Growing up I was always a techie, a little nerd building his first computer at the age of 10 (or 11? I forget) thanks to his uncle. I was lucky and had access in some form to all gaming consoles in my childhood. Either via friends or Christmas gifts, etc, and so I played all the Xbox(s), Playstations, and of course Nintendo products.
I was such a techie and gamer that I remember at about the age of 13 I had a Windows 98 laptop, that I used quite frequently, and even brought it on a road trip to play Diablo 1 while in the car.
When smartphones became a thing I went and sought after the best ones, this came down to wifi capability (believe it or not kids some phones didn't even have Wifi), or perhaps screen size, the ability to listen to music, and whether or not I could get it as a hand me down. Still a kid remember?
I remember getting my first smartphone from my mother handed down to me when she upgraded, the Nokia 5230 Nuron is what she gave me.
At the time this tiny little device was a pretty great experience, especially when the thing you had before was a brick! From there I moved onto Windows Phone 7, bought it myself if I recall correctly, and then even upgraded to WP8, and eventually WP10 before it died out.
I've used iphones of multiple generattions, and Android since gen 2.0. I've owned Android phones, but never any Apple products. Why is that?
Apple is made for Simplicity
As an avid tech user, and someone who wants to push my device to it's limits, iphones just don't make the cut. The limited system (iphone AND MAC os) doesn't allow gaming for the most part, they blatantly copied most of their UI gestures and dropdown settings menu from Windows Phone, and the OS just is confusing in places it doesn't have to be.
I can use any device handed to me, give me five minutes and my digital native genes will kickstart. I've gotten my family's device in my hand, and within seconds found a feature they never even knew about. Let me tell you this: iphones ARE nice devices.
Same goes for the whole ecosystem, and the very fact that they all can connect simply? Fantastic. I had a friend who made a smart point one day about how he could put something on the clipboard on his iphone, and it would be there for him on his Mac. Brilliant, windows get on that, and they are with the "phone companion app". Too bad they didn't when Windows Phone was a thing lmao.
Simple Logic.
I loathe Apple products, but I adore Steve Jobs. Sure he had some communication issues, but he was a brilliant mind. Not to mention helped Apple be where it is at today. I think that if I grew up differently I would have loved Apple's ecosystem. Everything beind connected? That is literally my philosophy on life.
I also am a sucker for asthetics, and up until the modern day a lot of products didn't look as good as Apple's lets be honest.
Now? Well Android phones are often 3x more powerful, have way more features, look just as good if not better, and often much higher quality cameras.
Okay what about Macs? They overheat, throttle your CPU (see Macbook pro i9 problems a couple years ago), and they're extremely overpriced.
You could buy a comparable windows laptop, that looks great, and can actually play games for less than it would cost you to pay for the lowest end Macbook.
I hate how limited windows ui is, I can't change certain things about, but mac os is even more constrictive. Same for ios/android, for I can change my entire launcher or even OS if I root my Android device.
The simplicity comes at a cost, and that is one I am not willing to pay.
Now to "Join Clubhouse"
Over the past two weeks I've been invited to clubhouse by amazing friends/guests of mine, at least 8 times. Supposedly it is an invite only app, okay cool make it a bit more mysterious I get it!
Let's be honest here Clubhouse is not the first of its kind. There was the Voice app, Voicehub, and even Twitter has been making moves in voice.
It is true that CH is unique in the fact they have been able to get great minds to join it. I even saw that Elon Musk was doing a talk there, like wtf? It has gone viral, and that virality is bringing people's attention to voice platforms more so.
I've been doing my polycast for nearly four years now, grew a lot in the past year, but voice platforms like this are different. You can interact, it is live, and it is doing what livestreaming did to video, but now to audio.
JoinClubhouse vs Clubhouse
A quick little point to make. Couldn't they have chosen a better name that wouldn't compete with a giant project manager tool?? Everytime someone searches for CH, it will bring up the project/task management tool of the same name. #SEOnightmare
Clubhouse is not that unique...
The hype is REAL right now, and everyone is talking about the app. I'm actually really excited for the people making it honestly. That is awesome they were able to go viral, and the only real reason I'm mad is that I can't be a part of it.
HOWEVER...
Twitter is getting into the game with "Spaces", which could totally disrupt their game.
Not to mention other apps that came before it like Voicehub, which they haven't said anything since the hype of Clubhouse started, so I'm not keeping my hopes high.
Am I being Petty or Tactical?
There is a philosophical dichotomy here, for one I could be just being childish about my loathing of Apple products. Or I could be sticking to my guns, and every time I use an Apple product I get the same problems I used to have with them. Not a bias thing either, I genuinely give it a chance.
Secondly, since I am sticking to my guns I am not falling for the hype of the new best thing. NOTE: If you are loving the app, have an Apple product to use it, and are technically "falling for the hype", I am not saying anything about you. In fact the opposite, I will now: you are a firstmover, an innovator, and someone who is trying to make use of a great opportunity. I RESPECT YOU.
For me I want to be tactical about it, it is too much of a change in my own life to make the jump. For one I'd have to surpass my ideology of tech, and would have to spend too much of my little money I have atm cause of pandemic to buy a new device. It just doesn't play out to have the first mover advantage to me.
As a Tech Lover
I know some people will rave about Apple products, and some of them may be legitimate techies like myself, and it makes their lives easier. Thomas Frank comes to mind. I'm not saying you can't be a techie on that ecosystem, you most certainly can, but as a techie I don't want to be on there.
It feels to me like wearing a straight jacket, and prevents me from doing the most basic things. It took ios ten years after Android to get widgets, in 2016 for example the "new" iphones that came out had the same technology as 2012 flagship Android phones, and in the end the battery life sucks on ios 😂😂. iphone users you know what I'm talking about!
If you're happy with those devices then more power to you, for real, but for me I just don't see it happening. <3
Note: Some people have just used their family's ipad or ios device, I don't have the opportunity for that!
