For years now, I’ve been surfing along the Android wave. “Look at my ‘superior’ OS” I would say. Scoffing at others about rooting my device and the freedoms it afforded me would be my most treasured past time.
Then it happened. . . My priorities changed.
I became a father. I no longer had time to search, download, and customize my roms. Instead I got to listen to my wife complain that pictures and videos weren’t as easy to send back and forth as they should be (note, my wife has had an iPhone for years). As my daughter got older, she got a tablet, and she figured out how to facetime. Naturally, she started asking why she couldn’t facetime me.So after years of resistance and denial, I finally did it. I purchased my first iPhone. A used iPhone XS Max to be precise. And let me tell you, to my surprise, the transition has been simple and frankly, a joy.
So what makes the phone so nice and how did I make the transition from the Google platform?
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The Device Itself
Now, I don’t think anyone will deny that the iPhone itself is a beautiful device. With that said, my previous phone, an LG V40 ThinQ, was quite a looker itself. On aesthetics, I feel like this was a mere lateral move.
However, there are some Pros & Cons
Pros
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The Silent Button – It seems so trivial, but I love this button. It makes it quick and easy to shut your phone up, but more so, I just love a nice mechanical button. It’s so satisfying to click.
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Weight – I know to some, lightweight is everything, but I like a little bit of heft. Gives the phone more of a premium feel, and more of a presence in your hand. The iphone XS Max comes in at 7.34 ounces, which means it’s 1.38 ounces heavier than the LG V40 ThinQ. It’s not a lot, but I swear you can feel it.
Cons
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No Fingerprint Scanner – I don’t know, I just really enjoy using fingerprint scanners. Especially the one on my LG, which is located on the back of the phone. My long “piano playing” finger reached it easily and comfortably. I definitely miss it, and I still find myself occasionally reaching for it.
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Lack of 3.5mm Audio Jack – I understand this isn’t an Apple exclusive problem, but I still don’t get why removing the audio jack is a good thing. Of course it’s easily remedied by using bluetooth headphones, or purchasing the cheap adapter. However, I just feel ever so slightly inconvenienced.
iOS
If you go by internet comments and some articles, you’d believe that Android and iOS aren’t just two different ecosystems, they’re two different planets in separate solar systems. Personally, I really didn’t find that to be the case. Sure there are differences, but you’d be surprised how quickly you can adapt. I was going to do Pros and Cons, but most of the Cons are simply just getting acquainted to the small differences in the systems.
My single largest hurdle thus far has been looking for the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. It simply isn’t there on iPhones.
There isn’t an app drawer either. Not a big deal for me. I keep my apps in folders, in alphabetical order. It’s about the only thing in my life I’m anal about.
I thought I might miss throwing widgets up on my screens, but there’s an easily accessible screen dedicated to this with a simple swipe to the left-most screen.
I do miss the fingerprint scanner, but the face unlock works great, and the passcode as a back-up is more than serviceable for my wife and daughter to get into my phone when needed.
The Transition
The big question, I know you’re just dying to ask is, “But after years in the ‘Google ecosystem’ how did you ever move to Apple?”
The truth is, it wasn’t hard. I used my Gmail as my account and it automatically ported over all of my contacts. Since so many Android apps are on iOS, it was just a matter of picking and choosing the ones I wanted.
Apps I kept
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Google Photos
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Chrome
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Google Docs
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Google Calendar
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Google Maps
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Google Keep
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Drive
I really feel like these covered everything I personally needed on my phone. And, some are on their way out. For example, the iPhone’s standard calendar app is synced with my gmail, so all my reminders are there as well as the Google calendar app. It just comes down to my familiarity with the apps. I’m actively using the Apple app, and see myself migrating to it completely in the near future.
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The Most Important Reason
Let’s talk about the most important reason for the switch. My whole family is used to using iPhones and iPads. Despite my best efforts to ignore the obvious truth, sending pictures, videos, and communicating with my family just works so much more seamlessly when we’re all on the same platform. iMessage is one-thousand times more efficient for sending multimedia back and forth, and facetiming my family when I’m out will never get old. Since I’m the only one going out to run errands while quarantined, my wife and in-laws use notes to send me shopping lists that they can watch and update on the go as I’m picking up groceries for both families.
Overall, just about everything from a software standpoint is easier and more convenient.
As a husband and father, I don’t need an open platform just so I can dump my time into just to grasp some fallacy that I’m experiencing true cell phone freedom. We all know that doesn’t exist. No, what I need is something that’s simple and just works. And, the iPhone does that extremely well.
With that said, I’m sorry I shit on you so hard for years Apple. I still love my Google products, but when it comes to phones, I relinquish my cellular privacy to the ghost of Steve Jobs.
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and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but check out my TikTok!
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I Was So Worried About The Kids Pouring Rice On Themselves,
That I Forgot To Worry About Them Pouring Themselves On The Rice!
1 comments On Jumping From Android to iOS (A Father’s Perspective)
If you didn’t know, swipe down from the middle of the screen and you can search for stuff on your phone instead of trying to remember in what folder you put that app. It also will learn what you want sometimes according to where you are or what time you search. Oh and you forgot to mention the chip. The A12 Bionic is generations ahead of some desktop chips let alone the Qualcomm snapdragon. Your phone does what it does with 4 gb of ram while the Samsung s20 ultra needs 12 gb and still gets smoked by the A12 bionic. Apple is light years ahead in chip design. They are moving to ARM processors in their macs soon. I’ll upgrade when that happens. Will also be able to run iOS apps on your Mac when that happens. Their chip designers are world class. Enjoy! UD
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