A few weeks ago I did the unthinkable – I gave up my iPhone and switched to an Android Phone. I realize that in the grand scheme of things this is no big deal, but we use these devices everyday and spend what amounts to a lot of time on them so I thought it was worth telling my story.

I remember the first time I saw an iPhone way back in the summer of 2007. I was at a friend’s wedding in the Poconos and some of his hip, tech savvy college buddies were there. One of them had the first iPhone and at the time I remember being more than a little judgmental and dismissive of its utility. Clearly I had no idea what I was talking about, as it soon became a sensation. My fist iPhone was a 3rd generation, then I upgraded to a 4s and later a 6s.

The iPhone is addictive, no doubt about it. I would salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs over those constant notifications, especially about politics. I could have turned them off, but I didn’t want to. I would spend a lot of time staring at my phone and at some point my relationship with my iPhone, and Apple products in general, soured. I got tired of iTunes and iCloud and the iWatch just doesn’t do it for me. Every day I would have to say no to upgrading my storage on the iPhone. That got really, really annoying. Oh, and did I mention the Genius bar? What a ridiculous concept. Every time you want something fixed you have to take it to a so-called Genius, who is really just a retail employee at a mall in a black t-shirt that’s 4 sizes too small.

So, when the time came to get a new phone, I took the plunge. I was apprehensive, and worried that I was going to make a big mistake. We use Google for a lot of things at work and I am generally satisfied with how they organize information. I love their design aesthetic too, because it’s so simple and uncluttered. For that reason, I settled on the Google Pixel 2 XL. I ordered it from the Google store and followed the instructions on how to transfer everything, including the SIM card. It was remarkably easy to do, and I am no tech wizard.

From day one it has been great. Android is just better, plain and simple. Apple was out front and cool, and now it’s fallen behind and is stale. Android gives me helpful instructions on how to make better use of the phone. The interface is clean and everything is really well organized. Updates happen regularly and are automatic. It merged all of my duplicate contacts for me, which were a mess on my iPhone because of backing up in iTunes years ago on an iMac that I shared with my wife. I still get notifications on my phone but they are not intrusive, and I’m significantly less likely to glance at my phone while I am driving. My new phone doesn’t bug me to buy more storage every day. Google Photos is awesome, so is Google wallet. Chrome is better than Safari, we all know that, and the Google Assistant puts Siri to shame. Bye-bye FaceTime and hello Duo. Sorry Apple, but it’s over between you and me.




Craig Snyder is the Owner and President of The Language Academy of the Carolinas, Inc.