5 Reasons Why Android is Better Than iOS

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Dahlia Elizabeth

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5 Reasons Why Android is Better Than iOS

Good to see that someone can point out the obvious reasons why Android is better than iOS. I was talking to a friend the other day and I was trying to come up with some more reasons, but I drew a blank.

I'd appreciate it if some of you guys could post here with more not-so-obvious reasons why Android is superior.

Thanks rabroaders!
 
Hrm - off the top of my head...

Flash (used by 70% of websites, 90% of the top 100), doesn't drain the battery like Apple fanboys claim because you tell it to only load the Flash content you press on, thereby giving you the choice.

Cheaper handsets as there is no cost incurred by having to pay royalties for the OS.

A vast choice of handsets, networks, custom ROMs, UIs (e.g. Sense, Motoblur, TouchWiz, etc), prices, hardware specs (from utter crap to specs that exceed the power of the iPhone 4 such as the Samsung Galaxy S range of phones).

The ability to drop into the Linux shell, allowing you to do pretty much anything on an Android phone that you can do on a Linux box.

Fully customisable homescreens, and other stuff.

Unrivalled notification system.

A market that isn't restricted to the whims of Apple's approval system.

Not being tied to iTunes or some other software.

Doesn't need a rubber band wrapped around the phone to get a signal.

And to crush some of the counter-arguments...

Flash doesn't have to drain your battery - you have the choice if to use it on each page or not.

Fragmentation isn't really a problem on Android. Most apps work on all versions of the OS. Nearly all phones (83%) run either 2.1 or 2.2. The apps the require later versions of Android usually require the newer hardware too.

The Multitasking on iOS has some minor over-hyped advantages, but is actually not really true multitasking, so is extremely restrictive to the point that most apps don't even allow its use.

There are more apps on the appstore, but come on - you have around 150,000 on Android. There are like 100 apps to do anything you'd ever want on both app stores. Neither need yet another fart app.
 
As an American-centric view some, by no means all, of that may be appropriate. But that is not the case in the UK and elsewhere.

The iPhone is available on all of the UK's five mobile network operators and via many of the MVNOs too.

Having both an iPhone and Nexus One in daily use, side by side, I still am left with the feeling that Android is the less "polished" OS of the two. I run a lightweight set of apps on each and yet the Android OS still stops, pauses and stutters in its regular use - and that is with Froyo. Android 2.2.1 is just so damn sluggish in comparison to the iOS 4.2.1OS. And this is on arguably Google and HTC's flagship reference Android handset. No, sorry people, this is not something you're going to want to hear from me but my opinion of the Android OS leaves it running some way short of iOS as things currently stand.

Now, in credit to Android, the relative openness of the OS (and I do not include Rooted devices) is a bit of a blessing in respect to iOS. There are a few [network utility] apps in Android that simply would not be approved on iOS. And that is a real crying shame because these are bona fide tools that any self-respecting technician or engineer would want in their collection of kit to be used in daily business.

Cheaper handsets? Well, yes, I suppose so. But my 16GB Nexus One did not arrive with its 16GB of memory storage, and in that respect it falls short against the 32GB iPhone. At the time of purchase, there simply was not the option of a 32GB micro-SD card. Even at today's rates, a 32GB micro SD (type 2) is ?73 (or $114) which is a large add-on to the purchase price of a SIM-free Android.

Cheaper Handsets? Well, yes, how many even approaching the build of the iPhone 4? Not too many I would contend. I'm even questioning the new Nexus S against the original Nexus One in terms of build and comparative features. It doesn't get any better when comparing agains the iPhone 4. And the claims of "antennagate" are near-fiction - it is nowhere near as bad as the sensationalists would like the world to believe.

Bias and Balance:
That is the trouble with any discussion along these lines. Bias creeps in and balance can be lost.

I love the Android OS and want to see it do very well. It is vitally important that there is a challenger to iOS dominance, and it does appear to have established itself as a credible OS. With these two slugging it out for market penetration it will [hopefully] keep the incumbent rivals sharp. Symbian, Microsoft and RIM have all become woefully stale - even their latest incarnations leave something to be desired.

So, power to them both Here's to an exciting 2011
 
But you're comparing it to the Nexus One, which is nearly a year older than the iPhone 4. It is roughly half the CPU throughput and 1/5th the GPU power. So, yeah, it's going to feel sluggish.

While the apps that come shipped with Android do leave a lot to be desired (such as the Messaging app, as a random example), that's the very beauty of Android - you are allowed to change and augment core-functionality, which is an explicit reason Apple cite for disallowing various apps on the app store. Thus, everything that is a bit crap that comes shipped with Android is nearly always improved upon by third-party apps, most of which are free. This gives you the freedom and choice to have your phone work the way you want it to.

With your price comparison, you're comparing old phones to new again, and vastly different release dates. In the month the iPhone 4 was released (June/July 2010), so was the Samsung Galaxy S. The Galaxy S has the same CPU as the iPhone 4, a 3x faster GPU, equal internal storage (depending on model), the ability to have an additional 32GB of external storage, and a better screen in more areas that count (contrast, visibility in sunlight, touch screen response) than the iPhone 4's retina display, and yet it was only ?439 compared to ?599 for the iPhone 4 from expansys.com at the same time. Better hardware, yet less than 3/4 the cost.

I agree that it's only really the iPhones and Android phones left in the running. They're both awesome phones. I simply cannot believe the latest BlackBerry. There was a recent video I saw where the CEO of BlackBerry was almost incoherently trying to defend why his handsets cost as much as the flagship iPhone / Android phones yet has hardware that's 2 to 3 years out of date (i.e. the screen resolution and size) and making no sense at all.

Edit: Link to said video - http://gizmodo.com/5708768/can-you-figure-out-wtf-rims-ceo-is-talking-about
 
Hate to say this but the Nexus isn't the right device to compare to an iPhone 4 which has a Samsung CPU that's a shade weaker than the Galaxy S line. A fair comparison would be a G2 or Droid X type of device with the same generation processor as the iPhone 4. There's no lag in the newer devices outside of the Galaxy S line and there's a quick fix for those.

eX beat to the puch lol, um out

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
 
I would/should add that whilst I refer to the iPhone 4 in my previous post I felt no different comparing the Nexus One to the iPhone 3GS that I had previously.

The lag that is evident in the N1 spanned Eclair and Froyo. Even the slider to unlock the screen are fiddly compared to iOS. And it is frustrating that the UI performance remains so weak.

The thing is, if it really and truly requires a user to buy a Samsung Nexus S to get anything approaching the silky smoothness of an iOS device isn't that a failing in itself. Perhaps on a year or so, when all the then current hardware is of such a class this will be a moot point. But at least for now there are very many much lesser Android devices being sold.

True, unless you run iOS and Android side by side one is unlikely to perceive the issue at all. But believe me, once you do get it, the thing bugs the hell.

Samsung
Not intending to go off topic but seeing as it was mentioned I really do not care for Samsung kit. My own experience has been one of mediocre hardware design and worse software support. Kies is a limiter for non-Windows users. And that is a bit of a detractor from the cited openness that is Android. Of course, lots can be done to work around this but I am talking about the out of the box experience that the vast majority of owners will have. We, on here, are the great exception.

Great debate
 
Until Android regulates it's market, it won't beat the iPhone.
Android's getting 3.0! To bad every new application is sexy asian strip tease girls
Android's getting 3.2.1.00098! To bad every new entertainment application is a fart app
etc.

I don't give a **** about these dual processor Androids, they're going to come underclocked, someones going to over clock them, and then we'll be able to push around all the normal junk we always do.

Cool!

Step the market up, not the phones.
 
My Droid X, the way I have it, runs circles around the Iphone 4, and most other smartphones in terms of speed. I was in a room full of iphones 4s the other day and put them to shame with the speed of my DX! (One of them even froze up! Lmao....Go figure) Even though Android wins on so many other levels, as extorian so accurately mentioned, I'll leave it at that. This is no longer a discussion that needs to be had as far as im concerned. The 5 best phones on the market are all Android. Lets talk about those! Time to take the iphone out of the discussion.
 
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