Confessions of an Android defector

Google vs Apple; Android vs iOS; it’s always been quite a tribal thing, and with only a few noticeable exceptions to the rule, even the tech media that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past 12 or so years tend to come down on one side of the argument or the other. Today, for me, there’s a disturbance in the Force… I’ve finally switched sides with the arrival of a new, shiny (and what the reviews would probably call “reassuringly weighty”) iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I feel weirdly guilty. Like I’m somehow betraying my tribe. I was part of the European agency team that launched the world’s first Android phone: the HTC Dream (or the T-Mobile G1 as it was also known). I went from Windows-based Pocket PCs, to a rogue’s gallery of Android-based HTC devices during the approx. 8 years that I supported them agency-side. I LOVED HTC Sense (even when the media called it bloatware and other mean names); the widgets, the “snackable content” feeds and of course the incomparable clock/weather combo! When I left my agency role, I thought I’d try an iPhone to see what all the fuss was about. I lasted a week before I had the choice of either gifting it to my mum or chucking it at the wall. It was an exercise in supreme frustration, nothing seemed intuitive and nothing seemed to “just work”, which was always Apple’s main promise to consumers. I felt tricked and even more sure that Android was the superior platform.

In another more recent agency role, I joined a global team charged with delivering Huawei’s global product launch events and global influencer review programme. I don’t think you can properly represent a company if you don’t fully understand their product and offer – particularly in the mobile and CE space – so I put my trusty HTC back in the drawer and moved over to Huawei’s P-series, then Mate series over the next three years.

Say what you like about Huawei, that company knows how to put great photographic capabilities into a smartphone so when it came to my next upgrade I was holding out for the next “best camera phone”. Huawei’s out of the running for me given the whole “no more Android” thing… I just can’t be bothered with another OS that doesn’t have all the apps I use on a daily basis, even for the best camera on a phone… so then what? OnePlus Nord? Nope. Samsung? Nothing really wows me… So that left me considering the impossible – should I believe all the hype and try iOS again? Having used an iPad for a number of years, I knew that many of the tiny frustrations that had made me want to put my first iPhone in a blender had probably been resolved and despite having worked in marketing all my career, I am a sucker for a slick launch event and well-oiled hype machine.

And so, just like that, I’m suddenly up to my neck in an iEcosystem. It turns out that being the last hold-out in my family to flip to the dark side opens a wealth of new opportunities to streamline services, subscriptions and storage across all our devices. As I get to grips with my phone, I also have new opportunities to extend my role as parental tech support, although Apple’s own support is really superb so I’ll continue to try to slopey-shoulder that off onto the right people! I now also have a smartwatch that lasts longer than a day (my old Android Wear model was beautiful but barely made it past lunch and only if I didn’t actually use it for anything other than telling the time) and my photos show up automatically on my iPad, ready for editing on the bigger screen. The only thing left is my PC, which I can’t see myself changing anytime soon, although those new M1 Macbooks sure are pretty…

So that’s my confession, I’ve switched sides and still feel good about it. Apple products may not be groundbreakingly innovative, they are expensive and they are surrounded by a marketing machine that makes paying ￡550 for a pair of over-the-ear headphones feel completely normal… but they are also bloody good so if you want to call me an iSheep, hear me BAAAAAA!

Main photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash