Four months with Android (An iOS user's exploration)

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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