Android ICS compared to iOS 6
Yes well Apple has now come clean on their latest offering of iOS with iOS 6, which they say brings 200 new features to the iPhone and Apple iPad, and naturally those features are going to be compared to Apple’s rival operating system Android, and especially Android latest OS Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
As such the guys over at Gizmodo have come up with a ten category comparison between iOS 6 and Android Ice Cream Sandwich to see how they stack up against each other, so we thought we’d pass these along to our readership.
The guys kick things off with an apps reminder where Apple has 650,000 apps, 225,000 for the Apple iPad, whilst Android has 450,000 apps, but although most work on tablets, tablet specific Android apps pale in comparison with Apple’s offering.
Apple has come out with their own Maps app, which is powered by TomTom, and I’m fairly sure you know what the Maps app offers, although it lacks such stuff as walking directions, bike directions, transit directions and Street View, which of course Google Maps on Android does offer, but the biggy with iOS 6 Maps has to be that turn-by-turn navigation, which will bring iOS in line with Android.
Again deep Facebook integration comes with iOS 6 allowing the iOS faithful to do the usual with Facebook as they have done with Twitter in iOS 5, but again Android has offered the same deep Facebook integration for a donkey’s age and is also deeply integrated into Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
There is the new browser sync in iOS 6 which allows the syncing of tabs between devices so that when you open a tab in Safari on your desktop it will be easier to open on your iPhone or Apple iPad: however the guys reiterate like others have said, nobody uses Safari, and Chrome of ICS does the same thing.
Mobile payments come with iOS 6 with the Passbook feature, which has GPS deeply integrated so information pops up when you need it, and Passbook aggregates all your passes, tickets, and some payment cards along with live updates, and the guys say they have a feeling NFC payments will be integrated later on. Whilst for Android there is Google Wallet, but some US carriers are keeping Google Wallet off their network, and Passbook according to the guys looks way better than Google Wallet.
When it comes to voice commands, with iOS 6 Siri has been improved with new capabilities on restaurant information, sports scores, movies, and will also come to Apple’s iOS slates, whilst Android voice Actions has been around longer than Siri, in the majority of the guy’s tests Voice Actions has out-gunned Siri, and Voice Actions is available on ICS tablets.
When it comes to chatting on your smartphone, FaceTime will now be used over a mobile data network and not just WiFi; however if you are on Android there is Gmail, which allows the user to chat with anyone on whatever browser, smartphone and tablet, and over a mobile data network practically from the outset.
IOS 6 brings a quick reply by text feature, along with a ‘do not disturb’ mode that spots you iPhone from ringing or lighting up, and the user can set it so they only receive calls from certain people. When it comes to Android Ice Cream Sandwich, quick replies are built in and you can pre-write several common responses and simply hit one to shoot it off, although Android doesn’t have that do not disturb mode.
With messaging iMessages seems to be having the bugs worked out and will have a unified ID so you texts will sync through your Mac, iPad and iPhone along with seamlessly integrating with iChat, whilst on Android there is Google Voice for replying to texts from your browser in the US, but most people text from their own phone number and as such iMessage wins out, but when it comes to IM then Google Chat means you can simply keep up with more people.
Lastly the guys take a look at smarter icons, allowing them to change to deliver info, much live Windows Phone and its live tiles, but sadly Apple looks to be stuck in the past with smarter icons, whilst widgets have been a part of the Android platform for ages delivering the ability to adjust settings on the fly without leaving the home screen and displaying info in real time.
So there you have it, a comparison between Android Ice Cream Sandwich and iOS 6, and really it does look like when it comes to iOS, Apple is still very much playing the catch up game with Android, although I am sure the iOS faithful will continue saying… Apple makes them better.
Comments
8 thoughts on “Android ICS compared to iOS 6”
A very biased review which seems massively intent on missing out key pieces of information
like which key pieces exactly??? I have an iPhone 4s and my brother has SGS II, and i gotta tell you android kicks apple’s ass the hard way. There is just so much you can do with android, that you can’t in iOS. Basically in IOS all you can do is tap the app, and that’s it. I can’t wait to get rid of iPhone 4s and get a sgs iii
Literally the entire article, if this is meant to be an actual comparison between the two then it should relay facts and not overreaching statements like, “No one uses safari anyway”
The entire article is written like it being written by an android supporter with a grudge
Except it was written by a big Apple supporter
It doesn’t matter WHO wrote it, it’s HOW it’s writen, it doesn’t offer any sort of caomparison between the to systems, relie on facts and figures or give a pro/con of each section. That would be a comparison, this is utter rubbish!
Since we don’t know what all the 200 new features in iOS 6,we can’t compare.
And if you want to compare 8 features we know in iOS 6,here it is-
1) Siri- See Siri advancements(Book movie tickets,book restaurants,find them,ask anything about your favourite sport,tweet by speaking/update FB status by speaking,ask weather,ask any questions,eyes free,Siri is much more international and etc etc)Android is not even near.
2)Facebook integration in iOS 6 is far far better than on any Android phones present.
3)Passbook is far far better,easy and simple than Google wallet which is present in limited countries and carriers.It automatically pops up with our tickets and passes when we reach respective places(Android where are you?)
4)Phone app advancements(Remind me later,Do not disturb etc) are way better than androids.Remind me later is just fantastic.
5)Facetime over cellular is just awesome. Android users have to use third-party apps but not the case for apple.Also,they unified our Apple ID and phone number,so we can pick up facetime call/iMessage on any other iDevice too(where is android?)
6)Safari Advancements(iCloud tabs feature is just awesome,Smart App banners too is a very good feature for developers having websites,upload photos from safari to websites,sharing options to our favourite places,full screen support on landscape on iPhone and etc etc). Where is android’s unnamed browser?
7)Shared photostreams(No such feature on android without those sucking third-party apps) lets you share photos to your friends,allows comments,it is visible to everyone(Windows etc etc),over airplay etc etc.
8)Mail enhancements(VIPs&Flagged inboxes,notification for VIP&Flagged messages right on the lockscreen and notification centre,insert photos and videos very easily in mail,pull to refresh,open password protected office docs and etc etc.)
9)Guided Access(Really helpful which is not in android).
10)Maps app of Apple is far far more beautiful,easy to use and has many better features than current Google Maps app.Flyover is just and just awesome.
11)Other features like custom vibrations(Android have but with sucking 3rd-party apps),iPhone hearing aid,Lost Mode(Improved feature in Find my iPhone,android,where are you?), redesigned stores(were already better than google play),improved privacy features,more sharing options for each app(not currently on android),Personal dictionary in iCloud,per account signatures in mail,Game Center improvements(Android?),Global network proxy for HTTP,features for China,location based remainders for iPad,fastest javascript on the planet(safari,Android?) and much more…
Without the actual release,it is beating android,with actual release,what will it do?Think………….
The world’s most advance mobile OS(Apple is right)@@
Apple rocks!
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING-
iOS already offered a lot and much better than android,but with iOS 6,Apple has given developers a classic gifr.
See the APIs available for developers to use in making apps for iOS 6-
Audio&Video sampling during playback,Passkit,CSS Sheets,Voiceover gestures,Control camera focus&exposure,Action sheet,Web audio kit,Remainders,Game center in app experience,Video stabilization,Game groups,Transit apps,Face-Detection API,Map kit,Frame drop data,Audio Layout,In-App content purchases,Collection views,Facebook integration,Multi-route audio and a lot more……..Where is android?
bravo bravo ! youre officially brainwashed by apple , there is no counter arguments that can bring you back to normal condition anymore. all the counter argument will be heard as android fanboys argument.
so altrough im using my sgs2 to type this, ill be writing support for you from my beloved android phone ! IOS is the greatest OS of the world android can eat the dust of shining apple! all apple is the best piece of Godly technology in the universe! all hail apple! Â
Would make *much* more sense to compare Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) to iOS 6 than it would be to compare iOS 6 to ICS.