going to use more power than an internal headphone jack does. They are both just a DAC and a small headphone amp. The only difference is that one is inside the device and one is outside the device.
In a few years, once the idea of having a device without a USB C port seems strange, headphones and AUX cables will probably just come with a DAC/amp built in to them and nobody except audio enthusiasts will care about not having a 3.5mm port on their device. That is, if Apple decides to embrace USB C on iOS devices which I think they will.
We won't have apple compatible cables, android compatible cables etc.? We won't have situations where that popular brand of "cables" doesn't work on new Samsungs/xxx?
Let's pretend that will be the case this time around?
Honestly I think audio enthusiasts are the only users for which that isn't the most absurd idea ever. Audio enthusiasts could use a decent DAC and for the first time combine regular hardware (wide selection of phones) and still get decent output. For everyone else though a headphone jack would be several orders of magnitudes better and cheaper. And guess what, it just works. I know people have done their darndest to make the microphone over 3.5mm experience as miserable as possible but despite that we still have/had a universal way to transmit stereo audio.
There are no decent alternatives even on the horizon. There haven't been brought up a single argument for the removal of it other than it isn't so bad to spend 10% of the device on adapters that you always need to carry. Seriously?
Obviously, until Apple switches to USB C, we will have separate USB C and lightning cables. That's inconvenient.
The argument for removal is that it's redundant. The USB or lightning port can transmit audio, so remove the 3.5mm and suddenly you have more space inside the phone to put stuff and it's probably slightly cheaper/easier to water proof.
edit: I feel compelled to mention that 3.5mm has issues as well. Cheap 3.5mm cables are often slightly too large or slightly too small which cause contact issues and wear on the port over time. Dirt/fuzz get pushed down into the port sometimes. Scratches or dirt can make the connection bad and cause noise when moving the plug. For a while we didn't have a standard TRRS configuration but I think we figured that one out now, for the most part. You can actually buy a 3.5mm TS cable which is missing a channel on the normal TRS or TRRS and therefore will not work, while looking almost identical to the correct cable.
That is it? That just can not be the reason. Even if that were true it doesn't make the slightest sense to force this change overnight. Most phones doesn't even have USB-C.
My phone upgrade is now always going to be an iPhone 6 Or I move to Android.
But even that doesn't matter now when the Pixel 2 (etc.) has been released without even an internal DAC. People buy these overpriced passive adapters but they obviously won't work, so people leave 1-star reviews and have to return the cables.
This is a fuckup of epic proportions.
A USB-C to 3.5mm with a DAC inside can be used in any USB C port. A passive adapter will only work in some USB C ports. I don't expect USB C ports on laptops will ever have a DAC behind them.
Obviously you'd use the 3.5mm jack on your laptop.
Boom. Solved.
This argument would be like me saying I don't know why people would want a car. I don't have one, and I walk or cycle or use public transport so don't use the one I don't have.
For example, he never used to send texts to my home phone number. Now half of them are, though I seem to have got him to switch to email.
He still can only send me pictures from his phone about 1 out of 4 times now.
Just to offer a counterpoint: my mother never used a computer and is non-technical, but she manages great with her iPad (she does chat, Facetime, and web browsing). She had a couple of hand down Android phones (IIRC, Moto E, Moto G, and later a Samsung Galaxy Note 4). The Android phones were very confusing to her and she had difficulty contacting anyone while on the go. She recently got an iPhone and she manages without trouble.
The problem is that there are a so many factors: prior experience (my mom used an iPad before), extremely small sample sizes, biases (if you are an iOS fan you like to believe that iDevices work better for your loved ones), etc.
There are only some aspects that we can objectively evaluate (iDevices get security updates for longer periods, iDevices typicaly get more frequent updates). When it comes to usability, you can only get meaningful information from large samples.
This is true of practically every comment on this site!
Remember when Windows 8 came out and people were asking for the start menu?
> Cognitively, he's the same, so it's not that.
When did he learn android? It's much harder for older people to learn new things especially when they're used to something else.
He's 3,000 miles away and doing support for him over the phone doesn't really work. So, I've sort of stopped trying. My step sister is smart, so I'm guessing he does it for her now. Of course, when I'm visiting, he unloads a bunch of questions on me and I try to explain the best I can. He suffers from what a lot of non-techs suffer from: they want the fish, not for you to tell them how to fish. I've tried to explain this to him and my SO, but I get that "why are you being an asshole?" look, even though I make the offer in the nicest possible way.
IMO a good ui concept doesn't need explanation. However many people never know because they never used one.
Overall, that being her first 'smart phone' (she used to have a blackberry), she's made quite the transition, seamlessly. She doesn't have any problems and was even able to get CarPlay working with just a short phone call walking her through the first plug-in process.
We FaceTime, she's been using emoji's, group messages just fine (she used to not realize if she was sending a group response/personal, etc), sharing pictures (live photos), etc. My point is, she's not very 'technical' - but the iPhone seemed to ease her into 'tech' smoothy. Now that's not saying an Android couldn't also have done the same - just one anecdotal point where the iPhone was successful in a technology-based transition.
It sounds cold, but now I actually get to enjoy time with family instead of being bombarded with technical questions. They're also less frustrated with their devices.
These days, it's about using Google Drive (who really owns a shared file?)
2. Granted, updates are an issue. Not with very popular and/or Google-supported phones, like the pixel.
3. Why so? How do you know fb doesn't spy on your sms?
4. Do they? Or do they stop working because updates cripple older phones' performance and battery to make you buy new ones?
5. Pure marketing nonsense.
I've uninstalled all third-party apps, cleared cache, and that fixed the issues for about a week, then they all came back. Only thing I didn't do is reflash back to factory defaults. Bought a Pixel 2 to replace it, and am wondering how long it will last.
BTW, this has also been the same experience with several family members, mostly with Samsung android phones -- they work great for a couple years, then start slowing down.
2: Updates are an issue, even with popular phones.
3. The Facebook app on IOS can NOT read my sms on IOS. Yes it can and does on Android.
4: Age, I know since I have to thow them away myself. Apple may make the devices slow down (personaly not observed it, but I use no "benchmarks" just since the only thing I care about is my personal impression.
5: It is annecdotal, but it is how my family experiences it. On a daily basis.
Would be curious to hear what kind of data loss you have seen though?
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2018/04/confirmed-deleted-w...
BTW: WeChat shows the future of all (not limited to chat) apps. The governmental control included I am afraid, but man is it future rich!
Personally I only use it on a dedicated phone to maintain specific relations, but it is impressive.
Since buying her an iphone 6 years ago, ZERO issues. NO tech support from me. That alone is worth the price of admission. Same with dropbox, I pay the $99/yr gladly because it means my wife isn't asking me about the baby photos and if they're safe in the flash drive in the desk drawer.
OneDrive looks good, I'll definitely give it a try once my paid year of Dropbox is done.
Not being able to see whats in a backup until you run a restore is also near inexcusable.
Now if only there was a way to painlessly move from one iPhone to the next, we would be exchanging them far more often. Just last week I moved from my faithful 5s to X, used "iMazing 2" app which I got on offer for around $14. (In case someone is wondering why did I purchase an app just for moving stuff. iMazing 2, offers a painless way to do iPhone wifi enabled backups as well.) The move was flawless. Almost all settings got cloned, even the wallpaper.
Disclaimer: Not related to iMazing 2 in any way. Just a user.
You forgot:
6. You now all live in Walled gardens.
You might call that "Freedom" and "not a walled garden", I call that cross access to data a nightmare and am happy that it is a none issue on IOS.
YMMV
(and we never used facetime so 5 is a non issue anyway)
How is that a non issue? Just because one permission on iPhone prevents Facebook from sucking up that particular data point right now hardly makes it a non-issue.
Surely someone in your family is texting an Android user any way. And Facebook is not upset by the lack of info your family is sending them, I'm sure.
Dismissing major privacy concerns as non-issue just because you have an iPhone seems super dangerous to me.
Ideally then you’d limit the amount of SMS messages you send at all, and use a secure messenger like Riot.im.
There is no such thing as 100% security and privacy but we should strive to achieve the best security and privacy that we can.
One random app (Facebook in this example) can NOT access another random app's (sms in this case) data on an iPhone where it can (or could before the very current version) on Android.
YMMV: You might call that "Freedom" and "not a walled garden", I call that cross access to data a nightmare and am happy that it is a none issue on IOS.
But it can. You're just wrong here. The Facebook app running on other nodes in the network does have access to at least part of the data you are suggesting is totally private. That data is duplicated and not only on the phone you have 'control' over. That data is not private. Facebook can and does still get it.
Also, Facebook is not some 'random app', and you know it.
Facebook even has a history of having its own code embedded inside of iOS itself. This is not trusted and not safe and clearly not 'random'. Apple does not randomly include code from other 'random' apps into the core of iOS.
Result:
1. no "technical" issues anymore. As the go to IT guy in the family this alone is worth the supposed premium price one pays for the Apple logo.
2. Everything is updated, at all times.
3. "Facebook logs my sms" are a none issues
4. All devices die of old age (even the devices that have since long not recieved updates "just work")
5. Nothing beats the quality of Facetime (we live all over the globe and use it extensively to celebrate and share together).
I still buy a couple of Androids per year. Cheapish phones for experiments with wardriving, imsi catcher catchers and other fun projects. So I totally get the "Android is outselling iPhones", thing is that we spend x moneys in the iTunes shop, and not a dime in the Google store.
We've also moved out contact data out to google (since gmail is just absolutly the only email one ever needs and having synced contacts is wonderfull) together with the google photo app (since it is free and does a great job while migrating between devices).
Now if only there was a way to painlessly move from one iPhone to the next, we would be exchanging them far more often. But no matter what I've tried: one always looses certain passwords / content / settings from different apps.