rocketpig said:
You betray your own allegiances with posts like this. Android is not "miles ahead" of iOS. It has some nice features that iOS is lacking (Apple really needs to do something about their UI and its static icons). iOS also has some nice features that Android has been lacking. Jelly Bean finally added a decent voice activation system to compete with Siri but Apple was ahead for over a year there. Apple is releasing Passbook, which could be an interesting method of payment going forward (assuming it gains traction with retailers). There are a lot of little things that differentiate the operating systems. Saying one is "better" is absurd because not everybody wants to use a phone just like you. Apple's strength is also its weakness. A closed ecosystem means better support for both software and hardware. It means more stable apps. It means more developer support because of the limited testing and hardware needed to make an app. On the other hand, it also means "if you don't like the iPhone, go find another OS". It means "if Apple doesn't like your app store submission, you're screwed". Each system has their benefits and each system has their negatives. It's not so clear cut as to declare a "winner". It's all about what YOU want to do with the device and what you expect from it. Android has a quite lengthy list of flaws itself, starting with the "why doesn't my phone get an OS upgrade?" question. Google has a long road in front of it as it tries to repair its quickly fragmenting ecosystem and it's enough to make users like me leave the ecosystem entirely. I don't need my phone to do everything and the kitchen sink with options. I just want the thing to do a few simple tasks and that's that. Right now, iOS is a better solution for me and that's why I'm (somewhat grudgingly) returning to that ecosystem after owning an Android phone. And I'm not claiming that Google sat on their hands for two years, waiting for Apple to release their device. I'm saying that they had a full 18 months to see what Apple was doing and alter their path slightly to copy what iOS did right. The end result was an operating system that looked a hell of a lot like iOS. Does that mean Apple should sue them? Hell no. Screw Apple and these lawsuits, they're ridiculous. Does that mean Apple should be a little miffed that one of their partners (who surely saw early prototypes of the iPhone long before the public announcement) blatantly hitched their wagon to their train? Yeah, I'd be a little pissed about that myself. |
My allegiances? Whatever do you mean?
Android has a lot of features that iOS is lacking. I honestly can't think of a single thing iOS has that Android didn't since 2.3. Don't give me Siri and all that, because you could get voice software from the market. Siri is just a voice recognition software hooked up to Wolfram Alpha. And, honestly, that's not as big of a deal as people claim. Everyone I know who has a 4S played with Siri for a day, then never used it again. No exceptions. When I get Jellybean myself, I'll certainly play with the voice commander for a bit, then never touch it again. It just isn't useful. Plus, these speech analyzers suck. Siri has no idea what you're talking at least half of the time. Jellybean's (official Google search app) is apparently better at this, but it's still not perfect, and, like I said, even if it were perfect, nobody would use it, because it's not useful.
You're the master of misquotation it seems. I purposefully did not say "better". I said "more powerful", meaning Gingerbread can do everything iOS5 can, and then some. I understand that the two systems have adopted substantially different paradigms, but I have a problem with neither: I have never said that I was against closed or open ecosystems.
I'll give you the nod with the Android fragmentation issue. Although that can be easily fixed with custom ROMs. I understand some people don't want to do that though, and, thus, we have the problem. This problem, it must be noted, is the result of the open nature of Android. Google surrendered control to the manufacturers and carriers; Nexus devices themselves get the updates ridiculously quickly. But it's also not true that Apple has a perfect solution. I know people whose 3GS phones became incredibly slow and laggy once the iOS5 update rolled in.
I already admitted that Google took some inspiration from Apple. Even still, the original iPhone and Android's UIs were noticeably different. In fact, Android looked more like desktop operating system, with its homescreens and widgets. Is that a wrong practice? Hell no. Everyone does it, and everyone benefits. "Borrow and improve." Sounds good, doesn't it? Steve Jobs himself said that, "We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
We agree on the bolded; and somewhat agree on the italicized. Apple was mad? They have a right to be; they don't have a right to force others to give them compensatory cookies for that though. Some Android users were mad when iOS took some ideas from their OS. Google itself, however, wasn't. Although I have no idea where you got that Google was a partner who received early prototypes from. Source?
