Android and iPhone Sitting in a Tree...
There's all this noise about who hates who and why they hate them and why the other OS sucks.
Well, I have an HTC One and an iPhone 5. The HTC One is through work and the iPhone is my personal device.
I love both of them.
I hate both of them.
Here's why...
In terms of simplicity and ease of use, the iPhone kills Android. I don't the word of other techies like me on this - in that instance, either one is pretty easy to figure out. What I've done is talk to people as well as attempt to look at both systems from the perspective of a non-techie. The reason that many tinkerer types don't like iOS is the reason that I would recommend it to many people of a non-tech inclination. It's easy. It really is "Point and touch."
The settings are laid out in an easy to understand pattern and everything is easily explained. Barring that, you can go to your local Apple Store and receive free training on your device.
Android, on the other hand, is a little less simple to figure out. You have widgets and desktop backgrounds and apps that don't display on any of your pages until you put them there. I have seen this cause great confusion for users who aren't tech savvy or I've seen these users not make use of all the potential in their phones and I've seen them get frustrated trying to figure out the settings and what some it means.
While Apple's iOS desktop can get cluttered with apps, Android can get cluttered with Apps, widgets and notifications along the top. I still don't know what all the symbols mean on the top of my HTC One, but as long as it works, I'm not overly concerned about them.
App clutter seems to be something that's more tolerable for users, while seeing a bunch of weird symbols along the top of your phone makes some people nervous or confused (again, non-tech oriented people).
Interface aside, what I have found recently is that apps on Android phones tend to be better than apps on iPhones. HOWEVER, apps on iPads are far superior to apps on Android tablets. My personal belief on this is that this is because of all the different sized tablets out there for Android and most Android Tablet apps are nothing more than scaled up phone applications. This is a serious downside for Android and one that Google must try and remedy as quickly as possible or they will continue to lose developers.
Yes, Apple does have a much larger and more robust App store, but the the big apps are all cross platform - Evernote, OneNote, Financial Institution Software, many of the major release games and so forth. The big difference here is that Apple has higher quality exclusive titles like the Infinity Blade series. I haven't seen the same type of quality from independent developers on Android.
Here's my hypothesis on why there's less quality in Android independent titles, and I'm going to place the blame on the users. Android users want everything for free. Many of them feel as though they somehow deserve these things at no cost. The reality is that coding even a simple game is very time consuming and labor intensive. Not only is there the aspect of writing the code, you have to have all the artwork to go with the game, so generally it's at least two people putting together a title - there are exceptions, of course.
When these small shops are developing and they have only One or Two display formats to code for (iPhone and/or iPad - iPad Mini and iPad Air have the same resolution) then it's a far easier coding strategy. When you have to make something scalable (as Google suggests) it becomes more difficult. Then, when people aren't paying for your App, it gets frustrating. As a developer, you're much more likely to make some folding cash on Apple's App Store.
One of the biggest reasons I like my HTC One over my iPhone (for work) is the fact that everything I need to know is on my home page. I don't have to leap into each app to see what's going on, I simply check my home screen and if I need to delve deeper into something then I can go straight from that widget. My calendar and email are both right there for me to glance at. No jumping into apps or scrolling through a notification center that's poorly developed (sorry Apple).
On the flip side, the main reason I like my iPhone over my HTC One for personal use is that I'm a Mac User (again) and EVERYTHING syncs up between my iMac, MacBook Air and iPhone. There is literally no action I need to take after initial setup.
People will argue that Google Drive and Google Docs does the same thing with Android, which is great if you like to use Google Docs, but I can't stand their applications. They're handy because they allow for easy sharing (another reason the HTC One is so great at work), but I don't like the interface in the least.
I also have yet to find an office suite that syncs up as well between devices as Apple's iWork. I can pick up where I left off writing a document on my iMac, then switch to my MacBook Air and jump onto my iPhone later for some punch ups.
Here's the other thing I've found iOS does better than Android, and that's actually creating content. I'm not talking Office Suite Documents, though Keynote through Apple is better than any other presentation software on the market right now, I'm talking photos, sketches, digital paintings and more. This is especially true on the iPad over the Android Tablets. So if you're the artistic type, the iPad is definitely the way to go.
Well, I have an HTC One and an iPhone 5. The HTC One is through work and the iPhone is my personal device.
I love both of them.
I hate both of them.
Here's why...
In terms of simplicity and ease of use, the iPhone kills Android. I don't the word of other techies like me on this - in that instance, either one is pretty easy to figure out. What I've done is talk to people as well as attempt to look at both systems from the perspective of a non-techie. The reason that many tinkerer types don't like iOS is the reason that I would recommend it to many people of a non-tech inclination. It's easy. It really is "Point and touch."
The settings are laid out in an easy to understand pattern and everything is easily explained. Barring that, you can go to your local Apple Store and receive free training on your device.
Android, on the other hand, is a little less simple to figure out. You have widgets and desktop backgrounds and apps that don't display on any of your pages until you put them there. I have seen this cause great confusion for users who aren't tech savvy or I've seen these users not make use of all the potential in their phones and I've seen them get frustrated trying to figure out the settings and what some it means.
While Apple's iOS desktop can get cluttered with apps, Android can get cluttered with Apps, widgets and notifications along the top. I still don't know what all the symbols mean on the top of my HTC One, but as long as it works, I'm not overly concerned about them.
App clutter seems to be something that's more tolerable for users, while seeing a bunch of weird symbols along the top of your phone makes some people nervous or confused (again, non-tech oriented people).
Interface aside, what I have found recently is that apps on Android phones tend to be better than apps on iPhones. HOWEVER, apps on iPads are far superior to apps on Android tablets. My personal belief on this is that this is because of all the different sized tablets out there for Android and most Android Tablet apps are nothing more than scaled up phone applications. This is a serious downside for Android and one that Google must try and remedy as quickly as possible or they will continue to lose developers.
Yes, Apple does have a much larger and more robust App store, but the the big apps are all cross platform - Evernote, OneNote, Financial Institution Software, many of the major release games and so forth. The big difference here is that Apple has higher quality exclusive titles like the Infinity Blade series. I haven't seen the same type of quality from independent developers on Android.
Here's my hypothesis on why there's less quality in Android independent titles, and I'm going to place the blame on the users. Android users want everything for free. Many of them feel as though they somehow deserve these things at no cost. The reality is that coding even a simple game is very time consuming and labor intensive. Not only is there the aspect of writing the code, you have to have all the artwork to go with the game, so generally it's at least two people putting together a title - there are exceptions, of course.
When these small shops are developing and they have only One or Two display formats to code for (iPhone and/or iPad - iPad Mini and iPad Air have the same resolution) then it's a far easier coding strategy. When you have to make something scalable (as Google suggests) it becomes more difficult. Then, when people aren't paying for your App, it gets frustrating. As a developer, you're much more likely to make some folding cash on Apple's App Store.
One of the biggest reasons I like my HTC One over my iPhone (for work) is the fact that everything I need to know is on my home page. I don't have to leap into each app to see what's going on, I simply check my home screen and if I need to delve deeper into something then I can go straight from that widget. My calendar and email are both right there for me to glance at. No jumping into apps or scrolling through a notification center that's poorly developed (sorry Apple).
On the flip side, the main reason I like my iPhone over my HTC One for personal use is that I'm a Mac User (again) and EVERYTHING syncs up between my iMac, MacBook Air and iPhone. There is literally no action I need to take after initial setup.
People will argue that Google Drive and Google Docs does the same thing with Android, which is great if you like to use Google Docs, but I can't stand their applications. They're handy because they allow for easy sharing (another reason the HTC One is so great at work), but I don't like the interface in the least.
I also have yet to find an office suite that syncs up as well between devices as Apple's iWork. I can pick up where I left off writing a document on my iMac, then switch to my MacBook Air and jump onto my iPhone later for some punch ups.
Here's the other thing I've found iOS does better than Android, and that's actually creating content. I'm not talking Office Suite Documents, though Keynote through Apple is better than any other presentation software on the market right now, I'm talking photos, sketches, digital paintings and more. This is especially true on the iPad over the Android Tablets. So if you're the artistic type, the iPad is definitely the way to go.
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