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You don't have to switch to Apple though. It's a bit like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Apple has an even stronger hold on your digital life if you

You don't have to switch to Apple though. It's a bit like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Apple has an even stronger hold on your digital life if you decide to fully invest into its ecosystem. It's much better to stay on Android, but de-google it, and avoiding the use of your Google account

darknavi 3y ago
Moving to Apple isn't necessary but it isn't a trap either for OP. A main lesson they learned was "digital diversity". If they get locked out of their phone now it would be an inconvenience instead of a life altering event. The swap to iPhone is just another "fuck you" to Google, which they earned there.
- SkyPuncher 3y ago
  I swapped to an iPhone last year. After using Android exclusively. I’ve been extremely happy with my iPhone. Apple has all of the little polish and cross connections that make it a wonderful experience. I think Android made sense while the smartphone market was growing, but all of the platforms are mature now. Android fragments further and Apple polishes more.
  - swozey 3y ago
    Yeah I've been very happy. Carplay is light years better than Android Auto. That was one of the biggest worries I had as I used AA a LOT.
gonehome 3y ago
The incentives are more aligned with apple so this is less of a problem, they also have a lot more support and help available when there are problems.
callalex 3y ago
Sure, but if Apple decides to lock your account (a much more rare phenomenon if sampling Hacker News comments) you can have someone on the phone with you in minutes, or even walk to a store where they will help you.
- Tangurena2 3y ago
  To me, this is the critical difference. Google is so large that if you end up in some tiny edge case, that "tiny" still includes tens of thousands of people yet Google is so large and impermeable that there exists no person that you can call. The only success stories involve people who personally know Google employees or who have social media accounts that get so much attention that it brings embarrassment to corporate Google. Google is too big to be allowed to exist.
- whitepoplar 3y ago
  Apple isn't perfect, but they're generally pretty reasonable and will work to help you, even if it takes multiple tries. My experience with Google has been the exact opposite. Everything they touch results in Kafka-esque psychological torture.
  - lamontcg 3y ago
    Almost like paying the "apple tax" for the hardware means that you're the customer, instead of just being entirely the product like you are with Google.
- nucleardog 3y ago
  When I look at reviews for businesses, I don't look at the 5 star reviews. I look at the 1-2 star reviews, and I look exclusively for reviews that describe _how the business responded to the problem_. I was looking for somewhere to leave my dog for a few weeks while I was out of country. There's a lower rated place where the negative reviews that match this are things like "One of the other dogs scratched my dog! They got her to the vet and paid the bills, but they shouldn't have let that happen!". There's another with a better overall rating where the reviews are "This staff at this place are phenomenal and really love the pets but the owner is an absolute ass. If anything happens, don't even bother asking for a refund or trying to complain." I sent my dog to the first place. Accidents, mistakes, and general "life doesn't go according to plan" things _will_ happen. I'm less interested in the best case scenario, and more interested in how they handle this stuff. That tells me what the worst case scenario looks like. If my worst case hotel scenario is "mildly inconvenienced", that's a damn sight better than "left out on the street at 1AM with nowhere to go". So on that note... yeah, that's pretty much why I have an iPhone. At some point it suddenly stopped accepting one of my credit cards and refused to let me re-add it. Apple literally has a `/contact/` page on their site where the 800 number is easily discoverable. I called and was connected almost immediately. They asked if I could use another card and I told them I could, but only if I _had_ to, I prefer to use this one for all my recurring charges. "No problem." They spent about 40 minutes on the phone with me (including calling me back immediately when my signal dropped and we got disconnected) and resolved the problem. This is support in relation to a ~$800 one time device purchase and a $0.99/mo subscription. When I was paying Google over a million dollars a year I couldn't get answers out of them or get my issue resolved. Even ignoring all the other anecdotes I see online... no way in hell I'm trusting Google with anything I care about.
3np 3y ago
GP mentions nothing of Apple. Did you mean to reply to a sibling?

darknavi 3y ago

Moving to Apple isn't necessary but it isn't a trap either for OP. A main lesson they learned was "digital diversity". If they get locked out of their phone now it would be an inconvenience instead of a life altering event. The swap to iPhone is just another "fuck you" to Google, which they earned there.

SkyPuncher 3y ago
I swapped to an iPhone last year. After using Android exclusively. I’ve been extremely happy with my iPhone. Apple has all of the little polish and cross connections that make it a wonderful experience. I think Android made sense while the smartphone market was growing, but all of the platforms are mature now. Android fragments further and Apple polishes more.
- swozey 3y ago
  Yeah I've been very happy. Carplay is light years better than Android Auto. That was one of the biggest worries I had as I used AA a LOT.

gonehome 3y ago

The incentives are more aligned with apple so this is less of a problem, they also have a lot more support and help available when there are problems.

callalex 3y ago

Sure, but if Apple decides to lock your account (a much more rare phenomenon if sampling Hacker News comments) you can have someone on the phone with you in minutes, or even walk to a store where they will help you.

Tangurena2 3y ago
To me, this is the critical difference. Google is so large that if you end up in some tiny edge case, that "tiny" still includes tens of thousands of people yet Google is so large and impermeable that there exists no person that you can call. The only success stories involve people who personally know Google employees or who have social media accounts that get so much attention that it brings embarrassment to corporate Google. Google is too big to be allowed to exist.
whitepoplar 3y ago
Apple isn't perfect, but they're generally pretty reasonable and will work to help you, even if it takes multiple tries. My experience with Google has been the exact opposite. Everything they touch results in Kafka-esque psychological torture.
- lamontcg 3y ago
  Almost like paying the "apple tax" for the hardware means that you're the customer, instead of just being entirely the product like you are with Google.
nucleardog 3y ago
When I look at reviews for businesses, I don't look at the 5 star reviews. I look at the 1-2 star reviews, and I look exclusively for reviews that describe _how the business responded to the problem_. I was looking for somewhere to leave my dog for a few weeks while I was out of country. There's a lower rated place where the negative reviews that match this are things like "One of the other dogs scratched my dog! They got her to the vet and paid the bills, but they shouldn't have let that happen!". There's another with a better overall rating where the reviews are "This staff at this place are phenomenal and really love the pets but the owner is an absolute ass. If anything happens, don't even bother asking for a refund or trying to complain." I sent my dog to the first place. Accidents, mistakes, and general "life doesn't go according to plan" things _will_ happen. I'm less interested in the best case scenario, and more interested in how they handle this stuff. That tells me what the worst case scenario looks like. If my worst case hotel scenario is "mildly inconvenienced", that's a damn sight better than "left out on the street at 1AM with nowhere to go". So on that note... yeah, that's pretty much why I have an iPhone. At some point it suddenly stopped accepting one of my credit cards and refused to let me re-add it. Apple literally has a `/contact/` page on their site where the 800 number is easily discoverable. I called and was connected almost immediately. They asked if I could use another card and I told them I could, but only if I _had_ to, I prefer to use this one for all my recurring charges. "No problem." They spent about 40 minutes on the phone with me (including calling me back immediately when my signal dropped and we got disconnected) and resolved the problem. This is support in relation to a ~$800 one time device purchase and a $0.99/mo subscription. When I was paying Google over a million dollars a year I couldn't get answers out of them or get my issue resolved. Even ignoring all the other anecdotes I see online... no way in hell I'm trusting Google with anything I care about.

3np 3y ago

GP mentions nothing of Apple. Did you mean to reply to a sibling?