genuinely curious as to why people choose that brand, are alternatives really that bad?

As I see it:

  • you pay for the hardware and software, which is fine, but
  • if you want to upgrade the OS, you have to pay once again, but this doesn’t work if your hardware model stops being supported. Why pay for something with a limited life expectancy?
  • you cannot get rid of bloatware, only hide it
  • software is made specifically to be only compatible within their ecosystem. If you want to build up on existing software and hardware, you either stay in their system and keep paying them or start anew with a freer alternative.
  • I find it ridiculous they use fancy names to name even their support staff instead of just calling it support staff. Why make things complicated?
  • I don’t understand why they use pentalobe screws instead or regular ones (with a line or a cross section)

Feel free to correct me, I may be misguided.

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
    0·
    8 months ago

    At this point I’m just one more person on the pile but:

    I used Android for years because I like open stuff, but iPhones are just straight-up better. There’s all kinds of weird broken stuff on Androids, things that don’t quite work or where the interface separating two parts of the device is a little awkward… my iPhone just does what it’s supposed to do. It’s hard to explain but there’s just a clear difference in the quality level of the software. They seem like they polished it until it was genuinely done, as opposed to just shipping the thing and moving on with something else. Also the photos are better (same thing – they clearly make it a priority). Also the security is much better, weirdly enough. I had to fight with the iPhone for quite a while trying to get a dashcam app, until I finally realized that the issue was that there was absolutely no way for an app to access the camera if it wasn’t the foreground app with the camera light on. Android? Fuckin’-a Mr. App you can watch this person sleeping, just make sure you ask about it when you’re first installed (and then refuse to install if the person says no).

    Etc etc.

    MacOS computers are pretty similar; good hardware, software isn’t perfect but mostly solid, BSD backend with lots of solid tooling. They just generally are high-quality and reliable.

    I think mostly the reason is, they have this weird cultish following that means they can charge a high price for their stuff and don’t face constant pressure to make it a little crappier in hopefully-they-won’t-notice ways to save a buck. So, you pay a little premium but what you get is good.