I’m writing a book on supporting special needs teens and adult independent living with a smartphone. I’m covering both iOS and Android in the one book (if Microsoft pays me I’d do them too :-), so I had to write a chapter comparing them. Except that’s not what I had to write, when I started I realized that I wasn’t comparing iOS to Android as much as I was comparing the Google Way (Android, iOS) to the Apple Way (iPhone).
I’ve done a very rough draft below, I’d love to get comments here or email to jfaughnan@gmail.com (or jgordon@kateva.org if you prefer). By way of context we’re an iPhone/Mac family who do most things the Google Way, and while I do appreciate my iPhone 6 (screen pop!) I’ve been quite impressed by an ultra-cheap Lenovo moto-e phone I bought for this project. I think Apple used to do great software, but they lost that knack around around 2006, when Steve Jobs killed iMovie 6/iMovie HD. So it’s a fair fight now.
Life would be simpler if either the Apple Way or the Google Way were clearly better. Unfortunately, life isn’t like that. So there’s no simple answer to the question “What phone should my Explorer use?”.
In general Guide and Explorer should use the same smartphone. Very few people will want to know learn the ins and outs of two devices. So if you and your Explorer favor the same solution you can skip the rest of this discussion.
School experience doesn’t help much. Most schools, even those that favor iPads over Chromebooks, use gCloud services. This tends to favor Android phones, where gCloud is the only option. On the other hand, as we noted earlier, iPhones can be used with Google’s solutions — it’s just a bit more complicated.
There’s a cost advantage to Android phones, but it’s not as big an advantage as it first looks. If you disregard the deceptive cell phone contract “costs” and look at the real cost of an unlocked phone, you can buy a remarkably powerful Android phone for as little as $100. The least expensive iPhone currently costs about $450. That’s a big difference, but even a good mobile phone plan will cost $40 a month (more below on saving money there). Over two years the Android device will cost $1,920, the iPhone will cost $2,270 or 15% more. At the end of that time the iPhone probably has 2 more years of useful life, but the Android phone will be obsolete. Of course if your Explorer tends to lose or break phones, that $100 phone is awfully appealing.
The iPhone has other advantages that justify some of that price premium. Apple Stores provide excellent technical report and service. iPhones get regular and reliable software updates and are much less vulnerable (so far) to malicious software attacks (malware). If you stick entirely with iCloud iPhones are significantly simpler to use than Android phones.
Apple’s software is typically easier to use and learn than Google’s software. It’s also easier to restrict and control an iPhone. Those are real advantages for our users.
In theory, for a vulnerable population, the iPhone with iCloud (not gCloud) has other advantages. Google makes its money from advertising and selling information about its software users, Apple makes money from selling goods and services. In practice I’m not sure how much different this makes … so far.
There’s one last consideration. If you choose an Android device and gCloud it’s not hard to switch to an iPhone. Google wants your advertising attention regardless of what device you use; you can bring gCloud with you. If you choose an iPhone and iCloud though, a move to Android will be more painful.
The good news is that whatever choice you make, you can easily defend it! Both Android and iPhone will work. Just try to avoid supporting both and Android and an iPhone. That’s too much work.
3 comments:
Let me first say that I have both platforms but I'm primarily part of the Google ecosystem. I have just some general feedback (and I mean all of this in the nicest way possible ... we all know that type can do wonders for tone).
Paragraph four -- the numbers don't add up to me. Where are the 1920 and the 2270 numbers coming from? It's not (40*24) + 100 and (40*24) + 450 respectively (implied). That needs to get clarified in the formula that you are using ... which I am guessing might be (75.83 * 24) + 100 (or 450).
Again, paragraph four, your claim that an Android phone will be obsolete in 2 years is false. I purchased an iPod in Spring of 2012 and it technically went out of date just 18 months later (could not upgrade to iOS 7). My Droid Mini on the other hand technically went out of date 15 months after purchasing it (could not upgrade to Lollipop). If you look at specs instead of OS, my Droid still kicks the pants off my iPod. If I use Safari (iOS), there is a very good chance that the app will crash (thank you advertisements). Ditto if I try to go somewhere within the FB app (if the app even loads). I've NEVER had my browsers (Chrome or FF) crash out on my Droid. As for age, my iPod will be 4 in the spring and my Droid will be 3 in July. It's not exactly apples to apples, but I take issue with the line saying that your iOS device will be good for four years and the Android device will be immediately outdated after two. In my experience, my Android device is on course to either have the same longevity as my Apple device ... if not surpass it.
I'd like to see more elaboration where you say that [basically] Apple is easier to use and have restrictions than Google. In the school system, I did set up (I forget what they are called -- 'provisional' I think) certificates that prevented users from doing certain things. Android has similar restrictions on the device itself and also allows for multiple profiles (if that makes a difference). Can Apple do that? Again, I don't have much experience in this area, but I think it is important to give concrete examples instead of just an unsupported opinion ... ... unless that is what you are trying to accomplish. Same thing when it comes to usability. I think that iOS was very innovative when it was first created ... aren't alot of the gestures pretty universal at this point?
So there's some general feedback for you ... I hope you find it useful!
Great feedback, I'll review it all.
Apple's usability took a big hit with iOS 8, I probably give too much credit. I do primarily use iOS.
Revised version...
Life would be simpler if either the Apple Way or the Google Way were clearly better. Unfortunately, life isn’t like that. So there’s no simple answer to the question “What phone should my Explorer use?”.
In general Guide and Explorer should use the same smartphone. Very few people will want to know learn the ins and outs of two devices. So if you and your Explorer favor the same solution you can skip the rest of this discussion.
School experience doesn’t help much. Most schools, even those that favor iPads over Chromebooks, use gCloud services. This tends to favor Android phones, where gCloud is the only option. On the other hand, as we noted earlier, iPhones can be used with Google’s solutions — it’s just a bit more complicated.
There’s a real cost advantage to Android phones. If you disregard the deceptive cell phone contract “costs” and look at the real cost of an unlocked phone, you can buy a remarkably powerful Android phone for as little as $100, but the least expensive iPhone currently costs about $450. That’s a big difference, especially if your Explorer tends to lose or break phones. On the other hand hand iPhones tend to last 1-2 years longer, they receive regular software updates, and service and support is far better. It’s also important to note that the cost of a smartphone is usually much less than the cost of mobile data services, and over the years there’s been a consistent trend for Android phones to use much more data than iPhones for similar functions.
iPhones have other big advantages for our Explorers. They have been much less susceptible to malicious software attacks (malware) and they have a much better built-in toolkit for restricting phone functions. If you stick entirely with iCloud services iPhones are also significantly simpler to use than Android phones. As Guides we are often concerned about exploitation of a vulnerable population and Apple has a natural advantage here. Apple makes money by selling things, but Google makes money by selling advertising. It’s a lot easier for Apple to protect user privacy.
There’s one last consideration. If you choose an Android device and gCloud it’s not hard to switch to an iPhone. Google wants your advertising attention regardless of what device you use; you can bring gCloud with you. If you choose an iPhone and iCloud though, a move to Android will be more painful.
The good news is that whatever choice you make, you can easily defend it! Both Android and iPhone will work. Just try to avoid supporting both and Android and an iPhone. That’s too much work.
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