I need to say upfront that every OS has its unique selling point (USP). One does some things better than the other. From my own point of view, below are four features of the Android platform over iOS:
- Budget Conscious: Since the arrival of Android OS, many people have been privileged to carry a smartphone. Imagine a smartphone selling for as low as 10,000 naira. Only Android has provided this opportunity so far. Please read my earlier post, to be sure of the Android device I am referring to. On the other hand, the cheapest iOS device costs well above 10,000 naira. Aside that, in recent times, we have heard so many manufacturers announcing their low-budget Android devices (many to cost around $100).
- Home Screen: This feature makes Android very superb for me. All android devices come with a customizable home screen. It provides information directly through widgets. This implies that you do not need to launch the app before you can have access to some of the information it provides. Take for instance, I have a Facebook widget on my device, which I added to the Home Screen. With this, I don’t need to launch the app to get Facebook updates. All I need to do is to navigate back Home, and catch all my updates. This feature is lacking on iOS.
- Notifications: Another great in-built advantage of the Android platform over iOS has to do with notification display. Adroid gives you a notification bar at the top screen. This bar can be pulled down to gain access to more details. The iOS Notifications is not as superb as this, because, it natively displays notifications through pop-ups. This is set to change in iOS5 though, so its not going to be an advantage for long.
- Hardware choice: Apart from many of the great benefits of the OS, Android gives its fanbase a wide choice of hardware across a wide variety of manufacturers. This means that there is an Android for all types – touchscreen-only, QWERTY candybar, and QWERTY slider. As for iOS, its touchscreen-only, and saying no to Apple’s hardware means bye to iOS completely.
This post was written by
Oluwatobi Soyombo is a techno-preneur poised with the mission of creating and deploying cutting-edge I.T. solutions for Individuals, Corporate Bodies and Governments. He is the founder of VDrive Technologies. Follow him on Twitter @SOluwatobi. He shares his views here.
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October 11th, 2011 at 12:01 pm Browsing with
The notification bar and its pulldown feature is no longer unique to Android. All the major OS platforms have copied it including Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and iOS though some have implemented it slightly differently.
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October 11th, 2011 at 3:14 pm Browsing with
The pull down notification bar in android is just great. Within the few days that I upgraded to the super fast SGSII, I can tell you the beast waits for instead of me waiting it to launch an app. Its as fast as speed of light.
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October 11th, 2011 at 3:50 pm Browsing with
Thanks for the post, which android can on purchase today in nigeria for 10,ooo naira? thanks
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October 11th, 2011 at 4:10 pm Browsing with
One man’s iOS is another man’s Android…
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October 12th, 2011 at 3:21 am Browsing with
@Dave,
To be sure of the android device that costs around 10,00 naira, Please, visit this URL: http://mobility.com.ng/2011/09/14/lowcost-android-2-2-tablet-wonder-media/
It is an ealier post on “Low cost Android Tablet”
Thanks
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October 12th, 2011 at 7:24 am Browsing with
Though,never owned any of d two b4 but i still prefer ios to android. I sincerely like graphic transitions or animations that stimulate emotions. Every os is great but the polishing of its functionality is what makes it great dis days not what it can do anymore,if not, which os could dare compete with symbian? But it lack the thrilling transition which move emotions.
We all see what MeeGo os is doing to n9 lately thanks to swype gesture .It made n9 not only easy to use but extremely attractive to many.So ios is my preference to android.I ve seen the ios5 draggable notification bar though not new but it is beutifully implemented.
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October 12th, 2011 at 1:44 pm Browsing with
Well Android has got the UI and graphic thing also. Even better in some respect. I’ve played with iPhone 3GS and I can’t tell any way the iPhone UX is better than the experience I get from my Android 2.2 device.
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