06 February 2013

iOS versus Android battle of smartphone operating systems

Many users face a dilemma when it comes to deciding what to buy for a smartphone operating system, and it is best suited for them. The renowned brand Apple has its own operating system, iOS, and like any Apple product it offers an excellent quality.

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Picture by incredibleguy flickr.com / photos / incredibleguy /

But what about Android? Some say it is the best operating system for smartphones, which is now on the market because it offers faster speeds and comfort. However, both operating systems guarantee and promise good performance on their smartphones, but which to choose? iOS or Android? Here is some information to help you get the choice to hope:

The interface

iOS and Android both use a touch interface, which have a lot in common. Both operating systems use as a splash screen, which is similar to a desktop computer. While an iOS home screen contains only one row of application icons, the Android operating system allows the use of widgets to auto update display information such as weather and e-mails. The iOS UI also has a function which allows users to pinning their most commonly used applications.

In addition, a status bar across the top of the screen runs on both iOS and Android operating systems, which indicates information such as the time, WiFi or cell signal and the battery life of the battery. On the Android operating system, the status bar shows the number of newly received e-mails or messages.

Apps on iOS vs. Android

The Android operating system gets its apps from Google Play , which currently has 600,000 apps available and most of them run on tablets. However, some Android devices such as the Kindle Fire, separate app stores that have a smaller selection of apps. Many originally iOS apps but are now also available for Android, including Instagram and Pinterest. Google's App-store slightly more accessible also means that other exclusive applications are also available, including Adobe Flash Player and BitTorrent. Android also offers access to google-based applications such as YouTube and Google Docs.

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The Apple App Store currently offers 700,000 apps, with 250,000 of them are designed for the iPad. Most developers prefer to develop games for iOS, however, before they develop this for Android. Since the last update the Youtube app is become unavailable on iOS, but iOS still offers some exclusive apps, including the popular game Infinity Blade and the Twitter client Tweetbot.

The conclusion of the comparison of Google and Apple app stores is that there is the most popular apps for both platforms. But there are more apps for tablets that are designed specifically for the iPad, while Android Tablet Apps often improved versions of Android smartphone apps are. Developers at start-up company often focus on only one platform (usually iOS) when they first put out their smartphone app, because these companies usually have no resources to multiple platforms at the beginning cover. For example, the popular Instagram app began with a version of iOS and the Android app came much later.

Updating the software

Although Google updates the Android operating system often, some users will find that they do not get some updates on their mobile phones or even have bought smartphones with outdated software. Handset manufacturers decide if and when they offer software upgrades, so they may not always offer an upgrade to the latest versions of Android operating systems for all phones and tablets in their range. Even if an upgrade is offered, it usually takes several months after the latest version of the Android operating system was released.

This is an area in which the iOS users have an advantage because iOS upgrades are generally available for all iOS devices. It could happen, however exceptions for devices that are older than three years, or for certain functions, such as Siri, which were available for iPhone 4S users but not for older versions of iPhones. Apple's hardware capacity as a reason that some older devices can not get any new functionality in some upgrades.

Device Selection

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Picture by LGEPR
flickr.com / photos / lge /

A variety of Android devices in many different price ranges, sizes and hardware capabilities are currently available. The iOS operating system is available only on Apple devices, namely the iPhone as a phone, the iPad as a tablet and the iPod Touch as an MP3 player. These are generally more expensive than comparable hardware with Android operating systems.

Surfing the Internet

The Android operating system uses Google Chrome as your web browser, while iOS Safari uses. Both Internet browsers are similar in quality and capabilities, but Google Chrome is also available for iOS, while Safari is not available for Android.

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