January 12, 2012

Android Phone - An iPhone Alternative...??

Android or iPhone ? 
It is one of the most discussed topic among the smart phone users around the globe. When we consider smart phones, it is the Apple’s iPhone which had deep impact in the mobile phone marketplace over other devices. This revolutionary smart phone is a cemented warrior against an endless list of smart phones. But the real beginning of smart phone revolution marked with the entry of android phones. This smarter android revolution easily led to a new era free of limitations.

If you are looking for iPhone alternatives, it is high time to choose an android phone. The android and iPhone evaluation depends on a number of different factors. The features offered by both the smart phones are carefully examined from several angles to reach a conclusion. Selecting the perfect smart phone might be a critical task here. This article might be an eye opener for those who are planning to buy a smart phone.
Apps and widgets
The screen of an iPhone is visually littered and complex with icons because the widgets that are on the android screen offers one touch information with just a click. In terms of Google usage, android performs better and is perfect for serious Gmail users. This is a major drawback of iPhone.
Network lock and availability
The most important reason to prefer an android over iPhone is the universal availability of android phones. This is a clear-cut difference with the iPhones that are available only through selected outlets and Apple stores.
The network lock is a serious problem that restricts iPhones to use in different networks. It often limits the freedom to choose a service provider out of interest and usability. The iPhone cannot be used with any provider other than the subscribed service provider. But android phones are completely free from network restrictions.
Browsing
In terms of web browser features, android phones enjoys a superior position over the iPhone. When iPhone supports a single browser (safari), android phone offers extensive browser support along with flash. But the expensive iPhones don’t support flash and at the same time comes up with single browser.
Customizable
The android phones are easily customizable and hence you don’t have to think about jail-breaking! It offers rooms for endless personalization and you can decide and configure the behavior of your android smart phone. But an iPhone is often bound to limitation and Apple’s decisions.
External need for software applications
iPhone demands to install iTunes on the desktop for transferring any music, videos or applications to your iPhone. But simple data transfer from any computer is enough for an android device.
Now, it’s your choice. You may go for an expensive iPhone or a smarter android powered device!

What Makes Android Revolutionary

Android's barely evolutionary.
Android's barely open source.

If you were a dev, and you'd have checked out the code you'd know. I ran my own AOSP, thank you very much. Half of it uses binaries for the stock phone(s) because unless you're going to reverse engineer for a year or two there's no other way.

First of all, it's not always open. It's open, sometimes, as history proved. Plus, updates arrive in packs, not gradually, because it's development model is closed.
And when it is opened, it's missing all the important stuff - of course -.
You may wonder why huge teams like CyanogenMod struggles to port Android 4 to many devices?

Well, guess what! That's because the code to support the devices is NEVER there. The drivers are always user space closed source, and the API breaks with Android upgrades.
They also break with standard APIs (alsa, etc) more often than not *on purpose*.
The RIL (radio interface layer, mind you) is generally closed sourced as well.
So it Android as a whole open? Absolutely not.
Is Android technically superior to anything else that has existed so far? Nope. Different? Nope.
Even the libc implementation is crippled on Android.
Shall I go on? Android support of security updates is non-existant. Many devices ship with working exploits, right now.

And no, iOS ain't really better (but they do have proper updates).
For that matter, despite some mobile OSes being more open, I don't see any right now that is decent in all areas

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