Thursday, August 18, 2016

- (minus) Windows Phone = Android Phone > (Greater than) iPhone

So here goes... they say... me.. a privacy advocate shifting my loyalties by shifting from windows phone to android.




Well its true in a way but it has its own reasons. 
  1. Windows 10 which is the next thing in windows mobile has total disregard for privacy of users just like android has been. And believe it or not, I have been cursing Microsoft and Windows 10 on my " Your Privacy Matters " page just like I have been cursing android over the years.
  2. No OEM is coming up with any new interesting windows phones and neither is Microsoft. There was a ray of hope with HP Elite X3 coming up with a real kickass phone which I had almost finalized to buy but then I realized its more for the enterprises with a different kind of layer. Also Windows 10 would be no better in terms of privacy than android with a bad app avaibility.
  3. Developers are running away from an app store  which already has been lacking major of the apps since many years. Not to mention that even the leading apps are way behind when it comes to receiving updates.
  4. Microsoft seems to be least interested in Mobile version eversince Nadella has taken up. The hope that windows fans had after the Nokia buyout has totally died. With each month passing Nadella has proved that he has least importance for mobile and more importance for enterprise. 
  5. All the apps I use on Windows Phone are also available on android officially made by Microsoft, so my workflow goes through as planned.
  6.  Android Marshmallow versions and later (like latest released Nougat) offer a lot of detailed privacy settings and layered security which keep you safe from third party risky apps.
  7. Android offers me a good way of customizing the phone which can get very boring on Windows Phone or iPhones as well.
  8. Connected devices like wearables. Well look at lack in compatibility due to non-windows compatible devices out there and would anybody want to buy the boring looking Microsoft Band?? No way. I was never liking that device and was waiting for a Windows Wearable that is stylish. But MS failed in there too.

So why not iPhone when I expect a lot of privacy??

iPhone has lost its lustre even since Steve Jobs is gone. They have nothing mindboggling to offer apart from yes... Privacy. The guys can give FBI a hard time to break through their phones. I respect them for that. But then when I am investing in a $700 flagship phone I expect a lot of other important things in a phone that Apple might not find important.


  1. Compatibility : I can't plug and play. use their cable shit, use the itunes, no folder access to transfer my everyday files from PC to the i-device. 
  2. Just because I might afford an iPhone on EMI I will afford to whole APPLE ecosystem to feel great just for the kicks. It all starts getting expensive. And its not just about money. I can't customize my MAC like I can keep shuffling hardware in my PC (a.k.a. whitebox).
  3. No bluetooth transfer within devices for songs
  4. A strange piracy issue where itunes wont simply detect or transfer songs that I have legally downloaded from my windows phone buy paying for them. The reason probably it thinks its pirated stuff. The same thing it does with my own music recorded at my own home studio. It can't get shittier than this.
  5. A review with apple users (in India) , I found 7 out of 10 ELITE users of Apple shifting to android for one or more reasons than I stated above. I think those are the ones who were not apple fans anyway but were trying to make a style statement.
  6. Having said the above point, apple is no longer a style statement like it or even Blackberry used to be. The market is cool and there is no luxurious product when it comes to electronics market. If there is its probably the wearables or VR headsets which the showoffs dont understand.

Well there was an option of going for Blackberry Priv phone which is kind of an android version with features that secures your privacy, but that phone has no biometric security. So paying 52,000 rupees for a phone that lacks such a feature seems stupidity as well.

Bioling down again to the point of privacy I am sure that as said before by me or many privacy advocates... Privacy is the Luxury of future. And you can see it in iPhones, Blackberry Priv who have nothing better to offer than Privacy at that price. Probably Google's parent company will also launch a total privacy respecting android version in future which will cost more. Privacy infringing OSs and apps have thrived because we have got used to the free meal which was never free.

Saying all that and with a shift to android within a month, I will still hope that MS weaves some magic and turns around on its privacy policies on Windows 10. I would still like to go back to that platform in future. What I would miss the most about my windows phone is the seamless compatibility with Windows PC/Laptop, Continuum and Live Tiles. 

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