Android vs Apple

I was using Google Nexus for more than a year till one day(about 2 weeks back) I threw it in a fit of rage and broke something important enough for it to stop working.

I'm not getting into rationalizing what I did. The next day, I went and bought an iPhone 4 for 33K from Alpha.

Ever since, I've been tempted to write about how the two compare. So here goes.

Firstly, Android Nexus N is the best phone amongst Andriod phones because google updates it to the latest version of Andriod automatically. For other phones such as Motorola, HTC, Samgsung the ugrades are slow or practically non-existent. I personally was running 2.3.

With Maps and Wi-Fi Hotspot feature in iOS3. The feature gap with Android has really narrowed. The only big thing out of reach is Flash support. Ego goes beyond reason and technology. This one feature is hostage to Apple's bloated ego.


Usability in general
Andriod has too many option buttons to it. The back button, home button, search, right click kind. It can be a little overwhelming for a new person. Also, hepatic control of Nexus N didn't quite work out for my wife. I was kind of okay with it. My wife hated my phone.

My daughter never played with my Android. She loves my iPhone and iTouch. Simplicity is the key and iPhone scores big over Android.

Options which kick in if I press and hold the item offer more options but also need higher user sophistication. I liked some of these features in Android. iPhone keeps it simple. Android has wider options that iPhone.


Office Work
The biggest draw for me came from MS exchange sync. With my Android, I could never sync up my Calendar with my Office mail (MS exchange) even after the latest version upgrade where all I had to do is click a checkbox to sync my calendar. I tried loading Google Calendar tool and installing on my office laptop. Its a clumsy way of doing things and I really do not have permission to install apps on my office laptop. With iPhone it works like a charm. I'm really pleased with this feature.

The pasted excel tables emails get completely distorted in Android. iPhone retains the formatting.

Grouping the conversations is supposed to be a Google thing. Ironically I have that feature in iPhone and is missing in Android (for my office mails).

The time it takes to load the mail content after I click on it is pathetically slow in Android. Its zipping fast in iPhone.

Media Player
One thing I liked about Android is that I could choose to build the playlist on the fly by keep adding to the currently playing list. iPhone does not have it.

One feature about iOS 4.3 I love is that I can play media including video stored on my local network on my iphone. Yesterday I watched a good part of Charlie Wilson's War on my iPhone streaming from my network drive. It was cool.

Gadgets controls such as media player were on my home screen on Android. Not so on iPhone.

Phone Quality
The iPhone Camera is better than Android.
The voice quality of iPhone is better.
The voice levels of iPhone is better.
Speaker phone of iPhone is better.
Battery life is the same.

Network
Switching to Wi-Fi was always a problem with my nexus one. It would keep me on my mobile Edge network even when I was at home. To move it to Wi-Fi, I had to go to settings and Wi-Fi. Not that I had to choose the network, but I needed to go navigate to the screen before my Nexus one realized it had a Wi-Fi available and then it would switch to it.

My edge network would disappear a couple of time a day at office. I had to go to Airplane mode and come back to get my Edge back.

iPhone does not have either of these problems. Good.

My earphone socket on the Andriod had started giving me trouble some time back(after about a year of use). I'll know about iPhone as I use it.

Overall, I'm happy I made the switch. For me iPhone rules.