From dae24e0f8efbcabe3ee53d7ad4d70ff0f9a8fd03 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christine Dodrill Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2021 11:10:25 -0400 Subject: oops lol off by one Signed-off-by: Christine Dodrill --- blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-03.markdown | 129 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-04.markdown | 129 ------------------------------ 2 files changed, 129 insertions(+), 129 deletions(-) create mode 100644 blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-03.markdown delete mode 100644 blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-04.markdown diff --git a/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-03.markdown b/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-03.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba91c28 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-03.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +--- +date: 2021-07-03 +title: My Thoughts About Using Android Again as an iPhone User +tags: + - android + - iphone +author: ectamorphic +--- + +# My Thoughts About Using Android Again as an iPhone User + +I used to be a hardcore Android user. It was my second major kind of smartphone +(the first was Windows Mobile 6.1 on a T-Mobile Dash) and it left me hooked to +the concept of smartphones and connected tech in general. I've used many Android +phones over the years but one day I rage-switched over to an iPhone. My Samsung +Galaxy S7 pissed me off for the last time and I went to the Apple store and +bought an iPhone 7 on the spot. I popped my sim card into it (after a lovely +meal at Panda Express) and I was off to the races. I haven't really used Android +since other than in little stints with devices like the Amazon Fire 7 (because +it was so darn cheap). + +Recently I realized that it would be very easy to package up my website for the +Google Play Store using [pwabuilder](https://www.pwabuilder.com/). I've been +shipping my site as a progressive web app (PWA) for years (and use that PWA for +testing how the site looks on my phone), but aside from the occasional confused +screenshot that's been tweeted at me I've never actually made much use of this. +It does do an additional level of caching (which is why you can load a bunch of +pages on the site, disconnect from the internet and then still browse those +pages that you loaded like you were online) though, which helps a lot with the +bandwidth cost of this site. + +So, I decided to ship this site as an Android app. You can download it from the +Google Play Store +[here](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=website.christine.xesite) +and get a partially native experience. It worked perfectly in the Android +emulator but you really need to experience it on a phone to know for sure. On a +whim I grabbed a [Moto g8 +Power](https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g8_power-10052.php) from Amazon +and then I used it for the final testing on the app before I shipped it on the +Google Play store. I unboxed the phone, set it up, plugged it into my MacBook +and then hit "run" in Android Studio. The app installed instantly and I saw [the +homepage for my site](https://cdn.christine.website/file/christine-static/blog/Screenshot_20210703-101654.png). + +It was a magical experience. Me, someone that has no idea what they are doing +with Android app development was able to take an existing project I've poured +years of work into and make it work on a phone like a native app. I literally +just had the phone barely out of the box and my code was running natively on it. +I don't have to worry about the app timing out, I don't have to pay Google money +to test things on my own device, I just hit play and it runs. + +This is the kind of developer experience I wish I could have on iOS. I used to +have a paid developer cert for resigning a few personally hacked up apps, but +when I moved to Canada and changed over my cards to have Canadian billing +addresses I lost the ability to purchase a renewal for my developer certificate. +I _can_ change my Apple account over to a Canadian one but doing that means I +have to delete my Apple Music subscription and that would delete all of the +custom uploaded music I have in the cloud. I have more music up there than I +have disk space locally, so this is not really a viable option. + +Meanwhile on Android you just open the box, turn the phone on, set it up, press +on the build number 10 times, enable USB debugging, plug it in, confirm debug +access and bam, you're in. You can test an unlimited number of Android apps +forever. I can give the APK to people and then they can tell me if it works on +their device. You cannot do this on iOS. It's making me really consider if iOS +really is the best option for me going forward. + +But then the claws of the Apple ecosystem show their face. I have an iPad, +MacBook Air, Apple Watch, iPhone and AirPods. If I end up switching to Android +as my main phone I make my watch significantly less useful. I won't have the +seamless notification syncing to my wrist unless I buy a new watch. I don't +really know if I want to do that. + +At the same time though, Android lets me poke around and change things that +bother me. I can make animations faster, which makes the phone _feel_ so much +more snappy and responsive. I can rip out Chrome and replace it with something +else. I can choose which app to use for text messages. I have _agency_ and +_power_ over my experience in ways that iOS simply cannot match. As a tinkerer +that mains a NixOS tower this is a huge factor for me. And then I'm able to test +my apps for free. I can just do it. I don't have to worry about dev certs, +licenses or anything else. I just put the app on the phone and I'm done. + +Android's UX is a lot different than it was when I used it last. The last +Android phone I used had hardware home, menu and back buttons. This Moto g8 +Power seems to have some kind of gesture control mode that mostly emulates +modern iPhone gesture controls, so my muscle memory isn't totally freaked out. +It was a bit more sensitive than I would have liked out of the box, but I was +easily able to tweak the sensitivity until I got to a level I was comfortable +with. This would have never been able to happen on iOS. + +I guess this post is a lot more rambly and less focused than I thought it would +be while I was outlining it on paper. I didn't go into this expecting a 1:1 +experience matchup with what I have on iOS. This phone is not nearly powerful +enough to make them comparable, however I can easily just pick it up, do what I +need and it does it. I'm considering getting a burner sim for this thing so I +can take it with me instead of (or in addition to) my iPhone. The camera is +decent, but I don't really have any good comparison shots yet. Android and iOS +are at a state of convergent evolution at this point. They both do about the +same things. Android is more easily customizeable and iOS is more about a guided +experience. Neither is really "better" at this point, but I guess it really will +boil down to the ecosystem you want. + +Apple's walled garden approach has a lot of +things in its favor. You can buy accessories from the Apple Store and they will +just work. You can seamlessly copy things from your phone to your tablet or your +laptop. iCloud and Airdrop glue your machines together, and in the future I can +only anticipate that each of those devices will get more and more muddled +together until there's not really a difference between them. Android has a lot +of options. There's over 15,000 Android devices out there with official Google +Play support. They're all at different patch states and have different gimmicks +to distinguish them, but you have an unparalleled amount of choice and agency. +This means that there's less of a consistent total experience, however it leaves +a lot of room for experimentation and innovation. + +I like this phone and the instance of Android that runs on it. The only real +downside I've seen so far is that the update notes are in Spanish. I have no +idea why they're in Spanish, I don't speak Spanish and the phone's UI language +is set to English, but I get ["Seguridad de +Android"](https://twitter.com/theprincessxena/status/1411072416986587138/photo/1) +patches on it and that's my life now. + +A lot of the Airdrop and integration features I've been missing have been +supplemented by [Taildrop](https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/) and +Tailscale in general. It's really satisfying to be able to work for a company +that makes the annoyingly hard problem of "make computers talk to eachother" so +_trivial_. + +Overall, it's a 7/10 experience for me. I'd likely choose Android if I wasn't so +entrenched in the Apple/iOS ecosystem. If only it wasn't so tied into Google's +fangs. diff --git a/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-04.markdown b/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-04.markdown deleted file mode 100644 index 62f6528..0000000 --- a/blog/android-thoughts-2021-07-04.markdown +++ /dev/null @@ -1,129 +0,0 @@ ---- -date: 2021-07-04 -title: My Thoughts About Using Android Again as an iPhone User -tags: - - android - - iphone -author: ectamorphic ---- - -# My Thoughts About Using Android Again as an iPhone User - -I used to be a hardcore Android user. It was my second major kind of smartphone -(the first was Windows Mobile 6.1 on a T-Mobile Dash) and it left me hooked to -the concept of smartphones and connected tech in general. I've used many Android -phones over the years but one day I rage-switched over to an iPhone. My Samsung -Galaxy S7 pissed me off for the last time and I went to the Apple store and -bought an iPhone 7 on the spot. I popped my sim card into it (after a lovely -meal at Panda Express) and I was off to the races. I haven't really used Android -since other than in little stints with devices like the Amazon Fire 7 (because -it was so darn cheap). - -Recently I realized that it would be very easy to package up my website for the -Google Play Store using [pwabuilder](https://www.pwabuilder.com/). I've been -shipping my site as a progressive web app (PWA) for years (and use that PWA for -testing how the site looks on my phone), but aside from the occasional confused -screenshot that's been tweeted at me I've never actually made much use of this. -It does do an additional level of caching (which is why you can load a bunch of -pages on the site, disconnect from the internet and then still browse those -pages that you loaded like you were online) though, which helps a lot with the -bandwidth cost of this site. - -So, I decided to ship this site as an Android app. You can download it from the -Google Play Store -[here](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=website.christine.xesite) -and get a partially native experience. It worked perfectly in the Android -emulator but you really need to experience it on a phone to know for sure. On a -whim I grabbed a [Moto g8 -Power](https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g8_power-10052.php) from Amazon -and then I used it for the final testing on the app before I shipped it on the -Google Play store. I unboxed the phone, set it up, plugged it into my MacBook -and then hit "run" in Android Studio. The app installed instantly and I saw [the -homepage for my site](https://cdn.christine.website/file/christine-static/blog/Screenshot_20210703-101654.png). - -It was a magical experience. Me, someone that has no idea what they are doing -with Android app development was able to take an existing project I've poured -years of work into and make it work on a phone like a native app. I literally -just had the phone barely out of the box and my code was running natively on it. -I don't have to worry about the app timing out, I don't have to pay Google money -to test things on my own device, I just hit play and it runs. - -This is the kind of developer experience I wish I could have on iOS. I used to -have a paid developer cert for resigning a few personally hacked up apps, but -when I moved to Canada and changed over my cards to have Canadian billing -addresses I lost the ability to purchase a renewal for my developer certificate. -I _can_ change my Apple account over to a Canadian one but doing that means I -have to delete my Apple Music subscription and that would delete all of the -custom uploaded music I have in the cloud. I have more music up there than I -have disk space locally, so this is not really a viable option. - -Meanwhile on Android you just open the box, turn the phone on, set it up, press -on the build number 10 times, enable USB debugging, plug it in, confirm debug -access and bam, you're in. You can test an unlimited number of Android apps -forever. I can give the APK to people and then they can tell me if it works on -their device. You cannot do this on iOS. It's making me really consider if iOS -really is the best option for me going forward. - -But then the claws of the Apple ecosystem show their face. I have an iPad, -MacBook Air, Apple Watch, iPhone and AirPods. If I end up switching to Android -as my main phone I make my watch significantly less useful. I won't have the -seamless notification syncing to my wrist unless I buy a new watch. I don't -really know if I want to do that. - -At the same time though, Android lets me poke around and change things that -bother me. I can make animations faster, which makes the phone _feel_ so much -more snappy and responsive. I can rip out Chrome and replace it with something -else. I can choose which app to use for text messages. I have _agency_ and -_power_ over my experience in ways that iOS simply cannot match. As a tinkerer -that mains a NixOS tower this is a huge factor for me. And then I'm able to test -my apps for free. I can just do it. I don't have to worry about dev certs, -licenses or anything else. I just put the app on the phone and I'm done. - -Android's UX is a lot different than it was when I used it last. The last -Android phone I used had hardware home, menu and back buttons. This Moto g8 -Power seems to have some kind of gesture control mode that mostly emulates -modern iPhone gesture controls, so my muscle memory isn't totally freaked out. -It was a bit more sensitive than I would have liked out of the box, but I was -easily able to tweak the sensitivity until I got to a level I was comfortable -with. This would have never been able to happen on iOS. - -I guess this post is a lot more rambly and less focused than I thought it would -be while I was outlining it on paper. I didn't go into this expecting a 1:1 -experience matchup with what I have on iOS. This phone is not nearly powerful -enough to make them comparable, however I can easily just pick it up, do what I -need and it does it. I'm considering getting a burner sim for this thing so I -can take it with me instead of (or in addition to) my iPhone. The camera is -decent, but I don't really have any good comparison shots yet. Android and iOS -are at a state of convergent evolution at this point. They both do about the -same things. Android is more easily customizeable and iOS is more about a guided -experience. Neither is really "better" at this point, but I guess it really will -boil down to the ecosystem you want. - -Apple's walled garden approach has a lot of -things in its favor. You can buy accessories from the Apple Store and they will -just work. You can seamlessly copy things from your phone to your tablet or your -laptop. iCloud and Airdrop glue your machines together, and in the future I can -only anticipate that each of those devices will get more and more muddled -together until there's not really a difference between them. Android has a lot -of options. There's over 15,000 Android devices out there with official Google -Play support. They're all at different patch states and have different gimmicks -to distinguish them, but you have an unparalleled amount of choice and agency. -This means that there's less of a consistent total experience, however it leaves -a lot of room for experimentation and innovation. - -I like this phone and the instance of Android that runs on it. The only real -downside I've seen so far is that the update notes are in Spanish. I have no -idea why they're in Spanish, I don't speak Spanish and the phone's UI language -is set to English, but I get ["Seguridad de -Android"](https://twitter.com/theprincessxena/status/1411072416986587138/photo/1) -patches on it and that's my life now. - -A lot of the Airdrop and integration features I've been missing have been -supplemented by [Taildrop](https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/) and -Tailscale in general. It's really satisfying to be able to work for a company -that makes the annoyingly hard problem of "make computers talk to eachother" so -_trivial_. - -Overall, it's a 7/10 experience for me. I'd likely choose Android if I wasn't so -entrenched in the Apple/iOS ecosystem. If only it wasn't so tied into Google's -fangs. -- cgit v1.2.3