Beeper reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubble texts to Android users::The push to bring iMessage to Android users today adds a new contender. A startup called Beeper, which had been working on a multi-platform messaging
Beeper reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubble texts to Android users::The push to bring iMessage to Android users today adds a new contender. A startup called Beeper, which had been working on a multi-platform messaging
I’ve seen a lot of people complain online about getting dropped by a tinder date/etc because they swapped numbers and the other person realized they didn’t have an iPhone from the green text. Probably best not to date someone who would drop you over that, but there’s a weird elitism over blue/green texts.
Weird, is that an excursively US American thing? I am European and have never experienced “phone racism”.
It has started in Sweden with younger generations that wants to replicate everything from the US.
Don’t you guys use WhatsApp though as the base messaging app?
Swedes don’t use whatsapp. Mostly Facebook messenger or sms/imessage.
Attempting to get a date in the current US scene was hard enough without this petty bullshit. While it was certainly disheartening to see another one slip away, knowing I was dodging a bullet was worth the time. I did enjoy (only once) getting “ugh green bubbles? Srs?” And sliding back “yeah sorry I have a Fold#, iPhones r for brokies” and blocking the contact
(People are free to own iPhone and you’re free to make your own descicions or debate the merits of android/iphone, I am more just intolerant of the fan elitism - not iPhone owners in general, hope you have a nice day)
I’ve never heard of that, that’s kinda hilarious and really helps them dodge a bullet.
Apple has spent a significant amount of effort over creating a sense of elitism for using its products but that’s largely unique to the western world. Most of the world uses android devices by far.
Did you mean mostly just the US?
Android has almost 83% market share in the EU.
An interesting fact while researching is that Iphone has over a 99% market share in North Korea. I assumed that the data might be thrown off by one individual maybe owning like ten thousand Iphones… but surprisingly NK is more connected then I thought with like 7M registered cellular devices
Nah bro, if they bought an iPhone that means I can’t trust them with money. Screw that noise
As much as I dislike apple, I don’t really hold it against people if they choose to use iPhones. Iphones are overpriced, but they’re decent phones and I can’t really blame someone for not wanting to learn a different mobile OS or lose out on all the apps they’ve paid for. Also a lot of android OEMs make terrible design decisions with their software modifications/bloatware, and it can be really hard for someone non-tech savvy to know how to buy a good android phone. Iphones are comparably simple to shop for, you only have a few options and they’re all going to be decent (if not necessarily a good value).
Iphone elitism really bothers me though, it feels like it’s taking a lack of knowledge/experience and turning it into something to feel smug about.
Exactly.
I use an iPhone for work, because they pay for it, it does the essentials well, and since they manage the device, I get no benefit from Android’s openness.
My personal phone will always be Android, because I like to use a pocket computer the way I want to use it, not how the vendor thinks I should use it.
As someone who started with Android, went to iOS, back to Android, and stayed with iOS I feel like you’re not trying to understand why some people choose an iPhone. I personally chose it because of the incredible battery life.
Skip the rest of this if you don’t want to hear a rambling mess of my phone history. There is a bit at the end regarding prices and why I own what I own now.
I had an HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC One M7, Sony Xperia Z1, iPhone 7, Nexus 6P, iPhone X, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 15.
I’ve rooted a bunch of the early Android phones, loved having removable batteries and having expandable storage. As the platform evolved and started following Apple’s lead on design decisions (no removable batteries, no expandable storage, etc.) I was wondering why I was still with Android. After having a the Xperia I noticed that the battery didn’t last as long as it used to and if I remember right (possibly not, a bit tipsy) the Xperia was advertised as having a very long battery but it didn’t last very long past a year or so (was getting less than a full day and having to charge when I was driving home). I also had how slow Sony was to get OS upgrades it I decided to try a new phone. At the time I cared more about the battery and the iPhone 7 was my next try. It was amazing, I didn’t actually enable iMessage because I hated the bubble bs that I heard about. Eventually the 6p was announced and I missed the freedom of android and decided to give it a try. This was the generation where Android started cracking down on rooting and the battery life was awful. I eventually went full in on iOS after that and here we are. I miss what Android was, I do sometimes miss the tinkering but I also don’t hate how things normally just work.
Now in regards to cost, the name brands for Android phones are around the same price. They usually promise 2-3 years of updates while currently Apple had a history of supporting phones for 4-5 years.
I understand you can get lower range phones for cheaper but I guess I’m not into the phone scene like I used to because I guess I assume the lower range phones aren’t getting the updates that the flagships are and I don’t want to have to either compromise security or shell out more money to get another phone. So for me, I’m typically buying around a $1000 phone but after 3 years I can trade in my phone for a decent amount of money off the new one, or sell it for even more and pay a mid range Android prices for a new iPhone. Or if I’m not feeling the upgrades are worth it I’ll just stick with my phone for the 5 years+ (only went to iPhone 15 to get USB-C and remove lightning from my place).
Battery life hasn’t been an issue on Android for like 5 years. Phone I’m using at the moment is a low-end Samsung, I have hundreds of apps, run a VPN and Tailscale, lots of automation, two sync apps, and a bunch of other stuff.
With normal use it lasts most of a day. When I say normal, I mean my normal, which is to hammer on the poor thing, the screen is rarely off.
For the average user this thing would last 2 days (I tested it when I got it, just put a few typical apps on).
Though you know your way around phones, and have developed your reasons for choosing the things you do, like long battery life.
You’re not the user who chooses iPhone because they don’t know anything and hear iPhone is better, Android is green low-rent bubbles.