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The Dalrymple Report: Home Robotics, Switching to Android, and Apple TV+ Movies

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After stopping development of its car project, Apple is now rumored to be entering the home robotics space. It will be interesting to see what that will be in the future. The New York Times gave one of its reporters the task of switching from iPhone to Android—it went okay, but it certainl wasn’t smooth in all areas. Apple TV+ added a lot of movies from different studios to its service this week. They are all available for free if you subscribe to Apple TV+.

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Show Notes:

Shows and movies we’re watching

  • Woman of the Dead, Netflix
  • Loot, Apple TV+
  • Girls State, Apple TV+
  • Sugar, Apple TV+

The Dalrymple Report: New Macs, Android switchers, and PC games

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The new Macs announced at WWDC are now available. We talk about the price and some things you should look at if you’re deciding to buy one of the machines. We also talk about Android users switching to iPhone and if PC Games will come to the Mac using Apple’s newly announced tools.

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Show Notes:

Shows and movies we’re watching

  • Bad Sisters, Apple TV+
  • Creed III, Amazon
  • The Night Agent, Netflix
  • Dungeons and Dragons, Paramount+

After Apple tightens tracking rules, advertisers shift spending toward Android devices

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Patience Haggin, Wall Street Journal:

After the tracking change took effect in April, many users of Apple’s iOS operating system have received a high volume of prompts from apps asking permission to track them—requests that most have declined. Less than 33% of iOS users opt in to tracking, according to ad-measurement firm Branch Metrics Inc.

Many users have received a high volume of prompts? What does this mean? Do the Branch Metrics numbers measure all iOS users and, thus, that 33% number includes folks running older versions? “Less than 33%” of iOS users opt in to tracking seems a ridiculously high number if it’s purely measuring folks who’ve responded to the “track me” prompt.

As of June 22, more than 70% of iOS devices had been upgraded to a version that requires the tracking prompt, according to Branch Metrics, allowing advertisers to begin assessing the impact.

And:

Tinuiti advertisers were allocating about 50% of their Audience Network spending to iOS users at the start of April. By the end of June, they were spending about 20% on iOS users, Mr. Taylor said. Advertisers have typically spent more per iOS user, seeing them as bigger spenders than Android users.

The trend is clear. Advertisers are switching away from iOS, presumably because they can’t get that precious personal ad response data.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in March that “it’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position” after Apple’s change, particularly if it encourages “more businesses to conduct commerce on our platforms, by making it harder for them to basically use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms.”

Early days still. The value of Apple users (and their deep pockets) hasn’t changed. Long term, I’d expect still another shift, as advertisers adjust to new models of reaching those users. What I don’t see is them abandoning iOS users in favor of Android. At least not in the long term.

Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11

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Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11. The software giant revealed its surprise Windows 11 addition during its special Windows event today. Android apps will run natively on Windows 11 and will be downloadable from Amazon’s Appstore, via the new Windows store that’s included in the operating system.

Why do I think this isn’t going to be as seamless as running iPad apps on the Mac.

Everything new in iOS 15 FaceTime: SharePlay, Android Support, Spatial Audio and more

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Juli Clover, MacRumors:

Our ‌FaceTime‌ guide outlines everything that’s new in the ‌FaceTime‌ app in ‌iOS 15‌ and iPadOS 15, and many of these features are also in macOS Monterey and can even be used in tvOS 15. We’ve also included detailed how tos and tutorials so you can dive right into ‌FaceTime‌ after upgrading.

Another useful post, one that yields fruit with just a scan. I appreciate posts like this with a narrow scope, simpler slices through the river of new features introduced in the WWDC keynote.

The Dalrymple Report: AirTags with Android, the sophomore curse

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Dave and I spent some time talking about the AirTags and whether or not Apple should make some of the safety features work with Android (they shouldn’t). We also talked about the sophomore curse as it relates to the second season of Apple TV+ shows being released.

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Twitter rolling out voice tweets to more iOS users — No Android ’til 2021

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Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:

Voice tweets – the ability to record and tweet an audio message – are coming to more iOS Twitter users, while Android and web users will need to wait until some time next year. The company first began testing the feature on iOS back in June.

The testing started in Brazil. Have confirmation it’s popped up in iOS clients in both the US and Canada.

As to Android:

https://twitter.com/KoHoSo/status/1310992014767398912

A tip from a kid helps detect iOS and Android scam apps’ 2.4 million downloads

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Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica:

Researchers said that a tip from a child led them to discover aggressive adware and exorbitant prices lurking in iOS and Android smartphone apps with a combined 2.4 million downloads from the App Store and Google Play.

And:

To prevent users from uninstalling them, the apps hid their icon, making it hard to identify where the ads were coming from.

Hmm. I wonder how an iOS app gets away with that. This purely the Android versions?

The apps came to light after a girl found a profile on TikTok that was promoting what appeared to be an abusive app and reported it to Be Safe Online, a project in the Czech Republic that educates children about online safety. Acting on the tip, researchers from security firm Avast found 11 apps, for devices running both iOS and Android, that were engaged in similar scams.

And:

A Google spokesman said the company has removed the apps, and Web searches appeared to confirm this. Several of the apps for iOS appeared to still be available in the App Store as this post was being prepared.

Definitely a hole in iOS App Store oversight.

From Avast press release:

The iOS and Android apps appear to be developed by the same person or group. The links promoted on the social media profiles lead to the iOS or Android versions of the apps, depending on the device the link is being accessed from.

Seems like once they got one of these apps, they should ban all the rest from the same developer.

Qualcomm announces Quick Charge 5, charge Android phone from 0 to 50% in 5 minutes

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Qualcomm:

The world’s first commercially viable fast charging platform to support more than 100W charging power in a smartphone, Quick Charge 5 is engineered to allow users to charge devices from 0 to 50 percent battery power in just five minutes – representing the fastest mobile phone charging capabilities available.

Compare this to Apple’s fast charge:

Use fast charge with certain iPhone or iPad models. You can recharge your iPhone up to 50 percent battery in around 30 minutes.

That’s a big leap on Qualcomm’s part. Also interesting is that Quick Charge 5 runs cooler as well.

Coming to commercial devices in 2020Q3.

Android Authority marvels at iPhone 6s getting iOS 14 update

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C. Scott Brown, AndroidAuthority:

At this point, saying Android has a serious problem when it comes to phones receiving reliable Android upgrades is getting old. We’ve written about it a lot — even I, specifically, have written about it a lot. You’ve told us your thoughts. We all get it. Even with all that, though, the latest announcement of iOS 14 really sends the message home.

We do talk about this a lot. By its very nature, the Android market is fragmented. Extremely so.

Meanwhile, the flagship Android device from 2015 was the Samsung Galaxy S6. The most recent official version of Android that phone received was Android 7 Nougat, which dropped in 2016. Of course, it was well into 2017 before the Galaxy S6 actually got it. Since then: nothing.

I’ve seen this same message in a number of places, staunch Android supporters grumphing about their older phones reaching the practical end of Android update rollouts. And they are not wrong.

Come join us. You are more than welcome.

The cheapest iPhone has a more powerful processor than the most expensive Android phone

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AndroidCentral:

I expect that some people are going to tell me about single thread versus multi-threaded performance and how the A13 GPU isn’t that great or how iPhones have much lower resolution screens so the chips don’t have to work as hard. All this is true, but another thing is true: the A13 is a stronger chip than the Snapdragon 865 for daily use in every category

I love when Apple gear appreciation pieces appear on Android sites. It’s one thing when Apple folk rave about the new shiny. But so much more credible when that appreciation comes from a traditional critic

Also, what a strong headline.

When Android Police raves about the iPad

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Android Police:

Even if you don’t like Apple, or you think iOS is derpy and restrictive — which is, in my opinion, unarguably true — iPads really do offer the best big-screen tablet environment.

The first half of that sentence is what I expect from Android Police. But what I didn’t expect is the linked post’s rave about the iPad.

Consider how I got here. The linked post’s headline is Do yourself a favor and buy an iPad during lockdown. And they’re not wrong.

Ring Doorbell Android app packed with third-party trackers

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The original headline from the Electronic Freedom Foundation was:

Ring Doorbell App Packed with Third-Party Trackers

To me, that gave the appearance that the iOS app was packed with trackers. But the article itself doesn’t have a single mention of Apple or iOS, makes it clear the issue is with the Android app. Just wanted to call that out.

On to the article itself:

An investigation by EFF of the Ring doorbell app for Android found it to be packed with third-party trackers sending out a plethora of customers’ personally identifiable information (PII). Four main analytics and marketing companies were discovered to be receiving information such as the names, private IP addresses, mobile network carriers, persistent identifiers, and sensor data on the devices of paying customers.

The issue is not that the danger of your doorbell video or statistics being leaked, but that the trackers can be used to connect your IP address and other identifying info to other devices, building an on-line profile showing where you live and what other on-line information is linked to you.

This cohesive whole represents a fingerprint that follows the user as they interact with other apps and use their device, in essence providing trackers the ability to spy on what a user is doing in their digital lives and when they are doing it.

I hate this behavior. I love the idea of a video doorbell, but I continue to wait for one that is devoid of trackers, truly anonymized.

Android to add “Choose your default search provider” during on-boarding

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Natalia Drozdiak, Bloomberg:

Starting next year, Google will prompt users to make a choice between Google and three other rival options as their default search provider. Google invited search providers to bid as part of an auction on the new choice screen, which will appear when a user sets up a new Android smartphone or tablet in Europe for the first time.

This is all about avoiding big EU antitrust fines. To get a sense of what the “choose your search provider” interface looks like, check out the pic in the Google blog post announcing the change.

Not clear if this change will be limited to the EU. Also not clear if this will impact Apple. Google pays for that default search provider spot. Will Apple be forced to open that spot up to similar competition?

Shazam can now identify songs playing through your headphones on Android. How about iOS?

Written by

James Vincent, The Verge:

Shazam can be an incredibly useful app, able to identify songs and find lyrics for them just by listening to the audio. But one big annoyance has been the software’s inability to ‘hear’ music playing through a device’s headphones. Instead, users have to play the song through internal speakers or find a way to direct the sound to their phone or tablet’s microphone.

Not any more. A new feature called Pop-up Shazam in the latest Android version of the app works with audio played through headphones with Shazam working in the background.

As soon as I read this I thought, cool, been waiting for this. But try as I might, could not get this to work in iOS.

If you are listening to the Music app via headphones in iOS, you can fire up Shazam or ask Siri what’s playing. Works perfectly. But if you are watching YouTube via headphones, or perhaps Netflix, Hulu, etc., there does not appear to be a way for Siri or Shazam to hear what you’re hearing.

Not a big deal, but I thought it was interesting that this feature came to Android, given that Apple owns Shazam.

If you do know of a way to Shazam music played through headphones, please reply to this tweet.

Google suspends Huawei’s non-open source Android license

Written by

Angela Moon, Reuters:

Alphabet Inc’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world.

And:

Holders of current Huawei smartphones with Google apps, however, will continue to be able to use and download app updates provided by Google, a Google spokesperson said.

It’s too early to truly know the impact of this suspension, but a few things click right away:

  • Huawei has confirmed that they’ve built their own operating system as a backstop. I can’t imagine it’s as good as Android or iOS, but if this situation continues, China’s leading smartphone seller will no longer run a US smartphone OS.

  • In quarter 1, 2019, Huawei shipped 29.9 million smartphones in China, compared to Apple’s 6.5 million. If Google’s suspension holds, I can only imagine those numbers moving even further apart. Certainly, I can’t see this situation helping Apple in China.

  • This could all end quickly, as such trade restrictions can do, if this is a White House negotiating tactic and not a permanent restriction.

Why did this happen?

From the South China Morning Post:

Huawei Technologies and over 70 affiliates were added to the US Commerce Department’s Entity List last week on national security grounds, restricting the company from buying parts and components from US companies without government approval.

More on this as it unfolds.

Apple Music hits 40 million installs on Android, on track for best quarter yet

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Sensor Tower:

Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show that 40 million Android users globally have now installed the Apple Music app from Google Play, and we anticipate that the current quarter will be the service’s best yet for new users on the platform.

And:

New users of the app in 4Q18 were up 43 percent over 1Q18, and we project that 1Q19 installs will total 3.8 million for a year-over-year increase of 65 percent.

That’s solid growth. Another sign Apple’s shift to services is working.

Switched to Apple from Android all over the Apple Watch series 4

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Reddit:

The last iPhone i owned was a 4s and I’ve been an Android user since the Galaxy s4. That all changed when I saw the AW Series 4. Wanting to purchase an all around smart watch and activity tracker I found the Samsung Gear s3 disappointing. Also tried the Garmin Fenix 3 but it wasn’t for me. The AW series 4 hooked me for some reason, hooked me to the point where I decided to trade my Note 9 for a iPhoneX.

It’s been about 2 weeks now and honestly, I don’t regret the decision. There are a couple things I miss but nothing that makes me think I’ve done something stupid. I’m really impressed how the Apple ecosystem interacts with the devices. I also just purchased a 6th gen iPad this weekend to keep experimenting. Being a “newer” Apple user with multiple devices is there anything the community could recommend for tips or tricks, apps etc? Just looking for fun ways to experiment with the new gear I have. Thanks for your time.

This is one Android user, pulled into the Apple ecosystem by Apple Watch. Anecdotal but, to me, representative of the draw of Apple Watch and the ECG capability.

We broke into a bunch of Android phones with a 3D-printed head

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Thomas Brewster, Forbes:

We tested four of the hottest handsets running Google’s operating systems and Apple’s iPhone to see how easy it’d be to break into them. We did it with a 3D-printed head. All of the Androids opened with the fake. Apple’s phone, however, was impenetrable.

And:

An iPhone X and four Android devices: an LG G7 ThinQ, a Samsung S9, a Samsung Note 8 and a OnePlus 6. I then held up my fake head to the devices to see if the device would unlock. For all four Android phones, the spoof face was able to open the phone, though with differing degrees of ease. The iPhone X was the only one to never be fooled.

And:

When first turning on a brand new G7, LG actually warns the user against turning facial recognition on at all. “Face recognition is a secondary unlock method that results in your phone being less secure,” it says, noting that a similar face can unlock your phone. No surprise then that, on initial testing, the 3D-printed head opened it straightaway.

And:

There’s a similar warning on the Samsung S9 on sign up. “Your phone could be unlocked by someone or something that looks like you,” it notes.

What I get from these tests: Android facial recognition is for convenience. Apple’s Face ID is for both convenience and security.

The Best iPhone and Android Apps of 2018

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Solid list from the folks at Time Magazine, albeit short. There more pages to this that I missed?

One thing that struck me: All 10 apps on this list run on iOS. Three of them also run on Android. This simply iOS bias? Or something more, perhaps a comment on the craft/tools/devs in each community?

Apps on millions of Android phones execute a multimillion-dollar ad fraud scheme

Written by

Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed News:

Last April, Steven Schoen received an email from someone named Natalie Andrea who said she worked for a company called We Purchase Apps. She wanted to buy his Android app, Emoji Switcher. But right away, something seemed off.

“I did a little bit of digging because I was a little sketched out because I couldn’t really find even that the company existed,” Schoen told BuzzFeed News.

The We Purchase Apps website listed a location in New York, but the address appeared to be a residence. “And their phone number was British. It was just all over the place,” Schoen said.

It was all a bit weird, but nothing indicated he was about to see his app end up in the hands of an organization responsible for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in ad fraud, and which has funneled money to a cabal of shell companies and people scattered across Israel, Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, Malta, and elsewhere.

Oh, what a scheme. Incredibly sophisticated scam. Amazing story.

About a fifth of Android phone owners plan to switch to an iPhone

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I know someone will point out the Apple stat of “90% customer satisfaction” but that is different from “Intent to Buy”. Still, I would have guessed Apple was higher than the 70% shown here. Regardless, this is where Apple has a huge advantage and where they still have plenty of room to grow by taking share away from various Android manufacturers.

iOS 11 adoption rate hits 85 percent, Android Oreo approaching 15 percent

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As we move close to the official release of iOS 12, Apple has updated their official iOS adoption tracker. 85% of active devices, as measured by the iOS App Store, are using iOS 11, as shown in the pie chart below.

As we always do when Apple updates their numbers, let’s take a look at Android’s official adoption rate numbers. Here ya go:

The two most recent versions of Android are Android 9 Pie (officially released on August 6th) and Android Oreo (August 21, 2017). As you can see, Pie has not yet made a dent in the universe and Oreo is approaching 15% (when you combine Oreo 8.0 and 8.1).

What a difference between the two platforms. The largest issue caused by this fragmentation is the inability to get critical updates out to the masses. Apple is about to release a brand new OS, and it will work on the vast majority of iPhones in the wild. And there are no carriers or third party manufacturers that stand in between users and their updates.

An Android fanboy spends an enlightening week with an iPhone

Written by

C. Scott Brown, Android Authority:

When the opportunity came up here for a writer to switch to an iPhone for a week to see what it’s like, I jumped on it. I figured this would be a way to put my convictions to the test. Is Android really better for me than iOS, or have I just become complacent and comfortable with Android?

I like the premise. But the execution was flawed.

Take a few minutes to make your way through the article. Scott clearly likes a lot about the iPhone, highlighting lack of clutter, the rewrite of the iOS App Store, iPhone’s superior Bluetooth implementation, and the ease of use of the Camera app.

But one dealbreaker for Scott:

The horrible layout of the keyboard makes you need to do not one, not two, but three taps to insert a comma in a sentence. First, you tap the keyboard-swap button, then you type a comma, then you hit the button to go back to the main keyboard.

Three strokes to use probably the second-most-used punctuation mark in the English language.

But as I pointed out in this tweet this morning, there’s a quicker way to type a comma. Press and slide the number (123) key, release on the comma, and you remain in the alphabetic keyboard. Fast and, once you know about it, easy.

The issue here is low discoverability. And, to me, the flaw in Scott’s experiment was tweeting out his concerns, to see if there are shortcuts (like the comma shortcut) or other solutions with the issues he raised, before he published.

All that said, this was an interesting read for me. There are clearly things iOS does better and things Android does better. Another example Scott raised was the way Android groups Notifications. If only he’d asked. This is a feature Apple has in place in the iOS 12 beta, coming soon to iOS devices everywhere. And iOS’s lack of fragmentation means anyone with an iOS device can get it, either by trying the public beta or waiting a few weeks for the release. No need to wait for a carrier update that might never come.

And those keyboard shortcuts? They’ve been around a long, long time. But if that comma thing was new to you, check out this terrific post (from 2016!) chock full of gems like this.

Google’s Wear OS no longer feels like Android on a smartwatch

Written by

Engadget:

Google is ready to unveil a shiny new version of Wear OS at last. This is the third major release of the platform (the first since rebranding to Wear OS), and Google finally shows an understanding that what people want from a smartwatch is not a phone replacement. They want a reliable daily assistant and coach that is fast and unobtrusive. The new system doesn’t have obvious battery life enhancements, though, which is still a major pain that the industry has yet to solve. It may be up to Google’s partners to figure that out for themselves.

Watch the video embedded in the article to see the new Wear OS at work.

My immediate reaction? It’s still round. Dealbreaker for me.

Gene Munster: 19% of Android users surveyed indicated they plan on switching to an iPhone in the next year

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Lots of interesting nuggets in this survey. It’s a quick read, a single page. A few highlights:

19% of Android users surveyed indicated they plan on switching to an iPhone in the next year, compared to 12% last year.

The numbers were relatively small, so this might simply be a sampling issue. But if that number proves accurate, that’s a pretty big swing.

I’d be interested in a similar survey showing percentage of iPhone users who plan on switching to Android.

Another interesting point: The percentage of iPhone users who intend to upgrade to a new iPhone was 23% this time last year, and increased to a whopping 48% in the most recent survey. Part of that might be the perceived maturity of the iPhone X and Face ID (i.e., the kinks have been worked out), adding to a natural response to the waves of marketing.