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 |
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, |
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 |
Corporate/Business users |
Exchange support, VPN client, email sync, Remote Wipe |
Exchange support, VPN client, email sync, Remote Wipe plus Open API |
App Installation |
From app Store or via USB |
From Marketplace or remotely from PC/Mac via Online marketplace. |
Music download/Sync |
iTunes via USB or iTunes store on iphone. |
Over the Air (OTA) transfer to phone without touching the phone from |
Stream Music from PC to phone |
Use 3rd party apps |
New Official plugin (Simplified media) works with iTunes, Windows |
Gaming |
Much bigger,better gaming |
Small gaming base, but newer, powerful OpenGL APIs, and Dalvik VM JIT are making Android more |
Game Social Networks |
Xbox Live alike social |
Unavailable |
Internet Browser |
Safari Browser is decent on speeds |
Nexus one |
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 |
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 3rd 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, |
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.
Related: iPhone 4 vs. Android – Why Apple has lost it
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