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Why do you like Android over iOS?

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My finances are a little wobbly at the moment so I wanted a cheap feature packed device that I could buy and then stick a giffgaff PAYG sim in. iPhones cost an arm and a leg so my choice was simple.

If I could have brought an iPhone 3GS for the same price I would have been tempted. Unfortunately they cost 3-4 times the price my Orange San Francisco did.
 
Freedom to use the phone the way I want. And being able to find and use apps I actually want.

2 rather interesting articles about Iphones (Android needs to take notice of one)
iOS5 contains aggressive anti-jailbreak measures | thinq_

Arizona Police Told To Search Arrestee iPhones For Anti-Police Apps | Techdirt

On the first article - I'm waiting for the fanboy soap opera to start. (I actually think most of the bull is funny)

On the second - some can't tell the difference between and Android and an Iphone, so that is scary.
 
If the cops ever said they wanted to look at my phone I'd like to think I'd get all constitutional and tell them to go DIAF and suck stalin and FDR in hell but I'd probably be more worried about them looking under my floormat than my phone so I'd probably just hand over my work blackberry that auto-wipes if you get the pw wrong 10 times.

edit: I still can't stop lolling at the highly customized "like android" ios screens posted.
 
Slug said:
Looking at the starter post, I'd say the intended target was stock mobile handsets. The OP is/was looking for reasons to move from an iPhone 4 to a G2X because his friends were pressuring him to. Bad start.... ;)

What the OP (mcarlos95) should be asking himself is.... "do I prefer Android over iOS?" It doesn't matter a darn what the rest of the world thinks, he's the one who has to live with the handset. The only useful way of finding out is to get hands-on with an Android device and make the comparison himself. If, like a great many people, he still prefers iOS then I say good on him for making an informed decision. Better a happy iOS user than an unhappy Android one, imho.
Click to expand...

I actually don't like these types of responses to this question. Asking others what they like about one OS over another is a perfectly valid way of gaining some insight if you don't have experience.

Of course the final decision is up to the OP, but if he's never used an android phone, it's going to be difficult for him to generate a very informed opinion without turning to other, more experienced, users. Asking for opinions on this topic is one of the main purposes of a web forum.
 
Who cares what anybody says about Android, iOS, Symbian??

Why do you want to be persuaded to like Android when it seems like you are happy with your iPhone? Go with your gut. Who cares if people here say iOS is the 9/11 of the tech world and that iTunes is garbage and Apple sucks and all this? Who cares if people here say Android is the SEAL team 6 of the tech world, freeing cell phone users from the tyranny of Apple-qaeda and that the last poster claims he was cured of cancer after he switched to Android? So what?

Try out your friend's Android phone and make your own decision. It's OK to learn about the OS, but when asking, "should I switch phones", well that's ultimately up to you.
 
southzeztpdot said:
Now of course customization isnt like this out of the box but it is not hard to achieve these results. And before people throw out the "i dont want to jailbreak" statement why exactly would you NOT jailbreak your iPhone. I dont see how any member of the Android community can go through the hassle of flashing roms, kernals, side loading apps, and so on but would not want to JB which only involves turning your phone on and off and connecting it to the computer.

Like I said earlier there is no problem like one os over the other but my issue is a lot of you guys are saying things that are basically lies.
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Well lets stick to what you CAN do right out of the box, and Im not being biased in this post.

iPhone and iOS have:
Larger app market
Uniform design
Aimed for simplicity
More third party accesories (I thought that should be included)

Android has:
Open development
Wide variety of design (Different manufacturers, keyboard, kickstand, etc)
More customization features (Remember, this is out of the box)
Manufacturer or carrier signatures ( Sense UI, Vcast (even tho most hate it) etc)

Now, from right out of the box, Id say that Android seems like a much more personal phone, while the iPhone is more of the simplistic get-what-you-get. In terms of JB, the equivalent to that is rooting. JB iPhone= Rooted Android device, IMO. Flashing different ROMS, to me, just shows how much more you can do with Android devices. You can flash a ROM just for your needs. Correct me if Im wrong, but I dont think you can do that with an iPhone.

Now, finding which device is right for will take some research. Something that could get give some perspective on how Android works is by downloading the latest Android SDK and emulating the latest release. I hope I helped.
 
zuben el genub said:
Freedom to use the phone the way I want. And being able to find and use apps I actually want.

2 rather interesting articles about Iphones (Android needs to take notice of one)
iOS5 contains aggressive anti-jailbreak measures | thinq_

Arizona Police Told To Search Arrestee iPhones For Anti-Police Apps | Techdirt

On the first article - I'm waiting for the fanboy soap opera to start. (I actually think most of the bull is funny)

On the second - some can't tell the difference between and Android and an Iphone, so that is scary.
Click to expand...

When Jailbroken, you get your freedom, you can install other than Apple Store apps, and you can delete Apple from your life if you wish.

Android is tied to Google in a way that demands I use GMail. Not my choice perhaps, no (easy) way around it. I can't delete some applications I hate that Zio/Cricket seems to think I need, like Midnight Bowling, a game that requites payment. So until I Root, I am stuck and I can't use my phone my way.

I think iOS 5 will be jailbroken and there will be an untethered JB. If not, I think the community will find a way to downgrade the OS. I have several versions of iOS archived in the event Apple decides to fiddle with their servers and make it impossible to DL the older iOS files.

As for the second link, it is not surprising. It is bad, but expected. As technology advances, the police are scrambling for ways to combat how criminals can use advanced tech to ply their noxious trade.

AZ, you should be ashamed.
 
EcoOne said:
I mean in terms of the process to achieve a JB iPhone or a Rooted Android. Majority still work with One Click or Universal Androot
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I see the context now, my apologies; the quote takes you in that direction, but the prologue of 'what you can do out of the box' threw me back off the trail again.
 
one simple key app

Flash Player

dont get me wrng dont say flash video works yes it does on ios n thats all

im talking about live flash streaming videos like live sports,tv shows, live tv and all stuff just like a pc

im a sport fan and i watch all the time cricket,soccer mostly and i cant do it on ios soo android for me now

waiting for windows phone to get flash player than check it out how it will work

and i dont know when ios ganna support the flash its unlikly
 
symond said:
one simple key app

Flash Player

dont get me wrng dont say flash video works yes it does on ios n thats all
im talking about live flash streaming videos like live sports,tv shows, live tv and all stuff just like a pc

im a sport fan and i watch all the time cricket,soccer mostly and i cant do it on ios soo android for me now waiting for windows phone to get flash player than check it out how it will work and i dont know when ios ganna support the flash its unlikly
Click to expand...


Frash will play Flash content on iOS. So will several browsers.

I doubt Adobe Flash will arrive on iOS because Jobs is dead set against it. He made a public statement outlining why and it makes a bit of sense. But who knows what will arrive to handle the content.

If the iPad grows in popularity, perhaps Apple will decide that Flash capability should be included. Or something better than Frash will arrive.

But I am not talking about native app. Frash requires a JB, and it will NEVER see the Apple Store, to be sure.

I'll bet many web sites wanting those millions of iPad users to visit will create non-Flash versions of their web sites.

Who knows what will happen.
 
AngryHatter said:
Because my carrier gave me a droid for free and did not carry iPhones. Easy.
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But . . . what technical reasons would persuade you that Android is better or vice versa? Free is hard to combat in the high tech world.

My theory is if Apple licensed iOS to other manufacturers, you would see lots of iOS phones and it is possible that Android would be just another OS fewer manufacturers use because they would have iOS available.

Android is quite popular because it costs the manufacturer very little money. That too, is desireable as far as manufacturers are concerned.
 
Ssith said:
one reason, and one reason alone. with Android, i will never be forced to use, in any way, iTunes. for anything. ever.
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And neither am I and I love my iDevices. I can live an Apple Free life if I want to avoid Apple.

You are forced into using Google/Gmail, so aren't we comparing Apples to Robots or Plums?
 
So just how important is the comparison between Rooted/JBroken Vs Stock, when we discuss which is better, Android or iOS? I can do many things when rooted you cannot do unrooted.

I can counter almost every argument against iOS if I bring JB to the table, and many of the things you love that Android does, can only be achieved with a Root; likewise, only a JB will allow some things, too. In many cases, you need an app to do something that you cannot do stock with Android, so Android lacks many things easily available if you DL an application. Ditto Apple/iPad.

Can your Android device read and write Flash Drives? My iDevices can. Can you use AirStash to wirelessly stream movies and audio from a Wi Fi enabled Flash Drive by establishing a Wi-Fi connection between the AS drive's built in media server and your device's Wi-Fi capability? (well, it might be possible at some point) I can simply remove the FD/MicroSD card on the fly, no opening a little door after stopping the card and unmounting like most Android users must do.

I can argue that Apple is just as guilty of tying you to a large corporation as Android is because you must use Google/GMail, no other way. Hate Google/Gmail? Forget activation. You all have stock apps you cannot delete until you Root, so forget saying Apple is bad because they lock their systems down; Android devices are also locked.

If you JB an iPad for example, here are just a few of the things you can do:

Install
 
I switched on hd on a desktop to Ubuntu. So I've been reading Linux fora to learn.
There are fanboys, but the consensus of Ubuntu is you are free to customize, use as you wish, etc. Android comes off like this also. Gamers and Geeks seem to push the same type philosophy.
If you remember the Apple/PC commercials - Apple always did everything right out of the box, no learning curve, etc.
Some of us don't want to be cosseted. Some of us do.
 
_mw_ said:
How are you forced to use Gmail? I recall a "skip" button on that screen.
Click to expand...

Because you do not have the ability to use much on your phone without GMail and/or Google. Like the Android Market and other Google services.

So to be clear, you might be able to avoid GMail, but not Google. You are tied to Google in one way or another.

And there is a curious question about legality.

Bottom line: want an Android phone, you must accept Google at some point.
 
My point is that you aren't forced to use Gmail. You can use any mail service you like, POP3, IMAP, Gmail, Hotmail, or funky town mail. You're not tied to any particular service in that regard or forced into a corner. Yes, you need a Google account to access the market, but isn't that a bit of a silly argument for anything? You need a Yahoo account to access Yahoo. You need a Facebook account to access Facebook. You need a Google account to use a Google product. I don't feel oppressed.
 
The iPhone is very slick, and its market position is well deserved. I recently dumped all my old RIM stock and bought AAPL. The money I make off the Apple stock helps pay for the iPods that my kids like. But I bought an Android phone because:

1) greater variety of phone choices,
2) no mandatory data plan on some models, including mine,
3) cheaper (hardware and phone plan, see 2),
4) rapidly developing open source OS and apps which are competitive with the Apple apps and most of which already exceeds my personal needs,
5) (I was skeptical/nervous at first of) benefits of Google cloud computing, and
6) physical keyboard on my model.

I was a long time Treo user/fan. The Android allowed me to convert from Palm and step up to a much higher level. So I have been very satisfied with Android. IMO, if RIM were to come out with an Android version of their Blackberry, it would probably be a winner.
 
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