Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/7/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,150
Location: USA
Was thanked: 72 time(s) in 67 post(s)
|
Đây là bài bình loạn về Android, iOS và Windows Phone
Which mobile operating system is best? Android vs iOS vs Windows Phone
by Max Parker 10 June 2015
( hxxp://wxw.trustedreviews.com/opinions/which-mobile-operating-system-is-best )
The biggest question you’re going to face when you decide the time is right to upgrade your phone is which operating system to go for.
Whether you’re a die-hard Apple fanboy, Googler for life or Windows, er, warrior? Maybe it’s time you stepped outside your comfort zone and tried something new. You never know, you might just like it.
We’ve thoroughly tested out each of the big three to see how they stack up. From notifications to apps, quick settings to custom skins.
This is the ultimate smartphone operating system battle. Now, get ready…
Design and Interface
In the many years since Android, iOS and Windows Phone have been powering devices everywhere, the way they each look and function has changed significantly.
Actually, let us rephrase that. Android and Windows Phone have both gone through numerous makeovers, yet Apple has kept iOS looking fairly similar since its 2007 launch.
Android got its biggest design upgrade in 2014, with the introduction of Lollipop 5.0. This brought a whole new ‘Material Design’ look and feel that cranked up the number of animations and altered almost every part to give it that extra bit of gloss.
The basics are still the same though. You’ve got a lockscreen, that displays notifications, then, once unlocked, you’ve got an app-centric home screen. And there’s an app drawer for storing everything else you’ve downloaded. iOS follows this blueprint too, though Apple ditches the app drawer, instead giving you just homescreens.
Windows Phone, the latest version being 8.1, takes a completely different design path from the competition. Its homescreen is a tiled interface, with resizable tiles flipping over to display more information about that app. You can swipe to the left to get to all your apps and just like iOS and Android, you can group apps together in folders.
Live Tiles give you little nuggets of information without forcing you to open an app - the BBC Sport app, for example, gives you a scrolling view of breaking news throughout the day. This glanceable style is also a great part of Android, where widgets are used in a similar manner. Widgets have been a mainstay on Android since the very first version, though Apple added something similar with extensions in iOS 8.
Extensions, rather than sitting on the homescreen, are found in the Notification Centre, but they work pretty the same as Live Tiles or widgets. We’d like to see Apple give us a bit more freedom over where these handy information gatherers could sit, but the Cupertino’s reluctance to switch up the overall look of the homescreen makes us think that will likely never happen.
All three also have a couple of neat design tricks up their respective sleeves when it comes to getting more from the homescreens. A quick swipe down from the top of each brings up a notification shade, grouping together all your emails, messages and calls, while both Android and Windows Phone give you quick settings here too. Letting you easily turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and the like. Again, Apple added a similar feature in iOS 7 with Control Centre. Swiping up from the bottom gives you direct access to a torch, brightness slider and so on.
Now, there’s one big thing that separates Android from Windows Phone and iOS and that’s skinning. We’ll talk more about this later, but it basically gives OEMs (Samsung, HTC, LG etc.) free reign to turn Android into whatever they want. What Google says is how Android should look is not necessarily what you’ll get if you pick an S6 or HTC One M9.
Windows Phone has come a long way since the Windows for Mobile days and it’s rather good looking, we think anyway, but it still falls behind the other two. Android is out favourite design wise, especially if it’s the way Google intended.
Apps - Stock and downloadable
How the operating systems looks is important, it pales in comparison to the real difference maker between all these three, that’s apps.
Apps and apps stores can make or break an operating system. You can have a gorgeous look, slick feel and, as Windows Phone has found, still fail if your app situation is not up to par.
iOS, Android and Windows Phone each their own storefront - iOS has the App Store, Android has Google Play and Windows Phone has the Windows Store. Though, if you’ve ever picked up one of these devices before then you should know.
A few years ago, Apple dominated the app space. It had the best apps, both in terms of functionality and design. It also had the AAA games and support was top notch - if an update was coming, it would most likely hit iOS first.
The story has changed somewhat recently. Android certainly now has all the big-name apps, but its also attracting indie developers who are releasing slick looking, Android exclusive apps. Most AAA games are also seeing an equal footing between iOS and Android, which is a big bonus.
But, there’s still definitely an iOS bias still around. Spotify, for example, has just announced that all its new video, podcast and running features will hit the iPhone first. Instagram too seems intent on trialing everything out first with the iOS and then bringing it to Android later.
And then there’s Windows Phone. Ah, Windows Phone. It’s certainly safe to say that in the app landscape, Microsoft’s baby currently lags a distant third. Make no mistake, there are plenty of apps on Windows Phone and the number of big players offering something for the platform is growing. Spotify, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram are all present and correct and that covers a lot of the apps people use on a daily basis. Actually, Instagram’s Windows Phone presence really shows how the OS is faltering with apps. It never gets updated, it lacks basic features (video, new filters) that we’ve had for ages on other versions. Developers seem to release an app, mentions it now supports Windows Phone and then turn their attention back to iOS and Android.
There might be hope though - with the release of Windows 10 later this year devs will be able to ‘easily’ port apps from Android and iOS to Windows Phone. If they manage to avoid the complete failure Blackberry made of emulating Android apps, this might just work.
Built-in apps also make a big difference to how the operating system functions. Many Android OEMs bake in their own apps, but Google’s suite of core apps - Gmail, Calendar, Photos, Maps - are all fantastic. They’re well integrated, slick looking and work every time. You can also grab them, apart from Photos, if you’re running iOS.
Apple’s default apps for iOS are spartan in design terms, but they’re a good choice if you’re heavily tied into Apple’s ecosystem. Notes will sync back to your Mac, you can beam Map directions to your phone and tap out an iMessage (free messaging between iOS and OS X devices) on your desktop. Unlike on Android, you can’t set which apps are your default. So you’re stuck with the Apple provided phone and messages apps.
We do prefer Google’s design language over Apple’s though, it’s just got a bit more about it. It’s fresher, sleeker and not quite so bare.
Windows Phone’s built-in apps are in for a refresh with Windows 10, and that’s probably for the better. We found the email and messaging apps confusing, the browser again so and the whole UI is less than inviting.
Features
One of the killer features in iOS is also one of its most recent, Continuity. This ridiculously handy addition to iOS 8 lets your magnitude of Apple branded devices talk to each and ensure you’re fully connected all the time. You can Handoff stuff from your phone and table to a computer, and vice-versa, so a text message can be started on your iPhone and finished off on your Mac. You can also take calls on your MacBook if your phone is out of reach.
If you’re fully entwined in the Apple world then it’s a great feature. We’ve been using it for 6-months or so and 80% of the time it works flawlessly. Sometimes calls hang a bit too long on the Mac, still ringing when you’re deep in conversation and there are times when messages don’t appear, but it’s rare.
There isn’t really a similar feature, yet, system wide on Android but Samsung’s brand new Flow app offers something comparable. Downloadable, albeit only in the US for now, for a number of Sammy’s top handsets (Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Alpha, Tab S) the beta service can push content from one device to another. It will even work with your Samsung TV, letting you take a call on your couch. Will it work? We’ll have to wait and see, but Samsung doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to pushing new services. ChatOn, anyone?
Hopefully with the release of the much more unified Windows 10, Windows Phone will gain some of these similar features. Continuum does look to this a bit further, letting you directly plug your phone into a monitor to get a PC like interface.
Both Android and iOS have free messaging apps - Hangouts and iMessage. Google’s Hangouts it a little more open and can used on other platforms (iOS intact) and the web, but iMessage definitely has a wider feature set. Windows Phone users have Skype, which has a similar chat function.
Fitness features are also becoming more and more common on phones. Google Fit works across Android phone and wearables, tracking your steps and Apple’s Health platform plugs into a number of apps. Android OEMs like Samsung have even added HRMs to devices to give it that extra fitness boost. Microsoft Health works in a similar way and connects with the Microsoft Band, giving you specific training regimes and so on.
Another key feature of each of these operating systems is its ‘virtual assistant’. We’ve come a long way since dodgy voice control on phones, with Siri, Google Now and Cortana taking pride of place on iOS, Android and Windows Phone respectively.
Let’s kick off with the best - Google Now. Now’s skill is it feeds you handy information throughout the day, either from apps you have installed like Spotify and from the web. If you’re near a bus stop, for example, it will show you upcoming departures. Football team you’ve previously searched for playing? It’ll let you know the score. It works fantastically and with Google opening up the APIs to developers it’s only going to get better.
Both Siri and Cortana have their ups and downs. Siri is accurate in understanding what you’re saying, but is limited in what you can actually do with it. You can ask it to set an alarm, start a timer or listen to what song is playing, but not much else. Cortana, named after the character in the Halo game series, is a bit of a mixture between Siri and Google Now. It’ll spew out news in the morning and you can ask it to perform tasks, but the accuracy isn’t quite there yet and the information it throws up isn’t always the most useful.
Notifications
If there was an area where a clear winner is standing tall, then it’s in how notifications are handled. Android leads the way here, by a mile. Or two.
Android notifications were spruced up in Lollipop, putting them right on your lock screen and making them better than ever. Long press on one and it’ll show you the app it’s coming from, swipe down with two fingers and certain ones are actionable. You can quickly reply to an email, share a screenshot, delete a text or save a news article.
The notification panel on Android is also the cleanest of the three.
iOS has some similar ‘actionable’ qualities, but they’re far more limited. You can only reply to message notifications if it’s coming from the Messages app and developers can’t build this into their apps. iOS also suffers from a clogged up Notification Centre, which is increasingly difficult to clear thanks to ridiculously small buttons.
Notifications on Windows Phone are on par with iOS, though the idea of a centre for your buzzes was only introduced in the latest update.
Customisation
Pick up a number of iOS or Windows Phone device and chances are they’ll all look fairly similar. yes, icons will be different and colours & wallpapers might be different, but thanks to very strict customisation options, both can’t be pimped out and altered by the user.
Android, on the other hand, is completely the opposite.
The main load of customisations for Google’s OS comes from OEMs. Brands who actually make the handsets. Samsung has TouchWiz, HTC has Sense, LG has UX 4.0 and so on. Each of these completely alters Androids look and feel, adds in an array of new features and gives each device a unique, if not always better, look.
Thankfully, as Android has developed its own style, these skins has somewhat lessened. Even Samsung’s latest iteration of TouchWiz is much lighter and less overbearing that the version used on the S5.
Android users can also install custom launchers, separate icon packs and numerous widgets to add even more personality to their devices.
iOS customisation stalls at changing the wallpapers, while Windows Phone has a few colour options and of course there’s quite a bit of playing around to be done with the Live Tiles.
Connected devices
Whether they’re for you or not, wearables are here and by the looks of things, here to stay. Making the choice about the operating system you go might now rest on what watch or fitness accessory you want to pair with it.
So, what do the three offer?
Android Wear is the eldest of the three, though it’s still under a year old. Designed for wearables of all shapes and size though currently just available on smartwatches, Wear is an extension of Google Now. Instead of just buzzing you wrist with notifications, though it does still do that, the OS displays relevant Now cards and brings up timely information when it thinks you’ll need it. You need an Android device to use it, though iOS hacks are available, but we hope an official solution to widen support will be coming soon.
Apple’s first wearable the Watch, didn’t impress us overly and it was soundly beaten by the iPhone when we raced each across London, but Watch OS does have some promise. There’s plenty of app support already, but it tried to do everything. We mean, who wants to scroll through years off pictures on a 1-inch display.
Microsoft hasn’t yet expanded into a wearable OS, but it’s fitness accessory, the Band, does run a version with Cortana support and a Windows-esque look.
Android Wear is clearly the most advance wearable OS so far, but expect a lot of changes to be coming over the coming months and years.
What about tablets?
iOS on phones and tablets is almost exactly the same, Apple hasn’t really tried to make the most of the larger screen real-estate. Split-screen multitasking, like we have on most larger Android slates, would be nice. But, iOS gets it right when it comes to tablet made apps, something that’s still lacking on Android.
While Gingerbread gave Android a dedicate tablet look, Lollipop brought it back inline with the phone. So if you’re familiar with one, you’ll easily pick up the other.
Windows tablets run Windows 8.1, well mostly, and it’s more comparable to a PC than a tablet operating system. Microsoft experimented with a lighter, simpler OS called Windows RT, but that ultimately failed.
Just like on phone, Android slate makers can forever tinker with the software. That gives us a wider variety of devices for different situations. Want a bigger screen? Samsung will sell you a 12-inch display toting one. Something smaller? Or cheaper? Or with a keyboard? They’re all available.
Verdict
We could sit here and talk about the pros and cons of each of these operating systems until we’re running Android T: Toffee Crisp and iOS X, but we still wouldn’t be able to come to decision on which is best.
The answer is that each has its quirks, plusses and minuses. Things we love, things we hate and things we manage to get over. iOS has better apps, great support for other Apple devices and an easy to use UI.
Android wins out with far better notifications, the fantastic Google Now, awesome Google integration and a wide variety of available devices.
Even Windows Phone has a unique look, handy Live Tiles and ever improving app support. Plus Windows 10 is looking like a beast.
Want our overall view? We'd plump for Android. It's got the best of everything - awesome notifications, plenty of apps and a gorgeous user-interface. And Android M looks like it will make everything even better.
Want more? The best of the rest
BlackBerry 10
Once the phone to have, BlackBerry never adjusted to the post-smartphone landscape and as such is now constantly trying to relaunch itself and stay relevant.
BlackBerry 10 does have some nifty features. The gesture based interface is rewarding once you’ve mastered it, though tough for beginners and the combined inbox is a godsend for messaging addicts. You can also overcome the awful BlackBerry app selection by sideloading Android apps, though this is far from perfect.
Amazon Fire OS
We might be in the minority here, but Amazon’s Fire OS (which is a forked version of Android) impressed us on tablets. The carousel interface, which put books, movies and music, right to the forefront of view was perfect for a device meant for media consumption.
It didn’t translate well to phones, though.
The Fire Phone was a failure, and the fact that it’s seen a price drop from £500 to £99 in less than 9 months proves that. That carousel UI didn’t work and made for endless scrolling, while the native apps were far from intuitive.
Firefox OS
Designed and developed to power low-speced phones in developing countries, Firefox OS now runs on bevy of TVs too. It’s has a resemblance to Android - packing an app store, app drawer, notification panel and the like, but it requires less power to run and is more focused on performance than features.
Bonus - WebOS
There once was an operating system that got it right.
It did multitasking with ease, looked sublime and worked just as we wanted. It was called WebOS and it debuted on the Palm Pre. WebOS, though, as we knew it, is no more is now confined to running on LG’s TVS, but it once had the world at its feet.
Ok, so our love of the failed OS is a little bit extravagant, but we can’t help but imagine where it might have gone if Palm hadn’t gone out of business and sold off the patents. C’mon, just look at that card-view multitasking look and that fantastic system wide search. At least we have the memories.
|