Two weeks ago it came as a suprise to many of my school friends and twitter friends when i told them that I am going to be getting an Android device really soon. Over the past year or so I have been an Apple fanboy and i never really thought that i would be switching to Android this year.However, there were few things that made me do this switch.
In this article i will be going over some of these. Now first and foremost let me clarify this that supporting Android and Samsung and other manufactures in general will actually make me a better tech reviewer. It will allow me to test out and use innovations from other companies. No, I am not leaving Apple or Apple ecosystem but I am just trying to be equal or balanced. I like iOS devices for certain things like App Store and App Quality but I also like Android for how much customization its allows users to do. So for me the iOS and Android War is over. I will criticize Android and I will Criticize iOS, I will praise Android & I will Praise iOS. Simple.
Now onto the main topic. iOS over the past 6 to 7 years have remained mostly unchanged in looks. This might not be an issue for a person who is not so tech savvy but for tech savvy people this really is a problem. Back in 2007 when the first generation iPhone was released, iOS was way ahead of its time. And that time blackberries were in the market and they were crazy popular. But when iPhone came, its simply trashed the Blackberry. That same year Google made an effort to get into smartphone world by making Android and keeping it open sourced so that different manufactures can use it with their cell phones. However at that moment software hardware integration seemed really important and right. Android smartphones were laggy and apps werent that good. However iOS began to shine. With the same company making both software and hardware, iPhone started getting better and better with every refresh until 2011/2012 when killer android cellphones started making their way to the market.
In 2011, the grid like apps icon interface in iOS really started looking outdated and Android came with Ice Sandwich that was filled with features and it came pre installed on Samsung Galaxy Note and other top end phones. In 2012, Apple started to loose their grip. Google came up with Android 4.1 Jellybean with Project Butter for smooth and lag free experience.
This new Jellybean 4.2 with Google Now,lockscreen widgets and many other features invited me and many other tech savvy people to join Android. And from the above story you really can tell how much Google went through and did for android. And right now Android really is a winner.
Now lets get a bit specific and let me tell you few features that I like Android for over iOS.
Firstly, customization. In iOS the only thing you can do to customize your homescreen is to change the wallpaper or to rearrange your apps icon or to just make folders. But in Android its a completely different story. First of all you are not restricted to have grid like icons interface. You can put icon anywhere you like. Next you have the ability to the put widgets. Widgets believe it or not are really helpful. For example, in order to check facebook timeline or twitter feed without opening the app, all you have to do is to select the twitter widget and place it anywhere you like. Then you can scroll through your feed without opening the app every time. You also get live wallpapers that look kinda cool in my opinion.
Secondly, the ability to access your settings from your notification center. Notification center is a really important thing in both iOS and Android. However on Android , you can customize how you want your notification center to be. So basically i can put quick toggles on the notification center so all i need is to swipe down to reach all the quick settings like Bluetooth,Airplane Mode,Wifi etc. you can also swipe to the left to delete specific notifications and you can also reply and do a lot right from the notifications.
Thirdly, the ability to install different launchers and different themes without messing your device up. Even though i am not a huge fan of themes but its great that you can download different launchers and themes for your android smartphones.
The next feature is not really an Android feature but its basically a touchwiz feature from samsung, the ability to have multi screens. As the name suggests, you can have more than one app running side by side. So basically I can open internet browser and watch a video on the second screen etc.
Android allow users to do whatever they want.No restrictions, No walls to break. No jailbreaking. You can customize, you have swiping keyboard,you have awesome camera software, you have the ability to run two apps side by side, You can scroll by just waving over the phone, you can install different launchers, you can have widgets. You can have so many more things. Therefore Samsung advertises S4 as life companion and yes i agree!
So this is what I think about Android. After Galaxy S4 release Apple have become scared and nervous and that could be seen from their website. If you head over to apple.com you will see a new section in which Apple reminds us of why iPhone is best. And this new webpage came just a day after Samsung S4 Launch.
iOS 7 will be here this June, and I just cannot wait for it. I am DAMN sure we will get a bit revised UI and some killer features. So for now we just have to wait and see. I am still thinking about either getting the S4 , Note II or S3. Its a tough decision to make.
Alright guys Thank you for reading. Make sure to share this article and subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on twitter.
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