Count me as one who still has actual media (music/video/photos) on my phone. Yes, I know I can download a "stream" for inflight or when I'm disconnected (eg, some subway systems) but I get what I want from my collection. Then again, my file management is really copy on or off of the phone. No fancy sorting. About the only "real" file management for me is when I want to do some cleanup of something like acrobat or whatsapp downloads.

Yup, I'm another with music actually downloaded on my phone. A) I don't run an unlimited data plan (no need for it) and B) often when I most want music on the phone it's also areas where quite frankly there's no reception anyways, so streaming isn't going to do any good.

I get that, but there are more modern ways of handling an on-device music library than shuffling music files around directories like it is 1998 and you just downloaded the latest hot singles off Napster.

Why do you need to have a complex file structure? I have one folder for music, one for videos and one for photos (well, ones that I want to keep that the camera app doesn't like to deposit to)... There are three copies of my music folder... one on my desktop, one on my phone and one in my archival NAS. If one source fails, I can recover by copying it back from one of the missing folders. Don't get me wrong... I still stream as well, but I don't have to be online and my file management is really minimal... except for when I get a new phone, I don't necessarily need to manage the file system more than say once a month (if that).

it can be even easier. from your music service of choice - apple, amazon, spotify, google/youtube - just select the music you want and toggle option to download on-device. i've used all of them and they're great.

i also used to be an archivist - its not the most cumbersome thing in the world, but anything even marginally easier is still marginally better.

i've shared on here endlessly about the superiority of (etymotic) in-ear monitors, the noise cancellation of sony headphones over bose, still have all sorts of audiogeekery amplifiers and wired systems at home.... but for real life use-cases, what gets 98% of my listening time are AirPods Pros.

yes there are countless noise-cancelling, fully wireless earbuds on android as well. ive had them and used them... just really hard to top the polish of AirPods and their H1 bluetooth chip

I have hooked my iPhone to a monitor and used a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse with it like it was a computer. I don’t do that now since I have an iPad, but i don’’t understand why you say Apple doesn’t have that functionality?

It's a lot easier to switch than you might think. Unless Apple or Google have suckered you in to paying for photo storage space, in which case the problem is the user and not the platform. :)

I have an iPhone now. I don't like it. How can - after all these years - I still not be able to move icons wherever I want (i.e. why can't I add a gap intentionally)? It's these simple and stupid customizable things that drive me crazy about Apple.

OnePlus is 100% the best phone I've ever had. I would have bought another one if they hadn't grown even larger.

Probably because they have decided it's not worth doing - not enough people need icon spacing customizability. FWIW, my app and folder sorting on android is essentially identical to iphone. Widgets are different as apple widgets are not as rich. But it's not anywhere near a dealbreaker.

"Customization" and "flexibility" is the perpetual criticism, but it doesn't prove to be a value-add. How commercially successful are *NIX on front-end systems?

Doing that with my iPhone, I get just a "big screen" version of what is on my phone's screen. On the samsung, you switch to what is essentially a desktop experience with resizable windows you can have side-by side like in MacOS and desktop optimized app-experience.

Well that's just one example, but I don't agree with your logic here. It may only be a few people, but it should also be a very very easy thing to implement.

[QUOTE=TBD;33444188]That's the thing about iOS. Apple decides on what they think a better user experience is and then people take it (and accept it). I'm not necessarily saying that's always a bad thing, but it is based on their perception. M$ (eg, W8/8.1) and Google (constant ending of applications) are just as guilty of this as well. But it's nice to have the ability to customize things to ways you want. You just have to live with the shortcomings of whatever ecosystem you choose.

[QUOTE=StuckInYYZ;33444493]I'm a super-techie person, and I visit tech forums all the time. Honestly for the longest time the ability to "customize" was always touted by Android fans as the #1 differentiator. While it may be true, I really wonder how important that ability is. Sure you can go over to the android forums and stare in awe at people's "comic sans" system fonts, their custom icon packs, and their anime themed backgrounds.... but how representative are they of the market?

Even as a super techie user, I never once "customized" the icons or the home screen layout of any of my Android phones. I just never felt the need or desire to.

In Product Management there are several KEY considerations that need to be made before developing a product:

• Is the problem pervasive in the market...aka do a large number of the target audience experience the problem?
• Is the problem urgent in the minds of users?
• Will people pay to solve the problem?

I suspect that Apple did their market research and decided that the answer to one or more of the above questions was no.

This is where Google/Android fouls up. Market research is where they need help. A good example of this is any number of "Google xxx" apps...They get an idea for an app and open it to the public... then they either cancel the app without rhyme or reason or let it die a slow agonizing death and say it wasn't popular.(Google Play Music for example or Hangouts). Unfortunately it impacts the existing users. But then again, everyone is impacted by stuff like this. I'm sure Apple has a stable of similar products they changed course on. Just maybe fewer than the others.

Yawn. It's gimmicky. Until Apple does it, then it's, "OMG INNOVATIVE!!!!!!!"

In reality, Apple doesn't want that feature in iPhones because their marketing has hypnotized their users that you MUST buy a Macbook and iPad and Airpods Pro to complete your "Going to Starbucks or WeWork" outfit. Buying more products also makes shareholders happy.

Full disclosure: I've owned many Samsung phones, and I've never used Dex. I have a laptop and desktop computer when I need to read a lot of material or write long e-mails.

Definitely a valid gripe. It seems like Google's motto should be, "If it ain't broke, sunset it and make a new app."