Q&A: What are the pros and cons of Android and iOS that most people are not aware of?

Android

If you think that Google invented Android, you are absolutely wrong. Andy Rubin, an ex-Apple employee, founded Android, Inc. and Android as an open source OS before Google purchased and acquired Android.

Advantages of Android

1. Open source, anyone can take the source code of some AOSP (Android Open Source Projects) Applications and Components. That’s why BlackBerry 10 and Jolla devices can also run Android Apps, and Android manufacturers are allowed to customize the UI/OS such as Xiaomi’s MiUI, Samsung’s TouchWiz, HTC Sense UI etc.
2. Runs on many devices, since it’s allowed to be ported for other phones/devices.
3. Owned by Google, which means that there are many Google-integrated features in Android (such as Contacts backup, Gmail, Google Drive, etc.)
4. Customization. This is one of the biggest factors of the switch from iOS/others to Android. You can choose many different types of Launchers/Home Screens, Keyboards (Even though this can be customized since iOS 8), Status bar, and more.
5. Variants. Manufacturers can easily integrate Android with some new features on the phone, such as fingerprint and eye scanner. There are also some Android variants, one of them is CyanogenMod.
6. App installation and updates. Most Google Apps in Android can be updated without updating the OS. Android users just simply update it in Google Play Store (or others). Many apps can also be installed/updated without Google Play Store, by just installing the app in .APK format. This is useful for enterprises to create company-specific apps for Android.
7. External storage support. This is another factor of the switch to Android. iPhones does not have support for memory cards (Micro SD cards), and the only way to connect with PC/Mac is through iTunes (And iTunes is not available in Linux distributions). Some manufacturers may have their own app to connect their Android devices to computers, such as Kies3 by Samsung.
8. First setup and updates. Android may not need any software (such as iTunes) to setup your phone and delivering updates. iOS setup must require iTunes. Android updates will also not deleting your apps and your data, so it’s easier to update than iOS.
9. Price. Prices of Android phones are vary, depending on your needs. Many of them are cheaper than iPhones and iPads, while some of them have features what iOS devices (iDevices) does not have.

Disadvantages of Android

1. Google Play Services. This is a Google’s trick: As I mention earlier, Android is open source, but it’s limited to AOSP apps. Google Play apps and Services are not open source. Manufacturers must comply with Google’s standard (and pay to Google) to allow Google Play Services and Apps to be bundled with their Android builds. Google Play Services is also important to many Google APIs on Android, and this is the reason why apps with Google Maps API and other Google APIs may fail in BlackBerry 10 and Sailfish OS.
2. Different screen sizes and resolutions can cause problems with app development. This can take time to developers to develop an Android App.
3. Bloatware. Many Android Apps are bloatwares, including unnecessary Google Apps. Manufacturers may include “Exclusive” apps that you may not use. And, there are many Google Apps that you also may not use. Bloatwares can take up many of device memory. Fortunately, many of them can be disabled through Settings.
4. Update lifecycle. This depends of the manufacturers’ decision. Android One phones receive updates for several years, Nexus phones are often to be updated quickly and used to test the beta versions of Android. Samsung’s high-end devices received updates about a year after Google’s official release, while old and low-end Android devices may not receive updates at all. This is because some manufacturers are modifying and porting the new versions of Android for their devices, and that’s a long process.
5. Different versions. Since updates are released slowly, there are many different Android versions of all Android devices around the world. Currently, Android 4.x is more used than Lollipop (5.x), Marshmallow (6.x) and Android N (7.x). This may cause difficulties with developers to create apps and fix bugs.
6. Compatibility with older versions of Android. Currently, Google Apps supports from Android Jellybean to Android N. Meanwhile, Google is also developing a compatibility layer for some features (such as Material Design for KitKat and below). Developers must choose which Android will be supported, since lower versions means less APIs and functions, as well as some things that are deprecated today.
7. Security. Some bugs on Linux kernel in Android phones may open backdoors to security flaw. Furthermore, there are some malicious Android apps that can threat the OS itself.

iOS

If you think that iOS is the first smartphone OS, that’s another mistake. Before iOS, there are some smartphone/PDA OS before it, such as BlackBerry, Palm WebOS, Windows Mobile and even Apple’s Newton OS for their Newton Messagepad PDAs. Please note that iOS is originally a trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. not Apple, Inc.

Advantages of iOS

1. Just works. If you don’t care about customization, and random process of setting up your phone, iOS may be perfect for you. If you notice, there are far less steps for you to set up an email account, calendar, even installing Apps from the App Store can be done in a tap. In Google Play, users are asked to understand the App permissions (for non-Marshmallow devices).
2. Software lifecycle. In iOS, it’s far easier for iPhones to update (rather than Android devices, unless you are using latest Android phones). This also benefit for developers so they can integrate new iOS features easily.
3. App size. Most of apps whose have both iOS and Android versions are different in memory size. In fact, iOS apps are “lighter” than Android apps. This happens due to diverse Android phones that are need to be supported, with new Material Design libraries for Android as well.
4. Continuity. If you previously owned other Apple products (such as a Macbook), a new feature in iOS, MacOS (OS X), WatchOS and Apple tvOS, which allows you share content from an Apple device to another Apple device, including photos, clipboards, notes and more. Again,this is a new feature and requires latest version of those Apple OSes I mentioned above.
5. User Interface. Even though Android’s Material Design is good, iOS keep the UI as simple as possible. The aim of iOS to create a mobile OS which “Just works”.
6. Security. By restricting other third-party content on iOS, iOS is more secure than Android. Even though there was some bugs in iOS, Apple fix those bugs on later versions.

Disadvantages of iOS

1. Apple ID. Most of iOS apps may require Apple ID for services such as Continuity, Apple Pay, Apple Watch integration, App Store, Game Center and even the iTunes. If you already have the Apple ID you won’t worry about this
2. Restrictions. Unlike Android, iOS wants to monopoly your activities by their services. For example, you cannot install an iOS app just by download and install the packages like what Android does. Then, some of iOS apps are default for specific tasks, such as Safari for browsing and iTunes/Apple Music for playing music, even though Jailbreak is available for iOS. Meanwhile, this can improve the security of iOS as iOS apps are regulated in the App Store guidelines, and constantly reviewed by Apple.
3. iTunes dependency. Every time you are updating to the latest iOS version, there’s always one more step: connect with iTunes for your computer. In Android, the updating process is straightforward and does not delete any of your previously installed updates.
4. Price. iOS, alongside with other Apple OSes, are closed source. This means that to enjoy iOS you must have either the iPhone, iPad, or even the iPod Touch. In some countries, those devices are expensive due to taxes applied in their government.
5. The iOS-capable devices are “the same”. This statement is even used in new Android marketing campaign, “Be together, not the same”. Unless a custom case is applied for iPhones, someone may incidentally steal your iPhone because it looks the same with each other.
6. Storage. iPhones, iPod Touch and iPads are limited in storage. There are no external storage, weird iCloud problems, and other web storage apps available (such as Dropbox and Google Drive). Meanwhile, this should not be a problem because based on my experience, a 8GB iPod Touch (4th Generation, iOS 4) can be filled with almost 50 apps and Jailbreak, and less photos.