Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
Apple's convincing an entire generation of phone-buyers that Android is behind the times — which couldn't be much further from the truth.
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Claiming Android is more advanced than iOS in terms of software is laughable, the two are perpetually neck and neck and one leapfrogs the other year over year.
As for a perception problem, I’d argue Google’s ongoing advertising and data situation (eg the new development with Chrome spying on you for advertisers) is hurting opinions with tech savvy users. As for non tech savvy users, the perpetually awful skins from Samsung, HTC and the like detract from the brand. It’s fair to compare iOS with a Pixel’s Android experience, they are arguably on par. However, some of the pieces of shit that the OEMs ship are absolutely pathetic.
Come back to me when Apple openly let's you sideload apps on an iPhone.
Or doesn't lie about their own spying and data mining.
Isn't the EU making them do that in a few years?
Yes but they're only going to allow it in the EU
I really hope so.
I pay little to no attention to iOS. Wasn't aware you still couldn't do this. I remember a time I had to jailbreak my old iPod Touch just to get a third party browser or third party app store.
Despite having an iPad Pro I would say my S23U is more advanced than my iPadOS. My S23U has better external monitor support for one, and file system makes it much closer to actually feeling like a computer over my tablet. Then there's not needing to use stuff like the Alt store to side load. And apps like syncthing make iOS/iPadOS limitations so apparent with how files sync seamlessly across my Linux, Mac, Windows, and Android devices while my iPadOS is the black sheep in that department with the limited file access when trying out syncthing equivalent apps.
Apple is a very restrictive mobile that just doesn't have great compatibility for anything that isn't Apple. That it doesn't let it be advanced despite the powerful chip becomes really apparent if you try to do anything more than try and use it outside Apple devices, use external monitors, or even want to split screen when it comes to iOS.
One thing it has going for it though is long term updates, but my iPad is pretty an expensive glorified comic book reader most of the time now. I found myself wishing iPadOS had the equivalent of edge panels and one hand operations+ so I could just navigate more easily without having to do full hand gestures.
As someone who's struggled with the iOS file system and sync issue, Möbius is an iOS Syncthing client. It costs $5,but so worth it.
Still can't auto-sync iOS images, because Apple doesn't consider them files until you move them to a folder. Even setting up an automation on iOS can't move them to a folder, since you have to select what to love. So stupid.
I'll give this a look, but I worry the files I would like to sync won't be available for some with how random the file access is from app to app.
I'm genuinely curious, what can iOS do that Android can't?
Ignoring low hanging fruit answers like “iOS can use Apple apps” or “iOS gets more than 4 years of updates”; These are hardware specific but they work out of the box:
- I don’t know if this is still true and even if it is, it’s not true for much longer; satellite SOS
- LiDAR on the pro phones and faceID. Both can be used for 3D scanning
- this also may not be true anymore but I had a bitch of a time getting my WireGuard VPN to automatically turn on when I left the house on android. I remember a pixel OS upgrade breaking my tasker script. Works fine on iOS.
Edit: I know android can unlock with your face. That’s not what I’m talking about. The 3D scanning aspect is what’s cool
Edit 2: I know there are things android can do that iOS can’t. Just answering OP’s question
So some iOS devices can do things that all Android devices can't?
I mean I can cherry pick stuff some Android devices can do, too.
None of my four iOS devices can do any of what you've listed. (2 phones, 2 ipads)
So some iOS devices can do things that all Android devices can't?
Yes. Op didn’t stipulate that the differences needed to be true for all of iOS
I mean I can cherry pick stuff some Android devices can do, too.
That’s not what Op asked
None of my four iOS devices can do any of what you've listed. (2 phones, 2 ipads)
I stated some features were hardware specific and if your devices don’t support Wireguard (my third point) then they are really old and likely not supported anymore or maybe work devices that are locked down. Regardless, I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true and I stated caveats where necessary; I answered OP’s question.
YOU made that comparison. Which makes your argument, as Click and Clack would say, booooooooogus
YOU made that comparison
Yes. Because that’s what OP asked for:
I'm genuinely curious, what can iOS do that Android can't?
YOU made the cherry-picked comparison of specific iOS features to specific Android devices, not Android itself.
Sheesh, how disingenuous can you be? Just finish Sophistry 101?
Points 1 & 2 are true for all of Android as far as I’m aware. Point 3 is also probably true for all of Android past a certain version but I have no way of testing so I disclosed it affects pixels. I don’t know what you latched onto that made you so upset.
If you can’t buy an Android device with those features, for all intents and purposes, Android isn’t capable of those features. If you think OP is building an Android device with the hardware for features 1 & 2 but stopped by Lemmy to figure out if the Android OS was capable of using the hardware, you are delusional. Context is important.
Edit: I know you don’t actually think that, just making a point ^
Send links to prove me wrong 🤷♂️
Technically, no new Android phone I know of right now capable of securely unlock the phone with your face. But then all iPhone user I know prefer fingerprint to face unlock and hope Apple would implement underscreen scanner
Technically, no new Android phone I know of right now capable of securely unlock the phone with your face. But then all iPhone user I know prefer fingerprint to face unlock and hope Apple would implement underscreen scanner
Let's be real, if you're security conscious then you're not going to use this method.
Security conscious folks in the states don't even use fingerprint readers because law enforcement can force you to unlock them with your fingers, face, etc. due to the fact that information isn't considered proprietary.
I think the point is rather the opposite, what can Android do that iOS can’t? And the honest answer is effectively nothing. It can’t side load unsigned apps. Literally nothing else. So to claim that Android is so super advanced in the article is disingenuous.
As power users we should be watching both mobile platforms closely and honestly, and demanding parity and improvements in both. The moment we declare one “better” and the other one trash is the moment we stop holding our own platform of choice to account for bettering itself.
Just off the top of my head, Android allows multiple browser engines to work on it, allowing firefox to use extensions. Android can torrent, while you can't on stock iOS without hacks. Firefox with extensions on Android is god send if you're a power user.
For someone who claims to be a power user, it's really showing… And don't forget open source ecosystem is much much much bigger on Android.
Not disputing the browser engines thing, but FYI there are also browser extensions for Safari and most of the ones I use on Firefox on desktop have an equivalent for mobile Safari.
Meaning, we dont have extension in firefox. We get it.
- launchers; icon packs, system ui changes
- custom roms
- android kitchen to make your own android
- those root level apps
- adb (wireless as well.)
- linux windows interoperability
- set your cpu and gpu governor
- kde connect and other stuff which wants to work in backend can keep working
- others.. i dunno i am bored cannot think of more
- ability to pirate apks
- third party stores
- easier to develop for
But yeah mostly for nerds🤓
This is a great list! Allow me to help expand it:
- Multiple user accounts (great for kids)
- Multi tasking split screen with different apps
- Direct plug-and-play access to files on a computer with a usb cord
And since it's impossible to ignore the fact Android allows for hardware choice, there's hardware benefits like...
- Faster charging
- Brighter, more advanced screens
- High frame rate (Apple is still stuck on 60fps)
- Foldable
- Better cameras
- Charge other devices with your device
- External storage Alright, there's a LOT more, but I realized I don't want to do the legwork haha. These are huge features, though.
Some of those are true I don’t think it’s fair to say Android is easier to develop for. I’ve been developing software for both professionally since 2012, and I would argue iOS may be slightly easier, due to the maturity of the tooling and ubiquitous, predictable, and mature system frameworks. I often find myself reaching for some dependency on Android to provide what a one-liner on iOS can do. Just my two cents.
While i understand you are coming from, when i said its easy to develop for android i meanT that i can work in almost any os and the tooling will be available to develop. So its easier to start for most people.
I.e. easier to develop without requiring specialized hardware
Other than that, what you said is true. java is a VERBOSE language. Kotlin solves this a little
Safari is extremely limited, and web developers are starting to hate it. For example, the latest wepm video type that's been out for years doesn't work on Safari. It's the only viable format for making videos small enough to not impact performance.
As such, iPhone and Mac users often don't have the same web experience as literally every other Browser. Not many people know this, but now you do!
Source: I'm a web developer.
Are you for real?
Downloading third party apps is the single biggest advantage I'd argue android has over iOS. This is highly practical - for example, I get zero ads on YouTube, and it even skips the sponsored content. This is free to everyone on Android. You have to pay Google's troll toll if you want half of that on iOS (you cannot pay to skip the sponsored stuff.)
You can also easily, and safely install Roms on Android. This extends support for old hardware out, and gives full control over just about every single aspect of your phone.
Additionally, unless something changed recently, Firefox doesn't have extensions on iOS still. This means you can't use vital plugins looks ublock origin to block ads like you do on your computer.
Next we have one of my favorite features - swapping the entire launcher. You can't do that on iOS, but on Android you can easily switch between really creative and interesting layouts in seconds.
There's a lot of other things Android can do that IOS can't (multiple user accounts, simultaneously running multiple instances of the same app, multi tasking apps in split screen, advanced keyboards that have gifs and such built in, direct and full access to the storage via usb, changing the default system apps, etc.), but the above are the practical ones I use daily.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
really creative and interesting layouts
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Thank you, good bot.
They get wireless charging from 2015 yet?