Things Android Does Better Than iPhone OS

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/10_things_android_does_better_iphone

by Ghost_Noname • 16 years ago

51 28 16 years ago

czhiddy• 16 years ago

Many of the points are valid (I really, really, _really_ would like widgets or something on the lockscreen), but the author's tone makes it seem like he's short AAPL posting on Yahoo finance. (Or more likely, inciting fanboys on each side to generate site traffic)

bad_user2• 16 years ago

Those points are valid, and many of them pulled me back from buying an iPhone since before there were Android widgets on the market.

I am pretty sure though that one can find 10 things the iPhone does better than Android ... like fixed screen resolution, better dev tools (although that's debatable, as I just want to work on my OS of choice), more polished design for the hardware, etc...

Competition is such a wonderful thing ... those guys at Google that decided to throw Android in the marketplace to increase competition (such that their search engine remains in business) are pure geniuses.

obeattie• 16 years ago

A lot of the points are certainly valid, though somewhat debatable. The #1 one-up (Multitasking) is set to become an iPhone feature in about a month. As for no notifications on the lock screen, have the authors never received a push notification? Again though, local notifications are coming in iPhone OS 4.

ZeroGravitas2• 16 years ago

I was under the impression that both the Android and Apple multi-tasking implemntations were limited in various ways, but that the Apple one was more limited, so you could probably still count that if you wanted to.

bad_user2• 16 years ago

Unfortunately the talks on such subjects are filled with opinions of bystanders ... insightful articles/comments comparing X vs Y from people that used both in production are few and far between.

masklinn4• 16 years ago

The Android way has less (if any) limitations (you register a service/daemon which behaves as an application server, it's headless but other than that does whatever it wants). Apple's solution is much more limited (you register tasks against the OS and the OS runs it, which limits what you can do to what the OS itself provides) but the tradeoff is that "debatable" programming has lower chances of eating your battery alive (and the OS can more efficiently handle some services e.g. if 5 different applications asked for GPS/movement notification, the OS can poll the chip once and it will then dispatch that one message to everybody, whereas with the Android solution you'd have 5 different services polling the location API)

awolf• 16 years ago

Could someone elaborate on how Android's multitasking is better than iPhone OS 4's?

I was under the impression that the mechanics of each were nearly identical.

ZeroGravitas2• 16 years ago

A gruber-approved link with a pro-Apple explanation of the iPhone's limitations:

http://davidquintana.com/entry/mobile-multitasking

Quote: There are only three types of actions allowed to be performed in the background and each is handled differently. They are:

    * Background Audio
    * Voice over IP (VOIP)
    * Background Location

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masklinn4• 16 years ago

Your quote is incomplete, the phrase before it is important:

> If an app needs to continue functioning indefinitely while in the background

Operative word here being indefinitely, in the paragraph above he describes task completion as well (an application can request up to 10mn [or something, might have changed] to finish handling a task)

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masklinn4• 16 years ago

> I was under the impression that the mechanics of each were nearly identical.

They're actually very different: with Android you create what's basically a daemon server, no UI but does everything it want, while with OS4 you register against service (there are 7 service types to choose from) and the OS itself runs and manages it, calling your registered service hooks.

Android gives far more control, at the cost of more (programmatic) complexity and more battery life risks (a badly implemented daemon/service will kill your battery life quick, whereas on the OS4 since the OS keeps full control of the execution it has a much better shot at managing battery/power issues, and it can more efficiently handle multiple applications registering for the same service).

The part that is similar is the handling of non-multitasking-aware applications (regular applications in OS4, applications with no daemon in Android): they're simply frozen in RAM, and killed if memory pressure becomes an issue.

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warfangle2• 16 years ago

A poorly implemented daemon sure can kill your battery life quickly.

Thank goodness there's a tool that lets us figure out what applications use the most battery! :)

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surki• 16 years ago

This post provides some more information about how iPhone's multitasking compares to Android

http://blog.rlove.org/2010/04/iphone-os-4-and-multitasking.h...

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Irfaan3• 16 years ago

Most of the author's complaints are completely valid. That said, a jailbroken iPhone can install software to mitigate a number of these issues. Not a sure-fire solution, of course - it's such a pain chasing after jailbreaks, and you never know if-and-when the magic update happens that'll stop jailbreaking forever.

Still, for those curious...

1: Android can Run Multiple Apps at the Same Time

"Backgrounder" will give you basic multitasking. And "ProSwitcher" builds on it to give you wonderful, Pre-like task switching. Caveat - there just isn't enough memory in anything less then the 3GS to comfortably multitask.

2: Android Keeps Information Visible on Your Home Screen

It'll cost a few dollars, but I've been very happy using "LockInfo" to provide a useful lock screen. It's a must-have application for me - it goes a long way to making my iPhone feel like an actual PDA rather then just a toy.

4: Android Gives You Better Notifications

Not nearly as nice as the Android's, but "LockInfo" does a pretty good job of managing my notifications once I told it to suppress pop-ups when my phone's locked. Paired with "Notifier" to continue pestering me if I miss an important update, I'm pretty content.

8: Android Lets You Change Your Settings Faster

"SBSettings" makes changing settings a snap - just slide my finger across the status bar at the top of the screen to access it. Though I'm not a fan of the default appearance - do yourself a favor and install the "Deep HUD" theme for a cleaner interface.

And while I'm advocated bits and bobs to match up with the Android user experience:

"Simple Background" is a nice bit of eye candy, if you want your iPhone to have the same sort of parallax scrolling wallpaper that Android enjoys.

"Inspell" gives you red squiggly misspelling highlighting and intuitive spelling correction. It's a fantastic addition. Honest question - does the Android have something like this?

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thwarted2• 16 years ago

You've just pointed out that the general purpose CPU in the iPhone can run other software. This isn't what is at issue, what's at issue is the default/sanctioned install that comes with the iPhone. Of course you can get other android-like features on your iPhone if you replace or supplement the core iPhone software with something else. But then, your jailbroken iPhone isn't really an iPhone anymore, is it?

"Inspell" gives you red squiggly misspelling highlighting and intuitive spelling correction. It's a fantastic addition. Honest question - does the Android have something like this?

The default Android keyboard, and other keyboards, corrects as you type and/or gives you spelling suggestions and word completions. This has been a much better experience than having to go back and try to correct misspellings after the fact.

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Irfaan3• 16 years ago

You've just pointed out that the general purpose CPU in the iPhone can run other software.

Actually, the gist of my message was to point out specific bits of software to help folks who feel hindered by some of the limitations the article's author mentioned. I know they help me feel more comfortable using the iPhone.

I didn't think I was being particularly subtle, but I guess I was mistaken. <shrug>

But then, your jailbroken iPhone isn't really an iPhone anymore, is it?

That's a... strange claim to make. And the only way it seems even related to my message is if you ignore my explicit caveat about how annoying and fretful jailbreaking is. Which I'm fairly certain you read - why, it's right there, in the bit you quoted.

Given the tone of your response, I seem to have really irked you. I'm asking an honest question here - this is a feature I find really useful (enough that I gladly paid for this bit of jailbreak-only software that could vaporize at Apple's whim). I'm not asking for your opinion on how text input should be done (because frankly, I don't agree), nor for platform advocacy. Really, I thought my question was rather straight forward.

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commandar• 16 years ago

>"Inspell" gives you red squiggly misspelling highlighting and intuitive spelling correction. It's a fantastic addition. Honest question - does the Android have something like this?

Android supports what are called IMEs -- the OSK is essentially just another application type, which can be replaced by the user. Which is basically to say that if you can dream up a method of inputting text, Android can do it. You can find everything from what are essentially much improved versions of a "standard" OSK[1] to gesture based typing[2] to alternate IMEs for non-latin characters to almost anything else you could come up with.

So the short answer is "probably."

[1] http://www.smartkeyboardpro.com/ (this is what I use on my phone at the suggest of another HN commenter a couple of weeks ago).

[2] http://www.swypeinc.com/

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watty• 16 years ago

The background on this website makes my monitor flash...

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loewenskind• 16 years ago

I wrote a medium sized post about why I like iPhone OS4's approach to multithreading, but once again when I submit it I get "this link is expired" and go back to find my text gone.

Seaside used to use continuations for everything but realized that the only place you really need it is wizard-like work flows, so they've removed it everywhere else. This allows them to not need a session unless you're in a workflow and things like "expired link" for pretty static looking pages doesn't happen.

Hint, hint, hint....

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flyosity• 16 years ago

Maybe the Android Marketplace is "better" than the App Store because anybody can put an app up there, but the apps certainly aren't better, not by a long shot.

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jbrennan• 16 years ago

I think it's really hard to call one store "better" than the other. I'm an App Store developer, but I can see advantages to both:

App Store: Far more apps (and thus a stronger platform, attracts more users, attracts more developers). The review process generally controls quality (ignoring taste, for example fart apps), in the sense of no virus or battery drainers or network abusers or completely unusable apps. This is a plus and I think it's severely under-appreciated.

Android: No review process means you can potentially get any kind of app. Alternative app stores (or you can download right from the web). Ever-improving number of apps in the store (it's lagging behind App Store but quickly catching up).

So it really depends on what you're after and what you value. I don't think it's really fair to for the article to call one store "better" than the other.

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halostatue• 16 years ago

I can participate as a seller in the Apple App store. I cannot in the Android Marketplace.

Unless and until Canada is a first-class country on the Android marketplace, I won't even look at developing for Android.

(Granted, I probably won't do much with it even after that, because I hate Java with a passion and don't want the nasty performance hit that alternative languages currently have on Dalvik, but that's a different argument.)

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nooneelse• 16 years ago

The date says June 3rd, but then the text says "the Android Marketplace has only just broken the 50,000 mark". That number is, like, so last month. http://www.androlib.com/appstats.aspx

Ordinarily a month-old fact would probably be fine, but things are moving a bit fast in the smartphone world these days. So in this case it leads to an error of 26%.

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Things Android Does Better Than iPhone OS

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