

"Android ICS already offers more than what is coming in iOS 6" - jgroome
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/android-ics-already-offers-more-than-what-is-coming-in-ios-6/7769

======
doron
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 switched to IOS, there are many things that i find absolutely
maddening with IOS and find some elements poor in comparison to android.

That said, I grew tired of upgrading my phone on my own. Cyanogen was great,
but it became a real hassle, I just want a device that works, and upgrades
easily.

I am very disappointed with Android, primarily because its unfulfilled
promise. We can blame the phone manufacturers for this mess and we will be
right, but a chunk of the blame goes to Google as well, it was blind to
entrenched interests, and now the users are paying the price. It smacks of
arrogance, and lack of strategy.

~~~
SkyMarshal
_> 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._

There are two kinds of Android users in this world - those who care about this
issue, and those who don't. The former tend to be the innovators and early
adopters who pay attention to every new OS release and whatnot, the latter are
the mainstream users who just want a working phone and don't follow the tech
rags and don't really care about the details.

So what I wonder is, if you're in the former group, why buy any Android phone
other than a Nexus variant straight from Google, which is the only one
guaranteed to get the latest greatest OS updates as painlessly as possible?
I'm in that group, and I couldn't imagine buying some mangled, bloated
carrier-modified version of Android. Is it just the marginally better hardware
specs that attract people?

~~~
doron
This segmentation for two kinds of Android users is exactly the problem. If
you are an IOS user, whether a poweruser or not, you will get the latest
upgrade and a range of new features by default. This delights users, they
don't have to care about the issue to be satisfied with the device.

Perhaps I am lazy, perhaps I am somewhere in between those two archetypes you
mention. I want to hold the device i buy before i buy it, as such i need to go
to my provider store and see it, dare i say, touch it. This fact alone
eliminates the option of seeing the nexus variant.

You don't have to follow the Techrags or details to want the latest and
greatest.

~~~
Kylekramer
Looking at the big red 1 on both my parents' iPhones' Settings app (not
mention the much higher numbers on the App Store app) when I visited them this
weekend, I imagine the same segmentation exist on iOS. Different proportions
and easier upgradability on iOS, but the basic idea is the same on both
platforms. If you want updates, you are able to get them. If not, and most
don't, it is no loss to anyone but developers and security.

~~~
Terretta
You can imagine the same segmentation, but you'd be wrong about the end
result. 4/5 of iPhone users have updated to 5, while less than 1/10 of Android
have updated to 4.

As a service provider, we see the device stats in our logs across tens of
millions of users, and the numbers line up with Apple's slide: over 80% of iOS
devices are updated to iOS 5, and under 7% of Android devices are on Android
4.

And really, it's a lot worse than that, with variations in the 2.x releases,
even within the 2.3.x releases, affecting whether devices are able to stream
video properly or not.

------
shadesandcolour
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 apps" (which apple really had first, two can play at
this game) as features of the operating system just doesn't count. I don't
care that apps can add functionality to the operating system. If it isn't
there by default, it doesn't count as a feature. Claiming that a 3rd party app
offers the same functionality as passbook for instance, is moot because 3rd
party apps on the iPhone could do the exact same thing.

Please don't compare your crappy voice actions or other skin specific
implementations to Siri. She doesn't always work, but when she does, it's
better than yours.

Yes email on iOS has been lacking a little bit. Doesn't make it any less of a
feature when things get added to the email client.

I'm shocked that the author waited until the very end of the post to mention
"glanceable widgets" since this seems like it's the champion of all Android
users since it's really their "killer feature." Be that as it may, call your
HTC One X more powerfull all you want, when it comes to platform integration
and ease of use, the iPhone is still the king.

~~~
myko
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.

~~~
Terretta
Forget "voice commands", which predate both iPhone and Android. I need SMS
dictation.

Dictation on the iPhone under iOS 5 is _shockingly_ better than dictation on
Android ICS on my Google Galaxy Nexus.

I can carry on a complete SMS conversation via voice on iOS without editing,
while having to edit every other phrase on ICS.

~~~
myko
I've had the opposite experience.

~~~
Terretta
Then you're pretty much alone, from anyone I know who has both.

~~~
myko
I don't think that is the case, as I have coworkers with both who've agreed
with my assessment. However this anecdotal argument is rather pointless.

~~~
Terretta
From the Wall Street Journal: "However, I found the iPhone 4S worked better
than the Galaxy Nexus in noisier environments. For instance, in a crowded
shopping-mall food court, while neither phone was perfect, the iPhone
understood me to say: "I am dictating this email from the very noisy Court at
Montgomery Mall on the iPhone"—missing only the word "food" and capitalizing
"Court." The Android phone mangled a very similar sentence as: "I am dictating
this email on droid phone from the bearing noise for it montgomery mall."

[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230377290457733...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577335792574509780.html)

Detailed review by owner of both: "Siri is handy for sending quick messages
and looking up basic information, but Dictation is the real winner in my book.
I use dictation on the iPhone 4S to write entire articles with enough accuracy
that only minimal editing is needed."

[http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/05/15/6-months-with-the-
ip...](http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/05/15/6-months-with-the-
iphone-4s-android-switcher/)

------
abruzzi
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 like the "LG ENV Touch" flooded
carriers. Feature phones had small app stores where you could buy a dozen
useless apps, so they beat the iPhone on that bullet item.

~~~
alecco

      > 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...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_\(KE850\)#iPhone_controversy)

~~~
hcurtiss
"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).

------
th0ma5
It is weird to see the public discussion about ICS being one about dismay and
vendors holding the platform back, but with those of us who took the time to
research, hack, and even program for Android, I've enjoyed more control and
flexibility than even a jailbroken iPhone could give me. So, on one hand, I
completely agree with all of the negative press about the droid platform, but
on the other hand, I couldn't be happier.

~~~
rbanffy
Same here. I won't buy an Android device before making sure it can be easily
rooted and that it runs a custom build I like.

------
Tyrannosaurs
The thing this misses for me is what it can do and what it does do for most
people.

Smartphones are now mass market which means that a lot of people buying and
using them aren't engaging in a lot of config, customisation and so on, that
90% of what they do and how they work is how it comes out of the box.

Only about 7% of Android devices are using ICS 6 months after launch. By
comparison 80% of iOS customers using iOS5 12 months on. What that means is
that what's in iOS6.0 is probably way more relevant to your average iOS user
than what's in ICS is to your average Android user.

I've not seen anyone say ICS isn't good, the issue seems to be that it's not
what most people experience when the use Android.

------
ajross
This thread encapsulates everything wrong with the tech industry in one handy
page. A flame bait OP, a bunch of fanboien leaping in to defend their favorite
platform. Lots of rehashing of the Same Tired Old Arguments yet again,
followed by the Standard Polemic Reply to those arguments, and the inevitable
Ridiculous Digression Justifying Original Opinion. I swear, I got started out
the top and realized I was about to downvote the whole thing before giving up.

Look folks: Smartphones (I guess I should say "iPhone-style smartphones", as
the term existed long before that, but was used for devices that aren't
meaningfully comparable) are now 5 years old, and are becoming a mature
technology. We're at the stage now where desktop GUIs were in, say, 1991. The
competing platforms have reached feature parity, and there aren't many great
advances left to distinguish them in the near future (until the next big
disruptive change, anyway).

So while the OP is flamebait, I think the point is mostly valid. iOS 6 looks
pretty tame compared to its recent ancestors.

------
Tloewald
My Motorola RAZR could, in theory, do everything that the iPhone could do.
Apps, email, web browser, three way calling, blah blah blah. I couldn't
remember how to use any of it, and when I managed, it all sucked dog's balls.

When android boosters realize that compatibility, simplicity, ease of use, and
even standardization are actually FEATURES they might get somewhere.

Meanwhile they've got phones from hardware vendors who expect no loyalty from
their customers and don't show any loyalty to thei customers, because their
customer will buy whatever gadget has the most blinking lights next time
around. It's a self selecting group.

------
mark_integerdsv
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 Steer Burger, looks
over to the other guy just before biting into it and says: "That's great, but
now you have to eat them."

The point of the advert is clear, I think mine is too.

~~~
kstenerud
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.

~~~
mark_integerdsv
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.

------
atacrawl
Why does "third party apps" get to count as Android already having a feature
that iOS currently doesn't have?

~~~
jgroome
As far as I know, Android apps can add core functionality to the phone. For
example, if I download the Facebook app, I can now share my photos from the
Camera app via Facebook, without having to actually open the Facebook app
itself. Same with Dropbox, Twitter, and the like.

~~~
diminish
Yes service sharing is the killer Android feature thanks to API design;
Virtually all cloud and social services can have a share button on my android.

------
DominikR
Please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I can see not a single feature
that is compared in this article is exclusive to ICS.

Those features are also available on 2.2 and 2.3, so the whole discussion
about "ICS is vaporware" is irrelevant when talking about those features.

~~~
shadesandcolour
I guess when you call 3rd party apps that implement things features it's a
little hard to tie things to one operating system version...

~~~
jack-r-abbit
As others have pointed out, the way iOS limits the reach of certain things, it
was not even possible to have a third party app do some of those things. So,
while these features may not be built into ICS, the Android architecture
allowed for a third party app to implement it already.

------
desigooner
I have an iPhone 4S (Work) and an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II (Personal - EU
version with the physical button) and I am still to receive the ICS update
here stateside!

By the time iOS6 is released to users, there will be many a people with
Android phones who wouldn't have received ICS updates for their phone!

------
bluthru
User experience is not a checklist. There's a big difference between having
those features be usable out of the box to every customer versus giving a user
an unfinished phone and making them do shitwork to make it work.

------
daleharvey
Predictably most of the comments are about the android upgrade issues, but the
solution is simple, people who care about these features buy a google device,
which receives timely upgrades, is cheaper than an iphone, and has its own
advantages (+disadvantages) over iphone hardware

The people that dont care about these feature buy any random android and get
this stuff later as the carriers catchup

~~~
stephenr
"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?

~~~
daleharvey
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.

~~~
stephenr
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"

~~~
daleharvey
Then get a google phone?

------
jack-r-abbit
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.

~~~
shadesandcolour
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.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
He doesn't actually call the 3rd party apps features of the OS. He states the
features that are available to both OSes and notes those that are via 3rd
party apps. Some prefer everything to be built into the OS while others prefer
an OS that simply allows others to create/enhance the functionality. There are
pros and cons to both approaches.

------
robmcm
>Travel and reward card management >iOS6: Passbook >ICS: 3rd party apps

This is missing the point, iOS has been doing this with third party apps for a
while, passbook is like news stand or game centre and aims to consolidate lots
of confusing implementation into one.

------
maak
There appears to be a lot of discussion about market penetration of the two
operating systems. This is a separate discussion. The author is comparing the
new iOS functionality to that present on ICS.

~~~
shadesandcolour
People continue (and chances are will continue) to make the market penetration
argument for the following reason:

If the feature exists, but no one can use it, does it really exist?

Claiming that Android had a feature first doesn't mean anything to the
consumer who can't get that feature on their device. Compared to iOS where
announced features show up on most devices and on every new device that you
buy in the store the very same day.

------
xam
Of course, only 7 percent of Android devices currently run it....

------
jcromartie
And yet, only 7% of Android phones run last year's OS, at least as of May 1...

I wonder what that number is today. I would expect it to be a little bit
higher but not much.

~~~
stephenr
According to google
([http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-
ve...](http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-
versions.html)) 7.1% are on 4.x

------
TrevorJ
Facebook and Twitter are not features.

------
jsz0
_You can now have a different signature for each email account on your iOS
device, WOW_

I don't think this is possible with the stock ICS IMAP/POP mail app. It
doesn't even have mali threading?

------
sidwyn
It's not how much you offer, but how well you pull it off.

------
jolohaga
The use of the words ICS and iOS is about equal among the comments.

In a year, iOS will still be a current term. ICS will not.

------
rimantas
With less satisfaction for the user, if you are to believe Apple's keynote of
yesterday.

------
mtgx
This article seems relevant to the discussion, too:

[http://blog.bestvendor.com/2012/06/did-apple-steal-these-
ios...](http://blog.bestvendor.com/2012/06/did-apple-steal-these-
ios-6-features/)

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).

~~~
stephenr
Dropbox? They stole from Dropbox? Becuse iDisk never existed I guess?

"do not disturb" on a phone is only there becaus of some shitty desktop app
that changes your Skype status to do not disturb?

Importing Facebook contacts never would have occurred to anyone at apple if
not for some gmail plugin?

This article is worse than the one this discussion page is for.

------
moron
Ah yes, good old feature checklists. Those have been working _so_ well for us
these last couple of decades.

