This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
iOS 14 is here and it delivered features that used to be in the core of what makes the Android software experience unique: widgets, an app drawer, the ability to switch away from Apple’s Safari and Mail apps, custom back tap gestures that allow you to quickly start the Google Assistant to replace Siri in a much more streamlined way. In other words, the walls to the walled garden have started crumbling. And that’s a great thing. It means more options, more choice for iOS users.
There are many reasons to buy an Android phone over an iPhone
Of course, there are many other reasons why there will always be a reason to buy an Android phone over an iPhone. It’s absurd to claim the opposite. There will always be socialism, and there will always be capitalism. There will always be advantages of having an ecosystem carefully controlled and taken care of, but there will also always be advantages of having an open ecosystem, where everyone can contribute more freely.
However, it’s true that it feels Google has stopped caring much about Android
What bothers me is not that there is “almost no reason to buy an Android phone anymore”. What bothers me is that Google has indeed stopped caring that much.
- Where is that Google smartwatch to augment the ecosystem and give it an expansion and new enthusiasm?
- Where are the exclusive apps that would draw someone to Android, much like Apple does with services like Apple Arcade?
- Where is that Pixel 4a, the much awaited budget super-phone that Google is delaying again and again?
- Where are the moonshots with Android: the Face ID kind of revolution in biometrics, where are the futuristic projects like those AR glasses that Apple is obviously working on?
- And last but not least, when will Google finally handle the Android update mess?
These are valid questions that keep getting swept under the rug for next year, and then next year again, and then next year one more time.
