Tim Cook was the one who should have been bringing humanity to technology. Aside from being gay, which makes him appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, especially important in these trying times, he’s just such a fun guy to listen to at keynotes. I’m sure behind closed doors, he might not be such a happy-go-lucky dude, but that’s the image he’s maintained over the last 15 years of his tenure as CEO.
Ternus is an engineer, an egghead. I’m hoping he makes Apple palatable to nerds again. A lot of nerds who use Apple say they use the “simpler” platform because they’re tired of being “experts” with Windows and/or Android. For example, for me, I got into Android when it was the only game in town — actually getting signal on an iPhone meant I would have to move to another place, because the carrier(s) that had it were not where I was. So it was like “the iPhone looks cool but I could never use it.” So I got into Android, and early Android phones sucked, so of course I was unlocking bootloaders, flashing custom firmware, rooting, and customising everything top to bottom. When I got the iPhone (6s), my previous Android phone (HTC One M8) would brick itself every week or two, and I had to repartition the internal memory. I was using Titanium Backup to keep everything backed up, so it was a minor inconvenience, but if I was driving, it was kind of a pain in the arse to have to wipe a phone and reinstall Android when I need the damn thing. Turns out HTC phones are nowhere near as good for modding as Samsung phones were (pre-Knox). Anyway, like the Green Mile meme, I just got tired. “I’m tired, boss.” I just wanted a phone that did what I wanted without having to tinker with it. Sure, I was smart enough for Android. I was also smart enough to find trouble that 99% of Android users will never see. I still have an old Android phone, and it’s got all the cool apps. Not Titanium Backup or AdAway (it isn’t rooted), but Nova Prime, Poweramp, and the Kustom apps (KLWP, KLCK, KWGT; they’re WYSIWYG live wallpaper, lock screen, and widget makers, respectively).
You said it yourself, the keynote vibes are not relevant to anything behind their strategy for the keynote/product introduction.
I would say these days both Android (from almost all OEMs/segments other than sub $150 devices) and Apple are basically equivalent. I haven’t tried all OEM UI lately, but it’s a fact that they have been refined greatly relative to Android UIs from even the late 2010s (or further back with Samsung when they used TouchWiz).
If anything people looking for promotions at Apple and Google (and other companies?) are the biggest source of UI/UX issues since they are shitting up stuff for no reason.
What’s a big smartphone innovation from the last ~10 years? These are mature segments, there are lots of iterative improvdments and some neat things
That being I think the US might be different with different carrier corruption and people using iMessage and Facetime (you never see them globally and if you do, it’s someone trying be a hadrcore fan; just posturing).
Right, I never use iMessage or FaceTime, I just use Telegram. My wife uses Android, her siblings use Android, one of their partners uses Android, another partner uses iPhone, my nieces and nephews use a mix of phone platforms. iMessage is… okay. I mean, it’s the iPhone messaging app, so it has some nice features, but otherwise, it’s just texting, and texting is old. FaceTime (and FaceTime Audio) is good for when you’re on WiFi, and you can generate a link to people using Android phones.
But yeah, smartphones plateaued a long time ago and all the OEMs are just bullshitting their way through these keynotes trying to sell the new shiny. I mean, I have a 2024 iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I have a 2019 Galaxy S10. The S10 is still a great phone. It’s all busted up, but I have a case and a screen protector on it. It still works great. Battery isn’t great, but I could probably swap that for not much… assuming the battery can be sourced. Maybe a third party unit? I think only Apple really cares about stopping you from doing that. And the S10 still does a few things better than the 16PM, despite being 5 years older. Its camera isn’t as good, but Samsung was always behind Apple on the camera. That said, it’s more than passable. If I’m holding the S10 and I need a quick photo, the S10 is what I’ll take with. Only for video will I bother reaching for the iPhone, because nobody competes with Apple on video. But Apple can’t make a keyboard to save their lives.
I am assuming iOS arbitrarily limits comically simple messenger features under the guise of a clearly false but superficially legitimate "We Care about your Security"clause.
So what’s that magical feature in iMessage? I am waiting for my mind to be blown. Is it attachments? Cuz you need iCloud for attachments (to send to the current version of PRISM that Apple worked with Trump on, just like last time).
That wouldn’t have been my take.
Tim Cook was the one who should have been bringing humanity to technology. Aside from being gay, which makes him appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, especially important in these trying times, he’s just such a fun guy to listen to at keynotes. I’m sure behind closed doors, he might not be such a happy-go-lucky dude, but that’s the image he’s maintained over the last 15 years of his tenure as CEO.
Ternus is an engineer, an egghead. I’m hoping he makes Apple palatable to nerds again. A lot of nerds who use Apple say they use the “simpler” platform because they’re tired of being “experts” with Windows and/or Android. For example, for me, I got into Android when it was the only game in town — actually getting signal on an iPhone meant I would have to move to another place, because the carrier(s) that had it were not where I was. So it was like “the iPhone looks cool but I could never use it.” So I got into Android, and early Android phones sucked, so of course I was unlocking bootloaders, flashing custom firmware, rooting, and customising everything top to bottom. When I got the iPhone (6s), my previous Android phone (HTC One M8) would brick itself every week or two, and I had to repartition the internal memory. I was using Titanium Backup to keep everything backed up, so it was a minor inconvenience, but if I was driving, it was kind of a pain in the arse to have to wipe a phone and reinstall Android when I need the damn thing. Turns out HTC phones are nowhere near as good for modding as Samsung phones were (pre-Knox). Anyway, like the Green Mile meme, I just got tired. “I’m tired, boss.” I just wanted a phone that did what I wanted without having to tinker with it. Sure, I was smart enough for Android. I was also smart enough to find trouble that 99% of Android users will never see. I still have an old Android phone, and it’s got all the cool apps. Not Titanium Backup or AdAway (it isn’t rooted), but Nova Prime, Poweramp, and the Kustom apps (KLWP, KLCK, KWGT; they’re WYSIWYG live wallpaper, lock screen, and widget makers, respectively).
You said it yourself, the keynote vibes are not relevant to anything behind their strategy for the keynote/product introduction.
I would say these days both Android (from almost all OEMs/segments other than sub $150 devices) and Apple are basically equivalent. I haven’t tried all OEM UI lately, but it’s a fact that they have been refined greatly relative to Android UIs from even the late 2010s (or further back with Samsung when they used TouchWiz).
If anything people looking for promotions at Apple and Google (and other companies?) are the biggest source of UI/UX issues since they are shitting up stuff for no reason.
What’s a big smartphone innovation from the last ~10 years? These are mature segments, there are lots of iterative improvdments and some neat things
That being I think the US might be different with different carrier corruption and people using iMessage and Facetime (you never see them globally and if you do, it’s someone trying be a hadrcore fan; just posturing).
Right, I never use iMessage or FaceTime, I just use Telegram. My wife uses Android, her siblings use Android, one of their partners uses Android, another partner uses iPhone, my nieces and nephews use a mix of phone platforms. iMessage is… okay. I mean, it’s the iPhone messaging app, so it has some nice features, but otherwise, it’s just texting, and texting is old. FaceTime (and FaceTime Audio) is good for when you’re on WiFi, and you can generate a link to people using Android phones.
But yeah, smartphones plateaued a long time ago and all the OEMs are just bullshitting their way through these keynotes trying to sell the new shiny. I mean, I have a 2024 iPhone 16 Pro Max, and I have a 2019 Galaxy S10. The S10 is still a great phone. It’s all busted up, but I have a case and a screen protector on it. It still works great. Battery isn’t great, but I could probably swap that for not much… assuming the battery can be sourced. Maybe a third party unit? I think only Apple really cares about stopping you from doing that. And the S10 still does a few things better than the 16PM, despite being 5 years older. Its camera isn’t as good, but Samsung was always behind Apple on the camera. That said, it’s more than passable. If I’m holding the S10 and I need a quick photo, the S10 is what I’ll take with. Only for video will I bother reaching for the iPhone, because nobody competes with Apple on video. But Apple can’t make a keyboard to save their lives.
I am assuming iOS arbitrarily limits comically simple messenger features under the guise of a clearly false but superficially legitimate "We Care about your Security"clause.
So what’s that magical feature in iMessage? I am waiting for my mind to be blown. Is it attachments? Cuz you need iCloud for attachments (to send to the current version of PRISM that Apple worked with Trump on, just like last time).