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I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" jokes. I've been an Android user for about a decade now, but I think I'm finally going to have to throw in the towel. Between iMessage (especially iMessage) and things like this, in the US having an Android essentially marks you as a second class citizen. And to be clear, I'm not saying this from an "Androids are uncool" or some silly "green bubbles" perspective, I'm saying from the perspective that owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends and, in this case, with government services. No, I'm not happy about it, and I f'ing hate how Apple has used these walled garden techniques to force people onto their platform. But from a simple utilitarian perspective, owning an Android puts you at a distinct disadvantage in the US.

seanw444 4y ago
I have zero issues with running an Android, and I honestly see iPhones as being disadvantaged, personally. There's not a single thing I can't do on an Android that I could on an iPhone.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  Then you have never tried to join a group chat where the other members of the group all have iPhones and use iMessage.
  - chaosbutters314 4y ago
    all the group chats im in use signal
    - hot_gril 4y ago
      Then you're probably missing out on some group chats others are in.
      - j-bos 4y ago
        Isn't this always the case in life? There are people having fun without you.
        hot_gril 4y ago
        Yeah, but it's because I don't know them, not because I'll only use a particular chat app.
  - kingrazor 4y ago
    I actively avoid group chats in general, but most everyone I know uses SMS for group chats.
    - Jcowell 4y ago
      I can tell you right now, if they’re iphone users they probably hate it. Go on. Ask them.
  - seanw444 4y ago
    No, the people I care to talk to all use Telegram, or have been willing to join my XMPP instance.
jasonfarnon 4y ago
"owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends" I'd get new friends before switching to an apple product. Actually if my friends switched to apple products, I might get new friends.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  Your attitude exactly highlights why I'm considering switching. I'm pissed at Apple, but it's not like I have any particularly affinity to Google. In the end, life is short. So I can stomp my feet and say "this sucks" and live alone in my basement (yes, I'm exaggerating), or, if I go on vacation with a group of friends and I want to share in their experiences, photos, etc., then I can get an iPhone.
  - jasonfarnon 4y ago
    I guess I'm misunderstanding how Apple prevents you from sharing in their experiences. Did Apple create a walled garden around experiences, which I wouldn't put past them? This is an honest question. I heard something in a stand-up bit, from which I gathered sms from non-Apple users are flagged a certain way in Apple users' conversations. Is there something else?
    - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
      In the US, the vast, vast majority of iPhone users use iMessage for chatting. When you are in a group chat on iMessage, and you are the only Android user: 1. Video sharing is essentially unusable. Forget "potato quality", basically the videos are essentially unviewable. And this goes not just to videos that are sent to you, it's also videos you send to the group. Sharing videos in a group chat is not an uncommon activity when you're on vacation, for example. 2. In iMessage, using emoji responses is a big part of the social interaction in group chats, e.g. someone posts a photo and other people post responses. You basically can't post emoji reactions in iMessage group chats if you're on Android. 3. Messages you send randomly get dropped. "Hey, hn_throwaway_99, can you send us that group picture you took?". Me: "Sure thing". An hour later: "Why didn't you send the photo like we asked?". Me: "I did, but apparently half the group never got it." Then, basically, everyone gets annoyed if you're the "Android man out", because everything works perfectly if everyone is on an iPhone. And, in the US, if you belong to certain social groups in particular socioeconomic classes, you will be the odd one out if you don't have an iPhone.
hn_throwawa_100 4y ago
As a US Android user, I don't feel very disadvantaged. I have an iPad, an M1 Mac, and a couple Airtags. If I lose something I probably won't be able to locate it until I get back home. I haven't had much trouble with getting group messages on android but maybe my use-case isn't representative. I think the Android perks still outweigh the cost. Not that any of this isn't possible on iPhone but it's a smoother Android experience: Google Fi for phone plans when traveling internationally, some open-source apps aren't available in Apple's app store, and some apps in both stores are more expensive for iPhone (e.g. Anki). I feel like iCloud has some bad incentives as well. I think that's why live photos is a pain to turn off (I also like Google Photos).
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  By far the biggest barrier is group chats with others who are on iphone. Not only is the experience pretty broken for you, it essentially ends up breaking the experience for everyone else. This AirTags example just highlights that to a large portion of the US populace, Android is essentially a joke.
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    But you can use any of a wide variety of actually useful messenger applications with no platform limitations… Line, Telegram, Signal, Whatsapp, Messenger. Why do these people insist on iMessage?
    - shigawire 4y ago
      Because it is the default.
      - Aeolun 4y ago
        Yeah, but you’d think they could be bothered to switch so that all their friends can participate equally. Especially considering the burdensome cost of absolutely free.
Gigachad 4y ago
What do you want him to tell you? AirTags do not work with Android. Is that much better than cracking a joke? He is giving some general advice that is useful to most people. Should he refrain from giving some helpful advice unless it works universally for everyone?
hot_gril 4y ago
I use an iPhone and have never felt like using Android would exclude me from anything socially. Nothing from the govt requires an iPhone, and plenty of my friends use Android. The NYC mayor was just doing a PSA. What would exclude me is refusing to go on FB Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram, etc. And it'd seem inconsistent to use those while rejecting the iPhone on principle.
kingrazor 4y ago
I've genuinely never gotten any flack about the whole imessage vs sms thing, but I've also thrown in the towel for one particular reason: OS updates. Most Android manufacturers only give you 2 major versions, maybe 3 in the best case. With Samsung being the only one I know of giving you 4. iPhone supports major OS version updates for a lot longer than most any android phone.
- kingrazor 4y ago
  I see this got downvoted but no one offered any counter argument?
gnopgnip 4y ago
Apple has an airtag locating app for android, called tracker detect.
jollyllama 4y ago
Why is it socially acceptable for those with cheap phones to be laughed at but not for those with cheap cars (the easily stolen Hyundais and Kias) to be laughed at?

seanw444 4y ago

I have zero issues with running an Android, and I honestly see iPhones as being disadvantaged, personally. There's not a single thing I can't do on an Android that I could on an iPhone.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
Then you have never tried to join a group chat where the other members of the group all have iPhones and use iMessage.
- chaosbutters314 4y ago
  all the group chats im in use signal
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    Then you're probably missing out on some group chats others are in.
    - j-bos 4y ago
      Isn't this always the case in life? There are people having fun without you.
      - hot_gril 4y ago
        Yeah, but it's because I don't know them, not because I'll only use a particular chat app.
- kingrazor 4y ago
  I actively avoid group chats in general, but most everyone I know uses SMS for group chats.
  - Jcowell 4y ago
    I can tell you right now, if they’re iphone users they probably hate it. Go on. Ask them.
- seanw444 4y ago
  No, the people I care to talk to all use Telegram, or have been willing to join my XMPP instance.

jasonfarnon 4y ago

"owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends" I'd get new friends before switching to an apple product. Actually if my friends switched to apple products, I might get new friends.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
Your attitude exactly highlights why I'm considering switching. I'm pissed at Apple, but it's not like I have any particularly affinity to Google. In the end, life is short. So I can stomp my feet and say "this sucks" and live alone in my basement (yes, I'm exaggerating), or, if I go on vacation with a group of friends and I want to share in their experiences, photos, etc., then I can get an iPhone.
- jasonfarnon 4y ago
  I guess I'm misunderstanding how Apple prevents you from sharing in their experiences. Did Apple create a walled garden around experiences, which I wouldn't put past them? This is an honest question. I heard something in a stand-up bit, from which I gathered sms from non-Apple users are flagged a certain way in Apple users' conversations. Is there something else?
  - hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
    In the US, the vast, vast majority of iPhone users use iMessage for chatting. When you are in a group chat on iMessage, and you are the only Android user: 1. Video sharing is essentially unusable. Forget "potato quality", basically the videos are essentially unviewable. And this goes not just to videos that are sent to you, it's also videos you send to the group. Sharing videos in a group chat is not an uncommon activity when you're on vacation, for example. 2. In iMessage, using emoji responses is a big part of the social interaction in group chats, e.g. someone posts a photo and other people post responses. You basically can't post emoji reactions in iMessage group chats if you're on Android. 3. Messages you send randomly get dropped. "Hey, hn_throwaway_99, can you send us that group picture you took?". Me: "Sure thing". An hour later: "Why didn't you send the photo like we asked?". Me: "I did, but apparently half the group never got it." Then, basically, everyone gets annoyed if you're the "Android man out", because everything works perfectly if everyone is on an iPhone. And, in the US, if you belong to certain social groups in particular socioeconomic classes, you will be the odd one out if you don't have an iPhone.

hn_throwawa_100 4y ago

As a US Android user, I don't feel very disadvantaged. I have an iPad, an M1 Mac, and a couple Airtags. If I lose something I probably won't be able to locate it until I get back home. I haven't had much trouble with getting group messages on android but maybe my use-case isn't representative. I think the Android perks still outweigh the cost. Not that any of this isn't possible on iPhone but it's a smoother Android experience: Google Fi for phone plans when traveling internationally, some open-source apps aren't available in Apple's app store, and some apps in both stores are more expensive for iPhone (e.g. Anki). I feel like iCloud has some bad incentives as well. I think that's why live photos is a pain to turn off (I also like Google Photos).

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
By far the biggest barrier is group chats with others who are on iphone. Not only is the experience pretty broken for you, it essentially ends up breaking the experience for everyone else. This AirTags example just highlights that to a large portion of the US populace, Android is essentially a joke.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  But you can use any of a wide variety of actually useful messenger applications with no platform limitations… Line, Telegram, Signal, Whatsapp, Messenger. Why do these people insist on iMessage?
  - shigawire 4y ago
    Because it is the default.
    - Aeolun 4y ago
      Yeah, but you’d think they could be bothered to switch so that all their friends can participate equally. Especially considering the burdensome cost of absolutely free.

Gigachad 4y ago

What do you want him to tell you? AirTags do not work with Android. Is that much better than cracking a joke? He is giving some general advice that is useful to most people. Should he refrain from giving some helpful advice unless it works universally for everyone?

hot_gril 4y ago

I use an iPhone and have never felt like using Android would exclude me from anything socially. Nothing from the govt requires an iPhone, and plenty of my friends use Android. The NYC mayor was just doing a PSA. What would exclude me is refusing to go on FB Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram, etc. And it'd seem inconsistent to use those while rejecting the iPhone on principle.

kingrazor 4y ago

I've genuinely never gotten any flack about the whole imessage vs sms thing, but I've also thrown in the towel for one particular reason: OS updates. Most Android manufacturers only give you 2 major versions, maybe 3 in the best case. With Samsung being the only one I know of giving you 4. iPhone supports major OS version updates for a lot longer than most any android phone.

kingrazor 4y ago
I see this got downvoted but no one offered any counter argument?

gnopgnip 4y ago

Apple has an airtag locating app for android, called tracker detect.

jollyllama 4y ago

Why is it socially acceptable for those with cheap phones to be laughed at but not for those with cheap cars (the easily stolen Hyundais and Kias) to be laughed at?