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Try giving a $50 android phone to your grandma (or your mother, for that matter) and see how many complaints and questions you get. I gave up on giving Android

Try giving a $50 android phone to your grandma (or your mother, for that matter) and see how many complaints and questions you get. I gave up on giving Android devices to my family. They always replaced them with iPhones (used, typically).

rhino369 10y ago
Android isn't really more difficult to use than ios. And not 650 dollars more difficult. This is just a rationalization to buy the more expensive version. If you are poor, an iphone is a shitty use of your money when a Moto G4 exists. Of course, this won't make or break a person, but if it's representative of their cost/benefit analysis in general, their spending could be a huge problem.
- ceejayoz 10y ago
  > Android isn't really more difficult to use than ios. Having supported a variety of non-technical folks both in a business and family capacity, this simply isn't true. Hell, even basic directions depend widely on the manufacturer - the OS may look and act totally different depending on whether it's a Samsung device or not.
  - rhino369 10y ago
    I know a mentally challenged person who uses android just fine. Whatever learning curve there is, it's not worth an extra 650 dollars to a poor person. Maybe it's worth extra money to a businessman who refuses to learn a slightly different UI, but he isn't asking for subsides to afford it. If you apply to the same logic to all of a poor person's decision they'd go broke. Cooking it pretty hard. You need pots and pans and stuff. Better eat McDonalds every meal!
    - ceejayoz 10y ago
      An extra $650? Android phones aren't free, and iPhone SEs are $400 out of pocket.
      - yellowapple 10y ago
        Quite a few Android phones out there might as well be free, especially once they hit the secondhand market. I agree that it's no $650 difference, but it's certainly substantial.
  - vilmosi 10y ago
    All you said is that the OS is different, not that it's more difficult...
    - flukus 10y ago
      I hear this all the time "iOS is easier", yet no one ever provides any concrete examples.
- unabridged 10y ago
  Yeah, but we all know this stuff because we live on the internet. How much tech experience does the average homeless/poor person have when they buy their first phone (ie get their first internet access)?
  - vilmosi 10y ago
    Poor people aren't necessarily stupid. Seriously...
    - stagbeetle 10y ago
      Experience != Intelligence Phones are a luxury, what percentage of the poor demographic do you think can afford a smartphone? Much less, know how to operate something they've never had experience with.
      - vilmosi 10y ago
        What are you talking about?! BILLIONS of people have smartphones. It's not such a new and expensive tech anymore.
        stagbeetle 10y ago
        Stay civil. Around 2 billion people have cellphones (~30% of the population) which is a minority. Although, in the U.S 64% of those in poverty have a smartphone[1]. Maybe you confused my generality for locality. I'm talking in broad strokes, all over the world (not just the developed world). [1] http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/
        vilmosi 10y ago
        Sorry if I came across a bit direct. It's just that your own numbers show that 2/3 poor people own a smartphone, compared to 4/5 in general (in the US). That's not a luxury item by any definition. And you're not including the fact that people might have access to the Internet anyway, even if they don't own a smartphone. Or their friend might have a smartphone... Or they might have a kid who knows about smartphones. Or they see ads for a smartphone. Get it?
stuaxo 10y ago
I've bought quite a few cheap Android phones and they have been uniformly terrible. The last < £50 Android phone I bought as our flats have a doorbell that goes to a phone number. Trying to use the browser or anything in it was a bad experience, it was just way too slow for the OS on it.
- AstralStorm 10y ago
  You can get a real phone instead, say, something like Samsung Galaxy J5, lowish end but strong enough, bit more expensive but not a lot. Especially if you find a used one. That will set you back $150 or so. You can go lower still with J3 and it is also good enough, $90 - in fact better than not that old S5 most of the time. That is without considering carrier subsidies or used market. (So compares to $700 iPhone price.)

rhino369 10y ago

Android isn't really more difficult to use than ios. And not 650 dollars more difficult. This is just a rationalization to buy the more expensive version. If you are poor, an iphone is a shitty use of your money when a Moto G4 exists. Of course, this won't make or break a person, but if it's representative of their cost/benefit analysis in general, their spending could be a huge problem.

ceejayoz 10y ago
> Android isn't really more difficult to use than ios. Having supported a variety of non-technical folks both in a business and family capacity, this simply isn't true. Hell, even basic directions depend widely on the manufacturer - the OS may look and act totally different depending on whether it's a Samsung device or not.
- rhino369 10y ago
  I know a mentally challenged person who uses android just fine. Whatever learning curve there is, it's not worth an extra 650 dollars to a poor person. Maybe it's worth extra money to a businessman who refuses to learn a slightly different UI, but he isn't asking for subsides to afford it. If you apply to the same logic to all of a poor person's decision they'd go broke. Cooking it pretty hard. You need pots and pans and stuff. Better eat McDonalds every meal!
  - ceejayoz 10y ago
    An extra $650? Android phones aren't free, and iPhone SEs are $400 out of pocket.
    - yellowapple 10y ago
      Quite a few Android phones out there might as well be free, especially once they hit the secondhand market. I agree that it's no $650 difference, but it's certainly substantial.
- vilmosi 10y ago
  All you said is that the OS is different, not that it's more difficult...
  - flukus 10y ago
    I hear this all the time "iOS is easier", yet no one ever provides any concrete examples.
unabridged 10y ago
Yeah, but we all know this stuff because we live on the internet. How much tech experience does the average homeless/poor person have when they buy their first phone (ie get their first internet access)?
- vilmosi 10y ago
  Poor people aren't necessarily stupid. Seriously...
  - stagbeetle 10y ago
    Experience != Intelligence Phones are a luxury, what percentage of the poor demographic do you think can afford a smartphone? Much less, know how to operate something they've never had experience with.
    - vilmosi 10y ago
      What are you talking about?! BILLIONS of people have smartphones. It's not such a new and expensive tech anymore.
      - stagbeetle 10y ago
        Stay civil. Around 2 billion people have cellphones (~30% of the population) which is a minority. Although, in the U.S 64% of those in poverty have a smartphone[1]. Maybe you confused my generality for locality. I'm talking in broad strokes, all over the world (not just the developed world). [1] http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/
        vilmosi 10y ago
        Sorry if I came across a bit direct. It's just that your own numbers show that 2/3 poor people own a smartphone, compared to 4/5 in general (in the US). That's not a luxury item by any definition. And you're not including the fact that people might have access to the Internet anyway, even if they don't own a smartphone. Or their friend might have a smartphone... Or they might have a kid who knows about smartphones. Or they see ads for a smartphone. Get it?

stuaxo 10y ago

I've bought quite a few cheap Android phones and they have been uniformly terrible. The last < £50 Android phone I bought as our flats have a doorbell that goes to a phone number. Trying to use the browser or anything in it was a bad experience, it was just way too slow for the OS on it.

AstralStorm 10y ago
You can get a real phone instead, say, something like Samsung Galaxy J5, lowish end but strong enough, bit more expensive but not a lot. Especially if you find a used one. That will set you back $150 or so. You can go lower still with J3 and it is also good enough, $90 - in fact better than not that old S5 most of the time. That is without considering carrier subsidies or used market. (So compares to $700 iPhone price.)