The Truth about iOS and Android: Youtube video series

[alent1234]

I had a totally opposite experience as the guy in the videos. I went from an iPhone 4 to a Motorola Atrix and switched back as soon as iPhone 4S came out. I never used widgets except the toggles for for Airplane mode or WiFi. Anyways, after tinkering with the phone trying out different ROMs and what not I decided that Android wasn't for me. I don't know how ICS holds up since I haven't used it for an extended period of time but back then I was using what was available. I liked the 4 inch screen of the Atrix but I hated the display, I could literally see pixels or whatever those red dots were on the screen.

So besides the 4 inch screen that sucked and the customization I never fully used, the only thing that was different between the iPhone 4 and the Atrix were the Apps and this is where I think iOS trashes Android. During the period I bought my Atrix there was a game that was released called Dungeon Hunters 2. It was released both on Android and iOS so I thought "cool lets go download it and use this dual core!" So I searched it up and it didn't even pop up in the Android market so I thought what ever I'll just buy it off the site and sideload it. Well it turned out the game didn't support the Atrix, WTF. I have a top of the line Android phone and Gameloft doesn't even support it? As I dug deeper I learned there were many apps that didn't support my phone and honestly it was a totally new thing for me coming from iOS. This sucked because I play a lot of games on my phone and not having games available to me turned me off from Android.

So October rolled around and I bought the iPhone 4S and sold the Atrix. I didn't customize anything, I had 3 Home Screens with nothing but toggles and app icons, the UI smoothness/animations were crap, most of the Apps I wanted weren't supported, and the phone felt like a toy because it was covered in plastic and made squeaking noises in my pocket (yes srs).

Now Android was clearly not for me but that doesn't mean it was bad. I know a lot of people who have Android phones who love them and that's great. I used a Galaxy Nexus and it was pretty good compared to the Atrix I had last year. With everything said and done both of the OS' are not perfect but for my specific needs I prefer iOS more.

went through the same with HTC INspire. thought about getting the atrix but a lot of complaints about it the day it came out

widgets were buggy and useless
customizing them to fit on the page was a waste of time
all the customization was a waste of time since i don't look at my phone in awe of the live wall paper
the google market sucks and the iOS apps are usually better
support sucked as well because it wasn't the cool phone of the day after a month
the whole set up was buggy

dumped it for a 4S and never looked back

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

lol @op posting this kinda stuff. typical. and anyone watching this video can tell it's not overly objective. he came in with an agenda already, and while he does try to demonstrate the iPhone pretty well, it's pretty obvious he's pushing for certain things like customization.

 

[zerocool84]

My 59 year old mom chose a Galaxy SII over an iPhone on Sprint. The size of the screen made it easier for her to type and see things.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I had a totally opposite experience as the guy in the videos. I went from an iPhone 4 to a Motorola Atrix and switched back as soon as iPhone 4S came out. I never used widgets except the toggles for for Airplane mode or WiFi. Anyways, after tinkering with the phone trying out different ROMs and what not I decided that Android wasn't for me. I don't know how ICS holds up since I haven't used it for an extended period of time but back then I was using what was available. I liked the 4 inch screen of the Atrix but I hated the display, I could literally see pixels or whatever those red dots were on the screen.

So besides the 4 inch screen that sucked and the customization I never fully used, the only thing that was different between the iPhone 4 and the Atrix were the Apps and this is where I think iOS trashes Android. During the period I bought my Atrix there was a game that was released called Dungeon Hunters 2. It was released both on Android and iOS so I thought "cool lets go download it and use this dual core!" So I searched it up and it didn't even pop up in the Android market so I thought what ever I'll just buy it off the site and sideload it. Well it turned out the game didn't support the Atrix, WTF. I have a top of the line Android phone and Gameloft doesn't even support it? As I dug deeper I learned there were many apps that didn't support my phone and honestly it was a totally new thing for me coming from iOS. This sucked because I play a lot of games on my phone and not having games available to me turned me off from Android.

So October rolled around and I bought the iPhone 4S and sold the Atrix. I didn't customize anything, I had 3 Home Screens with nothing but toggles and app icons, the UI smoothness/animations were crap, most of the Apps I wanted weren't supported, and the phone felt like a toy because it was covered in plastic and made squeaking noises in my pocket (yes srs).

Now Android was clearly not for me but that doesn't mean it was bad. I know a lot of people who have Android phones who love them and that's great. I used a Galaxy Nexus and it was pretty good compared to the Atrix I had last year. With everything said and done both of the OS' are not perfect but for my specific needs I prefer iOS more.

For your situation I can see it. Me I like watching movies/Netflix much more than gaming. Obviously a 5.3 inch screen is much better for that. I also need extra storage. A $10 16gb micro SD card takes care of that. The little gaming I do with my phone emulators are plenty.
I really don't depend on a app store as much as you do. Not a bad thing we just like doing different things with our phones.

 

[Bateluer]

lol @op posting this kinda stuff. typical. and anyone watching this video can tell it's not overly objective. he came in with an agenda already, and while he does try to demonstrate the iPhone pretty well, it's pretty obvious he's pushing for certain things like customization.

Doesn't mean that he's any less correct in his assertions.

I walk away from this thread for a couple hours, and I see the iFanatic fanboys have spewed their usual falsehoods. I must admit, though, when I posted these videos, I was in the mood to laugh at the BS from MrX8503 and alent1234. Really guys, the average user doesn't know what a widget is? The damn phones come stock with them set up on the home screens from the get go. And they all work perfectly fine.

 

[TuxDave]

It may be 100% for your selection of apps, but it's definitely not like that in the App Store. There's enough of them that you can't even call them exceptions (same thing with the Android market). These greedy devs need to stop trying to nickel and dime users, but I guess that has become the mobile OS way.

Well I can't really refute your accusation since between my wife and myself we have over 50 paid apps from a broad category of apps. All of them are iPad compatible. I would say you just got unlucky on a couple.

 

[alent1234]

and the idiotic reliance on gmail is what annoyed me on android as well. iOS my wife and i have the same account and share apps

 

[TuxDave]

Not common knowledge at all. I'm just a casual smartphone user. My last upgrade before my Note was a 3gs 3 years ago. All I had heard was how difficult it was to use android and it wasn't as smooth and what not. I never did any research I just believed it was true. I was wrong.
Now after 1 week with my note there is no going back.

I think Android of today is a lot better. Back when I jumped into smartphones with an iPhone 3G all my coworkers went Android crazy. They bought some decent phones back then including the HTC Incredible and Samsung Galaxy. I would say at least once a week I would see one of them remove their battery to reset it. They would complain and complain but treat it as "normal operations" or the fact that you can remove the battery to reset it as a "feature". That and they would talk about how many times it would lock up when just updating apps. I'm not making stuff up, this is what my close friends went through and told me.

So I would say back then, what you heard was probably correct. The phones had problems back then that you really had to start flashing ROMs to get them to work decently (or pray that you get upgrade to 2.2 or whatever was the up and coming Android version back then).

 

[pm]

This thread will be locked by the end of the day.

I'm watching it. So far, so good.

If it goes downhill, I'll lock and will go back and infract whomever sent it off the rails.

Moderator PM

 

[TheStu]

I am keeping an eye on it as well.

In addition to keeping things under control, if we could cease with drive by comments, particularly those that call out specific members. I can't speak for PM, but I am pretty close to infracting members for posting things like 'can't wait to see what the iFans/Phandroids think of this'. That is just inciting things.

Moderator TheStu

 

[Dulanic]

and the idiotic reliance on gmail is what annoyed me on android as well. iOS my wife and i have the same account and share apps

And having a apple/itunes requirement is different how? My tablet and my phone share my Google account and my wife has it added too for market purposes only.

 

[alent1234]

My wife and I dOnt share gmail accounts

The email for iTunes is just for username purposes. For android you have to make up a dummy email account to share apps.

And yahoo push email is not broke or gimped on ios like android

 

[MrX8503]

Just watched the video.

What is polish?

According to the video, the user thinks it's customization and functionality. If that's the case, Windows Mobile 6.5 was the most polished mobile OS ever. Android does have more customization/functionality than iOS, I never knew that was even being questioned.

Polish is the superior balance of aesthetics, functionality, and performance. iOS looks better than Android, even ICS. iOS uses a lot of trends seen being used on the web such as pixel beveling, inset text, and textures to add depth. On Android....everything's flat, which is fine, but WP7 does it better with its panoramic style apps.

Functionality, Android wins here simply with widgets and what not. I wish iOS has that too, but I know that not any one OS will have everything I want. This is a sacrifice I give up when I use iOS. Aside from widgets, I'm happy with iOS's capability for regular everyday tasks.

Performance, This is something Android has a hard time with and after seeing that video, I'm not sure if ICS has fixed all of its issues. Whatever algorithm Apple is using for their physics, its superior to Android. I'm not saying iOS is like this, but think of Minority Report, we need to shoot for ultra responsive UIs moving forward. When you use a UI, it should feel like it obeys the laws of physics, just as a ball would when you bounce it.

Some of my disagreements/agreements with the video are...

-If you use Safari, it'll let you find directions. He was using Dolphin. Android nav is better though.
-Copy and paste is better on iOS, but he didn't show that.
-You can use the home button to search, not as quick, but you're not required to keep swiping.
-Back button is consistent across apps, except Safari because a back button up top would take up space away from the address bar. By the same token, iOS apps always have their contextual menus visible, on Android you have to press a button.
-Multitasking on Android is better, but it also uses battery life and has memory leaks. Not sure if this is fixed in ICS. I understand you win some you lose some.
-ICS tablet is better because it fits more icons? lol, Android tablets still has a long way to go
-It is easier to add ringtones on Android but its not hard on iOS. You can use an app or rename your file to .m4r via iTunes, then sync.
-Safari browser desktop syncs with Safari iOS

Customization is a strength of Android, I'm just not sure if "customization" alone is what makes an OS "polished". I would have to disagree with the youtuber here on what polish is. In the end polish alone doesn't make a better OS anyway, just a better OS for those that want polish.

 

[Zaap]

the guy is an idiot, normal people do the same things with the iphone in half the time it takes him

O'rily?

So let's go through some of them, because I've long been curious how iOS could do some things better.

So how then do I set iOS to use my choice of browser by default from email links?

How do I get iOS to list a choice of apps to open an address from the web? (like a GPS app or Google Earth, etc.)

Can I make all iOS apps keep downloading in the background if I switch to do something else?

Can I directly assign any mp3 as a ringtone directly on the iOS device?

How do I get iOS to pop up a list of any applications I choose to share any website?

Why is dropbox soooooooooooo useless on iOS?

So how do I play game emulators on iOS with my bluetooth controller again?

So I can send any website, or physical address directly to my iPhone from my desktop?

Since normal users are doing all these with iPhones- and in half the time even!- I'd love a tutorial.

 

[Dulanic]

My wife and I dOnt share gmail accounts

The email for iTunes is just for username purposes. For android you have to make up a dummy email account to share apps.

And yahoo push email is not broke or gimped on ios like android

This is quite the pointless argument considering it takes like 2 minutes to do.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The argument that iOS is better looking than Android is purely subjective. I personally think iOS falls somewhere between bland and dated on the aesthetics scale while ICS is very appealing and modern.

and the idiotic reliance on gmail is what annoyed me on android as well. iOS my wife and i have the same account and share apps

The reliance on Gmail makes perfect sense, most people already have a Gmail account so they can just sign in a single time and all of their stuff is already set up on the phone. On iOS they would have to create a Apple ID (the average user doesn't like having another password to keep track of) and then they would have to set up Gmail on the iPhone and sign into that as well.

Since you don't have time to set up widgets I would assume adding a second account would be something that you want to avoid.

 

[TuxDave]

O'rily?

So let's go through some of them, because I've long been curious how iOS could do some things better.

So how then do I set iOS to use my choice of browser by default from email links?

How do I get iOS to list a choice of apps to open an address from the web? (like a GPS app or Google Earth, etc.

The average joe uses the default web browser and doesn't go through the headaches the video maker did when trying to get everything to work well with Dolphin. Excuse me for skipping the rest of the points since I'm still finishing the rest of the video.

 

[shortylickens]

The argument that iOS is better looking than Android is purely subjective. I personally think iOS falls somewhere between bland and dated on the aesthetics scale while ICS is very appealing and modern.



The reliance on Gmail makes perfect sense, most people already have a Gmail account so they can just sign in a single time and all of their stuff is already set up on the phone. On iOS they would have to create a Apple ID (the average user doesn't like having another password to keep track of) and then they would have to set up Gmail on the iPhone and sign into that as well.

Since you don't have time to set up widgets I would assume adding a second account would be something that you want to avoid.

For a lot of basic stuff I use the same password to keep it simple (different names of course).
I didnt mind setting up an Apple account so much as the fact I could not access the glorious app store without inputting a credit card. That sucks if you just wanna look around and are starting in the ios universe.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

For a lot of basic stuff I use the same password to keep it simple (different names of course).
I didnt mind setting up an Apple account so much as the fact I could not access the glorious app store without inputting a credit card. That sucks if you just wanna look around and are starting in the ios universe.

Yeah, that is a pain.

 

[Chocu1a]

It is all about preferences. Android users can preach all day long about why they like Android. iOS users will do the same. I think it is pointless to try and sway one from the other. As long as the phone you use does what you need, like or enjoy the os you want.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[alent1234]

The argument that iOS is better looking than Android is purely subjective. I personally think iOS falls somewhere between bland and dated on the aesthetics scale while ICS is very appealing and modern.



The reliance on Gmail makes perfect sense, most people already have a Gmail account so they can just sign in a single time and all of their stuff is already set up on the phone. On iOS they would have to create a Apple ID (the average user doesn't like having another password to keep track of) and then they would have to set up Gmail on the iPhone and sign into that as well.

Since you don't have time to set up widgets I would assume adding a second account would be something that you want to avoid.

out of all the parents on my son's little league team i'm the only one with a gmail account. i see a lot of people who use hotmail, ISP email and other services. even aol.

 

[Blueychan]

OP is reaching...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

out of all the parents on my son's little league team i'm the only one with a gmail account. i see a lot of people who use hotmail, ISP email and other services. even aol.

Odd, I literally do not know a single person who does not have a gmail account.

 

[akugami]

For a lot of basic stuff I use the same password to keep it simple (different names of course).
I didnt mind setting up an Apple account so much as the fact I could not access the glorious app store without inputting a credit card. That sucks if you just wanna look around and are starting in the ios universe.

Just a quick note, you can create an Apple account with no credit card.



As for the video...first and last sentence seems to be customization. Which is fine. Like the video said, different people prefer different things. There's no wrong when it comes to opinions.

With that said, there is always going to be some level of Apple lock-in and that can be a positive at times with some integrated features like SIRI or a negative like Safari (or something based on Webkit) being the only browser. It's to be expected at this point and it's not like Apple is the only one that does this. You think Google defaulting to Gmail, Gmaps and Google search is by accident? How about Microsoft?

Gmaps is definitely a plus vs iOS until Apple fully integrates better GPS and maps function from the companies Apple has purchased over the last two years.

I like how he talks about how easy stuff like Youtube is to use and how little steps is required...all while madly scrolling through a bunch of pages. Which is funny because he talks about how cluttered iOS is or can be.

And he has to swipe all the way to the left to search? What happened to double tapping the Home button?

He talks about inconsistencies in iOS apps. Having tested some apps, I find much more variation and inconsistencies and downright head-scratchers in Android. And yes, everything he said about iOS apps are present on Android apps.

My 3 year old was easily navigating my iPad at the age of 2. Yes, every app may have some inconsistencies. It's called UI design. Every app will do things differently because of different requirements. The question is, is it easy to figure out?

Keep in mind I haven't used ICS yet so sticking to older versions of Android, there were settings in the Android Settings that I didn't know about because you somehow were suppose to know that you have to hit the Menu button to access these "hidden" settings. Some screens have these "hidden" settings. Some don't. This is intuitive? This is stuff that drives me nuts when I am trying to access configuration settings.

Multi-tasking is definitely a case where Android will excel compared to iOS. This can be a blessing and a curse. And he's also repeating something that has been known for over a year.

 

[MrX8503]

out of all the parents on my son's little league team i'm the only one with a gmail account. i see a lot of people who use hotmail, ISP email and other services. even aol.

Reminds me of this comic, lol.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address

The argument that iOS is better looking than Android is purely subjective. I personally think iOS falls somewhere between bland and dated on the aesthetics scale while ICS is very appealing and modern.

Its true that looks are subjective, but I believe most graphic designers would say iOS looks better. A small example would be iOS's folder expansion. The interior of the folder has a fine linen texture, thats pretty damn sexy design IMO. How it functions and animates is slick too.