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The never ending debate, but I have always been pro Android its just much better more freedom less controlled and the last couple of years the phones and apps have improved in quality.
Although saying this my next phone will be the Nokia 925 I want to try the windows phone it looks amazing imo I love the tile look.
Marketing isn't an indication of usability or general popular opinion. I completely disagree that the main reason people buy iPhones is because of marketing. Marketing helps but the sheer number of android phones sold vs iPhones is proof enough that marketing alone won't get the market share.
Totally disagree. Marketing is KING. This is what got Apple where they are today. Back "in the day" did you ever see a commercial for an MP3 player OTHER then the iPod? There were MP3 players out before iPod but thanks to Apple's Marketing they quickly became #1.
Samsung learned this and spent millions on Marketing. Result? Android sales went through the roof. Do you think the Kindle would be where it is today without Marketing? Do you think maybe the failure of the Nook to unseat Kindle was because Nook spend a 10th of the money Amazon did on Marketing? If that much.
HTC has learned it needs to make some compelling commercials and the One, and it's marketing blitz, has finally turned their situation around.
...Androids are a lot more user friendly: standard hardware such as USB cables and chargers, easily replaceable batteries, no need for restrictive iTunes (Androids work more like a standard MP3 player as a mass storage device that happens to play music and make phone calls), no syncing hassles, more 3rd party software. A lot more free stuff. More standardized.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adyn
I work with 500ish users and most of them feel that iPhones are much more user friendly and prefer to pay more for accessories because of it. It's a very mixed group and there are very mixed reviews on which OS is preferred. Some swear by android, most cling to iPhone's familiar interface. Old, young, doesn't matter. I rarely hear people suggest that android is more user-friendly. More PRACTICAL, maybe, which I agree with, but the familiarity and the uniformity of iOS makes it a more comfortable device for less technical people.
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^^^This. plmokn reveals, by this quote, having some technical knowledge - more than "most folks". So plmokn (and I) consider Android to be more user-friendly, keeping in mind that we are the users. My sister the non-techhie would be frustrated by Android because she's exploratory, and Android would let her lock herself into corners she doesn't know about. So she's for iOS all the way.
I disagree with that, too, and I am a big fan of Android. I like Apple, too. As I always say, I like all tech.
BUT:
iOS is much simpler because of the walled garden approach.
In Android, you can easily delete your clock widget by accident. Easily accidentally remove apps or widgets from your home screen. With Apple, you simply can't. You might accidentally move things into folders, but you never have to wonder "why is that app\widget just suddenly GONE?!?!" And how do I get it back?
Also, if you've ever used an iPhone, every other iPhone you pick up will be instantly usable. Not so Android. If you are used to the way HTC does things and then get a Samsung there is an ever so slight learning curve.
This is part of why the Apple people claim that "iOS just works". It doesn't "just work" better then Android. It's just: simple.
And Android can be a bit more complex IF YOU WANT IT TO. That's the thing. Apple heads claim Androids are to hard to use. How many people have you seen using an Android and it looks just like it did the day they bought it. It "just works" too. The difference is, if you WANT to customize it... you can. You don't have to.
Here's a great example: Homescreen
(Click EXPLORE to see more)
That's a website where people can show off the screen on their iDevice. Kind of a joke I think. Other then the wallpapers, the only differences are how the icons are arranged. Really?
Totally disagree. Marketing is KING. This is what got Apple where they are today. Back "in the day" did you ever see a commercial for an MP3 player OTHER then the iPod? There were MP3 players out before iPod but thanks to Apple's Marketing they quickly became #1.
Samsung learned this and spent millions on Marketing. Result? Android sales went through the roof. Do you think the Kindle would be where it is today without Marketing? Do you think maybe the failure of the Nook to unseat Kindle was because Nook spend a 10th of the money Amazon did on Marketing? If that much.
HTC has learned it needs to make some compelling commercials and the One, and it's marketing blitz, has finally turned their situation around.
You're cherry picking, though. Samsung makes good looking devices that work well. They will sell. The nook failed because the device sucked, have you ever used a nook and a kindle at the same time? The whole experience is a wash. BN spent a good deal of money on advertising a couple of years back but they had to pull it all because they advertised HD video play when the screen wasn't HD capable.
HTC's old phone lineup was garbage. Even their evo LTE, with it's decent specs is a down right POS. The HTC ONE is doing well because they've built a high quality phone. It's unibody, nothing can fall off of it, and their SenseUI is getting a little better (I don't judge phones on UIs though, as the essence of android is to not have what everyone else has.
Of course marketing has it's place, you have to know about something before you can decide you want to buy it. The Oppa 5 for example is a gorgeous phone and I want it but I wouldn't have given it the time of day if I hadn't seen it on a mobile blog or something and instead someone told me in passing that it's a phone I'd never heard of from a company I'd never heard of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oddstray
^^^This. plmokn reveals, by this quote, having some technical knowledge - more than "most folks". So plmokn (and I) consider Android to be more user-friendly, keeping in mind that we are the users. My sister the non-techhie would be frustrated by Android because she's exploratory, and Android would let her lock herself into corners she doesn't know about. So she's for iOS all the way.
That's correct. 99% of my users don't know how to use the toaster without me holding their hand, much less deciding what UCCW layout they were going to build next. The people I work with don't care that you can customize or change or create or remove or whatever, they just want to know it will work. These are the same people who build 25 different PSTs in outlook instead of making one and putting folders in it "because it works this way and I don't want to change it." Change is an enemy for most of them.
For you and I, perhaps, android is easier to use, easier to accessorize and customize, but to a large majority of consumers, they just want the damn thing to work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peregrine
I disagree with that, too, and I am a big fan of Android. I like Apple, too. As I always say, I like all tech.
BUT:
iOS is much simpler because of the walled garden approach.
In Android, you can easily delete your clock widget by accident. Easily accidentally remove apps or widgets from your home screen. With Apple, you simply can't. You might accidentally move things into folders, but you never have to wonder "why is that app\widget just suddenly GONE?!?!" And how do I get it back?
Also, if you've ever used an iPhone, every other iPhone you pick up will be instantly usable. Not so Android. If you are used to the way HTC does things and then get a Samsung there is an ever so slight learning curve.
This is part of why the Apple people claim that "iOS just works". It doesn't "just work" better then Android. It's just: simple.
And Android can be a bit more complex IF YOU WANT IT TO. That's the thing. Apple heads claim Androids are to hard to use. How many people have you seen using an Android and it looks just like it did the day they bought it. It "just works" too. The difference is, if you WANT to customize it... you can. You don't have to.
I disagree with that, too, and I am a big fan of Android. I like Apple, too. As I always say, I like all tech.
BUT:
iOS is much simpler because of the walled garden approach.
In Android, you can easily delete your clock widget by accident. Easily accidentally remove apps or widgets from your home screen. With Apple, you simply can't. You might accidentally move things into folders, but you never have to wonder "why is that app\widget just suddenly GONE?!?!" And how do I get it back?
Also, if you've ever used an iPhone, every other iPhone you pick up will be instantly usable. Not so Android. If you are used to the way HTC does things and then get a Samsung there is an ever so slight learning curve.
This is part of why the Apple people claim that "iOS just works". It doesn't "just work" better then Android. It's just: simple.
And Android can be a bit more complex IF YOU WANT IT TO. That's the thing. Apple heads claim Androids are to hard to use. How many people have you seen using an Android and it looks just like it did the day they bought it. It "just works" too. The difference is, if you WANT to customize it... you can. You don't have to.
You can accidently delete apps on the iProducts. I have done so. However, just going the app store and redownloading, or even just going to iTunes and ticking a box and then syncing, and it's right back with nothing lost. I like that, but I'm just saying that it's possible to accidentally delete an app.
I just recently gave up my Samsung Galaxy Nexus for an iPhone5. Even Google Maps looks and works better on the iPhone! The Nexus had a problem I lived with for way too long. The bluetooth sounded terrible, noisy, fading in/out, etc. Other people could hear me well. Tried several handsfree devices and a new company car with bluetooth. All the same.
Only reason I held on to it as long as I did, was that my company announced they were going to make us all switch to their Blackberry due to software that we also use. It took a year from the announcement to when they finally pulled the trigger. They took over the contract on the Nexus and got Verizon to kill the contract. At that point I still wanted a phone for personal use, so now I am an Apple user. I even bought a Macbook Pro with Retina display to go with it. It's a tremendous learning curve, but in the long run I feel better about it.
What I notice about the iPhones is that even the iP4 is still supported by Apple. All of the Android phones I owned stopped getting upgrades long before the 2 yr commitment was over. And, too often, the upgrades seemed to take forever after hearing they were on the way, because there were carrier, manufacturer, and model considerations to be considerd before they were released. With iOS, there are only a few models and a few carriers to worry about.
All the time I had Androids I never considered hacking the Droid, so moving to iOS was a no brainer for me.
If you're a nerd, Android. I like Android (although not Samsung; I will NOT be buying another Samsung for a long time--software benchmarks and specs be damned--the hardware is hot-running, poor reception getting, shoddily engineered cheap plastic yuckiness... IMHO ).
I enjoy tinkering with stuff from time to time, and over the last 2 years, Android has made great strides. They've added a lot of features to the OS, and they allow developers and equipment manufacturers more freedom to get creative. Therefore, I think Android OS, not to mention the hardware that runs it, has surpassed iOS/iPhone in features and usability.
That said, I also have an iPod touch which I enjoy quite a bit. (As you probably know, the iPod touch runs the same OS as the iPhone and iPad.) It works great with iTunes for managing my music collection, and it works effortlessly with the iPod interface built in to my car.
If your life is complete, and you're not really looking for a new hobby, I'd say go iPhone. Once you learn to do things the Apple way (and ignore everyone who says "look at what my Android can do that your iPhone can't"), you can usually expect everything to work with a minimum of fuss. And if it doesn't seem to work, Apple has good tech support to help you figure it out.
Lots of choices, but have to give a shout to Windows Phone. It really is a solid OS and I have been using it since 2011 even though I have a plethora of Android devices of all shapes and sizes and the various iPhone iterations.
Each have their pros and cons. I would put Windows Phone more on par with iOS in terms of stability and ease of use. Its the least 'techy' of the OSs out there and still has a long way to go to reach the level of support the others do in terms of apps and phone choices. I use both the Nokia 925 and 1020 and they do just about everything I need it to do and more. I really am not an 'app' user, nor a social media user. Its still mostly web browsing, messaging, calling and taking photos.
Android is the Swiss Army Knife of them all. It has become the everything to everyone OS and its ability to take on various looks and usability make it king for users that love that kind of experience. The only issue for me is that it can start getting all over the place in terms all the stuff you can download, running in the background. Its really more of a computer than a phone and support is so so once the device hits the shelves. While I think Android has plateaued since ICS, updates can be hard to find after the phone hits the market. The plus side is that for many popular devices, custom ROMs are available that are really neat.
iOS is the one that started it all in modern smartphone times in terms of the whole package. iPhones made the idea of mobile computing on a phone less scary, if not boring. Before then we had Pocket PCs, flip phones, candy bar, Sideicks and N-Gage type of devices. It was quite the leap and is the defacto standard.
If you are someone that likes reliability (not necessarily cutting edge) and a nice form factor, iPhone is really a winner. Just tons and tons of accesories, app support, you name it.
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