Everyone has their preferences, I would love to hear why you guys prefer using Android!
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Browser choice. Actually browser ENGINE choice. And the ability to set my own default apps, including the launcher.
F-droid. Side loading.
This is probably specific to the Pixel phones, not sure how much if any is relevant to other manufacturers.
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Call screening and spam filtering is amazing. Having the phone automatically screen unknown callers means I haven’t had to deal with a spam caller in years. And valid callers don’t seem to have any problems understanding whats happening anymore. I used to get several who confused it for a voice mail when it first came out, but now it seems they understand how to leave a screening message and wait for me to pick up.
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The phone tree and hold for me when calling businesses. Being able to read the options and click the text makes it so much easier to get through the options without having to really pay attention, then having it hold for me until a person answers lets me do other things instead of having to keep listening.
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Song identification on the lock screen. Whether I’m out at a bar or restaurant or at home watching a TV show and a song I like but don’t know starts playing, being able to see exactly what it is without even touching my phone is so convenient. I’ve found so many cool new bands I never would have without this feature. Its also amazing how it can often identify covers made specifically for TV shows right when they first air.
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Amazing camera and cool features like photo sphere and the new magic eraser. The camera might not be as head and shoulders above Samsung and Apple as it was in the past but it’s still always amazing how well it does in different conditions.
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Just switched back to Android a few days ago after using the iPhone for quite some time. Customization and control were my favorite reasons for Android in the past and it stayed the same. I use a Pixel 7 Pro with GrapheneOS. The fact that I even have an option to use a different OS that focuses on privacy is amazing.
Mostly Sideloading and GrapheneOS. And that it’s mostly open source
The customization, just being able to place icons anywhere on a screen without having to fill from top to bottom. Seems so simple and yet you just don’t have the option on Apple. Just an example, but its that over and over again
Wait – you can’t adjust icon placement on iPhone?
As far as I’m aware, you have to fill from the top down. I’ve seen some work arounds with ‘ghost’ apps to fill the space, but yeah
- Not an iPhone
- Linux-based
- Can install apps from external sources.
- I can customize many aspects
- I can root it and run more advanced software, customize it further, and debloat/remove unwanted builtin apps (unlocked phones only)
Forgot to mention: I can degoogle my device.
@Cameri I came to Android to use rif for reddit. It’s gone now and now i’m using the mastodon app chatting with everyone on lemmy.world and other instances. I have a main account on lemmy.world but i just use it to moderate my sub check my notifications and that’s about it. I really like my S23 though
I’m still new to the fediverse, how would you use the Mastodon app to chat with people on lemmy.world and other lemmy instances? Would you be able to read threads in different communities like /c/android etc?
@ipkpjersi Yes. You basically get the community name in mastodon do a search for it then follow that community. Once in the mastodon app the home feed will be post from that community from wherever that instance/community is. You can the comment and reply all that good stuff. You can’t creat post or have the lemmy.ml or other instance front page just your own instance front page
That sounds really cool, thanks!
You can tell he’s using Mastodon to interact with this thread because his comments all start with @ing the user he’s replying to.
Oh yeah that’s a good point!
Mostly due to choice. Don’t like Samsung anymore? I’m free to switch to a Pixel, or a Xiaomi, or whatever without losing most of my apps/setup.
Sideloading. And I refuse to pay Apple’s insane prices tbh.
you can with trollstore or altstore
The price, a burning hatred for apple, and I can switch over to something else like graphine os. I haven’t done that yet but I plan to when I get a new phone though!
If you use any app other than what Apple provides, you become a second class citizen on your own phone.
Third party apps simply don’t integrate with iOS nicely unless Apple allows it. Even though you can choose a web browser, it has to use Safari’s underlying code base.
I’m on a Pixel 7. A lot of people say it’s like Google’s iPhone, but I can use Firefox as my browser natively. Adblocking actually works, too. I can choose any app as a default for whatever. Lots of FOSS! Google doesn’t own my Pixel the same way Apple owns the iPhone.
On a pixel phone you can even install a google free OS like graphene (that’s what I did)
Hi. I’ve heard quite a few people do this but never managed to ask why. So, taking the opportunity to ask.
What I mean is, if the large part of the phone is about the software experience and software optimisation (and the hardware in itself is nowhere near cutting edge) what’s the upside of installing a non-google OS on it?
Perhaps I’ll try it someday. For today, just curious. If you could shed some light on it. Thank you!
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Some people want to get away from Google services and tracking; having a non-Google OS can allow for that. 🙂
Sorry for the late reply, still getting used to lemmy and missed the notification.
I’m probably in the minority but I didn’t actually do it to completely de-google. I still have some Google services installed, they are sandboxed and limited to what I actively want though.
My main reason was removing the insane bloat that comes with modern phones. Think Facebook/Google and vendor specific apps being preinstalled without the ability to remove, forced google search bar on the home screen etc… Now I have a pretty clean, fairly safe, OS which behaves almost exactly like a normal phone.
Also important to remember on GrapheneOS is that your google play services are
- Optional
- Sandboxed Meaning even if you need google play, it’s a more private experience than stock android. I personally use a separate user profile for apps that require google play services.
For me it’s probably the ability to sideload apps, among other things. Apps like NewPipe which would never make it to the Play Store are apps that I use every day, because they are just good apps. Also, I just like the UX of my Pixel compared to an iPhone - I couldn’t live without things like a back button, and I sort of don’t like the iOS UI.
Don’t like Apple’s anti consumer attitude, same reason I don’t buy Nintendo products.
other linux phones are not really viable. I dont like supporting apple and even if I didnt care about that, their iOS is far too restrictive.
also Tachiyomi
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I suppose, to be fair, I’ve not actually looked into any in a while, but its mostly the support, thats what I’ll follow for my daily driver. I cant imagine my bank apps will work with a linux phone, tachiyomi doesnt have a linux app. does the linux phones support nfc pay options? I’d be surprised if they did…
its just normal daily stuff that I want to make sure just works cuz its what every one is using. for my desktop/laptop I’ll use linux all the way cuz they dont have to interact with what every one else is using.
The simple act of trying to transfer ownership of an iPhone from one daughter to another this week almost broke me. I hate how difficult they make everything.
Was it more involved than sign out -> factory reset -> set up as a new phone? (I’m just curious, have been on android for a few years now)
There were some self inflicted complications to be fair. I couldn’t fully back up the broken phone because it was in a family group with an expired payment card. My wife hadn’t had her iPhone for years so that was a pain in the arse to resolve which included waiting nearly two weeks for an email from Apple. Even when I got into her iCloud account updating the bank card failed every time, also you can’t modify a family group in the browser. I ended up borrowing a family members old iphone so I could set it up as my wifes and disband the family group, then update the payment method directly on the broken phone. We could then pay the 70p or whatever for additional storage and back it up. I couldn’t factory reset the other phone because in addition to the passcode, you also needed the screen time passcode which nobody could remember. I eventually installed iTunes on my PC and wiped it that way. I mean if you know all the security information I imagine it’s a lot easier but I wouldn’t have had this much trouble had they been android phones.
Not an Apple fanboy in the slightest but one could argue that the fact it was so difficult (without knowing ALL the security details) is a feature not a bug.
Agreed, but I wasn’t even able to reset the screen time passcode on the phone where we actually knew all the other security details.
