I was reporting on Google’s quiet resurgence in the AI market (story up later and I’ll post here tomorrow) and realised that I hadn’t fully immersed myself in the Android ecosystem in more than 2 years. So my challenge, for objectivity’s sake, is to live with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 as my daily for at least a month.
Moving my SIM over today drew the concern of my wife who, little to my knowledge, has been quietly tracking me using Find My on iPhone (we’re an iPhone family because I love them and don’t want them to suffer or struggle ). Besides for that, Apple released the Passwords app for Windows which bridged the critical password management gap i had in my personal device ecosystem - but there exists no such app for Android so i have to manually sign in to services, like an animal.
Banking is easy - i wear a fitbit as my main watch (it is still the best sleep tracker) and that has Google Wallet baked in. But the anxiety I am feeling is real and strange. In over a decade of gadget testing i prided myself on being platform agnostic. And then I got lazy.
I am an Android user, and I say that with a bit of nostalgic loyalty but also slightly begrudgingly. I am fully in the samsung ecosystem, with Samsung smartphone, earbuds and smartwatch. I couldn’t care less about which operating system is better, as long as it works, I’m happy, but I do envy the camera and Find My services on Apple (I’m an eldest child, Find My was made for me and my obsessive need to stalk my family). Am I happy with Android? Yes. Would I switch to Apple? Also yes, but only if it was in the same price range as my Samsung products.
You’re not alone. I am all the way in on the Apple ecosystem and now hate Apple (recently spent R900 on a Mac charger because it was going to take six weeks to fix the port on a Mac that was still under warranty) and, as a result, myself.
I may make the switch to Android when I’m next faced with investing in a new eye-wateringly expensive iPhone, but what will I do when my notes don’t sync across three devices…? Laziness (or is it ease?) comes at a high price.
Stay strong. Spent some time on the 16e and it is a helluva good device if you aren’t spoiled by the dynamic Island. The price difference is non existent for the same features and quality - then it comes down to preference.
I am in principle an Android stan, simply based on the idea that you can more or less do what you want with it eg run things that aren’t allowed by Apple OS. In practice i do nothing on my phone except scroll reddit and field sales calls, so the point is moot.
Poll is missing the option for “Feature phone, keep these spy devices away from me” I wish I didn’t care about my data privacy, then I’d be able to enjoy all the fun features, but alas I couldn’t sleep at night knowing what I do about how much data is being slurped and how that will in future affect my insurance premiums, loan applications, medical aid claims, etc.
Happy for them to take my data if they’re at least giving me something useful in return. Curious to know which feature phone you’re running - precious few that are WhatsApp compatible… unless you are one of the lucky few who can fully sidestep that life???
Update: will the Android Auto users please tell me how to make WhatsApp calls without initiating it on the phone??? Also, I will never accept any Siri slander again because what even is Google Assistant trying to do on Android Auto?
For a year I used a tiny feature phone I bought at a Chinese shop for like R350 , but now I’m using an Android where I disabled as much stuff as I could (at least Android lets you do this). I don’t use WhatsApp at all, I opt out of anything requiring use of WhatsApp/Facebook/etc.
I haven’t looked at the new phone market for a couple of years now so I’m a bit out of the loop.
If you’re particularly worried about spyware you can also replace the GooglePlay store with an open alternative - though I haven’t tried this yet.
Yea I have a LineageOS device from 2019, been keeping an eye out for something I can upgrade to, but so far have come up short (been looking through the sites you mentioned).
If my phone were to irrecoverably break today I would look into getting a fairphone (unfortunately not straightforward in SA) as they offer a fully open source de-Googlified version OOTB
I imported a PinePhone Pro which I am currently trying out as my daily phone, so now I would tick “Linux mobile phone” as an option in the poll, although not recommended for non-technical users at all. My second option is a Nokia which I de-googled (it’s easier to do on Nokia, they have the least bloatware).
It hurt my soul when KaiOS lost WhatsApp support. Also, Samsung’s move to lock down the bootloader is an immediate red flag for me re the future of high-end Android devices. But I am very happy to know that there are proper gadget heads in the DM community - expect more depth to the tech reporting
An update to experience so far: a new firmware update to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 somehow decided to make “zoom to fill” the default when watching full screen videos on youtube. This is just one of many Google app - let’s call them inconsistencies - that i have experienced when switching between the cover screen and the main screen. There seems to be a jagged line between where Google software stops and Samsung’s OneUI overbearingly begins.
). Besides for that, Apple released the Passwords app for Windows which bridged the critical password management gap i had in my personal device ecosystem - but there exists no such app for Android 
so i have to manually sign in to services, like an animal.
I wish I didn’t care about my data privacy, then I’d be able to enjoy all the fun features, but alas I couldn’t sleep at night knowing what I do about how much data is being slurped and how that will in future affect my insurance premiums, loan applications, medical aid claims, etc.
, but now I’m using an Android where I disabled as much stuff as I could (at least Android lets you do this). I don’t use WhatsApp at all, I opt out of anything requiring use of WhatsApp/Facebook/etc.