#244

Don face it you are blinded by your dislike of apple. Get a life and allow each and everyone use what they like. I don’t care if you like Android or not and I don’t care if you dislike apple or not.
Why don’t you use what you like and just leave the rest of us in peace with what we like

#245

Okay folks, time for a reminder of the original purpose of this thread. The whole point of my original post was that everyone has their reasons for their OS choice, and that we need to respect each other’s choices. There is no right or wrong choice.
I heard someone say in a movie recently, “if you have to choose between being right or being kind, choose kind.”

5 Likes
#246

Never happened to me. I own >500 physical CDs and none of that music has ever disappeared.

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#247

I just updated to IOS 12.2 with no losses at all on my iPhone and iPad and even MacOS update on my MacBook and no loss.
The question I have was your phone full and it had to do the deleting to make room for the update, that has happened to a friend of mine

#248

My eyes are wide open, CV. Some people like to keep up with the tech industries and evaluate changes when they occur. Some don’t. It was actually Apple who hinted these things were geared toward “loyal iPhone customers”.

If you know what Apple’s doing, and you are fine with it, and like their products, then go for it.

I’m not really an Android fan though, either. Android has the market right now. So I will go for a new Android one more time, and then see what happens in the mobile market.

#249

I’m definitely not a fan of Apple. I’m not much of a fan of Android (Google) too. But what else is there or in the pipe?
I’m still using my BB OS10. And even that has a built-in runtime version of Android. I might have moved to a Windows phone but they died too. That’s it for “smartphones” as far as I know.

#250

Don personally if they made a simple flip phone that my hearing aids connected directional to that would work for me. But you need to understand I don’t pay for my hearing aids I am so glad I get them from the VA. I worked IT for a long time and I burnt out. All I want is my devices to just work without me spending much time screwing with them. I am now 71 and technology is in my past. I have much better things to do. Like everything I wanted to do but didn’t have time for all those years I worked, and spending my so called off time educating myself in what was coming next. I am now enjoying my painting, and my hiking and also spending time helping others that need my help. I hope you love spending time trying to keep up with the world of technology that all they want with ever changing to keep everyone one buying what they make new every few months. I no longer care about it.

1 Like
#251

When I retired I said I would never use a smart phone again. My last phone was a Blackberry and I was glad to get rid of it. In general I have been a PC user since they first came on the market in the 80’s. All my desktop computers have been home built PC’s. I keep them a long time, because they are somewhat upgradeable. Our laptops have been PC, and the only tablet a Samsung android. Smart phones that my wife has had are android.

In general since I own Apple stock, I like it when other people buy Apple products, but I have never been convinced they provide good value for money. They also seem to be very dumbed down and non flexible. It is kind of buy into the Apple way or get lost.

That said, getting hearing aids changed things a bit for me. The benefit of a smart phone and the control it can give you kind of as a remote is attractive. I first tried an older android cast off from my wife. It would not run the latest Connexx software so was somewhat limited. But it worked as a basic remote. Then my son gave me a cast off iPhone 7 which is much newer and can run the latest iOS 12 operating system. It also allows direct streaming as my KS8 are “Built for iOS”. That is kind of handy, and a benefit over the android.

In summary it seems hard to justify a smart phone just for hearing aid control. But, if you can get into it at low cost or no cost, the iPhone is the better choice. I suspect if I was forced to buy new, I probably would pick an unlocked android Moto G6. But, for everybody else, I would suggest you buy the latest model iPhone. Did I mention I own Apple stock…

3 Likes
#252

Hey Sierra, AAPL is back in positive territory today after dropping yesterday after the announcement. I’m not into AAPL but I like other parts of FANG, except FB.

#253

I actually buy the NASDAQ 100 index. It gives me about 10% exposure to Apple (the last time I checked), but also includes others tech stocks so I am kind of hedged no matter which way consumers preferences go. Microsoft is up around 10% too I think. The NASDAQ makes me the most in the long run, but it can be a wild ride at times…

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#254

Debating iPhone vs. Android is like debating beta vs. VHS or politics. It’s a religious debate. What I find very funny about this debate is that many zealots on either side have never used the other phone, but they know theirs is better.

I have two phones, one iPhone and one Android. I’ve had multiple of both. (Before that, I was on BB.) Both phones work well. Except for a few apps that are only available on one or the other, there is very little you can’t do equally well on both.

iPhones used to have a more “premium” build quality than Android phones. This is no longer the case. Samsung and Google finally stopped making crappy plastic phones. The latest Galaxies are very nice and Samsung phones have the nicest displays in the industry. Same for most of the other flagship phones, although Google has put crappy displays on some of the Pixel phones. I’m not a fan of the metal glass back of the Pixel phones. OnePlus phones are very nice. Same with the new high end Nokias. And others.

iPhones used to be much more expensive than Android phones. They are still more expensive, but Android phones, such as those from Samsung and Google are also very expensive.

Most flagship phones these days are very breakable and very expensive and difficult to repair.

Apple has had bend-gate and battery-gate. Google sold the LG Nexus 5 and Nexus 5X phones, both of which have chronic boot-loop problems which resulted in class-action lawsuits. (Same for LG.)

One area where Apple has done a much better job than Google is updates. Most iPhones can be kept up to date. (I think the cut-off is iPhone 6.) Of course, this is because Apple only has to provide updates for their own phones. You would think this should enable them to provide high quality updates, but Apple is no better than Microsoft, pushing out as many bugs in new releases as new features. On the other hand very few Android phones are on the latest release. Google really badly dropped the ball here. Google stopped updating the Android dashboard (probably because they are too embarrassed), but as of last October, more than 25% of android phones were still on 5.0 or older. 5.0 was released in December 2014. It’s pathetic how fragmented the Android phone market is.

I prefer the Android UI over the iPhone UI. I like having three buttons and really dislike having only one button. iPhone widgets are nowhere near the same league as Android widgets. On iPhone, you have very limited flexibility to configure the display. On Android, you can mix and match icons and widgets wherever you want and they don’t all need to be on the main display. Android is much more configurable and flexible.

iPhones are also very locked into the Apple ecosystem. With Android, you can get apps from Google Play or Amazon or anywhere you like.

I’m surprised there is so little discussion of MFI, since this is a hearing aid site. Apple deserves a lot of credit for MFI. With MFI, the hearing aids are always connected, even for streaming. Also, the built-in “app” to monitor battery level, volume and mode is built-in. It’s always connected and it works well. It has a mode that the Opn app doesn’t have, which is to use the iPhone as a microphone. MFI is much slicker than Bluetooth Classic. It’s not a surprise that Android is working on “made for android”. It will probably be fairly similar to MFI, but Apple clearly beat Android to the market in this area.

There are many other arguments one way or another, but there is no clear winner, IMO.

5 Likes
#255

Wonderfully well written. Fair. Balanced. Reasonable. (imho :slight_smile: )
I agree with kudos to Apple for being the first in the market with an HA connectivity solution.
I suspect all the regulars here would too.
I’m not sure I’m going to like Made for Android though. I would still prefer the standards approach that Phonak is trying to succeed at.

Closed, proprietary, “locked into”, expensive are the reasons I don’t do Apple.

5 Likes
#256

Thanks for your comments.

Apple didn’t introduce MFI because they care about people with hearing aids. MFI will generate licensing revenue, which is what Apple is all about. Despite that, Apple did a good job implementing MFI. The integration is seamless and reliable. It’s based on BLE, so it’s easier on batteries. Out of the box, BLE does not support audio streaming. MFI implements audio streaming over lower-level BLE services. MFA does the same thing.

The Bluetooth Classic profiles for headphones, headsets and audio streaming are quite old and relatively primitive compared to BLE. There are no equivalent services in BLE, so it’s up to the device manufacturer to define the services, which is what MFI and MFA do. BLE has the advantage of being low energy, so it’s probably the what you should expect more of in the future. The big problem with MFA for most people is unless you own a phone that will get updates, you’re out of luck, thanks to the fragmented Android ecosystem.

If you want to read about MFA, here’s a link: Hearing Aid Audio Support Using Bluetooth LE  |  Android Open Source Project

1 Like
#257

Just so there’s no uncertainty and that that sentence can be interpreted in different ways…I didn’t say they did.
Always follow the money.

#258

Not sure what your point is. I didn’t say you said that.

#259

I have an android Sony phone because of the outrageous prices of Apple and others. Still, as long as I can get Apple music on my devices I’m happy. I’m a tech fan in general no matter what.

#260

I believe this is whats going to hold up Android smartphones getting direct streaming and hands free calls to our hearing aids (the manufacturer it seems, again!) really good write up with some very interesting information, the fact we have a app to test which phones have all 3 of the important ones implemented is great as well.

This all no doubt goes hand in hand with what one poster (Don) has already stated in this link.

https://source.android.com/devices/bluetooth/asha

Honestly this is not so much iPhone vs Android but more like Android vs the manufacturer! Pretty complex stuff going on in the background for sure.

1 Like
#261

As far as I know, the Made for Android that Resound and Google are working on does not require Bluetooth 5. Neat information and app though. Somewhat disappointing that my Nokia 6.1 only supports 1 of the 3 features mentioned. I don’t think anybody really knows the implications for hearing aids at this time.

#262

According to the Android Source information, BT LE 4.2 or higher should suffice for HA connectivity with additional requirements for central and peripheral devices. I think things like the BT 5.0 PHY layer for advertising, etc., would just be icing on the cake, not a required part of the cake. But as MDB says, time will tell and we shouldn’t have to wait long if, as um_bongo posted a while back, ReSound is going to release MFA around the start of the 3rd quarter of 2019.

https://source.android.com/devices/bluetooth/asha#system-requirements

Edit_Update: Actually, the following is from the end of the section referenced above - so the PHY layers are icing on the cake: Notice the MAY language

“The peripheral and central may implement 2M PHY as specified in BT 5. The central shall support audio links up to 64 kbit/s on both 1M and 2M PHY but can choose to limit support for links requiring more than 64 kbit/s to the 2M PHY in order to improve coexistence with other 2.4 GHz devices. The BLE long range PHY shall not be used.”

1 Like
#263

Interesting too that the Pixel 3 only supports one of the optional 2M features and it’s my understanding that it and the 3XL will be the first to have Made for Android hearing aid compatibility. Oops. My error. Supports 2 out of the 3.