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Comment by dzhiurgis | Hacker News Reader

IMHO biggest Android advantage is being open. Hardware and software is obviously better on iOS, but being closed platform I keep getting disappointed every week because I can't do x or y.

I doubt that many people base their purchasing decisions on this though.

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Ignoring of course the fact that the most important parts of Android is not open source (Google Play Services, which is at the centre of a very misguided EU anti trust case), just because Android is 'open' it doesn't mean you can do more things on it. If something is possible on Android that's because of a design decision that Google took. Besides, what happens when you run iNot someone that you can't so on Android? You going to download the source code and make a change and flash it to your decide? I doubt it.

The fact that you can load anything outside App store means a lot for advanced users. And I am not talking from OSS perspective.

Besides, where have you seen OSS services? It doesn't even make sense.

Yea exactly its one of the reasons why I love Android so much.

Also the argument that Android isn't actually OSS argument is dumb. If it was closed source how have other companies forked it and successfully released their own variants? It doesn't make sense.

"Forked it and successfully released their own variants" is a stretch (Amazon Fire Phone), especially when Google specifically prohibits vendors that get access to Google Play to fork Android.

The fire tablets are very successful. There are a few successful forks in China. There are tons of fan built versions. Thats not a stretch.

Google restrict OEMs from forking, is certainly shitty. But its also a smart business tactic and I hope Google gets more restrictive around letting OEMs use their flavor of Android. Since it leads to a more cohesive experience surrounding Android.

Sideloading is supported since iOS9. Granted it is not that easy as installing an APK.

What? Are you referring to how you can compiling and run apps if you have a developers account?

huh I think the poster was referring to just using the platform. Its one of the major reasons I use Android over iOS. You have a huge amount of freedom. There are several key apps I use constantly throughout the day that could not exist on iOS. This is also coming from a Mac fan that grew up using and loving Apple computers.

Also thats not true. Most important parts of Android are open source, for whatever thats worth. Its the parts that communicate with Googles cloud that are closed as well as Google's branded suite of apps.

I think that the importance of being able to do X of Y depends on what you are lookimg for in a device.

This is my first iPhone as at previous occasions I always used Android (nexus) devices and I found the fact I don't need to tweak it, a positive thing. That and the fact that at it is longer supported than some Android flagship devices.

Ten years ago I had the time (and needs) to tweak my phone, nowedays I just want a good (out of the box) smartphone with long support.

Its not about tweaking. Its about having full Unix shell or ability to change DNS settings.

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