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I’ve been working with React Native and Flutter and every time I have to interact directly with iOS/Android, I find that Android is much easier to work with and

I’ve been working with React Native and Flutter and every time I have to interact directly with iOS/Android, I find that Android is much easier to work with and feels much better designed from a software/api/config perspective. Where Apple wins, however, imho is in hardware. The iPhone is a masterpiece and users can tell, even ~16 years in. I feel that when Apple finally chokes on hardware, or some player in the Android spaces releases something incredible, the game will change quickly.

fennecbutt 2y ago
60hz lmao
can16358p 2y ago
Interesting, I have the exact opposite: I'm also a React Native developer and it's _always_ Android that creates all sorts of problems when developing where iOS is just fine. And it's not me: many devs in my team (and all the teams that I've also worked in the past) think the same way. Though I'd agree with provisioning+codesigning can be a mess with iOS.
- telgareith 2y ago
  I think that this boils down to people wanting a handheld computer that sometimes can make phone calls (android), or a phone that can do other stuff (apple). Just compare how android and iOS handle backgrounding.
  - acdha 2y ago
    I think that comparison would need some support. It is exceedingly rare that I hear any normal person mention doing something on Android that they couldn’t do on iOS, and the number of enthusiasts isn’t enough to drive a market that large.
  - Aerroon 2y ago
    Can I easily put a compiler on either platform? My understanding is that you can't, which makes both platforms kind of bad.
    - viraptor 2y ago
      You can easily put compilers on Android. Put the whole system on it if you want https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.ula https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.ula
      - Aerroon 2y ago
        Huh! I really was under the impression that you couldn't. It's been many years since I last checked though. Thank you very much for correcting me!
    - can16358p 2y ago
      It depends on the intended use case: compiling source code isn't the intended use case of neither of those platforms. It doesn't make them "bad".
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
rickdeckard 2y ago
As of today, there is no player in the Smartphone space who has even remotely the amount of secured income to come up with a similarly volume-scaled device, and there is little incentive for anyone to enter this space. A new entrant would be unable to secure the investment, because even if he would produce the exact same piece of hardware with the same quality, the carrier distribution channels, the brand-image and (walled garden) ecosystem of Apple will prevent users to even notice and adopt the product, and the press would jump onto it and rip it to pieces. So how would this normally work? --> You disrupt the market by doing something particularly good, while being average in other areas, succeed, then iterate. But this doesn't work in the Smartphone space as: 1.) iOS users are unlikely to leave their ecosystem because they can't take _anything_ with them 2.) the Google ecosystem leaves little room to disrupt and secure return-of-investment, and 3.) for Android you need to (re)build your own ecosystem to _match_ Google/Apple from the start. That's why it's not a competitive market anymore, and needs to be (wait for it:) regulated to restore an even competition field for Hardware, Applications and Services. But yeah...not a popular opinion here, I know...
- rblatz 2y ago
  What would I take with me? My photos and email will move just fine. The last app I bought was a while ago, and it was an app to block Google AMP. I’m honestly not sure I use any other paid apps.
  - rickdeckard 2y ago
    So no Apps. Also no iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Messages, Apple Pay, Apple Fitness, any kind of native Mac integration (Safari Bookmark sharing, Shared Bluetooth devices, clipboard sharing, Continuity Camera, AirPlay,...)? No Apple Wireless charger, Apple Watch, Airpods, Apple-specific Accessories, Apple App-based carkeys or Apple CarPlay? That's quite rare.
    - jamestown44 2y ago
      As an experiment I recently switched from iPhone (last 10 years?) to Android. It's been a little painful but: - nearly all apps support Android as well. The ones I used (navionics, banking apps, WhatsApp) you just log in on Android, no cost involved. - most Apple first party apps have a Google equivalent (google wallet, google keep notes, google messaging etc.) that is very similar - my AirPods work equally well with android
rTX5CMRXIfFG 2y ago
It’s highly unlikely for Apple to choke on hardware given their cash. And as someone who’s done native for both, Android’s native SDK is a mess that even Android devs actually hate it. Meanwhile, iOS’ SDK is incredibly exhaustive and coherent. I don’t know what your basis is for “better designed software”, but being able to fork a desktop OS from 20 years prior, make it into a mobile OS, then to a tablet OS, then to a watch and a headset OS, and then have billions of users on it all and make a trillion-dollar company out of it⸺does that not sound like good engineering to you? All while the competition can hardly build anything that actually lasts.
- friendzis 2y ago
  Apple is, apparently, good at marketing
- talldayo 2y ago
  > being able to fork a desktop OS from 20 years prior, make it into a mobile OS, then to a tablet OS, then to a watch and a headset OS, and then have billions of users on it all and make a trillion-dollar company out of it⸺does that not sound like good engineering to you? Microsoft and Google basically did the same thing, and in neither case it's really a testament to how "good" their respective software is engineered. If the amount of driver cruft on MacOS is anything to go by, the engineering underneath iOS and WatchOS is probably a fucking nightmare in most respects.
- fidotron 2y ago
  People round here hate this, but it's true. I used to be "the Android guy" at a big games publisher. In my time the billing component had to be rewritten three times solely because of Google changes. The Apple one was written once and left alone. We can't even discuss why those Google changes happened because doing so would get you shot, or worse. The tech direction that was going on at Apple was enormously better than other companies. It does feel like they've gone off the rails a bit, but things like Swift are underappreciated entirely because they're so successful, just with the wrong sort of developer.
  - 2y ago
dep_b 2y ago
A Flutter developer only sees the shitty parts of iOS and Android anyway. I imagine as a dumb carrier for Flutter Android is nicer.

fennecbutt 2y ago

60hz lmao

can16358p 2y ago

Interesting, I have the exact opposite: I'm also a React Native developer and it's _always_ Android that creates all sorts of problems when developing where iOS is just fine. And it's not me: many devs in my team (and all the teams that I've also worked in the past) think the same way. Though I'd agree with provisioning+codesigning can be a mess with iOS.

telgareith 2y ago
I think that this boils down to people wanting a handheld computer that sometimes can make phone calls (android), or a phone that can do other stuff (apple). Just compare how android and iOS handle backgrounding.
- acdha 2y ago
  I think that comparison would need some support. It is exceedingly rare that I hear any normal person mention doing something on Android that they couldn’t do on iOS, and the number of enthusiasts isn’t enough to drive a market that large.
- Aerroon 2y ago
  Can I easily put a compiler on either platform? My understanding is that you can't, which makes both platforms kind of bad.
  - viraptor 2y ago
    You can easily put compilers on Android. Put the whole system on it if you want https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.ula https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.ula
    - Aerroon 2y ago
      Huh! I really was under the impression that you couldn't. It's been many years since I last checked though. Thank you very much for correcting me!
  - can16358p 2y ago
    It depends on the intended use case: compiling source code isn't the intended use case of neither of those platforms. It doesn't make them "bad".
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]

rickdeckard 2y ago

As of today, there is no player in the Smartphone space who has even remotely the amount of secured income to come up with a similarly volume-scaled device, and there is little incentive for anyone to enter this space. A new entrant would be unable to secure the investment, because even if he would produce the exact same piece of hardware with the same quality, the carrier distribution channels, the brand-image and (walled garden) ecosystem of Apple will prevent users to even notice and adopt the product, and the press would jump onto it and rip it to pieces. So how would this normally work? --> You disrupt the market by doing something particularly good, while being average in other areas, succeed, then iterate. But this doesn't work in the Smartphone space as: 1.) iOS users are unlikely to leave their ecosystem because they can't take _anything_ with them 2.) the Google ecosystem leaves little room to disrupt and secure return-of-investment, and 3.) for Android you need to (re)build your own ecosystem to _match_ Google/Apple from the start. That's why it's not a competitive market anymore, and needs to be (wait for it:) regulated to restore an even competition field for Hardware, Applications and Services. But yeah...not a popular opinion here, I know...

rblatz 2y ago
What would I take with me? My photos and email will move just fine. The last app I bought was a while ago, and it was an app to block Google AMP. I’m honestly not sure I use any other paid apps.
- rickdeckard 2y ago
  So no Apps. Also no iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Messages, Apple Pay, Apple Fitness, any kind of native Mac integration (Safari Bookmark sharing, Shared Bluetooth devices, clipboard sharing, Continuity Camera, AirPlay,...)? No Apple Wireless charger, Apple Watch, Airpods, Apple-specific Accessories, Apple App-based carkeys or Apple CarPlay? That's quite rare.
  - jamestown44 2y ago
    As an experiment I recently switched from iPhone (last 10 years?) to Android. It's been a little painful but: - nearly all apps support Android as well. The ones I used (navionics, banking apps, WhatsApp) you just log in on Android, no cost involved. - most Apple first party apps have a Google equivalent (google wallet, google keep notes, google messaging etc.) that is very similar - my AirPods work equally well with android

rTX5CMRXIfFG 2y ago

It’s highly unlikely for Apple to choke on hardware given their cash. And as someone who’s done native for both, Android’s native SDK is a mess that even Android devs actually hate it. Meanwhile, iOS’ SDK is incredibly exhaustive and coherent. I don’t know what your basis is for “better designed software”, but being able to fork a desktop OS from 20 years prior, make it into a mobile OS, then to a tablet OS, then to a watch and a headset OS, and then have billions of users on it all and make a trillion-dollar company out of it⸺does that not sound like good engineering to you? All while the competition can hardly build anything that actually lasts.

friendzis 2y ago
Apple is, apparently, good at marketing
talldayo 2y ago
> being able to fork a desktop OS from 20 years prior, make it into a mobile OS, then to a tablet OS, then to a watch and a headset OS, and then have billions of users on it all and make a trillion-dollar company out of it⸺does that not sound like good engineering to you? Microsoft and Google basically did the same thing, and in neither case it's really a testament to how "good" their respective software is engineered. If the amount of driver cruft on MacOS is anything to go by, the engineering underneath iOS and WatchOS is probably a fucking nightmare in most respects.
fidotron 2y ago
People round here hate this, but it's true. I used to be "the Android guy" at a big games publisher. In my time the billing component had to be rewritten three times solely because of Google changes. The Apple one was written once and left alone. We can't even discuss why those Google changes happened because doing so would get you shot, or worse. The tech direction that was going on at Apple was enormously better than other companies. It does feel like they've gone off the rails a bit, but things like Swift are underappreciated entirely because they're so successful, just with the wrong sort of developer.
- 2y ago

dep_b 2y ago

A Flutter developer only sees the shitty parts of iOS and Android anyway. I imagine as a dumb carrier for Flutter Android is nicer.