|
I'm quite familiar with Macs and PCs, and have been for many years, but have usually been a PC guy. I switched over to an iPhone 7 after having a Android phone for the longest time, mostly out of curiosity. I knew it was a solid phone, and I wanted to try out the interconnected platform. Certainly some elements of it are nice, the hardware is solid, and I like that it all seems to have good design. But frankly I haven't really found it to be all that much simpler to use, because I'm not content with just using Apple services for everything, particularly when there's superior or less expensive alternatives. I still have to put in time to troubleshoot software and apps, or figure out connectivity issues, only the reason is typically trying to find a way to circumvent Apple's content blocks. rather than taming disparate software. And even when I'm helping friends who only use Apple products and don't have out-sized expectations, there's still mysterious problems that routinely crop up and require a lot of time to resolve. My girlfriend's phone, for example, has a variety of issues that seem to stem from an unsuccessful system restore after upgrading her phone, and the only solution appears to be completely wiping her account and starting over (which she of course doesn't want to do). And so while it has been interesting checking out the phone, and I'm fairly happy with it, I don't think that I'll be getting another Apple product any time soon. Apple has tried to present itself as being this beautiful walled garden, where everything within works beautifully and so you just never need to leave. But to my mind there's just too many good alternatives out there, and for the most part they seem to work together better and are easier to use. I was hoping to find some sort of compromise where I could have an Apple phone or laptop without embracing the entire product line, but frankly it just hasn't worked out that way. It's just been compromises the entire way: Either I purchase an expensive Apple device/app/service that typically has its own performance drawbacks, or I continue using my existing alternative but lose access to fundamental features due to Apple's restrictions. Apple's best product quality, to my mind, is in reducing complexity for the end-user. Customers don't really need to inform themselves about Apple products; they're all version-numbered, have acceptable performance, are generally expensive, and are compatible with other Apple products. This is great for someone that doesn't want to look at reviews, is able to pay a premium so that all of their devices are from Apple, and is willing to settle for whatever seems to work. But it doesn't seem like a very good fit for me. I'd been seriously considering both a Mac laptop and an iPad, but after my experience with my iPhone, I don't think that I will continue investing in Apple's ecosystem. Cakebaker posted:Interesting! Funny how it differs so much between regions. When I was living in Spain, essentially everyone used Whatsapp, and part of the reason was that SMS and voice minutes were not free. Most people I knew were using cheap data plans where you could get maybe one or two gigs of data, perhaps thirty minutes of calling, and a couple hundred text messages, for about $10-$15/month. Whatsapp has all the features that anyone could want, is service/hardware agnostic, is non-bloated and fairly secure, and lets you separate your contact groups so you can talk to your boss without bringing them into your Facebook network or whatever. Kaal fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Mar 8, 2017 |
#
¿
Mar 8, 2017 22:43
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 20:15 |
|
|
Boiled Water posted:Windows 10 forced updates are sort of a blessing in disguise. My maternal grandmother for example won't have to worry about ransomware when she's continually updated (I assume, I know very little of ransomware and grandmothers). Yeah forced updates are a good thing. They allow users to opt out, but intentionally make it more difficult to do that then to just let the updates go forward. You should have a good reason to not update, not just a feeling of not wanting to be bothered.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2017 16:18
|
|