I had a Pixel A-series phone last year. I was ambivalent at first, but was quickly surprised at how much easier it was to use. It also felt less intrusive and gave me more ability to control notifications.
This is coming from someone who hates Google products.
This year, I decided to go back to an iPhone. This has been my experience so far:
- When you disable notifications for an app, expect to be asked inside the app itself to enable notifications. Every. Single. Time.
- Expect some apps to hijack control. Spotify is the worst offender. I plug my phone into the car, will be in the middle of setting my course in Apple Maps, then get rudely interrupted as Spotify forces itself into the foreground after connecting.
- In general, everything takes multiple taps to complete in iOS. It's just such a time suck to have to tap tap tap tap away at something that should be just one or two taps, at most.
- Inability to customize apps. I use a third-party app to browse Reddit. The only way I can open Reddit links from the browser is to hold-tap, share, select 3rd party app. Just more tap swipe tap swipe tap...
- The built-in mail and calendar apps are garbage
- Safari is garbage and can't be replaced with a true 3rd party browser
- A buggy Do Not Disturb functionality that will randomly leave itself on outside scheduled hours
The first two points could arguably be blamed on the third-party apps themselves. But I would counter-argue that it's Apple's responsibility to punish companies that actively diminish the user experience by finding ways to skirt around iOS settings. If I turn off notifications, it should mean that the first time I'm asked. An app should not beg me over and over and over again to turn them on. I said no, don't ask again.
Apps should not be allowed to hijack control, either.
If Apple isn't going to focus on improving the user experience, and if they're going to start down the road of advertising, I guess I wonder what delineates them from anyone else in the mobile space. Now they're just a buggy, expensive interruption machine.
Ironically, I had more control over my Pixel (with stock Android) and the way it behaved than I've ever had with the iPhone.
This is coming from someone who hates Google products.
This year, I decided to go back to an iPhone. This has been my experience so far:
- When you disable notifications for an app, expect to be asked inside the app itself to enable notifications. Every. Single. Time.
- Expect some apps to hijack control. Spotify is the worst offender. I plug my phone into the car, will be in the middle of setting my course in Apple Maps, then get rudely interrupted as Spotify forces itself into the foreground after connecting.
- In general, everything takes multiple taps to complete in iOS. It's just such a time suck to have to tap tap tap tap away at something that should be just one or two taps, at most.
- Inability to customize apps. I use a third-party app to browse Reddit. The only way I can open Reddit links from the browser is to hold-tap, share, select 3rd party app. Just more tap swipe tap swipe tap...
- The built-in mail and calendar apps are garbage
- Safari is garbage and can't be replaced with a true 3rd party browser
- A buggy Do Not Disturb functionality that will randomly leave itself on outside scheduled hours
The first two points could arguably be blamed on the third-party apps themselves. But I would counter-argue that it's Apple's responsibility to punish companies that actively diminish the user experience by finding ways to skirt around iOS settings. If I turn off notifications, it should mean that the first time I'm asked. An app should not beg me over and over and over again to turn them on. I said no, don't ask again.
Apps should not be allowed to hijack control, either.
If Apple isn't going to focus on improving the user experience, and if they're going to start down the road of advertising, I guess I wonder what delineates them from anyone else in the mobile space. Now they're just a buggy, expensive interruption machine.
Ironically, I had more control over my Pixel (with stock Android) and the way it behaved than I've ever had with the iPhone.