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If Android wins we have tons of companies working together to bring us the best experience. If iOS wins, we have a single corporation in charge of our mobile d

by RIMR 6y ago

If Android wins we have tons of companies working together to bring us the best experience. If iOS wins, we have a single corporation in charge of our mobile device experience. If I had to choose the philosophical winner of this competition, it's pretty objectively Android for not existing to create a monopoly over the entire industry, even if Google makes questionable decisions regarding their specific hardware releases.

IgorPartola 6y ago
The problem is that we haven’t seen healthy competition in the Android market. What I mean by that is this: Android isn’t really open source the way we normally understand that. Google makes some changes, then tosses the source code over the fence to everyone else. So hardware manufacturers like Samsung can use it as is, or they can tack on their own crap since adding software features is way easier than hardware ones. So you get an OS with another OS shell built over it all in the name of marketing. You also get Amazon’s devices which are incompatible in a lot of ways even though they are also Android. What would be ideal is more of what we have with Linux distorts: an extremely solid base and distributions that can run on any modern phone. Why can’t I run the Samsung OS on my HTC phone and vice verse? Why are bootloaders always locked? Why are updates only handed down when the company execs deem it to be necessary? I agree that the Apple system is problematic. But their UX is superior in so many ways. I hate how iMessage is Apple-only but I love using it vs traditional SMS. I hate the lock in, but I have been paying for iCloud storage to handle all my photos and backups and such for years and have had zero problems from it. I like choice, but I really hate when the device I use almost more than all others combined on a daily basis doesn’t work because some marketing stuff prevented it from getting an update. Like it or not, Apple does UX better, and as long as they do they’ll keep getting my money.

by RIMR 6y ago

IgorPartola 6y ago

The problem is that we haven’t seen healthy competition in the Android market. What I mean by that is this: Android isn’t really open source the way we normally understand that. Google makes some changes, then tosses the source code over the fence to everyone else. So hardware manufacturers like Samsung can use it as is, or they can tack on their own crap since adding software features is way easier than hardware ones. So you get an OS with another OS shell built over it all in the name of marketing. You also get Amazon’s devices which are incompatible in a lot of ways even though they are also Android. What would be ideal is more of what we have with Linux distorts: an extremely solid base and distributions that can run on any modern phone. Why can’t I run the Samsung OS on my HTC phone and vice verse? Why are bootloaders always locked? Why are updates only handed down when the company execs deem it to be necessary? I agree that the Apple system is problematic. But their UX is superior in so many ways. I hate how iMessage is Apple-only but I love using it vs traditional SMS. I hate the lock in, but I have been paying for iCloud storage to handle all my photos and backups and such for years and have had zero problems from it. I like choice, but I really hate when the device I use almost more than all others combined on a daily basis doesn’t work because some marketing stuff prevented it from getting an update. Like it or not, Apple does UX better, and as long as they do they’ll keep getting my money.