Android vs Ios vs Windows phone vs Blackberry (discussion)

[androidfanboy]

I just want to get some feedback on what platform you guys prefer, personally I love android and I'm not willing to switch to any other platform because of the lack of customization.

 

[King_Oni]

Symbian

Well, I still rock a Nokia N8 with Symbian^3.

Besides that, I have an ipad, and I don't care for customisation. I haven't run into anything I don't like and want to change at all. Yes, I'm sometimes dull like that, and just change the backdrop of my screen. I honestly could care less about more customisation. I'm probably more of an "end-user" type of person, even though I went to university to get degree in IT at some point in my life (and no I didn't graduate, I dropped out... I just didn't care enough about computers I guess).

I guess if you want customisation Android is fine (from what I've heard), but I have no desire to customize my OS right now. I'm happy if I press the button and the screen turns on. Thus far, that's what iOS did for me.

 

[LikeyouToMe]

I prefer Android over iOS and Blackberry but haven't used Windows.

I will never buy or get a iOS device on contract, I would only ever use it if I win or get given the device.

 

[Tarragon]

I must side with king_oni on this one. I like apple stuff. not because of any "snob factor" (I used apples long before they became 'trendy'). If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And apples ain't broke.

Though ios7 has made the icons and stuff look like they are drawn with a two year old in mind. I think they have tried too hard to do something different, and of course it was perfectly fine before.

 

[mdirks225]

I like Android (all ive ever used), but I wanna try out a newer Blackberry device.

My daily driver if you will is a RAZR HD with CM 11 (which is amazing) and the device I'm typing this on is a Droid 4. The RAZR HD has the best battery life of all devices I've owned, (Droid x2 w/ extended battery, RAZR M, D4) but I'm thinking about putting a extended battery into the droid 4 (just cause I can) but 100 bucks could probably be put somewhere else more useful haha. /end rant

 

[apt-get]

Android is the most open source, so it automatically wins. I've used other people's phones and I've generally found Android to be a better experience than IOS. I used Windows 8 in a store once and thought it was total garbage.

 

[superboyian]

I've used Blackberry's in the past and I have got to say, I didn't like them that much tbh due to the fact that the software on it runs awfully slow and have had many bad experiences with them that I had eventually given up on them and moved over to iOS.

Androids weren't so great when I first used them but over time, they have gotten so much better over the years and the speed of it now is just amazing that they would be the best device that I would use next, only problem is they like other phones, catch viruses.

iOS or otherwise known as iPhones are probably the best phones I've ever used and have had great experiences with that I actually don't have many complaints about them and would use them. However, sometimes, it takes a bit of used to getting into but I've practically picked up on how to use it pretty quickly.

So I'm with either Android or iOS on this one.

 

[wyverary]

I go with iOS, mostly because I've been using it forever. I had a first-gen iPhone that was a gift, and then a hand-me-down iPod touch, then an iPad (another gift)...so now I'm on an iPhone 5c. Like King Oni, I don't care so much for customization. The droids I've played with always seemed a little confusing, but then again, that could be just the fact that iOS has become second nature to me over the years.

 

[balder]

Well, I currently work programming for BlackBerry 10, so I can say that the BB10 experience is really awesome, although the lack of apps made me not to use it as my personal smartphone. I've always preferred Android because it's open source, more accessible, allows you to install apps that are not in the store and customizable (launchers, keyboards, notification bar, customized roms etc).

I never used Apple's products because they are insanely expensive here in Brazil and I completely ignore Windows Phone. I think Symbian had a great future, and could have been the current "Android" if Nokia had cared about it and improved it over time.

Besides that, there's Firefox OS that I don't believe should be fast because it only runs HTML5 applications, and Samsung's Tizen is coming

 

[King_Oni]

I'm currently more on the Windows phone ship I suppose because of Nokia Lumia phone. But I'm more of an end-user which probably put it's in line with iOS in that I don't care for customizing. The one thing that irks me slightly is how there's tons of popular and interesting apps for iPhones and a lack thereof on Windows phone, but given that WP is quite new, that'll eventually even itself out.

 

[Manuheleku]

Android, usually rooted within a day or two after upgrading. I like to constantly change my ROM or operating system along with the apps on the phone. For some reason I usually use the same launcher (Nova) and a spherical looking theme. I use my phone constantly for entertainment, music and movies, my SD card 64g is maxed out and I always buy the biggest battery available. My Galaxy S4 is about 3/4 inch thick and weighs nearly 1/2 pound, but the battery is equivalent to 3 standard batteries.

 

[Turnip]

I never used Apple's products because they are insanely expensive here in Brazil and I completely ignore Windows Phone. I think Symbian had a great future, and could have been the current "Android" if Nokia had cared about it and improved it over time.

Some friends recently compared Nokia to Commodore computers, as a company that could've used it's innovation better. In that conversation, and addressing your statement on Nokia's support of Symbian & smartphones, the Nokia 7710 and it's Symbian Series 90 OS comes to mind. It's not that Nokia didn't innovate even with Symbian but that it failed to make use of it's innovation and would turn out many phones each year with a different range of gimmicks.

It also took way too long for Nokia to convert it's line of Linux-based Maemo "Internet Tablets" into a smart phone, which they waited until the N900 to do. It didn't help that that shortly after the N900's release they scrapped work on the OS to work on a different Linux distro Meego with Intel, which they then also released a single phone the N9 pretty much making it clear that they'd stopped any future plans for Linux and were switching to Windows for all future phones, about the same time!

Anyway here's a look at the 7710, which predates the iPhone by several years.

 

[androidfanboy]

Nooooo my discussion died lol

 

[Beverly]

I've owned all three and, I prefer iOS for phones and tablets but Windows for my computer. I wasn't impressed with Android or Windows phones. Windows lacks apps, Android is okay but as a huge music lover, iPhone is just better for that.

 

[balder]

Android is okay but as a huge music lover, iPhone is just better for that.

Why do you say that? You prefer iPhone's music player or something? Or is it because of iTunes? I've completely switched to Spotify latey (even started paying for it), so I don't think there's a lot of differences between different systems when it comes to music.

 

[plaidInBlue]

iOS apps are compiled into native ARM machine code. So there's no translation from Java bytecodes. But I've read that Google will move from Java to Go/C++ for Android.

I don't have a phone, but I would prefer an iPhone over an Android one if (when I will) were to buy one. If you use an Android phone, beware of the stagefright bug!

 

[zurb]

I've never used a BB, though a friend had one through work. He reckoned it could do things that other smartphones at the time couldn't. I was surprised to see one yesterday. I thought they were dead.
I use an iPhone because I was given an iPad, and I can use the apps across the devices. The thing I hate the most is its dependance on clumsy iTunes for getting things on/off the phone.
My wife bought an Android. Androids are very variable in both quality and usability (a lot of my friends have been dissappointed), and a decent one costs as much as an iPhone. There are things I like and find frustrating about both machines. I'd like to combine the best of each, but it will never happen. I hate patents and the Mickey Mouse protection law too.
I've used an early version of a Microsoft device, and didn't like it. It was both a poor phone and poor pda, and there was very little integration. Never used the later versions, so can't really comment.
I used to have a Palm before they merged and died. I was sad about that.
I liked my very basic and cheap Nokia I had 15 years ago. The vibrate vibrated in time with the ring tone. Even now, the iPhone can't do that!

 

[Xenocity]

1. Samsung is the only profitable Android maker and has the biggest Android market share by far, makes very little profit selling Android phones (as of yesterday)
   
2. The other Android OEMs are bleeding money selling their phones
   
3. Most Android users buy sub $150 phones, they are the cheap phones with awful specs and lack the current Android updates
4. Android users rarely buy apps, preferring to pirate everything, thus forcing all profits to be driven from ad based revenue within apps
5. Smartphone sales peaked in 2014, with 2015 on track to sell less than the previous year, with Android bearing the brunt of the drop in sales.
   
6. Apple makes ~92% of all the smartphone hardware profits with only having ~18% of the global market
7. iPhone 6/6+ have outsold iPhone 5S by a huge margin
8. Windows Phones and Blackberry aren't worth mentioning due to how badly they are performing
9. Tablet market is shrinking as people aren't buying as many tablets anymore
10. Apple is still market leader with 24%+ market share, we don't know how much the other makers sold since they only reveal number shipped
11. The majority of Android tablets bought are bought at the sub $100 price and/or free due to promotions
    
12. The cheap tablets are the majority of the market rendering Blackberry and Microsoft stuck in low market share
13. The big shock will come this fall, when the U.S. carriers fully abandoned subsidies, forcing everyone to pay the full $300-$800 price (Yes high end Android phone cost as much if not more than iPhones)

There is literally no money to be made selling Android phones and apps anymore unless you're Google.

Personally I love iOS due to the security, the bigger app market, integration with my other Apple products.
I get nearly all of my Apple apps for free which rival Microsoft's offerings.
This lets me read/write: documents, slideshows, spreadsheets and others.
These sync with iCloud allowing me to download all of them to OS X, and most of them to Windows via iCloud website.
Also iTunes syncs perfectly with iOS, OS X, and Windows allowing me to carry my paid content with me, except for mobile apps.
I can also download apps for free without worrying about malware and viruses due to Apple's stringent approval process.
Though nothing is perfect.
Also all Apps on the Apple App store use your iTunes account, if you have a problem Apple will take care of it (Google doesn't care for the most part).
Plus Apple ensures we get updates without having the carriers and OEMs withholding them like they do on Android (My step mom was forced to upgrade to the new Samsung Note 3 because Samsung withheld the Android updates even though the phone could run it).

With Apple designing the software in sync with the hardware it provides for stable optimized experience.

No amount of customization is worth dealing Android.

 

[Xenocity]

Official: HTC is laying off 2,300 (15%) people due to significant losses selling Android devices, Lenovo is laying off 3,200 people as it's profits on Android devices evaporate.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/13/9147211/android-price-wars-cost-of-cheap-smartphones

 

[ancusmitis]

If I can't get android then I will likely stop using smart phones. I hardly use the phone anyway, and I hate Apple. So I will most likely purchase a phone that is only a phone--if at all. I haven't used a phone to get on the web since the novelty wore off; it just isn't a convenient means of surfing. I have never used the camera on my present phone, and used a phone camera on exactly one occasion (I was at Machu Picchu and the battery in my actual camera was dead). Most of the people trying to sell me camera phones exclaim over the fact that their phones are now able to do what my camera was already able to do ten years ago. Well, hot ****. None of the other apps even interest me, and I actually dislike the word "app" itself. I have never been a gadget nerd, and clearly I never will be.