Android Vs Apple

The next level of smartphone wars came with the release of high-end smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 5S, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and the HTC One. That was back in 2013, but even though most of these smartphone companies will be rolling out new and more powerful gadgets sooner than we anticipate, one thing remains constant. The operating systems used in these smartphones have always been the same regardless of the versions installed.

Android and iOS are the two most popular mobile operating systems from Google and Apple respectively. In fact, as of August 2013, these operating systems were used in over 90% of the smartphones in the U.S. alone.

These systems have a lot in common. Both are programmed in C and C++ , they have over one million apps in their individual app stores, and they are both available in over 30 languages. However, all this doesn’t clearly tell you which smartphone you should settle with. While both can be differentiated with ease, they have their strengths and weaknesses.

We shall therefore look at some various aspects of these operating systems that might shed light on the perfect mobile operating system for you. Some of these features include: market share, device manufacturers, customizability, security, and finally the app development. Additionally, we’ll also mention some of the improvements that were brought about by Android Kit Kat and Apple’s iOS 7.

Market Share
This is a tricky way to relate these two mobile operating systems. While Android may seem to be embedded in many smartphones all over the globe, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it has the greatest market share. Kantar Worldpanel Comtech’s research that was carried out from mid-February through mid-November showed that Android phones outpaced the iPhone by a margin of 52.1% to a 43.5%. Though, these figures are seen to interchange from time to time as the iOS jumped back to first place later after the research.

Outside the U.S., Android OS is doing much better than Apple. Many companies are making Android phones compared to Apple phones which are just designed by Apple. This results to a 70% share for Android smartphones compared to a 21% share for the iPhone. Therefore, if you’re looking for a popular phone, an Android-based smartphone would be a better choice, and the fact that there are many different companies that make Android phones makes it even more flexible compared to iPhone which is only manufactured by Apple.

Customizability
Owning a smartphone seems like a necessity in today’s time, but there is a clear difference between having a phone that you could easily customize and having one that has limited customization.

Both Android and iOS can be termed as customizable mobile operating systems, but Android is clearly the leader when we rate both of these operating systems in terms of customizability. This is because you can change almost anything about the look of your Android phone with the aid of apps from the Play Store. Even though iOS allows you to change some settings, it doesn’t fully allow you to customize some of the system features without having to jailbreak your phone and voiding your warranty.

Android, on the other hand, allows a wide range of customizability like allowing installation of apps from other sources. You can also change a number of system features. The downside to this is that this flexibility makes it easier for you to cause harm to your system by making some unwanted changes which may brick your smartphone and render it useless.

Thus, you need to know which level of customization would be enough for you before settling on either Android or Apple. If you also choose Apple, you need to be prepared for the limited customizability that it offers.

Security
This is the next big factor that you have to consider after looking at customizability. Once upon a time, a Nokia phone used to bear all the great features until Android and iOS came into the picture. Though, none of these operating systems were more secure than BlackBerry’s OS.

Comparing Android with Apple’s iOS, Apple has a major lead in security because of its closed source nature, and this proves to be a worthy sacrifice for customizability too. There are a number of websites that target Android phone users who experience problems with their phones especially after rooting their phones, but few sites exist for iOS users who are experiencing the same problems because these mishaps rarely exist in the first place. This makes iOS a more stable mobile operating system than Android.

Additionally, Apple ensures that every app that is sold on the App store is scrutinized first before being sold to a user. As such, viruses and malware are very rare on this platform. Since Android offers its users with the flexibility of customizing their phones in a way that they deem suitable, it becomes easy to install third-party applications that have the ability to steal your data and even damage your phone. Android’s latest release, Android Kit Kat, comes packed with even more flexibility that makes users forego the need of rooting their phones. Security features have also been enhanced to seal all the loopholes that previous Android versions had.

A good way of ensuring you don’t fall victim of this menace is to ensure that you only install apps from the Play Store and also pay a lot of attention to the apps that you obtain off the Play Store.

App Development
Well, in many ways, users wouldn’t want to know what developers went through to come up with mobile phone apps because these users did their part by paying for the apps. However, you should be concerned about app development because it also determines the kinds of apps that will be readily available to you during the initial release of an app.

Developers find it easier to create apps for iOS mobile phones compared to Android, and this is because of the fact that Android comes in many versions and it is spread across different devices. It is thus cheaper for a developer to first create an app for iOS then later for Android. This will force Android users to wait for certain apps longer than iOS users, and in some cases, equivalent Android apps aren’t created at all because of the production costs involved.

Summing It All Up
Telling which mobile operating system is superior to the other is entirely a personal decision since it depends on an individual’s own needs. Below is a list of some of the pros and cons of both Android and iOS that make them different from each other.

Android Pros and Cons
1. Wide Variety of Hardware selection – Many Android devices exist that are offered at different prices making it easy to find the perfect device
2. Highly customizable – Just about every element of Android can be customized to a user’s liking
3. App development is costly because it runs on different devices.

iOS Pros and Cons
1. Offers better security due to limited customizability
2. App development is easier on iOS and this makes many applications easily available on this platform compared to any other
3. Limited customizability makes Apple phones less flexible compared to Android devices