Iphone Vs Android Vs Windows Phone
- Apr 01, 2016 For the past year or so, I've been wrestling with how to advise Windows users who are disappointed in the failure of Windows phone and wish to choose between Android and iPhone.
- Introduction (Android vs Windows Phone Battle): Smartphone market has become a highly contested battleground where pitched battles are being waged by the giants from mobile manufacturing segment flexing their muscles and wielding the different models loaded with several warheads called features.
With a rush of amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, this is a great time to buy a new phone for you or for someone else. There are excellent phones flooding the market (here are our top five favorite smartphones), but unless you plan on switching your next handset before your contract is up, you'll want to consider a few points before making any semi-permanent decisions.
OK, so what if you're looking for even more basic guidance, like which mobile operating system to get? Is the iPhone 4S really a better choice than a shiny, new Android phone? What's the story with Windows Phone, and are BlackBerrys even a thing anymore? Believe me, these are great questions, and they've been at the top of your mind. Earlier this month, I helped take your burning cell phone questions in a live chat, and fielded even more queries at our weeklong CNET Gotham event in New York. I expected questions comparing iOS versus Android, the
Android vs iPhone, in this blog post, I will tell you about some of the pros and cons of Android phones as well as iPhones. I will tell you what the major differences are between the two different platforms. Windows is a highly secure phone. It will stop unauthorized site from opening. All apps are sandboxed so no virus. All windows apps are very compact and smaller in size than android hence even 1gb ram, 8gb internal memory and 2500 mAh battery windows phone is still performing super fast compared to android with 3gb ram, 16gb internal memory and 4000 mAh battery. The decision of whether to buy an iPhone or Android phone isn’t as simple as tallying up the winners above and choosing the phone that won more categories (but for those counting, it's 8-6 for the iPhone, plus 5 ties).
So to get you started, here's a quick primer on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone (sorry, BlackBerry, you've lost your momentum), and a smattering of the most common questions about smartphone OSes I've received from you. (If you've got more to ask, mark your calendars for the next Ask the Editors live chat on November 29!)
iPhone 4S in a nutshell
IOS is more like Windows phone in how it is uniform, secure, and locked down (compared to Android). Android is very open, very customizable, and you can make it look and act a lot like Windows phone, if that is your thing. There is almost nothing you cannot do with Android. The debate has been going on for ages, but which is truly better? IPhone or Android? Obviously, there is no clear cut answer, because there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
- Runs Apple's iOS 5 operating system
- Available on three carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint
- Available on three storage sizes: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
- Easiest compatibility with iTunes, Apple ecosystem, and products
- Form factor: One 3.5-inch screen (on the smaller size by today's standards)
- Interface: Approachable, but not very customizable. Some hidden features
- Key features: Excellent 8-megapixel camera, front-facing camera, colorful Siri voice assistant
- Next big release: iPhone 5, release date unknown, but speculated for summer 2012
Android in a nutshell
- Google's mobile operating system
- Form factor: Available on all carriers, all shapes, all sizes
- All capabilities: Range from budget to super premium
- Not all Android phones are created equal in capability: some have excellent cameras, screens, etc. Some don't.
- Easiest compatibility with Google services, Google Music, other Android devices
- Interface: Varies by manufacturers, has a small learning curve for some features
- Key features: Free voice navigation with turn-by-turn directions, very customizable, voice actions
- Next big phone release: Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, Verizon release date unknown, but probably December
- Next big operating system release: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Released with Galaxy Nexus, coming to existing handsets starting 'early 2012'
Windows Phone in a nutshell
- Microsoft's mobile operating system
- Form factor: Available on all carriers, all shapes, all sizes.
- AT&T has the largest and best selection
- All capabilities: Mostly midrange, solid performers. Minimum 5-megapixel camera
- Easiest compatibility with Zune, Xbox Live, Microsoft services like Microsoft Office, SkyDrive online storage
- Interface: Very straightforward, but some hidden capabilities
- Key features: Clean interface, built-in barcode-scanning and music identification, Xbox Live integration, voice actions
- Next big phone release:
Nokia Lumia 800 or similar for U.S. markets, probably January - Next big operating system release: Unknown. Version 7.5 Mango released in September
Android FAQ
Question:Why there is delay on update for Android devices, and will Ice Cream Sandwich bring the solution for this problem?
With Android phones, we're at the mercy of manufacturers and carriers who need to test the new OS with the additional skins, overlays, or additional software these phones might have. My colleague Bonnie Cha wrote a great story explaining how OS updates work. So the answer is no, Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS) won't fix this. However, back in May, Google and several key manufacturing partners agreed to work together to bring phones released within 18 months of a new OS updated to the latest OS version. Unfortunately, neither Google nor other manufacturers have been forthcoming with how this is playing out in practice. For now, the surest bet to get the latest Android OS is to get the Galaxy Nexus or Samsung Nexus S phone (available for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint).
Q: I am looking forward to buying the Galaxy Nexus. However, which phone would you select between it, the Motorola Droid Razr, and the HTC Rezound?
If it's specs you're wondering about, check out my former colleague Nicole Lee's helpful chart comparing the three. If it's the overall look and feel, well, that's just a question I can't answer for you. What do you value most: the camera, the speed, the price, the way it feels in your hand? They're all fast, they're all premium, and they all run on Verizon's phenomenal 4G LTE network.
The Droid Razr and Galaxy Nexus are thin, but the Galaxy Nexus and Rezound have better screens. The Galaxy Nexus has a 5-megapixel camera, but the Droid Razr's isn't my absolute favorite on the market, either. The Droid Razr is more stylish. The Rezound comes with Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and a music algorithm, but the Galaxy Nexus is the first to have the powerful Ice Cream Sandwich OS (the other two will get it as well, but you'll have to wait until early 2012.) Yet, the Galaxy Nexus isn't even available yet, while the other two are. I recommend getting yourself to a Verizon store and getting your hands on the other two devices to see how much you connect with them, then go from there.
iPhone FAQ
Q: With the iPhone 4S out, would it be better to wait for the iPhone 5? My 2-year contract renewal is up in 2012. I am hearing possibly summer 2012 for iPhone 5.
If you're still riding out a contract, keep waiting. The iPhone 4S is a great device, but it's not worth breaking a contract for or buying fresh unless you need Siri or a better camera.
Windows Phone FAQ
Q: Which is easier to use: Windows Phone, iOS 5, or Android 4.0?
Windows Phone has the cleanest OS of the three and is the easiest for getting in and out, at least as far as the main screens go. With only two home screens to toggle between, it's hard to get lost. However, the edgy 'metro' look may not be for everyone, and the apps look completely different. There are also a few tricks you need to know about to fully use the OS, like pressing and holding on 'live tiles' to pin, unpin, and get more options, and using your finger to pull down the signal strength meter and battery meter while you're on the Start screen (these otherwise disappear from view.) There are other tricks, too--tools in Bing you may not think to look for, and actions when you press and hold the Home and Back buttons.
The iPhone and Android have their own quirks as well, and I don't consider the other two particularly hard to learn, though with its large icons and limit to two screens, it's easier to navigate Windows Phone.
Do you know if WP7.5 is limited to single-core processors and how that would impact the performance of the devices?
Right now all Windows phones are single-core, and I can't complain about performance issues. With the way that the OS handles tasks and task-switching, dual-core processing may not be strictly necessary. That said, as all phones join the processor race, I'm sure we'll eventually see dual-core Windows Phones with much larger screens and many more features advanced as well.
Q: Do you think Windows will have the kind of app choice that iOS or Android do? I have not heard much about what Microsoft is doing to bring in developers or how they will play the app market.
Windows Phone is really ramping up its app presence. In a few months' time, the population of the app Marketplace has shot from 18,000 to 40,000, and is growing. While they need to keep wooing developers to create interesting apps, there's also the danger of choking on too much unnecessary app sludge, an argument one could levy against iOS (500+K apps) and even Android (300K).
Battery life
With battery life being one of the biggest issues, does any one of the operating systems seem to handle that better than the others? If so, which and why?
How a phone's operating system handles resources is part of the equation, but not as key a factor in our opinion as the hardware and the capacity of the battery. If it seems that Android phones experience faster battery draining than the iPhone, that's likely because there's so much variance among different hardware specs and manufacturers. To be fair, the recently launched iPhone 4S has purportedly shorter battery life than several Android phones as well. There are also some Android phones with better battery life than others.
The real question is when we can stop wondering if our smartphones will last longer than a day before needing a recharge. Here's some good news we still have to wait to see: researchers are redesigning the lithium ion battery to charge faster and hold charges longer, up to three days. I, for one, am relieved to know that smart chemists are hard at work, and that a fix is coming.
Sadly, that wasn't an isolated experience. Several years ago, when Microsoft's mobile platform occupied a larger and consequently more visible (albeit still minuscule) market position, I had a similar encounter.
'Microsoft's making phones now?', was the query I received when I showed a teenager my Windows phone. With a fan's passion, I rose to the defense of Microsoft's mobile efforts, by (pointlessly) educating this whippersnapper on Microsoft's foray into the smartphone arena, long before the iPhone was even a thing. As I said, it was pointless. He had bitten Cupertino's fruit, and like most who partake, he was smitten.
The world of the Android acolyte isn't much different. Like a sailor drawn by a siren's song, consumers have flocked to Samsung's 'Next Big Thing,' and a galaxy of Android phones provided by a horde of other phone manufacturers.
Many Windows phone fans have had a 'What's-a-Windows-phone?' encounter.
With 98 percent of smartphone users hooked on Android or smitten by the iPhone, most are and have been blissfully unaware of Microsoft's mobile efforts throughout the years. Consequently, many Windows-phone fans can likely relate to these 'What's-a-Windows -phone?' encounters.
Considering the convoluted evolution of Microsoft's 'Windows on phone' vision, explaining Windows phone to someone who only knows iPhone or Android can be challenging. For the uninitiated, the term 'Windows phone' may conjure images of start menus, cascading program windows and blue screens of death on a five-inch screen.
Most consumers simply have no idea what 'Windows on phone' is, where it's been or where it's going.
A smartphone war vs. mobile war
Sadly, Microsoft has virtually no mindshare among smartphone consumers. What little they acquired through the marketing of smartphones such as the Lumia 900, the Lumia 1020, or the market deluge of low-end phones like the Lumia 520, they're quickly losing.
Microsoft is no longer making Lumias, and the marketing of its smartphones has long been nonexistent. Those ads of the past are but a distant footnote in the record of the 'Windows-on-phone' journey. So as Microsoft loses more Windows phone fans to the iPhone and Android, a negligible sum is being added to the less than one percent of us who remain. As the old saying goes, out of sight out of mind.
But Microsoft doesn't seem to mind. It seems content to bleed users and developers from its passionate and vocal fan base. The question is, why? The likely answer: collateral damage.
Though Microsoft has conceded the 'smartphone war' and has pulled its first-party devices off the battlefield, it has not conceded the 'mobile war.'
Microsoft lost the 'smartphone war.' Now it's waging a post-smartphone 'mobile war.'
From Microsoft's perspective, the smartphone and mobile wars are two different things. And Redmond is just getting started – again.Make no mistake, mobile computing with the full power of Windows on pocketable telephony-enabled devices has long been Microsoft's goal and strategy. Though various stages of that strategy's execution were not met with success, Microsoft's 'Windows-on-phone' journey persists and is closer to that goal than ever. The post-smartphone mobile war will be waged with such a device.
For those asking, 'What's a Windows phone?', I submit that it has been many things and borne many names, and its evolving journey isn't over. Let's go back to the beginning so that we can more clearly see where things have been, where they are now and where Microsoft is going from here.
Windows Mobile and Pocket PC beginnings
Microsoft's early forays into pocketable mobile computing go back to Pocket PC 2000 which was based on Windows CE and debuted in the 1990s. It was essentially Microsoft trying to put a scaled-down version of Windows in our pockets. It was a bit clunky and not especially intuitive, but powerful for its day.
The Pocket PC moniker continued with Pocket PC 2002 until Windows Mobile 2003 which was succeeded by Windows Mobile 2003 SE. Windows Mobile 5.0 followed, and like its predecessors, it brought elements of the Windows desktop to a pocketable device.
The Cingular 2125, which was powered by Windows Mobile 5.0, was my first Windows phone in 2006.
What might surprise the young man with whom I spoke who found Microsoft's involvement in the smartphone space odd, and my wife's coworker, is that in 2007, Windows Mobile had 42 percent of the smartphone market.
Of course, the smartphone space was business-focused and the realm of techies at the time. It was a world that coexisted with but was invisible to regular consumers. That's until Apple 'redefined' the space that same year with the touch-friendly, consumer-focused iPhone. Things went downhill for Microsoft from there.
Windows Mobile 6, 6.1 and 6.5 followed 5.0 and ended (for a time) the 'Windows Mobile' designation, and 'Windows Phone' became the moniker for Microsoft's 'rebirthed' mobile efforts in 2010.
Windows Phone, a platform reborn
Windows Phone was a touch-friendly reset of Microsoft's mobile OS and UI in response to the iPhone's and Android's dominance of the consumer smartphone space. The heavy PC-like, and stylus-dependent legacy was forsaken.
Moreover, Windows Phone 7 broke ranks with its OS predecessors as previous apps no longer worked with the new platform, many PC-like features such as access to the file system were lost, and the openness of the platform power users loved was replaced with an iPhone-like, you-get-what-we-give-you platform.
Many power users, lured by the openness of Android, gave up on Microsoft's 'Windows on phone' vision after Windows Phone's introduction revealed an abandonment of what many fans of Windows Mobile loved. I was almost one of them.
Windows Phone 7.5, with the 500 additional features Microsoft brought to the OS, and the HTC Titan eventually won me over to Microsoft's latest OS. I chose it over the Samsung Galaxy Note and was quite pleased with my choice.
Microsoft's pocket PC dreams and its path to a unified Windows platform across form factors, OneCore, led to another disruption to users and developers, however. Millions of users (including me) were left with Windows Phone 7.5 devices that could not transition to the latest and greatest 'Windows-on-phone' OS that was whetting our appetites: Windows Phone 8.
There was no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8.
I understood that minimum hardware requirements wouldn't allow an upgrade, so I wasn't too bothered. At least not until I found that my HTC Titan couldn't get the stop-gap upgrade, 'Windows Phone 7.8', that Microsoft released to pacify users. I was not pleased.
I eventually got the Windows Phone 8-powered Lumias 1020 and 1520. I was delighted again. That is until Microsoft's OneCore journey robbed my 1520 of some of my favorite features when I upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1. Though we got Cortana and a host of other goodies, many fans shared my pain as we lost some of Windows Phone's most endearing features. (I told you the 'Windows-on-phone' journey was convoluted.)
But these were sacrifices made in the name of progress, and OneCore was coming, so we marched on to Redmond's beat. Well, not completely .. my 1020 still runs Windows Phone 8.
Perfect 10, Windows on 'phone' within ARM's reach
Eventually, Windows 10 Mobile arrived for those of us who are part of the Insiders Program and those who bought the Lumias 950 and 950 XL. Having achieved OneCore, Windows 10 Mobile shares the same core as the Windows 10 desktops hundreds of millions of iPhone and Android phone consumers use today.
Iphone Vs Android Vs Windows Phone 8 1
Most smartphone consumers are unaware that their PC OS and Microsoft's mobile strategy are connected.
Most of these consumers have little to no knowledge of the universal platform binding their PCs with the 'Windows-on-phone' mobile strategy Microsoft has been working toward for years. Microsoft's early iteration of that vision, Pocket PC 2000, brought certain elements of desktop Windows to a pocketable mobile device, but the platforms were still separate.
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Today, the Universal Windows Platform's (UWP) shared core and Microsoft's recently announced full Windows on ARM bring Redmond within arm's reach of the full realization of the company's 'Windows-on-phone' vision.
Just as Microsoft's 'Windows-on-phone' journey has been invisible to many smartphone consumers to this point, the shift from a lost smartphone war to the waging of a post-smartphone mobile war, is invisible to many, as well. Given Microsoft's failures in the smartphone space, many Microsoft watchers doubt their future success in mobile.
The Continuum-powered ultra-mobile PC with telephony – the device beyond the smartphone – will not be measured by the old iteration-focused smartphone rules that governed the past ten years, however. Will it matter?
Microsoft's changing the game right under our noses
The iPhone-and-Android world is focused on yearly iterative improvements to hardware specs and minor software enhancements. What if their expectations were shifted away from such things as what type of glass the next iPhone's display will have toward something more comprehensive and encompassing?
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The mobility of a user's experience facilitated by an intelligent cloud and accessed through pocketable, context-conforming hardware and software, or a pocket PC that shares the same OS as a family of devices, that could be a full PC, a tablet and a smartphone, would likely draw their attention.
If Apple or Google announced such a device, iPhone and Android fans would probably proclaim that these companies changed the game. In the shadows of obscurity, invisible to the masses, it is Microsoft that is doing just that.
Through its UWP and Continuum, Redmond has created a platform for 3-in-1s like the HP Elite x3 that is a tablet, PC and smartphone, that runs mobile apps and through virtualization, Win32 apps. Based upon this foundation, Microsoft is poised to launch an ultimate mobile (Windows on phone) device.
So what is a Windows phone?
In truth, it is a concept in flux as Microsoft works toward the full Windows-on-phone goal. Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, and even Windows 10 Mobile on devices such as the Elite x3 are iterative steps toward the true 'Windows-on-phone' vision.
Windows phone is the evolving journey of Windows on phone.
In the spirit of the category-defining Surface, a Windows 'phone' will define a category and be more than just a phone, PC or tablet. It will be all these things. Ultimately a Windows phone will be a pocketable, context-conforming, telephony-enabled ultramobile PC running full Windows 10 on ARM.
Through the power of Continuum, users will be able to use it as a desktop PC.
It will run both UWP and Win32 apps. Furthermore, Microsoft's adaptive shells will ensure that though the OS will be full Windows 10, the user interface on the small screen will be touch and mobile-friendly.
Dear iPhone and Android phone users ..
iPhone and Android fans, Windows phone fans are so enamored with the Windows-on-phone vision because we know Microsoft's coming device will be much more than a phone. As Windows PC users you too may find the realization of Microsoft's vision equally appealing.
Later this year Microsoft's partners will introduce ARM-based, always-connected cellular PCs running full Windows 10 to the public. Consequently, Redmond will begin gaining mindshare for cellular-connected Windows 10 PCs among the iPhone and Android phone using public. These Windows 10 devices will have APIs for Windows Holographic, inking capabilities and more features common to the platform.
This strike in the mobile war, I believe – (along with much-needed ecosystem investments) – will be Microsoft's segue to the ultramobile Surface, or the realization of the 'Windows-on-phone' vision. Will Redmond incorporate inking, mixed-reality and other Microsoft innovations on this ultramobile Surface? We'll see.
I am confident that once Microsoft launches what fans call a Surface phone, I call an ultramobile PC, and CEO Satya Nadella calls an ultimate mobile device, Redmond will have crafted a name and message that conveys the positioning of this 'device that is beyond a smartphone.'
In the meantime, Windows-phone fans should take heart and pin this link as a Live Tile to their Start screens. (Yeah, you can do cool stuff like that on a Windows phone .. but not an iPhone).
And the next time someone asks you, 'What's a Windows phone?', you can tap that Live Tile and share the link as you say with a smile, 'I'm glad you asked.'
Following the story
Iphone Vs Android Vs Windows Phone Number
Windows phone isn't dead
Smartphones are dead
The untold app gap story
Windows Mobile and the enterprise
The Surface Phone