I have been an Android user for a very long time. I worked on development of some of the Android phones during the first few releases of Android and really loved the customisations, the freedom and the interface of Android. Being a developer or power user, the customisations made me feel very good about the operating system. Over time, I got fed up with Samsung because of all the bloat software and sounds it carried and Oneplus gave a ray of hope with the lean software and sleek phones. From Oneplus One onwards, I became a follower of Oneplus, upgrading within the brand when needed and overall happy with experience.
Last year, as my old Oneplus 7 pro gave up, I started looking for a new phone. I was doing this exercise after 2-3 years and there were numerous phones in the market. What I found out was that phones are obscenely expensive and it is impossible to choose one. Oneplus is no longer the flagship killer that it started out to be as it has got really expensive and is a flagship in itself. Due to various discounts, availability nearby and ease of buying, I thought of trying an Apple iPhone 14. I have usually been against iPhones as they seemed very locked as an ecosystem to me. But I thought why not try once and just got it on an impulse. What transpired in the next few months somewhat surprised me and here is the story.
So first things first, I liked the look and feel of the new phone. It was sleek, it was good to use and it worked well. As I was already a Mac user, I found the integration between Mac and iPhone (simple things like handoff and copy paste) really useful. What baffled me somewhere in my mind was not the features itself but the quality of the features and how seamless they worked. Over time, I felt the need for a tablet, and this time I didn’t think much. I got an iPad pro and it was not an impulse. My old earphones went bad and again I thought quite a bit on what to buy. I was willing to spend a decent amount choosing between high end Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, Apple and so on. After much careful deliberation, I bought the third generation Airpods. Now I have been buying earphones almost every year all through my life. And these set of Airpods have not been with me for an year yet. But I am absolutely confident that these are the ones which finally have made me an Apple convert.
As someone who works in technology and software, I am always online on all my devices. Handling calls on phone, Teams, Zoom and so on and switching between creating documents, making and giving presentations or designing and architecting solutions. I try and use technology to the best of my abilities and what I have noticed is that if there is one thing which catches everything I want to do, its the Airpods. The user experience in one word is fabulous. Depending on the source which is creating audio at that time, they switch between my iPad, iPhone and Mac seamlessly. Unlike ALL other brands I have tried before, I never have to restart Bluetooth or do any random things to get them to work. The audio is always good, the switching is always good and it just works!
I sit back today and look at the time that has passed since I got my first Apple product and what I realised it is that I value it not for one product, not for few features and not for the specification of gigabytes of RAM or storage. I value it for the exceptional experience it provides within its ecosystem. It has bound me to the ecosystem by providing me so much ease and so much simplicity that when the time comes, I will probably not think again and just upgrade with whatever generation is available at the time I am out in the market to buy a new product. As I work on technology and platforms, this gives me the valuable lesson of ensuring my customers always get the best experience. I may skimp on number of features once in a while, but whatever I launch, will have to be as seamless as physically possble and without any complaints.
Thank you Apple! Lets build a better world together.