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Plot Twist: Apple Also Has to Follow Google Play Store Rules

Andrew Orr ·

Google has updated its Play Store rules, saying that developers have to use Google Play’s billing system. From Daring Fireball:

Most reports are mentioning Spotify and Netflix here, but unless I’m missing something this policy change (or as Google claim, “clarification”) will also apply to Apple Music — the Android version of which charges users who sign up directly. The fact that Apple forces all subscription streaming services to use Apple’s in-app payments on iOS but doesn’t use Google’s on Android for Apple Music has been a source of much heckling.

I’m on the side of Apple in the Epic v Apple case, but if Apple has to follow Google’s similar rules for developers when it hadn’t already, simultaneously enforcing similar rules on its own side for developers, is hilarious to me. I hope that made sense.

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iOS 14 vs Android, App Library, Widgets, and Default Apps

Andrew Orr ·

Writer Nicole Lee is happy with iOS 14 features that are similar to Android, like widgets, default apps, and App Library. And she wants more of that.

But for me, the real star of iOS 14 is not quite so obvious (It’s so low-key that Apple didn’t mention it at its WWDC keynote). It’s the fact that, at long last, iOS now lets you pick your own default email and browser apps. This one feature, more than any other, is what I feel is a key factor in preventing me from switching to Android. That’s because, as an iOS user, it is not Android that I find attractive — it’s Google.

I’m trying to wrap my head around this argument. I don’t want to be one of those people who say, “If you’re not happy with iOS, then switch to Android.” But it doesn’t make sense to me that setting default apps would stop her from switching, considering Android had that all along. She goes on to say that she hasn’t bothered with iOS 14 widgets and that Android widgets don’t appeal to her. Okay, don’t use them?? Just like you’re not using iOS 14 widgets?? There’s more I have to say but this is running up against the length limitation of our Linked Teasers. Go read.

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Underclocked iPhone SE More Powerful Than Android Phones

Andrew Orr ·

Some impressive news for Apple: Not only is the iPhone SE more powerful than the most expensive Android phones, it’s doing that while underclocked.

More powerful than Android phones:

Building your own mobile chipset brings many advantages, and Apple is leveraging them today. Google really needs to do the same, and soon.

Underclocked processor:

Looking at the result breakdown of the iPhone SE (2020), the CPU and GPU yield is closer to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max that are powered by an A12 Bionic platform. Memory speed is the only thing pushing the 256GB iPhone SE way ahead of the XS family with the result of 77,968, which is in line with the iPhone 11 trio.

No speculation on why it’s underclocked, but one possible reason is heat.

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The New Motorola Razr is a Blast From the Past

Andrew Orr ·

The Motorola Razr is back. It’s still a flip phone but it’s a foldable screen with the old UI skinned on top of it, and it’s US$1,500.

As I fold the Motorola Razr in half for the first time, it becomes clear that the Razr — with its foldable 6.2-inch screen, 16-megapixel double-duty camera and $1,500 price tag — is the best designed, most completely thought-out foldable phone to date. Streamlined. Utterly pocketable. Nostalgic, with a sharp futuristic edge.

I still think foldable phones are a bit gimmicky for now, but a phone that folds vertically makes more sense to me than a phone that unfolds horizontally to become a tablet-like device.

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Researchers Test Phones to See if They're Secretly Listening

Andrew Orr ·

Researchers put an iPhone and a Samsung phone into a room, playing cat and dog food advertising for 30 minutes.

The security specialists kept apps open for Facebook, Instagram, Chrome, SnapChat, YouTube, and Amazon with full permissions granted to each platform…They repeated the experiment at the same time for three days, and noted no relevant pet food adverts on the “audio room” phones and no significant spike in data or battery usage.

The results won’t surprise those in the information security industry who’ve known for years that the truth is that tech giants know so much about us that they don’t actually need to listen to our conversations to serve us targeted adverts.

For some people, maybe the belief that phones secretly spy on us is less terrifying than learning how much data these corporations actually have on us.

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After Bashing Apple, Samsung Caves, Deletes Headphone Jack

John Martellaro ·

The Verge writes:

… today’s just-announced Samsung Galaxy Note 10 doesn’t include the 3.5mm socket, even though it’s the phone that would have been most likely to keep it around….

Now, like some of its competitors, Samsung just has to pretend it never made fun of Apple for doing the same damn thing. Because even if you try to delete these videos, Samsung, the internet has a long memory.

The excuses  explanations Samsung makes are hilarious.

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News+: Should Apple Leak the iPhone 11 Design?

Andrew Orr ·

In the latest issue of Macworld, Michael Simon says that Apple should leak the iPhone 11 design like Google did for the Pixel 4.

We already know it’s coming in September. And we kind of know what it will look like too. There have already been bountiful leaks that have revealed a giant square camera bump—which incidentally looks a whole lot like the Pixel 4—and it’s expected that all three models will be pretty much identical from the front. So what’s the harm in confirming what we already know?

If we accept two conditions: 1) Many Android phones tend to mimic iPhones; and 2) iPhone 11 mockups are close to or exactly the real design; Then I think the Pixel 4 was also the iPhone 11 leak.

This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.

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Last Month Google Play Had 205 Malicious Apps With Over 32M Installs

Andrew Orr ·

In July alone, Google Play had 205 malicious apps with over 32 million installations, most of them containing hidden ads.

The bulk of the suspicious software – 188 to be exact – contained hidden ads, accounting for 19.2 million installs. The rest of the offenders fell under the categories of subscription scam, ad fraud, stalkerware, fake apps, fake antivirus tools, adware droppers, and software with built-in backdoors, according to data compiled by ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko.

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A Bill Gates Regret: How It Cost Microsoft $400B

John Martellaro ·

At Roughly Drafted, Daniel Eran Dilger, diagnoses a recent assertion by Bill Gates regarding Microsoft, iOS and Android.

As Apple prepares the release of iOS 13 and splits off the new iPadOS 13 for specialized mobile tablets, Microsoft’s former chief executive Bill Gates mused this week that it would have been the “natural thing” for Microsoft to have been the “standard non-Apple phone platform.” But he’s wrong, here’s why.