Advantages with OS X + iOS combo?

[Freddy1765]

I'm contemplating the purchase of the iPhone 4S to complement my MacBook Pro, but I'm wondering whether there are any advantages with a combination of OS X + iOS that are not present with OS X + Android?
Are there any compatibility issues with certain apps, or features of either OS that are not expressed except when coupled with its Apple sibling?

 

[eternalife]

The biggest synergy I see would be iCloud.

I'm in a similar boat. I own a MBP and an Android device. I'm considering switching to the 4S but my biggest hang up is around iOS only allowing one application to run at any given time. I use my phone extensively at work and we use a 3rd party email client. On the Android I can leave the client running in the background and all my emails/appointments continue to show up and alert me. I even have widgets on my screen to show me unread emails and appointments. On iOS if I go to any other application the email client shuts down and all alerts are gone (I'm either running the application or I'm not). Not only that but I have to log back in (authenticate) when I go back into the client - very frustrating.

 

[njaremka]

The advantage to Mac OS + iOS is the instant compatibility. Both operating systems were designed by the same company, so you would expect them to work best when paired together.

Before I had my iPhone, I had a few BlackBerry's. Getting them to sync correctly with my MacBook Pro consistently was a horrible experience. It seemed that the sync would work or not work based on the moon phases. I could never count on it working correctly when I needed it to. Since I got them iPhone, sync works every time. Just plug in the cable and good to go.

The biggest synergy I see would be iCloud.

I'm in a similar boat. I own a MBP and an Android device. I'm considering switching to the 4S but my biggest hang up is around iOS only allowing one application to run at any given time. I use my phone extensively at work and we use a 3rd party email client. On the Android I can leave the client running in the background and all my emails/appointments continue to show up and alert me. I even have widgets on my screen to show me unread emails and appointments. On iOS if I go to any other application the email client shuts down and all alerts are gone (I'm either running the application or I'm not). Not only that but I have to log back in (authenticate) when I go back into the client - very frustrating.

Sounds like a client issue, and not an iOS issue. Why can't your email be set-up through the iOS mail app?

 

[mkrishnan]

The biggest synergy I see would be iCloud.

I'd imagine if one actually did one's work in iWork, this would be awesome -- iCloud would be totally worth it spread across the iPhone, iPad, and a Mac.

So with your Android app, does iOS's multitasking just not allow what this app needs to work in the background, or is the app developer just not bothering to offer the feature?

 

[mrsir2009]

This may sound stupid... But I've got a high end Android Samsung Galaxy phone, and apart from sending files (music, photos) between the two via bluetooth, my phone doesn't need to interact with my computer at all. I don't need to sync or anything...

 

[eternalife]

Sounds like a client issue, and not an iOS issue. Why can't your email be set-up through the iOS mail app?

The company forces the 3rd party client app. We support all phones sold by our carrier and standardized on a single mail client. It is easier that way (securing data, locking devices, erasing stolen phones, etc.). The client WILL NOT run in the background for iOS.

When I mentioned iCloud as the synergy I was thinking more into the future (not just iWork apps). As the software acceptance of iCloud grows the syncing and device management will be stellar.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

The client WILL NOT run in the background for iOS.

While this doesn't help your situation a whole lot, this problem is the maker of this client's email app's fault, not iOS's. If they enabled multitasking on it, you could make it work just fine.

You could jailbreak and install Backgrounder, which would allow you to force it to run in the background. I don't know how open you are to that, but it's certainly a viable option. Just make sure you change your root and SSH passwords and you won't have any security issues.