I recently switched to an Android phone, as a longtime iPhone user. My new phone, the Google Pixel, is a top of the line device, with one of the best smartphone cameras available. It looks and behaves like most any other flagship smartphone device. It’s fast, functional, and trendy.
And it drives me crazy. I can’t wait to switch back to an iPhone.
My first smartphone was an Android. The Motorola Droid I think. But I quickly switched over to iPhone once my carrier offered it. The app ecosystem was far better. The hardware was too. But nowadays, you’d be hard pressed to argue on objective grounds alone that one platform – iOS or Android is truly “better”. Even the hardware is so similar that it’s getting hard to even tell which brand makes which black slab of glass and metal.
And yet, subjectively, the two couldn’t be more different. The settings aren’t where I expect them, and the options to customize are almost paralyzing. Not just because there are more options, but because, in my opinion, they’re poorly explained, and sometimes seem to conflict with one another.
I’m missing out on stuff like iMessage, but that’s less bothersome to me than just the experience of using such an unfamiliar, and foreign platform. And I know this is all silly and overblown. And that’s the funny thing about human nature. These platforms aren’t really all that different. But it’s a testament to how sensitive we are to change. That even small changes can be quite disruptive.
Remember when Facebook would change something about the UI and a bunch of users got angry and threatened to boycott the site? Maybe those petitions still happen. It wouldn’t really surprise me. But it’s the same idea. Human’s don’t like change, even small changes. Yet we tend to underestimate how much change affects us.
We can’t control most of the change in our life, but it’s worth remembering that when we are making a change in our control, to recognize it’s probably going to be harder than it appears. It’s also worth remembering that we can adapt to change quicker that we think. Maybe that’s a lesson for me to stick it out with Android a bit longer.