genuinely curious as to why people choose that brand, are alternatives really that bad?

As I see it:

  • you pay for the hardware and software, which is fine, but
  • if you want to upgrade the OS, you have to pay once again, but this doesn't work if your hardware model stops being supported. Why pay for something with a limited life expectancy?
  • you cannot get rid of bloatware, only hide it
  • software is made specifically to be only compatible within their ecosystem. If you want to build up on existing software and hardware, you either stay in their system and keep paying them or start anew with a freer alternative.
  • I find it ridiculous they use fancy names to name even their support staff instead of just calling it support staff. Why make things complicated?
  • I don't understand why they use pentalobe screws instead or regular ones (with a line or a cross section)

Feel free to correct me, I may be misguided.

  • buh [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    if you want to upgrade the OS, you have to pay once again

    they haven't charged for OS updates since 2010 or so

    you cannot get rid of bloatware, only hide it

    fair but unlike bloatware on other operating systems, it's mostly unobtrusive (doesn't run in the background, at least to the point where performance is affected). also this seems to apply to many OEM android ROMs?

    they use pentalobe screws instead or regular ones

    also a fair criticism but it's not like I'm opening it every day (some apple devices I've owned I never had to open) and you can get screwdrivers for like $5 if you really need one

    anyways I have an iPhone and a macbook pro. the iPhone I like because the overall experience feels "smoother" even though some of the higher end androids might have better specs on paper and might be a little faster on benchmarks. idk I know this sounds stupid as fuck but it might just be way things are animated and the overall visual design, I just find it less annoying to use. at this point the most concrete advantages android has are the real file browser and sideloading, but I personally don't need those. I last used an android in 2021-2022 and almost never used them

    the macbook I bought because my stupid job only allows remote work if you provide your own hardware, and at the time they started allowing remote work, I was working on an iOS app. I was a mac user a long time before, so I was excited about "returning" but honestly I found it underwhelming, mostly because it still has the problem that caused me to switch to PC in the first place - poor compatibility with mainstream software. the one nice thing about macbooks (or at least the specific one I got, the M1 pro) is that they're super quiet compared to windows laptops, the loudest it gets is on the level of the average windows laptop at idle. also they have better touchpads, though touchpads in general are bad. I don't hate it but I don't think I'll be buying another one again. If I have to get a mac for iOS development or something in the far future I'll just get the cheapest secondhand mac mini suitable for the job.