Androids vs iOS: Why I Think The Debate Between Them Is Stupid

[Kouen Hasuki]

Now I've been watching these heated debates ever since the android vs iPhone war hit the marketplace and the amount of fanboys ready to jump on there sword for there team and I have got to say that I have been finding it incredibly stupid.

Both sides are guilty of it really but nether sides fanboys can shut up and realise both platforms have there pro's and con's, I've heard the Apple fanboys go on about there retena displays and gesture unlocking and the Android fanboys go on about the emulation and openess of the platform... but really come on its not that big of a deal

to me here is a lists of the pro's and cons of both sides

Apple:

Pro

• Smoother Interface
• Normally leads the industry into new ways to do things
• Internal large storage
• Apps and Games are made for a small line of hardware and as such normally run better than android versions on lower speced iOS devices
• Nice Displays and Fairly Rugged

Cons

• More expensive than android offerings of equal or greater specs
• Officially closed platform with a lot of loops to jump through to get an app released
• Apple Fanboys
• Normally behind the curve in technical specs shortly after release
• Cant change your own battery (Normally not including self servicing)

Android:

Pros

• Open Platform
• Google backing
• Large line-up of phones to chose from suiting almost any budget
• Large amount of apps and games
• External Storage

Cons

• Interface is more sluggish compared to a same spec iOS device due to inefficient core framework (Android was originally never made for touchscreen it was added when apple announced there iPhone so that google could compete but did not go back to the core framework to optimise it, and cannot now since doing that would mean every app would have to be re-written)
• Higher Hardware Failure Rate (Although Could be due to more handsets being out there making the numbers look worse)
• Games and Apps perform perform worse on the platform due to being made for a much wider array of hardware (Recent Example Here!)
• More than one company to complain to due to faults especially if you are not sure if its hardware or software related
• Constant updates leaving devices that are sometimes only a year old out of date

Me personally I don't love or hate ether platform, my girlfriend has an Android and I have an iPhone we have tried and messed with each others phones and prefer the platforms we are on.

Thats what it comes down to, Personal preference!

You may also note I did not mention unofficial software and roms such as Jailbreaking or Rooting or any such things as even they have there pro's and cons and I wanted to focus on the official side of things.

Reply with your own thoughts if you like

[Mohit]

I phone is looking better
But no money

[MaslowK]

I think the whole idea of having a phone as a "tries-to-do-everything" device is ridiculous in itself. It's almost like nowadays a cell phones function as a phone is completely overshadowed by how many games or apps it can run, which of course lead to these heated debates over who's phone is liek totally teh snazziest.

I'll stick with my modern flip phone tyvm.

[Dr. Ivo Robotnik]

To be honest, this is why I'm so happy with the phone you sent me, Kouen. It calls, and if I really want to, it can also text-message.

Still, nice to know that you've managed to repair, tune, and all the other technical terms to those phones.

[Slacker Magician]

To be honest, this is why I'm so happy with the phone you sent me, Kouen. It calls, and if I really want to, it can also text-message.

Still, nice to know that you've managed to repair, tune, and all the other technical terms to those phones.

That's not what phones are for!1!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!

[Sheras]

I think the whole idea of having a phone as a "tries-to-do-everything" device is ridiculous in itself. It's almost like nowadays a cell phones function as a phone is completely overshadowed by how many games or apps it can run, which of course lead to these heated debates over who's phone is liek totally teh snazziest.

I'll stick with my modern flip phone tyvm.

I have had the same phone for almost 2 1/2 years now, no desire to upgrade, it works perfectly, never had a problem with it. I do take good care of my phone, proof my brother had the exact same phone as me, and his crapped out on him (he dropped it one too many times and since its a slide out keyboard, that snapped off and some other stuff) bright side of that is now I have a spare battery for my phone. But everyone keeps asking me "Why havent you gotten a new phone?" I'm just like, A) I don't want to spend the money, B) My phone works just fine, C) I never use my phone for all the crap they do now anyways, I barely use my iPod Touch for anything other than music, and use my Kindle Fire now and then, never now since my college WiFi doesnt support tablets yet!

To get back to the Android vs Apple debate, I just can't stand the Apple Fanboys saying their product is so much better than everything else. No its not, *points to reasons Kouen just stated*, specs are not usually good for very long, way more expensive than android devices, and very little variety. My friend on facebook once posted a picture (a couple years ago) of why not to buy a Mac Pro (desktop). It was epic. That post lit up with people yelling at him for it, was WONDERFUL.

[Sprung]

I have had both, and I like both. Right now I have an iPhone, but not because it's better than Android...it's just what I have right now.

As far as being a 'do everything' device, I like that. I use my phone for pretty much everything I use a PC for. I use Quick Office to track work related info I must keep up to date. I use Tapatalk to get on EP while I am away from home. MSN, Facebook Chat, etc. The interesting part of all this is the fact that I used all the same apps on my Android phone. Nothing different. Hacked them both, nothing much different there.

My next phone could just as easily be an Android as it could be another iPhone.

[MasJ]

Any debate between fanboys is stupid, they seldom will see or acknowledge each others points. Both iOS and Android have their pros and cons and it works out great for users because we get to have MOAR choice!

[Fruitalicious]

You also have to consider developing apps between the two.
here's a great article if you're interested:
http://java.dzone.com/articles/andro...ne-development

edit 1: it's a little dated (2009-ish) but it provides excellent examples comparing the two

[Necrovarium]

As long as a phone dials, I don't give a shit. The games on these markets are too lacking in quality for me to want to really use that as an argument at all.

[GunSlinger Boy]

Android for all the emulators

[Svardskampe]

I'm not entirely agreed with some of your points;

- iDevices are NOT rugged at all. They break very easely and frankly, I've never seen a 3 months old+ iphone 4 or 4s without any cracks in the screen.
- Since Jelly Bean, there's been the ongoing project of Project Butter which makes android devices seem really smooth as well.
- All of the Android cons are being immediately taken care of if you have a nexus' line device. Galaxy Nexus and nexus 7 respectively for phones and tablets.
- Custom roms are also a solution to your answer of unsupported devices. My Galaxy S is running the latest android available right now (4.1.2) and even a device as old as my girlfriends HTC wildfure (buzz in some countries) still has a 4.0.4 rom waiting to get updated to. That device is as old as the original iphone 3G, and the iphone 3G don't get updates anymore either :/
And really, don't go into shitpanting about reflashing your phone. It doesn't require anything like opening the device or something, and you seem to be fairly above average intelligence so it's doable for you.

What are really plusses of the iProducts is better support from game developers because they get better money for that platform. There are as much as 4x as much games for iDevices as for Android, but don't stare blind on that as there are really crappy ones as well. Also, the iPhone looks really neat. Need to give credits to that.

But hey, I don't see you playing Final Fantasy VII with a PS3 controller on anything else than an android device

[KajDarkwind]

I've had a budget LG Optimus One running custom Android 2.3.4 (CyanogenMod) for about a year and a half now. I couldn't be much happier with it. I'm a huge fan of retro-games and its perfect for emulating NES, SNES, etc. I haven't used an iPhone enough to really have much of an opinion about it, but a friend of mine has one and it seems pretty nice. Seems to me arguing about which is better is a waste of time. Its like arguing about playstation being better than xbox or vice versa; its simply a matter of preference and what you want the device to do.

[Jackhammer]

[Varun Highwind]