I posted something on Twitter a few days ago that, while some may think it hypocritical coming from someone who has had their fair share of fanboy moments, is actually the truth.
It stems from this whole iPhone vs. Android thing that has been going on in our office ever since I got my Android phone a few months ago, and which, I have to confess was at least in part of my own making (although even if I'd said nothing I don't doubt there would have been some people who would still have kicked up a fuss).
But it goes beyond phones and highlights something that has been bugging me for a while now. It's this whole thing of slagging off, either directly or indirectly, people, products, companies, ideas, etc. that don't tally up with your own particular views, preferences or lifestyle choices.
It's nothing new, and it can be found across every part of society, but it seems to have been implicitly sanctioned among techie circles as if its somehow ok to be derogatory if you're talking about technology. Just look at the vehemence with which people will not only defend their particular brand of phone or computer or games console, but also belittle and ridicule the competition as if it was so completely ridiculous that anyone could possibly have a different opinion or make a different choice. And of course, what is implied is that the people who have made those different choices and hold those different opinions are therefore somehow a bit retarded or stupid or deluded or whatever!
Competition is good and healthy and necessary, don't get me wrong, that's not what I'm arguing against. Nor am I suggesting that people shouldn't hold opinions or defend their choices. But what I am saying is that when that spills over into arrogance, pride, or antagonism, it turns sour and has a detrimental effect all round.
Not only is it unpleasant, I think it is actually damaging for the whole industry if these sorts of things take a hold. Far better that people learn to see the good and appreciate the best across the board. My choices are my choices. My opinions are my opinions. Other people are not only entitled to their choices and opinions, they are also just as right about them as I am about mine. That's because most of what lies behind those choices and opinions is purely subjective - what I prefer, rather than what is objectively better. People can - and do - argue at great length over whether this or that technology is better than another, but often the reality is not that one is better, it's simply that they are different. 'Better' depends on your frame of reference.
Anyway, what I am trying to say, in a very roundabout and garbled way, is: lets all just learn to get along. Let's look for the positives rather than the negatives. Let's realise that everyone has got something worthwhile to bring to the table. No-one has it all, no-one is the winner. All common-sense stuff really once you step away from the heat of it all and look at things objectively.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The great iPhone vs Android debate
I've been feeling the need to write this blog entry for some time. I don't blog about much these days - Twitter is so much easier; but trying to say what I want to say in 140 characters is not quite possible.
Let me be clear - I don't hate Apple and I don't think iPhones are rubbish. Yes, there are things I dislike about Apple's way of doing things, but equally they do a lot of things very, very well - the iPhone is a good example of this.
However, since getting my Android phone I have encountered an awful lot of myths about Android, both implicit and explicit, among iPhone users, and I feel compelled to try and dispel/counter them as best I can.
I guess the fact that I am the only person amongst my work colleagues with an Android phone while the vast majority have iPhones, iPods and Macs of various descriptions means there is an inevitable bias towards Apple products, along with the fact that I've always been the sort of person to side with the underdog rather than jump on the bandwagon, tends to get me more worked up than I might otherwise be in a different environment, but nevertheless, I want to try and keep a level head and be reasonable and balanced in what I say.
There are a number of perceptions of Android (the operating system itself and Android phones more generally) that crop up repeatedly:
Android is geeky
Of course, there's nothing wrong with being geeky. But quite where this idea comes from I'm not sure. Well, I have an idea. It's partly the name 'Android' which obviously has a rather techy, geeky, Trekky kind of sound to it - clearly that means nothing, but it may have contributed to the perception to some extent. Partly its the fact that Android is open source and therefore has quite a techy community around it, coupled with the fact that early versions of the OS were still fairly 'beta' compared to the iPhone which came onto the market as a fully finished, packaged product. The situation today is quite different. Yes, Android is still open source, and there is still a large techy community around it, but the OS is no longer anything like beta and can hold its own against the iPhone OS any day, if not surpassing it in some areas. Also, the early adopters of Android did tend to be the geekier types - simply because of the open source, beta thing. But that doesn't mean it's geared towards geeks, or that it is better suited to geeks. Yes, geeky types may well find Android more appealing because of the fact they can play around with the code etc in a way they can't with the iPhone, but that isn't a reflection on the OS as a whole.
iPhones just work
The implication of course is that Android phones require more time and effort to set up, configure and generally use. I can say quite categorically that my HTC Desire couldn't have been simper to set up, configure and start using. I took it out the box, pressed the power button, it asked me to enter my Google, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr usernames and passwords, and that was that, done, ready to go. There was literally nothing else to do.
Now obviously there are plenty of options and settings if you really want to get stuck in and customise the phone. Although to be honest, even as someone who quite enjoys that sort of thing, I've not found the need to as everything works so well already. But I like the fact that the options are there should I decide I want to change something - they're there but don't get in the way, which is key. I sometimes hear the argument that giving people too many options is a bad thing. It's only bad if you force them on the user and confuse them. With Android, the options are there, but if you're not into that sort of thing you can completely ignore them and get on with your life - in fact you don't even need to know they're there.
There are more apps for the iPhone
True, but there are also over 50,000 apps for Android. There are plenty of pointless apps for iPhone just as there are for Android. Most worthwhile apps are available for both, and in fact Android has some notable apps that are not and probably never will be available for iPhone (Google Nav for example).
More apps doesn't therefore necessarily equate to better, and anyway, as Android grows in market share the number of apps is increasing exponentially.
More people use iPhones than Android
The gap is closing fast, actually. But regardless, this in itself means very little. Android was launched later than iPhone, and has taken some time to get to the point where it is mature enough for operators and phone manufacturers to embrace it. Things are changing apace now though, with new Android phones being announced almost weekly. There are also moves to use the Android OS in other applications like cars and household appliances.
No-one cares about 'openness'
One of the things touted by some Android users over iPhone is the fact that its an 'open' system - open source, not controlled tightly by Google in the way iPhone is by Apple. Anyone can develop apps for Android without having to get them approved. This IS a good thing in many ways (although there are obviously advantages with the iPhone approach as well). It's true that on the face of it, the Jo Public doesn't care whether the OS is open source or not, so its not an argument one way or the other really.
Multitasking is bad
iPhone 4 will have multitasking so this is a bit of an old one now. However, there are still myths about this - Steve Jobs even misquoted Larry Page recently saying that some apps can cause battery drain because they don't work well with multitasking. This has been taken by many pro-Apple bloggers to be an admission that multitasking in Android is somehow not up to par, but in fact it was simply an acknowledgement that there are some sub-par apps out there that haven't been built to play nicely with the multitasking environment. That's certainly no indictment of multitasking, but only of those apps.
The reality is that multitasking in Android works absolutely fine. It isn't complicated or geeky in any way shape or form - just as its not on a desktop computer.
I've not covered all the arguments here by any means and this isn't meant to be exhaustive or a proper side by side comparison or anything like that - just addressing some of the common arguments against Android. Doubtless this will generate a veritable storm of comments on Twitter!
One last thing... does it matter? No! There are far more important things to worry about in life.
Let me be clear - I don't hate Apple and I don't think iPhones are rubbish. Yes, there are things I dislike about Apple's way of doing things, but equally they do a lot of things very, very well - the iPhone is a good example of this.
However, since getting my Android phone I have encountered an awful lot of myths about Android, both implicit and explicit, among iPhone users, and I feel compelled to try and dispel/counter them as best I can.
I guess the fact that I am the only person amongst my work colleagues with an Android phone while the vast majority have iPhones, iPods and Macs of various descriptions means there is an inevitable bias towards Apple products, along with the fact that I've always been the sort of person to side with the underdog rather than jump on the bandwagon, tends to get me more worked up than I might otherwise be in a different environment, but nevertheless, I want to try and keep a level head and be reasonable and balanced in what I say.
There are a number of perceptions of Android (the operating system itself and Android phones more generally) that crop up repeatedly:
Android is geeky
Of course, there's nothing wrong with being geeky. But quite where this idea comes from I'm not sure. Well, I have an idea. It's partly the name 'Android' which obviously has a rather techy, geeky, Trekky kind of sound to it - clearly that means nothing, but it may have contributed to the perception to some extent. Partly its the fact that Android is open source and therefore has quite a techy community around it, coupled with the fact that early versions of the OS were still fairly 'beta' compared to the iPhone which came onto the market as a fully finished, packaged product. The situation today is quite different. Yes, Android is still open source, and there is still a large techy community around it, but the OS is no longer anything like beta and can hold its own against the iPhone OS any day, if not surpassing it in some areas. Also, the early adopters of Android did tend to be the geekier types - simply because of the open source, beta thing. But that doesn't mean it's geared towards geeks, or that it is better suited to geeks. Yes, geeky types may well find Android more appealing because of the fact they can play around with the code etc in a way they can't with the iPhone, but that isn't a reflection on the OS as a whole.
iPhones just work
The implication of course is that Android phones require more time and effort to set up, configure and generally use. I can say quite categorically that my HTC Desire couldn't have been simper to set up, configure and start using. I took it out the box, pressed the power button, it asked me to enter my Google, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr usernames and passwords, and that was that, done, ready to go. There was literally nothing else to do.
Now obviously there are plenty of options and settings if you really want to get stuck in and customise the phone. Although to be honest, even as someone who quite enjoys that sort of thing, I've not found the need to as everything works so well already. But I like the fact that the options are there should I decide I want to change something - they're there but don't get in the way, which is key. I sometimes hear the argument that giving people too many options is a bad thing. It's only bad if you force them on the user and confuse them. With Android, the options are there, but if you're not into that sort of thing you can completely ignore them and get on with your life - in fact you don't even need to know they're there.
There are more apps for the iPhone
True, but there are also over 50,000 apps for Android. There are plenty of pointless apps for iPhone just as there are for Android. Most worthwhile apps are available for both, and in fact Android has some notable apps that are not and probably never will be available for iPhone (Google Nav for example).
More apps doesn't therefore necessarily equate to better, and anyway, as Android grows in market share the number of apps is increasing exponentially.
More people use iPhones than Android
The gap is closing fast, actually. But regardless, this in itself means very little. Android was launched later than iPhone, and has taken some time to get to the point where it is mature enough for operators and phone manufacturers to embrace it. Things are changing apace now though, with new Android phones being announced almost weekly. There are also moves to use the Android OS in other applications like cars and household appliances.
No-one cares about 'openness'
One of the things touted by some Android users over iPhone is the fact that its an 'open' system - open source, not controlled tightly by Google in the way iPhone is by Apple. Anyone can develop apps for Android without having to get them approved. This IS a good thing in many ways (although there are obviously advantages with the iPhone approach as well). It's true that on the face of it, the Jo Public doesn't care whether the OS is open source or not, so its not an argument one way or the other really.
Multitasking is bad
iPhone 4 will have multitasking so this is a bit of an old one now. However, there are still myths about this - Steve Jobs even misquoted Larry Page recently saying that some apps can cause battery drain because they don't work well with multitasking. This has been taken by many pro-Apple bloggers to be an admission that multitasking in Android is somehow not up to par, but in fact it was simply an acknowledgement that there are some sub-par apps out there that haven't been built to play nicely with the multitasking environment. That's certainly no indictment of multitasking, but only of those apps.
The reality is that multitasking in Android works absolutely fine. It isn't complicated or geeky in any way shape or form - just as its not on a desktop computer.
I've not covered all the arguments here by any means and this isn't meant to be exhaustive or a proper side by side comparison or anything like that - just addressing some of the common arguments against Android. Doubtless this will generate a veritable storm of comments on Twitter!
One last thing... does it matter? No! There are far more important things to worry about in life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)