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Comment by rogerbinns | Hacker News Reader

A big difference is that the software running on Apple devices is less complex. For example there is significantly less hardware support. iMessage only talks to other iMessage instances (eg no browser support). There is only one web browser engine. Third party apps can't do JIT code generation. Older APIs are actively removed, breaking existing apps (vs providing backwards compatibility).

In general less complexity is better, but it also constrains things. For example it took until recently for third party iOS to be able to do NFC. Android had it since ~2012.

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> Android had it since ~2012.

I seriously wonder: what difference did it make? Was there any groundbreaking thing iOS users missed for 8 years?

Apple is just great in omitting things and keeping focus to deliver a great product and then expand on that basis.

Most famous example: First iPhones didn’t have MMS

> First iPhones didn’t have MMS

Or cut and paste. ;-)

MMS is whack though

I am guessing they already knew GPRS/UMTS and data plans were the future, hence they invested in iMessage. MMS already had an expiration date. Quite sure they only added it because of the PR disaster it had become.

I often use MMS. Whats the expiration date?

and MMS is still the only thing that works on every phone out of the box...

MMS could've been (and still kindof is AFAIK) the only way to send rich text semi-anonymously for money with carrier billing ie not requiring platforms, app stores, and sign-up. Is was also blocked on Android due to the Stagefreight bug. MMS was used at lot for ringtones and wallpapers before the Smartphone era.

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

I think there has been a lack of interest in smartphone NFC because iOS has no support for it.

For example, I have set up a tag to automatically connect friends phones to my WiFi network. You can also stick tags on places to trigger specific actions/mode/app: office, meeting room, car, bedroom.

Also one thing that could have been great to share pictures/files/urls with your computer or other phones: Android beam [1]. Sadly Google is removing it.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Beam#Usage

Sharing what's currently on screen (be it either a picture, a webpage or mean entire app) by touching two phones (Android Beam) was really convenient and ahead of its time. It is now being replaced by Nearby Share though, which works similar to AirDrop.

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