Jumping ship from Android?

[aisle9]

The short version is that Android Auto is a steaming pile of crap right now, at least as far as integration with my Mazda3 goes, and my Pixel 2 is starting to show some age anyway. I've got roughly $500 in credit sitting on my Amazon account, so the 128GB iPhone 11 Pro is looking pretty sexy right now, but I have never used an iPhone before (aside from borrowing someone else's phone to make a call, etc) and am greatly concerned about what I'm losing from Android in terms of customization, ability to block ads and a frickin' app drawer rather than having icons puked all over my main screen. Those of you who've made the Android to iOS switch, what do you miss most about Android, what do you like most about iOS, and would you do it again? Any help is appreciated.

[Suika]

I switched to iOS for a couple years back with the iPhone 7 Plus and ended up having enough issues with iOS that I wouldn't be able to go back today.

 

My iOS experience was surprisingly buggy, and there was no feedback from the operating system to indicate anything was wrong, despite a lot of things being wrong. Apps crashed but kicked me to the home screen without any sort of notification, so half the time I was confused as to whether or not the app even crashed or if I had clicked the home button. The homescreen crashed at least once a day, kicking me into the lockscreen and forcing me to wait a few seconds before I can put my passcode back in. There was a period for a month or two where, if I went to go enable WiFi hotspot, my phone would straight up crash and reboot, and I'd have to try enabling WiFi hotspot again and hoping for a different result.

 

File management has proven to be especially important to me, since I only stream half of my music and keep everything else locally, and iOS didn't offer any flexibility in this. Supposedly it has some options now, but I'd still have to import my library to iTunes and have everything sync to get my music on my phone.

 

Not having an app drawer didn't bother me as much as some people suggest it does for them, since I just did that typical iOS user thing and put all of the irremovable Apple provided trash in a folder on a different screen. I also typically have way fewer apps than other people.

 

Google apps are better on Android, go figure, but a good amount of my screen time is spent in Google apps.

 

The lightning port fills up with dust and dirt way faster than any Type-C port I've used, though this is a minor complaint since a small flat head fixed that issue within five minutes. It is worth knowing about though since I know people who've gone and replaced their ports and batteries because of this.

 

Do I recommend an iPhone? Not really, I don't think it's worth glorifying over a good Android device, but I'm not going to say it's worse and never worth considering. I'm glad I got my iOS fix but I don't think I'll be doing it again for a couple more years.

[dizmo]

Are you sure the Apple Auto is any better? I'd check that before switching.

I too have been in the same boat if I'm honest, considering switching over to Apple. I just can't do it until they have an app drawer.

If they lose the notch on the next phone, I might consider it though.

[aisle9]

9 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Are you sure the Apple Auto is any better? I'd check that before switching.

I too have been in the same boat if I'm honest, considering switching over to Apple. I just can't do it until they have an app drawer.

If they lose the notch on the next phone, I might consider it though.

CarPlay is supposed to be significantly better. Honestly, it's as much Mazda's integration as it is Android Auto's terrible optimization. It's about time to think about getting a new phone anyway, what with my Pixel 2's battery starting to show some real wear, and a phone is a lot cheaper than a car...

 

But seriously, it randomly disconnects itself when connected via USB. The port is clean and the OEM cable was in use. It has the same issue with cheapo Amazon cables. My all-time favorite trick was when I turned the car off with music still playing, and when I turned the car back on, the system decided that the music was my navigation sound. On a couple of occasions when this happened, the music kept playing at terrible low-fi quality and would not turn off. On another more amusing one, whenever Waze wanted me to turn, I would hear a few seconds of The Struts, then back to silence again. And it doesn't stop even if you disconnect the phone, stop the music then plug it back in. You have to disconnect the phone, restart it, then plug it back in. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so annoying. I don't know how or why the integration (or Android Auto itself) is so bad, but I'm rapidly running out of patience for it. I might do something nutty like buy an iPhone 6 or 7 on the cheap to test it out and see how I like it, then decide whether to stay with iOS or go back to Android.

 

The lack of an app drawer bothers me. The notch really doesn't for some reason.

[steelo]

1 hour ago, aisle9 said:

The short version is that Android Auto is a steaming pile of crap right now, at least as far as integration with my Mazda3 goes, and my Pixel 2 is starting to show some age anyway. I've got roughly $500 in credit sitting on my Amazon account, so the 128GB iPhone 11 Pro is looking pretty sexy right now, but I have never used an iPhone before (aside from borrowing someone else's phone to make a call, etc) and am greatly concerned about what I'm losing from Android in terms of customization, ability to block ads and a frickin' app drawer rather than having icons puked all over my main screen. Those of you who've made the Android to iOS switch, what do you miss most about Android, what do you like most about iOS, and would you do it again? Any help is appreciated.

I use android auto in my volkswagen and so far it's worked seamlessly. My wife has an iphone 11 and it often won't connect.

[dizmo]

I don't think you'd really have much of a problem switching to Apple...just be a pain to ever switch back if you wanted to.

Might as well, if it's going to work better in your car and you travel in it enough that it'll make an impact on your life.

Personally I'd just connect to the stereo via an Aux cable and have a phone holder for nav.

[Donut417]

9 hours ago, aisle9 said:

The short version is that Android Auto is a steaming pile of crap right now, at least as far as integration with my Mazda3 goes, and my Pixel 2 is starting to show some age anyway. I've got roughly $500 in credit sitting on my Amazon account, so the 128GB iPhone 11 Pro is looking pretty sexy right now, but I have never used an iPhone before (aside from borrowing someone else's phone to make a call, etc) and am greatly concerned about what I'm losing from Android in terms of customization, ability to block ads and a frickin' app drawer rather than having icons puked all over my main screen. Those of you who've made the Android to iOS switch, what do you miss most about Android, what do you like most about iOS, and would you do it again? Any help is appreciated.

 Funny you should say that about Android Auto. I ended up deciding to switch to iPhone partly because of that. I have the XR, and honestly I like the device. I like Apple Car Play, I like iTunes and stuff just works. I remember that will my Comcast email it would work about 1/3 of the time on the default Android mail app, works fine on iOS. I dont miss Android all that much. I do miss the WiFI analyzer app and I havent found one to replace it yet. But its been good. 

[Guest]

On 10/10/2019 at 1:10 PM, aisle9 said:

The short version is that Android Auto is a steaming pile of crap right now, at least as far as integration with my Mazda3 goes, and my Pixel 2 is starting to show some age anyway. I've got roughly $500 in credit sitting on my Amazon account, so the 128GB iPhone 11 Pro is looking pretty sexy right now, but I have never used an iPhone before (aside from borrowing someone else's phone to make a call, etc) and am greatly concerned about what I'm losing from Android in terms of customization, ability to block ads and a frickin' app drawer rather than having icons puked all over my main screen. Those of you who've made the Android to iOS switch, what do you miss most about Android, what do you like most about iOS, and would you do it again? Any help is appreciated.

My two cents, since I did go from Android to Apple and then back to Android. It was the little things that bugged me. If I wanted to move an icon away from the rest on the homescreen for example, it wouldn't let me. Even in 2019 I'm told that you still cannot do this seemingly simple thing. I can change my wallpaper but not apply themes or icon packs to make the phone more personable (this may be possible now, I used an iPhone 5). I can't dive into something like 'Developer Options' to further tweak certain aspects of the phone. I felt like most of the time I was bowling with the bumper rails on, like I was being treated like a child and everything had to be child proof and padded so I didn't hurt myself exploring.

 

On the plus side, things like Messages worked flawlessly and frankly Android can't touch Apple in that regard; everything just works and is actually quite intuitive. And their software, while not the greatest, at least gets support for a long time. But for me, being able to tweak and customize were too important to me so I switched back. To your point on Android Auto, I just started using it and it's pretty awesome. The problem seems to stem from a lack of standardization by auto makers and their interface with the infotainment centers; the app itself seems great, though I have a Pixel so perhaps that influences it. Hope this helps! 

[Commodus]

On 10/10/2019 at 1:10 PM, aisle9 said:

The short version is that Android Auto is a steaming pile of crap right now, at least as far as integration with my Mazda3 goes, and my Pixel 2 is starting to show some age anyway. I've got roughly $500 in credit sitting on my Amazon account, so the 128GB iPhone 11 Pro is looking pretty sexy right now, but I have never used an iPhone before (aside from borrowing someone else's phone to make a call, etc) and am greatly concerned about what I'm losing from Android in terms of customization, ability to block ads and a frickin' app drawer rather than having icons puked all over my main screen. Those of you who've made the Android to iOS switch, what do you miss most about Android, what do you like most about iOS, and would you do it again? Any help is appreciated.

 

I use both (iPhone as a daily driver, Android on the side) and I'd say it's worth a leap if you're not happy.  One note: you can block ads on iOS, there's just a different approach to it.  The trick, in a nutshell, is to relax.

 

While I do appreciate the customization and out-of-the-way app drawer of Android, I also think there's a certain Zen appeal to the directness of iOS: it's a reminder that the interface is there to help you launch apps and get things done, not to stare lovingly at your home screen arrangement.  In other words, relax.

 

There are a number of things I appreciate about iOS.  I like that it's not just more fluid and responsive, but that it stays that way for a long time (it irks me that many Android phones suffer from "rot" that slows them down after several months).  I like that you get OS updates for four to five years, not just two to three, and that you get every update immediately instead of months later (or not at all).  Apps tend to arrive first on iOS, or get features there first; as you've noticed, cars and other devices tend to play nicer with it.  You don't realize just how much the iPhone is the "default" phone (that is, it gets higher priority) until you've used both platforms.

 

There are also tie-ins that I appreciate if you go deeper into the ecosystem, such as Mac syncing (SMS texts and web links in particular) and the Apple Watch, but I wouldn't expect you to jump in that far unless you're enamoured with the iPhone.