I took a break from iOS, but it didn’t last long

It hasn't been that many years since I was really, really into changing phones. I did it a lot. And by a lot, that's an exaggerated understatement. I rarely had a phone for longer than a couple of weeks, and usually I was switching platforms entirely. Starting on Android and going to BlackBerry (yep!), and then going to Windows Phone (because why not?) and then eventually making my way over to Android. Of course, that's just an example. More often than not it was completely jumbled up, and there was no telling which phone I'd try next. While my friends and family members all made fun of me, I didn't care. I just kept doing it, from one flagship to the next, not really finding something that I really, really liked. Well, that's not true. The whole time I was basically avoiding, or trying to find a reason not to like iOS. And I have no idea why. Throughout the years, I've basically always used an iPhone as my daily driver. There was a stretch of time in there, I think around 2008 or 2009 that I was using Android devices more often than not because I liked to root them and change stuff around, but then I got into jailbreaking iPhones and doing the same thing there, so even that took me away from the competing platform. I've become comfortable with iOS simply because it does exactly what I need it to do, when I need it to do it. More than that, though, I've become comfortable with iOS because some of the most important things on the platform, the features that I use every single day, just aren't available on the other options. And no matter how much I might like the majority of other features on other mobile operating systems (seriously, give Android 5.0 Lollipop a shot, it's pretty great), I'm ultimately always going to come back to iOS because it has what I want. No tinkering required. I can give you the best example in the simple –and it seriously seems simple these days– feature that allows you to choose an audio source for media, like music, right from within Control Center. Switching between audio sources has been around in iOS for quite some time now, but it's arrival within Control Center is fantastic. Now, switching between my iPhone (headphones), or a Bluetooth car system, or another Bluetooth speaker somewhere, or even an Apple TV is just a simple swipe and tap away. I can even keep my headphones plugged in while I'm listening to music through Bluetooth and it's connected to my car. Makes switching songs so much easier. Compare that to Android, where I'm at least able to keep my headphones plugged in while listening to Bluetooth-connected audio. However, switching between the Bluetooth source and my headphones means I have to actually swipe down the Notification/Settings shade and disengage Bluetooth. While turning it off doesn't really hurt anything, and it's technically a swipe and tap away, too, it's still just a rudimentary and uninteresting way to do it. And switching between Bluetooth sources means going into the Bluetooth settings and choosing one through that. I don't even kind of want to do that, and it's entirely because iOS has treated me so well in this department. (Don't get me started about audio source switching in Windows Phone. Just don't.) This is a single feature out of many, but it's indicative of why I'm "stuck" with iOS, no matter what other platforms may offer. No matter how many times I switch, I know that I'm going to come back to iOS and my iPhone. I used to switch phones all the time, and with the exception of the last week and a half, I've been on an iPhone full-time for more than a year and a half now. That speaks volumes to me. How long have you been with your current daily driver? Continue reading →

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