A self-avowed Apple hater, I would never have thought I would be writing this post. Just this past week I gave up on Android, and went to iOS. I had owned a 1st generation iPod Touch in college, but ever since I have not used Apple technology (other than the iPod). For the past year I have carried the Android based Galaxy Tablet, and have truly enjoyed it as a close companion, but having made the switch back I wanted to point out a few differences between the two platforms, and a few reasons why iOS is such a great software.
- Keyboard– Say what you want, but this is my favorite thing about the iPhone. Whe you think about it, your digital keyboard is the most used input device on your phone/tablet. This means that the keyboard has to be stellar, because you will use it more than anything else (unless Siri takes over the world). I remember Steve Jobs bragging about the keyboard on the iPhone back in his 2007 unveiling speech. Every word he said was true. Having used an iPod Touch, then Android devices, then back to iOS I can confirm that Apple makes the best darn keyboard in the business. It truly is a dream to type on.
- Consistency– Although I do believe that Apple is anal about what gets on their devices and what doesn’t there’s no denying the consistency of user experience across the many apps available. With Apple, if you have used one app, you can figure out the rest of the 200,000+. Android apps each had their own unique feel, personality, and idiosyncrasies. Apple apps feel like one giant loving family.
- Flash-I originally bought the Android tablet because of its Flash capabilities. But, now with HTML 5, and newer language development, Flash will not be as crucial an element in web browsing. Boy, how I loved the times when I could view Flash intense pages while my buddies with iPads could not!
These are just a few reasons why I am falling in love with iOS again. I haven’t even mentioned the sheer volume of apps, the quality of the Retina display, or the the trinity of iMessage/Facetime/Twitter integration. The bottom line is that everyone wants to develop for Apple right now, and it is showing in the quality of their products.
Jon Homesley
Jon grew up around Charlotte, NC. He graduated from The College at Southeastern in 2010 with a BA doubling majoring in The History of Ideas and Biblical Studies. In 2008 he married his wife Chelsea. They currently live just north of Charlotte where Jon serves as the College Pastor, and Youth Ministry Geek (not his real title) at Christ Community Church. He prefers Windows 7 to OSX, Android to iOS, and Walkmans to iPods.
Jon’s church- www.ccchuntersville.com
Jon’s personal site- www.jonhomesley.com
Nice article. I’m actually sticking with webOS/Palm, even though it is probably going to slowly die off. My wife has a iPad, which is a great device. However, for me, I just can’t make the switch. webOS just works the way a mobile OS should work. Now that it has native Office editing and remote desktop, my TouchPad offers everything I need in a tablet – plus it was only $99!. Yep, there’s millions of cool apps on iOS, but as I’ve seen my wife use her iPad, she spends 95% of her time using 4 or 5 of the core apps.
I will disagree about Flash. Flash is popular because it is fast, easy to develop for, and mainstream. Eventually HTML5 may catch up. But in today’s real world, flash is king. I live in today! And my wife uses MY TouchPad to watch Fringe…and my kids use my TouchPad to play flash-based educational games.