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iPhone vs Android

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This Apple/Android dilemma might be what I would call a wicked problem. No right or wrong, just better or worse.

Wicked problem1

In planning and policy, a wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fixed, where there is no single solution to the problem; and "wicked" denotes resistance to resolution, rather than evil. Another definition is "a problem whose social complexity means that it has no determinable stopping point". Moreover, because of The p...

Tom

I am late to this thread and should first declare that I am an all Apple household.

My first mobile phone was a Motorola flip phone in about 1994. It worked great but didn’t do much other than be a phone. That is probably why it worked so well. I then had a Nokia phone which was smaller, did slightly more and which I was very pleased with. After that it was all downhill with my final Nokia being a frustrating dud which tried to do lots but didn’t actually do phone calls or texts very well at all. I became very frustrated by it and was hanging out to try Apples first iPhone released in Australia. I really just wanted simplicity and a phone that just works. I got that simplicity but I also got a whole bunch of cheap or often free apps that let me do even more. iPhones started out expensive but worth it due to the poor competition. Then android came out with their versions and cheaper prices. I had no desire to switch because my iPhone fit in so well with my other Apple devices and prices actually came down for a while there.

I am now on about my fifth iphone(X-R). I am very happy with the way it works, have 280 apps installed and use it for calls, texts, photos, camera, video camera, price checking on the fly, keeping track of important information and lots of apps for my work.(this list is not exhaustive).

My biggest problem with the current iPhones is cost. They are pricing themselves out of reach. I don’t mind paying for quality if it lasts well but I do mind paying more than $Au1,000 for a phone. I need the larger storage so the older models and cheaper models were not an option. I also really wanted a smaller phone but the X-R does not meet that need. It only just fits in my slot in my handbag and is not as comfortable in my hand. Having said that I find that I am doing more on the phone due to the bigger screen and an upgrade to my data plan. This phone is going to have to last because it cost too much. Not happy with the direction Apple is going in terms of design and cost. I think their sales and share price should teach them to revise their strategy.

Currently I don’t have connectivity with any of my devices for my . I will definitely insist on this with my next set of aids but that could be a while as these Phonak V90s have been working well. I would prefer the full feature set but may have to settle for less. The less I get the less I will be willing to pay.

Would I ever switch to Android? Never say never but seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. It all depends on ease of use and cost.

@Psocoptera said:

This phone is going to have to last because it cost too much.

Don’t know about Australia but in the U.S. you can get your battery replaced at an Apple Store while you wait (about an hour) for something like $80 USD. So that might help you get quite a few years out of your iPhone. Don’t know about other Android phones but Samsung has a similar deal in the U.S. with UbreakIfix stores, also about the same price, but the store that I called (for future reference) told me that they’d want me to leave the phone and come back another day.

In the past Apple made you give in your iPhone and you got a sort of refurbished one with a new battery which I did not like. Now they actually replace the battery on site. The price here just went from $Au 39 to 75-105 at the end of December. I usually hand my old phone to my daughter but this will probably be the last time I do that. They have good trade value if they don’t get too old and if the battery is good. I usually get 2-3 years use then she uses the phone until I get another one so up to 6 years max. She is starting University soon so my old iPhone SE replaces the 5S and should last her with maybe a battery change in a year or so. Although, a creative music degree may put iPhones out of her reach for a while.

Edited

I got my first just a month ago so I don’t have any other HA’s to compare. My phone is Android Google Pixel 3 XL. My HA is Phonak Audeo Marvel M90 rechargeable. I couldn’t be more pleased with how everything is working. I have a pronounced high frequency loss and it’s a revelation to hear the world again as it should sound.

I was apprehensive about rechargeable in such a small HA, but I’ve yet to have less than 40% battery at the end of the day and that is with several hours of streaming music from my Google Play Music subscription. Phonak says the battery should be good for 6 years. Battery technology certainly has come a long way.

Taking phone calls hands-free through my HA is a pleasure. People I talk with tell me I sound good just as if I’m talking directly in to my phone and there is no “talking in a cave” sound.

AutoSense OS 3.0 is working well. I never have a problem in any environment with speech or music. Right now I have 4 programs installed, AutoSense 3.0, Speech in loud noise, Music, and Bluetooth Streaming. I’ve tried all the programs, but the AutoSense 3.0 seems to work the best and seems to always know what I should be using.

I can now understand speech in groups, in restaurant settings, and I never accuse my wife of mumbling anymore! :wink:

I love streaming my music and the fidelity rivals any headset I’ve ever owned. I’m really delighted with being able to listen anywhere, anytime I want since my HA’s and my phone are always there! :slight_smile:

That’s my experience so far with my Android Pixel 3 XL phone and my Phonak Audeo Marvel M90 HA after just a month.

Edited

Just to inject some controversy here on the iPhone vs. Android. Product durability has not been much discussed and Apple overall has a very well-deserved reputation for the sterling quality of its products by and large.

HOWEVER, the wife a few months back got an iPhone XS Max, the most expensive version with 512 Gb storage, something like $1,300. Her 4th iPhone and she’s loved every one. But for no apparent reason, the sapphire lens cover over her rear camera lenses has cracked. Fortunately none of the cracks yet extend across the lens area itself. She’s discovered lots of other iPhone X and later users have experienced this problem. Went to an Apple Store and the official message is: “Sorry! Not covered under warranty. $600 to replace.” And the replacement will just be another phone with a sapphire lens cover! The wife has joined all sorts of Apple online forums to complain. On one of the online forums, an Apple employee comments that sapphire is used as it’s tremendously scratch-resistant, more so than the best Corning Gorilla Glass (at least up to the point that Apple decided to go with sapphire instead of Gorilla Glass) but, Yep!, sapphire is very brittle." Wife says that in online forums no one knows why their lens cover cracked (some feel extreme sudden changes in temperature might have caused it).

So go with iPhone. You may get tremendous MFI connectivity but you also may be buying an expensive design mistake that Apple is not currently owing up to and may ruin the quality of your iPhone photographs if the cracks spread to the parts of the cover over the rear lenses. Android phones are hardly immune to production and design problems but any phone manufacturer producing a premium super-expensive phone should take ownership of its design problems and make them right, at least for future versions of its phone.

Edit_Update: Here’s an article from May, 2018 on the iPhone X and “lensgate.”

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lensgate-is-the-iPhone-X-camera-lens-cover-susceptible-to-cracking-in-normal-use.305892.0.html2

My wife probably played a part in her iPhone XS Max problem. She always just puts her iPhone in her purse in a standard body case with the rear lens area open. I explained to her that even though she just thinks she is gently picking up her purse, any pointy object, like keys in a case, in the purse can generate tremendous pressure if all the “gentle” force of her grip is transferred to the iPhone lens cover through a small area contact. Besides having a body case, when I am traveling with one of my phones, I always put them in a holster case that has stiff plastic inserts on either side of the phone body to prevent transfer of pressure to a small surface area on the phone. So I’d highly recommend that anyone use that sort of case to protect glass or sapphire surfaces of a phone, iPhone or Android.

The article that I cite in the link above quotes a Corning Glass executive (who has a vested interest) stating that sapphire is 2.5x more likely to crack under pressure than Corning Gorilla Glass (but admits that sapphire is highly resistant to scratching).

To the original poster:
You make very good points in support of your choice of an Android phone over an iPhone, and I want you to know that you are not alone.
Just so you know, I have owned Macs since their introduction in 1984 and I am typing this on a MacBook Pro and before I retired, I ran my entire office on networked Macs; I have always admired and pretty much idolized Steve Jobs and his contributions to modern electronic devices; and I am an Apple shareholder; BUT when it comes to smartphones, I was an early adopter of non-Apple products starting with the Handspring, Palm, etc. and I have owned and used ONLY Android cell phones since their introduction and will probably NEVER switch to an iPhone despite the fact that I wear hearing aids, and I am perfectly content to wait until Android is able to collaborate in providing decent synchronization to the hearing aid market.
The simple reason is that: 1) I hate the iOS operating system which is so unMaclike and 2) the difference in price between an iPhone and an Android phone is ridiculous!; and 3) I use an app on my Android phone which automatically turns on the speaker for all incoming and outgoing calls so that I have no trouble hearing and talking through my hearing aids into my Android phone.
Just so you know you are not alone.

In reply to @NateS

Mac OS is slowly getting more iOS features and I have to say it has not harmed the Mac OS. I am also a Mac fan from the beginning but could not wait to get my first iPhone. Finally a smartphone which actually worked well as a phone. Having an iPhone with a Mac and an iPad means that they all play nicely together. I really enjoy that.

In reply to @jim_lewis

My sister had one of her glass patio doors crack very loudly in the middle of the night. The noise woke them. There was no evidence of outside damage eg. Bird strike. The glass was replaced with a different type with lower incidence of spontaneous cracking.

I’m not sure BGR (Boy Genius Report) is a credible site. Is this being reported anywhere else?

CNET.com is also reporting this as information coming from International Computer Science Institute. There is a video made by the author of the column, Laura Hautala, but it is vague enough to engender distrust for me. The International Computer Science Institute web site doesn’t give any information other than a reference to Laura Hautala’s CNET column and her video. I find this somewhat curious. I’m waiting to see if others pick up on this report.

Please please always ask the questions. With the scourge of fake news we’re suffering in this world these days…we…must…corroborate.
Music to my not-100% ears.

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