From iPhone to Android, Back to iPhone

I’ve been an iPhone user since 2014. Actually that’s not true. I dabbled with Android with an HTC M7 around 2013 and used iPhones before that (think my first iPhone was iPhone 3G). Regardless, I have been mostly an iPhone user and have been satisfied with my experience for the most part. iOS just works with no complications. And if your waist deep in the ecosystem, you appreciate the overall experience of all your Apple devices working with one another seamlessly. And yet, despite years of a hassle free experience with iOS, I still felt compelled to look over to see what I was missing on the Android side of things.

There’s an old adage: If it ain’t broke, dont’ fix it. And yet here I went and tried to “fix it”. I felt bored, and restless. I partly blame all the kdramas I have been consuming these past few years (all you see are Samsung phones being used in them). So I took the plunge and for 2 weeks or so, I was using a Samsung S22+. I did enjoy some of the customizations opportunities that one gets with Android (default keyboards, browsers, and arranging your apps to your liking are very well implemented). But that’s been the bulk of my Android use. I wasn’t using it as much, the way I would with an iPhone, to read my news blogs, listen to my podcasts or music, and play my casual games like sudoku or solitaire. No, at least 20 to 30% of my Android use was devoted to further tinkering settings and trying to recreate some of the experiences I missed using the iPhone.

Two weeks in, and I decided I had my fun and now it’s back to what works best for me. Samsung S22+ is on it’s way back to Samsung, and an iPhone 13 is on its way to me (slight upgrade from my previous 12 pro). So what made me decide to bail on Android and go back to what I know best and with what I am most comfortable? There are a few things and I’ll list them here.

iMessage:

I won’t go into too much detail to explain iMessage. iPhone users know all about it. Android users don’t have the pleasure to use it. Needless to say, for SMS/iMessage conversations, it just looks nicer and has a boatload of features that the standard Android Messages app doesn’t provide. And how could it? It’s just SMS messaging. There are several cross-platform apps of course, but the people I most communicate are iPhone users and just love the ease of use of iMessage and don’t want to bother with Whatsapp, Signal, Telegram, etc. So yeah, this is definitely one of the reasons to go back to iPhone (that darn Apple ecosystem in play again).

Apple Pay:

For contactless payments, Apple Pay is an absolute pleasure. It just works and is simple to use. Just double-press your side-button, use Face ID/Touch ID or passcode, pick your payment method (unless you have a default one that you always use) and let the card reader scan your phone, and done. My experience with Samsung Pay and Google Wallet/Pay has been hit or miss. Plus the way to use Samsung Wallet is a little more cumbersome than just a double-press of the side button on an iPhone. The issue with Google Wallet is that there is also Google Pay. Google has a habit of trying to fix things that are already working (which this post shows I’m guilty of). Google Pay/Wallet is no exception. It has gone through many different brandings and iterations. They did the same with messaging apps. This uncertainty makes me want to stick with Samsung Pay for contactless payments but the execution isn’t the smooth experience I became accustomed to with iPhone. I can tolerate it and deal with it but why should I?

VLC:

This was my biggest disappointment on Android and made me finally decide on switching back. For those that don’t know, “VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.” It has been my go for my video files on all my Apple devices. It’s great and just works. My favorite feature on iOS/Apple TV/iPad side of things, is the ability to send files to VLC via Wi-Fi. Just turn on “sharing via Wi-Fi”, you get a 192.168… url and you use a browser and drag and drop files over. That feature isn’t available on Android. So how do I drag files over? Connecting my Android to my Mac wasn’t enough to give me that option. Going to a VLC for Android support page didn’t give me any answers.

After struggling with different search queries I finally stumbled upon an answer. By simplifying my search to: transfer files from mac to android, I came across Android File Transfer. With this work around I moved media files to my phone. But wait, how is the video playback? Not good. If I stream video from streaming apps like Amazon, Crunchyroll, etc, those apps make good use of the screen, albeit with side bars but that’s fine. Not so with VLC. Either I get 16:9 ratio but it uses a fraction of the display, or fit screen but then it zooms in and crops out a good portion of the video making fit screen a non-option. Fill, 4:3, and Center are no better. Why can’t VLC on Android fill the screen the way the streaming apps can? This was never an issue for me on my iPhone or iPad.

Final Thoughts:

So yeah VLC was the final straw for me. I was able to make do with Feedly and Pocket Casts as alternatives to Reeder and Overcast for my news feeds and podcasts. But VLC for Android just paled in comparison to VLC on iOS. That along with other little nit picky things (aside from what I just mentioned), was enough for me to call it quits on my short-lived experimentation with Android. It’s just not for me. I’m an Apple user and I have to just accept it, come to terms with it, and not make this whimsical folly again.

Giving My iPhone A Makeover With Mahogany Wood Skin

For many months I was debating about replacing the back of my iPhone with a bamboo back from JackBacks but the price range and the risk of messing up my phone kept me on the fence. I was then debating between bamboo cases from Grove and Fun Panda but they seemed too bulky and like they wouldn’t really protect my phone as good as a regular plastic with silicon/rubber would. I finally decided to look at some skins to complement an Apple bumper and I happen to come across SlickWraps.

I noticed their wood series and loved the look of the Mahogany skin. I was sold when I read that it was real wood veneer and not just a sticker drawn/painted to look like wood.  Within a week I got my new wrap and immediately installed it. I’m pretty pleased with the results what do you think?

This blurry picture doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea

A much better picture. Looks pretty good, right?

I like how it gives my phone a retro 70’s wood-panelling/steam-punk look and feel. Anyway, if you’re compelled to get a similar skin like this by all means check out SlickWraps. Giving my phone a new look has definitely sated my I-need-a-new-phone-itch (for the remainder of my contract at least).

Week 2 Of Weight Training: 4 Pounds Down

For the second week of my change in diet I decided to be more diligent about what I would eat. Not starve myself but be more in control of my portions and avoiding as much junk food as possible. Also, I made efforts to remain more active and on days I didn’t exercise I did walk a decent amount.  I have to say I was proud of my efforts this past week and the results were satisfactory.

So for my second weigh in, I am down 4 pounds (239lbs). Of course the scale also says that my body fat % is up to 39 this time around (see what I mean how I don’t know what to think about its accuracy). Anyways, I did well on week 2 and I’ve gotten some validation for my efforts. Now I must remain focus. This is still far from over.

Week 1 of Weight Training: Inspired To Get Fit

Recently, I heard about how Jennifer Hudson lost 80 pounds using the Weight Watchers system. I found that to be amazing especially because of all the tragedy that surrounded her the past year or two. Lesser people would’ve went into a downward spiral of depression and given that she was overweight to begin with, that would’ve been an easy choice, to go on a food binge.

But instead, Jennifer Hudson found the resolve within her to shed the weight and improve her lifestyle. I have none of the problems she’s faced and I no longer have the excuses I used to have to fall back on for my flawed weight issues (lack of time because of commuting, lack of sleep etc). After two months and some weeks of slacking off I finally got off my lazy butt and decided to seriously take some action.

Now I’m not using the Weight Watchers system like Jennifer Hudson did. Instead I opted for the free iPhone app called Lose It! At the start of this past week, I was 242 pounds with 42% body fat. My goal is to lose 50 lbs in 50 weeks. It’s a moderate goal of 1 pound a week but I don’t want to discourage myself so early in the game.

For the most part I kept to my daily calorie count. Some days I even had hundreds of calories to spare. The one day that I fumbled a bit was on Friday, but I made it up by punishing myself with an hour of the Tae Bo instructional DVD. Needless to say, I’m sore all over. I’m even feeling soreness in places I didn’t know had muscles.

So today was my weighing day for my first week to see how I did. I ended up with 243 pounds and 36% body fat. Now I’m not sure how accurate the body fat sensors of my old Tanita scale are but  the optimist in me wants to believe that the extra pound in weight is due to muscle mass. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I can’t let this get me down. I need to move forward and I intend to walk it off later today. Probably some calisthenics as well.

Embracing My Inner Mac Fanboy

I’ve spent quite a bit of money on Apple with my annual membership fees of MobileMe since the days of dot mac and after much time exerted on trying to resist using all of its functions I’ve decided to embrace it whole-heartedly.  Part of the reason of course is the money. If I spend $99/year for a service, I might as well use it to its fullest. The other reason is Google’s exponential growth these past few years.  It just seems that they are spreading their tendrils on every bit of technology available and with the fact that they’re in the business of selling information for ads and my  sudden urge to limit how much exposure I have on the grid, it just seemed like the right time to switch from Gmail to MobileMe.

Also, as it may not be all too clear, my constant fiddling with technology is all for a single-minded purpose and that’s of course convenience and minimizing functions. And since I have an iPhone and MobileMe works seamless with it vs. Gmail it was just much easier to make this decision. Why it took me this long to come to this decision? Various reasons of course. One was that I was trying to weed out of MobileMe initially. But now I’m embracing the fact that I’ll most likely never use a non-mac platform for personal use again, if I can help it.  It has been the simplest and most pain-free computer experience that I’ve had all my life and even though it comes at a premium, most conveniences are at a price.

Just look at cell phone services. The cheapest one is T-Mobile. But the best overall mobile phone and data service in New York City is Verizon. So do you save money and risk dropped calls and faulty internet connection on your cell or do you just pay for pain-free service? At the moment I have AT&T but that’s because of the iPhone (obviously). And with the rumors that the iPhone will be launched under the Verizon platform pretty soon, I’ll look forward to switching to even better service as soon as my contract expires.

So no more Windows and no more dreaming of the possibilities of Linux once I get around to learning how to use it.  Just Apple all the way, with it’s exclusive-all-encompassing yet simple to use service.  Now to bask in my convenience and ease of use.