I Think I Hate Google More Than I Hate iPhones

[MistWolf]

Been going round and round trying to get my new Galaxy phone up and running. The problem is, Google won't let me access the stupid Gmail account they forced me to get when we got our first Galaxy Smart phones. Yes, I did the whole recovery thing and jumped through every hoop they put in front of me only to end with "We can't verify that account belongs to you". I've spent hours trying to get through to tech support attempting to resolve these issues. Just hung up on the young man with the "mommy says I'm special" speech pattern how told me he'd hang up on me because I used "offensive words. Twice".

"You find 'bullshit' to be offensive? So do I and I'm tired of getting it from a mealy mouth like you. You're useless." Stabbing the the phone screen is nowhere near as satisfying as slamming the phone down on the hook.

Those of you using iPhones, are they worth it? Do you gotta put up with advertisements, Google Nazi (might as well as get the Nazi reference out of the way right in the first post) type apps to download other apps? What are the upsides and the downsides?

My question is, do I hang on to my Android Galaxy S6 (keeping in mind that my S5 did everything I wanted a phone to do until it got busticated) or do I switch to ditch Google? Those of you who have used both, which phone are you least likely to slam down on the bench and work over with a one pound sledge?

Thank you

[Blades]

My personal phone is a Samsung S7, my work phone is an iPhone 6 but I use gmail and other google services on both platforms. I prefer my S7 because I like to tinker and control my phone; the iPhone controls itself and does what it wants. Because of security reasons a lot of people prefer the iPhone. I've had small glitches with both platforms but nothing that bricked them. Turn them off, back on, and both started working again. I don't have advertisements on either phone; I'm not sure what that is about, maybe an app you downloaded or bloatware? Good luck with your decision!

[HopetonBrown]

You forgot your password, Customer Service doesn't put up with coarse language so you want to buy an iPhone?

Doesn't sound like a Google specific problem.

[UNK]

Im the furtherest thing from a tech guy. I hate having to do adjustments settings whatever. I started on android switched to microsoft cause they were on clearance at walmart, i think i bought three of them which all got broken at work and am now on an apple 6 plus. Id take microsoft first and apple second and Ill never have a google phone again. Apple has been a worry free platform for me. But i dont ask a lot of a phone. Just call text and surfing.

[Darth_Uno]

I’ve used iPhones since the iPhone 4. Syncs everything through the cloud to my iPad. Never had a problem.

I’m hardly tech-savvy, I’m sure I’m barely using a fraction of the functions iOS is capable of. I’m not opposed to Android or anything else, but if it ain’t broke...

It’s like Glock. It ain’t that great, but it does what I want and I don’t have to think too hard about it.

[MistWolf]

You forgot your password, Customer Service doesn't put up with coarse language so you want to buy an iPhone?

Doesn't sound like a Google specific problem.

That's cuz youse got no proper sense propriety.

No, I don't want to get an iPhone. I want to get something easy to use. Something that I can get fixed without having Sprint telling me I have to call Google who tells me I have to call Samsung who tells me to call Sprint.

If it was just a matter of forgetting the password to my gmail account (that I didn't want in the first place but was forced to get so I could get a smart phone) the problem would be resolved. However, the password didn't work, the process to recover the password didn't work, the answer to the security question didn't work and giving them my phone number (which I had to give them to open the gmail account in the first place) didn't work. I just want my phone to work. After spending hours trying to get this issue resolved, I'm not gonna let some mealy mouth purse slap me because I told him I already jumped through all the bullshit hoops Google demanded of me and nothing of it worked. If switching to an iPhone will make my life easier, I'll entertain the idea. If not, then not.

[Inkwell 41]

Watching these guys carefully.

https://puri.sm

Between the Librem One service, and the Librem 5 phone, I'm very interested in seeing how well and how far these guys go.

[BigT]

Ive been iphone since iphone 3

Briefly flirted with a S7 and after three months bit down and bought another iphone because I was going to throw it out of a moving car window. On iphone XR now and it does exactly what I need. Im not a tech guy so like a simple device that doesn't require that I care how it works.

[Rex G]

I am not tech-ie. I was relatively late to get a mobile phone, and relatively late to adopt the “smart” phone concept. It was the first-generation iPad that won me over to the i-stuff. Not needing to update frequently, I finally added a second iPad when the Pro model arrived, which is good because I find laptops and computers annoying; the iPad Pro makes having a computer almost unnecessary. (A recent potential financial transaction, apparently, would have required an actual computer, had I chosen to exercise that option.)

The new OS for iPads will, apparently, make them even more able to replace computers.

As for iPhones, I have found the 7 and 7 Plus to be the sweet spot, for me, and will avoid updating to the newer ones as long as possible.

Having said all of that, I yearn for a tough-as-nails basic phone, something like a smaller version of my PD-issued Motorola portable radio in ruggedness, with a similar external battery pack. No touch screen, no flippy screen, just talk and perhaps very basic text. The Casio Brigade was a step in that direction, though it was a flip phone, but it became an evolutionary dead end.

Sprint annoyed me, repeatedly; I dumped them years ago, porting my number to Verizon. I had already been using both Verizon and Sprint, due to frequently traveling where one worked, and the other did not, but Verizon closed those gaps. I later added AT&T, porting my old Sprint number to AT&T. There are still places where I can get an AT&T signal, but not Verizon. Plus, AT&T still has local tech support, in at least some of their stores, whereas Verizon has dropped the local full-service store business model.

[farscott]

Google's Gmail security processes are arduous and I have been using Gmail since 2007. The security is not good; the procedures are just painful. I would suggest creating a new Gmail account on a PC and setting up your phone with that account. When you configure the Gmail account, use two-factor authentication and use an existing phone number and email for recovery options. That allows you back into the system when Google says that hackers in Romania accessed the account and force you to update passwords.

As for phone choices, I much prefer iPhone as I can easily get SW updates without waiting for the carrier to approve them, the phones just work, and I have been using them since 2010. I keep my Gmail account on my iPhone as well as on Chrome.

[MEH]

Just thinking out loud, what will happen if your AppleID doesn't work to get into your iphone? Will the process be just as arduous?

I started with Android as did my sons. My wife and daughters got iphones from the beginning. We are now an all iphone family. I use google apps on the iphone just fine. I love/hate both platforms but for compatibility with the rest of the family I'll likely be Apple for a long time. I think it's a pick your poison type decision.

[Grey]

Currently run a S8, I am going Apple for the next one. At least these guys aren't in the business of selling your data...yet...

[spinmove_]

I’ve been in the IT industry for 15 years and started out building my own PCs. When I made the switch from Blackberrys I went Android.

When the iPhone 6s came out I switched along with the rest of my immediate family and haven’t looked back. Both platforms have their pros and cons. I like to tinker to a degree, but at the end of the day I like the additional security, I’m fed up with Google’s horseshit, and I just need the damn phone to work. Add on top of the fact that they have the longest lifespans in the industry and make conservative changes to the UI and platform as a whole and I have very little reason to switch.

Yes Androids are cheaper and you can do almost everything you want with them. But you also are buying a new one every year or two (more expensive overall), are more vulnerable to security risks in general, and you have Google constantly leeching you for data.

I’ll probably continue to own an iPhone of some flavor and upgrade more conservatively from here on out until something like the Librem 5 becomes a stable platform and not just vaporware.


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[Duke]

You forgot your password, Customer Service doesn't put up with coarse language so you want to buy an iPhone?

Doesn't sound like a Google specific problem.

Concur

I’m amazed by the amount of people who still think acting like an ass is the way to get strangers to help you.

[Blades]

Just thinking out loud, what will happen if your AppleID doesn't work to get into your iphone? Will the process be just as arduous?


It is. We had problems at work with the iPhones and they all had to be factory reset to get them working properly again. AT&T couldn't help, iPhone couldn't help. But the icloud back-up did help.

[Mike C]

I’m sick of Apple, Microsoft, Google and everyone else, I’m holding out for a Purism Librem phone. I just hope that it works as it’s promised but still at this point I’m might just dump all this crap and go a Light Phone 2 or just downgrade to a stupid phone altogether. Double fuck Google, not that all of them don’t track and sell your info but they are detestable when it comes to privacy. Ditch them, Apple is too expensive for what it is but I can’t support Google and until something else shows up like the Librem 5 that works they are the only game in town.

[spinmove_]

I’m sick of Apple, Microsoft, Google and everyone else, I’m holding out for a Purism Librem phone. I just hope that it works as it’s promised but still at this point I’m might just dump all this crap and go a Light Phone 2 or just downgrade to a stupid phone altogether. Double fuck Google, not that all of them don’t track and sell your info but they are detestable when it comes to privacy. Ditch them, Apple is too expensive for what it is but I can’t support Google and until something else shows up like the Librem 5 that works they are the only game in town.

Given how long the lifespan and support the iPhone line gets, if cost is a concern, second-hand older iPhones that are still supported are a good way to go.

Oldest I’d go at this point would be an iPhone 7. I’d be more apt to go for an iPhone 8 though. Currently own an iPhone XS, and honestly, if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably just buy a used iPhone 8.


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[blues]

I'm not a high end user so my iPhone 5c serves my needs just fine. (Plus it was a freebie from Verizon at the time.)

[Chance]

Been going round and round trying to get my new Galaxy phone up and running. The problem is, Google won't let me access the stupid Gmail account they forced me to get when we got our first Galaxy Smart phones.

Have you considered just starting a new Gmail account?


Watching these guys carefully.

https://puri.sm

Between the Librem One service, and the Librem 5 phone, I'm very interested in seeing how well and how far these guys go.

I would avoid them for a few more years. I'm excited about their potential, but they're going to have zilch in terms of an ecosystem (not being either iOS or Android), and most of their privacy-preserving features are only going to work when you're communicating with other folks on Librems.

[Borderland]

You have your work cut out for you. I've been down that road with google.

https://www.howtogeek.com/304996/how-to-recover-your-forgotten-gmail-password/

Two things.

Keep a log of user names and passwords.

Set up another gmail account to recover information when you can't access one of them.

I've had 2 gmail accounts forever. One for personal stuff and one for work. We used goggle at work for off site data transfer. I sent everything to my dept account and my personal work account. I was afraid that my dept would either lose what I sent them or claim that I never sent it. Both of those things happened on a regular basis.

[dontshakepandas]

I don't think your issue really has anything to do with Android vs iPhone.

I've had several iPhones and several Android devices and at this point they are both so capable that choosing between them really comes down to preference or if you have several other Google or Apple devices in your home.

That said, I have been avoiding Samsung's version of Android since Google released their Pixel line of phones. Android gets a reputation as being complicated and hard to use, but most of that comes from the skins that manufacturers put on top of the operating system. The Pixel line doesn't have this, and has a very simplistic user experience that is similar to that of IOS.

[JAD]

I would love to dump apple; they're vigorously opposed to much of what I stand for. The trouble is that so is everybody else. When I can get an ethically clean phone served by an ethically clean carrier, I might go for it.

[LtDave]

When I made the transition to smart phones, I went with Android devices. I had a Google phone and later a Motorola. Both phones would lock up from time to time and start to do all sorts of strange stuff that wouldn't stop until the phone was turned off. I was also wary of all the apps that insisted on access to my data at all times, even when the app was not in use. I finally ditched the Android phones for an iPhone 5s and haven't looked back since. The iPhones have been trouble free and share data with my Macs and iPad. I'm currently using an iPhone 8 and will likely upgrade when the new models come out later this year. I've been a Mac user since the 1980's and initially went with Android to avoid having all my eggs in one basket.

[Borderland]

What's going to happen when the price of an iphone jumps 25%?

I don't own one but I hear they're pretty pricey already.

[Darth_Uno]

It’s a one time cost for me. I’ve “still” (2+ years is a long time time in the smartphone world) got a 7 Plus but I have no plans to upgrade. When I break this one I’ll shell out for the latest version and rock that til I break it too. It costs what it costs - Apple’s already got all my stuff and I’m not inclined to start over. Which I’m sure Apple is counting on.

Now my dad still rocks a 5, every time I see it I think of this.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190612/36e02b1bb0cd1caf16e2c1c3f85ca8ec.jpg


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[blues]

Hey, cool guys carry the 5c. (And wear polyester leisure suits. Chicks dig 'em.)

[gtae07]

My personal phone is a rooted Motorola G5 Plus. It’ a midrange phone (read: not as expensive) purchased unlocked from Amazon, and Motorola runs pretty much stock Android. They also have a factory-provided bootloader unlock if you want to root your phone. I think most of the problems people have with Androids (especially my parents :rolleyes:) is they use carrier-provided phones with bloatware on top of manufacturer “skins”. Stick to a basic android implementation and get good apps, not the crappy carrier- or manufacturer-developed ones.

I also have an iphone 8 provided by work. Good hardware, but suffers from the typical Apple attitude of “you will only do the things we will let you do, the way we let you do them”. FFS, could they at least provide an option of “go back to mailbox” after deleting an email, like every other mail client ever, instead of just defaulting to “advance to next message” and not giving you a choice?

I prefer most things about the android, one major reason being that I can automate a lot of things via Tasker. Vibrate mode turns on or off based on location, for example. Can’t do that on an iphone; you have to set this manually each time through the stock interface. I really wish I could set “do not disturb” on the iphone via a more complex schedule than just fixed hours each day; I’d disable notifications on my days off.

A lot of the fancy sync-across-devices features are disabled by my employer’s security stuff so I can’t benefit from them anyway. I do use that phone for a lot of stuff but only because it has unlimited data and I share a 2GB plan with my wife on the personal phone.

[spinmove_]

My personal phone is a rooted Motorola G5 Plus. It’ a midrange phone (read: not as expensive) purchased unlocked from Amazon, and Motorola runs pretty much stock Android. They also have a factory-provided bootloader unlock if you want to root your phone. I think most of the problems people have with Androids (especially my parents :rolleyes:) is they use carrier-provided phones with bloatware on top of manufacturer “skins”. Stick to a basic android implementation and get good apps, not the crappy carrier- or manufacturer-developed ones.

I also have an iphone 8 provided by work. Good hardware, but suffers from the typical Apple attitude of “you will only do the things we will let you do, the way we let you do them”. FFS, could they at least provide an option of “go back to mailbox” after deleting an email, like every other mail client ever, instead of just defaulting to “advance to next message” and not giving you a choice?

I prefer most things about the android, one major reason being that I can automate a lot of things via Tasker. Vibrate mode turns on or off based on location, for example. Can’t do that on an iphone; you have to set this manually each time through the stock interface. I really wish I could set “do not disturb” on the iphone via a more complex schedule than just fixed hours each day; I’d disable notifications on my days off.

A lot of the fancy sync-across-devices features are disabled by my employer’s security stuff so I can’t benefit from them anyway. I do use that phone for a lot of stuff but only because it has unlimited data and I share a 2GB plan with my wife on the personal phone.

And this is part of where I think going to an iPhone has helped me realize that smartphones, even today, are a huge fricking waste of time and far more of a pain in the ass than they’re worth.

Complex enabling/disabling of notifications, alerts, and other crap? Screw that noise. Personally my phone is almost always on vibrate, almost all notifications are disabled, and then menus to turn certain things on or off are simple and easy to get to, despite how infrequently I use them.

If I’m busy or it’s the weekend, there’s a good chance that a fully charged battery can get me through 2 straight days. My life seems to be happier and better off for it if that happens. I’ve contemplated going back to a dumb phone and just migrating to a tablet for screwing around on the internet at the house on more than one occasion. If it weren’t for CDs going the way of the Dodo, that might actually be a real thing.


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[rob_s]

iPhone is the easy button. However, enginerd types that think they need to tinker and snowflake the shit out of everything because:moar-better typically have problems with them, at least initially (as I did). if you just let it happen, they are stupid easy. and, as painful as it can be to swallow, you can actually go to the apple store, sit with one of their "geniuses", and actually get your shit fixed from a face-to-face human.

ETA:
Apple is also the ubiquitous solution, which these days pretty much equals better. We have one aging superintendent on one of our projects right now fighting our corporate PM software isn't working right on his stupid antiquated google phone. If he had an iPhone, even of the same vintage, he'd be having zero issues because the app (like pretty much all apps) are optimized for the ubiquitous not the google.

[Blades]

And this is part of where I think going to an iPhone has helped me realize that smartphones, even today, are a huge fricking waste of time and far more of a pain in the ass than they’re worth.


I agree. The times when I need to call/text someone for an urgent matter I never get them. If I call/text to ask them if it's raining at their location then I get an answer.

[Darth_Uno]

I love it when my wife sends me a bunch of texts so I just call her, and she doesn’t answer. That’s probably my favorite part about being married.


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[Borderland]

I went back to a flip phone. I ask the wonderful attractive personable young woman at the Verizon store if they had a flip phone and you should have seen the expression on her face. We don't have any. Guy overhears the conversation and says we have one maybe. They check and they come out with a Kyocera flip phone. Has push to talk, anyone remember those? She says you won't like it because you can't text. I say I don't text. She says that's pretty unheard of these days. I say nobody carries a revolver anymore either. She thought I was joking.

I bought it and it's been a good phone. My wife gets mad when I don't return her text. I have to tell her she needs to call, homey don't text. She can't believe it either.

Now if I could just find a low milage 92 Toyota pickup.

[HopetonBrown]

Some of the posts in this thread about the differences between iPhone vs Android is like listening to Senator Ted Stevens describe the internet as a series of tubes.

[psalms144.1]

Verizon literally had to pry my cold, dead flip phone out of my hands, but it eventually happened.

I now have an iPhone SE (personal) and an iPhone 6 (issued by work). My impressions:

1. The SE has been reliable, but, too small. Damn near impossible to type on, and the screen is so small it's hard to see any kind of image (think writing on a meme). I've had it a little over a year, and, in the last couple of weeks, the battery has started to shit the bed. I'm now at the point where if I don't charge it every 36 hours or so, I'm hauling around a (small, light) brick. Mind you, I have exactly ONE person that uses this number - and that's for a text message or two every couple of months. I never make calls on it, I don't surf the web on it, it's just in my pocket for when I'm in a place where I trust the wifi, I can use it to check my personal e-mails. When I'm not checking e-mail on it, the wifi is off. And still, if it rides in my pocket for two days straight, when I pull it out, it's dead.

2. Then there's my work iPhone 6. Or should I say my second iPhone 6 (first one locked up and died within three months of issue)? This one is about 2.5 years old, I guess. Battery life is laughable. I literally have to have a charger cord with me at all times, because I can talk on the phone for an hour or two and the battery is drained. I'm averaging charging the phone twice a day now (it charges overnight, usually at about 15-20% battery at that point, and I GENERALLY have to charge it sometime in the early afternoon if I don't want a dead phone before I get home). This is a phone that has precisely ONE app running full time - my agency's mandated Blackberry "Work" app for e-mail. Other than that, everything is off. When I have to run "Waze" (which is pretty frequent given my job), I basically have to have the phone plugged in full time while running the app or the battery will die in minutes. Additionally, my iPhone is quirky as shit - I have AT&T for both issued and personal phones, and my work phone will frequently show "No Signal" when my personal phone has 2-3 bars. The only fix for this random loss of connectivity is to hard shut down the phone and restart - which has happened more than once while using the phone to navigate in/around NYC on surveillance and trying to communicate with other team members - not great.

I just got approved to have a third iPhone issued as a replacement for this current buggy one, but, frankly, that's only because I'm raising a fuss. Plenty of other agents I know have similar issues with their phones and just don't say anything about it.

So, no, I'm not an iPhone fan right now.

Of course, I'm not much of a fan of any smart phone - I don't read books, watch movies, or surf the web on a phone (my eyes are too old for that!). I just want a phone that allows me to send/receive calls, texts (because that's how 90% of the world communicates now), and e-mails, that I don't have to constantly check to see if the battery is still charged, and that can be used as a reliable GPS when needed. I really miss my old Razr, but texting on that was an enormous PITA, and it had no e-mail/GPS.

[BehindBlueI's]

I went back to a flip phone. I ask the wonderful attractive personable young woman at the Verizon store if they had a flip phone and you should have seen the expression on her face. We don't have any. Guy overhears the conversation and says we have one maybe. They check and they come out with a Kyocera flip phone. Has push to talk, anyone remember those? She says you won't like it because you can't text. I say I don't text. She says that's pretty unheard of these days. I say nobody carries a revolver anymore either. She thought I was joking.

I bought it and it's been a good phone. My wife gets mad when I don't return her text. I have to tell her she needs to call, homey don't text. She can't believe it either.

Now if I could just find a low milage 92 Toyota pickup.

Verizon sells several on their website if you ever need to replace it and the local store doesn't stock it. My former partner still carries one and he finally managed to drop it enough times to break it so it came up recently.

[Borderland]

Batteries.

When I was replacing my 8 yo razr I was told that the latest smart Samsung phone had to be serviced by a tech to have the battery replaced. Can't just buy one online, crack the case and install it. That was what sold me on the Kyocera. I can do it myself. I think the smartphone folks have been talking to my Chevy dealer.

[HopetonBrown]

Batteries.

When I was replacing my 8 yo razr I was told that the latest smart Samsung phone had to be serviced by a tech to have the battery replaced. Can't just buy one online, crack the case and install it.

The reasons for non user serviceable batteries of today's phones are their dust and water resistance rating, from the seals within the phone that are compromised when the phone is ooened. I can drop my phone in 5 feet of water for 30 minutes and it will be fine. Also, to maximize the space inside a phone, the battery may not be easily accessible.

I'm old enough to remember when the encyclopedia salesman came to our house and my dad buying a set. The attached image is supposedly from a 1991 Radio Shack ad and just about everything advertised on it can now be done with a smart phone, in addition to accessing much more information than that set of encyclopedias.

Theres nothing wrong with technology, just don't be a fuckin' retard about it.
39015

[nalesq]

Batteries.

When I was replacing my 8 yo razr I was told that the latest smart Samsung phone had to be serviced by a tech to have the battery replaced. Can't just buy one online, crack the case and install it. That was what sold me on the Kyocera. I can do it myself. I think the smartphone folks have been talking to my Chevy dealer.

I don’t know anything about Samsungs, but anyone who is reasonably handy and can follow instructions can change the battery on an iPhone for about $30. I’ve done it several times myself.


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