I'm a big fan of FarmRPG. Semi-idle "numbers go up", mostly text + static images game with a lovely community. It has zero ads and, even though it has a paid currency and some very unoptimized ways to spend it, the game is very generous with it (to the point where I've earned the vast majority of my currency by trading resources). It's a bit janky, but fun.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is free and great fun. It's a roguelike dungeon exploration game, there are many forks of the original Pixel Dungeon but this is my favorite one. Similar to this is Hoplite, a very short (in the free version) turn-based, almost puzzle-like game where you have to get through monster-filled rooms to proceed. Lots of mechanics that you have to learn to use in order to survive.
For more strategy, seconding Polytopia, as well as Unciv (it even has mods!), which is a Civilization-like game.
For a simple but fun gameplay loop, Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey, where you slide your way down various landscapes. The latter especially adds a lot of fun little tweaks onto the original's formula.
I Love Hue and especially I Love Hue 2 are great "arrange the colors properly" games. Hundreds of levels, no nonsense, solid fun.
Recently made the move wholesale from IOS/iPhone Mini/iPad to a Galaxy Fold 4. Wasn’t hard at all tbh, plenty of tools for migration since most stuff is cloud-based. Took maybe a day to settle in. I’m fortunate in that I’m not dependant on icloud and the like though, my password manager is bitwarden, etc.
This is after starting on iPhones about a decade ago in high school. First android was trivial to get used to. I think the “myth” of apple lock-in keeps way more people in the apple ecosystem than lock-in itself.
@QuietStorm not sure if you're into FPS games, but I've sunken obscene amounts of time into Call of Duty Mobile and haven't paid a dime. It's free to play, but they advertise micro transactions to you, which are easily ignored. And I've played it no problem on a $50 Moto e6.
Disable play services, install fdroid, install aurora store from fdroid to keep your play store apps up to date switch to ProtonMail or Tutanota, install and use newpipe from fdroid
I’m curious what you don’t like about iOS. I started out on Android, switched to iOS and never looked back. I realized I was doing most customization in Android to feel like iOS lol. the privacy upgrade is priceless imo.
Pure personal preference. I’ve traditionally gone back and forth almost every time I get a new phone. It’s really only in the last 2-3 years I’ve hit the point I significantly prefer android.
For me, some of the interface choices on iOS are no Bueno. Additionally, the lack of a button, or simulated button is not something I’m fond of.
I’m also not convinced they are more private. I think Apple’s incentives line up more with mine than Google’s, but only barely. Independent researchers are pretty mixed on whether Apple is actually blocking all apps, or just making it so Apple is the only one who can profit off of people’s data.
The only reason I think they are probably more private is the giant hissy fit Facebook threw over their settings.
This is a very informative post, thanks for sharing. Although Signal is still way better than SMS and probably also closed source apps like WhatsApp, the leakage of metadata on a centralized server is a problem that needs to be addressed.
That being said, there is some evidence that Signal isn’t collecting metadata based on the fact that it has published its responses to subpoenas and did not provide that information.
This is something I noticed when I got my Macbook. Apps for basic functionality that would be free on Windows are pay for Mac. Mac users are just used to opening their wallets.
Now this might be down to my search skills, but -
A media player like MPCHC that gives previews when you scrub the timeline
A reasonably small text editor that understands the different line endings like Winpad.
I found Elmedia Player for video, but I end up using VLC most of the time since Elmedia doesn’t generate previews for remote files. For text I found TextMate, which I like quite a bit.
Just switched back to Android a few days ago after using the iPhone for quite some time. Customization and control were my favorite reasons for Android in the past and it stayed the same. I use a Pixel 7 Pro with GrapheneOS. The fact that I even have an option to use a different OS that focuses on privacy is amazing.
Fell like 5 times from more than a meter of height into a stone floor and is somehow still fine (more luck than skill probably)
Worst qualities:
Not the fastest
No more updates :(
Randomly turns off about once every month at night while charging, which forced me to buy a backup alarm
Before this I was using a Moto G5 plus, which was a bit of a quirky phone. Before that I used my Nexus 5, which ultimately started suffering the power button issues. My Nexus 5 is still a backup phone that I use sometimes, and every time I touch it I wish that they’d release a new Nexus 5 just like the old one but with with newer hardware specs and a better battery. I love how light and small it is, I still love the screen, and I love how it looks.
From this you can probably gather that I don’t upgrade phones too often. I also don’t have any other Android devices. I did at one point dabble a bit into Android development and made a few silly apps, but that’s many years ago at this point.
For my PC’s I usually use Linux where I can, and Window$ for gaming and music production (because sadly that’s the only way to make these things work reliably).
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