Things Android still does better?

[onthecouchagain]

Hahahaha here you go again. Even when you try and tell me you don't criticize Apple as much, here you are doing it! You're a funny guy. You're even funnier when people say something remotely positive about Apple. You can't help but jump all over them. Especially jswizzle or whatever his name is. But really you do it to everyone. Same thing when someone says something remotely negative about Google, there you are

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time dealing with it in an open forum about smartphones at large and specifically in a thread titled "Things Android Still Does Better." Yeah, it's insane I'm talking about iOS/Android in such ways. What am I thinking?

As I've said before, if the tables were turned, if it was iOS pushing the majority of new ideas and new features, if it was the iPhone pushing more choices between screen sizes, pushing higher PPI, pushing wireless charging, etc., I'd happily say iPhone/iOS was better. If it was Android that was playing catch up with the majority of features, or if it was the the Android OEMs that insisted on one or two sizes, that insisted to stay with physical home buttons, I'd be criticizing them more.

I praised the iPhone/iOS a number of years back when Android was still in its hay days.

Again, sorry you're having such a hard time dealing with it. You can block me. You'd be doing us both a favor.

EDIT: I think I said it best here:

No other company would get away with pulling the same things that Apple pulls.

Imagine for a moment if it was Samsung (or HTC, Motorola, whoever) that all decided to stay with a 3.5" phone for four or five (or whatever the number is) years. And imagine if it was Apple that offered 3.5", 4", 4.3", 4.5", 4.7" and even 5" phones as the years went by? Puh-leaze. The arguments would be completely flip-flopped and every Apple fan would destroy and ridicule Android OEMs to no end for sticking it out with 3.5" phones. And this is just using one example. Imagine if Android OEMs stuck with one hardware button, while Apple moved onto capacitive and/or on screen buttons. Imagine what would be said about that. Imagine if Apple offered SD expansions and Android OEMs refused to? Or notification lights while Android OEMs refused to?

And so on and so forth...

 

[Technarchy]

Tell you one thing my S4 does not do well, and it's one of those simple things that rates high on the irritating scale...

Scrolling and zooming when surfing the internet with chrome. It absolutely blows. It's a very chunky and jerky experience compared to browsing on iOS with safari.

The stock GS4 browser is blah but performs well. Chrome is feature rich but has wretched scrolling.

I tried Firefox, dolphin and they all had deal breaking issues that made them poor substitutes for Chrome.

Very annoying issue. Safari is so smooth on iOS, as is Chrome. Why android Chrome can't get this right is anyone's guess.

 

[T5BRICK]

Tell you one thing my S4 does not do well, and it's one of those simple things that rates high on the irritating scale...

Scrolling and zooming when surfing the internet with chrome. It absolutely blows. It's a very chunky and jerky experience compared to browsing on iOS with safari.

The stock GS4 browser is blah but performs well. Chrome is feature rich but has wretched scrolling.

I tried Firefox, dolphin and they all had deal breaking issues that made them poor substitutes for Chrome.

Very annoying issue. Safari is so smooth on iOS, as is Chrome. Why android Chrome can't get this right is anyone's guess.

So very true. It's crazy that Google can't get Chrome to work well on Android. It's my preferred browser on Mac, PC and iOS, but I have to use an alternative on Android. My mind is boggled.

 

[Technarchy]

So very true. It's crazy that Google can't get Chrome to work well on Android. It's my preferred browser on Mac, PC and iOS, but I have to use an alternative on Android. My mind is boggled.

What browser are you currently using?

 

[gotluck]

I use chrome browser most of the time, which came as the factory default on my phone. Normal AOSP browser doesn't come installed, similar to Nexus - I'm not sure if that has any effect on performance, but I find chrome the best for scrolling.

As a comparison, Chrome is terrible on my touchpad with cyanogenmod (Ice Cream Sandwich). I like Boat Browser best on it.

For flash, I've always liked Boat Browser best.

 

[Vegastouch]

The only annoying thing I find in Android, including the high-end devices, is touch input lag. In iOS, there's almost a 1 to 1 response time when it comes to touch. If you scroll or make gestures such as pinch to zoom, it responds precisely with the finger movement.

I've never seen an Android phone with perfect touch response. Always a slight delay between the beginning of the physical action and when it is reflected on the screen.

While it may not seem much, it is noticeable once you're mentally conditioned to instant response time.

Completely disagree with this.

 

[Dontazemebro]

The only annoying thing I find in Android, including the high-end devices, is touch input lag. In iOS, there's almost a 1 to 1 response time when it comes to touch. If you scroll or make gestures such as pinch to zoom, it responds precisely with the finger movement.

I've never seen an Android phone with perfect touch response. Always a slight delay between the beginning of the physical action and when it is reflected on the screen.

While it may not seem much, it is noticeable once you're mentally conditioned to instant response time.

Agreed, although 1:1 in touch screen responsiveness doesn't exist for any device. iOS is more like 1:1.5 while android is 1:2

 

[Vegastouch]

Tell you one thing my S4 does not do well, and it's one of those simple things that rates high on the irritating scale...

Scrolling and zooming when surfing the internet with chrome. It absolutely blows. It's a very chunky and jerky experience compared to browsing on iOS with safari.

The stock GS4 browser is blah but performs well. Chrome is feature rich but has wretched scrolling.

I tried Firefox, dolphin and they all had deal breaking issues that made them poor substitutes for Chrome.

Very annoying issue. Safari is so smooth on iOS, as is Chrome. Why android Chrome can't get this right is anyone's guess.

Well again, your using a skinned Safari browser that is called Chrome on iOS.

 

[Technarchy]

Well again, your using a skinned Safari browser that is called Chrome on iOS.

That is irrelevant.

Edit: I thought Samsung had the smoothest browsing experience with the GS2. It was better than any alternative.

2 years later the GS4 browser still feels the smoothest and best responding browser to me.

 

[T5BRICK]

What browser are you currently using?

I'm running a variant of CM 10.2 and I use the stock, boring AOSP browser.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Completely disagree with this.

Yeah, I just don't see the big deal if I'm scrolling and things drag behind by milliseconds.

In real world use, it's hardly perceptible and entirely acceptable.

----------

Agreed, although 1:1 in touch screen responsiveness doesn't exist for any device. iOS is more like 1:1.5 while android is 1:2

I'm all for screens to continue improving until they're 1:1, but in the meantime, I can definitely live with those numbers.

 

[Dontazemebro]

Yeah, I just don't see the big deal if I'm scrolling and things drag behind by milliseconds.

In real world use, it's hardly perceptible and entirely acceptable.

----------



I'm all for screens to continue improving until they're 1:1, but in the meantime, I can definitely live with those numbers.

It does seem almost negligible but I have perceived a slight difference. Either way, people equating iOS to true 1:1 is absolutely false.

 

[Vegastouch]

That is irrelevant.

Edit: I thought Samsung had the smoothest browsing experience with the GS2. It was better than any alternative.

2 years later the GS4 browser still feels the smoothest and best responding browser to me.

Most of these issues only matter to people in here who care about benchmarks and keep saying Android still lags even if we are talking about a second and even milliseconds. Same with iOS. I used a ip5s the other day and it wasn't immediately responsive and it didn't bother me and won't bother most people who don't hang out in here to critisize such minute things.

 

[verpeiler]

I have a standard (Touchwiz) version. You are wrong.

It does lag. Some people just don't see it... Looks like you're a lucky one ;-)

I've seen all kinds of SGS 2, 3 or 4... They all have these micro stutters and ugly animation lags. The HTC one (even with sense) is nearly lag free; not like an iPhone but almost. Don't get me wrong, I don't say it's unusable, it's IMHO just annoying.

If you're happy with the S4, good for you.

 

[Dontazemebro]

It does lag. Some people just don't see it... Looks like you're a lucky one ;-)

I've seen all kinds of SGS 2, 3 or 4... They all have these micro stutters and ugly animation lags. The HTC one (even with sense) is nearly lag free; not like an iPhone but almost.

If you're happy with the S4, good for you.

Exactly, most people hardly ever notice but if you want to see some stuttering just dive into the call log list and watch how it jerks all over the place. Give it one good flick and you would think it was epileptic

 

[onthecouchagain]

Most of these issues only matter to people in here who care about benchmarks and keep saying Android still lags even if we are talking about a second and even milliseconds.

This is a great point.

I actually didn't care much nor noticed that my iPad 3rd gen lagged or had touchscreen hiccups once in a while, but ever since people kept insisting that iOS is 100% lag-free or 100% responsive, or ever since people started nitpicking the apparent huge gulf of touchscreen difference between the two OS-es, I became more sensitive to it when it did happen on iOS. It was like an ah-ha moment where I couldn't help but be alerted to it each time because it apparently was never supposed to do that.

This is all part of this myth that iOS "just works" that I've always argued was and still is detrimental to iOS and Apple.

 

[appledes7]

Oh my gosh guys, no phone is lag free. Just find a phone you like, try it out, and see if the performance meets your own personal standards.

 

[King Shady]

My S4 with Goldeneye 4.3 is absolutely blazing. Seriously, no noticeable lag at all, and I'm under-clocked to save some juice. This is the smoothest I've ever seen Android. The lag was definitely noticeable back on 4.2.2 TouchWiz though. While TouchWiz has nice camera software and a couple cool features, I'd much rather take 4.3 stock with a clean UI and no junk.

 

[viskon]

To OP- On Android tablets with 4.2.2 and higher , you can create multiple user accounts, each of them with their own login, apps, etc.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Sharing
Customisation
File management
flash support (ability to side load)
Notifications

 

[daveathall]

It does lag. Some people just don't see it... Looks like you're a lucky one ;-)

I agree, what I didn't agree with was your statement that it lags a lot. It may be that I just don't notice it, and if that is the case, for those that don't see it, one could argue that it isn't there.

In fairness, I went into the call log as Dontazemebro suggested and agree there is a more than acceptable lag (stuttering), TBH, I don't often use this feature and don't experience anything like it any where else on my phone, but he is correct, I just never used it before.

 

[Savor]

Android

Strictly from the OS and not OEM. Stock Android advantages over stock iOS -

- Ability to use a file manager

- Ability to save and restore previous versions of apps

- Ability to side load apps

- Ability for apps to communicate to one another

- Ability to Bluetooth transfer with other branded phones (Android has nearly 80% global marketshare which makes this more universal than iOS to iOS ONLY AirDrop)

- Ability to download files or ringtones from within the stock browser

- Ability to have a ringtone for FREE from the Zedge app or wherever without needing to open iTunes to remove it (iOS free ringtone makers still NEEDS iTunes and a computer open to remove it and then add it back again. More steps on iOS.)

- Ability to NOT pay iTunes 99 cents for a 30 second song/ringtone when entire songs can cost less

- Ability to have launchers to lock desktop, change icons, pick the animation, speed, and arrange it the way you want your homescreen and drawer to look like.

- Ability to make better 3rd party apps into default ones

- Apps with the ability to play different video formats (Luckily I had the VLC player when it was briefly avail on iTunes, but I got sick of generally converting to MP4)

- Ability to see a contact photo in the text message or notification area when you get texted (iOS is plainer and uglier)

- Ability to see a contact photo next to their name once you first open the dialer/phone/contact app (iOS still has names listed and you won't see a photo until you tap on a name)

- Apps like No Lock, Screen Off and Lock, Motion Actions, etc that prevents wear and tear on the power button

- Better integration with Google's services (Talkatone is better now on Android than iOS)

- Widgets

- No dependency to organize, add, or delete media content using iTunes (WP was same way with Zune program)

I find it ironic that iPhone began on GSM-technology but they act more like on a more country-binded CDMA-tech meaning more confined using it in a specific area. In this case, iOS to iOS WITHIN Apple's walled-garden. Android acts more GSM meaning more universal. And it is easy to counter iMessages with cross-platform message services like WhatsApp or Viber. The latter even offers free calls on Wi-Fi.

If music and camera is of high priority, then I can see why iPhones have advantages as they are generally more pocket-friendly to carry around to listen, have excellent internal audio, and have had a decent camera sensor since the 4. Gaming isn't high on my list for a phone. Some games kills battery the fastest after 3-4 hrs of screen usage. And I find the differences of many 3rd party apps I have on Android negligible compared to the iOS counterpart like Viber, Flixster, IMDB, Craigslist, SoundHound, or Vevo.

Also, I'm just recently getting into swipe texting using SwiftKey. One-handed texting on a wider phone got much easier for me. SwiftKey and its excellent predictive system pretty much eliminated the uncomfort with one-handed use for a bigger screen phone. I actually made the keyboard into the largest font. So texting on the smaller iPhones and its smaller stock keyboard has become much slower for me to text on recently.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Android

Strictly from the OS and not OEM. Stock Android advantages over stock iOS -

- Ability to use a file manager

- Ability to save and restore previous versions of apps

- Ability to side load apps

- Ability for apps to communicate to one another

- Ability to Bluetooth transfer with other branded phones (Android has nearly 80% global marketshare which makes this more universal than iOS to iOS ONLY AirDrop)

- Ability to download files or ringtones from within the stock browser

- Ability to have a ringtone for FREE from the Zedge app or wherever without needing to open iTunes to remove it (iOS free ringtone makers still NEEDS iTunes and a computer open to remove it and then add it back again. More steps on iOS.)

- Ability to NOT pay iTunes 99 cents for a 30 second song/ringtone when entire songs can cost less

- Ability to have launchers to lock desktop, change icons, pick the animation, speed, and arrange it the way you want your homescreen and drawer to look like.

- Ability to make better 3rd party apps into default ones

- Apps with the ability to play different video formats (Luckily I had the VLC player when it was briefly avail on iTunes, but I got sick of generally converting to MP4)

- Ability to see a contact photo in the text message or notification area when you get texted (iOS is plainer and uglier)

- Ability to see a contact photo next to their name once you first open the dialer/phone/contact app (iOS still has names listed and you won't see a photo until you tap on a name)

- Apps like No Lock, Screen Off and Lock, Motion Actions, etc that prevents wear and tear on the power button

- Better integration with Google's services (Talkatone is better now on Android than iOS)

- Widgets

- No dependency to organize, add, or delete media content using iTunes (WP was same way with Zune program)

I find it ironic that iPhone began on GSM-technology but they act more like on a more country-binded CDMA-tech meaning more confined using it in a specific area. In this case, iOS to iOS WITHIN Apple's walled-garden. Android acts more GSM meaning more universal. And it is easy to counter iMessages with cross-platform message services like WhatsApp or Viber. The latter even offers free calls on Wi-Fi.

If music and camera is of high priority, then I can see why iPhones have advantages as they are generally more pocket-friendly to carry around to listen, have excellent internal audio, and have had a decent camera sensor since the 4. Gaming isn't high on my list for a phone. Some games kills battery the fastest after 3-4 hrs of screen usage. And I find the differences of many 3rd party apps I have on Android negligible compared to the iOS counterpart like Viber, Flixster, IMDB, Craigslist, SoundHound, or Vevo.

Also, I'm just recently getting into swipe texting using SwiftKey. One-handed texting on a wider phone got much easier for me. SwiftKey and its excellent predictive system pretty much eliminated the uncomfort with one-handed use for a bigger screen phone. I actually made the keyboard into the largest font. So texting on the smaller iPhones and its smaller stock keyboard has become much slower for me to text on recently.

Great list -- some that I didn't even think about.

 

[Savor]

Great list -- some that I didn't even think about.

No prob! ;-)

 

[eclipse01]

Oh my gosh guys, no phone is lag free. Just find a phone you like, try it out, and see if the performance meets your own personal standards.

Most flip phones seem lag free