This is a thorough piece comparing iOS to Android. Accessibility is not one of
the items which are compared, however, but this is still worth reading if
you're interested in some key similarities and differences of Android vs. iOS.
As I haven't worked with the very latest version of Android and since I've been
an iOS user for several years it's hard for me to objectively rate the two
operating systems as far as speech accessibility. iOS has always felt a bit
more polished compared to Android. However, we just received some Samsung
Galaxy S10 phones at work for testing and so we'll likely activate them
sometime this coming week. These phones should be running Android 9.0 and so
I'll be able to run the very latest version of Android on a state of the art
phone. Here's the article.
iphonehacks.com
iOS vs Android in 2019: An Objective Overview
Mar. 30th, 2019
In an ideal world, of course, there would be more than two contenders for any
major buying decision. In smartphones, Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile
have been left to wither by Microsoft, Blackberry OS 10 got canned a few years
ago, and the mass of ‘alternative’ phone operating systems comprise a fraction
of one percent of all phone sales and can be ignored completely. But I do find
the opposing worlds of iOS and Android fascinating. In some ways similar
– both have app launchers and support all modern apps – but in other ways
worlds apart, in terms of flexibility and openness. Can there be an overall
winner?
figure
iPhone and Pixel
figure end
With Android Q, i.e. Android 10, now available for use, as here in beta at
least on my Pixel 3 XL (I’m an Android user day to day), I thought the time
was right to give an overview of the pros and cons of each smartphone operating
system and interface.
iOS vs Android in 2019: Which is the Best Mobile Operating System
You’ll know much of this already, I suspect, so I’ll keep things interesting by
scoring things as I go along – can numbers alone pick a winner?
1. Performance
Like for like, iOS and iPhones feel faster and more responsive than Android –
this is partly down to the rate at which the UI and touch detection can work,
and partly down to the custom ‘A’ series chips, which are optimized massively,
only having to work with Apple’s own chipset and software.
Having said that, the fastest Android phones – think Pixel 3 XL or OnePlus 6T,
that class of device – are still demonstrably fast enough for even phone
enthusiasts, so iOS’s speed advantage is minor in the grand scheme of things.
Android also catches up slightly in terms of RAM use in that running
applicationsare
a bit closer to the surface, as it were, and can often be brought up
essentially instantaneously.
figure
iPhone Xs
figure end
Raw speed tests show the very latest Snapdragon 855-powered Android phone to be
faster to start applications, though doubtless, that will invert when Apple’s
next iPhone flagship launches in the Autumn.
In short, there’s very little in it, pound for pound, though I have to give iOS
the win by a nose because the speed at which the interface runs. Plus –
you know – there are so many Android phones available which are cheaper and
with heavy skins that slow things down…
iOS: 9, Android: 8
2. Memory
Yes, yes, I’m using the consumer term ‘memory’, when I actually mean ‘flash
storage’, but hey, you’ll know what I mean here. The iPhone and iOS have always
worked on fixed storage, users simply buy the capacity they want. And then wish
they’d bought the next tier up, often! And it’s absolutely true that some
Android manufacturers, notably Google itself, but also Huawei, Nokia, and
others, have tried copying the iPhone model with some success – the jury’s out
on whether having expandable storage is a good idea.
It sounds like it’s always a good idea, but there are often issues with people
not understanding the difference between internal and expansion disks and
putting the wrong content on each, filling up the internal, swapping microSD
cards and running into formatting issues. Plus internal storage is almost
always faster and more reliable in the long run.
BUT I get it, I like my expandable storage as much as the next man, so I’m
going to call this one a draw. Android supports both schemes anyway, so I guess
it has the edge if you want the choice!
There’s also cloud storage, of course, though again Apple’s iCloud and Google’s
Drive are very similar in scope and cost.
iOS: 9, Android: 9
3. Apps
By which I include both built-in applications and the third party scene. Out of
the box, the iPhone generally does more, with iMovie in particular being
a standout that has no match in terms of quality on Android. It’s part of what
Apple calls the ‘iLife’ suite and there’s also the ‘iWork’ suite (of course!),
though Google’s Docs, Sheet, and other office applications roughly match it in
this regard, albeit not always being preinstalled, so there’s a discoverability
issue here.
When you hit the application stores on both OS you find much the same content –
at least at the consumer level. When you want to head into specialist areas
(e.g. medicine) then iOS has a distinct advantage in terms of application
quality and quantity.
Conversely, Google’s barrier for entry into the Play Store is much lower than
Apple’s for the App Store, meaning that far more rubbish and even malware
does get in from time to time – and this is a trap for the unwary (e.g. search
for app X and find the real thing plus half a dozen rip-off clones). As
mentioned above, I’m writing this feature as an Android user day to day, but I
have to admit the comparative safety and quality control in Apple’s ecosystem.
And, much as I like to play the hacker, I also have to back up Apple’s lockdown
of their devices so that irresponsible end users can’t willingly turn on
side-loading of applications from dodgy sources and thus open themselves up to
goodness knows what.
iOS: 10, Android: 8
4. Interface
The most obvious aspect to tackle, since we look at our phone displays a
hundred times a day. Despite most Android phones copying iOS with the icon dock
at the bottom of the screen, Android does allow significant customisation to
what we commonly call the ‘launcher’.
Aside from theme packs (with different icons), we have ‘live’ wallpapers, often
showing real world-related graphics (e.g. the Pixel 3’s live view of Planet
Earth, rotating, with night and day shown in the right countries for that
particular time). But the biggest difference is the visibility of widgets, small
panels which display live information, whether weather, stocks and shares, news
headlines, your Calendar agenda, social updates, and so on. On Android,
these can live on the main home screen, in amongst shortcuts and application
icons, arranged as you see fit.
Typical Android homescreen, in this case a Calendar widget showing dates and
agenda; with the Google search widget below and (not shown) more widgets on
subsequent homescreens. For example, I have one showing latest crypto-currency
charts. Note also the ‘back’ control, mentioned below. figure
Typical Android homescreen
Typical Android homescreen, in this case a Calendar widget showing dates and
agenda; with the Google search widget below and (not shown) more widgets on
subsequent homescreens. For example, I have one showing latest crypto-currency
charts. Note also the ‘back’ control, mentioned below. figure end
Under iOS, widgets were a fairly recent arrival and are limited to existing on
a swipe-down pane, i.e. you have to remember to perform this manual action
(and a swipe to the side as well). While not too onerous, the reliance on human
memory and the extra swipes to check widget information rather take away
from the ‘live’/push feel that a truly ‘smart’ phone needs.
figure
widgets and control centre
figure end
The
iPhone X
onwards introduced a gesture system to replace the old physical/capacitive
home button and, at the same time, Android manufacturers started bringing in
their own gesture systems – neither was first, of course, since MeeGo and then
Blackberry OS 10 was doing this up to ten years ago. But gestures do mean
that content can be expanded on both OS to (almost) full-screen and with
displays themselves not having to fit around physical/capacitive controls.
Within applications, navigation is much the same between iOS and Android,
though the lack of an obvious ‘back’ control in iOS still rankles to anyone
coming
to the OS for the first time. Yes, you can often swipe right to achieve the
same end, but this doesn’t work in all applications and isn’t visually obvious.
Google has been rumored to get rid of the back control in Android Q, but it’s
still there in the early betas, so hopefully the move to using a gesture
for ‘back’ won’t happen, at least not yet.
The only negative for Android on the interface front is the variety of
approaches from manufacturer to manufacturer – not an issue if you stay with the
same company’s hardware, but from the point of view of a user ‘playing the
field’ interfaces are a varied mess.
iOS: 8, Android: 9
5. Light and Battery Efficiency
A decade ago, with the first (AM)OLED screens appearing in phones, I did some
research and
shouted for all who would listen
that the ‘white’ nature of web pages and most applications meant vastly more
power drain than was strictly necessary – ‘dark’ applications (where most
pixels are either off of running at low power) could reduce battery drain for
the exact same application ‘up to’ ten times.
Now, modern phones have more going on than simply putting up a screen full of
data, so you have to factor in LTE data, GPS, GPU power, and so on, so that
initial ‘ten times’ estimate can be scaled back a lot, perhaps to a factor of
two.
Then there’s the sheer cosmetic shock at night, or in a cinema, etc. when it’s
dark and you’re checking Twitter, perhaps, with its wonderful night mode,
and then you hit Gmail or a web page and your eyes are positively blasted with
light. It’s something of a shock!
As a result, dark themed applications and even dark modes for the UI generally
have been creeping in over the last few years. The likes of Samsung have
allowed almost everything to be dark for a couple of years now (aside from the
usual app suspects) and with Android Q Google is doing the same, I’ve been
enjoying a fully dark Pixel 3 XL for the last week and loving it. Yes, a few
applications insist on white backgrounds, but many of these will allow a dark
mode switch as 2019 rolls on, I’m assured.
iOS has been resolutely ‘white’ (aside from wallpapers and whatever apps
themselves do) since launch, but
iOS 13
is reliably rumored to also (optionally) go black, joining Android – and I
can’t believe I’m using the cliché – ‘on the dark side’!
Still, Android leads the way here, at among modern OS – Windows Phone was fully
dark back in 2012! Just thought I’d point that out…
iOS: 5, Android: 8
6. Support
No question here, at least as long as you live within easy reach of an Apple
Store – which is most people watching this, I suspect. Whether it’s hardware
support – our own family has had several out of warranty repairs done for free
– or software, through the so-called Genius bar, Apple and iOS are definitely
ahead here.
figure
Apple Store
figure end
In contrast, Google and Samsung and others have very patchy physical support –
at least here in the UK – and you’re on your own in terms of solving problems
on the whole. The Internet will have to be your friend here.
If this all sounds a little generous to Apple then it’s not, it’s a matter of
fact. Even though I use Android, I still like going into the Apple Store,
enjoying what’s going on and bantering with the staff. Wish that I could do the
same in a fully stocked Google, Samsung, Huawei or LG store….
iOS: 9, Android: 4
7. Voice Assistance
Siri was predated by Google’s voice recognition, but only just and, once bought
by Apple, Siri became the first genuine assistant on smartphones. Google
took their sweet time at packaging their own voice system for Google Assistant,
which appeared in 2016 and is now on just about every Android smartphone
in the Western world. We’ll overlook competitors such as Cortana since they
never achieved market share on mobile.
Siri is remarkably capable for a software system that claims not to transmit
any of your personal information online and it handles all the basics
(reminders,
alarms, web queries, and so on), but Google Assistant is in a different league,
at the cost of letting Google know just about everything you’re doing.
It’s close to being a true AI (Artificial Intelligence) system though and is
getting better every month, thanks to the data piling up on its servers around
the world. You’ll have heard of
Google Duplex,
an extension of Assistant, which is rolling out and will handle phone calls for
you responding intelligently and talking naturally to the other party.
We live in fast-moving times and I have to give the win here to Google.
iOS: 8, Android: 10
8. Choice of Hardware to Run it on
This is the big one, of course. iPhone and iOS fans will say, with
somejustification, that Apple offers a range of phones… it’s just a very small
range.
Arguably only three sizes these days and a handful of models. In contrast, as
most of you know, Android is a vast, sprawling ecosystem with almost a hundred
manufacturers and getting on for 1000 different phones for sale at any given
time, around the world.
The current iPhone range (not counting older models, which are gradually being
phased out) figure
Current iPhone range
The current iPhone range (not counting older models, which are gradually being
phased out) figure end
Those thousand models range in size from 3” screens to 7”, prices range from
$40 to $1400 and beyond. Every possible variation in specifications and subtle
form factor variation is represented.
Yes, I know this is a software and ecosystem article, but the choice of
hardware has to play some part. I know these are common hobby horses of mine,
but
let’s say you decide you do want an audio jack or storage expansion or absence
of a notch – there are still plenty of Android-powered models to choose
from.
iOS: 5, Android: 9
9. Connections
These days, smartphones exist in a continuum of other smart gadgets – smart
watches, smart homes, smart speakers, as well as connected desktops and laptops
and tablets. It’s a dizzying mess and one which Google only really tackles
through the Cloud and your Google account. Which is usually enough for most
people – stuff is in your Google Gmail account, Contacts and Calendars, there’s
Google Photos, Google Drive, and so on.
But Apple’s Handoff APIs for iOS and MacOS mean that there’s an extra degree of
connection between your Apple software gadgets, picking up applications
on one device that you started on another (e.g. iPhone to iPad). Plus the only
smartwatch that has taken off in the mainstream is the Apple Watch and that’s
tied inexorably to iOS and the iPhone, so that’s another vote for Apple’s
approach to connectivity.
figure
Apple Watch
figure end
On the other hand, Android supports MTP natively, for file transfers when you
plug in a USB disk or similar, or for when you hook up an Android phone to
a desktop or laptop. It uses more wires and adapters than iOS’s AirDrop (over
Wifi to other Apple products), but it’s theoretically faster and more reliable
with far more hardware.
Then you get the desktop mode scene on Android flagships, with Samsung’s DeX
and copycat systems from Huawei and others (heck, Samsung copied it from
Microsoft
in the first place) – plug your phone into a big screen and, in theory, you get
to work with your data as if on a desktop OS.
Which nicely levels the playing field!
iOS: 9, Android: 9
10. Reciprocity
By which I have to note that the two operating systems and their ecosystems are
not symmetrical, i.e. if you have an iPhone and want all the Google (and
Microsoft, for that matter) applications and services (e.g. Drive, Photos,
Gmail) then they’re all there, in the App Store.
On the other hand, if you have an Android phone then you have no access
whatsoever to iMessage, iCloud, Apple’s iWork and iLife suites. I’ve lost count
of the number of friends and relatives who have ended up on iOS simply ‘because
they needed to be compatible with their friends on iPhones’. This is clearly
a conscious lock-in strategy by Apple and it seems to be working.
It’s hard to be too tough on Android in terms of scoring though, since if
you’ve chosen Android then you’re probably not interested in Apple’s services
in the first place!
iOS: 10, Android: 6
iOS vs Android: Verdict
As you’re reading this on iPhoneHacks, you may be thinking that my verdict in
all ten categories was biased, that I was manipulating scores so that iOS
would win. However, note that I’m normally to be found writing on
AndroidBeat.com and that I typically only use an iPhone once a month or so,
just playing
around with the technology. So I’m no die-hard iOS fan.
If I’m biased then it should be the other way around, favoring Android, yet if
you tot up the numbers you’ll come to the conclusion that iOS is indeed
the winner, albeit by a very slender margin.
list of 2 items
1. iOS: 82 pts/100
2. Android: 80 pts/100
list end
It’s all a bit of fun, of course, since there were no weightings on any of the
categories and most of us have one factor that we’re passionate about. And
the small margin does show that, even after taking into account wildly
different pros and cons, there still isn’t much between the two main smartphone
platforms overall. By comparison, Windows 10 Mobile (not long for this world)
would score around 50 and Blackberry OS 10 (RIP) about 40. It really is a
two horse race these days!
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist
WWW.David-Goldfield.Com<http://WWW.David-Goldfield.Com>
