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Originally Posted by HereWeGo
Here is another side of the story....

You should never do a comparison between an ecosystem with multiple phones with different features (Android) and an ecosystem with a single product (IOS).

Of course you can. The same way you can compare a OSX running on Apple hardware vs Windows running on multiple PC manufacturers (with additional software/hardware installed by the manufacturers). Nothing is stopping Apple to license their OS for other manufacturers to sell devices. Apple doen't use any magical proprietary hardware that iOS won't be able to run, they chose not to do it. If I follow your logic, the only phone you can compare an iPhone to is the new Blackberry OS; thats just silly.

I didn't pick and choose features from multiple android devices, 90% of the things I mentioned are available on premium Android phones, one way or another.

The reason why Windows beat Apple during the PC race is exactly the same reason why Android will eventually make iOS obsolete, if they stay the path of walled garden. I have read Steve Jobs/Wozniak biography and some more on the PC revolution, this is exactly how apple got knocked out of the game the first time around. This time there is no Steve Jobs (unfortunately) to rescue them.

Given better or equal options people will almost always prefer multiple choices over 'one solution for all'.

Unless they do something drastically different they will soon start playing catch up.

I am not rooting for Android to win, or like to take any side, I am rooting for an open system to win; and Android is the only notable mobile open system out there right now. There is also, Ubuntu and Firefox OS on mobile devices (recently announced) but they have a long way to go before they can be taken seriously as an open system.

example
- Top of the line HTC One and Sony xperia sets are generally unibody so no way one can change the battery

Quite a few android devices (including nexus devices) don't have an option to change batteries. Guess what people who needs to swap battery can always get an android device that allows them to, and people who doesn't need one can settle for a unibody device. Android gives you that option to choose, iphone doesn't. Because not every single person is the same and they don't use their phone the same way. HTC and Sony are hardly big players in Android marketshare, even though I would love to see HTC succeed.

- Microsoft has managed to design the OS to be very fast and efficient on single-core processors allowing the UI to be fast and smooth while assisting the GPU with games, graphics and some great multimedia work, same is true for IOS but Android being an open source is not the most efficient and hence needs faster processors for the same fluid experience.
This in turn increases the cost of production and decreases the battery life

This is all very very very wrong.

The best Windows 8 phone right now, a Lumia 920, has a dual core system, but still pushes less pixels than a premium android phone (both in density and resolution). higher density pixels means you need powerful GPU/CPU to push them for a fluid experience. This is also true for iphone 5. A premium Android phone pushes more pixels and resolution than iphone 5.

This sentence is flat out "Android being an open source is not the most efficient and hence needs faster processors for the same fluid experience." misinformation.

There is a bit of marketing going on here.

Samsung is a GIANT tech company with their own processor fabrication plant, there are one of the few companies in the world who can produce/fabricate is such volume the type of ARM processors that most mobile devices use today. A lot of iphone/ipad processors an parts used by apple are manufactured by Samsung (to apple specifications of-course). Not only does Samsung makes a line of ARM-based processors that are some of the best in the world, they are in a position to really push the envelope in these types of processor. And they do it with lots of gutso.

So going back to my marketing point, whenever I buy a new PC, I want to make sure that the new one has better/bigger/faster specs than my old computer; whether I need it is different story. So PC manufacturers in each new year basically used to make a new PC with bigger/better/faster specs whether you need it or not.

So little bit of that goes in to Android phone when they are selling a new device, their rational is that with higher specs developers will somehow make unique apps to take advantage of that much power. They don't loose anything with putting more powerful processors, because the newer generation of processors, while being more powerful, are less power hungry because with newer/smaller fabrication process (smaller nanometer) less power leakage and more efficient and in the long run cheaper to make. they do have the bragging right for being the first company to push the envelope in processor technology on mobile devices.

If you are more specifically referring to BIG.Little ARM architecture on S4 phones, it has nothing to do with android needing more processor to run, but a little bit of marketing, (being the first phone to use this architecture in the world) a lot of power saving because of smaller nm fabrication and business sense because now every other mobile manufacturers are going to buy this type processor from Samsung, because they are one of the few companies in the world who can make it.

Its all business...

If you want to go bit by bit, android has lowest system requirements out of all the leading mobile OS out there. Android is based on Linux kernel, and one of the reason why Linux is so widely used on server market is because of its smaller footprint and low spec requirements.

- Physical backup is all well and good but in this era of cloud computing I really dont see think SD cards are as important as you are making it sound

You probably meant cloud storage, not cloud computing. Tell you what good luck syncing/backing up your very high resolution images, videos with tiered mobile data plans. If you are always close to wifi for bakup, you are an exception, not the norm. What happens when you have filled up your internal storage? You have to delete stuff to make more space and must have access to cloud service to view existing images/videos (which by the way is not unlimited), over a tiered data plan from your mobile service provider.

I would have agreed with you if only unlimited mobile data plans were normal.

- Using different skins and customizing has its advantages as well as disadvantages. It takes much longer for an average non technical user to adapt to an android set than IOS or windows phone.

Hearsay. Skins obviously has a lot of interest and market, one of the most popular theming app has more than 100 million downloads. Thats just one app. nothing to laugh about: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...uncherex&hl=en

I personally don't use theme, just use whatever it comes with.

- Wireless charging and NFC are both gimmicks with very little use at present. Nokia Lumia introduced wireless charging and the capability exist for an additional hardware on Apple and Blackberry products too.. However it takes an eternity to charge so this is just a gimmick. And I hardly see transactions using NFC ( never heard of one tbh). And sharing can be done with other modes also (bluetooth/wifi etc). And the touch sharing using NFC on samsung is only compatible with another samsung... So a gimmick

I did say wireless charging is gimmicky. NFC is a relatively a new tech on mobile devices, and it is very popular in power-users and home auto-mation market. Thats the beauty of Android, it caters towards all types of users, not only one type.

- Apple IOS apps are customised for Tablets and phones, Android apps are hardly customized. Hence while nexus tabs offer better resolution but most apps cannot take advantage of this feature.

This is mostly true, and it was a big part of android design teams fault for not defining design standard for tablet devices; because android wasn't officially made for a tablet device until recently. But that is obviously changing, and very fast too.

Also you are not right about iOS apps being customized for tabs and phones, only NEW iOS apps are since I think iphone 4s, I think they added new API/design standard in the last 1-2 years to change that to make sure that they work the same way in all kind of device. Before this change iphone apps used to work on small size on iPads. Like this.


I think the better informed you are as a consumer, the better choice you can make or deal with misinformation or regurgitated talking point. I see a lot of points you made are the same one made by Apple fan boys, it helps to check to see how many of them are actually true or just misinformation.