In response: iOS outdoes Android

I couldn't help but noticed that there was a recent Life Hacker post listing the "top 10" ways iOS out does android. I felt it would be great to supplement my previous post by addling a bit of a response to that. While in my previous post I tried to stay neutral to it and show the merits and short comings of each, I didn't really mention the strengths of iPhone, which Adam has done a pretty good job of. I'm going to go over some of the points he made and offer some comments.

10: The iTunes Media Store

This is something that has struck me as odd with google. If you go to the Android Market on your browser, you'll see that you're able to search and browse Apps, Books, and Movies. But if you use the Android Market app, all you'll have available to you are Apps. You'd need to use third party applications for music or movies. (And even then there isn't a huge selection.) I have high hopes to see this change in the near future with the public release of the anticipated Google Music. But yes, if being able to download DRM crammed music on the go, iOS has (at this point) outdone Android. On the other hand, I could just download a torrent client from the android market and have any number of music, books, comic books, or movies almost instantly. But, then again I would never condone piracy. ;)

On that note, Apple needs to god damn stop using the word intuitive so much. 

9. AirPlay

No. AirPlay is a toy for people with disposable income. I'll use Adams own point against him on this one.

"There are plenty of alternatives to Apple's AirPlay... AirPlay doesn't really seem all that useful if you don't own other Apple devices"

What he is talking about is AppleTV, which is an overpriced POS considering Xbox and Playstation both do what it does, but better. Or, if you aren't into video games, theres still always a ton of options such as Roku for the fact that more and more TVs are wifi packed. Can't wait until my TV can boot Windows or Linux. Speaking of which, Can you boot into iOS on a computer and you know have it still be practical to use.  No? Oh.. Android can.

8. Find My iPhone

Android did this a long time ago. It's call Lookout Mobile Security. It also does a ton more than just find your phone. Next. Lookout also comes with an anti virus packed into it. Android is, after all a linux based system. Right about now iPhone asshats are probably scoffing about the fact that viruses would never affect them. Keep scoffing bro.

7. A Better Support System

Do you need one? I mean really. Any questions or problems I've had with Android I've been able to solve by googling around or checking one of the Android Help Forums. 

"What happens if your Android phone breaks? There are a few answers to that question, but often times it means dealing with your specific carrier."

A long time ago I had an iPhone 3g, back when 3g was the thing to be. Then one day it just stopped taking or holding a charge. I took it into an Apple store and was told despite having paid for insurance (applecare) and despite that the phone was sitting on my dry desk, my phone had suffered water damage and that I was shit out of luck. Fiddle sticks.

Recently, I had a droid do the same exact thing. I called Verizon and they said it was probably a hardware issue. They sent me a new phone and a shipping label to return the old phone. I didn't even have insurance. 

God damn dealing with your specific carrier can be a bitch. 

I'll also note here that AT&T is just as bad as Apple when it comes to this sort of thing. But I'll detail on that in another post.

6. Better Battery Life and Management

Horse shit. My friends iPhone can never seem to make it through the day. My phone can make it through the day after texting, calling, googling, shooting shits playing angry birds all day on a single charge. Damn it feels good to be a gangster. Now, of course battery life is going vary from phone to  phone. It's kind of a shithead thing to say that Apple has taken strives and really considers battery life. All major phone designers do.

5. iTunes and Tethered Syncing

Double Twist. Moving on.

4. No Crapware

Also known as bloatware. This is something that I mentioned in my previous post. Something that I also mentioned is that Androids are relatively easy to root or unlock. Rooting is an term new or non-android users may not be familiar with. Rooting usually means you're performing a system exploit to gain full access to root files that are otherwise "read only". This gives you the ability to run some root specific apps or remove all that nasty Bloatware, which can sometimes bog down really nice phones. Rooting for most phones can be as easy as downloading an apk and running a program, although on some phones it can be a pain in the ass, either way there is typically a 0% brick risk factor doing this. Rooting also lets you do something that iPhone users can never dream of: Flashing custom roms. I'd like to do a post on this in the near future. If there is any cosmetic feature, application, utility, look, feel, sound, anything. Anything on your phone that you do not like, you can change; if it's powered by android.

All that being said, the higher end phones are going to be bloatware free. I would definitely check before buying one, but these days you're less likely to get it and if so it's easy to deal with.

3. A Bigger and Better Variety of Apps

"While the iTunes App Store is never going to sell classic game console emulators and other questionable apps—and that's a shame—there is, on average, more money to make when developing for iOS. The downside is that most apps cost a bit of money"

lolwut? Let's break this clusterf*ck of claims down. Firstly. Emulators. You'll never need another game app, though there are a ton at your finger tips. Robot Unicorn Attack has also proved that any developer that actually cares about making money is going to migrate their apps to both markets. Derp. I already mentioned this in my previous post. If it exists in one market, it's either also on the other, in development for the other, or there is most likely a reasonable alternative. "There is on average more money to make when developing for iOS". That there is a pretty bold statement and I don't see much backing for it. Recent market trend predictions are showing Android meeting or beating iOS in tablets and phones by 2015. Those market trend predictions were also posted on LifeHacker a few weeks ago I believe.  "Most apps cost a bit of money". Cool. Check the Android Market. Most of the time, if an app costs money, theres usually an ad supported version as well.

"They may be a bit more restricted than Android apps, but it's not like you can't jailbreak if you're looking for more."

In these sorts of breakdowns you should probably avoid jailbreaking or rooting or unlocking. It's like comparing two cars and saying "Well this one has a bit of a set back, but you can always post sale modify that". Just redirecting thought back to the overall experience each devices and OSes offer at POS condition. 

2. A Well-Designed, Intuitive User Interface

And sometimes, Change is bad.

Yup, I'm too f*ucking stupid to figure out how to open the app drawer. An argument Adam used here is a link to ugly android UIs users have created. Though some of them are crappily funny, that's like showing childrens are and saying "heh, look what good painting is". That same open environment allows for beautiful and some pretty incredible UIs. Stock is boring sometimes. Change is good. He also compares how easy iOS is to use that a baby can do it. Yup. Sounds about right for the general apple community. If iOS is so intuitive guess what. You can flash a custom rom and get some launchers and icons and a sound and ringtone pack and make an android indistinguishable from an iPhone. (talking interface here)

Elitist and subjective. Moving on.

1. Consistency

Know what I like about new android updates? They are free. Have an iPhone Gen2 and want the Gen4 ui? Get out your wallet. Yes, there are a wide variety of flavors with android phones. But you're making the same assumption, again, that users are too stupid to figure out how to use a phone in less than a minute and a half. I like to think of it this way. iOS is like McDonalds, and Android is like Burger King. At McDonalds, you can order a #1 at any McDonalds anywhere in any place and get the same BigMac in the same packaging with the same ingredients that you aren't aloud to know or change and buy it from the same shit heads that will spit in your food and probably in your face if you don't like something about it. And then at Burger King, you have it your way.

Oh yeah, see this thing? 

This thing is a piece of shit.