9 reasons, I don’t think I am going back to iPhone

As a long time switcher between iOS and Android with some time on Windows Phone and Firefox OS just for fun I think my switching days might be behind me. I saw the chart below recently and thought to myself why would I switch.

It seems Android Pie (v9) may have come of age not just with 1 or 2 things but an well thought out long term plan now becoming clear. I have been using Android Pie now for well over a month, jumping in on the last two Beta’s before the public release recently and I must say I am impressed. It feels like polish was high on the agenda. Apart from that I have assembled a few points below that are all adding up to me not looking to move back to iPhone.

Rich Communication Services (RCS) – Telstra launched RCS messaging for Samsung a while back and more recently for all up to date Android devices. For those that don’t know this give a similar experience to visual voicemail and iMessage which I had been sorely missing since holstering my iPhone. Once you have it, its very hard to go back to dialling 101 to listen to ‘you have 14 new messages… first message etc.’ or asking friends to use WhatsApp for group chats. RCS combined with text from my desktop now being supported natively the fragmented mess that was Android messaging is now looking very promising.

Android Enterprise (AE) – Since the launch of Android for Work back in 2015 it now appears the journey has reached maturity and ready for some scale. Working to provide a simple and segmented space for work and personal profiles to co-exist in harmony without the need for proprietary or 2nd rate services such as corporate VPN’s or UEM provided mail clients and browsers . The recent changes in Android Pie (9) refine the user experience once again adding some more ‘polish’.

Android Pie (9) – Nothing I can put my finger on specifically but just a more beautiful experience across the board from the notifications, to the app icons, this is the first time I have ever looked at Android and thought this is a nice looking OS. Every release before just simply looked ragged, jankie (I think that is a word) or just simply not quite finished. I do not see this at all with Android 9. The transition to the material design style is all throughout the OS and as a result it is beautiful from top to bottom.

Google assistant – Comparing Google Assistant to Siri or Cortana is not a fair comparison. In my opinion, Google assistant is years ahead in its understanding of what I want it to do and how well it captures my voice into text even in noisy environments. It is still not perfect, but it is certainly on the right path and way ahead of the pack.  

Navigation – I am yet to find a person who prefers Apple Maps over Google Maps. Yes, you can use Google maps on iOS (and I do on my iPad) but having Google maps set as the default for your voice assistant or tapping on a calendar invite address is a game changer. With Android Pie the screen overlay of maps in addition to split screen to multi task is also a nice tweak.  

Photos – Google Photos is a fantastic app (on both iOS and Android) and rounds out the personal experience perfectly. No more tagging photos shows how advanced the Google AI engine actually is working out what is in the photo so you can just search for it. Once again you can run this on iOS (and I recommend it to all my friends) but there is nothing quite like keeping the service close to the OS.  

Google Pay. Not any better than Apple Pay but now widely accepted and highlighting the openness of the NFC chip in Android I look forward to ditching more and more of my plastic for Google Pay.  

Accessory choice – I currently run a Huawei Watch, and a couple of Google Home speakers. I love having the device choice eco system rather than feeling locked into a single watch or speaker as just 2 examples. On the watch front the design from a jewellery (fashion) aspect Android is miles ahead due to the huge range available. I will say Apple however still ahead with the OS and Android Wear still needs some work to come up to par.

Device choice – With project treble now in play and Android One starting to hit the retail channel, I look forward to trying out many more enterprise ready and up to date (OS and security patch) devices over the next couple of years. Being able to choose from a large pool of devices that offer different configurations such as always on screens, different authentication methods and locations for authentication such as the fingerprint reader on the back or front and of course many price points to choose from makes the future of Android very exciting. My current daily driver is a Pixel 2 and the combination of an amazing camera, a perfect size screen for my use case, a fingerprint scanner on the back and the squeeze to evoke the Google assistant make for a great device for me

So there you have it. No one particular reason for jumping ship but more the combination of incremental updates and open eco system combined with a solid plan from Google to continue to remove fragmentation via the Android One program and to make more devices benefit from the latest OS polish thanks to Project Treble.

As for tablets… I think Android is still a mess with no clear direction and will ultimately be abandoned for Chrome. Given this I am happy to stick with my iPad Pro for now.  

For the desktop – Until Apple offer a touch screen and 4G built in, Lenovo and Windows 10 will continue to be my go to platform.

So I guess for now I am a 3 OS guy. Windows 10 for cooking, (multiple tasks and processes at once) iOS iPad Pro for dining (focused single use) and Android 9 for snacking (checking 150 times a day)

Special note: I reserve the right to change my mind and move back to iOS next month when Apple realises the next iPhone that ‘might’ just blow my mind. They have done it before and they might do it again.

What have I missed. Have you swapped from OS's lately? Love to hear about it.