I Escaped the Apple Ecosystem - It Backfired

[00:00] Last month on a family holiday, I did a

[00:02] little experiment. I had my iPhone as

[00:03] usual, but I also brought with me an

[00:05] Oppo FindX9 Ultra to take photos with.

[00:07] And I ended up so blown away by this

[00:10] phone in more ways than one that I had

[00:12] an entire midlife crisis. I made every

[00:14] arrangement to finally put my iPhone to

[00:17] rest the moment I got home and escape

[00:19] from the Apple ecosystem once and for

[00:20] all. That was a giant mistake.

[00:25] So, I started this holiday with a very

[00:26] simple mission. Anytime I was going to

[00:28] take a photo on my iPhone anyways, I

[00:30] just take one on the OPPO 2. What I

[00:32] didn't expect, though, is how much fun

[00:33] this was going to be. It got me

[00:35] thinking. The iPhone's camera system is

[00:37] kind of designed to be boring. Apple

[00:39] sells over 200 million iPhones every

[00:41] single year. And that's between not very

[00:44] many different models. So, just because

[00:46] this one has a Pro in its name does not

[00:48] change the fact that it's designed for a

[00:50] mainstream audience. What does a

[00:51] mainstream audience need? Balance. Every

[00:54] aspect of the iPhone, including its

[00:56] cameras, is meticulously crafted around

[00:58] a never too much, never too little

[01:01] goldilocks philosophy because that's the

[01:03] only way to make a one sizefits device.

[01:07] Something for which it doesn't matter

[01:08] who you are. It doesn't matter which

[01:09] lens you're using. Doesn't matter what

[01:11] lighting condition, front camera, back

[01:12] camera, you just know that it's going to

[01:14] be dependable, if not exciting. And so

[01:17] what I noticed was as soon as I started

[01:19] using this tool that instead of being

[01:21] reliably good, was capable of

[01:23] exceptional, it all of a sudden made me

[01:25] care about what I was shooting again,

[01:27] like this shot here taken on the Oppo

[01:30] phone. It started to become a bit of a

[01:33] game on this holiday. I'd take these

[01:34] photos on both phones and every time I'd

[01:36] show my family, it was the difference

[01:37] between, "Ah, thanks for taking the

[01:39] photos with the iPhone and, "Wow, you're

[01:42] such a good photographer with the OPPO."

[01:44] They stoked my ego and that's the

[01:45] quickest way to my heart. And after a

[01:48] few days of this, I started to realize

[01:49] there was no point in taking photos on

[01:51] the iPhone if I had this OPPO around.

[01:53] So, I just focused on using this. I

[01:56] started to play around with what was

[01:57] possible thanks to the OPPO's higher

[01:58] number of cameras, much bigger sensors,

[02:00] higher resolutions, and wider apertures

[02:02] to let more light in. I was taking

[02:05] stunning footage like this, which, let's

[02:07] be honest, was just never going to

[02:08] happen before. Not to mention this 10

[02:10] times optical zoom camera that can go a

[02:12] lot further than that and feels

[02:14] borderline violating. You're taking

[02:16] shots that look like this, only to

[02:18] completely forget that this is how far

[02:20] away you shot them from. And the sixx

[02:21] zoom preset that produces my absolute

[02:24] favorite close-up macro shots of any

[02:26] phone ever. And so, you can imagine at

[02:28] this point, having gone from son who

[02:30] owns lots of phones to son who actually

[02:32] takes such good photos that he must take

[02:34] ours, too. I started to wonder, why am I

[02:37] even using this iPhone? Why am I not

[02:40] using a phone that's tailored to what I

[02:41] love and just permanently aura farming

[02:43] with every clip I take? Plus, I actually

[02:45] capture content for a living. So,

[02:48] wouldn't switching to something with

[02:49] crazy good cameras, and by the way, a

[02:50] battery that's nearly 50% larger, too,

[02:53] actually just be a work perk as well as

[02:55] a life one.

[02:58] And what's intensified this feeling is

[03:00] the sheer gap in intelligence that I've

[03:02] noticed between the two phones. For

[03:04] example, I'm someone who strongly

[03:06] prefers to talk things out instead of

[03:07] typing. I like getting my thoughts out

[03:09] quickly. It just feels efficient. Plus,

[03:11] I get a lot of finger pain when I spend

[03:13] too much time on a keyboard. So, on my

[03:14] iPhone, I'm constantly setting reminders

[03:17] using my voice, using dictation to give

[03:19] big chunks of feedback to my editors, or

[03:22] even when on a walk, where I always seem

[03:24] to have my best ideas brain dumping into

[03:26] my notes app as new things occur to me.

[03:28] Problem is, Apple kind of sucks for

[03:31] this. And it's only when you live with

[03:33] both Siri and Gemini at the same time

[03:35] that it dawns on you how much better an

[03:37] Android phone right now understands what

[03:39] you're saying to it. Gemini is not

[03:41] perfect, but it does get the words

[03:42] right, and you have way more control

[03:44] over the grammar, too. So, you end up

[03:46] with sentences that you could actually

[03:47] send to someone without looking like you

[03:49] learned English yesterday. Plus, Google

[03:51] specifically just announced that they

[03:53] are doubling down on their speech to

[03:54] text quality later this year with the

[03:56] new rambler feature. That's me. I'm that

[03:59] rambler.

[04:00] >> Yeah, can confirm.

[04:02] >> And with reminders, I just kind of come

[04:04] to expect that if I ask Siri to remind

[04:06] me of something, it's going to

[04:07] completely butcher it. But that is now

[04:09] tomorrow's problem to figure out what I

[04:11] originally meant. It's been so

[04:12] refreshing for this to not be an issue

[04:14] with the Oppo. Or another example, let's

[04:16] say I'm in Sy. I'm buying an ESIM for my

[04:18] next trip. Kyrgyzstan,

[04:21] oh my god, the Android gets me. iPhone,

[04:24] not so much. Point being, there are all

[04:27] sorts of benefits that you start to

[04:28] notice from the lurking presence of a

[04:31] higher intelligence on Android. Like

[04:33] yesterday, I was searching for a

[04:34] specific photo of Disher and I. Being

[04:36] able to just type something vague like

[04:38] couple and trust that your phone

[04:40] actually gets that you mean two adults,

[04:42] maybe a baby, nothing more, is so

[04:44] useful.

[04:46] Now, of course, Apple will get smarter

[04:48] software and a better Siri. Probably

[04:50] soon they have to announce big changes

[04:51] at this year's WWDC. They will make

[04:53] iPhones with better cameras and longer

[04:55] battery life. But my thought process was

[04:58] it could be months or even years before

[05:00] this better Siri and better software is

[05:02] actually on my iPhone and working well.

[05:03] And by then, will Google and Gemini be

[05:07] just as far ahead? It certainly seems

[05:09] that way based on the mountain of

[05:10] upcoming features announced at Google

[05:12] IO. And frankly, I don't think Apple is

[05:14] ever going to close this camera and

[05:16] battery size gap. It doesn't make sense

[05:17] for them to because of the Goldilock

[05:19] zone that they need to stay in to remain

[05:21] mainstream.

[05:23] So, I dove in. I went through every

[05:25] single app I use on my iPhone and

[05:26] downloaded them one by one again. I

[05:28] painfully peeled away like 16 years

[05:30] worth of photos from iCloud and started

[05:32] paying for Google Photos. Called my

[05:34] banks to reauthenticate my cards for

[05:36] Google Pay, relogged in to every single

[05:37] account and created new ones for those

[05:39] that I had initially foolishly signed up

[05:41] for with Apple. Damn you guys for making

[05:43] it so easy to do that. This process was

[05:45] a reminder of just how locked into the

[05:47] Apple ecosystem you can become without

[05:49] really realizing it's happening. And

[05:51] that's without even talking about the

[05:52] whole shared iCloud library and iMessage

[05:55] stuff. Thankfully in the UK, most people

[05:57] just use WhatsApp. It's things like if I

[05:59] want to keep using my AirPods with this

[06:00] OPPO, I'd lose about 10 of their key

[06:02] features, like whatever I'm watching

[06:04] pausing when I take one earbud out. How

[06:06] with the iPhone, you can actually use

[06:07] the microphones inside of your AirPods

[06:09] as a portable lav mic to pick up your

[06:12] voice a lot clearer when you're taking

[06:14] video. And it makes a massive difference

[06:16] as you can see as we now flick to using

[06:18] the iPhone's in-built microphones. And

[06:20] probably the most useful, audio sharing.

[06:22] So both Disha and I can both connect our

[06:25] pairs of AirPods to one phone. None of

[06:27] this is possible on the OPPO, at least

[06:29] on Oppo's current latest software. My

[06:31] MacBook would lose the ability to

[06:32] instantly paste something the moment

[06:34] that I've hit copy on my iPhone. And

[06:36] being able to use my phone's internet

[06:37] with just one tap from my Mac as opposed

[06:39] to needing to go onto the phone first to

[06:41] activate Hotspot and then back onto the

[06:43] phone to turn off hotspot when I'm done.

[06:44] Not to mention the most painful loss of

[06:46] all, AirDrop. and then my Apple Watch

[06:49] that would be literally dead on arrival.

[06:51] This will not even pair to an Android

[06:53] phone, which is really upsetting given

[06:55] that this played such a core role in my

[06:57] recent fitness transformation. I was

[06:59] determined though. So, one by one, I

[07:00] found the best current workound for each

[07:02] potential issue, and I am 7 days into

[07:04] this being my main phone with my main

[07:06] SIM card in.

[07:09] And uh

[07:11] I screwed up. Now, of course, not

[07:13] everything I found is going to be an

[07:14] issue for everyone, but I just want to

[07:16] show you why this switch was such a bad

[07:17] idea for me in case you see parallels

[07:20] with your situation. So, first, there's

[07:22] definitely some nitpicks that have crept

[07:24] in about this OPPO. Things you don't

[07:25] realize when you're in the honeymoon

[07:26] phase. Like, for example, when you're

[07:28] buying a niche phone like this, it's

[07:30] really hard to get quality accessories.

[07:32] Like on my iPhone, not an ad, by the

[07:34] way, I love my Taurus brand case with

[07:36] this fancy stand. This is the best

[07:39] alternative I managed to find on my

[07:41] OPPO. It sounds absolutely atrocious

[07:44] when you rotate it. And literally just

[07:45] yesterday while using it, the back plate

[07:47] fell off.

[07:50] Yeah, this ain't it, Chief. The OPPO

[07:52] regularly takes an extra second or two

[07:53] to figure out what app you're looking

[07:55] for in the universal search bar. So,

[07:57] while I'm used to bashing in three

[07:58] letters and then instantly hitting the

[07:59] app icon I want, here unless you wait,

[08:02] you actually end up going into the wrong

[08:04] apps. The apps themselves on Android do

[08:06] not feel as polished. Like why with Uber

[08:08] does it feel like the categories are

[08:10] actually measured to fit within my

[08:11] display on the iPhone but on Android I

[08:13] have to scroll? Why is the Boots logo

[08:14] every time I open the app high

[08:16] resolution on iPhone but low resolution

[08:18] on Android? Why does NT Games on iPhone

[08:20] get this custom fancy dock at the bottom

[08:22] while Android gets this animationless

[08:24] personalityless alternative? Why does

[08:26] the British Airways app on iPhone

[08:28] remember who I am but on Android it

[08:30] makes me log in again every single time

[08:32] I open it? Why on Google's own YouTube

[08:34] Studio is the app better formatted to

[08:36] read your titles on iPhone even though

[08:38] OPPO is set to minimum text font? And

[08:40] why does Android take me to the bottom

[08:42] of the page every time I switch views?

[08:44] These are all minor things that you

[08:45] could get used to, but I think anyone

[08:47] switching from iPhone to Android will

[08:50] notice their apps go from clearly the

[08:52] developer's first priority to eh, it

[08:55] works. I've started to notice that

[08:57] Oppo's display is not as bright as the

[08:59] iPhones. kind of ironic given that it's

[09:01] quoted brightness is actually higher.

[09:02] And you know when those SMS verification

[09:04] codes come in, I've got very used to

[09:06] them consistently appearing on my

[09:07] keyboard so that all I need to do is

[09:09] tap. Half the time on the OPPO, they

[09:11] just don't. All of these things, I would

[09:13] class them as irritating but tolerable.

[09:16] This though is where this transition

[09:18] started to break down for me. There's

[09:20] still no good alternative to AirDrop.

[09:22] It's pretty clear that Google's working

[09:23] on it. And very impressive that they've

[09:25] already got to a stage where they've

[09:26] reverse engineered AirDrop to make new

[09:28] Android phones compatible with it. So, I

[09:30] can now pull up a file on this Oppo and

[09:32] send it to my Mac via Quick Share. And

[09:34] my Mac will receive that file as if it

[09:35] were from an iPhone using AirDrop. It is

[09:38] seamless, but it's much slower on

[09:39] Android than when you're doing Apples to

[09:41] Apples. There's another popular option

[09:43] called local send, but it's buggier and

[09:45] just fails for no apparent reason a

[09:47] third of the time. I feel like I've gone

[09:48] through every single recommended option.

[09:50] They're either slow, unreliable, or

[09:52] filled with ads. So, I'm back to Quick

[09:54] Share. It's the best option. But you can

[09:56] also see how potentially quadrupling the

[09:58] amount of time I'm waiting for my files

[10:00] to transfer doesn't feel like a sensible

[10:02] life decision. Of course, I could just

[10:04] ditch the MacBook 2 and go Windows. But

[10:06] as a general purpose laptop, I will die

[10:09] on this hill. Nothing beats the MacBook

[10:11] right now. I've realized another pretty

[10:13] fatal flaw in my plan. So, obviously, a

[10:15] big part of the reason that I shifted

[10:17] from iPhone to OPPO was the rear

[10:19] cameras. But in doing so, I also kind of

[10:22] just assumed that the front camera would

[10:24] be as good as the iPhones.

[10:26] It isn't. And that's kind of annoying

[10:29] because half the time when I'm filming

[10:31] shots on my phone, it's because I don't

[10:33] have a camera person with me. And so I

[10:35] need to see what I'm doing. You know how

[10:37] we talked about this idea of the iPhone

[10:39] being such a balanced phone and then me

[10:42] proceeding to say that that doesn't

[10:43] matter to me? Well, now's kind of where

[10:46] I eat my own words because I think it

[10:49] does. I actually think there's something

[10:50] very nice and useful about having this

[10:53] parity on all of your cameras because

[10:56] when I'm shooting clips on my phone, if

[10:58] I'm being really honest, I want it to

[11:00] look nice, but the most important thing

[11:02] is that it doesn't look bad. And so,

[11:04] which phone allows me to better ensure

[11:07] that? That's actually the iPhone. It's

[11:10] not looking good, but this has been the

[11:11] most critical blocker for me. So,

[11:13] switching out the earbuds has been fine.

[11:15] If anything, I've upgraded from the

[11:17] AirPods Pro 3 to the Sony XM6s, and I

[11:20] love these things, but it's having to

[11:21] swap the watch that's become a problem.

[11:23] At the start of this search, I was

[11:25] excited by the idea, cuz the Apple Watch

[11:26] has its flaws. This switch up was my

[11:28] chance to fix them. But then I started

[11:30] to go through the options. I checked out

[11:31] Garmin smart watches, but their user

[11:33] interface is so laggy and unpolished is

[11:36] the Google Pixel Watch. But after I

[11:37] tested it at the Sideman charity match

[11:39] and it claimed that I'd burned over

[11:41] 2,000 calories in 2 hours, I don't have

[11:44] a lot of faith that I could rely on it,

[11:45] especially since calories are one of the

[11:47] very few things that I need from my

[11:49] watch. There's the Oppo watches. You

[11:51] know, in theory, those should have very

[11:52] good synergy with the Oppo smartphone.

[11:54] But wait, no one uses this product.

[11:57] Literally, there isn't one review on

[11:59] Amazon UK. So, there's just no way that

[12:01] this watch is going to be well supported

[12:02] within third party fitness apps and on

[12:05] gym equipment. a function which I use

[12:07] all the time by the way to make sure

[12:08] that I'm getting the stats from both the

[12:10] watch sensors but also the settings of

[12:12] the machine so you get the most accurate

[12:14] results. The warp band seemed promising.

[12:16] I know enthusiasts swear by it. So I

[12:18] went and bought one, set it up, used it

[12:20] for like 5 days, did not like it either.

[12:23] It's not that it's bad, it's just not

[12:24] for me. I have simple needs and Whoop

[12:27] gives you so much information that

[12:29] sometimes actually comes at the cost of

[12:31] the clarity of the simple stuff. Not to

[12:33] mention how still having to wear

[12:35] something on your wrist without getting

[12:36] any of the perks of a smartwatch, like

[12:38] being able to set a quick reminder, see

[12:40] your heart rate, or hell, check the

[12:43] time, feels like such a waste for me.

[12:45] So, eventually, I caved. I sucked it up

[12:47] and bought the one smartwatch I'd been

[12:49] avoiding the whole time, the Galaxy

[12:51] Watch. The watch where they forgot that

[12:53] the screen was a circle when designing

[12:55] the body. And even this, it's not

[12:57] working out.

[12:59] while I am working out. See, for the

[13:01] first 3 months of this year, you might

[13:02] know I used the Apple Watch to track a

[13:04] strict exercise plan. And the changes I

[13:06] saw in my body composition lined up

[13:09] almost perfectly with the calories that

[13:10] this watch said I was burning. And now

[13:12] for the 30 days after that, I've been

[13:14] using the Apple Watch calorie numbers

[13:16] again to try and maintain the weight

[13:17] that I'm at. And so, the fact that in

[13:19] that time, my weight hasn't gone up or

[13:21] down one bit shows that while of course

[13:23] this is not lab grade accuracy. calorie

[13:25] counting is a very weird imprecise

[13:27] thing. It shows that it's accurate

[13:29] enough to be useful. But if that's the

[13:32] case, then this is not because every

[13:35] single day I've been wearing these two

[13:37] watches side by side, the Galaxy tells

[13:39] me that I've burned quite a lot more

[13:40] calories than the Apple says. And all of

[13:42] this is compounded by the extra issues

[13:44] I'm facing by straddling multiple

[13:47] ecosystems. I've already forfeited a lot

[13:49] of the Galaxy Watch's standout features

[13:51] by not using it with a Samsung phone,

[13:52] and it's not syncing very reliably at

[13:54] all with the Oppo. I got very used to

[13:56] how with the Apple Watch, as soon as

[13:58] your stats update on this, almost

[14:00] instantly they update on Apple Health,

[14:01] and then pretty much instantly they

[14:03] update on all your third party apps

[14:05] connected to Apple Health. Not the case

[14:07] with my Samsung Oppo Combo. Sometimes

[14:09] the Samsung Health data will update in

[14:12] real time. Like here, it's telling me

[14:13] I've burned 49 calories, but then that

[14:15] number doesn't translate to the app,

[14:17] which still thinks I've burned 11 until

[14:19] I manually pull down to refresh it. Then

[14:21] it syncs up. Sometimes my widget will

[14:23] tell me I burn one number, but then I

[14:24] click into it and the app behind it says

[14:26] another. I feel like I've had every

[14:27] combination of this type of syncing

[14:30] issue. It's all technically working.

[14:32] It's just not working well together. And

[14:34] that's especially true when it comes to

[14:36] charging the stuff. I've got used to

[14:37] this super slimline thing being the only

[14:40] charger that I need to take with me when

[14:41] I'm going away. Now, my phone doesn't

[14:43] have a magnet. I mean, yes, you could

[14:45] add one with a phone case, but frankly,

[14:47] this magnet is so terrible that I kind

[14:49] of wish I hadn't tried. So, I've just

[14:51] ended up plugging the thing in each

[14:52] night. The Samsung Watch has its own

[14:54] bespoke charging puck. And the Sony

[14:56] earbuds, you can charge them wirelessly,

[14:58] but they don't have a magnet like the

[14:59] AirPods do. And at the point where I'm

[15:01] charging both of my other products with

[15:03] wires anyway, I actually might as well

[15:05] just plug that in, too. So, basically,

[15:07] this jump to Android would mean that

[15:08] even my travel charging setup would

[15:10] deteriorate to this. Ultimately, too

[15:13] many compromises. I've been getting

[15:15] bored, right? I've been getting bored of

[15:17] iPhones every single year looking and

[15:18] feeling so similar. So, when finally an

[15:20] Android phone came out that felt so far

[15:23] beyond my iPhone's capabilities, it

[15:25] triggered a tipping point. But while I

[15:27] was of course ready for some compromises

[15:29] to make this switch, I was not ready for

[15:31] just how impactful they'd end up feeling

[15:33] for the way that I use my devices. It's

[15:35] reminded me that even though many Apple

[15:37] devices individually are not necessarily

[15:40] bestin-class, the synergy that they form

[15:42] together or the disguised lockin,

[15:45] depends how you see it, actually is. And

[15:47] I'm currently getting more from that

[15:48] than individually upgrading any one

[15:50] piece of hardware. At least messing

[15:52] around with the eims hasn't added to the

[15:53] headache because I use salar sponsor

[15:56] anytime I go away. The moment I logged

[15:58] into the app on my OPPO, I already had

[16:00] my data packages ready to go. And it's

[16:01] just sick how the next time I decide I

[16:03] want to gallivant off somewhere, I can

[16:05] just download the data for that country

[16:07] like you're downloading an app. And you

[16:09] can get an exclusive 15% discount on

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