We get a lot of hate mail from Android users, despite my attempts at keeping things on an even keel around here. Sure, I tout the iPhone in a much more pleasant light than Android phones, but I have a reason for this. I think it’s time for me to explain myself a little bit.
I get the geek crowd, heck I’m one of you. I tinker with my hardware, hack my iPhone, install Ubuntu on my MBP, tinker with my consumer electronics, and try out more application hacks than I care to admit. People who know me well know that I can waste away an entire week futzing with some form of geeky entertainment.
But, in my opinion, there’s a time for that, and there’s a time for me to actually get some things done without having to worry about permission changes on my phone. I battle permissions in CentOS more than I’d like, and having to do it on a device that lets me make phone calls is more than I’m willing to concede to a phone. I can manage it, if I had to, but what I don’t expect is the rest of my extended family to know how to manage it. My parents, siblings, grandparents, and the rest of the family probably couldn’t tell you what the heck a permission update means, let alone why they should have to do one.
In my opinion, technology should librate people, not enslave them in a world that they aren’t comfortable with. It sounds Jobsian, and I can almost hear the Android fans out there rolling their eyes, but it’s true. The Android, and the iPhone currently meet the needs of two very different markets — hardcore geeks who don’t mind the tinkering, and the rest of the world.
There’s a ton of features on the Android that I wish I had access to on my iPhone, and there’s no doubt that Android will continue to develop over time, but right now, I just want a phone that pretty much manages itself, so I can enjoy it, without having to worry about if I need to update permissions on my phone.
You may not agree, but it’s where I stand.
Think of it like this, you’re about to buy a smartphone for your grandmother, which are you going to choose: An Android device or an iPhone?
PS. If you’re looking for an indepth Android review, this Arstechnica review pretty much covers it all.
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I'm another fan of 'it just works'.
I saw a video for setting up folders for apps on a Droid phone awhile back and man...what the hell? It's clunky. There's just no reason for how complicated it is; you shouldn't be opening menus on a phone with a 3 1/2 inch screen at best.
That alone is a reason for me preferring the Iphone. "Overly complicated" does not equal useful.
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LikeWell said, I hate having to explain things to people who aren't all that technologically savvy. If my grandmother can pick up an iPad and use it without too many problems, I'm a happy man.
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LikeI'm an Android user, but (looks around sheepishly), I'll admit that I like the iPhone ecosystem better. Before I start, let me say that I do highly enjoy the Android OS features and am mostly satisfied, but the iPhone has it beat. There are little things: cleaner UI, quicker general responsiveness, silky smooth animations, etc. However, biggest factor for me are the Apps. For whatever reason, I'm not seeing the same creativity, inspiration, and love placed into Android apps as I saw on my iPhone. It's almost as if the sets of developers have different mindsets when approaching the platforms. Another thing with Apps is that Android seems to always be about a year behind the iPhone on the App front. My SiriusXM app took about a year to come over, so did Slingbox and many others. I use Android because it's almost as good as the iPhone OS (I'm a network engineer... I refuse to call it IOS) and is available on a carrier that works for me when I need it. When AT&T greatly improves in my area or Verizon gets the iPhone I'll join you folks once again.
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LikeVery interesting. I wonder how much the market share numbers will shift if/when the iPhone makes it to the Verizon network. I'm not privy to the information, nor have I done much research on the topic, but I wonder what the adoption rates are for Android outside of the US.
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LikeI get annoyed when I hear that Android is for the "tech savvy". I'm tech savvy but I just want something that plays well with the rest of my life. I also need my phone to be stable as at times it's my only connection to the rest of the world. My iPhone just works and works well. I've had other phones and have jumped through hoops and use third party software to get it "to just work".
Also, as a sys admin I have people bring me their android devices to set up their email- can I ask why it's different on each device? Also, why can't they all run the same version of the OS? Which then doesn't that mean that they also might all not be able to run all the same apps? Obviously I'm not an expert nor do I own one of these devices to play around with on my own. For me it just doesn't have a place in my life. Not to say that someone else wouldn't be terribly happy with one.
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LikeExtremely valid point, and I often feel the same way. I know a lot of "Tech Savvy" people who prefer the iPhone over the Android, but I have also noticed a major trend amongst my friends, the developers, programmers, etc seem to be increasingly interested in Android phones. I really think there is a tipping point somewhere in the "tech savvy" crowd.
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Like— "I tinker with my hardware"
teehee
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LikeLMAO, I never even noticed that until your comment. Usually my mind hits the gutter pretty quickly. ;)
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LikeNicely written Josh.
It makes sense, at the end of the day, all you want is a device to "just work" - you don't want to be configuring DNS, permissions, super-user, blah blah blah...
What matters most is the user experience
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LikeYup.
I get why people could enjoy doing that kind of thing. I do sometimes as well, but at the end of the day, I just prefer my device to work for me out of the box.
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LikeI agree with the features that you mentioned that the iPhone has. 1# request i have is for android devs to spend more time with designers for the apps they put out. A desktop app for the phone like itunes would be nice but I don't really need it.
Btw that permissions thing is new to me. Never had that since owning my droid.
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