Okay, so my ten-month experiment with the iPhone SE 2020 is finally over, and I switched back to the Sony Xperia series as I did a lot of years before. (This time it is Xperia 10 IV.)
By the way, it also means this is my fourth Xperia phone (or fifth Sony phone if the old T230 is included). Does it make me an Xperia fan? ;-)
It wasn't because of the apps (most of them are available for both Android and iOS), although I missed Janek Rubeš' voice in Mapy.cz navigation.
It wasn't because of strange settings behavior (you turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off when you go to bed... And then, it is active next morning). Better not to mention the process to turn off GPS. (You need to go deep into the menu or ask Siri.) Still, it wasn't the case.
It wasn't because of HEIF, automatic use of iMessage instead of pure SMS, and other obscurities. Also, I missed a 3.5mm jack a bit, but I could live with an external adapter (though I couldn't find it multiple times).
It was because of the feeling that I am just a subject for sale. Basic functionality is quite often offered only by paid apps, and I really think now that Android is not as polluted by advertisements.
Note: Of course, I knew iPhone is a closed platform. Now I understand a lot better what exactly it means, and I came to a simple conclusion: I am not the one this golden cage is intended for.
And finally, the most important. It was because of the battery life. Yeah, I know, a lot of people told me the capacity is not good, still, I expected at least a single day of battery life... And it wasn't possible quite often, and I had to charge the phone twice a day multiple times. Also, battery degradation—dropping to 94% of the designed capacity after half a year (!)—is awful. (Well, it actually makes some sense because of the high number of charging cycles you are forced to do.)
It is a nice feeling just to drive on the bicycle with GPS and tracking in Mapy.cz turned on starting at 30% of battery life... Without any doubts, you still have enough battery after half of the day of driving. I really like I don't need to take my power bank with me. Thank you, Sony! My three days of batter life I was used to are back.
So, no more experiments with 'strange' platforms; let's stick to the classic. Sure, it is all just FMPOV ;-) I spent almost 13 years using an Android phone, and maybe I am just used to it. Please don't take me wrong; I understand why a lot of people use iPhones. The stability and easy-to-use design are pretty impressive. Just... I don't see anything special here in 2023.
Ah, and by the way: If you have any active subscription on the iPhone, you cannot cancel it without iPhone (or another Apple device). No web UI is available for that. You need to call Apple support, which was very helpful, but they also seemed to be a bit surprised by the request (the actual worker probably did that for the first time).