"Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/android-ics-already-offers-more-than-what-is-coming-in-ios-6/7769

by jgroome • 14 years ago

77 148 14 years ago

atacrawl• 14 years ago

Why does "third party apps" get to count as Android already having a feature that iOS currently doesn't have?

mdhen2• 14 years ago

Probably because functionality is what counts. who cares how you get there? and one of the upsides of Android having open development is that features will get built in more rapidly via third parties.

stephenr6• 14 years ago

If your phone is running the right version. Which you don't get to decide.

People care "how they get there" when the phone they purchased a month ago can't run a cool new app because the manufacturer or their network provider decided they should be using a 2 year old version of android and that upgrades are not allowed.

DeepDuh2• 14 years ago

"Oh, so your 10.4 has indexed search and Expose? Well look at what my pimped XP can do.."

"So you have hardware accelerated video filters? Well look at what I can fetch, hack and compile my Gentoo into.."

I'm not saying Android is bad, but this znet post is just stupid, sorry. Apple has never really been a big inventor of new technologies (apart from industrial design), but integrating existing ideas as good as possible. Some people prefer to tinker on their smartphones, some people like me get enough tinkering on their desktop PC and like their notebooks and smartphones to "just work" (quoted because it's actually not always like that with Apple products anymore, but at least their iOS devices are pretty solid in what they do).

manmal4• 14 years ago

I think they mean that iOS's platform restrictions have disallowed apps to do this so far, while Android has not, and there is no need for the OS to step in. What people tend to forget is that many apps are not supported on all API versions, and they will not work as reliably when not integrated into the system. The article is clearly written by someone rationalizing his refusal of iOS.

jgroome2• 14 years ago

As far as I know, Android apps can add core functionality to the phone. For example, if I download the Facebook app, I can now share my photos from the Camera app via Facebook, without having to actually open the Facebook app itself. Same with Dropbox, Twitter, and the like.

manmal4• 14 years ago

Yes, 3rd party devs can add all kinds of system components, ranging from custom keyboards to homescreens. Only some functionalities are root-only.

diminish• 14 years ago

Yes service sharing is the killer Android feature thanks to API design; Virtually all cloud and social services can have a share button on my android.

eco4• 14 years ago

I'm starting to feel this is what is driving the Android fragmentation argument with some iOS users.

iOS's design is much more dependent on Apple implementing core features and interactions (I suspect this is partly by design). The benefit of this is that when Apple does implement them, they are incredibly well done and have that glossy Apple finish that Apple does best.

Android's design allows heavy integration—or sometimes outright replacement of—all sorts of core OS features by third party developers.

Case in point: Google Maps on Android is just a regular app. It's not built into Android (though it does ship by default on basically all Android phones). It receives updates regularly from the Play Store outside of Android's infrequent OS updates. Just being a regular app, however, doesn't prevent it from connecting itself into all sorts of actions throughout Android. You click on an address in a third party and it'll open in Google Maps (or any other third party app that registers itself to handle the "map an address" intent). You speak "Navigate to Starbucks" into Voice Actions and Google Maps will open.

If you want to use a different browser on Android (Chrome for instance) you just install it and make it your default browser (which is an option you get the first time you try to open a link after you have installed it). Want to open reddit links in a reddit specific app? After installing your favorite you'll get the option to always open reddit links in that app (apps can register to handle specific url patterns).

People talk about how you can Share using third party apps on Android but that's really just the tip of the iceberg that the Android Intents system allows. The Intents aren't even just a limited set defined by Android itself. You can create new Intents that the Android developers never envisioned and now your app seamlessly integrates with any number of other applications making use of those Intents. It's a beautiful system.

So while iOS users sometimes have to rely on Apple to add functionality (like Twitter or Facebook), Android users often don't require anything but the third party developer to implement it. I believe this is why fragmentation seems to be a lot bigger of issue to some vocal iOS users than it is to many actual Android users. That's not to say that it isn't an issue, just that it isn't as big of an issue as they might expect from their experience with iOS.

stephenr6• 14 years ago

For the same reason that features of a single companies own skin/theme/Frankenstein bolts on top of android are included?

doron2• 14 years ago

ICS ecosystem is almost vaporware, it is supposed to be the best release yet, but i actually never saw it. Maybe its the best thing since sliced bread, but if nobody uses it, what exactly is the point?!

Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured.

[EDIT] I have been an android user since it was essentially released, and have only recently switched to IOS, there are many things that i find absolutely maddening with IOS and find some elements poor in comparison to android.

That said, I grew tired of upgrading my phone on my own. Cyanogen was great, but it became a real hassle, I just want a device that works, and upgrades easily.

I am very disappointed with Android, primarily because its unfulfilled promise. We can blame the phone manufacturers for this mess and we will be right, but a chunk of the blame goes to Google as well, it was blind to entrenched interests, and now the users are paying the price. It smacks of arrogance, and lack of strategy.

Nemisis7654• 14 years ago

It's hard to compare getting ICS on legacy phones to getting iOS 6 on your iPhone 4S. Of course, first gen Android devices aren't going to be able to run ICS, but neither will first gen iOS devices. iOS 6 is not going to be on the original iPad, the original iPhone or the iPhone 3G.

josegonzalez• 14 years ago

I bought a Galaxy SII last October - about a week or so before the Galaxy Nexus was released - and here I am without an ICS. T-Mobile JUST announced support for it, saying it would be here within a week. The only update I have received was a patch update, with minor UI changes.

Even depending upon CyanogenMod has failed me. T-Mobile loves getting non-standard devices and then not releasing drivers that could help boost their own popularity - likely for IP reasons. I have owned dev phones in the past, and this was my first consumer device, and coincidentally the first Android device that I could not easily unlock and update on my own.

No, you can't compare a first gen Android device, but you sure as hell can compare a device more powerful than some netbooks.

ceejayoz4• 14 years ago

My coworker just purchased a new Android phone. It's on Android 2.x. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS is about to get iOS6.

Chances are iOS6 will have a higher percentage of iOS users than ICS of Android users after the first day or so.

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

None of the Apple devices that you mentioned are sold at retail anymore. How many Android devices that are being sold in stores can't get access to the latest operating system update?

jgroome2• 14 years ago

I don't think it's fair to compare the iPhone 4S to legacy Android devices like that.

ceejayoz4• 14 years ago

Compare the iPhone 3GS, then.

rplnt• 14 years ago

I have less than a year old (when I bought it) Android device. Running 2.2. It's not Android's fault (perhaps slightly), it's device manufacturers fault. And many of them suck in this.

manmal4• 14 years ago

iOS 6 will even come to 3GS :)

myko7• 14 years ago

Yes, but Siri wont, 3D maps wont. If the main features of the update don't make it to the device, what's your point?

edit: the -> your (I know the point of updating the 3GS, I don't understand the OPs point in its attempt to mock Android)

phsr• 14 years ago

Hell, the 3GS is getting iOS 6. What 3 year old Android phone will get ICS? Like you said, I'm guessing not many if any at all. Agreeing with your point, Android is heavily fragmented, with phone manufacturers having the final say on which software gets deployed to their phones. Many of them are going to use new OS version to force software upgrades

dbaupp• 14 years ago

> Hell, the 3GS is getting iOS 6

Do you know how much of it will be enabled? (e.g. will it have Siri working out of the box?)

(Genuine question, btw.)

mladenkovacevic• 14 years ago

What does this mean? iOS6? What is ICS? (don't answer those questions.. I know what ICS is)

My point is the average user isn't sitting there with their Galaxy-Titan-whatever in their hands feverishly checking what version of Android they're running and yelling "Where is my ICS!!" They're posting to Facebook, emailing, tweeting, searching for restaurants..etc

It's all about features.. and the fact is that iOS6 is catching up with Android 2.2... not 4.0

KirinDave2• 14 years ago

It's really unfair to call what the 3GS gets "iOS 6." Apple's been doing this for awhile; calling maintenance upgrades mainline upgrades while not actually delivering all the features.

Keep in mind the problem of vendor recalcitrance is much less of an issue for an interested Android user. You can literally reflash your phone to a mod with an app from your phone. You don't even necessarily need to plug it in to anything.

TYPE_FASTER• 14 years ago

iOS 5 killed my 3GS. KILLED it, made it unusable, etc.

zdouglas• 14 years ago

> _I just want a device that works, and upgrades easily._

As a loyal TMo G2 (stock Froyo) owner, I wholeheartedly agree with that opinion. As other replies called out, TMo has a knack for luring you in and never releasing OS updates.

That said, I'm very happy running my "legacy" Froyo OS: My GPS is fast and spot-on, data pipe is 4G-wide, and my bit-laggy camera app is supplemented by dedicated hardware for anything cleaner than "LOL quality."

bmelton• 14 years ago

I agree with that statement about Tmobile, but if you just stick with the reference devices (G1, Nexus, Nexus S, Nexus Galaxy,) you get all the updates from Google as they're released.

I've stuck with the Google reference models since the G1, and while I'm usually behind on "what's new" (I'm currently on a Nexus S, while the Nexus Galaxy has been out for awhile now), my wife is constantly buying the 'new' Android hotness, and is perennially jealous of my phone, even when it's older and has less features.

I get the software updates faster, everything works, and nothing has been mucked with, ala Blur or whatever. Meanwhile her phone is dual core, has HDMI out, and is better on paper, but crashes often, becomes unresponsive and lags on Android updates.

tadfisher• 14 years ago

The G2 got an OTA update to Gingerbread last year. I remember because it was my birthday.

cageface5• 14 years ago

Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured.

Yes, but how important is this really in practice? With both platforms approaching maturity deploying major OS updates OTA is going to be less important.

Google can ride the natural device upgrade cycle to get out new versions. If they can make the browser and email client and a few other key apps independent of the OS they can rev those a lot faster. No doubt they'd like to have Apple's upgrade muscle but I'm not convinced they really need it in the long term.

technoslut2• 14 years ago

>With both platforms approaching maturity...

I can't agree with that. Many felt that way in 2006 and definitely turned out not to be the case.

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

No, they can't ride the natural device upgrade cycle to get out new versions because there is no requirement for new devices to install the newest version. Apple on the other hand, can ride the device upgrade cycle because when you go pick up a new phone at the Apple store it is running the newest version of the operating system, and the features get rolled out to everyone.

I would argue that as new features in newer versions of operating systems become more and more of a spectacle that people everywhere, not just geeks are watching, Pushing major OS updates becomes more and more important.

If you're going to show off a new feature to the world, it's nice if most people can actually get at it.

roc2• 14 years ago

> "how important is this really in practice"

It's pretty important to user satisfaction that Joe can say to Sally "You have an iPhone, right? Check out what they can do now!" And Sally be able to say "Mine does that too? Awesome!"

As opposed to Android, where Joe and Sally can barely help one another through the various UI skins half the time, let alone share enjoyment in cool new software features on devices purchased mere months apart.

(Sure, with iOS there are updates and features that don't get patched into older devices. But those situations are vanishingly few compared to Android.)

So, as an answer to the various times this question has been posed in this thread: Yes. It's a big deal to normal users that reasonably contemporary devices behave the same and generally have the same software features. And it's a very big deal for them to find out they bought the 'wrong' phone, not six months ago, because they got a model that will likely never get the cool new software feature their friend just showed them.

The degree to which updates don't matter, is the degree to which the users are barely interested in the device at all and use them as little more than a flip phone with better email and browser.

Which, while accurate for a certain population of users, hardly supports the relevance of any possible Android feature advantage.

SkyMarshal• 14 years ago

>ICS ecosystem is almost vaporware, it is supposed to be the best release yet, but i actually never saw it. Maybe its the best thing since sliced bread, but if nobody uses it, what exactly is the point?!

Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured.

There are two kinds of Android users in this world - those who care about this issue, and those who don't. The former tend to be the innovators and early adopters who pay attention to every new OS release and whatnot, the latter are the mainstream users who just want a working phone and don't follow the tech rags and don't really care about the details.

So what I wonder is, if you're in the former group, why buy any Android phone other than a Nexus variant straight from Google, which is the only one guaranteed to get the latest greatest OS updates as painlessly as possible? I'm in that group, and I couldn't imagine buying some mangled, bloated carrier-modified version of Android. Is it just the marginally better hardware specs that attract people?

dagw• 14 years ago

why buy any Android phone other than a Nexus variant straight from Google

Because the Nexus has been getting pretty mediocre reviews and none of the Nexus variants really interest me from a hardware point of view.

doron2• 14 years ago

This segmentation for two kinds of Android users is exactly the problem. If you are an IOS user, whether a poweruser or not, you will get the latest upgrade and a range of new features by default. This delights users, they don't have to care about the issue to be satisfied with the device.

Perhaps I am lazy, perhaps I am somewhere in between those two archetypes you mention. I want to hold the device i buy before i buy it, as such i need to go to my provider store and see it, dare i say, touch it. This fact alone eliminates the option of seeing the nexus variant.

You don't have to follow the Techrags or details to want the latest and greatest.

varelse• 14 years ago

Long time android owner and now Galaxy Nexus owner here:

I... Hate... This... Phone...

And here I could deliver a scathing rant about the camera locking up the phone and refusing to properly focus. Or I could go on about the constant gmail, navigator, and browser crashes, the horrid battery life (even in 3G with the "extended" battery) and yeesh I'll just stop here...

And don't get me started about my Galaxy Tab 10.1 still stuck on 3.2 6 months after the release of ICS.

So why did I buy the Nexus? Because I figured the much-vaunted 2011 google phone would get great support. But if this is the best they can manage, sign me up for a Windows phone. More realistically, I'm going IOS on the next spin. Android is dead to me.

joelanman• 14 years ago

I have a Nexus S for exactly this reason, and yet I had to wait well over 6 months to get ICS. It's embarrassing that they can't push out a new OS to their own phones on time.

eswangren• 14 years ago

But we doesn't the second group care? I believe it's simply because they don't know what is out there. Are you claiming that they would t care if they knew that a better alternative existed? I was an early android adopter, I now own an iPhone because it is simply better. I've never used ICS because the phone I had was never going to see an update. The phone I had, which was less than a year old.

mtgx2• 14 years ago

Like 250 million iOS users out of 365 can't use 2 of the biggest features of iOS - Siri and the 3D Maps (and also turn by turn I believe). How is that for fragmentation?

Yes, Apple does port an iOS version to most devices, and yes manufacturers have been very slow with ICS, but Apple doesn't push all the features when they port the OS to older hardware either, and sometime they are major features.

k-mcgrady• 14 years ago

Siri and Maps are only 2 features of iOS 6. There are many other features that the 3 year old 3GS will benefit from.

Tloewald2• 14 years ago

Not all the features of ICS would work on all phones if you could actually upgrade them. You're clutching at straws.

robmcm2• 14 years ago

You have to remember that apple makes software to sell hardware. If they didn't restrict some features to the newest hardware fewer people would upgrade. Oh and the experience may not be as nice...

ZeroGravitas• 14 years ago

Basically all those features are available for Gingerbread and Froyo and your chances of getting turn-by-turn in iOS6 from Apple are nil if you buy an iPhone 4 or 3GS in the next few months. So there might be more nuance to this than you let on.

th0ma5• 14 years ago

It is weird to see the public discussion about ICS being one about dismay and vendors holding the platform back, but with those of us who took the time to research, hack, and even program for Android, I've enjoyed more control and flexibility than even a jailbroken iPhone could give me. So, on one hand, I completely agree with all of the negative press about the droid platform, but on the other hand, I couldn't be happier.

rbanffy• 14 years ago

Same here. I won't buy an Android device before making sure it can be easily rooted and that it runs a custom build I like.

xam• 14 years ago

Of course, only 7 percent of Android devices currently run it....

Tyrannosaurs3• 14 years ago

The thing this misses for me is what it can do and what it does do for most people.

Smartphones are now mass market which means that a lot of people buying and using them aren't engaging in a lot of config, customisation and so on, that 90% of what they do and how they work is how it comes out of the box.

Only about 7% of Android devices are using ICS 6 months after launch. By comparison 80% of iOS customers using iOS5 12 months on. What that means is that what's in iOS6.0 is probably way more relevant to your average iOS user than what's in ICS is to your average Android user.

I've not seen anyone say ICS isn't good, the issue seems to be that it's not what most people experience when the use Android.

jcromartie• 14 years ago

And yet, only 7% of Android phones run last year's OS, at least as of May 1...

I wonder what that number is today. I would expect it to be a little bit higher but not much.

stephenr6• 14 years ago

According to google (http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-ve...) 7.1% are on 4.x

bluthru• 14 years ago

User experience is not a checklist. There's a big difference between having those features be usable out of the box to every customer versus giving a user an unfinished phone and making them do shitwork to make it work.

maak• 14 years ago

There appears to be a lot of discussion about market penetration of the two operating systems. This is a separate discussion. The author is comparing the new iOS functionality to that present on ICS.

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

People continue (and chances are will continue) to make the market penetration argument for the following reason:

If the feature exists, but no one can use it, does it really exist?

Claiming that Android had a feature first doesn't mean anything to the consumer who can't get that feature on their device. Compared to iOS where announced features show up on most devices and on every new device that you buy in the store the very same day.

desigooner• 14 years ago

I have an iPhone 4S (Work) and an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II (Personal - EU version with the physical button) and I am still to receive the ICS update here stateside!

By the time iOS6 is released to users, there will be many a people with Android phones who wouldn't have received ICS updates for their phone!

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

I'll answer this completely fanboyish article with a slightly fanboyish response.

First of all, just because ICS had it "first" doesn't mean that they did it better.

Let's add the fact that the feature being present in the operating system doesn't gauntness that Android users will get it on their phones like it does when Apple adds something to the operating system (with a few exceptions).

Counting your "3rd party apps" (which apple really had first, two can play at this game) as features of the operating system just doesn't count. I don't care that apps can add functionality to the operating system. If it isn't there by default, it doesn't count as a feature. Claiming that a 3rd party app offers the same functionality as passbook for instance, is moot because 3rd party apps on the iPhone could do the exact same thing.

Please don't compare your crappy voice actions or other skin specific implementations to Siri. She doesn't always work, but when she does, it's better than yours.

Yes email on iOS has been lacking a little bit. Doesn't make it any less of a feature when things get added to the email client.

I'm shocked that the author waited until the very end of the post to mention "glanceable widgets" since this seems like it's the champion of all Android users since it's really their "killer feature." Be that as it may, call your HTC One X more powerfull all you want, when it comes to platform integration and ease of use, the iPhone is still the king.

myko7• 14 years ago

I'm afraid you haven't really used voice commands on Android. They do lack the NLP of Siri and the witty responses, but in practice they seem much more accurate at actually understanding what the user is trying to do.

Also you may believe iPhone is king in the ease of use department, but I don't. I think after using either OS for an extended period of time they become second nature and usage of the other can be grating if expected behavior is different. Personally I find Android much easier to use, you may not, and that's okay.

Terretta6• 14 years ago

Forget "voice commands", which predate both iPhone and Android. I need SMS dictation.

Dictation on the iPhone under iOS 5 is shockingly better than dictation on Android ICS on my Google Galaxy Nexus.

I can carry on a complete SMS conversation via voice on iOS without editing, while having to edit every other phrase on ICS.

DominikR• 14 years ago

Please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I can see not a single feature that is compared in this article is exclusive to ICS.

Those features are also available on 2.2 and 2.3, so the whole discussion about "ICS is vaporware" is irrelevant when talking about those features.

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

I guess when you call 3rd party apps that implement things features it's a little hard to tie things to one operating system version...

jack-r-abbit3• 14 years ago

As others have pointed out, the way iOS limits the reach of certain things, it was not even possible to have a third party app do some of those things. So, while these features may not be built into ICS, the Android architecture allowed for a third party app to implement it already.

mark_integerdsv2• 14 years ago

There is an advert for Steers (a hamburger take away franchise here in South Africa, their burgers are delicious!) that came out around about the same time that McDonalds came to the country. It depicts one guy unpacking a stack of tiny burgers onto the table, bragging to his buddy about how little he paid for all these tiny cheeseburgers (getting the picture?)

His buddy opens up a Steers bag, pulls out one great big Steer Burger, looks over to the other guy just before biting into it and says: "That's great, but now you have to eat them."

The point of the advert is clear, I think mine is too.

kstenerud• 14 years ago

Is the point of the advert that smaller, commoditized burgers do better overall in the marketplace due to their cheap price, or that there's a market for the smaller segment willing to pay more for better quality? Or both?

I'm also not sure what your point is, since Android is present in both markets.

mark_integerdsv2• 14 years ago

Sorry, I guess it is a little bit lost in the re-telling (maybe just my re-telling?)...

My point is that 'Android (ICS) already offers more...' is hunky dory... Thing is: then you need to use Android.

I was taking a little jab at Android because I'm annoyed that fans of the platform always seem to make ironic claims as to the ease and openness of it.

It's not easy to hack and distribution is a mess... etc.

Disclaimer: this post contains opinions, responses may contain nuts.

abruzzi• 14 years ago

This is the old bullet-list fallacy. Quality is simply a measure of the bullet list of features, and no attempt is made to what is behind the items on the bullet list. Remember when the first iPhone was announced? The bullet list after it was announced had touchscreen at the top of the list, so every manufacturer thought that all they had to do was add a touch screen to their existing platform, and hordes of just like the "LG ENV Touch" flooded carriers. Feature phones had small app stores where you could buy a dozen useless apps, so they beat the iPhone on that bullet item.

MrScruff3• 14 years ago

Exactly. I remember hearing similar ramblings from Symbian and Windows Mobile 6.5 users when the original iPhone was released. Or how the iPhone would never achieve market penetration in Japan because it lacked all the bells and whistles of their feature phones (built in TV tuner etc...).

alecco• 14 years ago

  > Remember when the first iPhone was announced? The bullet list after
  > it was announced had touchscreen at the top of the list

No, the LG Prada was ripped off by the iPhone. Don't let apple fanboys rewrite tech history. Same with the iPod. Sure, it was a more polished product, but they were not the first with the feature set. Apple rarely is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)#iPhone_controv...

ceejayoz4• 14 years ago

As @abruzzi said, it wasn't until the iPhone that other manufacturers started putting "touchscreen" at the top of their features lists.

Apple wasn't first with the iPhone or iPod, but they sure as hell changed the product landscape after they released them.

hcurtiss• 14 years ago

"Sure, it was a more polished product * * * ."

That's exactly his point. Even if others offered the feature first, it's what's behind the bullet list that makes it a successful product (polish, if you will).

eevilspock• 14 years ago

So Apple saw some photos of the LG Prada and then in a few short months designed touch screen-only hardware and all the software?

This assumption that before-after implies cause-effect is one of the worst logical fallacies.

Microsoft was first to mass market tablets. So Apple "copied" them 10 years later, and somehow succeeded where Microsoft failed? Microsoft invented the idea of a tablet-like computing device?

Google invented the idea of a notification system? Of turn-by-turn navigation?

jvm• 14 years ago

> Quality is simply a measure of the bullet list of features, and no attempt is made to what is behind the items on the bullet list.

I don't know what a more appropriate method of comparison you're suggesting would be. I can say that I've been using ICS for a few months now and I wouldn't want to use any other mobile OS, is that more what you were trying to get at?

daleharvey3• 14 years ago

Predictably most of the comments are about the android upgrade issues, but the solution is simple, people who care about these features buy a google device, which receives timely upgrades, is cheaper than an iphone, and has its own advantages (+disadvantages) over iphone hardware

The people that dont care about these feature buy any random android and get this stuff later as the carriers catchup

stephenr6• 14 years ago

"when" they catch up? I think you surely mean "in the unlikely event that they ever catch up or even provide/allow any update at all"

If android is so "open" why do you have to pick a single device from a single manufacturer (even apple offers more options than the nexus lineup) if you want android that's really android and not raped by the handset manufacturer or the network operator?

daleharvey3• 14 years ago

When they catch up usually means when they upgrade their phone

You can pick whatever phone you want, and install whatever android you can get working on it if you want, if you want ota upgrades in a timely manner you need to pick a manufacturer / carrier that does that, which is only google devices at the moment, thats specifically because it is so open.

sidwyn• 14 years ago

It's not how much you offer, but how well you pull it off.

mtgx2• 14 years ago

This article seems relevant to the discussion, too:

http://blog.bestvendor.com/2012/06/did-apple-steal-these-ios...

I've noticed that over the past couple of years, Apple has kept "stealing" the functionality of very popular apps from the App Store (starting with iBooks, and then others).

stephenr6• 14 years ago

Dropbox? They stole from Dropbox? Becuse iDisk never existed I guess?

"do not disturb" on a phone is only there becaus of some shitty desktop app that changes your Skype status to do not disturb?

Importing Facebook contacts never would have occurred to anyone at apple if not for some gmail plugin?

This article is worse than the one this discussion page is for.

ceejayoz4• 14 years ago

Oh no, Apple's implementing popular features?

jsz0• 14 years ago

You can now have a different signature for each email account on your iOS device, WOW

I don't think this is possible with the stock ICS IMAP/POP mail app. It doesn't even have mali threading?

moron• 14 years ago

Ah yes, good old feature checklists. Those have been working so well for us these last couple of decades.

TrevorJ• 14 years ago

Facebook and Twitter are not features.

jack-r-abbit3• 14 years ago

I find it kind of humorous that we used to hear a lot of "but the App Store has way more apps than the Market" as a "feature" that made iOS more desirable. Hell, Apple even used the "There's an app for that" campaign for quite a while. And now we have people saying, "Well, so what if there was an app for that in ICS. Third party apps don't count". Oh how times change.

shadesandcolour7• 14 years ago

I'd be happy to allow Android users to call a 3rd party app a "feature of the operating system" like the author did, as long as he's will to include iOS 3rd party apps as features of iOS. We might as well compare oranges to oranges.

jack-r-abbit3• 14 years ago

He doesn't actually call the 3rd party apps features of the OS. He states the features that are available to both OSes and notes those that are via 3rd party apps. Some prefer everything to be built into the OS while others prefer an OS that simply allows others to create/enhance the functionality. There are pros and cons to both approaches.

Tloewald2• 14 years ago

My Motorola RAZR could, in theory, do everything that the iPhone could do. Apps, email, web browser, three way calling, blah blah blah. I couldn't remember how to use any of it, and when I managed, it all sucked dog's balls.

When android boosters realize that compatibility, simplicity, ease of use, and even standardization are actually FEATURES they might get somewhere.

Meanwhile they've got phones from hardware vendors who expect no loyalty from their customers and don't show any loyalty to thei customers, because their customer will buy whatever gadget has the most blinking lights next time around. It's a self selecting group.

robmcm2• 14 years ago

>Travel and reward card management >iOS6: Passbook >ICS: 3rd party apps

This is missing the point, iOS has been doing this with third party apps for a while, passbook is like news stand or game centre and aims to consolidate lots of confusing implementation into one.

jolohaga• 14 years ago

The use of the words ICS and iOS is about equal among the comments.

In a year, iOS will still be a current term. ICS will not.

rimantas• 14 years ago

With less satisfaction for the user, if you are to believe Apple's keynote of yesterday.

ajross• 14 years ago

This thread encapsulates everything wrong with the tech industry in one handy page. A flame bait OP, a bunch of fanboien leaping in to defend their favorite platform. Lots of rehashing of the Same Tired Old Arguments yet again, followed by the Standard Polemic Reply to those arguments, and the inevitable Ridiculous Digression Justifying Original Opinion. I swear, I got started out the top and realized I was about to downvote the whole thing before giving up.

Look folks: Smartphones (I guess I should say "iPhone-style smartphones", as the term existed long before that, but was used for devices that aren't meaningfully comparable) are now 5 years old, and are becoming a mature technology. We're at the stage now where desktop GUIs were in, say, 1991. The competing platforms have reached feature parity, and there aren't many great advances left to distinguish them in the near future (until the next big disruptive change, anyway).

So while the OP is flamebait, I think the point is mostly valid. iOS 6 looks pretty tame compared to its recent ancestors.

"Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

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