Apple or Android as your smartphone or tablet OS?

[Tintin]

iPC seem wedded to apples, and appear to me to be biased against Android, whether for smartphones or tablets.

In the real (non-publishing) world Android outsells Apple.

So I thought it would be worthwhile for a series of polls to gauge preferences amongst YB Forumites, and maybe iPC will use the results in their mags for an article on "The Great Divide".

Other polls here (use it for) and here (do you use them for boating).

 

[elton]

Many large organisations target Apple because they can publish an app which will run on any Apple device. I recently visited a company that develops for both platforms, and they have a huge and varied collection of Android devices in the office, just for testing new apps.

 

[Sandy]

I don't like Apples, over priced bits of kit in my opinion, but I'm just an engineer.

 

[Flying Penguin]

Many large organisations target Apple because they can publish an app which will run on any Apple device. I recently visited a company that develops for both platforms, and they have a huge and varied collection of Android devices in the office, just for testing new apps.

And there's the rub. Does it make financial sense to develop for each combination of Android/hardware? I don't know whether the number stack up, especially considering that the bulk of Android installs will be a diverse array of smart phones, each with their own quirks and customisations.

I develop for iOS, I have a small set of hardware/OS combinatons to test for, I go to Android and it rapidly balloons.

At the tablet level, who buys what? Walk through any commuter train going in or out of London (a non scientific method I admit, but as near to a concentrated bunch of likely IPC customers as you'll get in one place) and count the number of tablets, it's definitely an iOS dominated market, whatever the absolute number of installs. It wouldn't seem that unreasonable a jump for IPC to decide that their target market are probably iOS fans more than Android and develop for that.

 

[island163]

A company I work with developed a news app for iOS and for Android, the iOS one outsells the Android one about ten to one. Both app versions get equal prominence on the news website.

 

[prv]

And there's the rub. Does it make financial sense to develop for each combination of Android/hardware? I don't know whether the number stack up, especially considering that the bulk of Android installs will be a diverse array of smart phones, each with their own quirks and customisations.

...and increasingly old and unsupported versions of it, apparently:

http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support

Pete

 

[r_h]

Many large organisations target Apple because they can publish an app which will run on any Apple device. I recently visited a company that develops for both platforms, and they have a huge and varied collection of Android devices in the office, just for testing new apps.

Magazines can be faced with similar problems if they want to test apps on Android devices -- it means testing an Android version that represents 10-30 per cent of the market can take far more time than the iOS one that accounts for 70-90% of total sales. And even then you don't know what it will actually look like on many readers' devices.

 

[sigmasailor]

You know what the 'problem' is with Apple? It works and you forget you have an OS.

 

[lustyd]

Apple users are far more likely to pay for an app so Apple is the commercialy sensible platform to code for.

 

[wizard]

So where is the Symbian option then?

 

[sigmasailor]

Isn't that some sort of toy?

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Just about all the responses clearly show that many people simply don't understand Android at all but unfortunately think they do. Android is not unsupported in earlier versions at all. The hardware on which it runs may be no longer supported in some cases and the carrier may no longer be providing upgrades to the later releases of Android but that has nothing to do with the ability to run apps or support for the OS.

Just like iOS or any other operating System, applications are written with a particular release level and hardware functionality in mind. Any app written for Android 2.1 will run perfectly on an Android 4.1 tablet within the limits of the hardware and functionality spec (it may not support a very high resolution, etc.). Likewise any app written today could, if correctly coded, run under anything from Android 2.1 to Android 4.1. given that the hardware can do what is needed (does it have GPS, enough memory, etc.).

Android is absolutely no different to iOS, Windows Mobile, Linux Distro's, other UNIX flavours, Windows Server, even MVS, in this respect.

Neither iOS nor Android apps are subject to through testing for compatibility - to do so you'd have to have every piece of hardware, every release and, critically, every carrier's mods to each release. It just doesn't happen.

 

[Seven Spades]

I have an iPhone and an Android tablet. I can find the same apps for both devices in many cases but without exception they look better on the iPhone. I don't know why, perhaps Apple is strict about the way they are coded but well known branded products do not format well on Android with all sorts of disjoints. Many apps are not available on Android, and many things just don't work well at all. For example:-

Android seems to have trouble knowing where my digit was aiming for, no such trouble in the tiny iPhone screen, why?

I have not found a decent mail client on Android for those if us with multiple email addresses and IMAP and POP. There are a couple but they are clumsy and you have to press send and receive... The iPhone has instant email again I don't understand why but it just works that way.

I have huge browsing problems on Android with many buttons on website not working. My Android device cannot do Skype video, apparently I need the next version of Android, but I cannot upgrade and I have to wait for the manufacturer of the tablet to release it(Why should he I have already bought the tablet and doing upgrades costs money and may impact new sales...)

Lastly I have been working on epub documents for my business and if you email an epub document to an iOS device as soon as you click it, it opens and adds it to your library. In the default email client on Android "Email" it does not know what an epub is and asks you to install an app that supports epub, so I downloaded all the epub readers from the Android app store (Market place). Then I click on the doc, no good still claims not helper!. So I decide to save the file and do a "File Open", only there is no option to save attachments in "Email". Crazy as it sounds that is it. the readers are not recognised and helpers to the .epub format and you cannot save the attachment. As a proof of the exercise I uploaded my epub doc to the web and then downloaded it using a browser on the tablet and then saved it. Then I could open it with all the epub readers no problem. This is a stupid problem, computers should not work like this, it should be easy and seamless. iOs is just that.

I have no axe to grind but not even my kids want to touch the tablet anymore it is too frustrating. We don't have an ipad so that tells you something about Android, if the kids don't want to know because there is an iPad around that is one thing but when they don't what to know when it is the only thing in town it says it all.

Android is doomed because no one is controlling it and "Owning" it. Consequently there are lots of different flavours many of which cannot be upgraded, each one works slightly differently. The apps don't work well together. In short its failure is guaranteed by it raison dêtra. The very thing that people hate about Apple is the very thing that makes it work so well. Apple have strong rules they control everything and everything seems to work. The iPad seems very overpriced compared to its rivals.

Apple desktop computers are like energy saving bulbs, they cost more to buy but save money in the long run, why because they just keep on going. I have recently replaced all the computers in my business and the last lot were bought in 2000. I have then sold the old computers for about £150 each on ebay! The replacements will last at least another 10 years and I have never bought any anti-virus software for them.

 

[Monique]

Isn't that some sort of toy?

Presume you'll tell us about MILFs now?

 

[armchairsailor]

I never realised there were "different" looking andoid os's until I got another brand of phone running android last week. Now I find I'm yearning to upgrade to the latest software to try and make it run like my old HTC. That wasn't a perfect phone by any means, but it wasn't an Apple. Yes, I know they work brilliantly, have amazing attention to detail c/o the late CEO and look sexy as hell, but I fundamentally objected to the huge market share that Apple had and how you "had" to go through the istore or whatever bloody i it was.

The android platform at least appears to be a serious competitor and due to its organisation of techy-ness and freeform development, appears to the the anarchist as opposed to the dictatorship of the i. I think that android does potentially offer more in the way of customisability that Apple doesn't, unless you go in for some pretty serious hacking, much in the same way that PCs did/do.

I don't know if I can ever bring myself to bow the comformity that Apple products seem to require of their users, but I have to admit that they do do the best products. Maybe we'll look back on this in 10 years and chuckle, as our iphones and androids run each others software and we still pay our money and take our choices.

I'm certainly looking forward to dumping this xperia though.

 

[zikzik]

I bought my first Apple product, an imac, in 1999, before Apple was 'cool'. I have bought hundreds since including ipads and iphones. They are expensive, but they work. I haven't used an android device yet nor a win pc for years. The reason I don't need to look at them is because the Apple stuff just works. No anti virus stuff on a single machine or device incidentally.

 

[Simondjuk]

Android seems to have trouble knowing where my digit was aiming for, no such trouble in the tiny iPhone screen, why? No problem with this at all on my HTC phone. I suspect your hardware is to blame. What make is the tablet?

I have not found a decent mail client on Android for those if us with multiple email addresses and IMAP and POP. There are a couple but they are clumsy and you have to press send and receive... The iPhone has instant email again I don't understand why but it just works that way. The native HTC app does what you mention and just works without pressing any buttons.

I have huge browsing problems on Android with many buttons on website not working. My Android device cannot do Skype video, apparently I need the next version of Android, but I cannot upgrade and I have to wait for the manufacturer of the tablet to release it(Why should he I have already bought the tablet and doing upgrades costs money and may impact new sales...) Not yet found a button which won't work. Not tried Skype video to be fair.


Lastly I have been working on epub documents for my business and if you email an epub document to an iOS device as soon as you click it, it opens and adds it to your library. In the default email client on Android "Email" it does not know what an epub is and asks you to install an app that supports epub, so I downloaded all the epub readers from the Android app store (Market place). Then I click on the doc, no good still claims not helper!. So I decide to save the file and do a "File Open", only there is no option to save attachments in "Email". Crazy as it sounds that is it. the readers are not recognised and helpers to the .epub format and you cannot save the attachment. As a proof of the exercise I uploaded my epub doc to the web and then downloaded it using a browser on the tablet and then saved it. Then I could open it with all the epub readers no problem. This is a stupid problem, computers should not work like this, it should be easy and seamless. iOs is just that.I've no idea what an epub document even is, but if I find one I'll try to open it and see what happens.

I have no axe to grind but not even my kids want to touch the tablet anymore it is too frustrating. We don't have an ipad so that tells you something about Android, if the kids don't want to know because there is an iPad around that is one thing but when they don't what to know when it is the only thing in town it says it all. I think you have a duffer. My phone is just as functional as an iPad, even if the keyboard and screen are smaller.

Android is doomed because no one is controlling it and "Owning" it. Consequently there are lots of different flavours many of which cannot be upgraded, each one works slightly differently. The apps don't work well together. In short its failure is guaranteed by it raison dêtra. The very thing that people hate about Apple is the very thing that makes it work so well. Apple have strong rules they control everything and everything seems to work. I've yet to find an app I can't run.

I've tried all but the latest iPhone at upgrade time and always sent them back due to the lack of features. The first one didn't even have GPS or the ability cut and paste. iStuff is mostly a triumph of marketing and style over substance and functionality in my experience. Android just works for me.

 

[BrendanS]

I've tried all but the latest iPhone at upgrade time and always sent them back due to the lack of features. The first one didn't even have GPS or the ability cut and paste. Android just works for me.

Ever thought about checking what features you want before hand, rather than wasting other peoples time. Just a thought. GPS and cut and paste have been on them for quite some time now by the way.

 

[dunedin]

As ever, each to their preferences - and back to the OP point yes the Apple market is a big one but not the majority of the market.

Having both Samsung 10.1 tablet on Android Honeycomb and iPad on iOS I personally much prefer the Samsung / Android - and much much fewer problems with website compatibility than on Apple

But undoubtedly if Apps are your thing far more and better ones for the Apple world - not a big deal for me provided have Navionics

 

[Simondjuk]

Ever thought about checking what features you want before hand, rather than wasting other peoples time. Just a thought. GPS and cut and paste have been on them for quite some time now by the way.

Since we had left the dark ages some time previously even at the time of the launch of the iPhone 1, I didn't think it necessary to check if the apparent new wonder toy had ultra-cutting edge functionality like GPS, MMS and the mythical new creation, 'cut and paste'.

What you call wasting people's time is actually known as a service. Sometimes, if there's something new and different to be tried, I send 3 or 4 phones back before I keep one at upgrade time and Orange are quite happy with that. Heck, they even pay the return postage.