There was once a glorious era when there was always an argument. Which is a better OS? Is it Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. Each of the OSes have their own advantages and as nothing is perfect, their disadvantage. The era has changed now. This question still exists and with Windows 8 coming with Ubuntu creating a version of user-friendly Linux, this question will be present for some time in the future for sure. This question though is now under rubble of another looming question.
Mobile gadgets (be it a phone or a tablet) are now the most important gadgets out there. Subsequently, their OSes which were once neglected have found respect among even the non-tech people. They might not know all the differences but they do know about the current OS war.
Until Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) this question was answered pretty easily. iOS was considered a better OS in many respects. Simplicity especially has always been a forte for Apple and when they launched their first phone, despite its shortcomings, the advantages of owning a device as simple and as powerful as the first iPhone was immense. No wonder it created a whole genre of phones.
With Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) the game began to change. Android had almost certainly won the smartphone war before the launch of ICS. The range (in terms of both price and design) provided by Android beat the single iPhone (I will unabashedly use the metaphor of an alone Neo vs multiple Smiths from the Matrix Reloaded here). The game changed in the sense that Android 4.0 brought a polish to the phone not present before. Google decided to give bigger focus to the UI and overall user experience.
Also, iPhone or iOS has not changed much from earlier. These things mean that the current argument between which smartphone is better- iPhone 5 or Galaxy S3; actually can last very long.
This is what I have been thinking for some time now. Two friends of mine shattered this myth quite comprehensively recently. One of them owns a Macbook Pro and the other and iPhone and an iPad. So, basically, the whole arsenal of Apple to compare with.
The person owning the Macbook pro also has a high end Windows laptop but ask him to compare and he would trash his Windows laptop any day. This laptop is a year younger than the Macbook pro.
My other friend has been a proud owner of two android phones. He is not a tech-geek and thus is basically a regular user. He is all accolades for the iPhone 5. Mind you, his last phone was HTC One X which is no bad phone either. According to him- “The intuitiveness of iOS beats Android all the way.”
This makes me wonder- The reviews are (generally) written by tech geeks. These people might not find Android intimidating at all. I have used Android from 1.6; compared to that 4.0 is heavenly. It is like if I have to go back to give the Xth Board Maths exam, I might not know which is an easy question or which is tough. It does not mean the questions are similar but due to my knowledge appears so.
I wonder if iOS is still far simpler than Android even after all the changes and UI enhancement done by Google. Even if it is not, the user perception (not in market but the users usage perception) still is skewed in Apple’s favor. Whether they squander that advantage or not, only time will tell.
I am not very huge fan of ios. I am still a regular user of Android jelly bean which truly user friendly and I have no reason to migrate to ios. But may be in near future, there are some rumored technologies like augmented glass and flexible display and lots more are going to be the deterministic features which help both operating system to win this battle.
I think both are good in its domain. its up to you what you like among both. Well I like android more as compare to ios. This is really a good comparative stuff by the author.Good one.