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Comment by yuppie_scum | Hacker News Reader

The iPhone 12 and newest iOS versions are a significant leap up. And Android has really stumbled lately.

And Android has really stumbled lately.

For those of us without Android devices, and who only know what's happening with Android through HN, can you elaborate on this a bit?

I’ve been an iPhone user for the last 5 generations and recently swapped it for a Google Pixel for a 5 day trip just as an experiment. If you substract off all the things that just work “differently vs better”, there are still many things that I found shocking with Android:

* 3rd party app (Charles Schwab) was not usuable to execute an options transaction. App usability bug.

* QR codes would not scan, but would scan fine on my gf’s iPhone. Hard to imagine a Google Pixel camera can’t see these well?

* Battery drain was way worse than iPhone. Had lots of anxiety about this

These are not just differences. These are tablestakes things that should just work without any education between Android vs. iPhone.

> * 3rd party app (Charles Schwab) was not usuable to execute an options transaction. App usability bug.

Seems like a Charles Schwab problem.

> * QR codes would not scan, but would scan fine on my gf’s iPhone. Hard to imagine a Google Pixel camera can’t see these well?

Wouldn't scan with the default camera app? A different camera app? Because the ability to read QR codes is an app function, not a camera function. Works fine on Samsung Android phones.

> * Battery drain was way worse than iPhone. Had lots of anxiety about this

Pixels have relatively small batteries. Which iPhone? Hardware makes a difference.

It is a 3rd party app compatibility problem. It is a glaring issue with a core user journey. This does not happen on iOS. 3rd party app compat is particularly bad on Android.

Default camera app would not scan.

Pixel 4 vs. iPhone 12 Pro

Also, your follow up questions sound exactly like the kind of questions an engineer who makes an Android phone would ask and not a product person who understands an average user and their expectations.

And? For better or worse Android is an open platform. It's the vast majority of phones world-wide, it's extremely functional and can be a very good experience depending somewhat on the handset maker.

Apple can control their quality to the degree they want, but it's also not an open platform and there's limited hardware choice.

I'll take Android any day, and most people I know do too.

Also, while we're talking about user experience, Google's cloud everything is far better than Apple's. Google services are amazing too.

For me its the fact that they have still not solved the update problem more than a decade later. All Android devices get 3 years updates max. While my 7+ year old iPad Air 2 is getting iPadOS 15 soon.

Google has had numerous proposed solutions for this but yet their own devices do not get more than 3 years updates.

Google excels at apps and web services where Apple fails. I still use the google services on my iphone because they have native apps on more platforms and their web versions are better while icloud web hardly has 10% of the features it should.

> Google has had numerous proposed solutions for this but yet their own devices do not get more than 3 years updates.

Aka solutions except paying for labor to support their devices longer.

Switched to iPhone from Android. The wearables game and integration makes Android a non-starter. I now have an M1 Mac + Apple Watch + Airpods Pro + iPhone + iPad and this is a way better technological ensemble than the Intel Mac / Linux Desktop + Samsung Watch + Jabra buds + Pixel 5 + iPad solution I had previously.

The only exception is that I preferred the fingerprint reader to the Face Unlock and the Jabra buds stayed in my ear easier.

Android is fine, IMO keeps getting better. Not sure what OP is on about.

Android is way more usable to me simply because Google does web and cloud things much better than Apple.

I got an iPhone 12 after being a long-term Android user. The difference in quality is just phenomenal.

As if newest iOS was designed specifically for Android Switchers. The widget is what a lot of people are switching over.

In the Q&A session they also mention the highest number of people coming from Android in any June Quarter.

It is a new design, but not a big leap up.

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