I bought my first smart phone this past September, the Samsung Mesmerize. My new phone was running Android 2.2 Froyo. I'm not going to lie, in my opinion it was a horrible OS. Then I rooted my phone and updated to Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, there was such an improvement that it made me into a long lasting Android fan. My only problem with it was it wasn't very smooth, it seemed choppy at best and it shut down at its worst even after updating to the official gingerbread threw U.S. Cellular. So I just learned to deal with and it worked "ok". Then Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich came out and I have to say I love ICS This OS provides such a smooth and clean feel. ICS rivals iOS, with muti-tasking it makes the phone a delight to use!
I would give this OS a 8.6/10, there is still room to grow but over all i feel like this is the best mobile operating system available.
[My first review ever, sorry if it stinks!]
EDIT: Pictures
Last edited by Zak Zillion on Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein
I have still not seen ICS, or really...any versions besides Froyo, which I played around with on someone else's phone (which I totally agree was weak), and 3.0 - 3.3 on my newish Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet, which has completely been blowing me away. I am a total Android convert, and would much prefer it to an iPad now. Just being liberated from iTunes is more than worth it, plus all of the freedom in the OS makes it feel more like a PC than a mobile OS. My full review on the tablet is in the Non-development related.
To learn that you all like Android now.. Pfff Haha. No, i understand, Android is a very strong OS. Starting from 2.0 really ( dont forget, that one got released at the same as iOS version 3 or iPhone 3g that is. All updates after that are quite similiar to how iOS got developed further. And yeah they were quite slow those days compared to how fast the newest smartphones are. ICS is a huge improvement on previous installments so it`s only natural is should feel even better then previous versions, same goes with all new iOS updates and versions.
Both Android and iOS are very good OS`s for mobile devices, be it a smartphone or a tablet. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab but it was a close call, i was going to wait for the iPad 2 ( it was sold out ) but i didn`t want to wait any longer so i went with the Tab. Either tablet would`ve worked. But I cant regret that i got a Tab, it rocks. Like Jack says, Android is a very strong OS.
One more thing, what`s wrong with iTunes? iTunes is nothing but a portal to buy music and mix some shizzle or buying e-audio. It works like a charm. Unless you meant the iPod ( the media player on iOS ) however that one works as well. True, you cant search your directories in a direct way, but that`s impossible on any iOS device, and frankly doesn`t matter, nothing to find there. One of the reasons to buy an iOS device ( ipad or iphone) is because it just works, you don`t need to search directories, run command line or what have you, it`s actually one of the selling points.. I mean, iOS works, like Android, they just work. Nothing wrong with that right?
iTunes was nothing but trouble for me. "What do you mean you suddenly can't recognize my device? What does 'set up as a new device mean'?" After I got through that it just started crashing every time I plugged in my USB cable. The real problem with iTunes is that it is not an isolated incident to have trouble with it. There are literally thousands of posts and questions peppered all over the internet from people desperately trying to get it to work again. And without it, you are stuck with crappy and dangerous alternatives that either try to mimic its syncing ability (poorly), or give you the dangerous option of digging through the guts and putting the files on yourself (spoiler alert: it won't recognize almost anything you put on it this way). I hate, absolutely HATE iTunes to death. It ended up with me giving my iOS device to my wife in frustration, who then wiped it clean, and after a few of her own problems, finally got it working (she wanted it for the games, of which iOS has the superior selection). Compared to these problems, I feel like a big weight has been lifted off of my shoulders by being able to just plug my Android device into my PC and add, arrange and remove files like a flash drive. And it still is even able to have decent DRM for developers and music artists. Why couldn't iOS be like this? I can make my own back-ups anytime and in any way I want to! It feels like there is nothing iTunes can do that I can't do by just plugging in my device, with no software at all.
Although I will agree that iOS, when it is working well (iTunes included), is a great OS. It still has not only the better app and game selection, but the better store app as well. One of my few complaints is that the Android Market keeps showing the same apps over and over. It can almost feel like pulling teeth to find apps that aren't in the top 50.
Disclaimer: And again, I have a tablet, not an Android phone. Asus built up a pretty impressive platform on top of Gingerbread, as well. My only experience with an Android phone was Froyo, and it was pretty bad (lightyears behind iOS at the time). I have no experience with a Ice Cream Sandwich phone.
Ahh i hear you now! I thought you were discussing iTunes on the iOS itself, which works great. The iTunes on the PC doesn`t work that well and yes there were a lot of problems trying to sync it in the early days and probably still are. But I never ran in to those problems, probably because I have a Mac, if that`s even a valid reason. But honestly, i use iTunes all day long on my Mac, it`s still a superior music player, it has enormous ammounts of features worked in and it works properly. I have yet to find an alternative on Windows!
I mean, i`m anti Apple but you cant deny the products they`ve made over the years, I mean, it`s quality. Sure, it`s expensive but it works. My iPhone can easily be synced to my mac to get some new playlists in or get some more podcasts downloaded. My Mac`s iTunes has the App store ( same on iOS ) built in, I can update everything for my iPhone on my mac, sync them and have a fully updated iPhone 10 minutes later.
I know I hated iTunes too in the beginning, it was cumbersome to get stuff done, I didn`t know where to start, but after a few tries, I started getting the hang of it. And yes, if you`re not willing to invest some time in it, it will be allways be a pain in the ass, hooking up your device, update it et cetera, that`s why iOS5 now runs as stand-alone. Any new iOS device can be fully updated and synced trough the device itself, which is pretty cool and iCloud offers to cool tools to auto sync photo`s, movies, contacts etcetera online, so any photo i make on my iPhone will automatically be added to my library on the Mac, stuff like that.
Anyway, let`s just agree that every OS has their respective problems, Apple has iTunes, Android has latency issues, i mean, its comparing apples against oranges. I just love both OS` Both work pretty darn good so let`s keep it at that.
I can definitely agree that both OS' have their ups and downs.
Honestly, some of the most impressive things about my tablet Google had nothing to do with. The odd, "Franken-Android" system where manufacturers create their own layer on top of the OS adds a lot of variety to each device (which, as a side note, can really punish people who buy devices on a whim without doing their research, and can reward those who do). Asus added some incredible aspects to this tablet, such as built-in VPN functionality to pair with their remote desktop app. So I can be out on the town and view and use my desktop as if I was there from anywhere I have an internet connection. I can even move things back and forth, and sync from anywhere. Google would do well to try to get at least a watered-down version of this in the OS, because it is amazing!
EDIT: And yeah, I have no doubt that iPhone works great when paired with a Mac. Apple has not been so subtle about trying to use iOS to push Macs. But giving crappy applications to 85% of the world's computers just doesn't make sense!
Haha true! They sure have some smart people at Apple as well! Can`t be a coincidence hehe. But I didn`t even know ASUS had built-in VPN, that`s awesome man. My Galaxy Tab doesn`t have it built in, although there`s probably an app in the Market that could "mimic" as a real VPN.. However, probably not as good as built-in support. My Mac has Remote Desktop which was actually written by Microsoft to offer VPN to the Mac, so i`ll bet my ass that any VPN client on the Market is something like that, minus the "desktop" part ( our company ran Microsoft server 05 i believe ) but that was the only VPN client I needed.
Anyway, in a way, im also happy my Galaxy Tab doesn`t have VPN, that way I cant be bothered to do work-related things on it, simply because i cant. When i`m on my desktop or mac i automatically update, commit and branch even when im at home. When on the Tab, that`s not an issue
LOL very true! Advances in technology can have the terrible side-effect of chaining you to your job 24/7. Can you imagine working in the 1800's or earlier? When you went home, not only could they not call you, but they could probably never even find your house to tell you something was wrong lol.
Hahaha yeah totally And you know what? THese old people who like to say: "back in the old days.. <story>" have such a valid point.. I kinda wish some aspects would`ve remained haha. Email after 18:00 is a bane..
Then I rooted my phone and updated to Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, there was such an improvement that it made me into a long lasting Android fan. My only problem with it was it wasn't very smooth, it seemed choppy at best and it shut down at its worst even after updating to the official gingerbread threw U.S. Cellular. So I just learned to deal with and it worked "ok". Then Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich came out and I have to say I love ICS 
This OS provides such a smooth and clean feel. ICS rivals iOS, with muti-tasking it makes the phone a delight to use! 
