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Kev Quirk

Ok, my first poll for #FediPoll - what kind of mobile phone do you use?

(boosts appreciated to get as much engagement as possible, thanks!)

Anonymous poll

Poll

Android
4,499
49.4%
Apple (iOS)
4,353
47.8%
Other
248
2.7%
9,100 people voted.
Voting ended 9 Feb 2023 at 22:15.
111 comments
Irenes (many)

@kev we use a Linux phone running Tow Boot and mobile-nixos, with a software keyboard we wrote ourselves - Witchy Keys - and a heavily customized UI made from the i3 window manager, rofi, and polybar.

it uh. it can place and receive calls but only from the command line at this point. that's fine, we don't really need to do that. lol

Mad A. Argon :qurio:

@kev Custom ROMs from AOSP count as Android or Other?

Partoc

@kev I use both, IPhone 11 for business, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra private

jstm@msdn:~$ :blinking_cursor:

@kev I'm using Android but want to switch to the Pine64 PinePhone so I can use Linux (what I already use on my PC).

David Megginson

@jeremystartm @kev I run #Termux on my non-rooted #Android phone, which provides a usable #Debian distro under the phone's existing Android-flavoured #Linux.

I did a lot of software dev on it when I was stuck in a hospital bed with not much to do (and physically unable to sit up to use a tablet or laptop): it worked well, given the limitations of the hardware interface.

jstm@msdn:~$ :blinking_cursor:

@david_megginson @kev For that usecase Termux is really good. But I want to run docker and stuff and that's just not compatible, even on a rooted Android phone unless you recompile the entire kernel (yikes). Not only that, but I want maximum privacy and having Android with Google, Samsung and Bloatware on my phone is way too much for me.

David Megginson

@jeremystartm @kev Do any Android-device chips have the features required for containerisation?

digitalfox

@david_megginson @jeremystartm @kev
If I understand correctly, @kdrag0n has gotten not just containers but full-blown Kubernetes running on the Pixel 7 series:
mastodon.social/@kdrag0n/10944

jstm@msdn:~$ :blinking_cursor:

@david_megginson @kev The chips are not responsible for this. It's the Android kernel that forbids docker to use cgroups

nEo

@kev poll missing a category, both. Iphone X and Samsung 9. I hate to be weird. 😂

Kev Quirk

@neoczo I’d say vote whichever you use most. 🤷‍♂️

nEo

@kev i switch phones on a monthly basis. I would say android cause work's phone is android.

Deividas Paukštė

@kev Android with DivestOS. Loving the experience.

JC

@kev LineageOS with GApps (required for Google Fi)

CelloMom On Cars

@kev

After you do this ^^ poll, look through the replies. There's a reason the poll has that "Other" option.

[edited typo]

Donna Dechen Birdwell

@kev Could you please tell us what your point is in trying to collect this information?

βɛth

@kev I don't have a smartphone, so I'm an **other**. I'd *like* one, but I have no real use or need for one.

Frog

@feverspell do you have any other type of mobile phone instead? If you drive what do you do for music and navigation? 😮

βɛth

@dr3amfr0g Of course, I have a cell phone. I don't live in a cave in the woods. If I want to listen to music, I turn on the radio. If I need to go somewhere that requires complex navigation, I make sure my sister is with me, and she uses **her** phone. Otherwise, I write the directions down on a piece of paper.

Kev Quirk

@feverspell if you have no need for one, then I’d avoid it and not bother if I were you. 😊

Rassilonian Legate

@kev
Android but I hope to switch to a linux phone when i can/ they become viable

Sammy

@kev @donmelton looks like a Georgia senate style poll. A runoff is in the cards.

Enginerd Dan

@bans @kev @donmelton too soon... We can't get ranked choice voting soon enough.

DELETED

@kev SailfishOS. Not really keen on iOS or Android these days, prefer a Mobile OS i can tinker with

Waldtochter

@dylan_porcelli @kev I‘ve used sailfish long time, but lack of support on actual (!) hardware (official, aliendalvik is absolute must!), and the deep involvement of Russian Government since a few years drove me away from sfos. Now I run a dumb half-eaten seed-carrier, but I‘d not call this a satisfying solution

Lot⁴⁹

@kev If you find out what other phone OS's there are beside Android and Apple, I'd sure like to know about them.

Stu

@kev I switch back and forth from iOS to Android

Tor.sh :fedora: :silverblue:

@kev I daily drive my #librem5 #librem5and tinker on a few #pinephone models which I used to daily before the l5. I'm also trying to get my #wiphone #wiphoneworking with #jmp #jmp jmp.chat

Nyaa :mxlinux:

@kev I marked Apple, but I usually switch between Apple and Android every time I upgrade. I like them both, but both have things that annoy me, so I try to mix it up every now and then.

Kev Quirk

@LibreNyaa I think that’s fair, and probably prudent of you.

rood

@kev this is an involuntary answer. That's it I'm starting a Reddit about discrimination! r/inTel

PeterD 🇩🇪 🇨🇦

@kev I use a a desktop P.C. or a laptop - and yes I have an Android phone but don't use it for social media.

16BitYeti

@kev If this was a decade I’d be the one nerd using a BlackBerry. Now it’s just iPhones for me :blobcheeky:

Kev Quirk

@16BitYeti BlackBerry was peak smartphone IMO. I’d have one tomorrow.

Waldtochter

@16BitYeti @kev I‘m still missing those keys! With this crappy display ‚keys‘ without haptics, I‘m so slowed down in typing by one finger, I usually dictate what to write.
Might be, because I‘m authistic, or I‘ve just bad motorics 🙄

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@kev

Very interesting. Looking at the numbers so far, despite Apple's control of about 15 to 20% of market share of the mobile phone market, they represent half of all users answering this poll.

Interesting indeed.

Input, anyone?

Doctor Biobrain

@iuculano @kev The skew towards iPhones is probably because Mastodon users are cooler than average people and have much better taste.

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@biobrain @kev now now, doc, you just about made half the people here feel bad, lol. Not nice

Doctor Biobrain

@iuculano @kev Hey, don't look at me. They've done this to themselves.

There were two options. They choose...poorly.

youtu.be/Ubw5N8iVDHI

Jay :mastodon:

@iuculano
Mastodon is dominated by Western users. There is no traction for it from countries where iOS is a miniscule userbase.
@kev

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@jayesh @kev hmmm, is this statement based on any facts? Or is this just a gut feeling?

Jay :mastodon:

@iuculano Based on facts. A key market, e.g., India, with an overwhelming 98 percent Android population and the second or 3rd largest internet market in the world.

Zero traction in the place. It's a country of mobile-first users and always hungry to try out new social networks. There is complete disinterest in it for most.

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@jayesh interesting. But if they're so hungry for new social networks, why the disinterest in Mastodon?

Jay :mastodon:

@iuculano Now this is expanding beyond the simple asked question into territory only the foolish will try and answer. The question originally was "why is iOS higher in usage here vs. Android which is the dominant world OS".

Since i work with mobile metrics off and on, i answered only based on observed facts.

Now for motivation- I am not going to try and speak for nearly 800 million users on why they do not want to use it.

bignose

@iuculano

Two conclusions I draw from that:

* The demographic "people who are likely to read Kev Quirk's posts" is highly unrepresentative of the general population

* The subset of that who choose to answer this poll, are self-selecting and therefore motivated by a particular answer and therefore unrepresentative of the former demographic

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@bignose so, conclusion: there's a built-in bias.
One would say, perhaps, a systemic bias?

bignose

@iuculano Sure. Which is wholly unremarkable for online polls.

My advice was not to read much at all into the difference between reported market share versus results from insular self-reported polls.

joe•iuculano :mastodon:

@bignose I understand. I was just pointing out that polls such as these are meaningless, as they can be manipulated to mean anything one wants them to mean :)

Robbie 🇧🇪 :tux:

@iuculano @kev Maybe they have a higher percentage of fomo and jump every time they get a notification 😉

Shadow Heart

@kev currently Android but considering switching to iPhone should it get a USB-C charging port. Still would live to play around with Linux phone to.

Benjamin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫

@kev
I use handed-down phones only (both cost-free and more environment-conscious), which so far has meant iOS. If I were choosing something, I'd probably try getting an android phone and loading on an alternative OS.

mab :linuxmintnew: :nextcloud:

@benjaminhollon @kev every person I know who has had an iPhone has had to upgrade at the end of the plan b/c the battery is shot. How are you getting 2nd hand use out of them? Do you buy them refurbished?

gavinisdie :troll:

@kev I specifically use a Samsung Note 20

Jeevan Chaudhary

@kev
You do know that people who use 'other' don't answer polls.

Gunnar Helliesen

@kev I implemented my own cell phone stack in Emacs. Dialing is simple, just hit C-d C-T for the dial tone, then enter the hex values of the DTMF tones to dial each digit. Don't forget to prefix each phone number with 1, and to add parenthesis (use the ASCII values) around the area code. For help and examples, please see the online LaTex documentation, or download the ClarisWorks e-book.

bignose

@kev Other: remove Android and install LineageOS on the device

doragasu

@kev Android: LineageOS without Google services.

Arto

@kev I would like to know what kind of phones those others are. Old or new Nokias with Symbian...

Stefan

@artomelaranta @kev volla phone (gs290 based) with #UbuntuTouch - a quite recent phone.

~# Cam :t_blink:

@kev I really like iOS in a lot of ways but I'm gonna have to switch to Android if it doesnt open up a bit. I'm almost sure Apple will already enable sideloading late this year to comply with DMA. And I hope I can finally use apps that werent allowed on the App Store before, e.g. Chromium browsers and it will finally allow more FOSS developers more freedom. iOS is a great platform for developers and also a great platform for people like me, who appreciate simplicity and continuity.

Graham Downs

@kev Funny how all the replies seem to be for Android/Other Linux-based operating systems.

But the majority of votes are for iOS.

Does that mean that iOS users are afraid of interacting? Or perhaps that, even though most people on Mastodon use iOS, most of them are embarassed to admit it? :-D

For myself, I use Android, because I like the widgets, and I like the ultra customisability. I like the fact that I can swop out the default keyboard if I want. Or install a whole new launcher if I want.

But I don't use Samsung or any of those, with their bloatware and OEM skins on top of the OS. I want to stay as close to Stock Android as humanly possible, and since the Google Pixel isn't available in South Africa, that means no-name brands: currently I'm on a Cubot X19.

Which has another advantage over those name-brand phones, in that I'm not paying for the name (*cough* Apple *cough*), so I can get a phone with twice the hardware specs of the latest Galaxy, for half the price.

@kev Funny how all the replies seem to be for Android/Other Linux-based operating systems.

But the majority of votes are for iOS.

Does that mean that iOS users are afraid of interacting? Or perhaps that, even though most people on Mastodon use iOS, most of them are embarassed to admit it? :-D

For myself, I use Android, because I like the widgets, and I like the ultra customisability. I like the fact that I can swop out the default keyboard if I want. Or install a whole new launcher if I want.

Optional

@GrahamDowns @kev I think iOS is just iOS, while with Android you can specify which ROM you're using. Many people here seem to want to note that they are not using stock ROMs but instead are using more privacy focused like lineage, calyx, /e/, or even graphene.

Graham Downs

@Optional @kev Yeah. Android (and Linux) provides SO many options. Which is one of the reasons why Android lovers love it.

It's also one of the reasons why iOS lovers... don't. Because they don't want to have to THINK about options. They want something that "just works".

Me? I like to tinker. To look under the hood. To understand, to modify, to customise. :-)

DELETED

@kev I'm using both iOS and Android phone as my daily drive.

quangobaud

@kev

I'm in the UK,
all our phones (bought here) are spy hardware due to mandated regulations on their manufacture.
Might as well give them a suitable name.
How about "Tory Nark" phone?

Jani

@kev I have both, Pixel 7 and iPhone 13 mini.

DELETED

@kev we're missing a deGoogled Android option 😉

looopTools

@kev iOS due to really poor experience with Android hardware in general across multiple brands

jzitt

@kev I'll be curious to see if there's a significant difference between these results and that of phones in the world in general.

Axel Rafn

@kev you're missing the option for those who use both ;) But I did vote for the one I use the most.

Joakim Fors

@kev Used to have a Jolla phone (Sailfish) and before that a Nokia N900 (Maemo). Now running a iPhone 12 mini as I want something that just works for everyday stuff. I do enough fscking around with computers at work (devops).

alexraffa :unverified:

@kev I'm on android, BUT, keen on a genuine degoogled phone

edgeoforever 🍎

@kev I use an iPad to write this. A phone to make calls.🤷‍♀️

British Tech Guru

@kev cheap and cheesy android for work. Iphone without a connection for gaming in the loo.

Billy W. 🏳️‍🌈

@kev I selected iOS, but I actually have one of each currently.

Dr. Fyzziks

@kev option 4: both iOS and Android (in my case) 😀

Chris (Bucky) Barnes

@kev I did Other because I use BOTH an iPhone and an Android phone.

0mega 🕱 [hz]
@Kev Quirk Android unfortunately, because @PINE64's support prefers to play ping-pong with my ticket >_>
Rob Monroe

@kev The Libertarian candidate, Other, seems to be siphoning votes away from Android and Apple. If no one gets 50% of the votes, it forces another runoff election in three weeks.

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