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I think people do under-value the ecosystem that Apple has built with their devices. The kind of audio sharing you describe is really nice and is legitimately s

I think people do under-value the ecosystem that Apple has built with their devices. The kind of audio sharing you describe is really nice and is legitimately something Apple built (as far as I know). I think Apple often prices their devices on the high end, but that's fine. That said, I think your description of other bluetooth devices is overly pessimistic. I've had no problems finding bluetooth devices that do basic bluetooth things (connecting, xmitting audio, swapping devices) well. For that reason I basically never recommend Apple products as if they are the only ones to "get it right." Apple is a premium brand. Folks should consider them if they want a premium product, but it's silly to act as if their competition doesn't offer the same basic functionality for much better prices.

donor20 6y ago
Who do you trust (brand wise) to get it right. Does someone get it right? I'm sure, but my guess is if you did brand survey's, people would KNOW that apple gets it pretty right, and most players don't. That's partly because apple ignore HN. I need a modulare phone that I can ugprade the ram on. Apple is ignoring you, they seal their phones up with epoxy so they are pretty darn waterproof. But for normal users, this is a positive. They call out fake third party batteries. OH NO says HN. For normal users, a plus again. They offer BY FAR the longest and most reliable operating system support. First gen ipad pro's STILL have value! My old android tablet has been unsupported since the DAY I bought it. Or built in junkware and adware. If I buy a samsung TV can I be pretty sure it won't datamine my viewing habits? Even top competitors turn out to be basically scammers. Will you guarantee me that samsung won't jam ads onto my TV after I buy it? "Towards the end of 2019, owners have started to voice their dissatisfaction with larger, increasingly obtrusive, and unrelated ads showing up on their Samsung TVs. These include ads for canned beans or discount supermarkets" - this is on $2,500+ frame art TV's etc. It turns out, despite your claims, these other very large companies selling very expensive items are scamming folks to often, it only takes getting burned ONCE by this to just reduce your circle of trust dramatically. Is there a perfect bluetooth device out there? Sure. If I go through the amazon listings will I find that device? I doubt it. If I buy from apple will I get it? I think so. The price of these headphones is ridiculous, I don't defend that. If they are able to sell them at this price I'll be a bit surprised. But overall, they have built user trust up pretty high.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  That's a... very specific perspective. > They call out fake third party batteries. OH NO says HN. For normal users, a plus again. They make it impossible to replace any component even if the user knows exactly what they're doing. Not, "warning: non-certified component added", but "haha, you thought you could use 3rd party parts? enjoy your brick" > They offer BY FAR the longest and most reliable operating system support. First gen ipad pro's STILL have value! My old android tablet has been unsupported since the DAY I bought it. Right, which is why we keep hearing from people who move their macbooks to Linux after Apple drops support. And why Apple technically supports phones forever while releasing OS updates that tank performance. > Or built in junkware and adware. If I buy a samsung TV can I be pretty sure it won't datamine my viewing habits? Even top competitors turn out to be basically scammers. Will you guarantee me that samsung won't jam ads onto my TV after I buy it? I don't own any such device to test, but I notice that https://www.imore.com/how-change-privacy-settings-apple-tv https://www.imore.com/how-change-privacy-settings-apple-tv talks about a "Limit Ad Tracking" option on Apple TV.
  - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
    Right to repair is a real issue that needs to be dealt with but if we consider some other points, when you do an unofficial screen or battery replacement, where does that screen actually come from? I'm not aware of any companies manufacturing brand new iphone displays. So my only thought is they must be mostly from stolen phones and for batteries, also stolen and second hand batteries. When I have done my own battery replacements on android phones I have found that half the time the battery I got off ebay is already stuffed probably because it was in someones phone for 2 years already. We need to consider how much use letting users replace their own screens is compared to how much use having users not get their phone stolen is. Perhaps there could be a system where the part ids are tied to an apple id and the original id has to authorize a transfer but then all the displays on ebay would still not work because they are stolen.
- SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
  Agree with basically all of this. People put on their rose tinted glasses when thinking about products they own and ignore the issues. I have completely had it with Samsung consumer level devices. Every single one I have had has come with bloatware, discontinued support after a short time and seems to slow down real bad after a few years. The last samsung product I own is a TV which was perfectly fine on day one but now its so slow I find it hard to change channel or volume and turning it on shows a shitload of HUD bloatware about random streaming services. And when you point out any of these issues people go "Oh its not a problem you just open the registery editor" or "you pop the back of your tv open and unplug the antenna and then flash this file on to the spi chip"
arkh 6y ago
> if they want a premium product And don't care if all their other products have to be from Apple. You don't buy "one" Apple product which "just works". You have to buy everything from the ecosystem. Lately I was checking for some good wireless earplugs. The airpods seem to be the best. But only if you're using an iPhone.
- filoleg 6y ago
  >You don't buy "one" Apple product which "just works". >You have to buy everything from the ecosystem. Agreed with the first, heavily disagreed with the second. People often end up buying into the Apple ecosystem after just one product, but not because they have to, but because they feel compelled to. That was me with original airpods. They worked superbly with android, no complaints whatsoever. So I was like "huh, let me check out their other newer product offerings, it's been quite a while". Eventually, i ended up buying heavily into the ecosystem, and couldn't be happier (sidenote: shared clipboard between your phone and laptop/desktop is amazing). In fact, I think the timing and everything about original airpods was a stroke of genius. I single-handedly know quite a few people who couldn't care less about Apple ecosystem at all and owned zero Apple devices, but they eventually gave in to try airpods, bought them, and a few years down the road ended up buying an iPhone or a Mac. Some of them were even very staunch pro-android people.
  - yorwba 6y ago
    > sidenote: shared clipboard between your phone and laptop/desktop is amazing KDE Connect: free, open source and, despite the name, works even if you're not using KDE.
- bun_at_work 6y ago
  I didn't have an iPhone when I first bought AirPods. They are the best for working out at the gym, so I went for them, after trying some alternatives. The phone I used them with first was the Pixel 2. They worked perfectly fine. The only heartburn I had was once I had paired them with my Macbook, the bluetooth connection would prefer the Macbook over the phone, which was sometimes annoying. Others might be upset at the lack of support for the Google Assistant, but for actually using the headphones, there was nothing better, even on Android.
dlivingston 6y ago
A bit off topic, but I’ve always considered Apple the Disney of tech. What they put out is consistently good, and sometimes even great. While other studios might put out a better movie from time to time than Disney, their batting average is consistently higher than everyone else. The same with Apple. With few exceptions, I can walk into an Apple store and buy an arbitrary product and be assured that it’s, at the minimum, good. Contrast with someone like Samsung who has great products but also really bad products. I can’t pull a random Samsung out of a hat and be convinced that I’ll like it.

donor20 6y ago

Who do you trust (brand wise) to get it right. Does someone get it right? I'm sure, but my guess is if you did brand survey's, people would KNOW that apple gets it pretty right, and most players don't. That's partly because apple ignore HN. I need a modulare phone that I can ugprade the ram on. Apple is ignoring you, they seal their phones up with epoxy so they are pretty darn waterproof. But for normal users, this is a positive. They call out fake third party batteries. OH NO says HN. For normal users, a plus again. They offer BY FAR the longest and most reliable operating system support. First gen ipad pro's STILL have value! My old android tablet has been unsupported since the DAY I bought it. Or built in junkware and adware. If I buy a samsung TV can I be pretty sure it won't datamine my viewing habits? Even top competitors turn out to be basically scammers. Will you guarantee me that samsung won't jam ads onto my TV after I buy it? "Towards the end of 2019, owners have started to voice their dissatisfaction with larger, increasingly obtrusive, and unrelated ads showing up on their Samsung TVs. These include ads for canned beans or discount supermarkets" - this is on $2,500+ frame art TV's etc. It turns out, despite your claims, these other very large companies selling very expensive items are scamming folks to often, it only takes getting burned ONCE by this to just reduce your circle of trust dramatically. Is there a perfect bluetooth device out there? Sure. If I go through the amazon listings will I find that device? I doubt it. If I buy from apple will I get it? I think so. The price of these headphones is ridiculous, I don't defend that. If they are able to sell them at this price I'll be a bit surprised. But overall, they have built user trust up pretty high.

yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
That's a... very specific perspective. > They call out fake third party batteries. OH NO says HN. For normal users, a plus again. They make it impossible to replace any component even if the user knows exactly what they're doing. Not, "warning: non-certified component added", but "haha, you thought you could use 3rd party parts? enjoy your brick" > They offer BY FAR the longest and most reliable operating system support. First gen ipad pro's STILL have value! My old android tablet has been unsupported since the DAY I bought it. Right, which is why we keep hearing from people who move their macbooks to Linux after Apple drops support. And why Apple technically supports phones forever while releasing OS updates that tank performance. > Or built in junkware and adware. If I buy a samsung TV can I be pretty sure it won't datamine my viewing habits? Even top competitors turn out to be basically scammers. Will you guarantee me that samsung won't jam ads onto my TV after I buy it? I don't own any such device to test, but I notice that https://www.imore.com/how-change-privacy-settings-apple-tv https://www.imore.com/how-change-privacy-settings-apple-tv talks about a "Limit Ad Tracking" option on Apple TV.
- SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
  Right to repair is a real issue that needs to be dealt with but if we consider some other points, when you do an unofficial screen or battery replacement, where does that screen actually come from? I'm not aware of any companies manufacturing brand new iphone displays. So my only thought is they must be mostly from stolen phones and for batteries, also stolen and second hand batteries. When I have done my own battery replacements on android phones I have found that half the time the battery I got off ebay is already stuffed probably because it was in someones phone for 2 years already. We need to consider how much use letting users replace their own screens is compared to how much use having users not get their phone stolen is. Perhaps there could be a system where the part ids are tied to an apple id and the original id has to authorize a transfer but then all the displays on ebay would still not work because they are stolen.
SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
Agree with basically all of this. People put on their rose tinted glasses when thinking about products they own and ignore the issues. I have completely had it with Samsung consumer level devices. Every single one I have had has come with bloatware, discontinued support after a short time and seems to slow down real bad after a few years. The last samsung product I own is a TV which was perfectly fine on day one but now its so slow I find it hard to change channel or volume and turning it on shows a shitload of HUD bloatware about random streaming services. And when you point out any of these issues people go "Oh its not a problem you just open the registery editor" or "you pop the back of your tv open and unplug the antenna and then flash this file on to the spi chip"

arkh 6y ago

> if they want a premium product And don't care if all their other products have to be from Apple. You don't buy "one" Apple product which "just works". You have to buy everything from the ecosystem. Lately I was checking for some good wireless earplugs. The airpods seem to be the best. But only if you're using an iPhone.

filoleg 6y ago
>You don't buy "one" Apple product which "just works". >You have to buy everything from the ecosystem. Agreed with the first, heavily disagreed with the second. People often end up buying into the Apple ecosystem after just one product, but not because they have to, but because they feel compelled to. That was me with original airpods. They worked superbly with android, no complaints whatsoever. So I was like "huh, let me check out their other newer product offerings, it's been quite a while". Eventually, i ended up buying heavily into the ecosystem, and couldn't be happier (sidenote: shared clipboard between your phone and laptop/desktop is amazing). In fact, I think the timing and everything about original airpods was a stroke of genius. I single-handedly know quite a few people who couldn't care less about Apple ecosystem at all and owned zero Apple devices, but they eventually gave in to try airpods, bought them, and a few years down the road ended up buying an iPhone or a Mac. Some of them were even very staunch pro-android people.
- yorwba 6y ago
  > sidenote: shared clipboard between your phone and laptop/desktop is amazing KDE Connect: free, open source and, despite the name, works even if you're not using KDE.
bun_at_work 6y ago
I didn't have an iPhone when I first bought AirPods. They are the best for working out at the gym, so I went for them, after trying some alternatives. The phone I used them with first was the Pixel 2. They worked perfectly fine. The only heartburn I had was once I had paired them with my Macbook, the bluetooth connection would prefer the Macbook over the phone, which was sometimes annoying. Others might be upset at the lack of support for the Google Assistant, but for actually using the headphones, there was nothing better, even on Android.

dlivingston 6y ago

A bit off topic, but I’ve always considered Apple the Disney of tech. What they put out is consistently good, and sometimes even great. While other studios might put out a better movie from time to time than Disney, their batting average is consistently higher than everyone else. The same with Apple. With few exceptions, I can walk into an Apple store and buy an arbitrary product and be assured that it’s, at the minimum, good. Contrast with someone like Samsung who has great products but also really bad products. I can’t pull a random Samsung out of a hat and be convinced that I’ll like it.