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macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
I would suggest the blind devotion to any product (iOS, Android, whatever) represents a fear that to appreciate a product other than one's own diminishes their product, and diminishes their sense of judgement at having made their choice. It seems a form of insecurity - "I must feel mine is the best. For mine to be the best, yours must be crap."

It is a form of schadenfreude - it is not enough that I do well, you must fail miserably for me to be happy. Not to get too big about it, but this sad attitude is reflected in more important issues - religion, nationalism, racism - everything that reinforces "us vs. them".
 

penfan82

macrumors regular
Mar 11, 2011
155
1
I never understood the devotion factor either if a product comes out and it looks interesting and u hear enough good things about it why not buy it and try it out a phone only has a two yr contract and most times u can upgrade early so what difference does it make I currently have a droid x never gave me a bit of trouble is it buggy absolutely but never had to take it back to store etc last night I ordered a 4s should get by tues going to try out iPhone for awhile doesn't mean I'll never go back to android
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,504
"Between the Hedges"
The problem isn't with iOS or Android being better/worse
The problem isn't whether fanboys or fandroids are worse than each other

The problem is when anybody feels their particular point of view is the only one that is relevant and makes sense and all other views are irrelevant and nonsense

That malady afflicts supporters of both sides
 

Tarzanman

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2010
1,304
15
I think I have said this before on this site.

From my perspective, the Android 'fan-boy' phenomenon has been a direct response to Apple iFanaticism.

Macheads have existed since the 80's. Even in the midst of Apple's worst years (late 90's) I remember seeing Apple window decals at techy schools.

The iPod came out and even though it was wildly successful, to the rest of us non-owners it was just one among many popular electronic products with a large following.

When the iPhone came along something changed. Joe sixpack and Jane Doe iPhone owner became (in my eyes), condescending elitists. Smug with their superior position afforded them by their consumption of technology. This, despite the fact that Joe and Jane did not really know much about technology at all.

Macheads have always been compared to cult members. I always thought it was hyperbole early on... but from the person looking in, it is hard to NOT compare people's fervor for having the exact same device as millions of others and deriving a sense of individual worth from it.

Android is the blow-back from Apple's reality distortion field. There are plenty of people who never bought into the iHype and find it entertaining to watch iOS's software set, market share, and hardware steadily fall behind. Not because they dislike Apple, but because they dislike the effect Apple has on their enthusiasts.

To me. Steve Jobs was a smug jerk, and his fan base reflects that characteristic. If you dig a little deeper, I think that the recent problems with Android fan boys on this site isn't with Day-1-Android fans. My guess is that they are the same jerkwad people who originally loved iPhones and just switched platforms.

Dunno.
 

jmgregory1

macrumors 68040
For some strange reason, I think Apple brings out a real hatred in some people - and it's as non-sensical as the hatred that republicans have for democrats. Or maybe I should be comparing tea partiers to democrats for the full effect.

It's really bizarre given Apple has represented the anti-establishment (the establishment starting off as Microsoft and then transitioning to cell phone manufacturers).

Even back in the non-mainstream Apple days, the hatred was there - and it was and continues to be hatred. It's not that MS users said, well Apple is ok but their computers can't run the programs I need - they hated Apple for reasons that were never valid reasons, but more emotionally driven.

Maybe it's just fear of thinking differently? I grew up taking punch-card computer classes in college and participated first hand in the implementation of the first mainframe computer system at my university - and at the same time was wowed by the all-in-one Macintosh that my roommate was using to write his book. The IT guys laughed at it when he would bring it into the UC yet I thought that the natural GUI was ages ahead of the "real" computers the school was implementing. The idea of what you see on screen is what you get when you printed the work was so freaking obvious - it made me hate typing documents on the school system as it was green text on a black screen - not formatted to look like anything but lines of text.

I asked the computer guys how I would know whether what I was typing would look right, print right and they said it was easy. You just had to set the parameters correctly and it would print out the way you wanted. Of course we're not talking about setting margins as we know today, but a highly complex set of parameters that made getting the right output a trial and error method that, at least as far as I was concerned, used copious amounts of paper as I tried to tweak the settings to get a simple document to look right.

Since then, I've worked on my fare share of pc's and owned a series of Macs starting with the first PowerPC desktop they offered. I prefer Apple's products because they, for the most part, make 'using' the computer/phone/tablet one of the most important aspects of their products. I never understood why MS created a system on a system and that you had to deal with the underlying system every time you wanted to do very basic things such as writing a document or spreadsheet. Apple hid their underlying operating system from people because they realized a great many people didn't know or want to have to know how to run a DOS-like base system.

Fast forward to today and you have what seems to be the same battle going on - with MS being replaced by Google and their Android system. What I hear from many Android fans is that it's better because they can tweak it - ala playing around with the DOS-like underlying system, just like MS let you do with Windows. If that is what you want to do - great, go for it. I don't want to "tweak" my phone so that it can do the things either I think it should do or that I think it should have done from the factory.

I think I have said this before on this site.

From my perspective, the Android 'fan-boy' phenomenon has been a direct response to Apple iFanaticism.

Macheads have existed since the 80's. Even in the midst of Apple's worst years (late 90's) I remember seeing Apple window decals at techy schools.

The iPod came out and even though it was wildly successful, to the rest of us non-owners it was just one among many popular electronic products with a large following.

When the iPhone came along something changed. Joe sixpack and Jane Doe iPhone owner became (in my eyes), condescending elitists. Smug with their superior position afforded them by their consumption of technology. This, despite the fact that Joe and Jane did not really know much about technology at all.

Macheads have always been compared to cult members. I always thought it was hyperbole early on... but from the person looking in, it is hard to NOT compare people's fervor for having the exact same device as millions of others and deriving a sense of individual worth from it.

Android is the blow-back from Apple's reality distortion field. There are plenty of people who never bought into the iHype and find it entertaining to watch iOS's software set, market share, and hardware steadily fall behind. Not because they dislike Apple, but because they dislike the effect Apple has on their enthusiasts.

To me. Steve Jobs was a smug jerk, and his fan base reflects that characteristic. If you dig a little deeper, I think that the recent problems with Android fan boys on this site isn't with Day-1-Android fans. My guess is that they are the same jerkwad people who originally loved iPhones and just switched platforms.

Dunno.

I'm sure you are correct that there are some people who buy Apple products simply to be what they think are elite in some way, but I'm pretty sure that this represents a minority position. I would argue that Apple still represents the "think different" population, but it's true that as more of the population uses Apple products, the more varied the population is. Think about it, young kids like using iPods and iPads and iPhones, right? Is it because they want to be elitist or is it because they like playing games on it? Teenagers like iProducts too - is it because they want to be considered the elite or it because they like texting, FB'ing, listening to music and watching movies on them?

I think, as I've noted previously, that it's more about the ease of use than anything else that is driving such wide acceptance and use of Apple products. I'm paraphrasing here but, your idea that Apple fans are all jerks who like Apple because they want to be better than everyone else or at least look like they're better than everyone else is just pure crap.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,401
14,286
Scotland
Once more into the breach...

There is a simple, straightforward way to reduce tensions between fanboys and fandroids. This solution has been suggested over and over again, and in user polls treated as the best option for enabling MR users to compare iOS/iPhones to other products without causing strife with those who are uninterested. And the solution is... have a separate, delineated forum explicitly for comparing Apple products to products from other companies.

@OP: The reason I have suggested this until I am blue in the face is that I suspect some of the 'trolls' who favour non-Apple products are actually employed by advertising companies, and I don't come here to read incompetent advertising. Moreover, as somebody said above, some of the insults from genuine trolls about 'fanboys' get old real quick. Having used Mac's in various PC-dominated environments since the 1980's, I can tell you many people in the IT business have invested their careers in non-Apple products and will go to great lengths to protect that investment by constantly belittling Apple and its customers. The latest Samsung adverts are a case in point. I come to MR to get away from that kind of abusive nonsense.
 

Rocko1

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2011
2,070
4
This has nothing to do with the products and everything to do with the people who hate. It's easier to blindly hate something or the opposite product, it gives them justification for what they own. It is a sign of immaturity not to be able to appreciate good qualities in both items though.
 

mooseolly

macrumors newbie
Dec 18, 2011
6
0
Once more into the breach...

There is a simple, straightforward way to reduce tensions between fanboys and fandroids. This solution has been suggested over and over again, and in user polls treated as the best option for enabling MR users to compare iOS/iPhones to other products without causing strife with those who are uninterested. And the solution is... have a separate, delineated forum explicitly for comparing Apple products to products from other companies.

@OP: The reason I have suggested this until I am blue in the face is that I suspect some of the 'trolls' who favour non-Apple products are actually employed by advertising companies, and I don't come here to read incompetent advertising. Moreover, as somebody said above, some of the insults from genuine trolls about 'fanboys' get old real quick. Having used Mac's in various PC-dominated environments since the 1980's, I can tell you many people in the IT business have invested their careers in non-Apple products and will go to great lengths to protect that investment by constantly belittling Apple and its customers. The latest Samsung adverts are a case in point. I come to MR to get away from that kind of abusive nonsense.

Samsung copies apple, even the Ads, lets go back to a few years back when apple did these stuffs to PC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4
 

macintoshi

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2008
337
21
Switzerland
Just a thing i was thinking about,it seems there are a lot of people that just seem to hate Android and just as many who hate Apple on these forums nowadays?
Hate is a bad word, i have an iphone 4 and i have a samsung galaxy s2 and i have an ipad 2 and a macbook pro. i am not hateing neither one, but sometimes i wish i would have some functionalities on apple iphone, that are on samsung galaxy s2.Doesn't mean samsung is better, it means just, i would prefere an iphone with those things witch are present on gs2(real multitasking,layering(widgets),Bluetooth file transfer to all non apple phones, flash support, app shareing support between two iphones or ipad and iphone, sd card slot ... and many more...
 

Nebrie

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2002
616
150
Have you asked the same question in the Android forums? I've seriously seen dozens of comparisons between Steve Jobs and Kim Jong Il, Osama Bin Ladin in the last hour. Every crazy and crass joke from the last year has been revived. Last week, I was reading some stuff on an Android site and the commenters were in deep discussion about how to assassinate Tim Cook. Apple fanboys are annoying because they won't shut up but Android fanboys are a whole different kind of crazy.
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,534
5,882
Yeah, talking about being politically correct? Okay, iOS is great, Android is great, they are different, we should respect both of them............ wait a minute... they are products.. not human. I think we are OK to say iOS is crap or Android is crap, if valid arguments are provided.
 

daveathall

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2010
2,379
1,410
North Yorkshire
Neither operating systems are perfect, take the good features from one, add them to the best features from the other and one would have a great OS (IMHO). Trouble is that the good and the best from each system would be different for individual users.
 

DroidRules

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2010
1,006
1
I think it's threads like these that fuel the flames. It brings both camps together and it typically becomes a giant poo fest. What's covered in this thread that 100 other us v them threads hasn't covered? "Hating" on any phone is pathetic and those that do it really need to get a freaking life.
 

ElCidRo

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2010
302
158
im not trolling or whatever you call it?...i don't hate either apple or android,i do appreciate technology though, and at the moment apple do make the best computers, and tablets,but phones no...there is a lot better phones on the market now to compete with the iPhone, just take the nokia 800 lumia, not bad for a first windows phone from Nokia, the nexus from google, etc etc, that the phone market, yet in the tablet market android, blackberry etc seem to be struggling, if microsoft brought out a tablet the same size as the iPad running true windows, then that would be the one to have, same as the iPad with OSX would be, which i don't think is to far away....as, at the moment tablets are just massive phones running phone operating systems...

you are from the UK? :confused:
what the... :eek:
 

Artimus12

macrumors 6502a
Nov 13, 2011
539
114
YooKay
The following quote is taken from the Forum Rules - which I was prompted to read after my post was deleted for 'name calling' :eek:

Goals of the Forums

The #1 goal is to discuss Apple news and rumors.

The rules and decisions are made to protect this goal over all else, first and foremost in the News and Article Discussion forums. Following closely are forum discussions about other aspects of Macs and for giving help to fellow users. Further down the list is the Community Discussion forum, and far at the bottom of the list is the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum.

Perhaps this thread and any others pertaining to Android or other brand devices and OS' belong in the 'Community Discussion' forum then? Maybe threads such as this are better reported than participated in.
 

andross77

macrumors 6502
Oct 11, 2011
252
2
I think it's a combination of boredom and being spoiled.

It's very similar to cable news in that sense. The overflow of information has shortened our attention spans and we need constant updates on everything, so the networks overanalyze stories to fill up airtime.

Consumer tech is the same way. We're so used to Moore's law that we expect devices to constantly be improving by vast orders of magnitude. It's made us spoiled, and we end up debating over minor shit.

this x 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 

mattraehl

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2005
384
1
I think it's a combination of boredom and being spoiled.

It's very similar to cable news in that sense. The overflow of information has shortened our attention spans and we need constant updates on everything, so the networks overanalyze stories to fill up airtime.

Consumer tech is the same way. We're so used to Moore's law that we expect devices to constantly be improving by vast orders of magnitude. It's made us spoiled, and we end up debating over minor shit.
Great post, reminded me of this.

Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy
 

SurferMan

macrumors 65816
May 14, 2010
1,267
51
South FL
I have and love both.

Samsung galaxy s2 and an iPad.

Nothing wrong with either of them, they're just different. Android is more capable but less simple and not as neatly implemented, whereas iOS is very clean and better integrated, but not as powerful.
Agree, I have both products and like each. Some people just drank to much the the Kool-Aid when you see their post on Droid/Apple boards ;)
 
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