I think it is because Nothing has couple of wireless earbuds in the market already and they really want people to purchase them. A 3.5mm jack will stymie that.
Curiously, their Nothing Buds support the LDAC codec(though few phones outside Sony do) but many more expensive wireless versions(looks at Sennheiser) don't.
I have a Realme phone and it came with so much bloatware that I can't tell. Dozens and dozens of purely unwanted apps that I had to disable almost all of them to get a decent experience.
Nothing skipped on the SD card for no reason. Their cheaper CMF Phone ships with SD card support, though still not with a 3.5mm jack.
Dunno about Apple but Google does a very bad job of monitoring the Play Store. Outright malicious apps are one thing and deceiving apps are other. Latter is a very big problem. Low quality apps minced with in app purchases/subscriptions that are carbon copies of each other.
Google arguably does a worse job of curating the Play Store (sponsored results) and has a non existent support.
Many apps rely on Play Integrity API now which means if Play Store is completely rid off, problems will arise. The latest example was Authy not working on Graphene OS.
Play Store can be disabled and alternatives like Aurora Store can be used however any paid apps can only be linked/used via the Play Store. Except for F Droid, other app stores like what Samsung ships are either full of even lower quality (and quantity) apps. (It has few exclusives but most can be sideloaded).
Only China is a proper example because they have a complete ecosystem outside of Google. From their social networking companies to payment mechanisms, they are usually done by Chinese companies. Huawei has a proper phone outside of Google services, I think, from a major Chinese OEM.
Proper feature parity will be achieved when users need not rely on Play Store as a single stop shop.
Does this mean Patreon too will have two tiers of billing system: standard billing via the Web and slightly higher prices if done in app. I think if one purchases a YouTube Premium membership in app on iOS, it costs more than when done via the site.
I used it for one year(yes, I paid sigh) but ultimately didn't see value in it. Subscription model doesn't make sense for a podcast app and I mostly listened to on mobile eitherways, so I switched to Antennapod recently. I tried a couple of other alternatives including Podcast Republic but those seem a little too bloated in terms of features.
Yes, the free version doesn't let you organize podcasts into folders for example. The paid version has a browser accessible version(so one can access from PC) , some gigs(10 GB?) of cloud storage and some extra theme able icons.
It used to be a one time purchase back in the day. Then they moved to a yearly subscription model. I think I used their paid variant for one year or so.
I recently moved to AntennaPod, which is available on F Droid. It is more or less at feature parity with the free version of Pocketcasts. It technically has gPodder integration to sync your podcasts online but honestly that service breaks down a lot and is unreliable multiple times.
Since you mentioned watch, I was surprised that rumours said that Pixel Watch 3 will come with 24 Hr battery life, same as PW 2. That is even below Samsung, much less Oneplus or Ticwatch. Plus, they lock much data behind Fitbit's paywall after granting a six month free subscription, I believe.
I switched off from the official app back to Tubular, a NewPipe fork. I was always a NewPipe user but gave YouTube app the chance because I have a YouTube subscription( though, I mostly used it for YouTube Music). But even with a subscription, third party apps are much superior.
Their is no Sponserblock integration in official app. Plus Shorts and Games thrust on you. Oh, and did I mention whenever I go to certain channels, YouTube asks me if I wish to become a member of that channel for extra perks. Like, I just paid you money, Google, stop asking more.
Ah yes, now I see where to toggle the setting from. I was just seeing the message Restricted setting and was searching for a toggle there, in the wrong place. Thanks.
I think Google's Pixel 9 128 GB edition is purely to drive consumers towards cloud storage.