Smart Phones - 2023 edition

[Edward64]

Independence Day! (Jan 29). Finally moved all 4 of us off T-Mobile Essentials plan 4 x $160. Now, at GoogleFi for approx 4 x $80 + tax. A small hiccup with my wife but the transition was relatively painless.

There was no compelling reason to stay with T-Mobile. I would need to move up the tier plans to get any nice benefits like trade-in. So, for the basics stuff (and international), GoogleFi will suffice.

Just a PSA. We are now paying the monthly cell service with a credit card that has cell phone protection. A nice freebie that I don't think everyone thinks about, may be worthwhile to check your credit card benefits.

Cell phone protection

Protect your cell phone every time you pay your bill with your Venture X card. If it’s stolen or damaged, you’ll get reimbursed up to $800.

[Edward64]

What Jay gives (3 rate decreases still planned this year), the Justice takes away.

The massive lawsuit against one of the world’s largest companies claims Apple is breaking the law by carefully curating its app store and customer experience, designed to lure customers in and keep them buying Apple products and services – to the exclusion of competitors.

I sure hope Apple wins this one. I think there is plenty of healthy competition for all Apple equivalent products. I've been replacing my Apple standalone stock for NVidia, I sold some more today. It's going to be a long torturous fight.

But Apple Pay is the only way iPhone owners can pay for stuff using that technology on an iPhone. Apple, citing security reasons, doesn’t allow third-party apps to access the chip that allows for iPhones to make mobile payments. It also could entice some customers to stick with iPhones when they’d otherwise switch to a competitor, the lawsuit alleges.

I'm not convinced ApplePay is the reason that digital wallets have not taken off. In some countries in Asia G-Pay (not same as Google Pay) have taken off. China has their equivalents.

Unless they can show ApplePay has unfairly restricted Google Pay (and others), I'm calling BS on this.

When those messages get sent to people with Android phones, they appear grainy, they can be slow to load, and they can miss out on key features like emoji responses, editing functionality and end-to-end encryption. The dreaded “green bubbles” that mark Android users within iMessage – and particularly the lower-quality performance – are illegal, the Justice Department alleges.

iMessage? Use WhatsApp. Banks 2FA still sends things to iMessage, maybe there needs to be some additional standards to have vendors send 2FA & stuff to iMessage, WhatsApp etc.

The only way to get apps on an iPhone is through Apple’s proprietary app store. Apple has long claimed that its approach to maintaining what apps can and cannot be used on an iPhone helps customers. It prevents spam and harmful apps, Apple says.

It forces apps into Apple’s onerous limitations and expensive 30% commissions, the Justice Department argues. And it limits competition.

I can see reducing some fees like for 3rd party apps, but yeah I want the Apple oversight over potential junk apps.

[sovereignstar v2]

Lol, yeah Apple people love to be asked to use apps like Signal and WhatsApp so you can actually see the pictures they send you from their iPhones

[Edward64]

Plenty of viable, robust & secure alternatives.

[Ksyrup]

I hate Apple products generally because they force you to stay in their ecosystem, and I think it sucks that they purposely make the videos the rest of my family sends me look shitty (and basically, unwatchable) to try to get me to buy an iPhone. So, I don't really have an opinion on the legal merits of this case, but I hope Apple loses on general principle.

[Edward64]

Why don't you move to WhatsApp or equivalent?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I hate Apple products generally because they force you to stay in their ecosystem, and I think it sucks that they purposely make the videos the rest of my family sends me look shitty (and basically, unwatchable) to try to get me to buy an iPhone. So, I don't really have an opinion on the legal merits of this case, but I hope Apple loses on general principle.

Ditto. I have said this before, but I would love to throw the Iphone I have to use for work in the river. I hear people being so loyal to that piece of junk and feel like they have been brainwashed somehow.

[Ksyrup]

I have WhatsApp, only because a hotel I was staying at required it for notification of when our room was ready. Outside of that single use, I've never even looked at it. I use Textra, which I like.

I'm assuming WhatsApp would require everyone, not just me, to be on it? That's a no go.

[sovereignstar v2]

Yes, they'd all need it which is the problem. I use Signal to send photos and videos back and forth between family members (who have fucking iPhones) and my sister will never check her Signal messages. This basically means we barely communicate. Otherwise, people will forget to send their photos with Signal, which is super annoying because the quality is terrible and it means I either have to remind them for the 29th time to use Signal or bite my tongue

[Edward64]

FWIW.

WhatApp is #1.

Most popular messaging apps 2024 | Statista

Access Denied

FWIW #2

Get with the revolution!

At the time the IBM PC was the standard in offices and in many homes as well. The idea was to “break” from the thinking that a PC was the only way to do work, and the Apple Macintosh would allow people to do more while not being locked into standard thinking

They don't need to remake it but it would be great if they enhanced it to 1080p so it's less blocky.

[Schmidty]

I’m just comfortable with iOS. Believe it or not, I never even had a smartphone until 2020. I had lived so far from cellphone range in both Washington and California that there was no point. So iPhones and iPads are all I’ve ever had. Maybe if I could transfer the apps that I’ve purchased over to Galaxy, I would at least try it out. But I can’t, so I won’t.

[Ksyrup]

I'm just the opposite. Not only do I appreciate the freedom of the Android world, but I'm too deep into it to want to learn the Apple system even if I didn't already hate it. I'm coming from a place of ignorance, but all I've seen over the years is my family have major problems transferring information to and from their phones.

You can't just hook up an iPhone to a PC and use File Explorer to easily drag and drop any kind of file (although I suppose they make it possible if you have Apple devices!). It's just stupid and unnecessary. I still recall that smug fuck from Apple answering a guy's question about why he can't share videos with friends on non-iPhones without them being grainy, and his answer was, "They should buy an iPhone." I would have told him to go fuck himself.

As far as WhatsApp, it requires buy-in from everybody in my family/friend circle, not just me. Not happening.

[Edward64]

When I think of monopoly, I think of AT&T back in the 80s. That sucker owned (seemingly) telco and the equipment also. There weren't many/viable alternatives.

(I remember thinking don't break it up, there'll be less efficient research, innovation etc. Little did I understand competition and the innovation that brings).

Speaking as a layman, it seems there is plenty of competition nowadays for all the big Apple products. If Apple owned 80% of the world market, sure. If Apple owned 80% of the US market, sure. But its approx 60-40 right now, and that seems pretty healthy to me.

https://backlinko.com/iphone-vs-android-statistics


Google search/ads seems to be the real monopoly. I know that's in the process, hope something happens there.

[Ksyrup]

Like I said, I don't really care much about the legal argument. Just at first blush, it definitely seems to be a stretch. I just want to see them taken down a notch because they've purposely made my life a little more inconvenient simply because I refuse to buy their products.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Like I said, I don't really care much about the legal argument. Just at first blush, it definitely seems to be a stretch. I just want to see them taken down a notch because they've purposely made my life a little more inconvenient simply because I refuse to buy their products.

I don't know if this is just a BS concern but I don't think I can trust any non-AAA apps on Android. I'd be worried about using the Fidelity, eTrade, Charles Schwab apps on Android because of malware lurking around in the backgammon or chess game I downloaded.

I know malware, virus hits Apple too. But it seems ways too common on the Android platform. Am I wrong here?

[Ksyrup]

I don't know. I've used nothing but Android since I gave up my firm-issued Blackberry so many years ago I don't remember and never had an issue.

[Edward64]

Changed my Apple password this morning. Apple warned me about someone in China trying to access my Apple account. I hope karma catches up with them.

[Ksyrup]

Here's a perfect example of why I could never use an iPhone. I'm seeing multiple articles touting a "feature" that is likely coming to iOS 18 - home screen customization including such amazing innovations as blank spaces, columns and even - gasp! - rows between icons! WTF?

[Edward64]

Yeah, I concede that point.

I roll my eyes when I see an article about new iOS features that I think should be a given or nothing to brag about.

Thinking back about my IT implementations. After initial implementation, we would generally do a 2nd phase of stuff like 4-6 months after. We didn't tout the small things.