Computer Science Canada

The Mobile OS War
Author:  [Gandalf] [ Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  The Mobile OS War
Are you an Apple fanboy or an open source hippie? Which of today's platforms do you prefer using on smartphones and tablets?
Author:  mirhagk [ Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:48 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Personally I don't own a smartphone, but if I was to get one, it'd probably be a windows smart phone, because it'd be the easiest for me to code for.
Author:  Insectoid [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:46 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
I don't own a smartphone (or any kind of phone) either. I think I'd either get an android phone, or a blackberry. iPhones are nice but I don't want to have to jailbreak it to do what I want.
Author:  ProgrammingFun [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
Insectoid @ Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:46 am wrote:
...iPhones are nice but I don't want to have to jailbreak it to do what I want.

Especially now since Comex joined Apple as an intern Mad ...
I do not prefer any particular OS, I prefer the specs of the hardware and what it is suited to do.
My current choice (read: next year) would either be Samsung Galaxy III (Q1 2012) or maybe an iPhone 5 (Q3 2012).

Even though, I say that I don't prefer OS, I don't like WP7 and I guess iOS will become harder to jailbreak. Android gets my vote (though it is way too fragmented, I was making an app for it once but trashed it bc every phone needs it's own version to look good).
Author:  2goto1 [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:01 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
I think the average user's choice now is mostly cost and emotion based at this point, since there are few compelling differences from platform to platform. Apple has FaceTime, but Skype on Android also has video calling. Android has great Google apps integration obviously, but iPhone does as well.
Author:  Amailer [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:02 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
I would get an iphone if there were any sane plans for it available. Until then, Android for me (on WIND).
Author:  ProgrammingFun [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
Amailer @ Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:02 pm wrote:
I would get an iphone if there were any sane plans for it available. Until then, Android for me (on WIND).

Get unlocked...jailbreak...and insert plan of your wish. Only works if you have $700 lying around though. Mr. Green
Author:  Tony [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
ProgrammingFun @ Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:57 pm wrote:
...if you have $700 lying around...

A contract iPhone still goes for $270 (Rogers), so you'd need to consider just the difference. And that is distributed over 3+ years (assuming the contract is not broken early).
Author:  [Gandalf] [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
ProgrammingFun @ 2011-08-28, 9:23 am wrote:
Android gets my vote (though it is way too fragmented, I was making an app for it once but trashed it bc every phone needs it's own version to look good).

I've never understood this argument... We've been able to make web pages look good on varying resolutions with CSS and simple markup for years, with the added complication of having different renderers. The same approach should work for mobile devices with the right tool set (and from what I've seen, Android has the best developer tools from them all). Regardless, I would prefer having a choice of hardware more than being stuck with one iteration which a bunch of people agreed was good, but which may not work as well for me. Having some amount of uniformity is good and important, but not at the cost of having a choice. Imagine if all monitors were made by one company and all had the same components, resolution, refresh rate, etc. It would suck.
Author:  ProgrammingFun [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:55 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
I agree that some apps could be configured so that they look good everywhere. However, since you bring up browsers and CSS, I would like to extend that example. It is true that we have learned to modify and manipulate CSS, Javascript, and HTML5 (soon) to make sites look universally the same on every browser. However, let's assume the case of the well known Internet Explorer; every web developer knows of the nightmare of making an amazing site, only to find that IE doesn't support x feature. Now, take that case and spread it across the wide base Android has. While this argument is not completely valid since they all run Android, the company configurations on the handsets do sometimes pose barriers to developers. I agree that having the choice of hardware is awesome (so is most types of freedom), but El Goog needs to find a way to make it more of a one-size fits all in terms of apps.
Author:  Nick [ Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
Amailer @ Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:02 pm wrote:
I would get an iphone if there were any sane plans for it available. Until then, Android for me (on WIND).


I also got an Android on Wind, whatcha got? Huawei myself... kinda shitty but it does the job
Author:  Amailer [ Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:07 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Bought the Nexus S form Mobilicity, using it on WIND.

As well, the voice/data plans is the main reason I find iPhones (right now) too expensive, they are ridiculously high.

Let's see if the new iPhone 5 supports AWS Very Happy
Author:  tacticalhabit [ Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:08 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
My personal favourite is android(have used android, blackberry and IOS) My vote goes to android due to the customizable features it presents. I mean the ability to run ubuntu.. cmon how could you choose anything else!
Author:  Nathan4102 [ Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:33 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
IOS, only because its the only mobile OS I've ever used. More customization on IOS would be nice though, jail breaking just ruins the thing.
Author:  Cancer Sol [ Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:41 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Make an option so we can choose iOS and Android Very Happy
Author:  mirhagk [ Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Well considering this poll is 2 years old, it's hardly relevant anymore anyways.

If you want to know how irrelevant this poll is. you can see that mine is the 2nd post there and since that post (where I say I don't own a smartphone) I've had 2 android phones, 2 android tablets, and a windows phone. (I also had an iPod touch, but I think I had it then too).
Author:  [Gandalf] [ Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Why would this poll be any more or less relevant now because of your outdated reply? The same major players are still at the top.

Cancer Sol, the idea was to choose one. Razz
Author:  Cancer Sol [ Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: The Mobile OS War
Well, I chose iOS because that's the only thing I have Razz
Author:  wtd [ Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
"Android" will ultimately lose as any open source project must. The code will live on, but the name will change. The question is really not which OS will win, but which platform will win.

Let's say Samsung forks Android and then gets 50% of the market with their own fork which has its own apps that may or may not be compatible with Android proper. Is this a win or a loss for "Android" as a platform?
Author:  wtd [ Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
"Android" will ultimately lose as any open source project must. The code will live on, but the name will change. The question is really not which OS will win, but which platform will win.

Let's say Samsung forks Android and then gets 50% of the market with their own fork which has its own apps that may or may not be compatible with Android proper. Is this a win or a loss for "Android" as a platform?
Author:  mirhagk [ Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
Yeah but why would samsung do such a thing? Android is free (OEM's pay to license google products like youtube, gmail and play store), and the name is extremely valuable. Why would a company do a ton of work in order to get less apps, less users, and less money?

I also disagree that any open source project must lose. Apache has been going strong for quite a while now, so has firefox, so have many open source projects. Yes linux is split among many different distributions, all named separately, but that's partly because the "brands" are useless, and they are never used to sell devices, like android is.

If you look at market share, android is killing it, and is on the rise, meanwhile iOS has been falling in use for quite a while. Part of the reason why iOS has been in decline is because it's extreme closed-ness (like it being against the rules to make a competing rendering engine for a browser, like them wanting 30% of the cut of ANYTHING that happens on the phone, see the whole skydrive fiasco recently)
Author:  wtd [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:47 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
iOS is gaining in North America, and has been for awhile. The places where Android is dominant right now are developing countries or "emerging markets" where cheap pre-paid Android handsets are popular (think $100, no contract). Apple doesn't really have anything to compete with there yet.

The reason Samsung would do such a thing is something every good businessperson knows: if something is integral to your business, you should control it.

Samsung relies on Android right now. Google could take Android in a direction that Samsung doesn't like, and they'd have no real Plan B (Windows Phone doesn't count). Just one example: Google decides that only Motorola devices get official Google app support on the next major version of Android.

You can bet they're preparing for just such an occurrence: forking Android and building their own platform on top of it is currently the most feasible solution to being ready for this in the near future.
Author:  Tony [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:14 am ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
forking Android would also allow for deep integration and OS-level features that are simply not possible in apps alone. Apple has an advantage here, as they can introduce OS features, while Samsung must either push their implementations into open core Android, or fork.
Author:  [Gandalf] [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:The Mobile OS War
Tony @ 2013-04-05, 1:14 am wrote:
forking Android would also allow for deep integration and OS-level features that are simply not possible in apps alone. Apple has an advantage here, as they can introduce OS features, while Samsung must either push their implementations into open core Android, or fork.

Except Samsung's Android (same goes for basically every other vendor) is already a fork of Android by that definition.

Plus, vendors can differentiate themselves by way more than just what operating system they run.
Author:  Tony [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:35 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:The Mobile OS War
I was thinking along the lines of Apple's Siri. It started out as an app, but was then ported into OS for deep integration and extra utility.

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