Far From the Tree

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but what about tech giant Apple? While control of the company shifted through the years, there is little denying that Steve Jobs was the father of the computer trailblazer. Since Jobs passed in 2011, a lot of people have expressed concerns with the viability of the corporation. I think Cupertino has proven their ability to continue, but I have no desire to use their products.
Before anyone tries to tell me about all the advancements that iOS has made to get some of Android's nicer features in the last few years, I know, I've had an iPhone 6 Plus for a year now. It drives me insane. Everything works fine, that I can admit. Besides the sale of major security flaws in iOS to foreign powers (which were patched, in all fairness) and iPhone 6's bricking themselves in the course of one week, there hasn't been any major issues. Both of those problems only affected small crowds, and most iOS users had no concern. iOS is stable and... boring.
Android does occasionally have its own minor issues that need fixing, i.e. the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 catching fire, but the problems are infrequent and the ecosystem is so much more exciting. I don't understand the argument some people aim at Android that it is hard to use. All of the core functionalities are the same between each other, hell, even the same as iPhones/ Beyond that, there's a whole world of greater possibilities because of the open source nature Android is built on.
I confess that I'm not a computer scientist, or even a coder, myself, but having attended a STEM school and lived with two Computer Science majors I've learned that the near-universal opinion is that Android is easier to program for.
Not only does every manufacturer make their version of Android a little bit different, there are icon packs available from Google Play to change the look easily, and the easy ability to flash different ROMs onto your phone to do a total overhaul of how everything looks and functions. If you even want to make it look like iOS for a lot cheaper, it isn't that hard.
Whatever you want, Android has it. Want a phone that does the basics and connects to Facebook? You can have that for less than $50. Want a unique device that no one has seen before? There are literal hundreds. Want a top of the line experience? Look at Motorola, Samsung, LG, ASUS HTC, Sony, OnePlus, ZTE, or even Google's new Pixel phones. I just got the OnePlus 3 which has a top tier chipset and 6 gigabytes of RAM to the iPhone 7's 3. My phone is $400 brand new.
There are a great deal of options within Android phones to distinguish their relative quality based on what matters to you. Want the best camera? Look at Samsung. Performance for a price? Look to China. Neat features? LG has module phones. Design? That's a matter of taste and there are a lot of options, I'd personally point to Motorola. The only significant factor to distinguish between the current iPhone and the previous model has typically been an aesthtic change, and usually a reasonable one. The iPhone 7 can't even claim that.
Beyond the omission of a headphone port (I still call crap on that), it looks almost identical to the 6S. I'll give credit where credit is due: Apple makes aesthetically immaculate products. I'm a sucker for aluminum bodies in electronics, and Apple definitely popularized the idea with their iOS and Mac lines. But anyone's iPhone looks exactly like every other iPhone in the same generation. There's no personality there.
Our smartphones are the most intimate devices in our lives, and I think they should also be an expression of who we are. That's why I really like Google's marketing line "be together, not the same." The Android community is held together in a way that benefits everyone, but allows for uniqueness of both software and hardware. I could talk about how Android always has features that Apple hasn't stolen, sorry, innovated yet. That's almost worth its own post.
Let me be clear: I want Apple to thrive, and even have the Mac market grow, even though I can hardly stand to use them. The reason for that is competition will drive my preferred operating systems (Windows and Android) to incorporate new features and better performance. Multiple large competitors benefits consumers and drive innovation as a whole. I don't think Apple is doing enough to compete right now.
They continue to make mediocre phones that they sell for a premium price, and I can't invest in that. I also won't tell off anyone who does. I couldn't imagine spending near a thousand dollars for something as low spec as a MacBook or an iPhone, but it makes sense for some people. If you want one ecosystem to do literally everything you need, Apple isn't a bad place to look. Be ready to pay. Nothing is user expandable or modifiable so you need to be prepared to pay for memory, RAM and ROM alike. Be okay with your device being indistinguishable from your friends. None of those are things I can live with. I won't pay more for a product that does less. If you want to, feel free.