Some thoughts on iOS vs Android

[novice_x]

I owned a 3GS for about a year and decided to switch to a Droid X mostly to get on a family plan and save about 50 bux a month. Now I am far from a techie. I read lots of tech blogs and am a pretty good user of gadgets, but dont know a lot about the nitty gritty of programming etc. Having said that, I truly do think I am the perfect iOS user. To me, while AT&T 3G coverage was pretty good in town ( Springfield, Mo) the second you left the city limits in any direction you lost it. But while in town the coverage was good and the OS was PERFECT! I use to be a Palm Treo 650 user. Anyone who owned one of those phones new it had to be reset avery ten minutes and was generally a pain. What I loved about my iPhone is how, to use their slogan, it just worked. i think the entire time I owned it, I might have shut it off three times, just to see if I could get better signal. I was spoiled! In fact, anytime I ever had a problem with the phone was when I would jailbreak it and would usually restore it to factory OS to get back to how silky smooth everything worked. I have been a Droid X owner for a few months now and really the biggest plus is the screen. I love the size of it, it just seems easier on the eyes. Other then that I've had problem after problem. I quickly realized I was back to using a phone that like to be restarted daily. On top of that minor inconveniance, android is ANYTHING but silky smooth. It has a monster processor, lotsa ram, but I never find myself saying how fast it is. It can be very slow to rotate from landscape to portrait, sometimes showing a landscape view in portrait mode for a few seconds before it corrects itself. I have had numerous issues with playing music on the phone. It was easy to load the tracks onto the memory card but every few days it will skip on tracks that havent previously skipped, and one day even told me the entire music library was the wrong file format. I think the camera kinda sucks, its terribly slow to open (again, not seeing the speed here) and for me atleast, the most convenient feature of the camera on my 3GS was the ability to take pics of business cards, or other notes. Luckily on the Droid X camera it blurs text out, and I have to manually input info. And as I write this I have been listening to music ( after resetting just so it will play) and taking a couple of phone calls. The first two calls it switched seamlessly from call mode back to playing music, the third call however has stopped the music playing and when I turn the screen on to get it to play again NOTHING HAPPENS. The hard buttons on the bottom light up, and so does the screen but it stays black. Back again to taking the battery out and starting over.`I guess what im trying to say is, I miss iOS. I miss being under the wing of Allah Jobs. I know the advantages to Android, I think mobile flash is cool but it comes down to this. Iphones might have crappy reception, but they work damn near all the time. You can do a lot more with Android, BUT, be ready to deal with daily screw ups, and be ready to reset ALL THE TIME

 

[A.Nonymous]

I've got an Android phone and I don't reboot every day just to make it work. Not sure what you're doing. Mine works fine without rebooting.

 

[grainysand]

I owned a 3GS for about a year and decided to switch to a Droid X mostly to get on a family plan and save about 50 bux a month. Now I am far from a techie. I read lots of tech blogs and am a pretty good user of gadgets, but dont know a lot about the nitty gritty of programming etc. Having said that, I truly do think I am the perfect iOS user.

Most iOS/Apple users are technologically illiterate, yes.

I quickly realized I was back to using a phone that like to be restarted daily.

The only time my phone crashes/needs to be rebooted (instead of me voluntarily powering it down) is when I install fun experimental ROMs/kernels. Doubt you were doing that, so... stop using that task killer, dude.

It was easy to load the tracks onto the memory card but every few days it will skip on tracks that havent previously skipped, and one day even told me the entire music library was the wrong file format.

Doesn't happen to me. Haven't heard of it happening to anyone else either, and I frequent both this forum and xda developers a lot.

I think the camera kinda sucks, its terribly slow to open (again, not seeing the speed here)

See above. Basically everything you've listed I've never had happen to me, or to other Android users. And that's from having interacted with people who flash new ROMs every other week.

I guess what im trying to say is, I miss iOS. I miss being under the wing of Allah Jobs. I know the advantages to Android, I think mobile flash is cool but it comes down to this. Iphones might have crappy reception, but they work damn near all the time. You can do a lot more with Android, BUT, be ready to deal with daily screw ups, and be ready to reset ALL THE TIME

Sounds like user error.

 

[novice_x]

Thank you grainysand for proving my theory that unless you are a full blown programmer (or a prick) android is not for you!

 

[A.Nonymous]

Most iOS/Apple users are technologically illiterate, yes.

I'm sorry, but this has never ever been proven even though people say it over and over again. Ad hominem attack much?

See above. Basically everything you've listed I've never had happen to me, or to other Android users. And that's from having interacted with people who flash new ROMs every other week.

Most of the issues the OP posted I've seen other people complain about. I've never experienced them myself, but that doesn't mean that no one ever has.

 

[bbrosen]

Thank you grainysand for proving my theory that unless you are a full blown programmer (or a prick) android is not for you![/

Coming from iPhone myself, I have experienced all these problems. And for the record,
I have found android fanboys waaaaay more arrogant than Apple users.

A lot of people have had and still do have theses issues, they are widespread.
It's is closed, true. All apple stuff is. It makes for smooth seamless operability and interoperability. Why should one have to fiddle and tweak to work, or worse yet, a degree in computer science? I'm in the tech field myself. I just want my phone to work, without lag, quirks, force closes, or tweaking.I do not like worrying about how many apps I have due to memory issues, or trying yo get the phone to respond to touch inputs.

There are far more people with these issues than without. Android is open, a modular system If you will, there is bound to be memory Issues, compatibility issues, and clunkiness because there are no tight seamless controls. Hard to have it both ways. With open source you lose done things but gain others, and vice versa with closed .

 

[grainysand]

Thank you grainysand for proving my theory that unless you are a full blown programmer (or a prick) android is not for you!

Absolutely, you need to fool around with command lines just to get an app to launch. Oh wait. And you have to, like, dig into the kernel just to toggle settings on and off... hmm, nope. So I guess you'd have to be pretty technophobic or out-and-out dense.

 

[lunatic59]

****Runs into the principle's office and points to the playground****

THOSE BOYS AREN'T PLAYING NICE!

 

[A.Nonymous]

Coming from iPhone myself, I have experienced all these problems. And for the record,
I have found android fanboys waaaaay more arrogant than Apple users.

A lot of people have had and still do have theses issues, they are widespread.
It's is closed, true. All apple stuff is. It makes for smooth seamless operability and interoperability. Why should one have to fiddle and tweak to work, or worse yet, a degree in computer science? I'm in the tech field myself. I just want my phone to work, without lag, quirks, force closes, or tweaking.I do not like worrying about how many apps I have due to memory issues, or trying yo get the phone to respond to touch inputs.

There are far more people with these issues than without. Android is open, a modular system If you will, there is bound to be memory Issues, compatibility issues, and clunkiness because there are no tight seamless controls. Hard to have it both ways. With open source you lose done things but gain others, and vice versa with closed .

I don't think you have to fiddle and tweak settings in an Android phone to make it work. I work with two girls who have Android phones (D2 and DX) and love them. Neither of them are computer savvy at all. I showed them a custom boot screen I put on my phone long before I rooted it. Neither of them have any idea how to do that with adb shell nor are they inclined to. They're not tech savvy. They both ask me sometimes how to do XYZ with their phones yet both love their phones.

I'm a power user. I have a rooted phone and I flash ROMS stable and otherwise. The thing with iOS is you can't do this. Even on a jailbroken iPhone you're still locked in to the same basic experience. It's all about what experience you want. Personally I think stock iOS is more user friendly than stock Android, but not by much. You can figure out how to use Android and you don't have to have a doctorate to do so. It's not that hard. But you have none of the customizability in iOS that you do in Android. Stock Android is far, far more customizable than stock iOS.

 

[PureLoneWolf]

There are far more people with these issues than without. Android is open, a modular system If you will, there is bound to be memory Issues, compatibility issues, and clunkiness because there are no tight seamless controls. Hard to have it both ways. With open source you lose done things but gain others, and vice versa with closed .

I am inclined to say that people with issues are more vocal with Android..because of the open nature of it. I have a number of friends with iPhones and they all complain about various facets of the phones operation or annoying glitches. They don't go to forums to complain about them, generally, because a quick chat with other iPhone users confirms that the issue exists for them all (unless it is down to a single app). And, for me, that's the thing...most iPhone users I know are more accepting of the faults and limitations because they recognise that their only option is to wait for Apple to decide the issue is big enough to be resolved in a new software release.

Android users tend to visit forums because someone out there might be able to fix it.

To give an example, I bought 2 android phones recently...one for me and one for my girlfriend. I have continuously messed around with it since day one..rooting, custom roms..different apps etc etc I have had a couple of issues, but in the main I have had an inherently geeky type of fun with it. I do come from a background of 20 years in the IT Support arena...so this is not unusual.

My girlfriend, on the other hand, has unboxed hers..setup the background and widgets she wanted to see, installed some games and apps, set the ringtone and notifications and left it well alone. A month down the road and she has never restarted the phone from that initial charge nor has she had a single issue with it. She comes from a background of absolutely no technical know-how beyond basic computer use.

Her friend came round to show off her new iPhone the other day and after 10 minutes her friend was trying to figure out where the widgets were on the iPhone.

Each to their own and as always YMMV, but the moral of this ramble is this:

If you are having a bad time with Android...don't take it out on the platform. Unfortunately, if you are having a bad time with an iPhone (and yes, contrary to popular belief, people do)...well, it pretty much is the platform.

Oh, and for the record...I am neither a full blown programmer (is that a Euphemism btw ) nor am I a prick..very often..well, rarely...ok sometimes.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Hmm I have iPod Touch, iPhone 2G, iPhone 3GS. This thread is full of crap.

I've got iPhone owners drooling at my Android phones and chomping at the bits to upgrade to Android when the time comes.

I smell Troll.

 

[Intervenient]

It's been widely documented that if you buy an iPhone you're getting the work done for you. If you're buying an Android phone, prepare to invest some time in tinkering and making the UI not look like a beta project. It's just how things are with the system.

My biggest problem with Android is not the sloppy UI, nor the lack of polished apps, etc etc. It's how updates are rolled out that turns me away from the OS. The fact that Samsung promised fixes in August for bugs for the Captivate, and nothing has been done. Froyo was promised in middle of September and still nothing. HTC recently said they wouldn't develop any more updates to a phone they released just last year. Phone manufacturers just have a new phone to see every 5 months.

I'm really hoping Gingerbread fixes things like that. The closed nature of iOS does take away some things I'd like to do with my iPhone, but I'd rather have the security of updates and polish for now.

Thank you grainysand for proving my theory that unless you are a full blown programmer (or a prick) android is not for you!

No, grainysand is an ignorant fanboy. Big difference. If he doesn't like something, that means it's complete crap. He's like IOWA on steroids.

 

[No_u]

Come on, every time you ask an iPhone user why the iPhone is better they say well because it's made by Apple.

You can call us tech geeks for knowing what we buy but seriously lol

 

[Intervenient]

Come on, every time you ask an iPhone user why the iPhone is better they say well because it's made by Apple.

You can call us tech geeks for knowing what we buy but seriously lol

Every time? I thought we were past 4th grade generalizations?

 

[Impulser]

Android is way better than the iOS.

Android is open source is lets the developer release updates faster than iOS.
Android lets the developers be more creative than the iOS.
Android Market is much better than the App Store because Google doesn't remove apps because they don't like the developer like Apple tends to do.
Android is way easier to develop apps for because you don't need to buy a licence to develop apps nor own a Macintosh computer.

I just find Android as a more stable and easier to use OS than the iOS.

Open source always beats closed source in my opinion.

 

[Intervenient]

Android is open source is lets the developer release updates faster than iOS.

How?

Android lets the developers be more creative than the iOS.

Debatable. I've seen the same creativity come out of iOS apps as Android apps.

Android Market is much better than the App Store because Google doesn't remove apps because they don't like the developer like Apple tends to do.

Which apps has Apple removed because they don't like the developer? Link please

Android is way easier to develop apps for because you don't need to buy a licence to develop apps nor own a Macintosh computer.

Good point, but on the flip side, that means even crappy developers can create crappy apps and muck up the Marketplace.

I just find Android as a more stable and easier to use OS than the iOS.

I think even the most hardcore Android fanboys would disagree with this. Android is noted for it's more technical aspects and fine tuning.

 

[lunatic59]

Every time? I thought we were past 4th grade generalizations?

I guess not. Se

 

[Intervenient]

I guess not. Se

 

[A.Nonymous]

I never said "hurr deh hurr Android is teh failz and all u gaiz r nerdy fanboiz", I said that Android generally needs to have some adjustments to make it work. Ask anyone uses Android, they'll say they run their own custom ROM to make it work as they would like it to. So a clever, but a horrible comparison.

There are three people in my office who use Android phones. Two of them don't run custom ROMs and are perfectly happy with their phones. I'm the guy running the custom ROM, but I'm not doing it to "make it work like it should". I'm doing it because I'm nerdy enough to want to run it just because. The huge, vast majority of Android users are not running custom ROMs.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Android is way better than the iOS.

Android is open source is lets the developer release updates faster than iOS.

How so?

Android lets the developers be more creative than the iOS.

Not sure what you mean by this. Can you clarify where someone wanted to be creative on iOS but couldn't?

Android Market is much better than the App Store because Google doesn't remove apps because they don't like the developer like Apple tends to do.

When has this happened? Source please?

Android is way easier to develop apps for because you don't need to buy a licence to develop apps nor own a Macintosh computer.

You don't pay for the SDK on Android, but you do have to pay to submit your app.

I just find Android as a more stable and easier to use OS than the iOS.

An opinion. Lots of people would disagree with you.

Open source always beats closed source in my opinion.

Windows is closed source. Linux is open source. Which one is more widely used on servers, desktops, laptops, netbooks etc......?

 

[Intervenient]

There are three people in my office who use Android phones. Two of them don't run custom ROMs and are perfectly happy with their phones. I'm the guy running the custom ROM, but I'm not doing it to "make it work like it should". I'm doing it because I'm nerdy enough to want to run it just because. The huge, vast majority of Android users are not running custom ROMs.

Again, however true this might be, this does not validate the initial comparison. He was comparing all iPhone users to tools who know nothing about technology, and I said that the people who are unhappy with their Android phones, generally have to fine tune them. Of course there are some people who are completely happy with their phones out of the box, but I know many Android owners who feel it's just not there yet. I'm not stupid enough to say ALL Android owners are unsatisfied.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Again, however true this might be, this does not validate the initial comparison. He was comparing all iPhone users to tools who know nothing about technology, and I said that the people who are unhappy with their Android phones, generally have to fine tune them. Of course there are some people who are completely happy with their phones out of the box, but I know many Android owners who feel it's just not there yet. I'm not stupid enough to say ALL Android owners are unsatisfied.

There, I think, is the difference between iOS and Android. If I hate the stock mail app, there are half a dozen others I can download off the market that I may like better. One of the girls in the office who has an Android phone hated the stock messaging app. I pointed her to handcent. She likes it. Other people may not like Handcent and may prefer something else. I didn't care of the stock email app. I downloaded Touchdown which I like. The thing with Android is if I don't like something I can tweak it. You can't do this with iOS at least not to the same extent.

Apple has one experience they want to give everyone and they lock you into it. Admittedly it's not a bad experience overall, but you can't change it all that much even if you jailbreak the phone. You're locked in to that one experience. Some people don't mind this and that's fine. It's all about user preference.

 

[PureLoneWolf]

When has this happened? Source please?

In fairness..I have never seen anything about not liking developers..but they do have a habit of arbitrarily removing apps...

Windows is closed source. Linux is open source. Which one is more widely used on servers, desktops, laptops, netbooks etc......?

Widely used is not the same as good either...Internet Explorer only just dropped below 50% browser share....the desktop experience wasn't up to scratch for *nix variants until the last couple of years... and so on.

The key is choice...it's yours, personal preference and all that. If it works for you, great, if it doesn't...find something else

Simple really

 

[gallandof]

Both os's are great both a easy to use, IOS has more polish, Android OS has more cutomisability.


and to those who think android isnt easy to use. My grandfather is 63 yrs old doesnt know how to turn on the computer, can only change channels on the tv etc. Last night he grabbed my phone to try and use it. Not only was he able to unlock it, he was able to get online, take a picture and video as well as call people. I didnt help him at all. To me that makes it pretty easy to use.

Obviously if you've used one OS before the other your going to find it easier.

 

[tylerdurdin]

Android is way better than the iOS.

Android is open source is lets the developer release updates faster than iOS.
Android lets the developers be more creative than the iOS.
Android Market is much better than the App Store because Google doesn't remove apps because they don't like the developer like Apple tends to do.
Android is way easier to develop apps for because you don't need to buy a licence to develop apps nor own a Macintosh computer.

I just find Android as a more stable and easier to use OS than the iOS.

Open source always beats closed source in my opinion.

You are not serious are you. I love Android. To me it lacks nothing and I do not find the issues that most iOS users do but having said that. Operating systems that are built for SPECIFIC hardware will always run better than a OS that can be tweaked to run in any box. There are exceptions and I am not saying that android is the lesser but c'mon Apple has developed a phone that is a pretty damn good piece of equipment, IMO it has one of the most SOLID feeling screens of any PHONE period. the functon of the phone is undeniable, Fast,easy to use. Zero lag time is pretty impressive, i try to put a hurtin on my wifes Ipiece all the time its pretty hard to slow down. i dont own one because to me it lacks a "PERSONALITY" and I prefer devices I can hack and Make MINE. To me the worst thing about the iphone is the fact that if you use 1, you have used EVERY one. That and Steve Jobs is a douche.