Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

"Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

zdnet.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 151 posts

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#61

Post by myko »

shadesandcolour wrote: post #34

I'll answer this completely fanboyish article with a slightly fanboyish response. First of all, just because ICS had it "first" doesn't mean that they did it better. Let's add the fact that the feature being present in the operating system doesn't gauntness that Android users will get it on their phones like it does when Apple adds something to the operating system (with a few exceptions). Counting your "3rd party ap…

I'm afraid you haven't really used voice commands on Android. They do lack the NLP of Siri and the witty responses, but in practice they seem much more accurate at actually understanding what the user is trying to do.

Also you may believe iPhone is king in the ease of use department, but I don't. I think after using either OS for an extended period of time they become second nature and usage of the other can be grating if expected behavior is different. Personally I find Android much easier to use, you may not, and that's okay.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#62

Post by k-mcgrady »

mtgx wrote: post #50
doron wrote: post #3

ICS ecosystem is almost vaporware, it is supposed to be the best release yet, but i actually never saw it. Maybe its the best thing since sliced bread, but if nobody uses it, what exactly is the point?! Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured. [EDIT] I have been an android user since it was essentially released, and have only recently swi…

Like 250 million iOS users out of 365 can't use 2 of the biggest features of iOS - Siri and the 3D Maps (and also turn by turn I believe). How is that for fragmentation? Yes, Apple does port an iOS version to most devices, and yes manufacturers have been very slow with ICS, but Apple doesn't push all the features when they port the OS to older hardware either, and sometime they are major features.

Siri and Maps are only 2 features of iOS 6. There are many other features that the 3 year old 3GS will benefit from.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#63

Post by cageface »

shadesandcolour wrote: post #51
cageface wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured. Yes, but how important is this really in practice? With both platforms approaching maturity deploying major OS updates OTA is going to be less important. Google can ride the natural device upgrade cycle to get out new versions. If they can make the browser and email client and a few other key apps…

No, they can't ride the natural device upgrade cycle to get out new versions because there is no requirement for new devices to install the newest version. Apple on the other hand, can ride the device upgrade cycle because when you go pick up a new phone at the Apple store it is running the newest version of the operating system, and the features get rolled out to everyone. I would argue that as new features in newer…

there is no requirement for new devices to install the newest version.

No, but only the really low-end Android phones are coming out with 2.x anymore and that number is going to dwindle quickly over the next year. And ICS is not as crucial as some people make it out to be since 2.x is a decent platform already and a lot of features have been backported.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#64

Post by fluidcruft »

27182818284 wrote: post #57
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does this mean? iOS6? What is ICS? (don't answer those questions.. I know what ICS is) My point is the average user isn't sitting there with their Galaxy-Titan-whatever in their hands feverishly checking what version of Android they're running and yelling "Where is my ICS!!" They're posting to Facebook, emailing, tweeting, searching for restaurants..etc It's all about features.. and the fact is that iOS6 is catc…

No, of course not, but they do see me do something on ICS that you can't otherwise do and they say, "Wait a minute? I thought you had Android. You do? Then why can't I do that!" followed by frustration and anger.

Like what, specifically? ICS is great, but it's mostly improvements under the hood and window dressing--things that in the grand scheme of things really don't matter. 99% of the things that frustrate me about my Android phone are hardware-related (too little RAM, slow camera, TPM) and no software update can solve those. Yeah, the browser and calendar are improved.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#65

Post by rplnt »

jgroome wrote: post #8
doron wrote: post #3

ICS ecosystem is almost vaporware, it is supposed to be the best release yet, but i actually never saw it. Maybe its the best thing since sliced bread, but if nobody uses it, what exactly is the point?! Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured. [EDIT] I have been an android user since it was essentially released, and have only recently swi…

I don't think it's fair to compare the iPhone 4S to legacy Android devices like that.

I have less than a year old (when I bought it) Android device. Running 2.2. It's not Android's fault (perhaps slightly), it's device manufacturers fault. And many of them suck in this.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#66

Post by cageface »

technoslut wrote: post #47
cageface wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your chances of getting ICS on your legacy device are virtually zero. whereas getting IOS 6 on the iphone 4S is assured. Yes, but how important is this really in practice? With both platforms approaching maturity deploying major OS updates OTA is going to be less important. Google can ride the natural device upgrade cycle to get out new versions. If they can make the browser and email client and a few other key apps…

>With both platforms approaching maturity... I can't agree with that. Many felt that way in 2006 and definitely turned out not to be the case.

I'm not saying that we've seen the last word in mobile operating systems, but neither iOS nor Android have made any fundamental UX changes in the last few major updates.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#67

Post by tvon »

dbaupp wrote: post #21
phsr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, the 3GS is getting iOS 6. What 3 year old Android phone will get ICS? Like you said, I'm guessing not many if any at all. Agreeing with your point, Android is heavily fragmented, with phone manufacturers having the final say on which software gets deployed to their phones. Many of them are going to use new OS version to force software upgrades

> Hell, the 3GS is getting iOS 6 Do you know how much of it will be enabled? (e.g. will it have Siri working out of the box?) (Genuine question, btw.)

No Siri (still), and I'm fairly sure I heard no 3D maps.

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#68

Post by MrScruff »

abruzzi wrote: post #44

This is the old bullet-list fallacy. Quality is simply a measure of the bullet list of features, and no attempt is made to what is behind the items on the bullet list. Remember when the first iPhone was announced? The bullet list after it was announced had touchscreen at the top of the list, so every manufacturer thought that all they had to do was add a touch screen to their existing platform, and hordes of just lik…

Exactly. I remember hearing similar ramblings from Symbian and Windows Mobile 6.5 users when the original iPhone was released. Or how the iPhone would never achieve market penetration in Japan because it lacked all the bells and whistles of their feature phones (built in TV tuner etc...).

Re: "Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6"

#69

Post by alexbell »

myko wrote: post #58
manmal wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS 6 will even come to 3GS :)

Yes, but Siri wont, 3D maps wont. If the main features of the update don't make it to the device, what's your point? edit: the -> your (I know the point of updating the 3GS, I don't understand the OPs point in its attempt to mock Android)

App and API compatability. New apps using iOS 6 APIs will still run.
Post reply on HN