Comment on Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 2 days agoSo I’m actually a moderately tech-savvy individual. Software engineer, been using Linux since Karmic Koala (of course I’ve used many other distros since then, including Gentoo for a few years and now I’m using TumbleWeed on one computer and NixOS on another). I can even figure out how a printer works, believe it or not.
I just hate this whole “only stupid people who don’t know about tech buy iPhones” rhetoric.
Samsung and Google have caught up in prices. I guess only Google is a tiny bit cheaper, Samsung is definitely right up there with Apple.
OnePlus was a good option if you wanted a cheaper flagship, but they both 1) ruined their OS and 2) went more expensive.
I actually bought an iPhone for 4 primary reasons:
Lightning port is easier to clean out than USB-C and I get a LOT of pocket lint for some reason.
Carplay used the entire screen in my S205 whereas Android Auto had the Android Auto logo on like 1/3 of the screen.
Back when I did it, Apple was the only one giving 5-6 years of major OS upgrades to their old phones and OnePlus only gave me 3, lagging far behind AOSP and the whole OxygenOS to ColorOS switch RUINED the phone for me. I did use a custom ROM for a while before that, but my bank app stopped working with that regardless of whatever I did, so I switched to stock ROM and then upgraded to ColorOS and the phone became nearly unusable. It was 3 years old (the model, anyway; the phone in question was 2 years old). Every single one of my iPhone using friends said that never has a major OS upgrade inconvenienced them in any way.
I just felt like I don’t have time to play with custom ROMs and stuff anymore and since I don’t, I might as well go with the option that works great out of the box, rather than the one that I can infinitely customize to my liking.
Now, this whole issue: It’s not actually using user data AFAIK, so there are no privacy implications in this specific instance IMO. They just allow companies to pay to show up near the top in Maps. Not a move I’m a fan of, but I’m assuming Google has been doing this for a decade or 2 at least.
Does that mean I trust Apple? Fuck no. They’re still a for-profit corporation. They still want to make as much profit as possible.
It’s not actually using user data AFAIK, so there are no privacy implications in this specific instance IMO.
Funny how Apple and their users keep repeating this but when one sets up an Apple device for the first time, the wizard asks for many “Can Apple use your data?” questions. There would be no need if Apple did nothing.
Obviously the answer applies when you reply no
They use the data for App Store recommendations and for insights
You aren’t crazy. I’ve switched back and forth and currently have an iPhone, but currently primarily use a Thinkpad with a nice minimal Sway-based Alpine Linux desktop and a handful of Debian and ‘BSDs kicking around on various machines. There are dozens of us!
Apple phones eeks out current Google options for privacy, security, minimalism, and service life, IMHO, but barely, and other people will argue the other way - I don’t care. When there is a legit Linux phone option, I’ll probably move then. I just try to use a phone as little as possible in my interaction with technology.
I don’t actually regard them as a healthy form-factor for technology. A keyboard and 14’ screen is more conducive to creating things or fulsomeness discussion in written form. Depending on the content, they are better for consuming text content (though eReaders are better for some content), and for multi-media consumption, large screens like TVs are better for the eyes.
My NixOS machine is a Thinkpad too! Tumbleweed runs on the gaming desktop. I can tinker with it (and in fact this is the machine that used to run Gentoo - I tried to get the absolute maximum performance in games lol), it’s fine. But my phone, I just want to get out of my way. It should do the things a phone does and do them reliably and with a long service life. Similar reason why I actually like having a Macbook around (though I don’t have one right now). It’s my always-works, no-tinkering machine with great performance and battery life, that I use for work.
My primary use cases for the phone are messaging, doomscrolling and banking. Heavily customizable Android offers me no advantage here. I haven’t changed most default settings on iOS either - only switched to SwiftKey because while I hate giving Microsoft any data, it’s the only keyboard I can use with ease, as I’ve been using it for over a decade (I used to download the pro version APK off some APK site back when the Pro version was separate, that’s how long I’ve been using it).
There is a singular thing I miss from Android of course. Ability to install apps not blessed by Apple/Google. When Google kills that off, then I will see no advantage in Android. Either way, I’m also holding out for a proper Linux phone option. Until then it’s going to be iOS unless they fuck something up real bad and I take the time out of my life to move to GrapheneOS.
im tech savvy, but i also want to participate in society, so i just buy the best budget android phone i can afford. thats it. all i use are lemmy, my bank, and my phone to pay, and then browse for research
I used to do budget Androids but they got so slow in just a year or two. Mostly I blame eMMC degradation but there’s also a massive difference in processing power between the high and low end.
I wanted something to last me multiple years so I got a Oneplus 7 Pro. That got slow because they ruined their OS so I gave up and went iPhone. No complaints so far.
iPhones are nice but their price tag ain’t. I have a moto G stylus 5G 2025 and it’s working great. 400 bucks and works like a flagship for my uses.
The Moto G I had a while ago was great actually. It only lasted a bit over 2 years though. Mine was the second gen. After that, I had two cheapo Chinese phones and then I started moving upmarket because of my sour experiences.
My Oneplus is still usable 6 years later, but only with a custom ROM and the battery life is shit. And the microphone is shot. If they’d kept OxygenOS and given longer support, I probably would have stayed with them to be honest. First 2 years of ownership were awesome.
And that’s worse for your data than iOS
I gave up on data privacy a long time ago. When you need to use banking apps and paying with my phone.
Then it’s up to how much one values having slightly better privacy over the rest. You can’t blame someone wanting the best of both worlds without too much effort but at a higher price
Besides, iOS has had a relatively good interface and the best chips and energy efficiency, one of the best cameras, but ofc lacks in other areas
based answer
Zink@programming.dev 2 days ago
Yeah, I’m an old software engineer who uses linux on all of my actual computers, but I still have an old iphone for doing phone shit.
In the real world, most outspoken anti-apple people aren’t super techy and use some nightmare of corporate bloat phone they bought at the Verizon store.
Here on Lemmy though, you have a WAY higher proportion of people who are running devices they actually control.
Electricd@lemmybefree.net 1 day ago
I still believe the majority don’t know shit and repeat stuff like the video from The Hated One, which only apply if you run a custom Android ROM, and even then, it’s based on their opinion only and no metrics or real data to back it up
Zink@programming.dev 1 day ago
I mean, that’s how most people seem to be about most things.
But when you put them in a context that makes people get tribal like choice of phone, game console, political party, or religion, it goes into turbo-dumb.