iPhone vs. Android - iTunes, Apps, and Lost Videos

I've been reading this blog with interest, and as I'm quite familiar with both platforms, wanted to weigh in.  Prior to getting into details, let me tell you a little about my background and how I use my phone.  Essentially, my life is ON my phone.  I drive approximately 2000 miles/month for work, and most of the computers at my work destinations are too firewalled, spywared, or locked down for HIPAA purposes to be useful.  Thus, my daily computing needs are usually met by my phone and my iPad.  I've been on Verizon's 4G LTE network since the day it launched in the Los Angeles area - initially via an HTC Thunderbolt running Android 2.2, then upgrading to 2.3 and a variety of different ROMs after I rooted the phone.  I recently switched to the Samsung Galaxy S3.  I've owned every generation of iPad so I'm quite familiar with the different variations of iOS.  At home, I use an iMac and a MacBook Air, but keep a Windows 7 laptop around for those occasions where I have to run Windows quickly.  I am an Apple stockholder, but have never owned shares of GOOG.  I used to be quite the technophile, having built almost every single one of my PCs, and I frequently overclocked, water-cooled, etc my computers to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of them.  Recently, however, my work schedule has forced me to limit my tech needs to things that "just work," so you'd think I'd be inherently biased to use an iPhone.  However, Android has met my needs, and I'm here to explain why.  I'm going to compare a stock iPhone running iOS 6 to a Galaxy GS3 running stock Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz.  I realize both phones can and will be modified significantly by jailbreaking/rooting, etc.

I. The Walled Garden

iPhone users don't seem to mind playing in a walled garden, as long as it's a pretty walled garden.  All apps that can be run on an iPhone need to go through iTunes and Apple's approval process.  Meanwhile, Android offers the Play Store, but also allows you to "sideload" applications from other sources. Why is this important, and why do I find Apple's policy restrictive?  Here's an example.  I subscribe to a financial network specializing in options trading called tastytrade.  On their website, tastytrade offers a variety of videos, tutorials, shows, etc. that they are trying to bring to mobile platforms.  As I mentioned, I don't have the luxury of sitting in front of a desktop to watch their media, so a mobile platform is an absolute necessity for me.  Their apps are currently in beta - thus, because they're not yet full-featured or fully stable, they can't get approved by Apple.  However, *something* is better than nothing, and they have launched their Android beta app on their website, and this can easily be installed by clicking a link on the page.  Yes, the app crashes occasionally, and no, not all of their media is available yet, but it's certainly better to have the option to try the app than have my phone manufacturer tell me I can't.  Speaking of the walled garden, iPhone users seem to feel that the interface Apple has chosen for them to have on their phone is automatically the best possible option.  The built-in Apple keyboards and auto-correct system are all you can have on your iPhone.  Don't like the way your dialer screen looks or works?  Sorry, can't change that either.  Android offers a plethora of keyboards, dialers, launchers that can be downloaded for FREE, allowing you to customize your input experience.  Some Androiders love Swype, which I personally despise.  Fortunately, I'm not forced to use it.  However, the keyboard I currently use (Swiftkey) learns my personal syntax and commonly used abbreviations by analyzing my outgoing texts, Facebook posts, and tweets.  Android also allows the user the ultimate decision on which browser to use to open links - I currently use mobile Chrome, but there have been times where I've changed the default to mobile Firefox or the standard Samsung browser.  With iOS, you get Safari.  And that's it.

II. The iTunes Ecosystem

In an earlier contribution to this blog, I noticed Nate mentioning his loyalty to Apple because of his iTunes/Mac/AppleTV setup.  I have a similar setup.  All of my music is stored on my iMac, I have an AppleTV, and I have an Apple Airport Express hooked up to my home stereo in the family room for iTunes/Airplay streaming.  So where does Android figure into this setup?  Just like an iPhone user can control his library and remote streaming using Apple's excellent Remote app, Android users also have the excellent Remote for iTunes app.  Want to sync your Android phone library with iTunes?  DoubleTwist is what I use, and I believe using it's AirSync add on, I've been able to sync my music library over WiFi longer than iPhone users have been able to.  I happen to also be an audiophile, preferring to buy CDs instead of compressed downloads, subsequently ripping them in lossless formats.  Good thing that this review from the perspective of an audiophile recommended the Galaxy S3 over the iPhone 5 as the phone of choice for those of us who care about how our music sounds and want the best overall device to go with it.  Of course, I do occasionally buy music on my phone from the Play Store and the Amazon MP3 store (which had DRM-free, higher-resolution files than iTunes for quite some time) and all of these shopping experiences work fine on my phone.  Finally, last I checked, Apple doesn't yet make a HDTV.  Good luck streaming video to a TV without an AppleTV hooked up in between.  However, the Samsung GS3 has a built-in DLNA server and direct streaming to recent Samsung TVs, so I can throw videos of my baby up on my parents' big screen with minimal fuss.

III. Hardware/Imaging

There's no doubt that each iteration of the iPhone has been an incredibly sexy piece of hardware.  Apple's materials, workmanship, and attention to quality are second to none in the industry.  There's no doubt that prior generations of the iPhone had far superior cameras to their competitors.  This gap has essentially closed with the Galaxy S3.  While the iPhone 5's camera is supposedly superior in low light conditions, Samsung's imager is reportedly more accurate in color rendition.  Apple has FaceTime, while Android offers video chat via Google Talk, Google+ Hangouts, and third-party apps like Skype. Video via Google Talk "just works," and has always worked via cellular networks (as opposed to FaceTime, which just gained the ability to video chat via cellular on all networks except AT&T).

While Apple's hardware is excellent, your only choices if you want an iOS device are in the areas of color and memory.  Android offers a vast variety of manufacturers, so you can get Android skinned or native, with a hardware keyboard or purely touchscreen, amongst other choices.  For example, if you need a phone with a highly reliable voice signal, nobody can compete with Motorola, and they offer a variety of Android handsets.

IV.  "It Just Works."

In a word, bullshit.  Tell it to my wife, who recently lost all her iPhone's videos during the software update process to iOS 6.  No worries, since she backs up to iCloud, right?  While iCloud Backup was enabled, it apparently only backs up if there's enough free space to do a FULL backup each night.  For example, her first backup was 4.2GB, which fit within iCloud's 5GB limit.  Let's say she added 200MB worth of new videos.  Does iCloud just back up the new data incrementally, as the total volume still fits within the 5GB?  Nope.  It seems that iCloud will only back up if you have enough free space for the ENTIRE volume to be backed up a second time.  That is senseless.  Ultimately, we should have verified that a recent backup had been performed, but any piece of mind you have from backing up to iCloud should be held in very limited faith.  Do a search on issues and problems related to iOS 6 upgrades and you'll find tons.  A work friend of mine saw the dreaded "plug in to iTunes" icon after upgrading (an upgrade that is widely advertised to not require a computer).  Of course, iOS 6 requires the latest version of iTunes, which requires a recent version of OS X, which this particular friend hadn't installed on his 2008 Mac.  Rather than deal with this, he bought a Galaxy S3.  Also, for those of you in the "it just works" camp, don't forget that Apple Maps has excellent comedic value.

V. Widgets and Miscellaneous

I'm going to wrap this up with a feature that I can't believe is still missing from iOS.  Why can't I have a simple widget on my home screen that I tap to automatically dial my office or any other number, without having to open up the phone app?  Why can't I have a scrolling customizable stock watch list on one of my home screens that automatically updates, when the Android Play Store offers me no less than 5 such widgets?  Why can't I have a screen dedicated to my agenda and to-do list, without having to open the calendar app?  Why can't Apple offer built-in functionality to keep the phone backlight on if the front-facing camera detects you are looking at the screen, like Samsung does?  Or NFC?  I'm sure Apple will introduce these features in future versions of iOS and the iPhone, and tout them as revolutionary features while campers line up in front of their favorite Apple store to join the last generation.

Hope that lends some food for thought for anyone reading this who may be on the fence about which ecosystem to join.