Mobile

No Longer Doin' the Robot (Revisited) 2021-02-17

At the very tail end of 2016, I switched for Android to iPhone, which I wrote about in a post named No Longer Doin` the Robot. Slightly over four years later, I’m finally ready for a new phone. I’m still sticking with Apple, but I thought it would be interesting to revisit that old post to see how the state of the mobile phone has changed, and whether any of my complaints/predictions/etc panned out.

iPhone Stuff 2017-01-14

I’ve had the iPhone for a few weeks now. Here are my impressions so far.

I initially planned on getting an iPhone SE, because I thought it was the same screen size as the Moto X. Turns out it is actually smaller, which was quite shocking. Even more shocking was that the Moto X and the iPhone ⁶⁄₇ have almost identical dimensions (the former’s screen is bit shorter and wider, and the latter’s is a bit taller and narrower). That’s why I went with a 7 instead of the SE. Typing and navigating one handed feels about as comfortable as it is with the Moto X, (though nothing can beat the overal feel and stability of the Moto X in your hand).
I didn’t realize how many apps Google now has on the iPhone. Almost every stock Android app is here, and most of them look and work identically. Considering the majority of the time on my phone was spent in Google-provided apps, this makes the transition that much more painless.

No Longer Doin' the Robot 2016-12-30

I’ve been using Android phones since 2010. I still remember getting the Motorola Droid in the early spring. My first night with it, I ended up just staring at it as it sat on a table, marveling at the fact that so much technology was crammed into such a small device. I remember loading emulators on it and being able to play real games using the slide out keyboard. I bought the dock and used it as a morning alarm clock and news reader. I eagerly anticipated new OS updates and all the features they would bring. It felt like I was part of the future.

More importantly, I felt like I was part of a special club. Back then I would listen to the very earliest episodes of the Android Central podcast, which at the time began every episode with a listener-provided voicemail in which they enthusiastically announced which Android phone they owned and welcomed listeners to the show. Every week the hosts had information on a new phone that was around the corner. Everyone - the hosts (and website writers), the podcast listeners, the article commenters - were excited about Android and what it could bring as an alternatie to the iPhone. I declared myself to be an Android user for life.

Technically, I’m still an Android fan, but no longer a user for life. As of today, I’m using an iPhone 7.