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.