7 Solid Reasons why you should Choose Android over iOS

Smart phones are established in today’s society and the two biggest players in the mobile market are the Android operating system by Google and iOS by Apple. Android is now the world’s most popularly used smartphone and is used by many different phone manufacturers. And iOS is only used on Apple devices, such as the iPhone. Android is loved for its open source nature and the flexible features it offers to users.

Apple includes iOS only with the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, while Google allows Android on any number of different devices. Both operating systems have come a long way since their existence, but chasing on which of the two mobile operating systems is the best can prove to be difficult.

Android is more demanding as it has flexible features compared to iOS. It can run on any browser, be it Google Chrome (or Android Browser on older versions or other browsers). Where as iOS has mobile safari as the main browser with other browsers.

Android is blessed with Google Play having more than 1,000,000+ Apps. Other app stores are also available such as Amazon and Getjar also distribute Android apps. And comparitively Apple app store has 850,000+ Apps. The bottomline is that when comparing Google and Apple's app stores is that most popular apps are available for both platforms.

Android’s applications are isolated from the rest of the system’s resources, unless a user specifically grants an application access to other features. This makes the system less vulnerable to bugs, but developer confusion means that many apps ask for unnecessary permissions. The most widespread malware on Android is one where text messages are sent to premium rate numbers without the knowledge of the user and the sending of personal information to unauthorized third parties. As it is the more popular smartphone operating system, it is more likely to be the focus of attacks.

Malware writers are less likely to write apps for iOS, due to Apple's review of all the apps and verification of the identity of app publishers. However, if an iOS device is jailbroken and apps installed from outside Apple's store, it can be vulnerable to attacks and malware.

7 solid reasons to choose Android over iOS

• Android is user friendly and has easier file access than iOS. Also with Android one can choose a device that is specific to needs and within budget. It is open to third party apps and can be fully customized the way one wants. With Android one is open to a larger market of devices and applications. Easily download rom files to an Android and download emulators to play console games on phone. And the reason that many apps are iOS exclusive is because iOS is easier to code.

• The Android OS by Google is the most demanding platform for smartphones and tablets. It was introduced as a collaborative effort from the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a unit that comprises companies such as Samsung, LG, T-Mobile, Google, HTC, Sony, Dell, Motorola and many others. As the consumer has a wide variety of smartphones to choose from Android was designed for these companies. Compared to the iOS from Apple, Android devices are much cheaper handy devices available.

• However, the alerts system is the one area where Android is just flat out more useful and more usable than iPhone. Many business professionals and others who do a lot of stuff with their smartphones. Alerts provide timely updates of important information, quickly gives latest messages from various sources. The biggest advantage that Android alerts have over iOS alerts is immediate glance-ability and a lot of that has to do with the fundamental design of the platform. Thats why iOS appears unlikely to catch up in this area any time soon.

• Android being an open source operating system help developers to write their own code and develop their own Applications or games. Talking about other operating systems, iOS by Apple and Blackberry's OS are closed source which gives less power to the developers. This is a reason why software geeks love Android.

• Its High Level of customizability makes it all the more demanding with each UI it offers a unique experience, thus tempting users to opt for android instead of other operating systems such as iPhone or Blackberry where this is not available. Moreover, custom Launchers are also available in the App Store that gives more flexibility to Android by adding more home screens, more widgets or more effects. Developers love creating applications for Android more than for any other OS. On an average, it takes more than 2 weeks for applications to get approved by Apple. In some cases, it might be even take a month or more. For example, it took Apple a full one year to approve Google Voice app by Google.

• Android offers an easier development experience. It's like building web page with JavaScript, SQL and HTML. The platform has very rapid development languages. In iOS, most of the development is done in Objective-C, a loosely and dynamically typed language. Therefore, programmers can do amazing things and come up with never-thought of applications more easily. Moreover, iOS has a more mature API, which provides better documentation and tools. iOS runs native code whereas, Android runs on a virtual machine. This is the reason why Android devices with faster CPUs feel slower than iOS devices.

• Android is a versatile OS and developers can create wonderful applications meant for multiple purposes. But, the multitasking nature of Android might be a problem for beginners because it takes lot of time to understand and master the app development in the open source platform. Moreover, Android is a highly fragmented OS, which makes it even more challenging for developers. Apple on the other hand, is a stable platform with specific tools. This helps developers in understanding the flexibility and limitations of the development process. And when developer has fixed guidelines, it gets easier to process with the task.

Selecting of a platform usually depends on the target consumers, resource used for app development and the type of application one wants to build. One has to carefully research and understand the unique features of each mobile platform before coming to a conclusion. There is no doubt that Android emerges out as a clear winner and soon it will overtake Apple iOS and rule the future mobile market of the world with its flexibility and diverse features. You can get in touch with a custom android development company who can help you build Android apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide Android application development services. If you would like to speak to one of our folks before you hire android app developer, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.