Android Vs. Windows 8/Windows 10...

[maflynn]

1. It's less refined. Everything seems loose and disjointed.
2. The design is outright terrible. Settings for instance. The fonts, the white space... the ugly icons... brutal.
3. The Apps. Again, cheap chinese knockoff of iOS Apps.
4. Performance. Again, cheap chinese knockoff of iOS. Just try pinching and zooming and scrolling. Chop chop chop.
5. Usability. Compared to iOS it's not as easy to use and enters into the world of geek.

1. WP8 is a much newer OS, and so there are some rough edges, but not too many. I find it a polished product for the most part.
2. I disagree completely, I love the design. I didn't think I would but its a great UI, that's very consistent and well thought out.
3. The same can be said with a lot of Android apps. The achilles heal for WP is the apps, but as others posted, its improving.
4. I found the performance to be on par with other phones, perhaps you selected the wrong phone
5. I disagree on this as well, I found the WP UI to be very useful, and well thought out as I mentioned.

 

[ozaz]

1. WP8 is a much newer OS, and so there are some rough edges, but not too many. I find it a polished product for the most part.
2. I disagree completely, I love the design. I didn't think I would but its a great UI, that's very consistent and well thought out.
3. The same can be said with a lot of Android apps. The achilles heal for WP is the apps, but as others posted, its improving.
4. I found the performance to be on par with other phones, perhaps you selected the wrong phone
5. I disagree on this as well, I found the WP UI to be very useful, and well thought out as I mentioned.

Those were his/her criticisms of Android, not WP.

 

[MRU]

Those were his/her criticisms of Android, not WP.

additionally its not even windows phone, but windows 8 (8.1) computer OS

 

[maflynn]

Those were his/her criticisms of Android, not WP.

Oooh, you're right, I totally blew that response - see what happens when you type a response before your morning coffee

Ok, I'll just summarize that I found Android to be very polished but it depends on what phone. I think how you customize it will dictate the UI, and performance.

 

[cbobb123]

How can you base your android experience on a Samsung tablet? Try using a pure android device.

 

[booksbooks]

How can you base your android experience on a Samsung tablet? Try using a pure android device.

"Pure" Android? I've used many. My criticisms of Android stand regardless of device.

 

[chambone]

It keeps being peculiar how in these type of threads there always seem to be some who vehemently insist that android is not a copy of ios, as if we were talking about their moms or something. Android, the OS that was on its way to copying blackberry before the iphone came along. First logical mistake is always, 'no it can't be a copy because it's more open'. Second knee-jerk reaction is 9 out of 10 times, 'apple copied from android as well'. As if those things have anything to do with google copying an entire concept.

I mean, I love my z1 compact to bits, and I actually like android, but I'd hate to stick my head in the sand like that.

 

[maflynn]

How can you base your android experience on a Samsung tablet? Try using a pure android device.

what is a "pure" android device. Samsung, HTC, LG, Motoroloa all put their own spin on android. The only pure android in that sense are Nexus devices from google. Given the price and marketshare, I'd say that's not a feasible comparison.

Some flavors of Android are definitely more polished then others. Heck with Amazon, you barely know you're running android just because of the changes they put in.

I think OP doesn't have a vast experience with different android devices and that lack of experience may be coloring his opinion.

 

[cbobb123]

what is a "pure" android device. Samsung, HTC, LG, Motoroloa all put their own spin on android. The only pure android in that sense are Nexus devices from google. Given the price and marketshare, I'd say that's not a feasible comparison.

Some flavors of Android are definitely more polished then others. Heck with Amazon, you barely know you're running android just because of the changes they put in.

I think OP doesn't have a vast experience with different android devices and that lack of experience may be coloring his opinion.

I was mainly referring to a nexus and moto devices.

 

[geoff5093]

The big difference is that you can customize Android. Do you want a grid of icons? You can have it. Do you want a clean home screen with just the dock? You can have it. Do you want widgets displaying the current weather info, calendar of upcoming events, stock prices, current inbox emails, or a sideshow of your photos? You can do it. Do you want to replace the icons with text? You can do it.

With iOS and WP, you are locked into their style. In some regards WP is even more restrictive than iOS.

You sound like someone who just picked up a Samsung device, used it for 5 minutes, and are basing everything you said off that. I agree that android can look pretty boring if you use the phone the way it comes out of the box, but it's meant to be customized. New launchers and theme packs make a world of difference.

 

[MRU]

^ The problem is the OP isn't even comparing WP - he's comparing full Windows 8.1 to android phones/tablets ....

In that regard he may as well compare OSX to Android.

 

[maflynn]

I was mainly referring to a nexus and moto devices.

But that's more of vanilla android not a pure android. With Samsung owning the lion's share of android devices, and the Nexus being a lot less popular, its not a fair comparison. Most of the consumers running android are on Samguns, HTC, Motorola, etc.

 

[mi7chy]

Silly trollish thread and I doubt the OP has any real experience with all the OS' he's talking about. While my Surface Pro 3 hardware is nice but the touch, pen input and UI experience isn't as polished as Android. The ideal device is a Galaxy Note phone plus Smart Dock that can run Windows x64 software. That's the only way I would switch to a Windows phone and put up with the less polished UI but it'll be a while for Intel to get x64 to run on a phone with decent battery life. They probably need 10nm and cut out some of the legacy baggage like x86 backwards compatibility and go x64 only. For mobile experience:

Android > Windows 8 (primarily because of access to large selection of x86-64 professional software) > Mac OS X and iOS

 

[Cod3rror]

Good, good OP... let the hate flow through you! The best wheel was the original, the caveman invented, all these Michelins, and Pirellis are just cheap knock offs!

Seriously though, I totally understand you, I was in the same boat as you. But once you try Android, you'll realize that lag (which really isn't there any more) and things like edge bounce-back is not very important.

Android has its own awesome positives that make it feel better than iOS, such as scrolling. The back button, etc...

Both platforms are great. But I don't think I'm going back to iOS.

As for Windows... as it is right now, Windows Phone is a budget OS, which is great, you can get a sweet phone with about 100 euro, it'll work smooth but many people don't like the OS (I don't like its squishy edge effects, where the text and menus get squished when you reach the edge of a list) and the industry seems to really want to burn Microsoft. I don't want Windows desktop OS to start declining because I really like it. More than OSX, more than Linux. I have no idea what could they come up with for the mobile side of things for Windows 10, I'm interested though.

The problem with Windows Phone is that; it's not as open, customizable and techy as Android and it's not as elegant, simple and hassle free as iOS. Both those categories are taken.

 

[Michael Goff]

Silly trollish thread and I doubt the OP has any real experience with all the OS' he's talking about. While my Surface Pro 3 hardware is nice but the touch, pen input and UI experience isn't as polished as Android. The ideal device is a Galaxy Note phone plus Smart Dock that can run Windows x64 software. That's the only way I would switch to a Windows phone and put up with the less polished UI but it'll be a while for Intel to get x64 to run on a phone with decent battery life. They probably need 10nm and cut out some of the legacy baggage like x86 backwards compatibility and go x64 only. For mobile experience:

Android > Windows 8 (primarily because of access to large selection of x86-64 professional software) > Mac OS X and iOS

The UI isn't as polished as Android? Good joke.

 

[Vegastouch]

Some years ago it looked like Windows for touch devices was dead and it was a two horse race: Android and iOS.

I've always hated Android. The reason is simple: it's a POS copy of iOS...

I stopped reading right there. Its just wrong! There is a big difference between the two and i actuallly dont care for iOS. I do like Windows and i will get a Windows phone at some point but to come here and say Android is a copy of iOS is just so wrong.

 

[Tsepz]

I don't understand why anyone is entertaining this topic, the OP clearly is not here to debate, they are here to bash Android, they hate the fact that Microsoft has failed miserably to match Android and iOS's success and reach vs. WP.

I'm surprised this topic has not been closed.

 

[mi7chy]

The UI isn't as polished as Android?

Windows 8.x mouse and keyboard is polished but for touch and pen input it's not as polished as Android such as Galaxy Note series. However, UI is software so I don't doubt it'll continue to improve over time.

Boils down to a race between Android and Windows. Windows has the advantage of professional software like OrCAD, Inventor, Catia, Pro/Engineer, etc. but survival is dependent on Intel/AMD making a power efficient CPU/APU with performance, user experience and battery life comparable to ARM. Only hurdle is Intel is already at the limits of process node with 22/14nm. Android, on the other hand, has better touch and pen input UI polish plus ARM efficiency and user experience advantage at 32/28nm so it has a lot of room for improvement. Only thing missing is professional level software but considering the sheer quantity of devices, quickly evolving segment and high adoption rate due to low app prices I can see this quickly changing for the better especially with more powerful and capable devices coming in 2015. Very possible Android plus ARM will continue to lead in mobile and may even overtake Windows plus Intel/AMD in laptop, desktop and server.

 

[mrex]

Some years ago it looked like Windows for touch devices was dead and it was a two horse race: Android and iOS.

I've always hated Android. The reason is simple: it's a POS copy of iOS...

Thank god it is not..

Android has the following issues compared to iOS:

did someone piss on your cereals?

 

[spinedoc77]

I don't understand why anyone is entertaining this topic, the OP clearly is not here to debate, they are here to bash Android, they hate the fact that Microsoft has failed miserably to match Android and iOS's success and reach vs. WP.

I'm surprised this topic has not been closed.

Moderation is a bit odd on these forums. While I agree that the thread is quite trollish your own comment of "the fact that Microsoft has failed miserably to match Android and iOS's success" is quite trollish itself, you sound exactly like the OP.

 

[Michael Goff]

Windows 8.x mouse and keyboard is polished but for touch and pen input it's not as polished as Android such as Galaxy Note series. However, UI is software so I don't doubt it'll continue to improve over time.

Boils down to a race between Android and Windows. Windows has the advantage of professional software like OrCAD, Inventor, Catia, Pro/Engineer, etc. but survival is dependent on Intel/AMD making a power efficient CPU/APU with performance, user experience and battery life comparable to ARM. Only hurdle is Intel is already at the limits of process node with 22/14nm. Android, on the other hand, has better touch and pen input UI polish plus ARM efficiency and user experience advantage at 32/28nm so it has a lot of room for improvement. Only thing missing is professional level software but considering the sheer quantity of devices, quickly evolving segment and high adoption rate due to low app prices I can see this quickly changing for the better especially with more powerful and capable devices coming in 2015. Very possible Android plus ARM will continue to lead in mobile and may even overtake Windows plus Intel/AMD in laptop, desktop and server.

How is the Android UI for pen and mouse better than Windows?

 

[alex0002]

Some years ago it looked like Windows for touch devices was dead and it was a two horse race: Android and iOS.

I've always hated Android. The reason is simple: it's a POS copy of iOS... like a cheap Chinese knockoff. Really, let's call it for what it is. Grid of icons, blah blah. There's hardly any difference in the way the OSes function.

People should just stop copying that Grid of icons from Apple.

 

[MRU]

People should just stop copying that Grid of icons from Apple.



Image

Apple Newton proceeded that ...

Grid icons and stylus

 

[alex0002]

Apple Newton proceeded that ...

Image

Grid icons and stylus

I think this discussion is heading back to Xerox PARC and beyond for the grid of icons and the stylus was used in a number of applications including the Fairlight CMI music synthesiser in the 1970s, or even if we just want to talk about pre iPhone portable devices, there was the GRiDPad, manufactured for GRiD Systems Corporation by Samsung in 1989.

 

[maflynn]

I don't understand why anyone is entertaining this topic, the OP clearly is not here to debate, they are here to bash Android, they hate the fact that Microsoft has failed miserably to match Android and iOS's success and reach vs. WP.

I'm surprised this topic has not been closed.

Mostly because the thread is in the Alternatives to iOS and iOS Devices forum where people are free to discuss the pros/cons of Android, WP and compare them against iOS.

While people may have some opinions of the intention of the OP, the thread has generated some good discussions and isn't that what this forum is for?

Now before we get too far off topic, lets swing back