Nothing is really stopping me, I just think iPhones align better with me now.

I am going to give 3 examples of why I switched from Android to iPhone. 1 - I used Samsung Galaxy S every generation till the S5, flashing ROMs every second day and I got tired of it. One thing that particularly bothered me was when I got my officially branded Galaxy S car holder, Car charger and a lot of other accessories and they didn’t work with the SII.

2 - I use to jog quite a lot and used the arm strap with the cable and I thought I want a phone that prioritizes wireless audio. Apple was the first company that did that. I would have thought it would have been Sony with some of their previous phones.

3 - Samsung had many of the things I like in iPhone now already back in the Galaxy S and SII time. S Calendar, S notes, S diary, S transfer I think. That was dropped as a novelty after a few times. Once apple start with something they keep it, at least for a while.

I know phones are more mature now and Samsung probably doesn’t do this anymore (Or hopefully they don’t). But I already made the switch and I don’t feel any reason to switch back at the moment.

Why I like iPhone: 1 - It doesn’t change much over generations which helps with not having to buy new accessories the whole time.

2 - It doesn’t allow me to change much so I don’t bother changing much (I still do the dev betas etc, but they are not as time consuming as Roms)

3 - They don’t generally try to be first to the market

4 - Privacy is better than commercial Android (I know you can get Android builds that are better)

5 - I like(d) that the App Store is the only way you can get Apps

6 - I like the eco system (I now have homepods, apple tv, macbook, iPad, iPhone, airpods and watch) - I know Samsung has a good one, but too late.

7 - Homekit/Homekey and carplay/carkey - I literally can walk around without keys. (I know this isn’t unique, but again when I bought by car Apple was the only option)

8 - I don’t feel like I have to upgrade every year.

I think I can do most my likes with Android as well. I just like the way Apple does it currently and they restrict some of my shortcomings.

There is no indentured labour system in the UAE. I know there were issues in the past. Hence the law changes.

But maybe go look at the law reforms that has happened in the last decade and a half and the reforms that are ongoing.

I could not find any metro construction deaths searching for it, but I don’t have any good information to give you regarding that.

I won’t dislike your post, but I generally don’t like it.

What does that emoji at the end of your post mean. Are you physically crying. Is it symbolic to mean you are unhappy or sad or disheartened or something else that I couldn’t think of.

Now imagine if you do a string of those and me trying to figure it out.

I mean with keyboards now, it is probably faster swiping out the phrase :”This saddens me” than that emoji.

Just finished Hyperion so I guess that will be soon for me. Might read something else in between first though

I stopped after watching a few episodes. I guess it just wasn’t for me. Most people I know like it though.

Every maintenance/fuel/insurance expense have been included in this with the app roadmap. I used depreciation of the vehicle rather than the monthly payment, but as the car is still relatively new these amounts are rather close to one another. The deposit is not factored in though. My cost to own without fuel works out to about $625 a month. About $800 a month with fuel. Butt UAE in general don’t have taxes like most of the other places that would have the car price more expensive and the fuel is really cheap in comparison to most places I have been.

Parking is generally free where I stay and where I go, but we pay buy sms so I can probably go count the amount that I have paid this year, but I doubt it would be more than $10 for the last year. Just counted and it works out to $18. I think the parking cost is heavily dependent on where you stay though.

The total cost breakdown works out to about $27 a day and $0.31 per km (which converts roughly to $0.50 per mile) and it is what I used in the calculation.

Thanks for the reference, I will check out the link a bit later.

Edit: total cost breakdown added and parking for the last year

Hmm, that parking is expensive, about 18 times more expensive than here. The difficulty here and other places I have been to is that there are some big malls that have their own free parking. Or free parking as long as you have a minimum spend there. I know across Europe there isn’t really mega malls etc, so parking can be better used to restrict cars.

I just wanted to factor in life cycle costs, but I understand why you would feel that way

I must say I do admire the biking culture, but I think that might be a bit unpractical here for a large part of the year.

I think most people will jump on the public transport as soon as it becomes convenient enough. I mean, if it wasn’t for the last extension of the Dubai metro I would not have felt it convenient enough. It is at a point where I can get to most of the places I want to without being exposed to the sun for too long. I assume with each expansion of the Dubai metro it will become more feasible for more people and then the trains might even run more frequent etc.

There is a plan in place for expansion till 2050 and already think the metro is in a good spot.

When the mapping data is good enough I prefer apple maps.

In the country I am currently working neither google maps or apple maps is a good option as things changes so quickly. Restaurants etc is still good to get from google maps though. I use waze here.

But if I go to a far enough on main road I still try apple maps to drive somewhere close, it integrates well with my car through carplay