13 Reasons Why I Switched Back to an iPhone
No, it’s not because of the Apple ecosystem
First things first. I am not an Apple fanboy. I’ve been using smartphones for almost a decade now and I’ve owned exactly 1 Symbian, 4 Androids and 2 iPhones. I had always wanted to buy an iPhone ever since I saw the first iPhone ad, back in 2007. Come on, who didn’t, at that time? But iPhones were something most people could only dream about, at least in India. Just a handful of people were able to afford it. I started my smartphone journey with a Nokia 5230 smartphone in 2011. It had 3G internet, an app store, a great music player for my offline collection, a decent camera, and all this at a very affordable price. It also had dedicated apps for Email, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Maps. I was a freshman in college and these features were all that I ever needed on a smartphone. In the next couple of years, Android adoption took off in a major way. Everyone had an Android smartphone, irrespective of the price point. I upgraded to an HTC One and then a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. I loved the Android experience. Play Store had an app for literally everything. G Suite and other Google apps became mainstream on mobile devices. Phones got better literally by the week. With bigger screens, better cameras, faster browsing, longer battery life and smoother social media experience, there was nothing to complain.
My first iPhone
Still, my obsession with the iPhone never faded. That coupled with the fact that no one I knew had an iPhone, I thought it would be a great status symbol. And as if iPhones were already not irresistible enough, Apple had launched their iPhones in Gold color option, the previous year. iPhones were still a lot expensive. With all the money I had saved up from my recent full-time summer internship, I went ahead and bought the iPhone 5s (Gold, 16 GB) in early 2015. My enthusiasm was over the moon. I finally had an iPhone for myself, after 8 years of fantasizing about it. The iPhone didn’t do anything better, but it still made me extremely satisfied. You can, in short, say that the shiny metal body and the flawless Apple logo were more than enough for me to justify the expensive purchase. The 4-inch screen size was a downgrade from my bigger Android phones, but hey, Steve Jobs said right… that no one would want to buy a phone with a bigger screen. After all, your thumb only goes… from here… to here!
I ditched my first iPhone for an Android
Once the initial excitement around the new phone subsided, I quickly realized what a terrible mistake I’ve made. And the next 2 years were a complete nightmare. I was not in it for the Apple ecosystem, believe me. I’ve never once used FaceTime, iMessage or AirDrop, not even until today. So, I could do everything I did on the iPhone on an Android as well. And my iPhone 5s sucked at every single thing. Camera was good, I’ll give you that. But with the 16GB variant, I quickly found myself having to delete photos or apps every time before the phone would allow me to click a photo. Also, smartphones were all about apps, right? Even my Symbian phone back in 2011 had all the social media apps. Here I was, living in 2015 and even all the daily essential apps like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Gmail were just Safari bookmarks to their mobile website, because I didn’t have any free device storage! Buying the 16GB version was the stupidest decision of my life. But partially I hold Apple accountable too, for selling the 32 GB version at such a premium and not allowing expandable memory. Thankfully, now the iPhones start from the 64GB variant.
Now coming to the issues that can’t be blamed entirely on me. Firstly, the screen size was too damn small for all the exciting things that were happening in the world of apps. Even Apple went ahead and released a 4.7 and a 5.5-inch iPhone models to play catch up! The battery backup sucked big time. If I ever forgot to carry my lightening charger to work, I had to just roam around with a dead phone in my pocket all day. I even had to take the crowded Mumbai local trains to get around the city because I can’t book an Uber! The iOS was so restrictive that transferring files with the PCs and Androids was such a huge pain. Finally, the lack of dual sim got to me with the launch of Reliance Jio in India, offering mobile data at <$1 per GB in 2016, i.e. 1/5th of the price compared to other network operators. I didn’t even have much money to upgrade my smartphone. Still, I was done with this perpetual everyday struggle to just live a normal life. One fine day, I just walked into a nearby mobile store and asked them for a mid-range Android phone. I ended up buying a Moto G5 Plus and put the purchase entirely on my credit card. And after activating the new phone, I felt exactly like Andy Dufresne after his iconic escape from the Shawshank prison!
The 13 reasons why i switched back to an iPhone
And 4 years and 2 Androids later, I bought an iPhone and don’t plan to switch back anytime soon! I got my iPhone XR in early 2019. It’s been 1.5 years since, and I’ve never been surer and more satisfied with any other decision that I’ve ever taken. Here are my 13 reasons why.
1. iOS and software updates
iOS is a no-nonsense operating system. It efficiently utilizes the system resources to provide the most delightful user experience. I haven’t had a single instance where an app crashed, or I had to restart my phone. Though apps can’t multitask as effectively in the background as Android, iOS offers a more fluid navigation and smoother experience overall. More importantly, Apple supports an iPhone up to 5 years with iOS updates. This is a never heard off phenomenon in the Android community. Google only promises 3 years of support for their Pixel phones and other OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus offer even lesser. Running your phone on an older software version will not only lead to a sub-optimal experience but is also a grave security concern.
2. A trustworthy camera
I haven’t taken a single bad photo with an iPhone camera. Period. It may not have all the hardware gimmicks and a DSLR-level software controls, but it’ll guarantee the most natural pictures and consistently great performance. iPhone also clicks readily perfect pictures that you can directly upload on social media without any post-editing required.
3. Battery life and wireless charging
iPhones, due to their compact form factors, had historically packed smaller batteries and despite having an efficient OS, sucked badly at battery backup. Not anymore. iPhone XR and the entire iPhone 11 series have category-leading battery life due to larger batteries and the iOS getting even better at power management. I can go to bed at 100% charge and wake up with 99% after 8 hours. It can go throw an entire day even with heavy usage, without needing a charger. The wireless charging is also a godsend while charging by the bedside at night. I must admit though that the default 5W charger that comes in the box takes over 3 hours to charge the phone from 0% to 100%. Since the phone lasts till the end of day with 30–40% battery still left and I mostly use wireless charging at night, it hasn’t been an issue, thus far. One can always go ahead and buy a 18W fast-charging power adapter from Apple.
4. Face ID
Face ID is the most secure authentication technology. The probability of someone else unlocking a phone with Face ID is 1 in 1,000,000 as opposed to fingerprint sensors at 1 in 50,000. Face ID is not just used to unlock the iPhone but also to authentic payments, open saved passwords, private galleries, file vaults and bank accounts. Literally any iOS app can use Face ID for authentication. The beauty of Face ID is that it is so quick, you’ll completely forget it exists until you give your iPhone to someone and they ask you to unlock the screen. And don’t confuse Face ID with face unlock that’s present on Android phones like Samsung and OnePlus that use just the front camera for authentication. That’s why they don’t work in a night pub or inside a dark theater! Touch ID is way more secure than that. On the other hand, Face ID uses the TrueDepth camera system which is made up of several sensors working in tandem to unlock your phone securely. Though, with the current pandemic situation, wearing a mask is mandatory in public and I find myself missing Touch ID far too often these days.
5. Photos App and iCloud backup
iPhone’s default gallery — the Photos App offers several simple yet professional editing options for both photos and videos that you’ll never need another app. Also, when you are running low on storage, the photos in the app are replaced with smaller, optimized images that take only a fraction of the storage. The original photos are safely backed up in iCloud and at any time you can click any photo in the gallery to readily download the original image. My 45 GB of device storage used by my photos and videos immediately reduced to 1.5 GB on enabling iCloud sync, freeing up space for newer photos and apps, retaining only those older photos that I frequently access.
6. Privacy
Though there are general claims that iOS is more secure compared to Android when it comes to hacking, I have no expertise in that area. To me, Face ID is itself such a privacy blessing. No one can unlock my phone even when I’m sleeping or unconscious. Secondly, you could turn off access to the microphone, GPS location, camera, photos, contacts, etc. individually, for each app. Unlike Android where all the permissions are asked right at the installation stage and there’s no going back. With iOS 14, several advanced privacy features have been launched including giving access to only specific photos to an app instead of the entire gallery! These may look like trivial features, but they are even more relevant in the 21st century and I’m confident Android won’t ever take any of these initiatives, at least on its own accord.
7. Light on the environment
During the Sept 2018 keynote, Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives said that iPhones are designed to last longer and with continuous software support. “Because iPhones last longer you can keep using them and keeping using them is the best thing for the planet”. This is a huge announcement to come from a company that profits from us buying their phones every year. They also committed to one day sourcing 100% recycled and renewable materials. I applaud Apple’s commitment to the environment.
8. Better integration of hardware and software
Since Apple builds both the hardware and software, it not only optimizes each one for the other but also tightly controls the design to provide a seamless user experience. And since there are very few variants of iPhones in the market, the app developers go to extraordinary lengths to optimize the app. That is simply not possible in the case of androids with 100s of screen sizes, aspect ratios and form factors in the market. A simple side-by-side comparison of a few social media apps will make the difference very apparent.
9. Design and Aesthetics
Though this is matter of personal preference, I have always liked the look and the feel of iPhones. When you hold it in your hand, you feel like you are holding a sophisticated premium device rather than a cheap plasticky junk. With the nice chamfered edges, the smooth metal finish, the clean Apple logo, neat speaker grills and the Ring switch (I still believe every phone must have it), the attention to detail is immense.
10. Resale value
There’s no denying the fact that iPhones last much longer because of the solid build quality and years of software updates. Naturally iPhones command a premium in the used smartphone market. You can also trade it in with Apple for a fair value when you buy your next iPhone. And Apple promises to resell the phone or recycle most of the parts and dispose of the rest in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
11. Gesture controls
Apple successfully transitioned from their decade long Home button-based design philosophy to the Notch-based design philosophy with the introduction of the gesture controls. Apple’s implementation is just gorgeous and works intuitively. It look a few days to get used to, but now I don’t think I can ever go back to pressing buttons for Back, Home and Multi-tasking functions. Even Android Q gestures copied it exactly from Apple.
12. Notifications
I have over 100 apps on my iPhone. I use some, like Instagram, every day while some, like Booking.com, maybe once a month. And then there are apps which I need, but not useful right now. Like Uber, doing the lockdown. You get the point. But irrespective, apps bombard us several times a day with push notifications. I get distracted by an irrelevant notification and I take forever to go back to focusing on the task I was up to. You see other notifications; you unlock the phone and then you are just lost. iOS allows customizing notifications at the app level and this gives me so much control. For each app, I can either completely turn off the notification, or turn off just the notification sound, and also select the type of notification — on the lock screen, only the notification center or allow banners. Also, in Android the push notifications are a lot more persistent — always visible on the notification panel and the lock screen forcing you to take action. However, the push notification in iOS vanishes as soon as the user unlocks the device. The push message is still present, but the user has to manually go to the notification center to check them.
13. Performance
I am a power user. By power user, I’m being delicate here. I play hours and hours of PUBG Mobile every single day with screen recording on, the entire time. And my iPhone always runs at the highest graphics and frame rate settings while delivering a lag-free gameplay and never heat’s up. The A12 processor is capable enough of delivering superior performance for many more years to come.
Conclusion
Though Androids provide us with infinite choices, I feel like there was always a compromise irrespective of which model I chose. But in case of the current iPhone line up, you can never go wrong. Apple has even brought dual sim capability to iPhones. The introduction of the Files App allows you to download anything from the internet. File transfer with PCs and Androids is also not a problem anymore with faster internet speeds and the advent of cloud storage. The only pain point that still exist in my opinion is the high price point, but I guess it’s justified paying a premium upfront rather than selling off my privacy to companies for a $100–200 cheaper smartphone. There’s a reason why most heads of the government and celebrities use an iPhone, right? At least the fact that they are also using the same phone with the same software and security patches as I makes me feel superficially secure. After all, in this entire earth, your smartphone is your most secretive and private place that you don’t want to let anybody in. And that’s assuming you don’t have a body buried in your backyard.
Another interesting trend I’ve been observing for a while in smartphones is that the technology has hit the point of diminishing returns. This concept is called ‘Smartphone Plateau’. People are not changing their phones as often as before. Besides device durability, the standardization of smartphone form factors and stagnating software features are the two primary contributors to the prolonged upgrade cycle. Just better cameras or new form factors like fold-able phones are not going to drive much of future growth. In a word, smartphones have become unexciting to many as we enter the full swing of the mobile era, after nearly a decade of tremendous experimentation. We will see longer upgrade cycles, like our laptops or other home appliances, and increased emphasis on privacy and services like music streaming, cloud storage, app store, payment solutions, mobile gaming, media streaming, etc. and in either case, iPhone is already miles ahead of Android.
