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iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

blog.louisgray.com

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Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#11

Post by Osiris »

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame.

It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge.

As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better apps, but in the end I can do things that the iPhone could never do.

I can tether via USB or WiFi, install apps from websites without using the Market and use free turn-by-turn navigation all while while taking a phone call. With Android I feel like I have freedom to do what I want with my pocket-sided computer without being treated like a baby and told what I can and cannot do with my own personal computing device. I have the freedom to choose phones with keyboards or without, with more RAM or less, from any carrier that I want. For me, that freedom is worth a lot.

I think the iPhone 4 is a great device from what I can see and certainly outshines most Android phones, but not by as much as the iPhone outshined BlackBerry at the time. If Google can take time for the next OS to work on the polish, I think they have a chance to really be a solid competitor. Heck, the Droid outsold the iPhone 3G in the first 30 days of sales. That says something.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#13

Post by louismg »

dieterrams wrote: post #6

How knee-deep in a silly Android vs iPhone fanboy war do you have to be to write a long post addressing the supposed presumption that iPhone 4 was going to slow Android down? What sensible person is even constructing thoughts along these lines? Many kinds of critiques, positive and negative, of both platforms are welcome. But this sort of fanboy service horse race punditry is not. At this stage, the smartphone market…

I agree the smartphone market is not a zero sum game, not any more than social networks, etc. I am trying to avoid a war, but explain what I am seeing. To be honest, I am rooting for both.

What I saw today was iPhone achieving parity with some of Android's features. What I also see is Android having more handsets, more manufacturers and carriers, and eventually more users. I think it is fair to say that the new iPhone was nice, but that it wasn't good enough to slow that momentum.

If it came off as fanboy, I apologize. Folks get deeply entrenched, so there's no way to make everyone happy.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#14

Post by louismg »

Osiris wrote: post #11

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame. It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge. As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better app…

I think Apple does a fantastic job on nearly all fronts. There are many aspects to the iPhone which the Android should get. I am a hardcore Mac user. I just expect that we are at a tipping point for the market, and that the new iPhone didn't get enough done today to change that momentum.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#15

Post by Osiris »

hboon wrote: post #10
louismg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue Windows Mobile is the Windows of Mobile.

That's giving Windows Mobile too much credibility.

I've only used Windows Mobile on Symbol handheld scanners, and I have to say it's the worst OS EVER. It's a nightmare trying to get that thing configured properly for network connections since it still thinks that Dial-Up with a modem is a first class citizen.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#16

Post by gmlk »

Why is it so hard to understand?

Apple's objective isn't to become the largest. Apple does not see this as a winner-take-all platform war. Apple's core values are all about it's ability to change things, it's ability to think different, it's ability to move forward without obstacles.

Apple wants to make, and sell, the best and most beautiful devices they can imagine. For that they don't need to "own the market", their platform doesn't even need to "win". Whenever Apple thought that their platform was limiting their ability to innovate they have dumped the platform and build a better one. That's the kind of business Apple is.

Apple doesn't compete with Nokia for the €40 phone market, Nokia does a great job already in that market. Apple is competing in the high-end smart phone market and only in this small market does it want to "win" in any sense.

Apple sometimes finds itself in a situation where there is not competition, that's fine too. Just don't expect Apple to make something cheap for the lower-end of the market. More often then not, someone else will fill that niche soon enough.

Apple only needs two things: (one) An open market of multiple competing platforms with shared open standards and protocols so that devices can work together. (two) Something special to differentiate itself by, often a level of quality and total integration, the realization of a coherent idea.

About the only thing Apple can't accept is a market where someone else controls an essential part of the market, may it be either some piece of hardware, or software, a protocol, or even the structure of the market itself.

To have someone else control the market would mean that someone else controls the speed of change. It would severely limit Apple's ability to innovate. And it's ability to innovate is the heart and soul of Apple.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#18

Post by louismg »

hinting wrote: post #9

How does this stuff get to the top of list? It's 700+ words that ignores basically anything shown today by Apple and instead says only "AT&T sucks!" More generally, flamebait articles that paint this as the great Android vs Apple war are maddening. They are pieces of software, not wrestlers. One does not have to fail for the other to succeed.

No idea how it got to the top of the list.

As I said elsewhere, I've talked a lot about Android and iPhone lately already, so I didn't think I needed to recap that here. Sorry if it seemed shallow.

Quick summary echoed elsewhere: What I saw today was iPhone achieving parity with some of Android's features. What I also see is Android having more handsets, more manufacturers and carriers, and eventually more users.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#19

Post by louismg »

brc wrote: post #7

There's a massive market of people out there whose iPhones will never talk to AT&T ; the rest of the world. I think drilling down on the US carrier is a bit shortsighted in a proper review.

There are many sites that cover gadgets and their global hit. What I was doing here was talking about my own personal experience, which I believe is fair. Not everyone shares the same experience, and there are many outlets to share those viewpoints. But here in the US, AT&T is a major problem, and it has been such a bad problem, it has contributed greatly to my looking for an alternative.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#20

Post by swannodette »

dieterrams wrote: post #6

How knee-deep in a silly Android vs iPhone fanboy war do you have to be to write a long post addressing the supposed presumption that iPhone 4 was going to slow Android down? What sensible person is even constructing thoughts along these lines? Many kinds of critiques, positive and negative, of both platforms are welcome. But this sort of fanboy service horse race punditry is not. At this stage, the smartphone market…

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. I've noticed that the Hacker News trolls really come out of the woodwork on Apple related submissions: in terms of the submission, senseless upvoting/downvoting and gradeschool level utterances. I suppose the general quality of the thoughtful submission/discussion on HN has to be offset by something.
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