
Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration) - woobar
http://dinnerwithandroid.tumblr.com/post/11571096718/four-months-with-android-reflections-grievances-and
======
ajross
FTA: _Fans of Android, let’s not tiptoe around this: Android exists because it
is a rip off of iOS. Sure, it has grown into its own in a lot of ways, but its
roots are decidedly placed at the introduction of iOS in 2007_

While true, I continue to find it infuriating the extent to which people
credit Apple with inventing things it didn't. The iPhone was not the first
touch-only buttonless interface out there (depending on how liberal you want
to be, you can credit the art directors of Star Trek TNG in 1987 with that).
Nor was it the first app store.

It did these things better, and is certainly worth immitating. But to "date"
the start of Android to 2007 like that is writing out a huge chunk of history.

 _Edit: To clarify, because people clearly don't understand why I see
hypocrisy here: The moral context to this quote is that Apple did something
first and Google copied it, and that this kind of copying is bad. But
obviously Apple copied just as much from other sources when they "invented"
the iPhone (including things like a full-size capacitative touch screen and
app store). You can't simulataneously argue that it's OK for Apple to copy and
not Google; I posited that this was ignorance on the part of the author and
not stupidity, and noted that I found it infuriating._

~~~
dlss
Android inc was founded by Andy Rubin in 2003, bought by google in 2005, and
unveiled its first phone in 2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)>

Not being an insider, it _might_ be true that no one at Android inc was
talking about touch screens before 2007. But probably not. Ultimately, we
can't observe what we really want to talk about here -- what would have
happened without iOS.

The same compassion can go both ways; here is a link to one of many "iOS after
Android" articles: <http://techthirst.com/?p=414>

~~~
schiffern
I got as far as,

>since iOS was not built from top-to-bottom for multi-tasking functionality...

before realizing that the author is just trolling.

iOS supported multi-tasking from day 1 -- it was a stripped-down Mac OS X,
after all. They intentionally restricted multi-tasking to avoid performance
and battery-life issues, a trade-off which is still paying dividends in their
UX.

Apple forces developers to ask themselves, "do I really need multi-tasking?"
Often the answer is "no," and the user benefits from that conversation.

~~~
vetinari
That's one interpretation.

Do not forget, that Apple has attitude "users do not know what they want, they
will take what we offer". You don't know, whether users would be better off
with multitasking or not, because you can't compare these two scenarios.

Sure, you don't need multitasking for checking in with Foursquare. You pretty
much need for Location or Tasker. IOS users are not aware, that such
applications exists and they are not missing them. If they would be used to
them, they would miss it. Same with Swype and other apps available on Android.

------
jwcacces
You want to be taken seriously, and the first thing you say is that "Android
exists because it is a rip off of iOS"?

Even if it was true, you've set the tone for your whole article as non-
objective and fanboyish.

Creating a product, like creating artwork, is a process that interacts with
the whole industry. You see what others did, and you try to do better. Others
see what you do and they try to do better. Lets not even talk about all the
things that Apple has "created" based on other products. This give and take is
part of a vibrant tech atmosphere and great competition couldn't exist without
it.

~~~
lemieux
I totally agree with you. You can't say this is a rip off... an OS is an OS.
Google, or anybody else, would not have much choices when comes to build a new
one. Window, apps, app store, etc. are fundamental to a mobile OS. Maybe Apple
made the first one to be massively adopted and recognized, but they are not
really inovators, they always took something that alreay existed (excepted
first computer) and made it a more appealing product for the mass market. Take
iPod, iPhone and the iPad for instance. Mp3 player existed before the iPod.
They took the concept, built an appealing product from it and sold it to the
mass market. Same thing for the iPhone, took the concept of a mobile phone,
put it in their iPod OS. Again, same thing for the iPad. Tablets were there.
They were unpopular due to a lot of reasons. Apple took the concept, improved
it and sold a better product.

Give them credit for make awesome product out of existing ones, but quit
saying they invented everything and everything else is a rip off.

~~~
zerotype
I don't think calling something a ripoff is unfair. Yeah, they didn't invent
those devices, but when they come out with their version of it which happens
to be the first successful one. Then, after that device comes out every other
company decides to be inspired by that it kind of is a ripoff. I'll admit that
ripoff is perhaps a bit too strong of language but the sentiment is the same.

You can argue that eventually mp3 players would have succeeded, that smart
phones would eventually all be flat touch screens, and that tablets would be
cheap, not run a desktop os and successful. Truth is, we don't know because
apple made those products a success first. To me actually making a product
well, easy/fun/enjoyable to use is innovative. I really don't believe that we
would see as many android tablets (well, tablets in general) if it were no for
the ipad. I also still think the ipad is the best tablet because of the
UI/apps and things mentioned in this article. The ipad also manages to be a
pretty great price.

~~~
baconner
Wait... so your definition of whether something is "a ripoff" is based upon
how commercially successful it is? So then android would by definition not be
a ripoff. I must be misunderstanding your point.

~~~
zerotype
I think I didn't explain myself as well as I could have. What I was saying
(mean, whatever) is that when apple comes out with a device that is the first
successful one of its kind they do that by doing something different. After
they do that then other companies ripoff the now successful product. Sure,
tablets had existed before the ipad, but not like the ipad. After the ipad
came out tablets changed and the cries of everyone at first was "it is just a
big ipod touch" and things of that nature. Then, the people that just don't
want apple devices despite never trying them became excited about android
tablets that most likely wouldn't exist with out the ipad. I know that tablets
came before the ipad, but they changed that entire market. Even though they
didn't make the first tablet I don't think they ripped off previous ones since
they were typically bulky, used a stylus, etc...

~~~
lemieux
So basicaly, when someone is successful with a product, others should not do
the same thing because they were not first? Way to go to stimulate competition
and innovation.

------
wccrawford
I went Android because there's no need to jailbreak the phone to install
third-party, and I'm a programmer. I don't have to pay $99/yr to program for
it, or own a computer that runs one particular operating system.

I'll admit that for a long time, the iPhone experience was way better than
Android. And the browser and media functionality are still horrible. And the
games... -sigh-

But in general, I love the Android experience. On the newer phones (much newer
than Nexus S) the lag is gone. The only lag left is the same as the iPhone:
Launching apps. Apps generally behave in ways that I like. (Notifications,
interoperability, etc.)

~~~
barrkel
See, I far prefer the browser on Android because of one thing - the single
most important thing in a phone browser, IMO - text reflow on zoom.

~~~
baddox
That surprises me. I find the Android browser to be completely unusable,
primarily due to performance but secondarily due to that annoying text reflow.

~~~
barrkel
What bad performance? IME, my Nexus One browser is slightly less smooth to
scroll, but faster at redraw than the browsers on my (admittedly, slightly old
at this point) iOS devices. It's a toss-up, really.

Question: do you have Flash installed? I had to uninstall it completely,
because even the "on demand" option for browser plugins didn't disable it
reliably.

(Biggest problem I have with my iOS devices (an iPod Touch and 1st gen iPad)
is that they run out of charge on standby, from lack of use...)

~~~
actf
> What bad performance?

Did you miss the video in the article? - The one where the iPhone scrolls as
smooth as butter, and the other phone scrolls slow enough to make me wonder -
is it frozen?

FWIW this has been my experience with Android as well. Obviously not every web
page is like this, but even if 5% of the pages out there do this - it's a
serious usability problem.

I just don't understand how the scrolling performance on android is still so
inferior to that on iOS, especially when comparing devices where the droid has
significantly higher hardware specs

~~~
barrkel
Of course I didn't miss the video; but my experience has never been like that,
except _maybe_ when I briefly had Flash installed, for a few hours a year or
so ago. I addressed it in the following comment, and a different comparison
video too, for bonus points!

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3121906>

------
unoti
I develop apps for both iPhone and Android. I stopped carrying my iPhone for
personal use, and use my Droid Bionic full time. Here are the 3 reasons why.

1\. Google Maps, and navigation. If you're actually driving places, google
maps is an amazing godsend. If you're taking mass transit, it blows the doors
off what's on the iPhone. Ever get on a bus with your iphone, and have it
vibrate in your pants when the next bus stop is the one you need to take?
Google navigate shows you your mass transit trip in a schematic view that
shows you where all the stops are in list form, and animates the little bullet
point in the list as you move between stops. It's breathtaking. It'll be hard
to beat Google Maps on an iphone, and I missed this sorely. For me the maps
are so superior that during the brief time that I used iPhone, I used it as a
wireless hotspot and kept my old android phone around just for the maps and
navigation. I'm new to my city (San Francisco) and my whole experience of
moving here was greatly enriched by the awesomeness of Google Maps. Many
people probably already know where they're going or are already familiar with
their mass transit options, so using a second class citizen for navigation
(such as the iPhone) is probably fine for them.

2\. Google Mail. Google's gmail app UI is awesome. I didn't know how much I
loved it until I had to use iOS for a while. Bundling things by conversation
is great. And I often receive 20-30 emails that are all divided into a total
of about 3 conversations. Google lets me read and archive or delete those in 4
clicks (3 checkboxes for the 3 conversations, then one click of Archive or
Delete). The iOS mail app makes me do that in around 60-80 clicks: either a
swipe on the index page followed by a delete, or else a click on each email,
followed by a delete.

3\. Notification bar. I can always look at the top bar of my droid and know
what, if anything, needs my attention. Or at the very least, why my phone made
a noise in the last few minutes. It was hard for me to see at a glance what
things just caused my phone to beep. If I received a meeting reminder, and a
text, and something else, it was always clear on my droid which things need my
attention, because of the status bar. There wasn't something like this on the
iPhone. A few days ago they implemented a status bar on the iPhone, but it
still feels like a cheap immitation of what Android does, in much the same way
that the author here talks about how Android is a cheap clone of iOS.

But to be clear, the "feel" of the iPhone is superior in pretty much every
way. But to me, it's not _all_ about feel.

~~~
IsaacL
"Google Mail. Google's gmail app UI is awesome."

Sigh, I can't use the default GMail app and instead have to use Samsung's
inferior "Email" app. Why? Google for some reason will not let me add mutliple
GMail accounts, and so I'm stuck with the one I initially registered - my
silly-named account from my teenage years, which I no longer use to receive
email. Apparently lots of people have the same problem, with no sign of a fix
from Google.

Other than that, I like Android. Tried using my friends iTouch and it felt
amazingly crippled.

~~~
anigbrowl
_Google for some reason will not let me add mutliple GMail accounts_

Are you sure? Because I have 2, and it handles them beautifully. I can switch
accounts in Gmail with one tap, and - _mirabile dictu_ \- appointments from
both calendars are perfectly collated into one agenda. for things like YouTube
or other sign-in services, I get to choose which account I want to use. So on
YT I use my personal account, in Reader I use my work/study one.

------
bgentry
How can you do a comparison of iOS / Android and not even mention Google Maps
& Navigation?

I used the original iPhone for 2.5 years, spent nearly 2 with a Nexus One, and
now switched back to iPhone 4S. As the reviewer mentioned, Gmail integration
is still very poor on the iPhone. Hopefully Sparrow for iOS will fix this.

But iOS Maps is still stuck in 2007. The Android maps app has improved
tremendously even just over the past year. Features that make it far better
than the iOS maps app:

1) Excellent turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation

2) Vector-based maps. You'd be surprised how much this improves the
experience. Maps load and render much faster due to the smaller binary sizes
of vector maps.

3) Ability to cache the maps for multiple 10x10 mile areas. This is a feature
that is possible because of (2). When I visit a foreign city, I can cache a
10x10 square around my current location. From that point forward I can view
detailed maps for that area without any connection.

4) See detailed information for locations. I can tap on a place in maps, see
reviews and ratings for it, get a link to its website

5) Street view.

6) 3D maps with building shapes. While this may not seem useful, I've found it
helpful on several occasions since it helps me orient based on the
shapes/sizes of surrounding buildings.

Most importantly, the Google Maps app on Android has a major release about
once a month and each one generally improves the quality.

~~~
Anechoic
> _How can you do a comparison of iOS / Android and not even mention Google
> Maps & Navigation?_

It's funny that I just bought a touchscreen phone with an UX that most will
consider to be unquestionably worse than both iOS and Android - namely the
Nokia E6 with Symbian Anna - for the same reason that a lot of folks here are
touting Android: Ovi Maps and navigation.

Or more specifically, Ovi Maps and navigation with offers _downloadable_ maps
which is extremely important to me since my business travels often take me to
places where there is no cell phone coverage.

It's interesting how we let our specific needs color our decisions. In my
case, I would much rather have an iOS or Android device, but the downloadable
mapping options on either platform (that I've been able to find) are inferior
or far more expensive that what I get with Nokia, so I'm willing to live with
the Symbian failings.

That said, I am one of those folks that also carries an iPod touch along with
my phone.

~~~
dminor
[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/download-map-area-
add...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/download-map-area-added-to-
labs-in.html)

~~~
morsch
I've used an inexpensive Nokia smartphone for a year or two. I've switched to
an inexpensive Android phone, and I don't regret it. But for maps and
navigation, Nokia wins hands down. It's great you can precache maps in GMaps
now, but fast, offline vector maps are a totally different beast. Particularly
useful for abroad, no roaming charges and precaching is not always an option.
Also, it's just cool to run around with a map of half the world in your
pocket.

~~~
vetinari
For offline navigation, I'm using Sygic Aura. Sure, it is extra 50 EUR for
maps of Europe and takes almost 2 gigs on your SD card, but you don't need to
precache anything, it just works just GPS gadget.

------
cgranade
From my view, this quote summed up so much of what's wrong with the article:

"If it’s for those who still want to make some sort of argument predicated on
shouting the word “OPEN!”, that’s sad, because Android’s “openness” is a
meaningless bullet point to average users and a facade championed by its most
devoted."

"Open" is not just a keyword, and it's not something that "average" users
should feel so complacent about ignoring. While issues exist with Android's
Honeycomb branch and openness, the bottom line remains that Android is far
more open than iOS, and that average users benefit. For one thing, that
openness makes censorship much more difficult, and so users get access to a
wide array of content that is unavailable or difficult to access on iOS. The
other side is that Android's openness means that app developers are free to
make their apps more useful, such as remapping volume keys to page turn
buttons in a reader or allowing users to set phone features based on triggers
(Locale, Tasker and to a lesser degree Shush). Even if users are not by and
large aware of the effect that openness has on their experience, it does have
a very positive effect for them. The recent example of Instapaper being
crippled by Apple's design decisions in iOS 5 is a good example of that: had
Apple been more open in their approach to iOS's design, then Instapaper would
be able to store data somewhere else and thus to deliver a better UX.

I remain unimpressed with articles that simply assert that "openness" doesn't
matter to users, without exploring what effects the open-vs-closed dichotomy
has on their experiences.

------
llgrrl_
When I read "It's all about the feel," I imediatelly realized why he didn't
get why people like Android. If he likes the feel, then nothing beats Apple.

But I do use it for different purposes. I need a physical keyboard. I need to
ssh to my server when I need to. I need google talk. That's why I use Android.

~~~
mikeash
A physical keyboard is certainly a great reason to use Android, but I'm
curious, what about ssh or gtalk requires it?

~~~
llgrrl_
The way Gtalk client deals with unreliable connections is perfect. I don't
have a 3G plan so I often walk around my campus roaming from one hotspot to
another. It doesn't use the regular jabber of you notice.

Also SSH without a physical keyboard is gonna be a pain in the back.

~~~
jshen
i do SSH from my ipad all the time without much pain. I have an android phone
and hate the ssh apps mainly because the text is tiny. What ssh app do you use
on android?

~~~
there
i use connectbot.

~~~
jshen
that's what i'm using, but I much prefer the IOS apps. connectbot won't go
into landscape and the keyboard covers up the screen so i have to type while
the prompt is covered up by the keyboard.

------
brackin
I did the same thing, I had an iPhone 4. I borrowed a Nexus S for a few months
and now have a 4S. I like Android, my view has changed after using it.
Downloads and other elements are great, after you use them to think "Why is
this so easy". The Nexus S is a fast device with far better colour the iPhone
but the retina display makes up for it and more.

The back button is a great idea and It's sorely missed on my 4S, it made sense
to remove the on screen button in apps and now i've switched back I find
myself thinking more when trying to go back in iOS apps.

Android apps are fine, you can do everything you'd want too. One issue is
there's a lack of style. I spent a lot of time finding the most beautiful app
as many were poorly designed. I think the one thing you'll find is there are
less 'brand apps'. You can't use Instagram you'll have to find the Android
equivalent which is sometimes a less popular iPhone app.

The apps do let it down in some ways but overall Android is just different and
there are pros and cons to both.

------
blinkingled
I recently went the other way around. After exchanging my Galaxy Tab 2 times
for random hangs and unexplained slowness I thought I will check out the iPad.
I still have an Android phone that I am perfectly happy with so throughout the
day I go back and forth with iOS and Android.

The experience on the iPad is undeniably superior after iOS5. The UI is way
smoother than Honeycombs, I haven't found any beta behavior yet.

BUT, usability wise I find iPad to be incredibly annoying and limited. I keep
looking for the back button and I am yet to find the level of consistency that
people claim is hallmark of iOS.

Few examples -

1) Music Player UI is inconsistent with other apps - no navigation button at
top left, it doesnt cover the 'desktop' fully for reasons I don't understand.
Search field is at bottom right - considering it is commonly used it should be
easy to locate and access.

2) Notifications - while they are lot better with 5.0, it is still
inconsistent. I still see the old modal notifications from built in apps like
email - twice now I saw old interrupting notifications from exchange mail -
one was on Sunday evening for a meeting request on Wednesday! Oh and the
notification bar doesn't cover the full screen when pulled down on the iPad
unlike iPhone.

3) Always having to hit the physical home button for app switching is annoying
compared to Android

4) You cannot subscribe to a podcast using the iPad on its own! I spent 30
minutes trying to do just that. It's not PC free, yet!

5) Background apps and notifications are flaky - Vtok for example was
inexplicably killed some times. And when it wasn't it did not notify me using
the new notification system.

6) Google integration is poor but this part I was fully expecting.

7) Finally I found that I was still confronted with iPhone only apps that
looked horrible when run on iPad. This sort of thing works way better in
Google land.

But I am forced to keep it until Google and co get their act together on the
tablet side. Right now the user experience on the best Android tablet is way
shoddy compared to the iPad but if Google could get that fixed I am fairly
certain there will be compelling reasons to switch back.

~~~
cormullion
> 3) Always having to hit the physical home button for app switching is
> annoying compared to Android

There's a four-finger slide for switching apps on the iPad... It may need
enabling, though. The four fingers don't have to be spread out - just together
is fine.

~~~
hack_edu
Really though, the home button design is really showing its age... Look how
much screen real estate it takes up on the iPhone, or how much of the iPad's
frame could be utilized if there were soft keys.

Its become the first thing I notice whenever I pick up my iPad. Just a big ol'
ugly button.

------
jsz0
I mostly agree with his conclusions. Android is a very manic experience. Half
a dozen icons I don't understand in the notification bar, beeps and bloops
that make no sense to me, settings hidden under layers of menus, totally
inconsistent UIs between apps including Google's first party apps, micro-
management required for some of the most basic things (like getting acceptable
battery life) and probably worst of all ads everywhere and you often have no
choice of a premium ad-free version of the app. That may work for some people
but it drives me a little insane. I'm hoping ICS will be the release that
cleans up some of this mess. (if my phone ever gets the update, probably not)

~~~
coin
I couldn't agree more with this. On my Droid X battery life is horrible if the
GPS receiver is enabled. The GPS receiver is supposed to turn on/off only when
an app requests the phone's location. This works 95% of the time. The other 5%
the GPS never shuts off and drains the battery completely. I asked other
Android users how they deal with this, turns out they shut the GPS receiver
off completely. They then manually turn it on before opening Google Maps.

Also, there is no easy way disable all sounds. I thought I disabled sounds
using the master volume. But it still says "Droid!" on power-up and beeps on
power-off. After trolling the forums, the "Droid!" sound is controlled the by
the "SD card read" settings. What's up with that?

When browsing, clicking on a PDF link downloads the PDF. I then have to go to
the download notification and manually open it. I just want to view it.

I could go on and on. The whole Android experience is full of frustrations.

------
cbs
_I heavily approached using Android as I did using an iPhone. I received a lot
of shit for this, though. I was told I was “using Android wrong.”_

Well, duh. They're different, of course they're going to behave differently. I
learned this the hard way myself, I tried approaching the iOS like it was an
andriod and was similarly disappointed and frustrated. Many "why the fuck
doesn't this thing X?" were yelled. Then I realized that they were different,
did things differently and had to allow myself to adapt new mental models.
Once I did and accepted the way it worked, using it was a completely different
experience.

~~~
tomkarlo
It's like complaining that OSX doesn't work like Windows. Different doesn't
mean either is wrong, but it does mean you can't use them the same.

~~~
cbs
Exactly. A few years ago, project constraints had me working primarily on a
mac for the first time. I _loathed_ the dock for a good six months. Now I
can't even remember what my objection to it was.

I believe our dislike is mostly predicated on unfamiliarity. I use various
flavors of android, ios, windows, osx, and kde all on a weekly if not daily
basis. I know the ins and outs and have preferences, but I'd never write a
blog post like this, or even make a device recommendation on my preferences
alone.

------
w33ble
More often than not, when I read people saying they prefer one over the other,
they almost always prefer the one they used first. I think it's a combination
of people being naturally averse to change and how different the two feel in
use.

Me, I started with iOS because when I was finally ready to jump the Symbian
ship nobody I knew had an Android phone so I wasn't able to play with one at
any length. They did have iPhones though, and iOS blew me away. After
tinkering with my friend's 3GS for an hour or so, I was sold. I later had a
chance to play with a 1.5 Android device and I couldn't understand why anyone
would ever want to use something so slow, laggy and, to me at least, ugly.
I've since played with more recent Android phones and while the performance is
exponentially better, the OS still just doesn't "feel" right. Ignoring all the
apps, browsers, Google integration and everything else, Android just doesn't
have the _feel_ that iOS has.

And I think that might be why a lot of people prefer the first one they use.
The 2 _look_ pretty similar, but they _feel_ very different. If you've gotten
used to Android, iOS feels wrong, and vice versa. The author spends time
comparing intricate details here, but he opens with a comment about how the
two _feel_ , which I think is spot on. I'm surprised people here are so
offended and so quick to jump all over everything else from the article while
completely glossing over what I think is the most important part.

------
SkyMarshal
_"I’ve found home-screen widgets — save for the quick access to turn radios on
and off — to be useless, ugly, space-and-battery-life hogs."_

Is there any data for that? When I check my Nexus S battery usage meter,
homescreen widgets are nowhere to be seen in the list of things that used up
the battery.

------
2muchcoffeeman
I am trying to do the same thing as this guy. I have and iPhone 4 and got a
Nexus S (on the cheap!) to try out Android.

Some Good things: \- Widgets are better than I thought.

\- The standard key board with the spelling suggests is better than the iOS
keyboard.

\- Pending notifications show up in the notification bar.

\- Having the standard set of buttons is a good idea.

\- The scrolling background as you swipe between screens is a nice touch.

\- Better integration with Google services.

\- More useful navigation & location software out of the box. Maps,
Navigation, Places.

But I find that it is really quite hard to be really objective. All the
features they get right are poisoned by their poor UI.

\- Icons and widgets don't rearrange themselves when you move them.

\- Inconsistent use of the standard 4 buttons. Google themselves don't use
them consistently. Their functionality is duplicated all over with software
buttons.

\- The stock camera app is really kinda ugly. There was no after thought at
all.

\- All the animations just suck and there is lag everywhere.

\- On the Nexus S, they squished up the 4 standard buttons for some reason.
The Home icons looks more like an up arrow than a house. They seriously did
not think to redo the buttons?

\- Outdoors the 4 standard buttons are quite dim. You can hardly see them. Why
is this not connected to the light sensor?

iOS really spoils you. It is missing features I would like, but what is there
is quite polished. I find that this really colours my view. [Edited for
formatting]

------
joebadmo
Hm. Seems the author at least _attempted_ even-handedness, but largely failed.

In a recent discussion on HN, I asked saurik, the developer of Cydia, why he's
stuck with iOS over Android and he gave me this epically amazing answer:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3115732>

My house is a divided one. My wife is all Apple, while I'm a Windows/Android
user. I did use an iPod Touch extensively before I got a smartphone, and
agonized over the iPhone/Android decision, but eventually went with Android.
Four handsets later, I haven't looked back. Here are some of the reasons why:

* I'm a Google fanboy. It was tough when Apple and Google started to fight. It was like mom and dad were getting a divorce.

* Relatedly, I'm heavily invested in Google services. Gmail, GTalk, GCal, GReader, G+, GMaps/Nav all work better on Android. Period. And I use them all heavily.

* Widgets are not just radio toggles. I use a live interactive calendar/agenda widget as well as a live todo list. It's great.

* Configurability. I can change my launcher. I can change app icons. I can put them wherever I want. It used to drive me nuts that I couldn't arbitrarily place icons on my iPod, or get rid of the Stocks app. And that it was always sunny and 73 degrees. I can install different keyboards. Swype!

* In fact, this deserves its own bullet: Swype!

* Apps have deeper integration with the OS. The intents architecture is what enables the share menu that TFA mentions. It also lets apps link to each other in cool ways, like Tweetdeck can send me to the browser, and I can use the hardware back button to go straight back to Tweetdeck instead of via the home screen.

* Apps are often ugly but enable amazing functionality. Titanium backup lets me backup all my apps and system data and sync it to dropbox. Locale lets me set up contingencies. So when I leave the house, it turns off wifi and ringer, and turns them back on when I get home automatically. It turns sounds on when I put in headphones and adjusts volumes of everything. It sets my GTalk status to "Work" when I'm at work. Tasker is uglier but provides even more functionality. It's pretty amazing.

* Openness matters. At least to me. I like that I can install apps without Google's permission. I like that Google doesn't pre-approve apps. I don't like that as actively censorial a company as Apple has that much power. I've said it before: I like Disneyland, and enjoy visiting, but I wouldn't want to live there. Say what you want, but Android is a lot more open than iOS. To dismiss its openness because it's not completely and absolutely open is silly, especially when you express preference for an unequivocally more closed platform.

I agree that iOS is more polished. I wish Android were more polished. It's
true that the UI isn't as responsive as I'd like. And I agree that iOS is
better for most people. I regularly advise people to get iPhones. I've even
told several people who own and like Android devices (in two cases even people
who chose Android because they don't like Apple) that I think they'd be happer
with iPhones.

But to spend four months and end up "mostly answerless" as to why someone
would want an Android device is either willfully ignorant or pandering.

~~~
samstokes
_live interactive calendar/agenda widget as well as a live todo list_

Which widgets do you use? I've tried CalWidget but I've seen it crash quite a
lot and I think it actually slows down my home screen.

~~~
joebadmo
<https://market.android.com/details?id=org.koxx.pure_calendar>

The developer is really responsive, too.

<https://market.android.com/details?id=org.dayup.gtask>

Not as good as the other, but it works and syncs with Gmail tasks.

------
youngtaff
I've you an Android phone and an iPad and as much as I love the iPad it's
really primitive in some obvious ways...

1\. They keyboard is awful + no real differentiation between caps on or off.
Accessing the numbers and punctuation is horrible. Hold down . or , and you
get something completely different to what's on the key face.

2\. A complete lack of integration between apps which becomes most painful
when you want to share between apps e.g. tweet a webpage, save something to
readitlater etc.

3\. Lack of back and menu buttons leading to the ridiculous UI convention of
have buttons in the title bars.

A few changes could make iOS much better.

Oh a version of Chrome instead of Safari would be nice too.

------
bendauphinee
The most important thing to me about having an Android phone is that unlike
Apple, Android-based phones can have an actual physical keyboard. You can feel
awesome tapping stuff out on iOS, I like having keys I can push.

------
yason
He's wondering why people might choose Android over iPhone but he also answers
himself. To quote, bolded: "It’s all about the feel."

Maybe lots of people feel that Android is more "theirs" than an iPhone.

------
egypturnash
A pretty thoughtful look.

Me, I basically got my Nexus One because I have no credit, and did not want to
pay AT&T's special iPhone rates PLUS give them a $500 deposit for a few years.

I think the dude was using the wrong widgets. I've got my calendar and the
phase of the moon on my Android's home screen, I've got quick access to basic
music controls as well.

Stuff I miss from Android when I'm using my iPad: \- zooming the web page does
not reflow, I am annoyed by this every time I have to choose between squinting
at tiny text, or scrolling a tiny window around readably-large text. \- Share
menu. It feels so primitive for me to be limited to whatever options a
program's written; if I want e-mail sharing that should be provided by the
e-mail client for everyone, once, instead of by a random handful of developers
who think "share this via email" is a good idea. \- I really hate that iTunes
insists on backing up all my apps to my computer, what a waste of space.
They're on my device and Apple's servers. \- Oh yeah and the whole "plug your
device into your computer to sync" thing is so 1994. Apple is just starting to
get there.

------
RobAtticus
I have actually gone the other way. After almost a year and a half of using
the Motorola Backflip (the first AT&T Android device, if I recall correctly),
I am now using my sister's old iPhone 3G. My main reasons being that my
Backflip was slow as hell and the battery barely lasted a day.

I like using Android more, I like developing for Android more, and when I can
finally upgrade my phone I will be getting an Android phone. My 3G is pretty
nifty, I love that it can go a few days between charges and its at least more
responsive. But I also have a N1 I use for research and it is just as
responsive and good with battery life, so my main complaints with my Android
phone have little to do with the OS and more to do with I bought a crappy
phone.

In particular, I like Android's notification system way more than what I have
on the 3G. Having Google Talk work so well with the phone is an amazing
convenience that I find I miss now that I haven't bothered to set it up on my
3G. I'll be really glad when I can upgrade to a phone running ICS, but until
then, this 3G isn't bad either.

------
unconed
Two things keep me on Android: \- Great Gtalk IM \- Swype keyboard

If I cared about using lots of apps, it would be iOS all the way.

------
nextparadigms
So his logic is that if Android started as a rip-off of iOS, then you
shouldn't use it even if it becomes better than the original? There are a lot
of improvements coming in Android 4.0, too. I think they will make the
improvements in iOS 5 look marginal in comparison.

------
lusis
You don't need to "understand" why someone would use Android anymore than I
need to understand why someone uses iOS.

But if it helps you sleep at night, I simply dislike iOS. I dislike the UI. I
dislike the keyboard. I dislike the interface (non-UI stuff).

I enjoy using android much more.

------
dendory
My first "real" smartphone after using a Nokia E51 was an Android, a Nexus One
to be exact, last year. I hated the experience. The market place was horrible,
there was no apps worth using, the whole concept of having both a menu screen
and home screens seemed weird to me, home screen widgets, while nice, killed
my battery life. I then got an iPad and found the world of iOS so much better,
I then got an iPhone 3GS and never looked back.

------
voidr
To my best knowledge you can't customize iOS the way you can Android, some
might say you don't have to, but for me that's still a plus. I have a Nexus S
and the best thing about it is that I had the ability to install a keyboard a
broswer and a home screen I preferred. The browser part I agree with, I still
can't wrap my head around that, it's disappointing seeing how awesome Google
Chrome is, and how lame the Android browser is.

------
Pynkrabbit
I feel like you would need to wait and compare iOS 5 to ice cream sandwich for
it to be an accurate comparison.

~~~
wuster
Exactly. ICS is going to be a major "polish" release for Android. I'm looking
forward to next week's announcement.

------
estel
It's frustrating how a huge part of the difference between the "feel" of iOS
and Android can be attributed to the explicit choice of the platform
developers to not render the 2D GUI widgets with hardware acceleration.

------
cdmckay
I'm not sure what he's talking about regarding the Android web browser. In my
experience, it's been essentially the same as the Mobile Safari in terms of
experience.

~~~
woobar
He posted a link [1] to video comparing browsers on Nexus S and iPhone 3GS.
The difference is even more striking if you consider that Nexus S is 1.5 years
newer.

[1] <http://vimeo.com/30050423>

~~~
barrkel
I've never had an experience as bad as that shown in the video on my Nexus
One, a phone older than the Nexus S. It looks like he might have Flash
installed - that's a mistake, as the Android browser's "on demand" option for
plugins doesn't disable Flash reliably. Apart from that, it's clear that
Android does not render to a GPU texture and scroll around, and this makes the
iOS browser feel a lot slicker, but the difference between it and my N1 is
small - and the iOS approach frequently leaves large grey blocks when
scrolling quickly that need to get redrawn, because GPU texture size is
limited.

Here's a different video, to demonstrate (Nexus One without Flash vs iPhone 4
running iOS 4): <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gZiSG3TmdY>

------
freemarketteddy
I played with ListActivity for about two days....The experience was so bad
when compared to UITableView that I instantly quit android dev and am back to
iOS.

Afterall as developers what we really want is to give all our users a really
awesome experience....I am sorry to say this but in terms of the ability to
make something awesome (as an individual developer) that users will love to
play with, Android does not hold a candle to iOS.

~~~
roflharrison
What was the problem?

------
salmanapk
Troll much? Thisismynext.com works flawlessly even on the Huwaei Ideos
(World's cheapest android phone) :-)

------
EtienneJohnred
51 points in just 2 hours, but it’s currently off the first page. The Android-
lovin’ douches are really feeling threatened by this one and doing everything
they can to try and bury it via downvotes.

But you can’t downvote reality. (Although you can downvote individual
comments... you know the routine... goin’ dowwwwnnn!)

------
stupandaus
Your question of who the Android is meant for has a very simple answer. It's
designed for people who want a smartphone, but aren't willing or capable of
spending enough for an iPhone. Also Apple haters as noted.

~~~
nextparadigms
You do realize people pay just as much for high-end Android phones as others
do for iPhones, don't you?

~~~
babebridou
I paid 0.20€ for my Motorola Atrix, one month ago. It comes with the same data
plan as the iPhone.

It _was_ high-end last january.

~~~
mbreese
And the iPhone 3GS is now free on contract too... You really can't compare the
two. The top-of-the-line Android phones are competing with the top-of-the-line
iPhone, and they are roughly the same price.

~~~
babebridou
The 3GS is from june 2009. The Atrix was unveiled in january 2011 and hit the
market in april 2011. It was considered the top of the line phone in may 2011.

It's useless to compare overpriced flagship phones and say that android phones
are as expensive as iPhones. It's just not true. It's like taking a high end
desktop PC with the very latest hardware and comparing it to the price tag of
the iMac and deduce that PCs are more expensive than Macs.

