phones: What can an iPhone do that a android phone can't? [EDIT: and vice-versa]

[sentinelsx]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

Android cannot do 3 things iOS can. And those 3 things are the ones that keep me from going to Android.

1. Android has no background audio API - Yes, a developer can code it into their app, but it is not an OS API, so the dev has to spend a lot of time on it, hence most devs don't bother with it, on iOS almost all apps that play either video or audio support background audio, including the browser.

Why is this good?

Well, sites like YouTube for example can be used not only for viewing videos but to listening to music, online lectures, etc... lots of stuff that does not really require "watching".

Here's what I do: I open Safari, find an interesting documentary, music, etc... background Safari, then go to the centralized audio controls, hit "Play" the audio from that backgrounded Safari starts playing. Then I open Chrome and browse for stuff... multitasking!

In the evening, before sleep, you can find ambient sounds on YouTube, start playing them in Safari and read a book or again, browse... if it's a rainy evening, I like to play "Bladerunner blues" soundtrack from Bladerunner and browse the web.

I'm sure there are specialized ambient sound, etc... apps that play in the background on Android, but I don't like to download anything extra that can be done in the browser just fine on iOS... and besides, those still won't have the support for centralized controls, cause Android does not have that.

P.S. I also know about TouchWiz's pop-out video, but that's only for the video player(not universal/API) and I don't need the pop-out window, just from the video audio.


2. Centralized Audio Controls - The first point brings us to the second point, centralized audio controls, VERY handy. Wherever you are, you can quickly bring up the task switcher and pause the audio of ANY app that current playing. Don't worry about forgetting which app is playing the audio, you don't have to into the multitasking search to find the app... just go to the centralized audio controls and hit "pause" conveniently the currently playing app's icon is on the right, so you can go to the app directly if you wish.

3. Rubberbanding/Edge bounce-back effect - I love this thing, Android has that edge glow, but it just does not compare. This little effect makes the UI feel much more responsive and alive. This is especially important with touch UI, since there is physical tactile feedback, when you swipe and the UI does nothing it creates a feeling that the phone froze, on iOS, if you swipe at the edge, you get a response - bounce back. Interestingly, this patent has been invalidated, so I hope Android gets this integrated everywhere.



Android has MUCH more functionality than iOS, but it still does not have the above three, if it had, I'd probably jump to Android.

If you use McTube Pro on iOS, it doesn't even stop audio if you minimize it/lock device. That's why I use it over jasmine and the official YouTube app on my iPhone. Just play the video, quit app and no need to access controls because the sound will not stop. Pretty cool feature.

[Vegastouch]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

Android cannot do 3 things iOS can. And those 3 things are the ones that keep me from going to Android.

1. Android has no background audio API - Yes, a developer can code it into their app, but it is not an OS API, so the dev has to spend a lot of time on it, hence most devs don't bother with it, on iOS almost all apps that play either video or audio support background audio, including the browser.

Why is this good?

Well, sites like YouTube for example can be used not only for viewing videos but to listening to music, online lectures, etc... lots of stuff that does not really require "watching".

Here's what I do: I open Safari, find an interesting documentary, music, etc... background Safari, then go to the centralized audio controls, hit "Play" the audio from that backgrounded Safari starts playing. Then I open Chrome and browse for stuff... multitasking!

In the evening, before sleep, you can find ambient sounds on YouTube, start playing them in Safari and read a book or again, browse... if it's a rainy evening, I like to play "Bladerunner blues" soundtrack from Bladerunner and browse the web.

I'm sure there are specialized ambient sound, etc... apps that play in the background on Android, but I don't like to download anything extra that can be done in the browser just fine on iOS... and besides, those still won't have the support for centralized controls, cause Android does not have that.

P.S. I also know about TouchWiz's pop-out video, but that's only for the video player(not universal/API) and I don't need the pop-out window, just from the video audio.


2. Centralized Audio Controls - The first point brings us to the second point, centralized audio controls, VERY handy. Wherever you are, you can quickly bring up the task switcher and pause the audio of ANY app that current playing. Don't worry about forgetting which app is playing the audio, you don't have to into the multitasking search to find the app... just go to the centralized audio controls and hit "pause" conveniently the currently playing app's icon is on the right, so you can go to the app directly if you wish.

3. Rubberbanding/Edge bounce-back effect - I love this thing, Android has that edge glow, but it just does not compare. This little effect makes the UI feel much more responsive and alive. This is especially important with touch UI, since there is physical tactile feedback, when you swipe and the UI does nothing it creates a feeling that the phone froze, on iOS, if you swipe at the edge, you get a response - bounce back. Interestingly, this patent has been invalidated, so I hope Android gets this integrated everywhere.



Android has MUCH more functionality than iOS, but it still does not have the above three, if it had, I'd probably jump to Android.

I get the first two above but the last one i bolded, you lost me. Is it some sort of light effect? I cant picture how that would be a good/useful feature but rather something to look at.

----------

Originally Posted by matttye

No, they are definitely more necessary on Android. On Android apps can do whatever they want (within the confines of their sandbox) in the background. In iOS there's only a limited number of background APIs that apps can make use of, so there's less chance of them doing any harm in the background.

You can't scan new code for malware because it's new! Antivirus software usually works by looking at existing malware/viruses/etc and compiling a database of "signatures" or "definitions." This is why Antivirus software is constantly updated. Trying to detect viruses in new code would result in too many false positives being declined.

I've seen hundreds of people with airpush adverts spamming their notification bar. That's adware, but antiviruses should pick it up.

Once an app is installed on Android and you've accepted its' permissions (which many people don't bother to read), that app can do whatever it requested permission to do without further prompting. On iOS there are no permissions to accept at installation time; you have to accept at the time the app is actually trying to access your data.

Finally, the very fact that apps on iOS go through an approval process means they are LESS likely to contain harmful code.

Sorry i just dont agree. They arent "necessary". You can use one if you want but those who say you "need" a virus scanner or app are just misinformed. You can go into app management of turn things off in the background or the app itself and turn it off. Again, common sense comes into play.

How many do you know that got a virus on Android? I know none.

[matttye]

Originally Posted by Vegastouch

Sorry i just dont agree. They arent "necessary". You can use one if you want but those who say you "need" a virus scanner or app are just misinformed. You can go into app management of turn things off in the background or the app itself and turn it off. Again, common sense comes into play.

How many do you know that got a virus on Android? I know none.

Right and as I've already said a lot of people don't have "common sense" when it comes to technology. That's why there are so many antivirus companies out there; because they make money off of people who don't know what they're doing. It seems like the most simple solution for somebody who doesn't have time to learn about computers. Don't forget that most people aren't like us; they don't come on message boards to discuss geeky stuff. A lot of people know the bare minimum they need to get by about computers.

I don't know anybody personally, but I've read about them before. I know a lot of people who have had problems with airpush.

[Cod3rror]

Originally Posted by Vegastouch

I get the first two above but the last one i bolded, you lost me. Is it some sort of light effect? I cant picture how that would be a good/useful feature but rather something to look at.[COLOR="#808080"]

It's not a light effect, it's a UI animation effect, it's a tiny thing but it definitely has a positive effect on usability of the whole UI.

At first it was purely an aesthetic feature, but now it morphed into an actual feature. Many apps have started to use it "Pull down to refresh" for example.

iOS' stock email app started using it too, when you pull down and let go, it refreshes your mailboxes.

Here's the vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnXpOd44Wc

In Android, if you swiped down like that, there would be no visual response, which would make you feel that the phone is stuck, or there would be a glow light effect, which IMO, is not as effective and pleasant.

[matttye]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

It's not a light effect, it's a UI animation effect, it's a tiny thing but it definitely has a positive effect on usability of the whole UI.

At first it was purely an aesthetic feature, but now it morphed into an actual feature. Many apps have started to use it "Pull down to refresh" for example.

iOS' stock email app started using it too, when you pull down and let go, it refreshes your mailboxes.

Here's the vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnXpOd44Wc

In Android, if you swiped down like that, there would be no visual response, which would make you feel that the phone is stuck, or there would be a glow light effect, which IMO, is not as effective and pleasant.

Agreed, pull down to refresh is becoming a standard in a lot of apps.

[Vegastouch]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

It's not a light effect, it's a UI animation effect, it's a tiny thing but it definitely has a positive effect on usability of the whole UI.

At first it was purely an aesthetic feature, but now it morphed into an actual feature. Many apps have started to use it "Pull down to refresh" for example.

iOS' stock email app started using it too, when you pull down and let go, it refreshes your mailboxes.

Here's the vid,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnXpOd44Wc

In Android, if you swiped down like that, there would be no visual response, which would make you feel that the phone is stuck, or there would be a glow light effect, which IMO, is not as effective and pleasant.

Ah, gotcha. Many apps have that on Android. Tweetcaster has that, Facebook, Pulse, Flipboard...to name a few but not my stock email app. But the refresh button is at the top right corner though so no big deal. I guess thats a good feature. Never really thought about much though.

I use Twitter and Pulse a lot and Twitter for one keeps moving often as the day goes so its nice but it updates pretty much instantly anyway.

[mib1800]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

1. Android has no background audio API - Y

Are you sure?
Then explain how 3rd party music player apps can play music in background?

[Cod3rror]

Originally Posted by mib1800

Are you sure?
Then explain how 3rd party music player apps can play music in background?

I already did in the original post.

[plymouthbiker]

Originally Posted by matttye

Some good points on your blog, but I have a bone to pick with some of it

"With Android it gives you a massive list of apps that you can share your pictures with but on the iPhoneit gives you Mail, Facebook, print and copy.... ??? So how does the typical Apple fanboy, base the saying "it just works", on this? It clearly doesn't."

You would be expected to go to the app you want to share with on iOS rather than the gallery as it stands at the moment. Whether to go to the app or the gallery is just a matter of preference.

I would prefer being able to share to everywhere from the gallery and I think Android has a much better sharing system, I'm just saying that it's usually still possible to share to whichever service you want in iOS, as long as you have the app. You just have to go to said app.

Ah, yes I can see what you mean. Then I'm corrected in the sharing point of view. And therefore I find it a little irritating that all the options are not open in all areas on iOS unlike Android. For instance another area I like is the ability to go to the settings menu on Android do uninstall an app or open the app list to do the same, or uninstall via the home page by drag and drop. It's got all areas covered what ever route you take. Obviously with the iphone it doesnt have those options as the operating system is designed differently and it doesn't need it as it doesn't have a menu of apps but pages of apps on the home screen. But my point is that it would be handy if all options were open to users rather than wasting time looking for the app to upload the picture rather than finding the picture you want and forwarding it to the app easily. Thanks for reading the blog by the way.

[cynics]

Originally Posted by plymouthbiker

Ah, yes I can see what you mean. Then I'm corrected in the sharing point of view. And therefore I find it a little irritating that all the options are not open in all areas on iOS unlike Android. For instance another area I like is the ability to go to the settings menu on Android do uninstall an app or open the app list to do the same, or uninstall via the home page by drag and drop. It's got all areas covered what ever route you take. Obviously with the iphone it doesnt have those options as the operating system is designed differently and it doesn't need it as it doesn't have a menu of apps but pages of apps on the home screen. But my point is that it would be handy if all options were open to users rather than wasting time looking for the app to upload the picture rather than finding the picture you want and forwarding it to the app easily. Thanks for reading the blog by the way.

In General > Usage in iOS settings you get a list and are able to delete apps from there.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you.