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vgamedude

macrumors 6502a
Dec 10, 2013
798
6
The thing I don't like about android is the inconsistency across the operating system. App developers have to make an app that runs on everyone's android phone clearly, everyone's android phone looks so vastly different, whether it be user customization (a lesser issue or non existent) or the worse one, manufacturer skins. This results in apps and elements looking like they don't belong with the rest of the OS, this is pretty annoying for me, I hope with material design they are taking a step in the right direction, but with how different skins look and all different android phones look I don't see it happening. This isn't a huge huge deal maybe but it's still something that just irritates me.

Either way thanks to apple being stingy and greedy with one gigabyte of ram when they finally release bigger screen phones they have me looking elsewhere and questioning if I should go with another iphone.
 
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Savor

Suspended
Jun 18, 2010
3,742
918
Ever since Matias Duarte took over, yeah. Since 2011. It probably has surpassed iOS by 2013 with KitKat.

On sales terms, Apple is still the most popular OEM in US. Outside of it, Android destroys iOS in user base which includes iPad/iPod touch owners. Apple is trying to get iOS to HALF A BILLION now. Android has already a BILLION and is working on its next BILLION.
 

Illest

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2012
19
3
Bay Area, California.
One thing I think that makes iOS a winner is how fluid the operating system is when scrolling through a copious amount of applications. When using any finger on the screen of your iOS device, it has a buttery smooth scroll to it without lag.

You play with an Android device regardless if it has top-of-the-line specs or not, you get this slight lag when scrolling through. Just my 2 cents.
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
17,318
25,471
Wales, United Kingdom
Depends what you look for in an OS. If you pen down all the features each one has then I am sure Android has overtaken iOS, but then again I think its always had more features hasn't it? If you are like me and you judge each one based on user experience and appeal of the interface design, then no I think iOS still leads there. Obviously everybody has a different opinion on this and there is no right answer. Some think Android is better, some think iOS. The fact is they are both very good, capable operating systems and neither is a bad choice.
 

orestes1984

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2005
1,000
4
Australia
Ever since Matias Duarte took over, yeah. Since 2011. It probably has surpassed iOS by 2013 with KitKat.

On sales terms, Apple is still the most popular OEM in US. Outside of it, Android destroys iOS in user base which includes iPad/iPod touch owners. Apple is trying to get iOS to HALF A BILLION now. Android has already a BILLION and is working on its next BILLION.

Those stats are meaningless and represent people who treat their phones/tablets as dumb devices and don't even know they have Android or Nokia Symbian on their devices.

It's like grey box retail figures that support that there is a base of billions of hardcore Microsoft users when anything is but the case these days.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Ever since Matias Duarte took over, yeah. Since 2011. It probably has surpassed iOS by 2013 with KitKat.

On sales terms, Apple is still the most popular OEM in US. Outside of it, Android destroys iOS in user base which includes iPad/iPod touch owners. Apple is trying to get iOS to HALF A BILLION now. Android has already a BILLION and is working on its next BILLION.

If you are talking total iOS devices, Apple is close to a billion sold at this point.

I think earlier in the year they showed something like 500 million iPhones, 250 million iPads and 100 million iPods or something like that.

Granted these are total sold and in no way an indication of how many current iOS users there are out there. Just overall sales.
 

howieho

macrumors newbie
Oct 21, 2014
17
0
I think IOS is to Android as Blackberry is to Windows Phone. IOS and Android follow two different models, being closed and manufacturing your own hardware or being more open and manufacturing with partners. But where as Apple and Google have been successful in doing each of their models the right way, Blackberry and Windows Phone have shown how these models can also be done the wrong, or is should say less successful way. I don't think it's so much a matter of IOS being better than Android or visa versa. I think it's each model will attract different audiences and hopefully, both OS's try to remain cutting edge in terms of features.
 

symphara

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2013
670
649
One thing I think that makes iOS a winner is how fluid the operating system is when scrolling through a copious amount of applications. When using any finger on the screen of your iOS device, it has a buttery smooth scroll to it without lag.

You play with an Android device regardless if it has top-of-the-line specs or not, you get this slight lag when scrolling through. Just my 2 cents.

This is just not true. My ancient (at this stage) and battered Nexus 4 is butter-smooth at scrolling the home screens, the app drawer, the running apps list. Not even the tiniest bit of lag whatsoever.

And it does an order of magnitude better at switching apps compared to my much newer, fancier and more expensive iPad (retina mini), since it rarely fully reloads apps the same way the iPad pretty much always does.

Compared to instant access to Google Now from anywhere, with just a swipe (highly useful), and the notification system which is just better from any way I look at it, it gives a better experience. If I browse the net and I get an email, (1) I know exactly it's an email because there's a notification icon, (2) I swipe down and I see who sent it and what's it about, and (3) with one touch I can open it directly. Compare and contrast the same event flow on iOS.

For me iOS is ok on the iPad, since I only browse the net and read books on it, so I don't mind the simplistic UI. I just can't imagine using it on a phone, it feels too slow and awkward to access stuff by scrolling screens to find the app icon.

A lot of people complain about the manufacturer's Android skins. I don't see how that's a bug, really. To begin with, you can simply download the Google Now launcher from the Play store and get the default Nexus experience on - as far as I know - anything with Android >= 4.1.1, which is most devices.

Then it's a question of having options. With iOS you're simply locked in to the default icon grid and there's nothing you can do about it.

Various Android manufacturers put on skins, and you just get more choice. You can buy one you like, or put on the Google one. Not all custom skins are bad and laggy. I think the Sony launcher is actually really pretty, and visually in tune with the design of their devices (PS included). I tried TouchWiz for the first time a couple of days ago on an S5 and, having expected something horrible and stuttery, I was very surprised to discover there was no lag, or anything much out of the ordinary. If I bought one I wouldn't particularly care much if I couldn't change it to the Google Now launcher, which I really like.

Plus, there's are lots of other 3rd party launchers that you can simply download from the Play store and change your whole UI.
 

pdqgp

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2010
2,131
5,460
Completely untrue

One thing I think that makes iOS a winner is how fluid the operating system is when scrolling through a copious amount of applications. When using any finger on the screen of your iOS device, it has a buttery smooth scroll to it without lag.

You play with an Android device regardless if it has top-of-the-line specs or not, you get this slight lag when scrolling through. Just my 2 cents.

^^ completely untrue. maybe on some lower end devices, but no way on my Note 3. It's smooth and very refined even with some nice animations from Nova Launcher. I should post a vid and will do at some point.
 

ecrispy

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2013
187
29
I recently switched from android to iPhone. Don't believe all the hype. The problem with android is consistency. There is none. Every handset maker customizes the GUI to suit their needs. It's supposed to get better with 5 but only very few recent phones will run it.

The way I see it apple has an advantage over the other platforms, android and windows. Apple controls the updates bypassing the carrier. Not the case for windows or android for the most part. So you end up at the mercy of the carrier or the handset maker not the OS maker.

Then there is the inconsistencies in the UI, the browser and in other built in apps, which is terrible.

It all leads to a poor user experience, IMHO.

iOS only has to run on one phone. We should compare it to a Nexus phone to compare to a pure Android experience.

In practice poem's destroy Android's beautiful UI and that is a problem for users, but when comparing pure Android vs iOS the OP is correct.
 

TechGod

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2014
3,275
1,129
New Zealand
One thing I think that makes iOS a winner is how fluid the operating system is when scrolling through a copious amount of applications. When using any finger on the screen of your iOS device, it has a buttery smooth scroll to it without lag.

You play with an Android device regardless if it has top-of-the-line specs or not, you get this slight lag when scrolling through. Just my 2 cents.

False. My 2 year old Nexus 4 is super smooth and snappy.
 

mib1800

Suspended
Sep 16, 2012
2,859
1,250
Android has always been ahead of IOS. Maybe the more pertinent question is has ios overtaken android..the answer is a resounding NO.

IOS has always been "copying"/"following" Android from the start:-
- Copy / Paste
- Notification Pull down
- Toggles
- Voice control
- Live Wallpaper
- Widgets
- 3rd party keyboard
- Real Multi-tasking
- Big Screen
- Wifi-Direct (i.e. Air Drop)
- NFC
- Smart watches
- Multi-resolution scaling (ios still do it horribly)
- Info/Data Sharing
- Extensions capability
- Flat UI design
 

sparky08

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2013
136
42
Apple could solve world hunger and get rid of poverty and homelessness in our lifetime, and people would complain about the food and shelter provided by Apple as not being what they wanted.

If Apple will charge $350 for a watch, can you imagine what they would charge to end hunger/homelessness??
 

grandM

macrumors 68000
Oct 14, 2013
1,520
302
Ever since Matias Duarte took over, yeah. Since 2011. It probably has surpassed iOS by 2013 with KitKat.

On sales terms, Apple is still the most popular OEM in US. Outside of it, Android destroys iOS in user base which includes iPad/iPod touch owners. Apple is trying to get iOS to HALF A BILLION now. Android has already a BILLION and is working on its next BILLION.
That's probably because of the pricing: apple is truly expensive in Europe
Apple could achieve a bigger market by lowering their prices
Once one has chosen an OS most stick to it
 

Savor

Suspended
Jun 18, 2010
3,742
918
To me, both iOS and iPhones peaked in the 5th generation (iOS5/4s). After eight generations, hasn't iOS' linearity become redundant? The reason iOS is so popular in the US is because of price too with the subsidized/carrier update reliance. And the growth rate has been stunted from new buyers. Only the same buyers are still buying iPhones. It is reaching its saturation point.

With Android, it was a late-bloomer. The ugly duckling that became a beautiful swan. Matias Duarte and his team had to work miracles in the beginning to come to this point where Android looks and acts better than iOS. Excluding Samsung, many OEM's have also improved with their custom skins and no longer gets in the way but have benefits that pure Android can't always offer.

If modern Android really started in 2011 with ICS, then we are in its senior year with Lollipop. The 4th gen since Duarte took over. I don't count Honeycomb since that was only for tablets. Android is still improving, refining, and probably hasn't "peaked" yet in both pure OS form or its custom skins/ROMS. The layers and fresh ideas from several companies just keep on stockpiling to improve Android.
 

kepler20b

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2014
492
426
Android wont overtake iOS until Google fixes how it designs the nexus phones.


Specs are nice, hardware is nice, and those are the biggest two things that have pushed android right along iOS.


But until Google strangles its manufacturers and demands that its nexus phones be held to a higher standard with regard to build materials, they will never be out front.

Nexus has no design ethos that is magnetic. Its attraction is unadulterated software. As a brand, there's nothing wrong with Nexus, its strong, but it has no physical identity, no physical brand that is attractive.
 

pdqgp

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2010
2,131
5,460
Lol, too many people have bashed me for saying I want the iPhone 6 instead of an Android phone.

why? who cares?

It's kinda sad how a phone preference starts verbal abuse:D

meh....I don't take the android commercial referenced as verbal abuse. it's just embracing the various models of phones all running android that offer specific features that are target different buyers vs one phone that treats everyone essentially as having the very same needs. true point really.
 

Oohara

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2012
3,050
2,423
why? who cares?



meh....I don't take the android commercial referenced as verbal abuse. it's just embracing the various models of phones all running android that offer specific features that are target different buyers vs one phone that treats everyone essentially as having the very same needs. true point really.

Another way of looking at it is that there is a totality of phones all catering to users with different needs, with iPhone users making up one part of those and this is the group that Apple targets.
 
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