iOS 4 vs Android 2.2 – War is Over

Tarandeep Singh

14 years ago

iOS4 came with most awaited features: Multitasking and several others and now all new iPhone 4 released at WWDC 2010. But what does it take to trash the dream? Simple, more innovation.

Google announced Android 2.2 codenamed Froyo at it’s yearly Developer conference: Google I/O 2010. The latest release brings some tasty features that makes iPhone OS look ugly. Let’s go ahead and compare what these two OS can do, as per today.

The Android already multitasks, and does a better job than does iOS 4. I regularly listen to Pandora while doing many other things with my Droid, and have been ever since I bought the device.

It’s nice to see that iPhone users can now do this…some of them, i.e. Apple has limited multi-tasking to seven specific kinds of services. Android does not have that limit. Apple says it imposed the limit in order to preserve battery life. I say give the user freedom to do what he wants, including running down his battery too fast.

iOS4 now lets you change your wallpaper. Once again, Android has had that for quite some time. So there’s nothing to brag about there.

Update: Launch of iPhone 4 with iOS 4 still doesn’t change much, overall scenario is still similar.

iPhone 4 iOS4 vs. Android 2.2

Feature	iOS 4	Android 2.2 Froyo
MultiTouch	Phenomenal Multitouch interface, great UI, unbeatable gestures	Good Multitouch interface, good UI, decent gestures.
Multitasking	Yes. Looking closely, apps pause in the background, cripple multi-tasking. Apps except VoIP, Streaming, don’t execute in background, no matter what.	Full Multitasking, OS allows full background processing on demand, kernel controls and kills apps when low on resources.
Push/Cloud Notifications	PUSH notifications, cloud notifications to trigger apps.	Apart from what iPhone does, Cloud notifications can initiate Intents (Actions) within defined applications. E.g. open a map with a specific route from PC, without touching phone.
Sync/Backup	Contacts, email, calendar, apps, music, videos Only via iTunes	Wirelessly sync Contacts, email, calendar apps, Apps settings (app data) over 3g, Wifi. Sync multiple devices by Automatically getting apps on new phone with same Google login
Corporate/Business users Features	Exchange support, VPN client, email sync, Remote Wipe	Exchange support, VPN client, email sync, Remote Wipe plus Open API (Device Admin API) for further extending the scope.
App Installation	From app Store or via USB iTunes sync	From Marketplace or remotely from PC/Mac via Online marketplace. Choose any Android phone (if you have multiple) and app gets installed automatically.
Music download/Sync	iTunes via USB or iTunes store on iphone.	Over the Air (OTA) transfer to phone without touching the phone from PC or via any 3^rd party stores.
Stream Music from PC to phone	Use 3^rd party apps	New Official plugin (Simplified media) works with iTunes, Windows media player and lets you stream any media onDemand right to your Android device.
Gaming	Much bigger,better gaming base	Small gaming base, but newer, powerful OpenGL APIs, and Dalvik VM JIT are making Android more powerful for all the existing and future apps.
Game Social Networks	Xbox Live alike social network for iPhone gamers	Unavailable
Internet Browser	Safari Browser is decent on speeds	Nexus one was already faster than iPhone 3GS OS 4.0, Android 2.2 makes Javascript run 2-4x times faster using Chrome’s V8 engine making it World’s Fastest Mobile Browser. And Froyo support Flash Player 10.1 with Multitouch
No. Of Apps	Nearly 180,000	50,000
App Updates	Individual, Update all at a time	Individual, Update all, Automatic App updates as soon as update becomes available
App Performance	No App performance improvements in 4.0 from 3.1.3 or 3.1.x	Dalvik VM’s JIT (Just in time compiler) is now enabled, all existing apps (which already run fast vs. iPhone) would run 2x – 4x times faster than Android 2.1
App Feedback/Crash Reports	Users can rate the Apps and judge based on that	Users can see Ratings, Failures, Crashes and Complete Java StackTrace of failures
Tethering	Bluetooth + USB. Wifi only on Jailbroken devices	USB + Wifi out of the box. No word on bluetooth
Turn by turn Navigation	Good apps available, but not for free	Google Maps Navigation is the most superior navigation app, yet, free
eBook reading	Superior iBooks + Kindle reader	Inferior 3^rd party apps, Kindle coming soon.
UI customizations: Widgets, Skins, themes	Only wallpapers	Everything: Themes, Widgets, Skins, Multi-Screen Wallpapers
Hardware access from Browser	GPS location via GeoLocation API	Upcoming access to magnetometer, accelerometer, GPS, Camera, microphone and more
Integrated Search	Search email, sms, app names instantly	Google search, apps, search within apps (when supported by app)
Notifications	Decent Notification manager, can get annoying.	Notifications hide smartly and are easily accessible when needed.

P.S. At this time I own both Nexus One and iPhone, and I can’t stop loving what Google is doing to the Android.

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