Samsung is the iPhoniest of the Androids, too, especially with regard to vendor lock in. The joy of Android is that it's a (philosophically) open OS, which Samsung does everything it can to make proprietary.

That said, if you're worried about Trump, associating with Google--who makes Android--is probably the very worst choice you could make. No doubt Google is a key part of the coming surveillance state in the future Fascists States of America.

I'm using graphene OS, a modded and secure version of android, only available on Google Pixels (ironically) (soon available on Motorola), but the way things are going, I think it's time to start figuring out Linux phones.

So, you're actually comparing iPhone and Samsung, not iOS and Android.

Also I'm sure my 200$ Android phone does nothing less from 1000$ iPhone, so there is that. Unless you use an open custom ROM for your phone, most of the pre-installed Android suck too.

Yes, by a wide margin (and I do regularly use both due to being an app developer). Mainly because Android is infinitely more customizable, but also because it supports stuff like browsers with proper adblocking. iOS is more stable and easier to figure out I guess, but that makes it feel boring, limiting and oversimplified to me.

It's really hard to discuss your percieved faults in either android phones writ large, google-connected Android phones in general, or Samsung in particular if you don't ennumerate said faults.

That being said : yes, I vastly prefer Android to iPhone. The latter comes with vendor lock-in and user infantilization that made the platform untenable for me more than a decade ago, and nothing I've heard since has given me reason to reconsider.

If you're all-in with an iPhone, Mac, apple watch, and the rest, I'm sure that swapping out the iPhone for a Samsung had any number of aggrivations. But faulting Samsung for that lock-in would be like blaming Valve when the LibreOffice on your steam-cube doesnt seamless connect to iCloud.

I do. I have my launcher set up just like I want it. Tons of gestures are configured to make my life easy.

I have some self written apps and ab decent amount of side loaded apps that aren't available in the regular play store.

• Buying locked phones is a BAD BAD idea
• Getting something as close to stock android as possible is a good idea. The further something goes away from stock android, the more I personally hate it.

Don't be an idiot. Do your research before making a big purchase. There is no such thing as Android vs iOS. There's Samsung vs Motorola vs Xiaomi vs Apple and so on.

Brands to avoid in my opinion:

• Samsung. So much bloat on their phones ugh. I don't like one ui (their android skin). Also, as someone mentioned, they're the Applest of non Apple brands.
• Xiaomi. Same problems that Samsung has, except their UI is eeeeven shitter. The cluttered ui (which seems to be quite present in Asian origin software) gives me a headache.

Now I don't want to endorse any given brand cuz fuck corporations. BUT, if you're looking for Android, I'd recommend going for brands with stock/almost stock android on their phones.

Don't fall in the "Xiaomi just has better hardware" trap. It is true that Xiaomi tends to pack their phones with more capable hardware. BUT holy moly is their software so so so bad. If your phone isn't your main computational device, then "not the best hardware for the price" is not going to hurt, trust me.

IF you want to flash custom ROMs then Xiaomi phones could be a good deal. But again, you're kinda inviting some headache. If you unlock the bootloader, you void warranty and all that. I used to do that when I had a Xiaomi device. But couldn't keep up and just got a stock android device when the Xiaomi one broke down.

I hate Android with a bloodcurdling passion but yes.

Apple has the most condescending design philosophy I know of and I will never tolerate the degree of suffocation Apple imposes on devices you have purchased and own.

Also Android has F-Droid which makes Android categorically superior to iOS.

https://f-droid.org/en/

Get all of your core basic apps like flashlight apps, image gallery apps, file browser apps etc... from F-Droid.

Samsung? I hate samsung and yet I have an older used flagship samsung phone and ultimately that is what I recommend doing with Android, always buy near top of the line phones (samsung or otherwise), just go used and older until you hit a price point you are comfortable with. This reduces the headaches you will run into with Android a lot since you are always getting the experience Android was meant to give and that designers focused on especially when it comes to the hardware and camera + camera app.

I recommend Swappa for buying used electronics/phones since the website is dedicated to only those kinds of sales and provides a lot of confidence and comfort vs. buying off a random ebay seller.

https://swappa.com/

edit ALSO on Android you can change your launcher/homescreen, the idea that you can't do this on iOS blows my mind even though it doesn't surprise me..

I certainly do, as someone who likes open source stuff, self hosting, ham radio and general tinkering, iOS is unbelievably limited and you can't really do much with it outside 'use the apps', and the app store is missing so much too.

That said Samsung is kinda eh. Lots of annoying things about them.

/c/shitpost

Yes, absolutely. Android isnt the best ever or anything, but its WAY better than the 'walled garden' of iOS.

Apple can fuck all the way off

iPhones are great for teenagers and the elderly.

But, if you actually know how to use your phone, Android is the way to go.

Anything apple is on the top of my shit list since I tried copying mp3s from my friends ipod to my pc sometine in the early 2000s and the names were scrambled for no good reason.

QQ

My first modern smartphone was a HTC hero (the one with the chin), and I've never strayed from the Android path. I have an iPhone for work and I hate it with a burning passion. None of the so-called gestures are intuitive or make any sense, I barely touch the thing.

Although I don't like the way Google is heading and I am considering e/os as my next step.

Your first issue which is evident from your post is that you think Android = Samsung and vice versa. Thats not how android works.

To answer your question, I like android, but Im on a degoogled operating system called /e/os. Granted it might not be for you if you dont care about privacy (why tho?) but just the fact that anyone can take stock android and do stuff like create a whole new (degoogled in this case) operating system is so much better then iOS

Nope, none of us do. We're all just being fooled like you were and we're all dying to get back to our precious iPhones. You figured out the ruse, congratulations! Guys, they did it, we can finally go home!

You could try sharing your list of issues, there's a good chance a lot of your issues are fixable, because unlike on iOS you can make your own decisions on Android. Even on Samsungs, they have the good lock app they made which you can use to customize many things they didn't expose by default. I've customized how many apps fit on a screen, how far the volume changes per button press, I customized the keyboard when I was using Samsung's keyboard..

Oh that's right, you can change the keyboard app if you don't like the one you're using. You can change basically anything on Android if you don't like it.

All those people with android phones (like, the majority of people with mobile phones on the planet) must be wrong.