In January 2022, I finally got fed up with my Pixel 4a 5G. Not a lot of problem with it actually, just one big one: physically too big to operate one-handed.
I had been on Android phones for about 10 years1. The last Android phone of which I’m happy with was the Pixel 3. Unfortunately, I shattered that phone and traded it in with Pixel 4a 5G.
What were my options? Not a lot of smaller phones in general, but I felt like the iPhone 13 mini was really asking me to give it a chance. So I did.
Now, one year in, I didn’t think too much about that decision. I knew coming in that I’m a lightweight user, unattached to ecosystems, as enthusiasts would describe. I used Google Photos back when I was on Android, I don’t have strong feelings about now using iCloud Photos on iOS.
What’s rather surprising though, is how Apple managed to draw me in to their ecosystem and integration: I went from using Spotify to Apple Music, Gmail to iCloud mail (for custom domains), Sony WH-1000XM4 to AirPods Pro 22 — all within the last year.
Individually, the decisions and rationale somewhat makes sense (with reasonable compromises). The overarching realization, however, made me pause.
Overall, I’m a happy user. However, seeing that Apple discontinued the mini series on iPhone 14 line, I don’t know if I would get an iPhone again for my future phone. Especially that ASUS ZenFone 9 was announced within the last year to fit my demand: a phone that can be operated with one hand.
The last iPhone I had was iPhone 4S. I don’t think I got it on launch day though, so give or take. ↩︎
The switch to Apple Music happened earlier than the AirPods Pro 2. I miss Sony WH-1000XM4’s noise canceling and audio quality, but the comfort on AirPods Pro 2 is ridiculous. I figured having quality at the cost of comfort leads to me using it less, which kind of beats the point. ↩︎