Posted on 05/23/2011 10:28:29 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Lifehacker’s Adam Dachis takes a look at the top 10 ways Apple’s iOS beats Google’s Android.
Following that, Whitson Gordon attempts to come up with the top 10 ways Google’s Android beats Apple’s iOS.
We offer both lists, so you can easily compare exactly what’s being claimed to be “better” about each platform.
Which list has more things of actual importance to the typical end-user?
Top 10 ways Apple’s iOS beats Google’s Android:
10. The iTunes Media Store
9. AirPlay
8. Find My iPhone
7. A Better Support System
6. Better Battery Life and Management
5. iTunes and Tethered Syncing
4. No Crapware
3. A Bigger and Better Variety of Apps
2. A Well-Designed, Intuitive User Interface
1. Consistency
Top 10 ways Google’s Android beats Apple’s iOS:
10. Alternate Keyboards
9. Automation
8. Custom Home Screens (spawning this sort of abject fugliness – MDN Ed.)
7. Widgets
6. Removable Storage and Battery (hardware features available on some devices)
5. Wireless App Installation
4. Custom ROMs
3. Controlling Your Phone From Your Computer
2. Flash
1. True App Integration (Set phone’s dialer to use Google Voice all the time; in iOS you have to tap Google Voice to use it.)
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, most of Android’s so-called advantages consist of absurd geek tweaks and minor niche hacks which very few, if any, regular users will utilize at all, much less to any real advantage. Some of the things on Android’s list, like Adobe Flash support and Custom ROMs, are downright disadvantageous – leading to meaningful end-user advantages for iOS in better battery life (helping push the Web forward instead of anchoring it in the past by killing Flash is also a nice feeling iOS users should have) and consistency (iOS’ lack of fragmentation is, as Dachis states, of important value: “Knowing what you’re getting and that you’ll be receiving updates for at least the next two generations of devices increases the value of an iDevice long past the date of purchase.”
For some reason, security goes unmentioned. It shouldn’t; it’s a very real, very big advantage.
In the end, simply comparing these two lists, not to mention reading the full articles (links in the first sentence above), makes it plainly obvious that Apple’s iOS is the superior choice over Google’s flawed clone for anyone except the most delusional “Apple Haterz,” ignorant consumers, or those unfortunate souls who find themselves with carriers who are not yet authorized to carry Apple products.
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I went with a Samsung Captivate a year ago. Just to try out Android.
My biggest gripe is the abysmal battery life of this device. If I am on the road, I do not dare use this device for anything for fear of being left with a dead battery when I need a phone. I will be going back to Apple as soon as my contract is up.
I am typing on my new bluetooth keyboard for my IPAD2. I just set it up and am testing it right now. The only, and I mean only, thing I am not crazy about with apple products is how hard it is to type on the virtual keyboard. This takes care of it and it’s a great case as well. Less than $100 well spent!!! There are several companies that make the keyboard, i bought mine at WALMART, Kensington is the brand. I was looking online at a company called Zagg. Price was the same so I bought it locally.
They don’t mention the one thing that’s going to make me move to Android if Apple doesn’t fix it soon: notifications.
Notifications on iOS are ridiculous and annoying.
Top way Android beats iOS?
More people chose to use it, and no one cares about whiny iOS users feeling like they are no longer part of a special society.
Words like “beats” “better” “superior” etc have no meaning for such things.
These are personal devices, hence, personal preferences rule the day.
Would you let the author choose your favorite color?
Would you let the author choose the car you drive?
Would you let the author choose your clothes?
I may be biased, but RIMs QNX based PlayBook OS beat ‘em both.
Specifically, how? Note that you can set notifications policy by app, so if it's just a matter of getting notifications you don't want, you have the power to fix that.
Notifications on iOS are ridiculous and annoying.
What are they?
Apple fans can make all the derogatory comments they want about ‘geeks’. If geeks are moving to the platform, users will follow, as that's where development is taking place.
Posted via an HTC Thunderbolt. Simply awesome.
Those are some pretty fugly home screens.
But there are some darn pretty, free live wallpapers out there (assuming your Android phone supports them):
“Adobe Flash support and Custom ROMs, are downright disadvantageous”
And the iOS user is obviously just reading Apple’s marketing notes.
Flash 10.2 and now 10.3 work well. I have a rooted Nook Color with a custom ROM. I have a great tablet at half the price of an iPad or Galaxy. I can even run the B&N android app (Or Amazon, or Google Books) and use the device as it was intended.
My phone is an iPhone3GS. No complaints about the hardware. Good system but it still needs Flash.
Please clarify: is it because more people choose to use it as a deliberate act (i.e.: if it didn’t have Android they would have chosen something else that did), or is it because it just happens to be there on more devices (i.e.: Android is irrelevant to their intended use)?
Not sure if I want to thank or curse you for that link!
It's a perfect example of why such flexibility is not allowed on iOS: too easy to take something good/reasonable and render it an ugly harrowing mess, and blame the wrong party for it. If shown one of those and told "here's my Android phone", my reaction is to recoil in horror and associate that horror with Android - not with the twits who created & installed that...thing.
Yeah, more flexibility would be nice for iOS ... yet that's the kind of flexibility which adds little, and can subtract much, from the experience. iOS is not designed for tinkerers who focus on irrelevant minutiae, it is designed for users who come to it for the purpose of doing something. You don't see power tools featuring a staggering array of attractive & gaudy colors adjustable by the user - for a reason.
Preventing users from screwing things up is good. Helping them to "get on with it already" is good. And yeah, given the option I'd probably install that horrible "comic book meme" page, at least for a while.
People generally dont buy what they dont want. That is why they aren’t buying Symbian and RIM phones.
There are alternatives available on both major carriers, and it is only correct to assume that the vast majority of the people that choose Android, regardless of the number of models available, did so because they had to like what they saw.
“Apple fans can make all the derogatory comments they want about geeks. If geeks are moving to the platform, users will follow, as that’s where development is taking place.”
They started that stuff back when the Android userbase was tiny. Just more of their “standard operating elitism”.
Now what is their story? Are most smartphone users geeks now? I’m almost betting they will just start calling them “stupid”.
Henry Ford
Android advantage #11 - You aren’t forced to buy a phone with a tiny 3.5” screen and sub standard 5 megapixel camera to get Android, as you are if you want iOS. :)
The fact that Android is avaiable on devices of many different shapes, sizes and configurations, rather than whatever Steve Jobs TELLS YOU you need, is a huge advantage of Android.
The newest batch Android Phones have jumped way ahead of the iPhone 4 in terms of technical specs. The 3.5” screen looks tiny next to the 4.3” screens out there, not to mention the 4.5” screen on the Infuse. Most of the new androids have 8 megapixel cameras and many have dual core processors. Apple has some serious catching up to do with the iPhone 5.
I expect the trend to continue as Apple is forced to compete with 3 major players making Androids (HTC, Motorola and Samsung) and others like Sony Ericsson and LG trying to get into the game.
IMHO, if Apple wants to hold onto its market share, either new versions of iOS will need to blow away Android, and do things Android can’t come close too (unlikely IMO) or it will need to start producing a much wider variety of handsets. I don’t think Apple can afford to stick with the one size fits all approach any longer.
I love it with the romanticists turn up their noses at the classicists, until their "black box" quits working.
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