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

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

#111

Post by hcurtiss »

alecco wrote: post #79
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…

> Remember when the first iPhone was announced? The bullet list after > it was announced had touchscreen at the top of the list No, the LG Prada was ripped off by the iPhone. Don't let apple fanboys rewrite tech history. Same with the iPod. Sure, it was a more polished product, but they were not the first with the feature set. Apple rarely is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)#iPhone_controv...

"Sure, it was a more polished product * * * ."

That's exactly his point. Even if others offered the feature first, it's what's behind the bullet list that makes it a successful product (polish, if you will).

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

#112

Post by roc »

cageface wrote: post #43
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…

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…

> "how important is this really in practice"

It's pretty important to user satisfaction that Joe can say to Sally "You have an iPhone, right? Check out what they can do now!" And Sally be able to say "Mine does that too? Awesome!"

As opposed to Android, where Joe and Sally can barely help one another through the various UI skins half the time, let alone share enjoyment in cool new software features on devices purchased mere months apart.

(Sure, with iOS there are updates and features that don't get patched into older devices. But those situations are vanishingly few compared to Android.)

So, as an answer to the various times this question has been posed in this thread: Yes. It's a big deal to normal users that reasonably contemporary devices behave the same and generally have the same software features. And it's a very big deal for them to find out they bought the 'wrong' phone, not six months ago, because they got a model that will likely never get the cool new software feature their friend just showed them.

The degree to which updates don't matter, is the degree to which the users are barely interested in the device at all and use them as little more than a flip phone with better email and browser.

Which, while accurate for a certain population of users, hardly supports the relevance of any possible Android feature advantage.

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

#113

Post by shadesandcolour »

cageface wrote: post #63
shadesandcolour wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Only the really low-end Android phones and the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note and the Motorola Droid 4 and others.. So yeah, only the low-end phones.

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

#114

Post by stephenr »

daleharvey wrote: post #101
stephenr wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"when" they catch up? I think you surely mean "in the unlikely event that they ever catch up or even provide/allow any update at all" If android is so "open" why do you have to pick a single device from a single manufacturer (even apple offers more options than the nexus lineup) if you want android that's really android and not raped by the handset manufacturer or the network operator?

When they catch up usually means when they upgrade their phone You can pick whatever phone you want, and install whatever android you can get working on it if you want, if you want ota upgrades in a timely manner you need to pick a manufacturer / carrier that does that, which is only google devices at the moment, thats specifically because it is so open.

The only thing more open than android is the consumers anal cavity, thanks to the way handset makers and network operators treat their customers.

Seriously, "install whatever android you can get working on it"?? I have a diploma in network engineering, I write web apps and I manage Linux servers. I don't want to play "guess the right Frankenstein mix" with a phone. I want to use it

I really do think the "android tinkerers" who go on about "customising" sit there all day and endlessly fuck about with a phone, that they never actually use because they're too busy "customising" it.

Apparently "customising" may also mean "embracing the openness of android and fuckin around to implement/fix features that shouldn't need fixing"

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

#115

Post by cantankerous »

KirinDave wrote: post #90
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

It's really unfair to call what the 3GS gets "iOS 6." Apple's been doing this for awhile; calling maintenance upgrades mainline upgrades while not actually delivering all the features. Keep in mind the problem of vendor recalcitrance is much less of an issue for an interested Android user. You can literally reflash your phone to a mod with an app from your phone. You don't even necessarily need to plug it in to anyth…

interested Android user

That's a pretty packed up qualification there. Users that interested are not, have not been, and will not be par for the course on the Android platform.

Moreover, the in-app phone flashing is not something every Android phone can do. I speak from experience owning an Android phone that wouldn't play ball in this regard.

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

#116

Post by ceejayoz »

mtgx wrote: post #59

This article seems relevant to the discussion, too: http://blog.bestvendor.com/2012/06/did-apple-steal-these-ios... I've noticed that over the past couple of years, Apple has kept "stealing" the functionality of very popular apps from the App Store (starting with iBooks, and then others).

Oh no, Apple's implementing popular features?

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

#117

Post by ashishgandhi »

argarg wrote: post #96
varelse wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long time android owner and now Galaxy Nexus owner here: I... Hate... This... Phone... And here I could deliver a scathing rant about the camera locking up the phone and refusing to properly focus. Or I could go on about the constant gmail, navigator, and browser crashes, the horrid battery life (even in 3G with the "extended" battery) and yeesh I'll just stop here... And don't get me started about my Galaxy Tab 10.1…

Long time android owner and Galaxy Nexus owner here: I... Love... This... Phone... It takes beautiful pictures at an amazing speed, I get absolutely 0 crashes using multiple different applications, battery ALWAYS lasts at least the whole day no matter how hard I use it, and I love every single features ICS has to offer. I am in no way jealous of anything my iPhone friends can do with their phone and I will gladly buy…

You mean the scrolling is smooth for you?

Edit:

Key steps in writing that comparison table:

1. Whatever iOS 6 has and ICS does not, list it to be on ICS via third party.

2. Don't do third party additions on the iOS 6 column as if there are no third party apps on that platform.

Might as well say, "Android is open-source and since the phones are Turing machines Android does everything ever possible by a computer through third-party support. Maybe it's a painful experience but it does do it." More than that, I'm tired of looking at such comparisons that boil down features to bullet points. Imagine BlackBerry running the following ad after the announcement of the iPhone in 2007:

   BlackBerry already offers more that what is coming in the iPhone.
   Open websites, send messages, make phone calls, read your email.
Disclaimer: I got my first iPhone this February after being a Nexus user for more than 2 years. And while my Nexus technically did everything that the iPhone does it feels very painful to use. Not just the scrolling. I don't even want to go into details but there definitely are people who don't care about such things and that's perfectly fine.

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

#118

Post by mark_integerdsv »

kstenerud wrote: post #93
mark_integerdsv wrote: post #41

There is an advert for Steers (a hamburger take away franchise here in South Africa, their burgers are delicious!) that came out around about the same time that McDonalds came to the country. It depicts one guy unpacking a stack of tiny burgers onto the table, bragging to his buddy about how little he paid for all these tiny cheeseburgers (getting the picture?) His buddy opens up a Steers bag, pulls out one great big…

Is the point of the advert that smaller, commoditized burgers do better overall in the marketplace due to their cheap price, or that there's a market for the smaller segment willing to pay more for better quality? Or both? I'm also not sure what your point is, since Android is present in both markets.

Sorry, I guess it is a little bit lost in the re-telling (maybe just my re-telling?)...

My point is that 'Android (ICS) already offers more...' is hunky dory... Thing is: then you need to use Android.

I was taking a little jab at Android because I'm annoyed that fans of the platform always seem to make ironic claims as to the ease and openness of it.

It's not easy to hack and distribution is a mess... etc.

Disclaimer: this post contains opinions, responses may contain nuts.

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

#119

Post by shadesandcolour »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #76

I find it kind of humorous that we used to hear a lot of "but the App Store has way more apps than the Market" as a "feature" that made iOS more desirable. Hell, Apple even used the "There's an app for that" campaign for quite a while. And now we have people saying, "Well, so what if there was an app for that in ICS. Third party apps don't count". Oh how times change.

I'd be happy to allow Android users to call a 3rd party app a "feature of the operating system" like the author did, as long as he's will to include iOS 3rd party apps as features of iOS. We might as well compare oranges to oranges.

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

#120

Post by CrazedGeek »

qznc wrote: post #110
CrazedGeek wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? Basically every review I've read for it has said it's one of, if not the best phone ever (not exaggerating), save for the relatively weak camera.

In the reviews i read, the Galaxy S II was the best Android phone. I'm not sure about the current state with the S III released.

Not saying you're wrong (we probably just read different reviews), but a few examples:

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/17/2568348/galaxy-nexus-revi...

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/10/sprint-galaxy-nexus-revie...

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Nexus-Revie...

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