Long-time Apple fan moving to Android — September 2020 Edition
The rain was beginning to come down harder. I was wondering if it was worth it. I took a 90-minute train ride into the city for one evening to see it with my own eyes.
I wasn’t disappointed. The Apple Store, in the middle of Manhattan, was gorgeous. The Powerbook G4 was sleek and beautiful. I fired up a Terminal, wrote a small Java program, compiled, and ran it. All out of the box. Real Unix shell, no more Cygwin.
It was this precise moment I fell in love with this product and with this company.
19 years later, I have accumulated a large amount of Apple products. The Powerbook G4 was my first product. Then the iPod. I got the iPhone when it first came out (and was writing apps for it within months). I switched to MacBook Pro when it switched to Intel. I got an iPad when it first came out. Then the iPad mini. And the Apple Watch. And the Airpods. I got married, had children, and they also were given iPad Minis and iPads. Today, I own a MacBook Pro 15", iPhone 11 Pro, Apple Watch Series 5, iPad Pro 12.9", Apple Pencil 2, AirPod Pros, and a large assortment of chargers, dongles, and other accessories. For home, office, travel, etc.
I even got the Apple Card. Yeah, I did that.
To say I was an Apple fanboy would be an understatement.
Then something happened in 2020. I started to lose the love. The MacBook Pro product, once the pinnacle of all laptops, was being left behind. The iPhone X was a big step, but it’s been boring ever since. And the lack of interoperability started to get annoying as I began to use other computing platforms, namely Windows 10 and Debian-flavored Linux on the desktop.
When the news broke in August 2020 that Microsoft’s xCloud service would not be supported by Apple at launch, I was heartbroken. And not for the reason you might think. I don’t use Microsoft’s xCloud service. Maybe one day it will be supported. And yet this news really concerned me, though.
Why?
Because it’s a metaphor of Apple not being a trendsetter anymore.
I started to introspect. There is no doubt that Apple products are excellent. (Well, except the MacBook Pro. Those are just okay for now.) And I’m hungry for something new. An ecosystem that isn’t so closed. What have I been missing by not checking out Android? I’m already not using a Mac as my daily computing experience… might there be an opportunity to improve my experience? Man, those beautiful garden walls are tall…
I began my research, starting with Android as a replacement for iOS. And I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. There was variety in hardware and features, and the level of customization was greater than iOS, and in ways I could take advantage of. The prices were so much more competitive, too. I got excited — admittedly in large part because of something novel. There was a reason why these non-Apple products were so pleasing. After a lot of research and soul searching, I committed.
I picked up a Pixel 3a XL for about $200 on eBay and the Skagen Falster 3 from Amazon. I admit these are not the “halo” products of the Android ecosystem. I chose these because they were low priced and had the operating systems I desired (stock Android and Wear OS). They arrive by the end of the week. And I also listed my iPhone and Apple Watch on eBay, with auctions ending at the end of the week:
Committed.
This is going to be painful. Hundreds of dollars invested in Apple apps no longer valuable. No Face ID. No iMessage. No FaceTime. All the things I take for granted, e.g., Security, will come to bear, I am sure. Apple products earn respect and love because they are so well designed and executed, and work well together.
And this is going to be joyful. I’ll be joining a more open ecosystem. I can look forward to exploring Google’s services like RCS and Meet, services I’ve used professionally, in my personal life. The Pixel 3a XL is beloved in the community, and I express some style through the Skagen Falster 3. I’ll learn how to protect my devices and join a new community of enthusiasts.
The journey has begun in earnest. I don’t know to what extent I will go. Time will tell if this was a good move. No matter what, though, as the carpenter once said, “I don’t make mistakes, I just constantly adjust.”
