CerebralHawks

Everyone else is asking why and here I am wondering why an American company would use the English spelling of aluminium instead of the American spelling “aluminum” (Americans drop the last I).

Or maybe the author just wrote it in English out of habit and the word looks like the American version at a glance. But it’s something I notice.

Kinda/sorta. The resale value is better than on the Android side, but it’s still pretty damn insulting. Mainly because storage doesn’t matter. So you pay more for the extra storage, but you don’t see any of that returned in the resale. If you’re playing the resale game, either stick with base storage, or sell privately (in which case you can’t really say Apple resale is higher, it’s whatever people will pay). But better than either way? Buy a phone that’s a couple years old. Take advantage of the resale situation, but then of course you risk inheriting someone else’s problem. And always always always buy an iPhone in person, and ensure the person has properly signed out of it (and turned off “Find My”). Too many people sell without doing that, and move the money, and you can’t get your money back, and you can’t use the phone either. Don’t let it happen to you. But if you deal with honest people (or ensure their honesty) it removes one issue.

A lot of it is “on paper” as you say.

For example, iPhone uses NVMe SSD storage. The best Android phones use UFS, which is cheaper, and, “on paper,” slower. But there are other bottlenecks to consider, and in real world performance, UFS is at least as good.

I can only speculate as to why Apple uses the part that costs more and is only better in theory, but my best guess is that the iPhone is intended to be used for far longer than they’re marketed. Like Apple marketing would have you believe you need to upgrade every year or two, but Apple engineering would allow you to easily use an iPhone for five years, if you could resist the temptation of marketing. And it’s honestly not really that much different with Android. I have a 2019 Galaxy S10 that still runs relatively well. Could use a new battery, it doesn’t last long when it’s powered on, but it still runs well in the time it has.

Makes sense. Pixel is the successor to Nexus, which was always meant for tinkerers. The Pixel is (was?) sold unlocked, too. Unless you bought it from a carrier.

Pixel is also underpowered compared to iPhone and Galaxy, but priced similarly. So either you buy it because you just love Google that much… or you want to do something else with it.

Wondering if Graphene OS supports the AI hallucination camera mode on the Pixel 10 Pro where you zoom it at “100X” and it makes up details. Don’t get me wrong here — as an iPhone/Galaxy user (I main the iPhone but I do use both, and have also used HTC and Motorola) I think the feature is awesome… unless you’re trying to capture text. In which case it won’t work. Well, it’ll try to work. It won’t work well. And I don’t suppose you could show it the text later and update the 100X photo, but if you had that opportunity, you would just take a better picture up close.

Keep it updated.

If you’re using Windows 11, either your privacy is less important than your convenience, or your threat model doesn’t include Windows telemetry (which honestly can be tamed for the most part). I do have some concerns about Windows, but I’m a Mac user, so I only use Windows at work. Where I feel like I’m losing a battle trying to get others to not tell Copilot anything that isn’t public information (i.e. they don’t realise that talking to the computer may not be private) and hardening it — any time I sit at a computer, I tend to go in and “fix” the settings… and I’m not even the IT guy. The IT guy doesn’t care, but he’s not a total loss. I told him I want Firefox (it’s not in the image by default), he asks why, I say I know how to harden it. Mostly that’s turn off telemetry and install uBlock Origin, but there are a couple other things too. Stuff that doesn’t work in Edge and Chrome (which oddly, IS included in the image). So yeah, as a Mac user and a privacy guy, I’m good with Windows 11 and my relationship with it. Keep it updated.

But we are in a privacy comm, so obviously know your threat level and know how to harden the software you use. It’s not as easy as “just use Linux.” The person who can’t harden a Windows installation shouldn’t just be thrown to Linux, and I don’t even mean Arch. Even if they just use Ubuntu or Mint. People should learn to secure the software they have. Moving to Linux is a great recommendation for someone who can harden Windows but it’s not enough for them. Someone like me — I would be using Linux now if my computers didn’t die. Laptop died, I made a great choice by getting a MacBook. Love it. M2 Air, 16GB RAM. Best laptop ever, obviously not counting the newer models (or the MacBook Pro). So when my desktop died, I was quickly becoming an intermediate Mac user. Sometimes I regret not getting a cheap PC, throwing Linux on it, and gaming via Proton. Linux gaming is kind of awesome now? Still tempted to get an older/new-ish office PC that got stuck on Windows 10, one without a hard drive, put a SATA SSD in it and run Linux. Get a dock for my desk and run all the peripherals to it, then run it to my Mac (M2 Pro, also 16GB RAM) and be able to hot-swap it to the Linux desktop. I dunno, computers are fun to fuck around with, I just don’t really have the room (or the money). And Mac is fine (like Firefox, it has telemetry stuff), but I could be a Linux user. I just chose easy this time. But my privacy threat level doesn’t require me to not use Apple products. If yours does, you’re probably already running Linux, and more power to ya. It’s just about knowing your threat level and skill and working within that.

A lot of misinformation around this.

1. AirDrop is a proprietary Apple ecosystem thing, everyone knows that. It’s basically just Bluetooth for discovery and a proprietary Apple WiFi protocol for transfer.

2. In the EU, Apple was forced to switch from that proprietary WiFi tech to another WiFi tech that Apple is also involved in. Someone else named it, it’s called WiFi Aware.

3. Google made Pixel 10 (and only that model) compatible in such a way that it can AirDrop to and receive AirDrops from an iPhone.

4. Nothing has to be done on the Pixel to receive the AirDrop.

5. To receive AirDrop from a Pixel 10, the iPhone must be set to allow AirDrops from anyone for 10 minutes. It does not work if they’re in your Contacts — that method requires iCloud authentication (same with iMessage and FaceTime). So even if they’re in your contacts, iPhone users have to allow AirDrop from everyone for 10 minutes to receive.

6. WiFi Aware is supported all the way back in Android 8. But it requires an iPhone running iOS 26 or later. That’s either the iPhone 11, or the iPhone 12, or newer. I wanna say 11 because SE 2 got 26 and that’s got the same chip as the 11, but I’m really not sure on that point.

7. Anyone who’s anyone in tech doesn’t give two shits about AirDrop. AirDrop just makes it easy. I’m an Apple guy. I use Universal Clipboard more than AirDrop. I have an iPhone (16 Pro Max) and an Android phone (Galaxy S10, from 2019). I never use AirDrop to send files between them. Obviously because I can’t. But I mean, it’s no problem to have one host, the other log into the first, and send/receive files. It’s easier if the iPhone hosts because the Android file picker is basically more open (I use Solid something or other, I forget the exact name, used it for over a decade though). That said, since the last iOS or the one before, the iOS Files app isn’t bad. They’re both capable enough. Anyway, it’s trivial for me to copy stuff over. Both ways. And from the Galaxy S10 to the Mac or vice versa. This has never been a problem for most techs. It’s just about making it easier for older folks… who would be better served by Apple products (because they’re basically easier).