• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Why Android will not beat iPhone (kind of an article)

Geoponic

Geoponic

Well-Known Member
As we all know on the 29th of July 2007 a revolution happened.
Not just a revolution, a lifestyle. A standard. Not just a brand but an invention that will do down in the history books. The iPhone was released up onto the world and the world dropped it's jaw, drooled and down right peed a little.

The iPhone was not only a beautiful piece of craftsmanship aesthetically, but also under the hood it was a masterpiece. We all wanted one. Most of us got one, the rest went to college(they could still afford it).

So yeah, past the dramatics Apple did this simply amazing thing. They built a phone and used the glorious reputation of the iPod to make it into a monster.
They made the whole thing. In fact just about the only thing they didn't make was SIM card!

Apple then said they could do one better, they can give customers something actually worth having rather than a fancy brick. They said "Let's give them 3G" And so came the iPhone 3G. Then Apple said they could do one better. They said "Let's make it faster". And so came the iPhone 3GS.
In the making of these new, faster beasts Apple gave them ammo. It gave them the Appstore and Mobile me.

Now, Larry Page and Sergey Brinback in 1998 decided they wanted to take over the world. They founded: Google. In 2005 Google 'acquired' a small company named: (you guessed it) Android.

On 5 November 2007 Google attended the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corporation HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile and announced their goal to set a new standard for Mobile Phones.

So, fast forward to 22nd of October 2008 and Google says 'World! I give you the HTC Dream!' And we cheered, for Google who we all know and love, master of homepages, overloard of search engines and giver of quick and easy mail that is Google....wait did they say HTC Dream?

Ah alas, the point of this novel. Since the launch of The Dream there has been at least 18 android phones. How many iPhones are there? Technically? 3...but all the same, there is one iPhone. ONE iPhone.

So now we have iPhone. Thousands upon Thousands of apps all verified and checked and compatible with all 3 iPhone. And we have the Dream, The hero, The Eris, The Droid, The Pulse, The Tattoo, The Nexus one...etc etc etc... All different. Some have resistant touch screens the other has WVGA capactive screen, one has 3.2 mega pixels the other has 5 another has a flash on and on and on of differences who have a few thousand apps (not complaining about number, but come on...most a bloody soundboards!) which will work on one and brick another and cause a tornado in poland. Lack of quality control is my point here.

Now, this can be a good thing yes. We can afford the Pulse and get android for all it glory even if we can't afford the Hero or Droid.
Okay not ALL it's glory and the pulse is resistive touch screen..
so multi touch apps (if there ever are any out there) are useless.
We can have FULL (don't mention the Eris) access to the software to do what we please and we can edit this and root the phones and makes our own apps. Similar to how you can make your own apps on iPhone but then without the guarantee of it working on all phone.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Android. I wouldn't give my Hero up for an iPhone. I love the community and the Apps that can be downloaded which Apple wouldn't dream of publishing. But...come on.
Google REALLY need to step up game.
I don't think they're pacing themselves.
Okay all the carriers and manufacturers want android.
But google need to say no!
Google need to, instead of releasing a new phone (Nexus one)
They need to be concentrating on helping the manufacturers getting up to speed with new Firmware.
Google need to say no to some, quite frankly...appalling apps.
Seriously how many Quagmire soundboards do we need?

In my opinion Google should have had The Google Phone.
HSPDA, GPS, WVGA, BT, 5MP, flash and full QWERTY.
A phone which could handle all the deserts of cupcakes and donuts and eclairs.
Of course, this would make things a little dearer.
But more reliable.
No malicious banking software and 'flashlight' apps that need to connect to the internet and read your phone state.
So The Market only displays apps that are compatible with your firmware.
Why not have it so it only shows apps compatible with your phone?

Things just aren't as simple and clean as the iPhone.
Too many handsets.
Not enough support.
Not enough fans.

If i'm honest, in my opinion the Android OS is only suitable for the tech savvy. Or maybe tech intrigued is better.
Whereas the iphone. Simple. There's no choosing which one. No testing if the app works, no force closes and no updates pending while they're still rolling out other devices.


So to finish. I'd like to point out 3 things I think Google should do:
Slow down.(Quality not quantity)
A Market clean out.
Only give people what they can use.

Oh and maybe multi touch maps aswell.



I thank you, if you've made it this far.:)
 
Sounds kind of familiar:

Monday, January 15, 2007 - 10:34 AM EST
"Few products have been launched with such a blizzard of publicity as Apple Inc.'s iPhone," Matthew Lynn writes for Bloomberg.

"To its many fans, Apple is more of a religious cult than a company. An iToaster that downloads music while toasting bread would probably get the same kind of worldwide attention.," Lynn writes.

Lynn writes, "Don't let that fool you into thinking that it matters. The big competitors in the mobile-phone industry such as Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. won't be whispering nervously into their clamshells over a new threat to their business."

Lynn writes, "The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks. In terms of its impact on the industry, the iPhone is less relevant."

Lynn writes, "There are three reasons that Apple is unlikely to make much of an impact on this market -- and why it is too early to start dumping your Nokia shares."

 
god here we go again.. its so old this iphone vs android.. iphone is on tiop right now and the future is what it is the future
 
No don't get me wrong.
Android ftw!

But come on.
You know as soon as you try to show off your phone everyone goes.
iPhones better.

You CAN prove them wrong but they just don't listen and it's sometimes the allegory of the cave but others Android could really borrow from Apple
 
i would try and show off my phone to my iphone friends but i would be to afraid of my phone freezing, lagging or force closing
 
Hmm, I don't care if anyone else likes me phone, what it comes down to is that I love my phone and the apps are entertaining.
 
I did not get my HTC Hero for showing it to anybody. I just want to use it. I'm actually using it. Every day. It do the job for me.

For me forme formidable :D
 
I'll go along with J F Gagnon - I got the phone for ME and not to impress other people. I don't want flashy voice searches, Goggles, etc. I want steady, reliable, useable phone and PIM features with the ability to play some games, take some photos, social network, etc.

What I have is a bloody good handset (Hero) and a delightful operating system (one of my iPhone friends is insanely jealous of my wallpapers!), really good email (K-9 Mail using Gmail IMAP and Hotmail POP), great Twitter and Facebook and as good gaming as I actually want and need - I don't want 3D racing games.

What I don't have and what Google MUST address is good PIM applications. Apple's MobileMe is a good start, but Google really just need to replicate Outlook on the handheld with contacts/calendar/tasks/notes and the ability to link them, flag emails to tasks, etc, and sync that OTA with my dekstop.

Then *I* have *MY* iPhone/WinMo/Palm/Blackberry killer for sure.
 
You're asking google for a good PIM app? Dude, it is the king of PIM. My information is everywhere, floating around my head and yours as we speak. I don't need to install anything on the multitude of computers I use any more, MY information is one EVERY one of them, completely up to date and instantly in sync.

Replicate Outlook on the handheld?? Sheesh, get a google account, go to http://www.google.com/dashboard/ and you're sorted.
 
I already have a Google account - Gmail and Contacts sync between Google's Cloud and my phone. But what about Tasks and Notes? And *I* want all that data on *MY* desktop. Yes - if Google want to sync via their servers and store it all there, great. But I want my own copies on my desktop for my backups. Google Mail, Docs, etc, are NO match for something as simple yet powerful as Outlook.

Any argument is as unbalanced as most iPhone users arguments.
 
brykins said:
I already have a Google account - Gmail and Contacts sync between Google's Cloud and my phone. But what about Tasks and Notes? And *I* want all that data on *MY* desktop. Yes - if Google want to sync via their servers and store it all there, great. But I want my own copies on my desktop for my backups. Google Mail, Docs, etc, are NO match for something as simple yet powerful as Outlook.

Any argument is as unbalanced as most iPhone users arguments.
Click to expand...

No your wrong bc outlook doesn't have multitouch and google is cooler.

Got a problem with that? Meet me at the sandbox at 1100
.
 
First mistake "We all wanted one". I don't buy into fads and overrated products.
"You're asking google for a good PIM app? Dude, it is the king of PIM" Google is a little behind there. Need to make a recurring appointment on tuesdays and thursdays I have to go to goolge calendar, can't do that on the phone.
So far the best PIM I've used is KDE's organizer but the only real app I can find to sync is is gcaldaemon which seems to be a dead project and has some issues.
Google doesn't support categories so I must use multiple calendars. Google doesn't have all the fields from the vcard standard so i have t put a bunch of information in notes. So still a few missing features, but in theie defense the iphone and winmo lack all those features too.
 
Eugene said:
First mistake "We all wanted one". I don't buy into fads and overrated products.
"You're asking google for a good PIM app? Dude, it is the king of PIM" Google is a little behind there. Need to make a recurring appointment on tuesdays and thursdays I have to go to goolge calendar, can't do that on the phone.
So far the best PIM I've used is KDE's organizer but the only real app I can find to sync is is gcaldaemon which seems to be a dead project and has some issues.
Google doesn't support categories so I must use multiple calendars. Google doesn't have all the fields from the vcard standard so i have t put a bunch of information in notes. So still a few missing features, but in theie defense the iphone and winmo lack all those features too.
Click to expand...

Does 2.1 improve this? Anyone?

I'm actually fine with things as they are...Google Calendar syncs to my home PC, my work PC and my HTC Hero so I am a happy camper. Any new features will be welcome though...
 
takeshi said:
Why do people think it needs to "beat" the iPhone? The marketplace has plenty of room for competition. Only the naive assume that a new device is a "-killer".
Click to expand...

Why Chevy won't beat Ferrari
Why the Celtics won't beat the Bruins
Why Kleenex won't beat Brawny.

Excellent point, there's room in the market for products that are similar, and one doesn't have to run the other out of business for both to be profitable.
 
BiGMERF said:
i would try and show off my phone to my iphone friends but i would be to afraid of my phone freezing, lagging or force closing
Click to expand...
Now that is true. I have a Sprint Htc Hero and it can be laggy. So I kind of keep the goodness to myself. I am in a house full of Iphones. Android wins simply because of there great notification system. On the Iphone you will miss a few things until you open the app. NOW THAT SUCKS BALLS. Once Apple gets this multi task thing together, Android is in trouble. Sorry Iphone. I cant pay high AT&T phone bills and the dropped calls is just way to much for me. Try having a conversation with someone who has a Iphone on the East Coast. Terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
JF Gagnon said:
I did not get my HTC Hero for showing it to anybody. I just want to use it. I'm actually using it. Every day. It do the job for me.

For me forme formidable :D
Click to expand...

Exactly. I use mine for what it does, not a status symbol. If it had a bigger screen and a browswer I'd still be using my RAZR...at least it let me dial handsfree via bluetooth.
 
Here are reasons why the Iphone will lose to the android:

i spelled it out in an acronym for you :)

A- ATT- Carries play a big part in the phone, one of the reasons why the Nexus one isnt doing as well as it could be.

N- New developers/manufactures. There are new manufactures and developers everyday for the Android platform. The sole fact that pretty soon every major carrier + manufacture will have at least 1 android phone will create a huge impact on the number of apps and innovations we have.

D- Different. Maybe people like to be different. aside from it being hard to be different with the Iphone UI, i also mean phones in general. Some people will go with another brand such as Nokia or Palm just for the sake of having something different than everyone else.

R- robots to oranges comparison (i saw that said on the forums today, sorry i do not remember who said it) meaning, Android and the Iphone OS are so different and offer such a different experience that it is almost impossible to compare them.

O- Open Source - Anyone can be a developer = More apps, and more apps created with close watch of the Android community.

I- Innovative - New updates and developments keep us alive and growing strong, especially with google released apps such as google goggles or google navigation.

D- Diversity in android phones. Some people say that its bad, others say it is good. Personally, with all hardware aside, having choice in phones (Eris, Hero, Droid..etc) lets people choose the phone that feels right for them. A Droid or N1 might be faster under the hood, but the 7 homescreens of the sense UI and the form factor of the HTC android phones make something available to everyone, from the wife or first time user looking for something cool to show off to their friends, to the average every day geek who likes to overclock their droid.


the point is,

there will never be a winner. Not with any phones, anywhere. you can compare phones by hardware, but in the end, its what the consumer chooses, and as long as there are people using WM, Android, Symbian, and PalmOS...Iphone will never "win." its like saying red is obviously better than green, because it is used more....


before i get flamed, no i am not some biased android fanboy, (i am actually thinking about switching from Android to Palm OS if the pre plus on verizon is as good as CES made it to be)

but i also like to play devils advocate :)
 
iphone vs. anything is old news. no one cares. lay it to rest. the only people that care is the media(it gives them something to talk about) and apple(it maintains the iphone's presence).

here's all you need to know that matters
1....850x480
2....removable battery and standalone charger
3....verizon network

 [[[[case closed]]]]
 
I don't care about sales numbers, or what 16 year old girls think is prettier. I don't care if 10 billion apps that I will never use work perfectly on my device.

I really only care about this...

iPhone - Boring
Android - Awesome

That's my well thought out assessment of the situation.
 
How about the classy row of icons on the iPhone? Blah.
I have widgets on my home screen that are actually useful.
Android phones will probably never sell more than the iPhone. So what? Since when is commercial success a indicator of how good something is? I bet Transformers made more in its opening weekend than The Big Lebowski. Which was a better movie though?
Apple products, in my mind, were always for people who are satisfied with things the way they come out of the box.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom