My Blackberry was giving me problems when I contemplated upgrading. After roughly 2 years of usage, at times it took the Blackberry Torch a couple of seconds or more to open an app or so. And having my local DiGi contract over for awhile, it was ripe to upgrade the phone, preferably under contract with DiGi.
After reading so many reviews online, I decided to plump for a Samsung Galaxy S3, mainly because it was the cutting edge in Android phones, and mainly for the good reviews to was getting when compared to the HTC One X, which was further verified when a friend’s HTC was having issues with it hanging and resetting.
When Android vs iOS started to matter
Only then did I realized that most reviews don’t do the iPhone and the iOS experience justice. Most of them would compared the screen size and removable battery and come to the conclusion that the S3 is a definitely better buy. Except that it was only good in terms of hardware, but not software.
Android vs iOS : Unable to find software
Having an iPad to do part of my daily work, I gingerly set about looking for the same apps in the Google Playstore, only to be unable to find them. For example, my iPad boasts of an excellent Google RSS reader, while the Android one has been dismal. It is the same for Calendar, PDF editor like Goodreader, a good editor for blogging like Blogsy, not counting the numerous language and productivity apps that the Apple App Store has that Google’s Play Store lacks.
While Google boasted back in June that it had 600k apps in it’s Play Store, most of them are duds. For many of the apps I’ve had on the iPad, not even the best apps from Play Store came close in quality nor selection. Some of the best would have been duds on the Apple App Store.
Android vs iOS : They usually measure the wrong metrics
The thing is, as long as reviewers keep comparing the iPhone and Android phones mainly on hardware, it would seem that anyone can buy a better specification hardware than iPhone/iPad, especially on the pluggable memory card, which Apple continues to reject.
But it’s like buying a house in the middle of nowhere and comparing it to one which is built in the heart of the city. Where it’s near and convenient to get about groceries, entertainment, food and even health facilities, while the other doesn’t have anything nearby. It might be bigger, but not necessarily better.
Thinking about it, many friends of mine who use Android, seldom pay for an app, nor do they install many apps, unlike me and my iPad which is packed with 150 to 200 odd apps.
Android vs iOS : Conclusion
Where are we headed on the Android vs iOS debate? It’s has been a long debate ever since Google launched Android as an open sourced software to the Google Handset Alliance. And many things has happened since Steve Job’s passing away. However, to us, here are the following options for you if you fall to the following categories
- Just only need phone calls and text messages – Any phone would do
- You’ve the iPad and MacBook and would like to use iCloud functionality – iPhone
- You would like the best of handphone apps – iPhone
- You just need basic data functions, like WhatsApp and DropBox – Android
- You want to make sure your OS (operating system) stays up to date – iPhone
- You want a bigger screen – Android
- You want a cheaper phone (especially in Malaysia) – Android