AU8830
- The flexibility to easily run things such as Termux (from F-Droid or similar) - who doesn’t love a proper shell complete with the ability to install Python, tmux, sshd, etc right on their phone!
- Way superior notifications compared to iOS.
- Out of the box notifications is better (ability to customise notification tones per-app and even per-type/channel if the app exposes them) compared to generic notification tones on iOS (unless there’s an in-app setting).
- The notification icons in the status bar. On iOS I either have to look at my notification panel or lock-screen, or permit pop ups (which I hate for privacy reasons when sitting with other people).
- Cool 3rd-party apps such as AODNotify, which bring back notification LED type effects on AMOLED screens (but also, real, bright RGB notification LEDs on Sony phones and older Samsungs)
- Also Always on Display on AMOLED or Motorola’s Moto Display with gestures on IPS phones
- An actual choice of browsers. Firefox on Android actually IS a different browser to Chrome and the others. On iOS, they’re not much more than UI shells over the top of a shared browser engine.
- Things like text selection actually work. Every time I try to select or correct a URL in Safari for iOS I feel like throwing the device across the room.
Bad things - stupid bugs. The number of phones I’ve had with issues around notification tones not playing or being cut off (e.g. Moto Z2 Play) or stupid hardware decisions (no physical proximity sensor on Galaxy A51). Also, Bitwarden works way better on iOS - I always seem to have issues with Bitwarden’s integration in GBoard, and needing to use the legacy draw-over approach (but the fact Bitwarden can DO that on Android, is a win). Whereas on iOS, it feels far better integrated into the OS, replacing the standard password manager.
How fucking stupid do they have to be to complain about 3PA not paying their way (BS anyway - the net gain of users using Apollo etc is a win for Reddit) when REDDIT are the ones not serving them up? Then they frame it in a way that sounds like Apollo are taking advantage of them.
Why not include ads in the API responses, tagged as ads, and let the app developers implement a way of showing them. If an individual User pays for Reddit Premium - ads aren’t sent in the API responses.
My leading statement wasn’t a question. Reddit and spez aren’t stupid - they think we are. Fuck them.
Fitting secondary glazing in addition to the existing double glazing. It entirely eliminates “normal” traffic noise (as in - you see cars driving past but don’t hear them) and people walking past. You still hear excessively loud exhausts, but they’re significantly diminished to not be a “jump out of your skin” annoyance.
An added benefit I’ve noticed with the recent sunny weather - a significant reduction in unwanted solar gain. Usually, I have to put up exterior solar mesh screens to shade the windows from April to September, but so far this year, they haven’t been needed. I imagine it’s a combination of both the UV-blocking properties of the secondary glazing (soft-coat low-e and laminated glass) and having the regular window blinds between the normal windows and secondary meaning that much of the energy gets reflected straight back out again before entering the room-side of the secondary glazing.
You couldn’t call it a sub-$1000 investment if doing the whole house, but doing just a bedroom or living room fits and the quality-of-life improvement if on a noisy busy road makes it worthwhile.
But also, solar mesh screens especially on south-facing windows - they’re a nice cost-effective way of controlling the summer sun.