Apple or Android as your smartphone or tablet OS?

[BrendanS]

It takes seconds to compare the features you want with what is on offer. iPhone 1 is history. Bit like comparing Model T Ford with a modern car, and saying it didn't have airbags

 

[Simondjuk]

Believe it or not, 'No cut and paste functionality' was not listed in the iPhone lack of specifications list, and hence impossible to check for. I had to use the phone to find out it was missing. It got returned the next day.

Yes, the iPhone 1 is history. In fact, it was pretty historical even on the day it was launched. I have tried later iPhones. One of them had a rather fundamental flaw in that it was pretty useless when it came to making telephone calls. Call me old fashioned, but that ability is something I find convenient in a phone. Another return.

It's not just iStuff though. One of the phones I returned last upgrade, or perhaps the one before, was a Windows Phone 7 OS job. That was truly awful. Like an OS by Fisher Price. Again, it was not possible to experience and appreciate the direness of this device without having it and using it. Hence, yet another return.

As for the Model T Ford analogy, it doesn't stand up since the time line is inverse. I tried the iPhone 1 after two Nokia Symbians and an HTC running Windows Mobile. All three had GPS, MMS and even cut and paste, yet were used by me in the 3 years prior to the iPhones launch. So if the iPhone was the Model T, I was comparing it to the various evolutions of the cart and horse, yet still it failed to measure up.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

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.

I don't know what you're doing but you've got a fundamental problem somewhere. The native Android mail app is fine with multiple mail accounts as are most of the third-party email clients an synching mail boxes is fully customisable.

Browsing is absolutely fine - a huge improvement on my iPhone when I switched from the 3G s few years ago. I also have a range of browsers installed which help me overcome the issues with reading a full-size web page on a smaller screen. Having compared the iPad 2 with my Asus I'd say Apple have caught apart from Flash of course. It may not matter to some but there are plenty of sites I need that are unreadable without it.

Upgrading to the next level of Android or iOS is an interesting one - people forget to compare Apple to the manufacturers of the hardware and compare to Google instead. It's down to the carrier and the H/W manufacturer to decide when an whether they upgrade. I've found Dell absolutely atrocious for OS support whereas Asus have been superb. However, if I really had problems with the Dell I could always use a custom ROM. I shouldn't have to but the option gives me much more flexibility and a degree of assurance.

I have no idea what's going on with your ePub email thing either. I've just tried to read a few on my Dell (running Android 2.3). I downloaded an ePub book and sent it to myself via email. At first the Dell just wouldn't open the attachment (gave me a message to the effect it didn't recognise it). I downloaded the first ePub reader I came to in the market that had a good number of decent reviews and it worked fine. Android asked me if I wanted to set the app as the default viewer for ePubs and it all just worked (sound familiar?).

The "problem" with everything looking different (in quotes as I'm not sure it's a problem - do you want everything to be the same?) is being addressed by Google, who have introduced a design guide and insist that an app has the option to allow the use of the default Android interface design. I'm undecided whether that's progress or not.

As for Apple desktops being cheaper - you're almost unique in the industry if you find that. I'd struggle to calculate how much it would cost to replace our VDI with Mac's and OSX - even Wintel laptops are cheaper. That's true at enterprise and branch level we find. We did run a small Mac/OS environment for a while some time back as the Italian (who else) stock exchange had a product that only ran under Mac/OS. Cost a small fortune and the Italians quickly migrated the product.

It's all down to personal experiences - I find Android is better at most of the things I want to do than iOS and I don't like the screen size on the iPhone. I can read and type texts and email on my Dell (5" screen) without glasses and I can't on the iPhone realistically. I have to say the majority of devs I know that are both iOS and Android say Android is the better and easier one to develop in though. Others would no doubt disagree though....

 

[pandroid]

Apple vs Android

Its simple. Android is for those unfortunate folks who cant afford an iOS phone.

 

[Simondjuk]

Since they both cost me exactly nothing, it's a case of Apple not being able to give it away.

 

[Supine Being]

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

MVS! Now you're talking. Which phone is running that? I'm looking forward to coding a piece of JCL in order to get at my phone contacts

 

[Seven Spades]

I don't know what you're doing but you've got a fundamental problem somewhere. The native Android mail app is fine with multiple mail accounts as are most of the third-party email clients an synching mail boxes is fully customisable.

Browsing is absolutely fine - a huge improvement on my iPhone when I switched from the 3G s few years ago. I also have a range of browsers installed which help me overcome the issues with reading a full-size web page on a smaller screen. Having compared the iPad 2 with my Asus I'd say Apple have caught apart from Flash of course. It may not matter to some but there are plenty of sites I need that are unreadable without it.

Upgrading to the next level of Android or iOS is an interesting one - people forget to compare Apple to the manufacturers of the hardware and compare to Google instead. It's down to the carrier and the H/W manufacturer to decide when an whether they upgrade. I've found Dell absolutely atrocious for OS support whereas Asus have been superb. However, if I really had problems with the Dell I could always use a custom ROM. I shouldn't have to but the option gives me much more flexibility and a degree of assurance.

I have no idea what's going on with your ePub email thing either. I've just tried to read a few on my Dell (running Android 2.3). I downloaded an ePub book and sent it to myself via email. At first the Dell just wouldn't open the attachment (gave me a message to the effect it didn't recognise it). I downloaded the first ePub reader I came to in the market that had a good number of decent reviews and it worked fine. Android asked me if I wanted to set the app as the default viewer for ePubs and it all just worked (sound familiar?).

The "problem" with everything looking different (in quotes as I'm not sure it's a problem - do you want everything to be the same?) is being addressed by Google, who have introduced a design guide and insist that an app has the option to allow the use of the default Android interface design. I'm undecided whether that's progress or not.

As for Apple desktops being cheaper - you're almost unique in the industry if you find that. I'd struggle to calculate how much it would cost to replace our VDI with Mac's and OSX - even Wintel laptops are cheaper. That's true at enterprise and branch level we find. We did run a small Mac/OS environment for a while some time back as the Italian (who else) stock exchange had a product that only ran under Mac/OS. Cost a small fortune and the Italians quickly migrated the product.

It's all down to personal experiences - I find Android is better at most of the things I want to do than iOS and I don't like the screen size on the iPhone. I can read and type texts and email on my Dell (5" screen) without glasses and I can't on the iPhone realistically. I have to say the majority of devs I know that are both iOS and Android say Android is the better and easier one to develop in though. Others would no doubt disagree though....

Well I am not doing anything to the Email application, I do have both pop and IMAP, but there is no way to save attachments and it refuses to recognise any epub applications as epub helpers. I am very computer literate and if I can' get it to work goodness knows how most of the public are. You obviously have a newer version of Andriod than is installed on this "new at Christmas" tablet this one is running 3.1.05.5.0006

If you want to see how good the browser on Android is go to www.johnlewis.com and compare it to an iPad.

We used to run PC's and every now and again I would get a phone call that someone's machine was going slow and unusable. I would have to re-load windows from scratch, try to find the correct drivers for every component often the ones that came with the computer would not be compatible with the latest version of windows. It would almost take a day out of my fife to re-load a computer from scratch and re-configure. Contrast that with the macs which lasted 9 years without need for replacement, which do not get viruses, which do not start going slower and slower from the day they are installed and hardly every need re-booting. But the best I have left for last, once I install a Mac I never have to go back to sort anything out, I have zero maintenance time. The hardware does cost more but they last so long and to be perfectly honest time is money and the Macs do not require any of my time. I am sure that the total cost of ownership is much lower. Mac/OS was a previous OS from at least 10 years ago and has no place in this discussion as you are not comparing it to DOS.

I have nothing against the tablet I have it is just that it is horrid because it is not much good at what it is supposed to do. Your Android machine may be better supported than mine and it may work for you but lots of people will have the same problems I have and worse. One of the things I like about my tablet is it has things like an sdcard reader built in. However have you seen the directory structure of Android AAGH it looks like Linux lots of meaningless directories called things like .android_secure .yesmobee video videos etc etc when you are trying to open a file it is a nightmare trying to find where it has been saved to. Most of these directories should be hidden and should not show up in applications. The user experience is horrid.

I am not a "Mac fanboy" I have installed PC's Macs then PC's again and now Mac's again. There is no doubt that the Macs are better in all departments apart form initial cost. In the old days software support was lacking but now that really is not the case. Even corporate software is being ported to the Macs. I think that we will see a huge uptake in corporate use as more enterprise software becomes Mac compatible.

 

[lustyd]

Its simple. Android is for those unfortunate folks who cant afford an iOS phone.

That's probably true. The fandroids are always very angry and shouty towards apple users so presumably it is jealousy.

 

[truscott]

MVS! Now you're talking. Which phone is running that? I'm looking forward to coding a piece of JCL in order to get at my phone contacts

Well.... http://www.mochasoft.dk/iphone_tn3270.htm has the 3270 emulator but so far, no one has tried to port Hercules to the iPhone as far as I am aware. Given the size of my zOS environment, I'm not sure that there'd be much room left for my tunes and vid's afterwards either!

As far as JCL to get your phone contacts, that's easy enough (IKJEFT01 can easily run an FTP command to GET your Outlook PST file (if for example that is where you've stored your contacts)), but what are you going to do with them once you've got them into MVS?

Honestly, if you want to define what it is you want to do, I'm happy to have a crack at it for you.

PT

 

[Supine Being]

Well.... http://www.mochasoft.dk/iphone_tn3270.htm has the 3270 emulator but so far, no one has tried to port Hercules to the iPhone as far as I am aware. Given the size of my zOS environment, I'm not sure that there'd be much room left for my tunes and vid's afterwards either!

As far as JCL to get your phone contacts, that's easy enough (IKJEFT01 can easily run an FTP command to GET your Outlook PST file (if for example that is where you've stored your contacts)), but what are you going to do with them once you've got them into MVS?

Honestly, if you want to define what it is you want to do, I'm happy to have a crack at it for you.

PT

Well look at that - it makes a smartphone look like a proper computer. Trouble is, there's all that new-fangled stuff underneath.

What would I do it the contacts list on MVS? Why, select one and send it to the line printer by the telephone operator, who would then call the number and transfer it to me, of course.

 

[dedwards]

Seven Spades,

I use the k-9 email client and am happy with it. But I admit, the only attachments I've tried to use are pictures and PDFs.

I thought Skype video worked fine on android 3.1. You have to go into skype's settings and manually enable video (There seems to be a bug in the app where we had to first disable it and re-enable it before it worked).

IMO the biggest 'problem' with android is that you can buy cheap hardware. If you want an experience that competes with apple then you have to buy an android that costs the same amount of money.

 

[Seven Spades]

I will try that. I Googled the problem and the answer that came up was that I needed to upgrade Android (I Can't) but I will give it a try, at the moment I only get a green screen.

 

[KevB]

That's probably true. The fandroids are always very angry and shouty towards apple users so presumably it is jealousy.

Macs are generally used by people who are not very technical and hope owning a mac will make them 'hip'. I know I manage 379 mac's and 3600 pc's

 

[Seven Spades]

That's a very sweeping statement. A computer it a tool to do a job, if you need to be technical to use it, it isn't very well designed.

 

[sigmasailor]

That's a very sweeping statement. A computer it a tool to do a job, if you need to be technical to use it, it isn't very well designed.

Agreed; it brings me back to my initial comment: you simply use Ixxx's and forget that there even is something like an OS or Apps; it simply works! This is from someone who has been using PC's for 25 years.

 

[Flying Penguin]

That's a very sweeping statement. A computer it a tool to do a job, if you need to be technical to use it, it isn't very well designed.

+1

 

[TopDonkey]

Macs are generally used by people who are not very technical and hope owning a mac will make them 'hip'. I know I manage 379 mac's and 3600 pc's

Thats actually pretty close to the truth, I work in IT and see a lot of IT admin people that are tech savvy, and i would say 90% of them have Android phones nowdays, whereas the apple stuff, iphones and ipads are generally consigned to wives and daughters that just want something simple and easy to use and dont need all the bells and whistles that Android offers.

I gave my old Iphone 3gs to my girlfriend last year and she was delighted with it, she said it was much better than her old blackberry, but when she has a play with my new android phone, she thinks its too complicated to use and prefers the simpler Iphone

 

[snooks]

Android V Apple - My take on it all.......

Android:

Android applications are written in the Java programming language. The Android SDK tools compile the code—along with any data and resource files—into an Android package, an archive file with an .apk suffix. All the code in a single .apk file is considered to be one application and is the file that Android-powered devices use to install the application.

Once installed on a device, each Android application lives in its own security sandbox:

The Android operating system is a multi-user Linux system in which each application is a different user.
By default, the system assigns each application a unique Linux user ID (the ID is used only by the system and is unknown to the application). The system sets permissions for all the files in an application so that only the user ID assigned to that application can access them.
Each process has its own virtual machine (VM), so an application's code runs in isolation from other applications.
By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application's components need to be executed, then shuts down the process when it's no longer needed or when the system must recover memory for other applications.

In this way, the Android system implements the principle of least privilege. That is, each application, by default, has access only to the components that it requires to do its work and no more. This creates a very secure environment in which an application cannot access parts of the system for which it is not given permission.

However, there are ways for an application to share data with other applications and for an application to access system services:

It's possible to arrange for two applications to share the same Linux user ID, in which case they are able to access each other's files. To conserve system resources, applications with the same user ID can also arrange to run in the same Linux process and share the same VM (the applications must also be signed with the same certificate).
An application can request permission to access device data such as the user's contacts, SMS messages, the mountable storage (SD card), camera, Bluetooth, and more. All application permissions must be granted by the user at install time.

That covers the basics regarding how an Android application exists within the system. The rest of this document introduces you to:

The core framework components that define your application.
The manifest file in which you declare components and required device features for your application.
Resources that are separate from the application code and allow your application to gracefully optimize its behavior for a variety of device configurations.

Apple:

Technical stuff you don't need to worry about

Some people are technical, some aren't

 

[colingr]

snooks that's a bit disingenuous. You are comparing developing for android with using an iphone/pad/pod.

You could say something similar comparing developing for an iphone in C++ and using an android phone.

Like all things which one you choose is down to preference. I've got no beef with either camp. I make my choices on what I want to do.

 

[KevB]

That's a very sweeping statement. A computer it a tool to do a job, if you need to be technical to use it, it isn't very well designed.

Just because it's a sweeping statement doesn't make less true. In my experience which is currently 27 years in IT, pc / android users are more technically aware than mac / ios users. Maybe it's because they have to be?
maybe it's because mac's are a one stop shop where as PC's / android users have more places to 'shop' around and therefore more aware?