Deuts Log

The Omniverse: Unveiling the endless tapestry of topics.

Yet another iPhone vs. Android post

Posted on Nov 4, 2022

Abrar Al-Heeti over at CNET discusses why she’s now Team Apple and never going back.

If I were to summarize her reasoning for doing so, the major reason is iMessage and Airdrop. The rest are just aesthetics.

iMessage

I don’t have an iPhone right now, but who texts nowadays anyway? If you look closely at my messages app, they’re mostly made up of OTPs and marketing messages. Not much from real contacts.

Where I’m from and where I work, messaging is usually done via Viber and Facebook Messenger. So I’ll just say damn to those who insist on iMessage.

Moreover, I think the Android messages app has a more robust anti-spam capability than the iPhone. By the way, did you know that you can’t change the default SMS app in the iPhone?

Airdrop

Who needs original quality photos? They’re big in file size and you’re not printing them into billboards anyway. And if you really need it, there are alternatives other than Google Drive.

Indispensable on my Android

Dual Sim

Yes, there are dual-sim and e-Sim capable iPhones but you have to be very special to use one especially in the Philippines. Globe and Smart can only activate your e-Sim if you’re on a postpaid plan. You’ll need to procure yours from HongKong if you want a dual-sim iPhone. Almost every Android phone has dual-sim capability.

Torrenting apps

I don’t use my uTorrent app too often on my Android phone as I have a Qbittorrent hosted on a VPS, but I’m glad that it’s there when I need it.

Syncthing

Not on an iPhone. Period.

USB Type-C

This may change soon, but I’m leaving it here anyway. I can carry around with me just one charger for my laptop, tablet and smartphone.

Customizable Home Screen

This feature may become a time-waster sometimes, even a resource-hog, but the fact that I can move around app icons even to the bottom of the screen offers a lot of flexibility on how I want my phone to look each time I unlock it.

If you’re not too convinced, check out r/NovaLauncher and r/NiagaraLauncher for inspiration.

Expandable Storage

This feature probably becomes less attractive as built-in storage options become larger, but I’m still attracted to this option, and plays a role in my decision to stick to Android, at least for the foreseeable future.

Dual Accounts/Profile

I know apps like Facebook and Messenger have the capability to run multiple profiles in the same app, but I don’t think you can get notifications for them all.

With features like in the Samsung’s secret folder, you can essentially have two separate Viber accounts for example running, and you’ll get notifications from both accounts.