What do you value most about Android compared to other operating systems such as iOS?

[jonneymendoza]

indeed. more flexible to meet your needs in multiple ways.

this is why i have always rated android from day one.

i tried to see what all the fuss was about when i bought a ipod touch and tbh i did not like the experience as it offered no flexibility, poor multitasking/none existance and forcing u to use itunes instead of me simplyd ragging and dropping files etc is a pain too.

On my wife's iphone it is such a headache just to set a mp3 song as a ringtone where u have to use a third party app to limit the mp3 song to about a minute, convert it and then sync it via itunes.

in android all u do is drag and drop the mp3 song and go and set it as a ringtone from settings. thats it.

each to there own.

 

[Kanifee]

Android has matured a lot since I started using it, 2.2 froyo was my first experience with the little green man and that was moving from windows p7 and I felt at home straight away.
The platform matures well and caters to a wide spectrum of users simply because it offers them a real choice in how there phone looks and reacts.

 

[reflux]

I've owned 8 Android phones, a Nokia Lumia 800 and an iPhone 4. I've tried every handset I thought was worth trying, and these preferences become clear:

• Halo devices (ie Nexus One, SGS2, One X)
• Android
• Stock Android... which means that after owning a One X and an SGS3 so far this year, I still have my Galaxy Nexus!

The reason I stick with Android is that it is so configurable. Whilst the iPhone is a great piece of technology, it doesn't give me the control that I want and the interface is too simplistic. It also feels too far behind the bleeding edge a lot of the time and I don't get excited by iOS development. All the effort seems to go into making great apps, which is fine - but that doesn't necessarily make a better device. The Android dev community really focuses on wringing ultimate performance, features and battery life from devices and that's a value-add that just keeps on giving.

 

[Kanifee]

I should add in similar fashion to you reflux I choose to run as vanilla a version of android as possible, bloated offerings from phone manufacturers seem to spoil what it is to own Android powered devices, in my eyes any way. Didn't enjoy sense or touchwiz atall really.

This though is another shining example of what android makes possible though, I have that choice and a dedicated dev community to propagate it

 

[Yas786]

For me its all about the hardware specs that Android phones are using now, quad core cpu's is just immense in a mobile phone. Thats definitely something that made me ditch my iphone4 for the HTC One X first then ditched that to get the SGS3.

Software wise, Android is much better with ICS now out...hopefully even better when JB comes out. But for me i found iOS a simple and easy OS to use, it wasnt fancy or anythinbg...it just worked, well for me it did. Plus i liked the fact that with iOS all the apps looked good whereas with Android, some of the apps dont look that great on these high end devices...i mean i cant even get plants vs zombies on my SGS3 and god knows if the devs are ever going to update it for the SGS3. Thats my main pickle with Android, software wise its still too fragmented for my liking...but you would expect that with a million and one devices out on the market.

But ultimately i do like Android, ill definitely be getting the iphone5 and then deciding whether to stick with Android or go iphone5. Either phone wont be used as my daily device, i have a BB9900 that does that job for me.

 

[Skillmister]

Thats my main pickle with Android, software wise its still too fragmented for my liking...but you would expect that with a million and one devices out on the market.

Yeah that is a problem. I've got a couple of mates working on a big mobile game at the moment and the amount of different devices/software that it will need testing on is crazy. I'm down for a 1S tester though, so all is well

 

[Amp34]

Is that really a problem? It's not like the Windows Phone threads are constantly invaded by Android fanboys telling everyone they should have bought an Android phone instead.

Well there are several WP threads that have had a few Android people in them. My point was mainly that all mobile phones should be discussed together. It's pointless having iPhones in a separate forum as "should i buy an iPhone" in the Apple forum will get an emphatic yes from almost everyone, on the other hand "what phone should I buy" will always get majority Android suggestion in this forum because the other major OS is in another forum.

It's not just mobiles I think should change, it's Laptops as well. You suggest there may be other options to consider in the Apple forum and a lot of people jump down your neck...!

Is that really true though? Especially for your more casual (dare i say typical?) iphone user? My One S was fantastic out of the box and really i didn't see any noticeable difference between it and an iphone when side by side. The only reason i have even customised it is for aesthetic reasons, not for "smoothness" or anything performance related.

Admittedly i'm no mobile fanatic so perhaps the finer differences might be lost on me, but i'd put myself in the same group as huge amounts of iphone users who only believe their iOS device is "smoother and faster out of the box" because it's what they've heard online.

My mum got a One S this morning also, she's definitely not the type of person who will notice a few ms difference between performing everyday tasks. She was also using sms and camera etc straight away with just as much ease as anyone who uses an iphone for the first time.

I don't know about iOS but I have been looking at phones to replace my Omnia 7 (poor single core 18+ month old phone) and really wanted to like the One series both X and S) but the several times I've tried them I've been underwhelmed. The hardware is lovely but the OS just doesn't flow as well as WP, there are judders where there shouldn't be and the design just doesn't jell. It's annoying as I don't particularly want my next phone to be a WP (because it will look the same - no point buying any of the later WP7 devices at all) but iOS and the iPhone 4s just don't do it for me (small screen etc. and the UI looking like we should be back in the early 90s) so that leaves Android really...

 

[Amp34]

AMP34 just had a bad experience with the GS 2 and GS iirc, where as the majority of users have had nothing but one of the best experiences there is.

Heck even iphone 4 and 4s owners are jumping ship to the GS 3 and are loving every thing about it especially freedom, haven't seen them mention one bad thing at all. The one thing they all say is "bloody hell, this is super fast" or something like that.

Not bad experiences per se but I almost got a Desire instead of the Omnia 7 in Autumn 2010 (in fact i actually ordered it in July but the order was so delayed I cancelled). I think what you remember is a discussion about the slowness and jitteriness of the older Android phones, which you put down to no hardware acceleration? They have definitely got better since then but they still aren't totally smooth and intuitive. I've decided to wait until October to get my new phone now (end of contract was April) because the release of JB, WP8 and the new iPhone will mean a bit shakeup in the market.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not talking general speediness, all the high end phones will be about the same day to day (iPhone 4/4s, Lumia 800 (which is no different to the Omnia 7...), One X/S and GS3), but the Android phones just seem to fall over significantly more. Judders when changing home screens etc.

id like to disagree i was faffing around with ROM's on my s2 but then got bored and thought ill try the stock samsung ROM and guess what? it was just as smooth and just as good as the rest yes it didn't have the "extras" that custom ROMs did but i only missed them because im used to them for normal user who is happy with stock software stock ROM will be perfect im not sure how you got that experience tho

i was thinking( by everyones views) that iOS is smooooooth as hell but after using it for hours and playing around with 3 different iphones i noticed same thing it isn't actually all that its made to be? things do often lag behind, apps are slower compared to my s2, games are more limited by levels etc(yes yes there might be more but android seems to have same quality and more quantity in popular games(angry birds free for e.g.) one work mate upgraded from iphone 4 to 4s and was telling me how much quicker it feels and how quicker everything works which was funny as i was expecting him to not notice any difference i mean iOS after all runs as smoooth as it phones get?

its just my experience and what i have heard from people so don't take it as hating i really don't hate iOS and i still think its a personal preference what you like and how you like your phone after all you are the one paying for it

The other point to note is we on this forum are high end users. Most have expensive phones and the ones that discuss the most are the ones that have the latest and greatest which Android should fly on. Once we get down to the lower end that a lot of people buy the disparity becomes much clearer. For example my sister has an Xperia mini, runs like a dog!

 

[Yas786]

Yeah that is a problem. I've got a couple of mates working on a big mobile game at the moment and the amount of different devices/software that it will need testing on is crazy. I'm down for a 1S tester though, so all is well

Indeed and not sure but doesnt Android have an emulator where you can test your apps across a wide range of devices??. I know Blackberry have one or used to have one for app devs as its pretty expensive buying different handsets just to make sure your app works properly and looks nice.

If they dont then surely it would be wise to make one available to devs. Quite a few apps i have downloaded then uninstalled due to it not looking nice or being compatible ie random crashes etc.

 

[Robbo]

Why do you still prefer BlackBerry's Yas? Is it just for the keyboard now?

 

[Nexus18]

@Amp34

I have no slow downs on my one S at all and using the GS 3, I can't see any slow downs at all either, the animations appear smoother, but I think that is just down to the type of animations. The only area where I see micro-lag is when using the tab windows on the sense browser, I also very rarely restart my mobile.

And yes it was largely due to no hardware acceleration as the GS 2 at the time of release was easily the fastest and smoothness phone ever due to it being the only phone to have HWA and now since ICS is on most phones, every phone (good one that is) is pretty much the same now.

Although I thought you said you had problems with apps force closing all the time and other things?

In terms of speed/smoothness you can't get much better than the GS 3 and S, the X just needs to be optimized better with tegra 3, hopefully JB will improve it, it should as well, considering that is what the nexus 7 is using and it is suppose to be much faster/smoother than the GS 3

Things will only get better now as well with jellybean and project butter, so everything should be "super smooth" with no lag at all.

 

[Robbo]

People who have used the nexus 7 have said that the device is much faster/smoother than the GS 3

I'll believe that when I see it!

 

[Nexus18]

Yeah, I am very interested to see it for myself as well, from the videos I have seen so far though, it does look super smooth/quick.

If it is then HTC has a lot of work to do with the X , although when they get jellybean on, it should be pretty much the same then due to the same hardware pretty much, HTC just need to make sure that they don't **** around with the source/software too much

 

[Robbo]

An option to totally disable skins = heaven.

 

[Nexus18]

Indeed!

Better yet, an option to disable it for certain parts but keep sense/touchwiz for other things, therefore the best of both

 

[lsg1r]

Why do I like android... it's because I'm not told what I can install and what I can't install without needing to jailbreak. I like it's 'freedom' shall we say. I've had freedom to install my choice of apps since symbian, why should I take a step back like iOS expects.

It's also the more advanced os in my opinion, it just doesn't have the marketing like apple gives to ios devices.

Windows Phone is ok but it's just not ready for prime time just yet in my opinion.

Having said that I do prefer the stock os to the skins that some companies keep sticking on their phones, can't stand sense it's just so disjointed from a design standpoint.

 

[Yas786]

Why do you still prefer BlackBerry's Yas? Is it just for the keyboard now?

That and the messaging and reception abilities are why i prefer BB over the other handsets. I find on my BB that my reception signal is stronger generally compared to the SGS3 even though both handsets are using Tmobile sims.

Thats not to say that the SGS3 isnt any good, i love it and do use it a lot ie for music, video playback and also to help pass time on my journey to and from work.

But honestly i prefer my BB9900 as my daily device.

 

[Caseh]

I prefer Windows Phone to any of the others, but I don't like how restricted the specs are with Windows Phone. Give me my SGS3 running WP7 and I'd probably be the happiest man alive.

Edit: I do like Android though, or I like ICS android anyway - Was never the biggest fan of it before though.

 

[Orcvader]

I don't know why, but there's something but Android that feels more... open and flexible. Before I got my Xperia, I had a play around with a few friend's iphones. While it was nice, there was something about iOS that felt too restrictive. I then tried an Android phone in a phone shop, and honestly, it felt a lot more open and comfortable to use. iOS on the iPad also annoys me as well... so it's not a hardware problem. Just iOS in general. I guess maybe because I can get the phone to do things the way I want, instead of the phone getting me to adapt to the way it wants to work.

When I was helping my dad set up his BB Torch, well, lets say the OS didn't feel as comfortable as iOS or Android. He's replaced it with an iPhone 4S now .

I had a go on the Windows phone emulator on my uni's PCs, but Metro feels like a mess...

EDIT: Might as well add, HTC sense feels sluggish and more "cluttered" for me as well. Good thing you can get custom launchers/roms on Android to solve that .