Android or iOS? iOS Analysis [Part1]

Some people are going to read the title as Android vs. iOS, but that's not what I am trying to do here. A friend of mine who is way less into technology than I am currently owns an iPhone 5S after owning a Samsung Galaxy SIII for a couple years. The SIII was his first smartphone and Android was his first mobile OS, but unfortunately he had some issues with the SIM card that were a known issue in some of those phones. Subsequently his experience was soured by that which caused him amongst other factors such as owning a Mac to switch to an iOS device. I've taken it upon myself to start a discussion here to convince him to come back to Android. While I will be attempting to persuade him to come to my preferred OS, I have to uphold a certain level of integrity. I will try my best to write this without a bias. I am far more knowledgeable with Android than iOS so if it seems I am more in depth about Android it's for that reason.

iOS and Android - A Discussion

The reason I've waited until now to discuss this is in order to wait for Apple to hold their WWDC '15 conference and for Google to hold I/O '15. Now that we've seen what is in store for both platforms we can hold a discussion with the inclusion of new features to come in the next year. Both conferences introduced some great ideas and features, some more exciting than others, but valuable non-the-less.

Apple iOS 

Pros:

• Simple, Clean Layout
• Third Party Apps First
• iMessage
• Updates
• Google Apps

Clean Layout

Apple has nailed the layout of the smartphone UI, people automatically know how to use it and have come to expect other smartphone UI's to be the same. Give and iOS user an Android phone and you'll notice two things. First, they'll swipe through homescreens thinking they'll find your apps when they're actually in the app drawer. Second, if you have on-screen buttons the person will actually look for a hardware button without even thinking about it. If you swap the scenario and give an Android user a iOS device they don't have a problem using it. This doesn't mean the iOS user is by any means less intelligent, it simply means we all know how to use and iOS device almost instantly. The Android learning curve isn't as simple. Not to say that it is by any means hard, and once the user gets used to it they may find that having 3 buttons instead of 1 is better. Its just a matter of learning.

Apple App Store

The Apple App Store gets just about everything first or at the same time as the Google Play Store. From a business standpoint it makes perfect sense. Apple will get the newest apps first, the most recent example is Periscope, which recently came out for Android but has been available on iOS for quite some time. One could argue that by the time it gets to Android the experience is better and more content is available because there is already a user base making the initial experience better, but that would be a bit of a stretch. Personally, I haven't found myself wanting an app that I can't have, but that doesn't mean another person may want to consider that. 

iMessage

Nobody can come close to the functionality and ease of use that iMessage has provided users. I'd be lying if I said Google Hangouts was as good as iMessage. Hangouts doesn't work as seamlessly as iMessage, it could, but it doesn't. Without going into too much detail Hangouts can do everything iMessage can do, however iMessage does it better, no doubt about it. Another note to add is that Hangouts isn't the default messaging app on all Android devices and the bittersweet truth is that iMessage wins because people have to adopt it and use it. Apple had to make it that easy to use because users can't choose something else if they don't like it. I'll go into more detail regarding default apps but in short, its a double edged sword.

Updates

iOS users always get the freshest updates as long as they are on a supported device. Apple is still supporting the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s which in my mind is amazing. Many manufacturers won't support hardware after 18 months and won't provide updates. Apple does provide these updates however because they know the hardware can handle the update. All supported devices get the newest updates all around the same time as one another. Unfortunately due to the very nature of Android manufacturers cannot provide these updates as quickly. For example the Motorola Droid Turbo, which released in October of last year with the highest end specs of any phone released that year is still stuck on Android 4.4.4 and hasn't even begun testing 5.1 as of the writing of this article. It is worth noting however that Google's Nexus line of devices gets updates as soon as Google releases a new version of Android. Just like Apple, Google control the hardware of their Nexus devices and the OS (Android) that runs on them so those updates are always very fast. If the reader is considering a Nexus device or feels that updates are important then they should consider a Nexus device.

Google Apps

Finally, many of the app specific features in Google's own apps that help enhance Android can also be found for iOS. So there is no use switching to Android if the reasoning has anything to do with Google apps already available on Apple's App Store.

Conclusion of Part I

I outlined what I felt some of the major differentiating features on iOS are. As an Android guy this was a challenge to write because I have limited experience with iOS devices and maybe don't see all of the benefits they provide. Please ask questions below or make suggestions to this article. I would like to get a good discussion started and hopefully get some more things to add to this article. The next part will involve Android's benefits so please keep the conversation in the comments about iOS. No flame wars please, just helpful suggestions because as we all know there is no way to objectively declare a winner, so let's have a conversation about what makes it better for you the user.