Android VS Apple

[grebgonebad]

Hi!

Before I start, please note that I do refer to IOS as Apple throughout. This is due to the fact that this is what most people will probably recognise. I do know that IOS is the correct term. =P

I have been reading lots of reviews recently, mainly for the latest Nexus devices, as I am slowly being turned into a ‘vanilla’ Android fan. I say this because ever since I got my S3 I have been dependant on Touchwiz, but I am beginning to see the sense in a purely stock experience, and after purchasing my first Nexus device, the Nexus 7, I can’t say that I miss Touchwiz all that much. =) But while reading all these reviews, I have noticed an unfortunate and downright appalling pattern occurring.

I’m here because I have been seeing far too many arguments and spats between Android and Apple fans. It is understandable for two groups to have opposing opinions, but I think it’s plain silly that people have to sink so low as to verbally abuse each other.

And so, I am here to try and create a nice, friendly thread in which any member can contribute his or her own views, without having to worry about the abuse that normally follows. So by all means, please post your own thoughts and arguments on the matter of Android vs Apple, but do so in a considerate and non-violent manner. Thank you! Also, feel free to cast your vote above!

Personally I prefer Android. With it’s quirky mannerisms and seemingly endless customisation options, Android offers the perfect experience for me as I like to tailor everything I own to my own tastes. Apple just don’t seem to offer the same amount of customisation, and I also dislike the fact that you can only have your apps on your homescreen or in folders on your homescreen. Others may prefer this, but I personally do not.

Here is a list of what I believe to be the advantages and disadvantages of Android in relation to Apple.

Android

Advantages:

More customisation options
App drawer
More models of phone available for a range of prices and needs
Open source
Quirky (Easter eggs and such)
Widgets

Dis-advantages:

A little harder to get used to than Apple
Apps are not as well optimised
Compatibility can be an issue due to the number of devices
Not as many apps as Apple (Yet =P)
Not every device is made from ‘premium’ materials
UI is perhaps not as clean or polished as Apple
Web browsing and panning/zooming is still a little jittery

I know that there are plenty that would disagree with what I have written, but these are my own opinion only and are not intended to represent the wider community. I have tried to be as unbiased as possible, but I am a self confessed Android fan. I do appreciate both sides of the argument however. =)

So, feel free to share your own views, whether you are an Apple basher or an Android geek! And I shall end with a joke (If you’ve seen Wall-E you know what I’m on about, if you’ve never seen it, GO SEE IT! NOW!)

Wall-E is 800 years old but can always find replacement parts due to accessible covers. Eve is state of the art, but no replacement parts exist due to the enclosed design and can be shut down remotely.

All jokes aside, both Android and Apple have their strong and weak points, and neither one is better than the other. Price cannot really come into it, as I would think that If manufacturers were allowed to put IOS onto their own devices, there would be smartphones and tablets coming out that are just as cheap as the android equivalents.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"Price cannot really come into it, as I would think that If manufacturers were allowed to put IOS onto their own devices, there would be smartphones and tablets coming out that are just as cheap as the android equivalents"

But that's a big IF. It's never going to happen, so price does come into it. Apple devices are just too expensive - why? Because there is no competition. If you want iOS it's Apple or nothing. No thanks.

 

[grebgonebad]

I was talking purely based on theory. I know that in reality it will probably never happen. Apple and Android's rivalry is too intense for that I think, not to mention the fact that IOS is built to run on different hardware. =/

As far as saying Apple devices are too expensive goes, a few years ago you would have been absolutely right! But now the other giants such as Samsung and LG are selling thier flagship devices for about the same price as an Iphone anyway. Not that I'm stucking up for Apple here, I am a self confessed Android fanboy, but I think it's only fair to point this out. =) So I still don't think price comes too much into it. But arguably, with the new Nexus devices out from Asus and LG being so cheap the argument could be made that you can get near Iphone 5S performance for half the price. It's all just swings and roundabouts.

I personally wouldnt touch IOS with a barge pole, it doesnt have the same level of customisation as Android, and I couldnt live without my widgets! XD

 

[ssddx]

iphone customers tend to foam at the mouth anytime a new product comes out while android customers tend to approach new products with an eye looking for flaws before they get excited.

iphone customers want something easy that doesnt require much thought while android customers want something that also has customization options.

--

the whole problem with the iphone is that it is chained to apple by iron manacles. apple products in general have very excellent design but often apple makes very silly decision like not having a sd slot, not having a removable battery and not letting people pull music they PURCHASED off an iphone without jumping through hoops.

i will personally use android devices for the freedom (i use miui rom) but i have alot of respect for the design ideas apple comes up with. i just dont like apple as a company or their ethics.

 

[grebgonebad]

iphone customers tend to foam at the mouth anytime a new product comes out while android customers tend to approach new products with an eye looking for flaws before they get excited.

iphone customers want something easy that doesnt require much thought while android customers want something that also has customization options.

--

the whole problem with the iphone is that it is chained to apple by iron manacles. apple products in general have very excellent design but often apple makes very silly decision like not having a sd slot, not having a removable battery and not letting people pull music they PURCHASED off an iphone without jumping through hoops.

i will personally use android devices for the freedom (i use miui rom) but i have alot of respect for the design ideas apple comes up with. i just dont like apple as a company or their ethics.

I agree completely. Apple users tend to take whats put in front of them as they expect it to be perfect, while Android users tend to look at thier options more thouroughly. Although this could possibly be due to there being so may more options avaiable for Android? With so many different devices available, and each manufacturer offering different features it can be a little confusing at times. Although it is just another example of Adroids unending customisation capabilities. =)

Apple certainly do know how to keep thier customers once they have them that's for sure. By making them buy music through thier own app store it ensures that thier customers to not easily migrate to Android.

I think the lack of expanable storage or removable battery is becoming more common now. Take the new Nexus 5 as an example. Top end, flagship device, but niether a removable battery or expandable storage. Altough Google never include SD slots in thier devices of course. But I agree that all devicces should at least have the option to increase the storage capacity, even if you cannot move apps to the SD card and you simply use it for storing movies, pictures, music, etc.

I also have a lot of respect for Apple, mainly because I think it's amazing how they can manufacture so few devices and still make just as much money as a company like Samsung, who have thier fingers in all sorts of pies like dispaly technolgy, mobiles, tablets, SoC's, etc. And in the past Apple have brought some excellent ideas out into the world that showed true innovation. However for the last few years at least Apple have failed to innovate full stop. No world changing new mobile technologies, (ooh, 64bit mobile CPU's. *yawn*) and while the insides of the Iphone hav changed dramatically, they haven't really changed the styling of the Iphone for 5 gerations. 4, 4S, 5, 5S & 5C, they all look the same! At least Samsung make sure you can easily tell the difference between an S3 and an S4!

 

[ssddx]

i will never buy a phone without a removable battery and sd card slot.

by not including one the company is essentially forcing two things on you:
-paying the crazy prices up front for a larger capacity phone when sd cards are cheap. 16/32/64gb for 199/299/399 when cards are 20/30/40 typically.
-sending the phone in for repair when the battery fails or buying a new phone. its 20 for a battery provided you know how to fix it. silly.

the only reason for not including these options is to either force more charges on customers or to force an upgrade.

-----------

by necessity smartphones will all look similar one generation to the next. apple actually has a good idea when it comes to keeping the same shape and look.
-the screen is already large enough. no need to go changing sizes.
-the button arrangement is fine. no need to change it or move it around.
-the camera is in a good location. no need to shift it all around like android phones do.
-the shape of the phone is good. no need to create special curved surfaces or the like which are impractical. also more cases fit iphone because of this.

even if you look at an old phone like my droid incredible and the new nexus 5 or 7 they still share many similarities. while sure they are different sizes, have different button locations and a different camera location they still are basically very similar in design. they have to be or users would have trouble adapting.

i think that android should be a bit more conforming to design than it is now. manufacturers are constantly changing the camera location, changing volume up/lock/other button locations and changing where the menu buttons are located or the designs of them. why? find a design that works and go with it. i'm all for changing up some design elements but i think they just do it to be different not to actually improve anything.

------------

apple does have its hand in quite a few pots.

-laptops (mac air, macbook)
-desktops (mac pro, mac mini)
-aio pcs (imac)
-mp3 player (ipod classic, touch, mini & nano)
-tablet (ipad)
-tv (apple tv)
-software (mac os, itunes)

as far as why it is so sucessful... quite simply it is because of intellectual property. while foxconn may make the iphone there really isnt too much profit margin to be had. since apple owns ios it can charge what it wants for the product which is why we have the pricing set at what it is and which is why they are so sucessful. in contrast google provides a free os so that any manufacturer can compete. by having competition prices are low. apple has no ios competition for the iphone because they do not allow it.

 

[grebgonebad]

You do ahve a good point there. The cost of doubling the amount of storage in a phone is ridiculous. Although with regards to the N5 it only costs £40 extra to go from 16gb to 32gb, which isnt the worst ive ever seen.

As far as removeable batteries go, I dont mind this so much as I can always pick up a small external charger for those emergency recharges, as other times I am at home or near a computer that I can charge it from. And if the battery in the N5 eventually dies completely, looking at Ifixit's N5 teardown it looks ridiculously easy to replace the battery. Nothing but a couple of clips and sticky tape. Not even a screw to undo.

But it is agreed that it appears that they are trying to milk as much money from customers as possible at times. Same thing for Apple.

--------

Smartphones are due a design change now, what with the new flexible display technology emerging in the market. We could be seeing an entirely new concept this time next year. But I still stand by my oppionion that while Android manufacturers have made a wide variety of different shapes and sizes, allowing people more choice when choosing a new phone, Apple havenlt really done anything.

Fair enough, it seems to be a popular trend, so the old 'dont fix what isnt broken' saying comes into play. But I still think Apple could do with adding a few aesthetic changes here and there. Their current design is boring if you ask me, and they could make something that looks just as good, if not better if they put thier minds to it. Saying that adding curves are impracticle is a little harsh, as curves make the phone seem smaller in most cases, and allow for more comfortable grip on the device. My S3, for example, when I first got it felt huge in the hand as I was coming from an HTC Wildfire. but after a few hours playing with it it didnt seem any larger than the Widlfire. Arguably, if you are used to the way an Iphone feels then you are bound to not notice it, but I have used an Iphone for a few hours before when I took one for a test drive as it were, and it jsut felt sharp and uncomfortable.

Even just simple changes in the design, like curved corners, or adding a new earpiece design, would be a major change, but I just feel Apple have failed to innovate for thier latest devices. The closest they have come so far to a major change is the 5C with it's plastic unibody instead of aluminium, which not alot of people want to buy as you can get a 5S for near enough the same price.

-------

I wasn't stating that Apple didnt ahve thier fair share of greasy fingers, just that Samsung have a larger variety of different products and technologies. Apple concentrate more on thier own devices, (the 'i' brand in other words), whereas Samsung have lots of different markets available to them, such as:

-RAM
-CPU's
-Dispalys (e.g. YOUM)
-Smart TV's
-Computer monitors
-Medical equipment
-Telecomunications
-Smartphones
-Tablets
-PC's
-Construction projects
-Chemical's manufacturing and disposal

Your statement about while Android is open souce while Apple is the sole proprietor of IOS, is coming back somewhat on the comments you made earlier about not having SD card slots or removeable batteries. Apple are forcing people to buy their products if they want IOS. Therefore a premium has to paid to be able to access it. =)

Apple and Android are successful in thier own ways, whereas Apple have a simplistic, relatively small range of products available that have common operational parameters and adhere to the 'not broken, dont fix it' policy, Android have a greater range of products available for those who prefer to be able to choose teh closest thing to what they want without being limited to a set choice.

 

[Divyanshu Sah]

Anyone would choose android due to the majority of applications developed for android.

 

[No2rdame]

To me it's quite simple. Most Apple users want form over function. Often times they are not as technically savvy as Android users and want something simple and "dumbed down." I'm not saying Apple users are dumb, but they are more or less the "plug and play" type people. Android users, on the other hand, tend to be more technically savvy and prefer the ability to modify and change. In car terms, the average Apple person wants to just put gas in the car and go whereas the average Android user wants to get under the hood and get their hands dirty.

To each their own, but my only beef with many fervent Apple fans would be that they tend to look down upon anything that is not their beloved i-whatever.

 

[grebgonebad]

To me it's quite simple. Most Apple users want form over function. Often times they are not as technically savvy as Android users and want something simple and "dumbed down." I'm not saying Apple users are dumb, but they are more or less the "plug and play" type people. Android users, on the other hand, tend to be more technically savvy and prefer the ability to modify and change. In car terms, the average Apple person wants to just put gas in the car and go whereas the average Android user wants to get under the hood and get their hands dirty.

To each their own, but my only beef with many fervent Apple fans would be that they tend to look down upon anything that is not their beloved i-whatever.

I think you make some very valid points here, and I like your excellent car metaphor!

It is true that the majority of Apple users tend to dislike Android due to it being 'too complicated', which I think is a bit single minded as Android is no harder to use once you get used to it, but still. And if you pass an Iphone owner in the street they are more or less likely to be thinking in their head, 'Pff, peasant'. But this cannot be said for all Apple owners. Sometime Apples simplistic approach is the better choice for the old or very young (Not that young kids should be carrying around £600, but it happens way more often than it should.)

I think, all in all, (please note Apple fans, what I am about to say here is not meant to start an uprising, just my own personal opinions based on experiences.) Apple owners feel superior over Android owners, but whether that be for Apples more premium construction, or the fact that, let's face it, almost everything from Apple works flawlessly. But I cannot help but think if more Apple users gave Android a more serious try than just saying that its a load of bullwinkle, they would learn to appreciate Androids ingenuity and customisability a but more. But as it stands today, 80% of Apple owners are very single minded and can only see the end product, not the years and technological advances behind it.

 

[ssddx]

apple products work flawlessly?

perhaps you forgot about how apple blamed its customers for holding the phone wrong when reception dropped out because of a bad antenna design.

perhaps you have forgotten how using the official software you are unable to transfer songs you purchased from a mobile device to your computer. well without either a backdoor method or using the unofficial senuti program.

how about the fact about imac lemons where the user may sometimes need to get 8+ replacements just to get a "working" pc? one customer was already banned from the apple store for "going behind a managers back" to an upper tier manager because the guy wouldnt replace a non-working imac.

apple is far from perfect.

--

i do agree that a great many apple users have it stuck in their heads that apple is somehow better. i dont know how many times i've heard that a mac is better for this, an iphone is better for that, my ipod is better than this, itunes is so great, etcetera.

when you tell them a mac uses pc components, that their iphone doesnt have a specific app, that you can get radio on your mp3 player and that you can transfer music from your portable device to your pc they often look at you in disbelief.

the only apple device i use is an ipod classic but only because it is perhaps the best device on the market and has proven to be reliable over the years. i also use itunes for music organization and i do purchase from them but only because their music library dwarfs every other provider. i know the workaround to get music off my portable device as well which works out but the DRM kills me. i can bypass it but its just so irritating.

for phones i will continue to use android. even though it is not quite as polished it gives me more freedom to do what i want. i've been running the custom miui rom for years with go-launcher as a desktop replacement. works out wonderfully and i get free wifi tethering on my laptop (which you cannot do with stock since the wireless company locks it)

for computers i will continue to go with pc because lets face it windows is the larger market share and there is no point learning a new os which isnt superior and holds less market share. also most professions outside of graphic design or video editing use windows. i also build my own computer so i never need to deal with pc support only to rma some bad components however i pick out high quality components to begin with so its a non-issue.

 

[No2rdame]

The apple/android debate is identical to the PC/mac debate. Both have their strengths and weaknesses based on preference but what works for one person won't work for others. In my experience, most of the Apple users I encounter are either stay at home mommies or people who aren't very technologically proficient. The Apple stereotype is the hipster living in mom's basement but I really haven't met any of those types. The Android users I've encountered know tech much more and like the ability to tweak things to their exact preference.

Case in point, I work with two SAP analysts, one of which loves technology and the other admits to loving Apple because they "look damn sexy." The techno-geek had an iPhone and ditched it for an SIII that she absolutely loves. Her first order of business was to root it and tweak the phone to her liking. The other person is a guy who may work on computers all day but is so lacking in tech skills that when I played a joke on him and changed his work PC monitor settings to rotate his screen 180 degrees he had no clue how to fix it and ended up literally flipping his monitor upside down until I felt bad and set things back. He likes Apple simply because he likes their designs and because their products are very simple. Oh, and he likes the fact that Siri could tell him the locations of the nearest strip clubs, but I digress.

 

[ssddx]

i dont know about the apple stereotype being some hipster in their parents basement...

i've always thought it was someone who was very technologically impaired who loved apple and praised it even though they didnt know much about anything which is case-in-point most of the time.

nice joke. oh and i thought the siri comment was pretty funny too!

 

[No2rdame]

Iphone still the best smartphone now, but the distance between android flagship to iphone are more closely.

I think that's quite debatable, particularly on merits of what the "best" entails. Due to their strict control of both the OS and the hardware there is excellent integration between the two on the iphone, and in terms of presentation I do think Apple is a bit stronger in this regard compared to their biggest competitor, Samsung. However, in terms of customizability and overall functionality I think android has the iphone beat.

But, that's what's so good about competition. There is something for everybody and competition in the market leads to improved products.

 

[grebgonebad]

apple products work flawlessly?

perhaps you forgot about how apple blamed its customers for holding the phone wrong when reception dropped out because of a bad antenna design.

perhaps you have forgotten how using the official software you are unable to transfer songs you purchased from a mobile device to your computer. well without either a backdoor method or using the unofficial senuti program.

how about the fact about imac lemons where the user may sometimes need to get 8+ replacements just to get a "working" pc? one customer was already banned from the apple store for "going behind a managers back" to an upper tier manager because the guy wouldnt replace a non-working imac.

apple is far from perfect.

--

i do agree that a great many apple users have it stuck in their heads that apple is somehow better. i dont know how many times i've heard that a mac is better for this, an iphone is better for that, my ipod is better than this, itunes is so great, etcetera.

when you tell them a mac uses pc components, that their iphone doesnt have a specific app, that you can get radio on your mp3 player and that you can transfer music from your portable device to your pc they often look at you in disbelief.

the only apple device i use is an ipod classic but only because it is perhaps the best device on the market and has proven to be reliable over the years. i also use itunes for music organization and i do purchase from them but only because their music library dwarfs every other provider. i know the workaround to get music off my portable device as well which works out but the DRM kills me. i can bypass it but its just so irritating.

for phones i will continue to use android. even though it is not quite as polished it gives me more freedom to do what i want. i've been running the custom miui rom for years with go-launcher as a desktop replacement. works out wonderfully and i get free wifi tethering on my laptop (which you cannot do with stock since the wireless company locks it)

for computers i will continue to go with pc because lets face it windows is the larger market share and there is no point learning a new os which isnt superior and holds less market share. also most professions outside of graphic design or video editing use windows. i also build my own computer so i never need to deal with pc support only to rma some bad components however i pick out high quality components to begin with so its a non-issue.

When I say Apple products work flawlessly I was exagerating slightly. I was trying to put accross the fact that Apple have done an excellent job of polishing thier software to a point that everything works together with no problems. Whereas Android still has it's moments of lagginess here and there, even during simple tasks such as internet browser panning and zooming, Apple have got it down to a fine art. As far as the irksome Apple software goes, that is talking on a broader aspect rather than focusing on the device itself.

I wont go too much into it as you;ve all heard it before, but basically, even though I would never personally own an Apple product, I think that Apple have the better software and devices. Expensive yes, and the OS could do with a complete overhaul and several leaves taken out of Androids book, but all this aside...

Not that I am supporting Apple in any way, I would rather see them burn to be quite honest. =P

 

[grebgonebad]

apple products work flawlessly?

perhaps you forgot about how apple blamed its customers for holding the phone wrong when reception dropped out because of a bad antenna design.

perhaps you have forgotten how using the official software you are unable to transfer songs you purchased from a mobile device to your computer. well without either a backdoor method or using the unofficial senuti program.

how about the fact about imac lemons where the user may sometimes need to get 8+ replacements just to get a "working" pc? one customer was already banned from the apple store for "going behind a managers back" to an upper tier manager because the guy wouldnt replace a non-working imac.

apple is far from perfect.

--

i do agree that a great many apple users have it stuck in their heads that apple is somehow better. i dont know how many times i've heard that a mac is better for this, an iphone is better for that, my ipod is better than this, itunes is so great, etcetera.

when you tell them a mac uses pc components, that their iphone doesnt have a specific app, that you can get radio on your mp3 player and that you can transfer music from your portable device to your pc they often look at you in disbelief.

the only apple device i use is an ipod classic but only because it is perhaps the best device on the market and has proven to be reliable over the years. i also use itunes for music organization and i do purchase from them but only because their music library dwarfs every other provider. i know the workaround to get music off my portable device as well which works out but the DRM kills me. i can bypass it but its just so irritating.

for phones i will continue to use android. even though it is not quite as polished it gives me more freedom to do what i want. i've been running the custom miui rom for years with go-launcher as a desktop replacement. works out wonderfully and i get free wifi tethering on my laptop (which you cannot do with stock since the wireless company locks it)

for computers i will continue to go with pc because lets face it windows is the larger market share and there is no point learning a new os which isnt superior and holds less market share. also most professions outside of graphic design or video editing use windows. i also build my own computer so i never need to deal with pc support only to rma some bad components however i pick out high quality components to begin with so its a non-issue.

When I say Apple products work flawlessly I was exagerating slightly. I was trying to put accross the fact that Apple have done an excellent job of polishing thier software to a point that everything works together with no problems. Whereas Android still has it's moments of lagginess here and there, even during simple tasks such as internet browser panning and zooming, Apple have got it down to a fine art. As far as the irksome Apple software goes, that is talking on a broader aspect rather than focusing on the device itself.

I wont go too much into it as you;ve all heard it before, but basically, even though I would never personally own an Apple product, I think that Apple have the better software and devices. Expensive yes, and the OS could do with a complete overhaul and several leaves taken out of Androids book, but all this aside...

Not that I am supporting Apple in any way, I would rather see them burn to be quite honest. =P

 

[rockdenim]

IOS is a mobile operating system for Apple-manufactured devices. iOS runs on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV.

Android is a Smartphone operating system (OS) developed by Google. It is used by a variety of mobile phone manufacturers including Motorola, HTC,Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

 

[grebgonebad]

IOS is a mobile operating system for Apple-manufactured devices. iOS runs on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV.

Android is a Smartphone operating system (OS) developed by Google. It is used by a variety of mobile phone manufacturers including Motorola, HTC,Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Apologies, but why is this relevant? We all know what IOS and Android are, we have been talking about them throughout this thread?

 

[grebgonebad]

Apple. It has quality apps that are so good (especially for the incredible devices on which they run). Service is impeccable.

After using both, I've found Android to be slow, unreliable, and even unstable. It crashes a lot. I've never seen any of my iPhones or iPods crash.

Admittedly the argument could be made that Apple apps and games are optimised far better than any Android app due to the far smaller number of devices for that app to run on. However this is becoming less of an issue now as Android is becoming a more stable platform. My current Android devices can handle even the most taxing applications with ease and have shown no signs of crashing since day one. Obviously less powerful devices or less quality devices will be more [prone to crashing.

Android is no longer a 'slow, unreliable, and even unstable' OS as you put it. It may have had to catch up with the likes of Apple but now that it has it could be argued that it is better than IOS due to Androids open source nature, allowing users to create an IOS looking OS. As IOS is very security conscious it would not be possible to make IOS look like Android.

 

[No2rdame]

Funny, I know quite a few people that have gotten rid of their iPhones in favor of Galaxies because they just prefer the Android platform better. Not to mention, you can always change the battery out on most Android phones. The iPhone, yeah, no.