As most of you using iOS already know, iOS 7 has been released today. While you’re all busy updating, I dove into some reviews of Apple’s latest, and I think I like this conclusion by The Verge best.
Today, as it rolls out to users everywhere, iOS 7 is still on most levels the same operating system it’s been for six years. Meanwhile Android has become a fun, efficient, flowing operating system that makes it easy to move data between apps, easy to share things, and easy to see only the information you need at the moment. Where iOS 7 still feels like jumping in and out of a series of apps, the best moments of using Android make it feel like a cohesive, unified platform. There’s no question iOS 7 has the foundational strength to match that experience, but Apple has to throw open the doors and let its huge ecosystem build on that potential.
iOS has always been an excellent operating system, and iOS 7 remains an excellent operating system. But if Apple’s goal was to match the power and flexibility of its rivals, iOS 7 feels very much like the beginning of a project rather than its conclusion.
Quite frankly the comment by ‘The Verge’ doesn’t matter a hill of beans if you’ve got the likes of Samsung and HTC who drag their feet when it comes to Android updates/upgrades not to mention the obstructionism that is routinely practiced by so many carriers around the world when it comes to deploying the updates. It doesn’t really amount to much to boast about the virtues of Android when if you’re handset owner that you have to go out and by a new one just to get a new version of Android – to talk about the improvements then ignore the fact that most users will never get those improvements thanks to the aforementioned obstructionist entities means such improvements might as well not exist in the first place for most people. It is akin to a person boasting about the latest Rolls Royce to someone on the unemployment benefit – nice to know there are improvements over the previous model but I’m never going to get it anyway.
70% of devices accessing Google Play are 4.0 and up. Those are more devices than will be able to run iOS 7.
Not trying to argue your point – it’s quite valid – but it’s not as bad as it seems.
But, like… he’s right. The continued development of Android benefits a few. It’s likely that whatever you bought your device with is that last version of Android you’ll see unless you bought a flagship phone like the Galaxy line or the Nexus line. iOS 7 will be running on about 95% of eligible devices within a few months. Kit Kat will almost certainly never run on most Android devices that exist today, including the ones that could support it.
The Verge’s comment may be true, for the author at least, but the iOS dominant ecosystem and cannot be refuted. iOS sets the bar. Many of the responses are gimmicks.
This is why CyanogenMod turned into a company. There is a demand to improve phones beyond the capabilities they came with. The manufactures are unwilling to do this, providing an opportunity for someone else to come in and make it really easy. I think they mentioned this in their recent announcement.
No idea how they are going to make money, but its a good idea.
Android is a marketplace.
If you want to ensure you always get the latest and greatest – get a Nexus. Given a Nexus 4 is ^Alb240 off contract, it’s hardly Rolls Royce territory either.
Or think of it this way – Google product a line of phones (Nexus) like Apple produce a line of phones (iPhone) that they keep up-to-date.
All the rest of the Androids – well that’s just an extra option you don’t have in the Apple world.
millions of android users lose data – confused users, no standards, and buggy apps will do that.
just the other day — after bragging about his huge screen and awesome features — my guitarist recorded 2 songs worth of video during rehearsal from his android, only to have no idea if it recorded and if so, where it was stored.
so his girlfriend pulled out her even bigger android tablet/phone thing to re-record the video. she also had amazing camera features, according to her. except the feature to quickly record & save the video somewhere she could find it.
so after a few seconds of “umm… huh…” and thinking she was recording, she wasn’t, and we stopped, waited, then started again. once complete, she couldn’t figure out how to share the video, how to put it on youtube or email it, whatever, and generally just gave up on the whole process. i never saw the video, not sure if she ever got it.
stupid users? perhaps. but clueless user is ultimately the fault of the software design. this type of story is not rare, i see things like this all the time, and rarely from an iOS product.
btw i design software for a living.
I’ve never done that with my phone, so I figured I’d try it out, for posterity.
Nexus 4:
1. Tap Camera to launch camera.
2. Tap “still camera” icon, choose “old timey video recorder” icon (funny these skeuomorphic icons still work)
3. Tap big red record button to start recording.
4. Tap big red record button with square in the middle to stop.
5. Notice the little thumbnail that moves away to the corner. I know from using my camera that I can swipe from the right to get to my previously taken photos. If not, I guess I could launch the “gallery” app
6. Tap the share icon (maybe a bit cryptic… it’s a tree with 3 nodes).
7. Choose the app I want to share from or “see all”
8. Choose from all the apps that are registered to ingest a video
Now, there might be a step or two in there that you’d argue isn’t intuitive, but I *have* shared photos, and it works pretty much the same way, so I assumed sharing video would be the same, and it is!
I’m not saying that your story is not true. But how can the OS that actually allows you to see file structure, and has a built in sharing feature(apps can share data, any capable app can be chosen to share to) be harder to share or find a video file?
Any video recorded by any program is visible in the gallery by default. My guess is your friend just didn’t hit the record button. I’m sure any of us can report stories about computer users that can’t do basic tasks, doesn’t mean the computer is at fault.
Edited 2013-09-18 21:41 UTC
Because most users don’t know how the hell to tell a video file from a document, and don’t give a shit about their phone’s file structure?
I have an iPhone 4S and I bought a Samsung S4 Galaxy
I really miss how Android is so much advanced in respect to iOS (6.x)… can someone explain me?
Apps are in their sandbox in Android as well as in iOS, or am I wrong?
The main difference is that apps on Android can write to a file system that other apps can also access. So you can save a document with one app and easily open it from the same location with another (like a desktop OS). On iOS the app has to have registered a URI handler for other apps to send it files (and then it is a copy of that file, not a link to the original). Apple is pushing cloud storage over local filesystem access.
Edited 2013-09-19 14:54 UTC
> On iOS the app has to have registered a URI handler
> for other apps to send it files (and then it is a
> copy of that file, not a link to the original).
From a security point of view what Apple is doing is more safe than what Android is doing.
For paranoia’s sake avoiding cloud services would increase security as well… but people seem to enjoy these kind of services.
Am I the only one so un-addicted to smartphones to not notice so much difference?
Edited 2013-09-19 10:11 UTC
I did notice Thom claiming “I have no way of testing iOS 7 myself” in one article and in this one “Where iOS 7 still feels like jumping in and out of a series of apps”.
You do understand the difference between quoting someone else and actually saying something yourself?
I made no such claim, and you’re smart enough to know that.
Well I’m fairly addicted and can’t think of anything that isn’t also in an app on Android. Maybe they’re talking about widgets?
Being used to a flip phone with cumbersome menus I thought I would enjoy a smart phone. (yeah was still stuck in the 90′)
So this year I tried an Android phone for 2 weeks and it didn’t fly with me.
When people talk about how well Android is put together and that every thing seems to be where it should be… I can only laugh.
It was the worst experience I had in a long time.
(…this coming from a dude that enjoys digging into different operating systems)
Maybe my expectations were just to high.
Not only had to decide which phone hardware (brand) to get, but with the hardware also the Android experience changed. Some menus look different, some phones have options not available on others even if the OS version is the same.
After not being able to do what seemed should be possible to accomplish on a smartphone (and I really needed the phone to do it) – I gave up.
This experience reminded me of Barry Schwartz TED-Talk:
“The Paradox of Choice”.
Instead looking into new Android hardware (with my newly gained knowledge in this matter it should have been an easy thing to do) I ended up buying an iPhone5 and could not be happier.
Updated to iOS7 today and still satisfied with my choice.
No, you’re not the only one. Becoming addicted to cell phones, …. sorry, smartphones …. is like choosing to devolve. I know people who literally can’t handle it when something happens to their phone that renders it temporarily unusable (dead battery, no signal, etc). It’s beyond sad. I have no problem ignoring texts, not using the internet on my cell phone, not jumping to see who is calling me the second my phone rings, and so on. I could turn my phone off for a few days and feel perfectly fine whereas such an action would send someone else into a frenzy. For those types, the thought of being phone-less is terrifying and it’s absolutely pathetic.
Edited 2013-09-20 06:08 UTC