This is a guest post by Robert who blogs at Techinfo-4u.com. If you like to write for Shoutmeloud do read: Shoutmeloud revenue sharing program.
Android is rapidly becoming one of the most popular smartphoneoperating systems. Apple has got a real competitor and recent figures show that Android is growing faster than the iPhone, and gaining ground quicker than Apple ever could have imagined. Now Android is a great operating system, and there have been lots of posts outlining why it’s better than the iPhone OS, so now I’ve decided to go against that trend and show you 5 things the iPhone has over Android.
Credit: Pocket-lint.com
1. The App Store
I know you’ve probably heard this one before, but it is a major factor. Apple started off the whole app store revolution for smartphone devices, so they got a major head start over the rest. As a result their App store is a lot bigger than Androids. There’s over 200,000 apps currently available on the Apple App store, while Android is nearing the 80,000 mark. But bear in mind, Androids figures are made up of multiple different markets and there is no one where you will find all 80,000 apps. This is one of the things that gives the iPhone OS the advantage over Android. You will find a lot more of the bigger names and titles on the Apple app store than on the Android one and Apple apps tend to be a bit more stable than Androids due to Apple’s strict app approval procedure.
2. Reliability
While the more recent builds of Android have become a lot more stable and reliable, they still don’t match iOS 4 or previous iPhone firmwares. The iPhone operating system is just so solid and stable and reliable. It very rarely crashes or freezes up and it’s just straightforward. I find with Android that while it may be quicker at times, it tends to freeze up a lot more than the iPhone OS. Even with the most recent Froyo 2.2 edition of Android, it still freezes up on me and I know i’m not alone with this. Android also seems to be plagued with error messages of failed processes which randomly pop up at the most inconvenient times.
3. Media
When it comes to media, the iPhone OS wins hands down. It’s not only the brilliant music application, easy podcast and video management, it’s also because of the iTunes store. Android has no music store as such, but users in the US & UK do have access to the Amazon Store , but have no way of getting TV shows or films. The iPhone eco-system with iTunes is just brilliant, even though some people find it a bit restrictive and want a bit more freedom. But in reality it is easily the best out there, with the biggest variety of music, films, tv shows and podcasts all readily available for download to your device.
This is the one thing I really long for in Android. A decent music and video app with a proper method of syncing with my computer. Maybe this will come along in the future with Google Music? But for now we’ll just have to be patient.
4. Loyal Fan Base
There’s something about Apple that has so many people hooked on anything with that shiny logo. When people buy an Apple product they seem to feel like they are part of an exclusive club. This may have been true when the iPhone first came out, it was rare to see somebody walking down the street with one, but now every second person seems to have one, the novelty has just worn off. However Apple’s loyal fanbase will always buy any of their new products, no matter how expensive they are and regardless of whether or not they need them. I know no other company that gets people lining up all over the place for hours and days just to be one of the first to get their hands on the latest release. Android doesn’t have such a large fan base, and the ones who are in it are really more geeks than the iPhone fans. Android is seen more for the techy bunch (at the moment), while the iPhone caters for pretty much everyone.
5. Simplicity For You, Me and Developers
It seems that a 2 year old could pick up the iPhone and figure out how to unlock it and send a text message. The iPhone OS is just so easy to use and navigate, anyone can use it without having to learn. There is practically no learning curve with the iPhone OS, everything seems very natural. With Android there’s a bit more of a learning curve, while it may appear quite similar, there’s a few key things that make it that little bit more complicated. I’ve watched people as they struggle to unlock my HTC Desire (you swipe down instead of across) and then when they finally unlock it they only swipe to the right to view the different homescreens, they don’t realise there is just as many to the left until I tell them. The iPhone OS has just become second nature to people.
Finally for developers, the iPhone OS is much easier to work with since there’s just one testing platform for them. With Android, you have to cater for multiple ones, some have touchscreens, some have buttons etc… Also there is so many Android OS’s that keep being released that developers are struggling to keep up with them
So now you iPhone lovers, 5 reasons why the iPhone beats Android,
Let’s hear any more reasons in the comments below, or the counter argument
Article by Robert Boland
Robert has written 1 articles.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I haven’t spent any time with an Android device, but I’ve had an iPhone for 2 yrs and feel qualified to say the iPhone is a lousy MP3 player. And it’s handling of audiobooks is even worse. But you’re right about PC synching and the App Store – it’s pretty dang easy. iTunes needs some polishing yet to handle libraries on revolving external hard drives though.
I’m afraid I still disagree with you, the iPhone easily has one of the best MP3 players going. It’s quick and easy to navigate and use, it just works. The default Android media player is awful, thankfully i have the HTC Sense UI on my Desire which is a lot better, but it’s a bit buggy and crashes a fair bit.
I haven’t had any problems with iTunes on external drives either, except for when they crash!
I’ve had my Android now for a few months and I will rescind what I said about the MP3 player. As much as I didn’t like the iPhone’s, “Music Player” on the Android is inferior.
What we need is a combination of the ease of subscription based Google Listen for Podcasts with the iTunes mp3 player. Any suggestions?
One thing which I like in iPhone, is its super responsive touch screen, with which the whole Phone experience is different, though android phones also have touch screen and almost same functionality, iPhone surely wins it all.
In the past, no touchscreen could match the iPhone, but now I disagree with you, pretty much all the new smartphones have excellent responsive touchscreens these days.
I still love Android
Anyways, iPhone does not have as many features as AnDroid 
Well I’m also an Android user as well and I love it, I was just pointing out what the iPhone OS still has over it, the list is a lot longer for why Android is better. I’ve even made that one here http://www.techinfo-4u.com/2010/07/26/5-ways-android-kicks-the-iphone-and-its-os/
I beg to differ here:
1) Android is opensource, where as iPhone OS is proprietor based and lets not even talk about opensource with iPhone OS.
2) Android brings our love for gmail even closer, with an similar to Pushmail atmosphere (minus the chaos) of course, unfortunately to my little knowledge, Apple has nothing effectively yet similar to offer.
3) Again Android naturally comes with Google Apps (I will not talk here about the great features of this complete Google App package i.e. Gmaps, gmail, Docs, picasa & etc .. ) I again fail to see Apple anywhere near here.
4) The latest versions of Android come with Flash support, again not the case with iPhone OS anymore, now Steve Jobs may say any thing in defent of his company’s decision, of not to include Flash in iPhone OS any further and giving HTML5 a change over various reasons, to begin with I must say that I too love HTML5, but this does not mean I don’t like Flash any more, after all we all know who is the more tenure rather a ‘uncertain newbie’ between the two technologies (Flash vs. HTML5/iPhone OS) lol, i am out of here.
6) Though I may have programming & coding knowledge, but what about the common man out their wanting to have his own personalized App, I wonder if an non-programmer can ever build a basic App to work on their respective iPhone OS, Mama Mia almost any one can achieve that in the case of Android using an App Inventor (for free).
7) I am with in an agreement with Eric above, we all know how iPhone OS treats its music, as if the music were not even owned by my self, hidden some where done in the iPhone OS, definitely not traceable easily, pardon me for I thought I was the owner, are we not taking some freedom into consideration.
Will Apple ever let iPhone OS open its wings, well I don’t know . . in the men time I stay democratic :p
Though i can go on for ever, its really unto you decide post examining all the above cited, like its said – “How stands Where”.
Just my 2cents, Regards !
I agree with you on most of those points there, I’m in fact an Android user but I just wanted to share some of the things the iPhone OS has over Android at the moment.
I also agree with you on the media bit, Apple treats the music like you don’t actually own it, even though you bought it. And I also love the way you can tinker around with android. Then again you can do that with the iPhone if you jailbreak it
Reliability? On iOS4? Clearly you have never seen iOS4 running on a 3G model; it causes app crashes, major overall slowdown and an unresponsive screen.
Apart from that, however, I’d have to agree with most of what you said. It is rather… coincidental however that all the older model iPhones received an upgrade (by name only) which made them obsolete as soon as the new phone was released.
I suppose your right about iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G, but then again that’s why Apple limited the features on it, no multitasking etc…
You have to swipe down rather than across? Surely it’s not *that*hard to learn! And is it really important that other people should know how to use *your* phone’s desktop screens?
I’ve never once had my HTC Desire freeze on me, even when running web browser, email, txt, Skype, notes, WiFi tethering/hotspot to laptop, and separate Skype through that, all at the same time.
And not being able to talk to people in the street about our iPhones isn’t really swaying me either!
Having used both iPhone 3GS and HTC Desire, I have to say iPhone has a much smoother touch, but Android’s multitasking is definitely an attraction. As for development, you can’t create an iOS app unless you have a Mac and pay the hundred dollars for the SDK, so I can’t say apple is dev friendly. I agree that Android could use a little tweaking
To you guys that got apple and android, i got a android myself, and thats cause i don’t want limits.
You can do on a apple what steve jobs wantet you to, on android you can do what you want. there is no limit, and let me give an example.
bagground apple’s bagground can’t be changed, Android based phones don’t got limits. They also got flash, Iphone don’t got flash.
The point is got iphone nice, got a android nice, what ever works out for you, and what needs you got, i got android cause i don’t want steve jobs to pick what i want, but pick for myself. Thats the reality. Stop this war whats best. want a easy phone pick iphone, want a phone with no limits pick android.
I got the new phone HTC Sensation XL with beats audio, and i like it, big screen 4.7 fast CPU no limits. so android haters stop hateing on android, buy the phone you want and stop this ******* war.