https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/5/23987817/beeper-mini-imessage-android-reverse-engineer
The question is how long Apple will let it.
Note: this is a paid subscription service with a 7-day trial. $1.99 USD/mo.
I’d much rather Google innovate, make a better product, and not cancel it, but if this brings more young people over to Android in America, I’m all for it.
If things continue how they have been, I won’t realistically be able to use Android because the overwhelming majority of people around me will be using iPhones. That has a knock on effect of poor support on Android apps, missing features, missing out on integration experiences, etc. which makes it harder and harder to use Android. You could still choose to use Android but if like 80%-90% of people are using iPhones, you may as well be using an old flip phone.
Edit: to be clear, I'm not saying iPhones are better than Androids. My concern is with phone use trends in the US and what that will mean for us in the next few decades
Yeah, no. I'll take my Galaxy Fold 5 over an iPhone any day of the week, thanks.
Ignoramuses who believe Android is technologically falling behind the iPhone are flatly wrong on nearly every count. Android caught up to iOS in about 2008 and has been leading the way in features ever since. The more open app ecosystem has lead to a flourishing open source development community.
Anything you can do on a computer, you can do on an Android. iPhones are fundamentally limited to what Apple gives permission to exist within their app store, by contrast. Android lets you install an alternative store and therefore anything you want.
Ignoramuses who believe Android is technologically falling behind
Not sure if that was a general statement of directed at me so I guess I'll say that I don't believe Android is falling behind, I just think that if the overwhelming majority of Americans are using iPhones, it will be detrimental to the experience of using an Android phone in America as the years go on. Recent articles have said it's something like a 50/50 split of between iPhone and android users who are adults but closer to 87/13 for teens. That's concerning because they are getting locked in and unless Apple makes a major misstep, they'll likely get iPhone's for their kids when the time comes. It's looking like a slow burn
How do you like your fold 5? I was considering getting one but I'm kind of turned off due to the narrow cover screen; holding out for the fold 6. I haven't used a Samsung phone since touchwiz and have been switching between Pixel's and iPhones ever since. How is OneUI after a year or so of use, any slowdown or have they pretty much fixed that?
I see, it seems I misunderstood the nuance of your comment. You're thinking ahead to 30-40 years from now.
That was a general statement because I wasn't totally sure where you stood, but I thought perhaps you were being misled by those types.
OneUI is reasonably fast and the hardware is chunky enough that nothing feels slow to me, subjectively. I previously had a Fold 2 and the only downgrade from my perspective is the fingerprint reader, which has gotten smaller and has slightly more failures to read. Everything else is fantastic, IMO. The thing feels like a solid brick of a phone while folded and a sturdy tablet when open.
If the narrow screen bugs you, it's worth considering the Pixel Fold IMO (or perhaps next year's Pixel Fold 2). I would have gone with it for the Graphene OS support if not for the fact that Samsung offered me $800 to trade in my fold 2, whereas Google offered me $160.
Apple is a big ol' monopoly with strong cult vibes. I think if we end up with an Apple-dominated culture with that degree of vendor lock-in, we will have collectively failed as a civilization anyhow, so I'm not going to worry about the scenario you've described outside of my existing anti-trust, anti-giant-corp politics.
You're thinking ahead to 30-40 years from now.
I think it’ll affect us a little sooner but generally, yeah, that’s exactly it
If the narrow screen bugs you, it's worth considering the Pixel Fold IMO
I had the Pixel 7 Pro and when it was cool outside, it was great. It ran warm though and I’m outside a lot so when it got to summer, it became frustrating to use. Just getting the camera to open took twice as long and navigating the UI would be inconsistently choppy. I’m probably going to wait until the Tensor G4 or G5 (the later being rumored to use TSMC’s foundry) before seriously considering a pixel again.
Fold 6 it is
Yeah, no. I'll take my Galaxy Fold 5 over an iPhone any day of the week, thanks.
The Spen is a great feature, imo. Iphone has nothing to compare on that front.
The best thing I can say about Beeper Mini is that almost no one noticed I was using it: blue bubbles just started appearing — no lost messages to speak of.
For all the bitching and moaning about green bubbles, no one even noticed the blue one?
Not sure if I'm going to keep an active acct tho. Not until it integrates with more services. That's on the road map
No, I setup a MacOS VM on my home Linux server using docker-osx which runs a bluebubbles server. It doesn't use Matrix.