Confessions from an iOS User

For the last few weeks I have used an android phone as my main device and I must admit that I'm surprisingly impressed.

Which will probably be a surprise to anybody regularly reading my content as I value privacy, yet here I am saying that a Google OS based device surprised me.

But I wasn't talking about the software, or not really. Although, once tweaked properly to one's likings, the notifications are definitely an improvement.

What surprised me most though was the performance. For a lower end mid-range device ($200-$250 range), I have been absolutely surprised.

The device is fast, the screen is excellent, and the camera received positive plaudits from even GSMArena. Not that I actually truly tried the camera, not beyond QR codes at least.

Yet, there's many issues with it. While slowly but surely I'm starting to get used to SwiftKey's swiping, it's once you don't have Siri - and its #autostupid - anymore that you realize how great it is. Search anywhere on the home screen, device included, with just a swipe down is excellent. Siri's suggested apps widget, a super small detail, is stellar and absolutely smart. And, of course, there's Apple's much loved systemwide Lookup feature which allows to quickly lookup any word. Initially, it started with dictionary lookup, nowadays it's as smart as Siri.

While I have noticed an improvement in SwiftKey's #autostupid, it still doesn't get its/it's. Don't even get me started about Google's default keyboard.

It's small details like that which make a difference. Often details unnoticed until you don't have them anymore.

Still preferred device in the post-PC era

Then again, Discord for Android is excellent and vastly superior.

Performance wise this device range is absolutely killer though. I'm not a big gamer but I justice 2 didn't struggle. A system upgrade, a 1.4GB download, was done in 4 minutes only.

Although everything suddenly looks surprisingly like iOS 7 and also iOS 11, with MIUI 10.

True, I don't have any recent reference to Android devices. My latest Droid history goes back to the Samsung Note 2, and before that the Galaxy S2 which was the first ever phone to truly. Come close to have any iPhone killer potential. Once you ran Cyanogenmod on it and weren't restricted by Samsung's bloatware. Before that I only ever had tried mid-range Droid and they were... horrible.

That horrible that they make using an iPhone 5S in 2018 feel marvelous. Much of that was due to bloatware, obviously, but needlessly to say that hardware specs have changed and people who want a stellar device in 2018 need no high-end phone or an iOS device anymore.

A solid Snapdragon 14nm, and 3 or 4GB RAM, and the user experience is rather excellent.

Surprisingly excellent to this IOS lover.

But I can not state for sure that I will stick with this Droid as my main device. There's niggles about privacy and it being a Xiao I device with Miui makes those niggles only worse.

Until I decide, I am looking forward to explore more of this device and the Play store.

Even though I find 6"26 too large a screen. Or maybe my paws are not as large as I initially thought and I should have had chimpanzee paws instead. Readability, you are missed.

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This post was entirely typed with SwiftKey for Android and I blame android and SwiftKey only for all grammatical errors and typos in it. Also for inconsistent capilization. No link spamming mobile app was harmed in the submission of this post. I have not really found a reason to use an app because Brave browser is so darn fast and this device hardly ever lags.