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EDIT: who would downvote this? (I'm saying that iOS 5 is nice, but it's mostly just adding features that directly copy its competitor Android, and not even all

by ljlolel 15y ago

EDIT: who would downvote this? (I'm saying that iOS 5 is nice, but it's mostly just adding features that directly copy its competitor Android, and not even all of them. Android had been copying in 2009-2010, but now it's Apple. A lot of people, even devs, don't realize that Droid has had all these features for months. I hadn't.) I have an iPhone 4, I've had iPhones for 4 years. I love the iPhone. I tried a Nexus S with the newest Android recently. Using it, I learned that Android is, frankly, today, ahead of iOS on the phone side. Android's notification system is better. It's so much better, that Apple directly copied it. Android's hardware back button works, it works well, and it frees up more screen real estate for useful content. Android's home button is more consistent. Its apps are more powerful, google talk video works great. Its wireless seamless binary-only updates are revolutionary. Apple has fallen behind, and will only catch up with iOS 5 in the Fall. Of course, I fully expect Google to innovate further and be even farther ahead in 2012. The coolest thing by far, and this is something that Apple won't have in the foreseeable near future, is voice recognition. Google's voice commands work suspiciously well. I find it far easier to press a button and say "text John Appleseed: Hey, let's go to the movies tomorrow at 3" than to navigate menus and type it in. Google's tech recognizes words and phrases I wouldn't expect it to. Apple still has more apps, but that won't last for too much longer. I have an iPad 2, and I love it, but my next phone will be a Droid.

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rimantas 15y ago
The subtle (and not so subtle to others) difference is that iOS will have these features polished. Android just has them.
- joebadmo 15y ago
  I generally prefer to have unpolished features available to me to use or not use. If they are polished enough to be useable for me, then I use them. If not, then I don't. I like being able to decide. Which is why I generally prefer android to iOS, I guess. Many others obviously prefer otherwise.
- Pewpewarrows 15y ago
  Which of those features aren't polished on Android? Or are you just another iOS customer that's never used any of these features talking out of their ass.
grandalf 15y ago
Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life. Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design. Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone. A friend of mine designs phones for Motorola. He's angry as hell about the Android ecosystem b/c he knows there is some great hardware being built, but it's compromised by greedy companies that ship the phone with a 2 hour battery, etc. Android is full of this sort of short-term thinking. These are all more salient features than the few areas where Android is actually better (google apps integration, turn by turn navigation). The notification feature isn't all that necessary. I turned off all notifications on my iPhone and haven't missed anything. Most of the notifications generated by Android apps are equally useless. It's as if we're arguing about the color of Microsoft Bob's glasses. In terms of the overall customer experience, usability, and app ecosystem, IOS is several years ahead of Android. I say this as someone who got two Android phones free at Google IO last year and still switched to an iPhone 4. It's not about checking off a box on a feature checklist, it's about the quality of the experience of using the features.
- nuclear_eclipse 15y ago
  > Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life. I get an entire day's battery life out of my Nexus S, and I listen to Pandora and podcasts my entire 8 hour shift every single day, as well as play games, surf the net, and use it heavily for on-the-go text communications. > Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design. I have a Samsung phone and don't have any of their customized phone UI. My wife has an HTC phone (Nexus One) that also doesn't have any customized UI. Buying a phone with a customized UI is yet another choice that the consumer can make, but it's not even close to being the only way. > Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone. It looks a bit closer to 50%, and growing fast... http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-apple-app-store-in-free-app-count.html http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-app... Please stop spreading obvious FUD.
  - grandalf 15y ago
    I got an Evo 4G and got 4-6 hours with virtually no talking. My iPhone 4 usage pattern is similar and I get 2 days between charges. A friend who has one bought extended life batteries for his Evo and still only gets 4 hours from each if he's lucky. The Moto engineer I mentioned said that the phone is known for getting 2 hours of battery life. Regardless of which number is correct, the phone never should have shipped. Also, due to the various HTC provided customizations, users of the phone get locked into outdated versions of Android long after newer features have been added. This is the worst form of lock-in b/c it's so clearly designed to get people to buy a new phone even though their current phone is upgradeable. The Nexus One is a pure Google phone so it's upgradeable, but most are not. This means app developers have to target lots of old OS versions if they want a large install base. Not sure if you've compared the quality of apps on either platform lately. But most of the apps on Android are gimmick apps such as "Free Nelly Ringtones" and other garbageware. The creator of that app released several hundred nearly identical apps, each with a different song. Look at the top 100 free and paid iPhone apps. At best 10 in each category have an app of similar quality available on Android. Most that do are from major firms, not from indie developers or small studios. Edit: I'm actually rooting for Android but let's not pretend that the race is close at this point. This is mostly due to Google letting the phone companies' perverse incentives get in the way of a top quality product.
dataminer 15y ago
I am a recent convert from iphone 3g to nexus one, and I am pleasantly surprised. One feature I like the most is the back button which makes Android feels like the web, you get in and out of apps just like you get in and out of websites. Android may not have the eye candy of iOS and tons of very well developed apps but it sure is very convenient.

by ljlolel 15y ago

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rimantas 15y ago

The subtle (and not so subtle to others) difference is that iOS will have these features polished. Android just has them.

joebadmo 15y ago
I generally prefer to have unpolished features available to me to use or not use. If they are polished enough to be useable for me, then I use them. If not, then I don't. I like being able to decide. Which is why I generally prefer android to iOS, I guess. Many others obviously prefer otherwise.
Pewpewarrows 15y ago
Which of those features aren't polished on Android? Or are you just another iOS customer that's never used any of these features talking out of their ass.

grandalf 15y ago

Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life. Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design. Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone. A friend of mine designs phones for Motorola. He's angry as hell about the Android ecosystem b/c he knows there is some great hardware being built, but it's compromised by greedy companies that ship the phone with a 2 hour battery, etc. Android is full of this sort of short-term thinking. These are all more salient features than the few areas where Android is actually better (google apps integration, turn by turn navigation). The notification feature isn't all that necessary. I turned off all notifications on my iPhone and haven't missed anything. Most of the notifications generated by Android apps are equally useless. It's as if we're arguing about the color of Microsoft Bob's glasses. In terms of the overall customer experience, usability, and app ecosystem, IOS is several years ahead of Android. I say this as someone who got two Android phones free at Google IO last year and still switched to an iPhone 4. It's not about checking off a box on a feature checklist, it's about the quality of the experience of using the features.

nuclear_eclipse 15y ago
> Android is nice if you're OK with 2 hour battery life. I get an entire day's battery life out of my Nexus S, and I listen to Pandora and podcasts my entire 8 hour shift every single day, as well as play games, surf the net, and use it heavily for on-the-go text communications. > Android is OK if you like trusting Samsung with your phone's UI design. I have a Samsung phone and don't have any of their customized phone UI. My wife has an HTC phone (Nexus One) that also doesn't have any customized UI. Buying a phone with a customized UI is yet another choice that the consumer can make, but it's not even close to being the only way. > Android is fine if you want to choose from 1% of the number of apps available for iPhone. It looks a bit closer to 50%, and growing fast... http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-apple-app-store-in-free-app-count.html http://samsungdigital.co.cc/android-market-surpassed-the-app... Please stop spreading obvious FUD.
- grandalf 15y ago
  I got an Evo 4G and got 4-6 hours with virtually no talking. My iPhone 4 usage pattern is similar and I get 2 days between charges. A friend who has one bought extended life batteries for his Evo and still only gets 4 hours from each if he's lucky. The Moto engineer I mentioned said that the phone is known for getting 2 hours of battery life. Regardless of which number is correct, the phone never should have shipped. Also, due to the various HTC provided customizations, users of the phone get locked into outdated versions of Android long after newer features have been added. This is the worst form of lock-in b/c it's so clearly designed to get people to buy a new phone even though their current phone is upgradeable. The Nexus One is a pure Google phone so it's upgradeable, but most are not. This means app developers have to target lots of old OS versions if they want a large install base. Not sure if you've compared the quality of apps on either platform lately. But most of the apps on Android are gimmick apps such as "Free Nelly Ringtones" and other garbageware. The creator of that app released several hundred nearly identical apps, each with a different song. Look at the top 100 free and paid iPhone apps. At best 10 in each category have an app of similar quality available on Android. Most that do are from major firms, not from indie developers or small studios. Edit: I'm actually rooting for Android but let's not pretend that the race is close at this point. This is mostly due to Google letting the phone companies' perverse incentives get in the way of a top quality product.

dataminer 15y ago

I am a recent convert from iphone 3g to nexus one, and I am pleasantly surprised. One feature I like the most is the back button which makes Android feels like the web, you get in and out of apps just like you get in and out of websites. Android may not have the eye candy of iOS and tons of very well developed apps but it sure is very convenient.