iPhone Snobbery

[hippoherostandinghere]

It's a real thing, isn't it. I'm in the process of getting a new phone and have ordered a Samsung Galaxy s9. Anyone i have mentioned it to have all said 'oh I could never go to android after having an apple phone' 🙄

I have an iPhone now, and yes it is good, but the battery life is shocking, and I can't really think of anything it does that I couldn't get in another phone. I've had a mixture of iPhones and Samsungs in the past and have liked them both for different reasons. So why do I feel judged?!

Another motivating factor is money. I got such a good deal for the latest Samsung compared to what the newest iPhone would have cost, I just can't justify the extra money.

So, will I regret it?

P.S. Primark trainers are pretty crap. Usually fall apart within a few months. Although you could buy for pairs per year for about £12 so they'd still be better value for money than Nike. Not sure it's very good for the environment though, so I don't really want to do that. I stopped after my 2nd or 3rd pair fell apart. I still don't buy Nike shoes though. #tangent

I've had iPhones for 10 years since I was a young teen and can't go to another phone due to that reason. I know the layout, know exactly how to use one, everything is backed up, and now things like Apple Pay. I do think iPhone snobbery exists, but for me it's the reasons I've given.

And usually those wearing nike etc arent claiming they "just work" or its because the "just do the job." They dont (mistakenly) think other brands wont do the job they have actively bought into brand loyalty. Some Apple followers as demonstrated on this thread dont think theyre following a fashion or buying branding for the sake of it, but think theyre buying it for other reasons. (It just does the job/it works...)

For me it basically comes down to the operating system and the fact that iOS is proprietary and Android is open source. I use my Android phones like laptops/tablets - in fact got rid off the ipad as really didn't need a third device. I use it to watch movies, from all different sources and all different files types, I can play movies and read ebooks with any file extension type that Ive got from anywhere. I store and access and move MS office documents around, like in Windows Explorer, which I do with an Android file explorer. I can see the full file system on my Android phone and see where everything is. Or I can attach it to my computer and browse the whole thing as an external drive to eg look for an image or copy photos/ebooks on or off my phone, as and when I need them (and to save space). I can do all this becasue Android is open source. This is much harder to do on ios because its proprietary to Apple and locked down - because if you want to read an ebook or watch a movie on an iPhone, they want you to have to buy it from the App Store. Sure, its not impossible, but you have to mess about converting file types or jailbreak the iPhone which invalidates the warranty and needs some technical knowledge.

But if you only use your phone to make calls, check emails, whatsapp and browse the internet, what does it matter. Use any phone you get on with / can afford. They all do those things equally well now.

Mummy - i think thats a huge part of it too. Once into it its just "too hard" for some people/perhaps non technical types etc to leave. Again v clever of Apple to create a dependence on their product to make it seem hard to leave!

People spend hundreds more a year to save changing apps etc but people spend hours saving 50 quid on an insurance quote or electric bill etc.

They dont (mistakenly) think other brands wont do the job they have actively bought into brand loyalty.

So you think brand loyalty is only a thing with Apple customers?

How naive you are.

Have had iPhones and iPads for past 7 years. All good but my last iphones battery life was so shit and I use google at work so switched to Samsung last year.

I much prefer my new phone, camera is amazing, bought it outright, love it so much I got my kids Samsung phones too. Only downside is keyboard not as good.

DH is the only Apple user now.

I've had iPhones from when smart phones first came out, swapped to Android & would never go back to an apple or buy any other Apple product

I’ve had apple mobile devices since 2005, my first iPod lives in DH’s car connected to his music system, my second lives in my car and performs the same function. In 13 years I’ve acquired precisely 2 kinds of charger with the same usb connectors at one end of the lead, so you know, hardly a problem. Every phone comes with a new charger regardless of brand so whether it’s the same as before or not how does it matter?

Agree with pps that the snobbery in this thread appears to be against Apple products for no good reason other than people view them as flashy status symbols with no functional differences to other less expensive products.

It’s all bullshit of course, top of the line Samsungs are the same price in the stores here and all the ones I’ve seen do pretty much the same as my iPhone and I see no huge differences in the performance of the various functions. The difference I do see is that every Apple product I have works, and goes on working for years while other brands wind up in landfill in a comparatively short time.

My first smartphone was a Nokia windows phone, I liked it but the OS never took off therefore it was never properly developed and supported by apps and in less than 18 months the phone developed battery and connectivity problems so when it came time to upgrade I got an iPhone. It was 2 for 1 deal with our phone contracts and trade in so not outrageously expensive. That was 3 1/2 years ago, the only issue I have right now is storage and battery life, I take lots of photos and am not too diligent about uploading them so there’s that. Apple are offering free battery replacement when I can be arsed to go down and have it done.

I probably won’t have it done because we’ve been offered a good deal by our phone provider re trade ins and, again, 2 for 1 on new phones, we’ll probably get iPhones again. Our current phones are still in great shape so will be refurbished and resold rather than end up in landfill so why wouldn’t we? We like the OS, we like the dependability and functionality, they do everything we need to do on phones, sync intuitively with our other devices and they last a bloody long time.

Dangerousplan Have you tried downloading a different keyboard from the Play Store? There lots to choose from that suit different people (DP uses one called Fat Fingers 😁). Same with cameras.

I've never had an iPhone. I always buy Cubots. They're Chinese and reasonably cheap. My latest 6" one for example was about £120. Virgin managed to persuade me that I needed a new phone. I ended up paying £240 over 24 months for a terrible Samsung J3. Has so much bloatware you can't remove and constantly tells you to delete Whatsapp, Tinder etc which I do want to use. It was a second phone for online dating.
Even more annoying is they persuaded me that I'd get loads of data which I can never use as the Virgin signal is so poor.
Expensive mistake I'd never repeat.

I've gone over to a Samsung s9 after having apple and the phone is good, but android is shit and I do miss iOS. I think the apple phones are overpriced for what they are and no headphone jack is annoying.

There probably is snobbery, but I feel vulnerable using android as I worry I don't have my millions of settings set up securely, so I think iOS users are entitled to be smug about their better operating system.

I wish Samsung would sort out a basic intuitive android version for those of us who would prefer that. I would only go back to apple if they'd reduce their costs and give a jack option. A curved screen is nice as well.

I can recommend the s9 though, it's a lovely phone.

One thing I particularly like about Google phones which isn't the same on Samsung or Apple is that there is no bloatware. I found there were quite a few apps on Samsung or Apple that you can't uninstall so you have pointless icons cluttering up your screens that you then move into a folder and never look at again. These apps are taking up space on your device and you don't need or want them. On my Pixel I can uninstall literally any app so the only things on my phone that take up space are things I actually want and use. I'm not forced to have any particular e-reader or a stupid stocks and shares app or a running app if I don't want them.

In addition, I think the home screen system is superior. I can have my most frequent apps in folders on the home screen and leave all the others behind the scenes so the interface is cleaner and it's easier to find things when I want them.

However, these threads always go the same way, and as soon as you mention something you can't do on a particular type of phone all the users of that phone pop up and say 'but that doesn't bother me!' so there is literally no point in mentioning something that you can do on one OS that you can't do on the other!

Out of interest, is there something I could do on an Apple phone that I can't do on my Pixel? I haven't had an iPhone for many years so perhaps there is something I don't know about.

I've had Iphones for ten years and never bought a book or any music from the Itunes store, its pretty easy to avoid. Never had to jailbreak it or convert file types, I can't speak for films as I don't watch them on my phone.

Well, going with the obvious response, is there something I’d desperately want or need to do that you can do on your pixel that I can’t do on my iPhone?

Bloatware isn’t a problem these days re storage because we have cloud storage available and the ability to download very easily to external drives. Like you said, it’s not exactly a hardship to put the apps you don’t use in a folder and forget about them. Looking at my settings the ones I don’t use take up very little space. It’s a non-problem.

Yes, I’m lazy about uploading, but my iphone does warn me when it’s getting full. My newer devices, new iPad at Christmas, newish MacBook, have so much space I haven’t a hope in hell of ever filling them up. The newer iPhones we’re looking at have twice storage our current ones do so, assuming my usage is about the same, I’ll be able to be even lazier than I am right now.

Well, going with the obvious response, is there something I’d desperately want or need to do that you can do on your pixel that I can’t do on my iPhone?

Nothing particularly special, no. But by the same token, there's nothing particularly special you can do on an iPhone that you can't do on a Moto G5, which costs a quarter of the price. So... Why spend more on an iPhone?

Oh wait - the latest Moto (G6) is actually a FIFTH of the price of the latest iPhone. £200 instead of £1000. And they do the exact same things.

Two family members had Moto G5s. Brand new. On one the front camera packed up after a few months. On the other it would randomly switch apps and shut down. In both cases the companies responsible wouldn't touch them. I gave them a couple of old iPhones I had which lasted them each a couple of years before they got new phones. In 12 years I never had an iPhone go wrong or a broken screen.

Of course anecdotes are no proof of anything, but we've all got them...

Fair enough, you had bad experiences with Moto G5s. There are multiple other options in the same price range though. And hundreds in between.

But I’m not spending more on an iPhone, no one I know with a phone contract had ever paid full list price for an iPhone. If we stay with our current provider and keep the same plan we get 2 for 1 upgrades to new phones if we trade in our current phones. It doesn’t matter what brand we choose, Samsung, Apple, Hyundai, Moto, the cost will work out about the same for equivalent models. If we move providers we’ll get a similar sort of deal because that’s what they’re offering to entice new customers. If it’s the same cost in fact why should I change from a brand I’ve tried tested and get along very well with because of a perceived difference in cost by others?

If we stay with our current provider and keep the same plan we get 2 for 1 upgrades to new phones if we trade in our current phones. It doesn’t matter what brand we choose, Samsung, Apple, Hyundai, Moto, the cost will work out about the same for equivalent models

I'm not really sure what you're saying, but if you're saying that your provider will give you a new iPhone on the same tariff for the same price as a phone worth much less, then yes, go for it. Of course! The only way I can see that making sense for them though is if they're getting the higher price from you regardless, so they don't mind giving you the cheaper phone because that just means more profit. I assume they have to make the cost of the more expensive phone from you (the general "you" I mean) somehow. Otherwise they'd be out of business.

But when talking about what is best value for money, we're obviously referring to situations where you are actually buying something for what it is priced at in the shops.

Well, going with the obvious response, is there something I’d desperately want or need to do that you can do on your pixel that I can’t do on my iPhone?

Well, that's been asked and I said. I can uninstall anything I like. I don't have to have all app icons on my home screens unless I want them there. I can use widgets, and customise their appearance and functionality to suit me. That's obviously not important to you but it is important to me.

Bloatware does matter. DH's iPhone is always running out of space. He would like to be able to delete the bloatware and have more space but he can't. He is considering a Pixel with free unlimited photo storage next time for this precise reason.

Re anecdotes, in the time I have had my Pixel, DH has had to visit the Genius bar four times with problems - once he had to leave his phone with them overnight and go back the next day to get it, which was a giant pain in the arse as he had to get on a flight the next day. I have had one problem. I did not have to go anywhere. I submitted a support request online which took about 30 seconds, a really friendly American chap rang me up within a minute or so, established that I couldn't fix the problem on my own and within a day I had a new phone delivered to my door. A courier came and picked the old one up at a time convenient to me when I had started using the new one and everything was working properly. That is specific to Google, though. The Google store customer service is really REALLY good, IME.

That is what I’m saying, JacksonPillock it’s the plan itself that’s making them money, the handset is irrelevant so it makes no financial sense to choose a cheaper one. Cheaper plans, of course, mean you get cheaper handsets.

With us they’re making their money with the plan itself, I have international and roaming included (i’m in the USA and my family are in the UK) and DH has higher data needs, so they’re making money from us somehow someway but, broken down, our current phones themselves have cost us less than 20 cents a day over the 3 1/2 years we’ve had them. The new ones won’t cost much more.

I feel vulnerable using android as I worry I don't have my millions of settings set up securely, so I think iOS users are entitled to be smug about their better operating system.

What are you talking about? Of course my setting are set up securely.

Surely all the settings are set by default to the secure option? I don't know what settings you are worried about but could you give some examples?

I wish Samsung would sort out a basic intuitive android version

I find stock Android as eg on Pixels (and probably lots of others) way easier to use than the Samsung version.