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PLEASE DO NOT START A FLAME WAR!
As you can tell from my sig, I have recently acquired a new HD2, flashed and ready with the Windows Phone 7 OS, in addition to my Samsung Vibrant. I will try my best to provide an accurate comparison of WP7 vs Android from an unbiased standpoint, as I show equal likes and dislikes with both OSes and phones. Keep in mind I have a class 6 sd card in the hd2 so it should be just as fast if not faster than the HD7.
Navigation Efficiency/ Smoothness: I must say at first glance, WP7 may seem like a true winner with its GPU accelerated animations and scrolling, both of which are butter smooth. The flips and backflips of screens and icons is nice, as is the rotation swirl, and adds that bit of polish lacking in Android. However, if you look past the animations, you may realize that the Vibrant (modded), does open apps just a bit faster than WP7. The key to WP7 is the eye candy, those animations decrease the delay you may otherwise see with Android phones lacking fancy animation, turn off the animations on both and the Android device will likely open the app first, whether it be browser, Gmail, calculator, calender, etc.
Apps: Android, no doubt. The WP7 app store is sorely lacking apart from a few high quality games and apps such as Netflix. Sure, streaming movies is fun, but what about everything else? Not to mention, the WP7 marketplace strangely lacks a search feature, or just that I didn't dig deep enough.
Browsing: This is really half and half. Smoothness wise, WP7 is a winner with the GPU acceleration, again glass smooth. Page rendering such as Engadget had similar times, with non flash pages the HD2 won easily, but with flash turned off on both, I must say the Vibrant won. Both were connected to wifi at my house, with the Vibrant being 2-3 seconds ahead without flash. At times I question the use of flash on a device lacking hardware acceleration, but then again those white spots on screens where a occasional youtube video shows up on the HD2 is equally if not more annoying than the choppy Android browser. In the end, if you enjoy smoothness and text reading, and perhaps a bit of speed due to the lack of flash, the GPU accelerated WP7 browser will do you well, but if you prefer functionality and watching videos, go with Android 2.2.
I cannot provide information on camera quality due to having an HD2 hacked WP7.
The music player on WP7 is about the same in functionality as the Touchwiz version.
I will gladly provide more information if you need. Remember to click thanks if I helped.
The Windows Search button is context sensitive.
Maybe you're having trouble finding it on the HD2 (keymappings different, etc. /shrugs/ ), but you bring up marketplace search (or search in any app) by simply hitting the search key.
Flash was a huge deal to me, until I see how badly it nerfed the Vibrant's browser performance. Any setting other than off makes the browser perform terribly. The WP7 IE browser runs laps around it. Cutting it off boosts it a bit, but that's terrible since it has Flash Lite before and we didn't have to deal with such terrible performance... I don't hear any of my iPhone-using friends complaining about the lack of Flash.
App are meh. The only thing that matters are complex apps and games. Most mobile apps (non-game) tend to be encapsulations of mobile websites. An Engadget app doesn't make any sense to install, IMO, since I can just go to Engadget.com and the site is optimized for mobile browsers... Same with CNET, etc.
Some apps just aren't worth bringing to WP7. Office apps aren't worth bringing over. NoteTaking apps aren't worth bringing over. SMS Replacement Apps aren't worth bringing over. Exchange Clients. WP7 has Find My Phone/Lock/Wipe functionality built into it, so stuff like LookOut isn't much use (don't care about the sirens, a phone thief/finder will almost always shut the phone off immediately).
I'd say no browser except maybe Skyfire is worth bringing over at this point, because the chances of them outperforming IE on WP7 is slim to none. As far as apps are concerned, WP7 is probably the most consistent (in Look and Feel) and complete OS released to date when it comes to having all this stuff integrated and from a single vendor. Andorid manufacturers usually license different components from dispirate software vendors to "complete" the experience.
Cameras are comparable. Vibrant takes better pictures during the day. HD7 better at night due to the dual flash. The Vibrant tends to get a better framerate on video, but when blown up on a larger screen it looks a bit grainy and washed out (sort of like a painting). The HD7 doesn't suffer that issue, but the framerates are a big lower. I'd say it's a bit of a wash, with a slight edge to the HD7 because the Vibrant simply cannot compete at all in terms of night time picture shooting... It just can't, even with night mode, etc.
As far as the Navigation and smoothness of the system... The animations have nothing to do with it. It's basically iOS performance with extra eye candy to look better. The only thing that lags a bit is scrolling through lists (Android does this as well, but I think the fact that lots of applications load internet data on the fly has something to do with it in some instances) and resuming from apps (which will see significant performance boosts in the March update, among other things).
The animations aren't hiding any lag. We're seriously comparing a phone that lags switching home screens to a phone that can animate pretty much every transition without as much of a hickup. Let's not go there...
The Music Player is not the same functionality wise. WP7 uses Zune. The Vibrant uses the TouchWiz Music/Video player. Zune has FM Radio, can Stream Music if you have Zune Pass, and interfaces with the Zune software on the computer.
Galaxy S has nothing like XBox Live, which is useful even if you don't have any XBL games on your phone because you can send and recieve messages, etc. There are some good games on XBL/Marketplace, though.
I had an hd7,
Wp7 is smoother and more eye candy and better core functions.
Android has apps and open source support.
Sent from my Galaxy S using Tapatalk
I appreciate an actual HD7 owner coming in to improve my points.
And as to the transition animations, it is very likely that those are completely controlled by the gpu while the cpu is controlling the app openings and lifecycles. I seriously doubt that WP7 opens apps instantaneously, instead separating the gpu and cpu tasks for smooth animation while the cpu opens the app.
The Touchwiz music player is similar to that of the IPhone, which is comparable to Zune. I meant comparable, but Zune is milestone above that of the stock android music interface.
Camera on the HD2 really is a meh. Flash pics get overblown due to the dual flash and the pics are a bit grainy even with the replacement ShCameraApp. Most probably software issues, but the HD7 uses the same or similar hardware camera.
The IE browser really is just smoother than the android browser. You won't mind the lack of flash until you come across an embedded youtube video on a page with a black spot.
After the initial surprise by the smoothness of WP7, the lists and tiles do get a little boring.
The thing that bothers me the most is the need for zune to do everything from load pics and videos, to albums and anything onto the phone. Not that zune is bad, but it just hinders an otherwise easy drag and drop.
The HD2 is a keeper for me due to the solid metal and rubber build and its ability to run 4 OSes, 3 natively or almost natively (android, winmo, wp7, and hopefully meego). Plus I got it free from the Executive Response Team, no contract extension either (don't ask, long story).
And N8ter, I was not directly comparing WP7 to the Vibrant since I came from a Nexus One, but gave it up due to several power button failures and screen burn ins.
Yes the hd2 is the dev device of the century, the hd7 is just a slick version of it with a kickstand.
I loved the wp7 everything about it I just couldn't deal with lack of good app support.
It just works, well. No roms or anything needed.
That being said android has more possibilities and capabilities and of course dev support
Sent from my Galaxy S using Tapatalk
Android is the new windows mobile in my eyes. It has better marketing but the same problems with wm are still present. Lack of manufactures support, drivers for custom roms, and mostly manufactors adding there crapware on top of a great os.
I personally needed a break from Android and specifically the vibrant. I was constantly trying to fix problems. I think Android needs to set some rules/guidelines for OEMs that have the resources to put out great product. Open source is great for the community but letting companies put out crap with googles Android written crossed it.
I too tried wp7 on my hd2 and was surprised at the user interface. Almost lag free device, and no need to change SMS, browser, music player etc. Everything works great out of the box besides YouTube. I've only installed slacker, flashlight, wp7 tapatalk, news/ RSS reader, Google voice and that's about it.
I will be back to Android later in the year but for now I just need something that works. With me bring a heavy user I was able to get thru a full day on a single charge.
I will miss my screen a little, my torrent app, and my remote desktop app. Out of all the apps in Android maybe 20 apps were useful to me besides pulling out the ruler vs my friends.
Zune computer software is great. Syncs extremely fast and haven't had a problem yet. No more fighting with my external sd.
Things that are important to me:
Browser
Music
Google voice
Text and email
Little facebook/twitter.
Battery life.
A couple snap shots occasionally
Wp7 does these with no problem.
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
I don't think any Mobile OS or device should be dependent on third-party dev support to make the phone function as advertised. That is part of the issue with Android (not as a whole, but specific [even most] manufacturers). The initial Honeycomb tablets may be different, though, since the manufacturers aren't initially skinning the OS.
The Motorola ATRIX, with all its great hardware goodness, lagged it's way to a 9/10 (cause it has lots of accessories?!) on Engadget. Maybe when their brain catches up (apparently lagging as well) they will get around to giving it a believable rating...
These reviews have been unchanging for the past year, year and a half. No matter how much hardware you throw at Android: "phone lags a lot", "you should be able to get a day out of it with moderate usage (some phones piss the users off if they have to charge more than ever other day - smartphones mind you)" "bad UI yada yada" "skin this and that" "still running older version but update coming *soon*".
XPLANE9 said:
I appreciate an actual HD7 owner coming in to improve my points.
And as to the transition animations, it is very likely that those are completely controlled by the gpu while the cpu is controlling the app openings and lifecycles. I seriously doubt that WP7 opens apps instantaneously, instead separating the gpu and cpu tasks for smooth animation while the cpu opens the app.
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Hardware accelleration means graphics processing is offloaded to the GPU. Apps open as fast as they do on any other mobile OS, and faster than others. Of course if you're running a mobile game with (relatively) large files to load when it starts up this will not happen instantly. The use of the term instantaneous wasn't really meant to be taken uber literally...
Android runs less efficiently on better hardware because the system taxes the CPU more, since the GPU is going unused as far as the general UI/widgets are concerned. This is why the devices are usually overspecced and/or have functionality ripped out of them.
One of the biggest failures of Samsung was releasing this phone with such great GPU hardware in it, but not putting hardware accelleration into their firmware. Perhaps if they had done that the system would have run a bit smoothly. Nothing could save it from RFS, however.
The Touchwiz music player is similar to that of the IPhone, which is comparable to Zune. I meant comparable, but Zune is milestone above that of the stock android music interface.
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I'm talking beyond the user interface. I'm accounting for functionality as well The TouchWiz music player is not comparable to iPod Touch in the iPhone. DoubleTwist makes an app that looks like iTunes, but iTunes obviously blows it away when it comes to features and functionality, for example.
Camera on the HD2 really is a meh. Flash pics get overblown due to the dual flash and the pics are a bit grainy even with the replacement ShCameraApp. Most probably software issues, but the HD7 uses the same or similar hardware camera.
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The HD2's camera is actually pretty bad. I'm sure the cameras are similar, they are both 5MP cameras with 720p. But, I'm also sure they aren't the same, because the picture qualities are IMO a bit too different for that to be the case (even across multiple OSes on the HD2). That being said, I've never done a teardown, so I don't know for sure.
If anyone wants a great camera on a phone, it would behoove them to get an N8. That phone can compete with some DSLRs when it comes to picture quality.
The IE browser really is just smoother than the android browser. You won't mind the lack of flash until you come across an embedded youtube video on a page with a black spot.
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I went from Vibrant to HD7 and don't mind the lack of flash. Flash, IMO, was not ready for mobile devices when it was released for Android. It's too bloated and resource intensive. It has this same issue on the desktop, but fortunately those machines are powerful enough to just shrug it off in most cases. Flash 10.2 is supposed to bring hardware accelleration, but I'm not sure how much that will help Galaxy S devices...
It causes a lot of Pinch-Zoom and Pan lag, and scrolling on a page with a few flash artifacts on it can be a PITA on some websites.
I do know some sites that crash the Android browser 100% of the time, though...
In the case of moving from Android to WP7, the lack of Flash was actually a bonus for me. If the Vibrant had shipped without Flash (needed it from the market) and Flash Lite was also available in the market, I'd probably have just installed Flash Lite 5 minutes after installing the FroYo update and trying Flash. The irony, though, is that Flash Lite worked for most of the crap that I needed Flash for... I regret even asking for [full] Flash.
After the initial surprise by the smoothness of WP7, the lists and tiles do get a little boring.
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9 of the tiles on my WP7 home screen are Live. I'll take Live Tiles and normal tiles over walls of icon and widgets with no unified Look and Feel cluttered across 3-7 Home screens. Don't really care about the list. IIRC Android has an option to make the App "Page" a list as well...
The thing that bothers me the most is the need for zune to do everything from load pics and videos, to albums and anything onto the phone. Not that zune is bad, but it just hinders an otherwise easy drag and drop.
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A phone is not a USB thumb drive.
Yes, however managing media on a WP7 or iOS device is much better than on Android, where this sort of stuff is non-existent in the stock builds and requires you to duplicate tons of functionality on the device, set defaults, etc.
There is DoubleTwist, whose Desktop App runs like a 1200lb Gorilla from my experiences (at least on Windows - I thought it was my computer, but I have 5 computers; fortunately), requires a redundant media player to be installed, and sells WiFi media synching (free in Zune).
WinAmp has media synching, but again requires a redundant media player.
WiFi Synching, Automatic Transcoding to the best possible format, etc. This is all done transparently. Once Microsoft Adds Skydrive support and that other stuff in Mango, I don't forsee many complaints about WP7.
But even now, it's a very polished experience. I even prefer the notifications on WP7 to Android, and I don't have to worry about numbers getting burnt into the top of my screen anymore.
The HD2 is a keeper for me due to the solid metal and rubber build and its ability to run 4 OSes, 3 natively or almost natively (android, winmo, wp7, and hopefully meego). Plus I got it free from the Executive Response Team, no contract extension either (don't ask, long story).
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Yes, it's a great device that ran well even on WM. Marred by bad QA on the part of HTC. I never saw a reason to run another or a non-stock OS on my HD2s, personally.
And N8ter, I was not directly comparing WP7 to the Vibrant since I came from a Nexus One, but gave it up due to several power button failures and screen burn ins.
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Meh, this is the Vibrant forum
All that said, I have all three phones and can choose to use whichever one I please whenever I want to. The Vibrant and the HD7 both have active SIM Cards in them with Data plans, so I can care less what anyone else choose, likes, dislikes, or doesn't choose. I don't have to choose anything, I just have to "prefer at that specific moment." XD
Kinda funny comparing a HD7 to a vibrant. Consider the Vibrant is now 9 months on the market and older tech than the HD7 2 months on the market.
So, The only things I have seen that i would like on the Android platform that the HD7 has over Vibrant
1. A better voice command
2. Flash on the camera
3. More user friendly custom contact menu (add custom ringtones and pics)
4. The Browser revised to integrate flash better.
5. Improve on the sound by adding a onboard equalizer.
That would make the phone alot more ZAPPY..... The S2 maybe ?
The HD7 is using HD2/Nexus One-level hardware. So the hardware is really like 6 months older than what's in the Vibrant. I have no clue how you can say the Vibrant has older tech than the HD7...
The S2 will be snappier than the Vibrant, but most likely because in typical Android OEM fashion, they will just throw hardware at it.
If the ATRIX 4G is any indicator, I don't expect this hardware to make too much of an impact. I think as time goes on Android's performance issues will start to work against it.
It's getting harder and harder to find a performant device and people make fun of Android because it is universally known as a laggy smartphone OS (check out BB or iOS forums, among others, and see).
Just a blog re: ICS enabling full hardware acceleration of the GUI. We've all figured it would make our tablets sprint but this is putting things in a new light so I figured I'd post it here.
Linky
I'm sure the programmers and people on top of Android out there knew this. It sort of worries me though. Keeping in mind, Apple is running a totally different system - it sort of makes me respect iOS more so, to know that such a smooth system exists within the limits of 256MB of Memory when we're going upwards of 512MB and still having 'issues'. Don't jump down my throat, I don't want iOS (or an idevice), I'm just sayin'.
Jesus. I've known for a long time that there is something wrong with the way Android accelerates stuff and the whole UI design paradigm, but that's just boneheaded o_o That begs the question though: who made the decision to implement acceleration in such a horrible way and why wasn't it designed properly from the get-go? Anyone who has the slightest experience in OpenGL programming would've been able to tell them they're doing it wrong.
What a stunningly stupid way to implement things.
Just goes to show how much difference it really makes when it comes to having experience in OS development...
I like Android, but this design choice was just... dumb.
FloatingFatMan said:
What a stunningly stupid way to implement things.
Just goes to show how much difference it really makes when it comes to having experience in development...
I like Android, but this design choice was just... dumb.
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Well, there are several shortcomings to Android exactly because of these kinds of brainfarts, like e.g. the permissions system is terribly sketchy and should've received a lot more Q/A. But now that it's released there's little Google can do about it without breaking compatibility as they didn't even plan for it to be extendable.
I do quite like Android, but it's too uneven to really feel professional or trustworthy. I just recently pondered about what I'd want from a future mobile tablet on my Google+ page and while I didn't mention it there, I feel like Win8 would've been in a terrific position for the OS on such a device if they didn't decide to remove traditional desktop from the ARM-version. I know Windows and Microsoft aren't popular here, but they've got a lot more experience with OS-development than Google and are a lot better at power-management design and acceleration of UI and its drivers, plus they've really put some real effort into security lately. Alas, with them scrapping traditional desktop from ARM-version Win8 won't cut it, either.
You guys should read Google's blog post. That article misses one huge point: the trade off. This was far from a bad implementation, it was just a very different one. If you read the article you would know that ios freezes if you hold your finger on screen while loading a large list, Android does not. Android balances the CPU threads for ui display and data processing somewhat equally, while ios grants utter priority to their ui display thread . Basically, if the ui display thread is busy, data processing stops. Android is the winner, it is ios that will now be limited in speed with this configuration until it is optimized for new hardware much like how Android currently works!
autom8r said:
You guys should read Google's blog post. That article misses one huge point: the trade off. This was far from a bad implementation, it was just a very different one. If you read the article you would know that ios freezes if you hold your finger on screen while loading a large list, Android does not. Android balances the CPU threads for ui display and data processing somewhat equally, while ios grants utter priority to their ui display thread . Basically, if the ui display thread is busy, data processing stops. Android is the winner, it is ios that will now be limited in speed with this configuration until it is optimized for new hardware much like how Android currently works!
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Uh, it is a bad implementation. You can have both a good implementation AND still balance priority of both the rendering queue and application threads, they are not mutually exclusive.
WereCatf said:
Well, there are several shortcomings to Android exactly because of these kinds of brainfarts, like e.g. the permissions system is terribly sketchy and should've received a lot more Q/A. But now that it's released there's little Google can do about it without breaking compatibility as they didn't even plan for it to be extendable.
I do quite like Android, but it's too uneven to really feel professional or trustworthy. I just recently pondered about what I'd want from a future mobile tablet on my Google+ page and while I didn't mention it there, I feel like Win8 would've been in a terrific position for the OS on such a device if they didn't decide to remove traditional desktop from the ARM-version. I know Windows and Microsoft aren't popular here, but they've got a lot more experience with OS-development than Google and are a lot better at power-management design and acceleration of UI and its drivers, plus they've really put some real effort into security lately. Alas, with them scrapping traditional desktop from ARM-version Win8 won't cut it, either.
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If Microsoft is dumb enough to kill desktop mode on ARM, that really destroys the Win8 tablet market outside of running on Intel chips, which puts them at sub-par graphics. I suppose the only hope then is if AMD steps in and I'm not all that much a fan of AMD, though they have tried to make good efforts in the mobile arena with their A-series chips and having decent GPUs.
I suppose I'll keep an eye on this and see what Microsoft does. Given their lack of intelligent decision making of late (ie. far dumber than their normal stupidity), I don't hold out much hope. Pity, Win8 tablets were looking strong, too.
Gnoop said:
If Microsoft is dumb enough to kill desktop mode on ARM, that really destroys the Win8 tablet market outside of running on Intel chips, which puts them at sub-par graphics. I suppose the only hope then is if AMD steps in and I'm not all that much a fan of AMD, though they have tried to make good efforts in the mobile arena with their A-series chips and having decent GPUs.
I suppose I'll keep an eye on this and see what Microsoft does. Given their lack of intelligent decision making of late (ie. far dumber than their normal stupidity), I don't hold out much hope. Pity, Win8 tablets were looking strong, too.
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The Metro-interface is aimed for touch-based devices, including tablets. Desktop-mode doesn't work too well on such. The problem is that Win8 tablet could serve as BOTH a mobile device AND a desktop computer if Microsoft played its cards right and thus reserve a very nice spot for itself.
WereCatf said:
The Metro-interface is aimed for touch-based devices, including tablets. Desktop-mode doesn't work too well on such. The problem is that Win8 tablet could serve as BOTH a mobile device AND a desktop computer if Microsoft played its cards right and thus reserve a very nice spot for itself.
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Indeed. Being able to handle both of those would hook me in pretty easily.
A former intern for Google's Android team has provided explanations for why Android experiences more touch interface lag than competing mobile operating systems from Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion.
Undergraduate software engineering student Andrew Munn posted his observations on Google+, as noted by Cult of Mac. He did disclaim, however, that he will be starting an internship with Microsoft's Windows Phone team in January, adding that any opinions from the report were his alone.
According to Munn, Android has a difficult time dealing with the touch interface because it handles rendering "on the main thread with normal priority," as opposed to iOS, which treats UI rendering with real-time priority. He cites examples of website loading and the Movies app on Android where the operating system will continue to load while registering touch input.
Munn identified several other factors that contribute to UI lag on Android. For instance, the photo gallery app in either Android 3.0 Honeycomb or 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is capped at 30 frames per second in order to prevent a noticeable "hiccup" at 60 FPS.
"Capping the frame rate at 30 fixes the hiccup problem at the expense of buttery smooth animations at all times," he said.
The author also pointed to hardware issues for Android. According to him, Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip limits Android because of its low memory bandwidth and lack of NEON instruction set support. Tablets based on Honeycomb would be "better off with a different GPU," such as the Samsung Hummingbird or Apple A4.
Munn noted that Android "has a ways to go" before achieving more efficient UI compositing, especially when compared against Apple's iOS.
"On iOS, each UI view is rendered separately and stored in memory, so many animations only require the GPU to recomposite UI views," he said. "GPUs are extremely good at this. Unfortunately, on Android, the UI hierarchy is flattened before rendering, so animations require every animating section of the screen to be redrawn."
Another reason for the lag is the limitations of Android's Dalvik virtual machine, which is "not as mature" as a desktop-class Java VM, Munn said. However, the issue with Dalvik will be offset by hardware acceleration from Ice Cream Sandwich on and improvements to Dalvik.
But, in spite of the improvements, Munn believes the Android user interface "will never be completely smooth because of the design constraints" that limit UI rendering to the main thread of an app with normal priority.
"Even with a Galaxy Nexus, or the quad-core EeePad Transformer Prime, there is no way to guarantee a smooth frame rate if these two design constraints remain true," he said. "It’s telling that it takes the power of a Galaxy Nexus to approach the smoothness of a three year old iPhone."
According to Munn, the reason behind the design change is that the original Android prototype didn't have a touchscreen, as it was meant to be a BlackBerry competitor. As such, Android's architecture is meant to support a keyboard and trackball. Munn further claimed that after the original iPhone arrived in 2007, Google rushed to complete Android, but "it was too late to rewrite the UI framework."
He cited Windows Mobile 6.5, BlackBerry OS and Symbian as examples of other older operating systems that suffered similar problems with touch performance. Microsoft, RIM and Nokia have all abandoned those OSes in order to start from scratch. "Android is the only mobile OS left that existed pre-iPhone," the report noted.
Android Software Engineer Romain Guy admitted as much when he said that choices made years ago had contributed to work the team has to do now.
"Having the UI thread handle animations is the biggest problem," he said. "We are working on other solutions to try to improve this (schedule drawing on vsync instead of block on vsync after drawing, possible use a separate rendering thread, etc.) An easy solution would of course to create a new UI toolkit but there are many downsides to this also.”
According to the report, those downsides include the fact that apps would have to be rewritten to support the new framework, Android would need legacy support for old apps and work on other Android features would be held up while the new framework was being built.
"However, I believe the rewrite must happen, despite the downsides. As an aspiring product manager, I find Android’s lagginess absolutely unacceptable. It should be priority #1 for the Android team," Munn said.
UI Lag has long been an area for which reviewers have criticized Android. One recent usability study by Jakob Nielsen on Amazon's Android-based Kindle Fire found erratic scrolling and "huge lag in response after pressing command-buttons." Nielsen suspected that "sloppy programming" was causing the issue.
The New York Times' David Pogue also took issue with the Kindle Fire. "Animations are sluggish and jerky -- even the page turns that you'd think would be the pride of the Kindle team," he said in his review. "Taps sometimes don't register. There are no progress or 'wait' indicators, so you frequently don't know if the machine has even registered your touch commands. The momentum of the animations hasn't been calculated right, so the whole thing feels ornery."
Munn himself viewed the issue as damaging to Android's image. He also saw it as a violation of Google's guiding principles, which have generally led to faster, optimized products. Finally, he mentioned that UI lag breaks the direct 1-to-1 relationship that touch screens offer.
"The device no longer feels natural. It loses the magic. The user is pulled out of their interaction and must implicitly acknowledge they are using an imperfect computer simulation. I often get “lost” in an iPad, but I cringe when a Xoom stutters between home screens," he said.
To conclude, the report ended on a more upbeat note, with Munn voicing his belief that the Android rendering framework is in the hands of a capable team. "I know they will have it eventually," he said.
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I`m sorry o hear this .. so is there any chances that google make android on same structure as ios?
I know IOS is for only Apple devices, and because of that is feeling so smoth .. but how windows (computer windows) can be smoth for all computer configurations? and Android can`t, even quad core can`t stable android ....
This article makes me think. Let`s hope that there will be future improvement on how Google will write it`s UI code. I mean, it`s sad to have an SGS2 or an quad-core powered phone/tablet and a OS to hold back it`s power.
And more or less in reply to this came a post by Dianne Hackborn, who is part of the Android development team, explaining why most of this was either irrelevant or wrong.
https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/XAZ4CeVP6DC
Still, plenty of questions of course.
I heard that android was made for phones with buttons and because of this we have all problems ...
No way this is true.
Nope, the system is power smooth and no lag whatsoever. Nada.
The truth is IQ restricted to a few in Android. Be happy with what you got. All the user posted issues are IDIOT related, as a senior member reminded me.
/sarcasm off
Dalvik VM limitations were known and were a set back from the beginning (just like fat32). Nevertheless, they ''fixed it'' somehow, this is why Oracle is giving hard time to Google.
I can't say WP7/BBoS is smoother/better when compared to SGS2 GB...but both OS's are smoother when compared to appropriate hardware.
Student i see well that's not somebody that knows what they are talking about is it .
jje
This is false because thread priority can be assigned by the OS or even the software (in certain cases). The reason why the web browser in the iPhone is more responsive than in Android is as follows.
On the iPhone, the web browser is rendered with a tiling method, What this means is that the only things drawn in high quality are the "tile" that you see (everything on screen) as well as the immediately touching tiles. Ever notice that when you pan/scroll on iOS, it seems to only leap one page, similar to Page Down on your PC? This gives the browser time to dump tiles that are no longer adjacent while rendering the newly adjacent tiles in higher quality.
On Android, the entire page is rendered in the same quality. This is more work, so scrolling/panning/zooming fluidity suffers. This allows for a consistent but not as smooth approach. It also means that you can flick-scroll indefinitely.
On the SGS2, Samsung tried to implement the tiling approach but left in the Android scrolling limitations. This means that you can sometimes scroll faster than the page can keep up, causing a checkerboard affect (this is what Apple is hiding with their method).
On the ICS browser, Google also adopted the tiling method (finally), and managed to disguise the checkerboard affect by covering it with the webpage's default background color. The "checkerboard" is still there, but you never see or notice it. Anyway, I did a writeup with videos to illustrate this. Unfortunately, most idiots are taking the videos as fanboy fodder. They seem to think that the point was to show off how much better phone X is than phone Y, rather than to show the differences in approaches. The RAZR/Rezound will have these enhancements with their 4.x update.
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67100
Yep, pretty much accurate info here but this is only regarding browser smoothness. Responsiveness is another issue android seems to have. When you scroll in iOS the contents are almost always directly below your finger, not "lagging" behind your swipes trying to catch up as you normally see in Android. I'm no expert so I have no idea what the cause of this is.
jaykresge said:
This is false because thread priority can be
assigned by the OS or even the software (in certain cases). The reason why the web browser in the iPhone is more responsive than in Android is as follows.
On the iPhone, the web browser is rendered with a tiling method, What this means is that the only things drawn in high quality are the "tile" that you see (everything on screen) as well as the immediately touching tiles. Ever notice that when you pan/scroll on iOS, it seems to only leap one page, similar to Page Down on your PC? This gives the browser time to dump tiles that are no longer adjacent while rendering the newly adjacent tiles in higher quality.
On Android, the entire page is rendered in the same quality. This is more work, so scrolling/panning/zooming fluidity suffers. This allows for a consistent but not as smooth approach. It also means that you can flick-scroll indefinitely.
On the SGS2, Samsung tried to implement the tiling approach but left in the Android scrolling limitations. This means that you can sometimes scroll faster than the page can keep up, causing a checkerboard affect (this is what Apple is hiding with their method).
On the ICS browser, Google also adopted the tiling method (finally), and managed to disguise the checkerboard affect by covering it with the webpage's default background color. The "checkerboard" is still there, but you never see or notice it. Anyway, I did a writeup with videos to illustrate this. Unfortunately, most idiots are taking the videos as fanboy fodder. They seem to think that the point was to show off how much better phone X is than phone Y, rather than to show the differences in approaches. The RAZR/Rezound will have these enhancements with their 4.x update.
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dinan said:
Yep, pretty much accurate info here but this is only regarding browser smoothness. Responsiveness is another issue android seems to have. When you scroll in iOS the contents are almost always directly below your finger, not "lagging" behind your swipes trying to catch up as you normally see in Android. I'm no expert so I have no idea what the cause of this is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the device. This was absolutely true of my HTC Incredible on Android 2.1. With 2.2/2.3 and bloatware removed, the UI outside of the browser is more responsive than my wife's old iPhone 4, but a hair behind her new 4s (The 4 slowed down with iOS 5 due to the new notification shade). This goes back to a previous post I made in another thread where the iPhone's entire UI is GPU accelerated due to not having high requirements. Android's UI is more complex which causes OEMs to decide which elements are accelerated and which are not. In most newer phones the notification shade is always accelerated, the wallpaper is not, but the homescreens are to varying degrees. There is a fill-rate budget and the OEM has to decide what is accelerated and what isn't within this budget.
A prime example is the Nexus S vs. the Galaxy Nexus. While both use the SGX540 GPU, the Galaxy Nexus version is clocked higher and has MUCH higher performance. As such, the entire Galaxy Nexus UI is accelerated. However, for the Nexus S ICS build, only certain parts of the UI are accelerated. Google has gone on record as saying that this is due to hardware limitations.
I'd be willing to bet that this is why the Nexus One isn't getting ICS. The Adreno 200 GPU was subpar even when it came out. With the new overlays in ICS, the UI in the N1 would become laggier rather than smoother, as with previous releases. Google may have felt that the user experience of GB on the N1 is superior to that of ICS due to the new features. Even budget phones today using scaled down Snapdragon S2s or the older OMAP4 have a better GPU than what the N1 had.
sounds like a disgruntled employee speaking half truths.
Guess this guy never tried an sgs2. No lag whatsoever!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Pretty much spot on. You cnt disagree that ios is muuuuuch smoother than android and that it does lag at times. Student nailed it in my opinion. Well written. Ive always said it has a long way to go and quad core wont b much differnt to dual core phones. When i used a iphone 4s for a while.... it blew me away how slick it was. Future versions will hopefully only get better. But iphone cnt match android open source fun lol. .
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Fizzerr said:
Guess this guy never tried an sgs2. No lag whatsoever!
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Click to collapse
Since when u have your s2? Cuz on my s2.. I get lag.. and you know when? UI. When unlocking.. when i close an app it takes some time to get to UI...and so on. And I am on stock firmware.
Cristitamas said:
Since when u have your s2? Cuz on my s2.. I get lag.. and you know when? UI. When unlocking.. when i close an app it takes some time to get to UI...and so on. And I am on stock firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No lag whatsoever on my GSII. And on my iPhone 4S there is also no lag. Both aee extremely fluid in my opinion. Galaxy Nexus, GSII, and the 4S are the fastest phones on the market right now.
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Fizzerr said:
Guess this guy never tried an sgs2. No lag whatsoever!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact, when scroll in tapatalk lags, when im moving in desktop and receive a message of whats app or miyowa messenger lags too.
iNeri said:
In fact, when scroll in tapatalk lags, when im moving in desktop and receive a message of whats app or miyowa messenger lags too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It lags...period lol
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androidkid311 said:
It lags...period lol
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Click to collapse
Correct. So far any Android device lags. Any phone, any tablet, all of them. Sure, we are lucky to have one of the more lag-less devices but anybody who says the SGS2 doesn't lag at all either:
a) is ignorant
b) is very easy to please
c) is blinded by Android fanboyism
d) hasn't seen a true lag free device yet.
The SGS2 lags. Sometimes a little, sometimes like crazy, so be it. Don't claim otherwise.
Yes, my old xperia x10 lagged all the time. But my custom-ROM-running sgs2 doesn't lag. Yes, I've had an iPhone 4 for 8 months so I can compare them.
IMHO, lag is mostly placebo and expecting too much these days. Ugly code can cause the UI to stutter on every platform, including iOS.
# Galaxy S II w/ tapatalk
Pfeffernuss said:
The SGS2 lags. Sometimes a little, sometimes like crazy, so be it. Don't claim otherwise.
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Click to collapse
LOL. You must have a heap of bloatware on that thing. Either that or you've flashed a dodgy ROM. I get no lag at all. I think you are getting lag confused with app loading time. If you fire up Asphalt 6 and it takes 10 seconds to load that's not lag. Have a play with a Galaxy S on one of the earlier ROM's. Then you will see lag.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Fizzerr said:
LOL. You must have a heap of bloatware on that thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No bloatware whatsoever.
Either that or you've flashed a dodgy ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried many many Roms, many many kernels, many many Launchers, etc. All the same thing. The phone will once in a while lag and/or show micro-stutters.
I get no lag at all.
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Click to collapse
None at all, really. A statement like that makes all the other things you say worthless. Every Android device will once in a while lag and/or expose micro-stutters.
I think you are getting lag confused with app loading time. If you fire up Asphalt 6 and it takes 10 seconds to load that's not lag.
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Click to collapse
I know what lag is, thank you.
It's exactly the same as when people say "my screen is perfect. I have no yellow/darker left side on my panel". When you check it yourself of course the panel isn't even. Usual reply? "Well, I don't see it so it doesn't bother me". That's not the point, it's there. The fact that the phone is 100% smooth for you is nice, only it is not.
Your SGS2 also will have occasional lag/micro stutters. In all apps/all the time? No. In most apps/usually? No. In some apps/occasionally? Yes.
Is it still an amazing phone? For sure. Probably the best/smoothest Android so far? Guess so. Does it sometimes lag and/or stutter? Absolutely.
The Write Up
Windows Phone 8 has now been out about two weeks and with its eye-catching hardware, beautiful UI, and plethora of new features; has captured the hearts of more people than even I expected. Nokia's Lumia line has been consistently sold out all over the world and is still in high demand while HTC is certainly pulling out all of the stops in bringing their most beautiful device to date into the Windows Phone market. Huaweii seems to be ready to innovate for the first time in quite some time and Samsung is bringing up the rear with the same ol' stuff they've been putting out since the Samsung Behold days but there's a market for everything.
As a student developer, I try to keep a very clear mind about phones as a whole. At present I own a Tegra HTC One X, an AT&T Galaxy Note II, an iPhone 4s, and the AT&T Nokia Lumia 920. It could simply be a honeymoon period but for the past two weeks the Lumia has been my daily driver. I have also been frequenting the forums of numerous tech blogs and news articles, scouring the web for any complaints and praise for both the Note and the Lumia. As it stands, the Lumia seems to be the more sought after of the two with the Note being slightly underwhelming compared to its predecessor. The Lumia is not without its flaws though, the battery life has been subpar on a number of the devices, there is a bug in the NFC usage that causes immense battery drain, and the photos could be slightly sharper. However, for every shortcoming, most of which Nokia says will be repaired with a software update, there are more than enough selling points to justify it. After two weeks, I finally felt it was just to do a review comparing Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.
User Interface
First, I'll start with what you see upon powering on, the UI. The common complaint with Windows Phone, is the lack of a dedicated notification center like the ones you would see on Android or now, iOS. I was truly concerned on coming from using the One X as my daily driver and HTC's amazing Friendstream that the Lumia's activity simply would not be enough. Let me be the first to tell you that not only does the live tile system work, it's removed so many swypes and taps from my typical use that I'm probably saving an hour of battery life a day on that alone. Unlock the screen, swype down, check anything I want, done. It's very simple and very straightforward. I believe Windows Phone's initial marketing statement was, "Get in, get out, get on with your life." It's simple to do just that however it's also easy to get immersed in the live tiles. The customization available despite the lack of backgrounds is quite amazing and sometimes I'll spend half an hour deciding on a particular tile layout that suits me and my present color scheme. The OS is simply aesthetically pleasing, plain and simple. You might be able to download a dozen apps to kick your android UI into gear or Dreamboard your phone but in terms of usability I would have to give the cake to Windows Phone. That said, Android's notification system is right on par with Windows Phone and is certainly no slacker. iOS simply lags behind.
User Interface:
Android: 6
iOS: 7
Windows Phone: 9
Notifications:
Android: 9
iOS: 4
Windows Phone: 8
Camera
With our phones being an extension of our arms, it's only viable that it replace that big clunky camera on a laniard that we were once forced to tote around if we wanted to capture the moment. Now, it's as easy as pulling your phone out and snapping a picture. Windows Phone tried simplifying this further by allowing access to the camera directly from a sleeping phone, a feature imitated and executed well by the competition but born of Windows Phone and the original still seems to execute it best. Each OS aside from iOS has a variation of cameras on a variation of different phones and each have their strengths and weaknesses. My personal preference, hardware aside, is Windows Phone strictly because of the requirement of a hardware camera button. Each OS has it's own photo editing options as well, iOS being the birthing place of instagram, a photo-social network. Android having a ton of applications with filters and editors, and at least Nokia's Windows Phones implementing lenses with work amazingly well. If you haven't gotten to toy around with cinemagraphs then you simply haven't gotten to enjoy a camera on a phone. Overall, I'd say it's safe to give tens across the board on software alone as the hardware preference is just that, a preference.
Camera
Android: 10
iOS: 10
Windows Phone: 10
Hardware Choices
Your general consumer has an idea of what they want but will not be particularly picky. It has to be eye-catching but practical, it has to have screen real-estate but be pocketable. Your phone has to fit you better than you fit it. iOS in this area, is awful. You get one device that most recently has rendered a lot of games ugly due to the screen's aspect ratio shifting drastically. Overall, the iPhone 5 may be the worst in the series despite slightly improved hardware. Android of course has the broadest range of specs, 600 mhz processors making up the low-end of the spectrum and pushing into the quad-core monsters at the higher end. Until Android's most recent iteration, it suffered from a discernible lag that, while not a deal breaker, certainly offered a bit of a low-end feel. However, android is now about up to par with the competition and is finally, "Buttery smooth." on all different kinds of hardware.
Windows Phone devices are also found on a variety of hardware, however what sets it apart and really makes it pull ahead is the availability of many color options. No other OS before it has offered such an array of high end devices in such a wide variety of colors. The Lumia 920 alone comes in five different colors, 3 of which are rare to find on any other quality device. Due to the color variations, I'd have to give this one to Windows Phone as it's proven time and again that it doesn't need the ridiculous hardware to run as fluid as the competition.
Hardware
Android: 9
iOS: 2
Windows Phone: 10
Social
What are our phones for if not communication? Sure, they all make calls with varying quality, they all connect to Facebook, they all send texts and picture messages, they all get the job done. However, who gets it done best? For this comparison, I'm using stock Android. Had I chosen to use HTC's Sense then it likely would've been more favorable for Android but, spoiler alert, stock android doesn't fare too well.
iOS basicaly reinvented the smartphone and have thus created an immeasurable ecosystem spanning across millions of users. Due to this, they are able to have their own video chat that doesn't work with other devices, their own messenger client that only works on their devices, even their own social networks of sorts. They have an ecosystem, but what about the rest of us? Both iOS and Android sync your facebook contacts as well as contacts from other email clients and social networks without much fail and with the installation of third party applications have no issue notifying you of your facebook notifications. However, this isn't about the applications, just the OS itself and aside from what's mentioned, neither have a whole lot to offer. With Windows Phone, I have felt no need to install a facebook application as everything I need is built into the OS. I have facebook chat that sends me all my messages through the same messaging system that my texts come through, I can update my status from my Me tile on a number of different social networks simutaneously, I can take a picture and have it on facebook faster than any other OS, shown clearly in the Smoked by Windows Phone videos and I can do it all without installing anything additional. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn being baked into the OS has accelerated my social networking to a whole new degree.
The most important aspect of a social network though, the keyboard. I mean sure you can Speech to Text everything but that seldom works out as well as you want it to. android has an excellent keyboard layout by default but the response time on it is notably slower than either other and the predicted text never quite gets me to where I want. It seems as though it doesn't know higher English and any bigger words I use are quickly transformed into two or more little words. iOS is again, a joke. The keyboard layout forces you to go to a separate page to use a period, the auto-correct has spawned numerous sites about how terrible it is, and it's very ill responsive. The first thing you notice about using a Windows Phone is the tactile responsiveness, it seems as though the button is hit maybe even a millisecond before you touch the screen it's so fast and the words are only corrected when it's actually needed. Overall, in terms of the general social networking, I have to give it to Windows Phone here as everything is so deliciously baked in. I should mention though that Android has a plethora of keyboards better than the default at your disposal.
Networking
Android: 5
iOS: 6
Windows Phone: 10
Keyboard
Android: 6
iOS: 4
Windows Phone: 8
Apps and Software and Features, Oh My!
Well, it's not all rainbows and butterflies in the Windows Phone world. The application store isn't 1/10th of the competition yet and the games we do get are often crippled versions of their Android and iOS counterparts. Not only that, we often pay more strictly for the fact that we can get Xbox Live gamer points. However, Xbox live on the phone is amazing and a selling point in itself, it still doesn't justify the sometimes ridiculous price of our games and apps.
iOS is the clear winner as far as games and apps go. Sure, Android has more games and applications but they are never as polished as those on iOS and oftentimes won't work on a good portion of the devices due to fragmentation. Both trump Windows Phone with their high def, 3D games and form fitting applications.
Android and Windows Phone now utilize NFC, iOS's only real shortcoming in this area. Windows Phone has pushed it a step further offering wireless charging on most of their higher end devices which, while gimmicky, is one hell of a gimmick. If you pick up the JBL Charging Speakers then your Nokia will absolutely blow you away.
I would like to clarify, of the 40 or so apps that are must haves on my phones, I can easily find an alternative to 36-38 of them on Windows Phone but those 2-4 apps I can't find really do seem to jump out at me a lot of the time and are a thorn in the side of WP8. That said, with access to native code this will hopefully change.
Goodies
Android: 8
iOS: 9
Windows Phone: 5
Wrap-up
Well, after owning my first long term Windows Phone device I can say that this is as unbiased as I can get aside from a possible honeymoon phase with this pretty little device. This is of course from a basic user standpoint and not a developer standpoint as so many of us like to brag about having. The final score tallied up is:
Android: 53/70
iOS: 42/70
Windows Phone: 60/70
None of the OS's are bad and each could certainly suit you and will vary with your needs. As far as the most generic needs go, Windows Phone pulled out just ahead of Android with iOS trailing behind, left in the dust. If you haven't picked up a Windows Phone and have only gone off of the rumors, I suggest you at least give it a try. Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a happy Turkey Day.
-Poecifer
Thanks for sharing! One thing that interests me about the Windows Phone is editing Microsoft Office files on the go. Currently I have many formatting and compatibility issues trying to do this with my Android device. Have you experimented much with this yet?
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buffjam9011 said:
Thanks for sharing! One thing that interests me about the Windows Phone is editing Microsoft Office files on the go. Currently I have many formatting and compatibility issues trying to do this with my Android device. Have you experimented much with this yet?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mainly just wordpad documents, I'll look more into the others and get back to you afterwards. Word files are epic though.
Strangely enough I agree with almost quite everything you say, but your scoring seems to be a little wonky. Your user interface scores were as follows:
Android: 6
iOS: 7
Windows Phone: 9
Very subjective if you ask me. You could ask ten different people what they believe that order should proceed in, and I'm willing to bet their answers will vary greatly. I don't understand how IOS could possibly have a higher interface score than Android if its simply a grid of icons with a horrendous notification system. If you wanted to replicate that on Android you very well could with a launcher, MIUI, etc. Android essentially IS iOS with flexibility; customizable grids on the homescreen, widgets, more intuitive lockscreens, etc. Giving iOS a higher score doesn't seem to make sense to me.
Hardware
Android: 9
iOS: 2
Windows Phone: 10
I'd like to think the massive range of Android phones would overcome the simple fact that Windows phones come in several new colors. I think it's fair to say Android should hold top dog in this regard.
Android: 5
iOS: 6
Windows Phone: 10
Above are the scores for social networking on each mobile OS. Again, if Android by default has every third party application installed automatically integrated, how can you justify giving it not only that low of a score, but below iOS? (While iOS only has facebook/twitter integration).
Also, I'm curious as to which keyboard you used for Android.
But great write up, honestly I don't mean to try and dismantle everything you said, I just don't entirely agree with the scoring. But good work, I gave ya a thanks )
MultiLockOn said:
Strangely enough I agree with almost quite everything you say, but your scoring seems to be a little wonky. Your user interface scores were as follows:
Android: 6
iOS: 7
Windows Phone: 9
Very subjective if you ask me. You could ask ten different people what they believe that order should proceed in, and I'm willing to bet their answers will vary greatly. I don't understand how IOS could possibly have a higher interface score than Android if its simply a grid of icons with a horrendous notification system. If you wanted to replicate that on Android you very well could with a launcher, MIUI, etc. Android essentially IS iOS with flexibility; customizable grids on the homescreen, widgets, more intuitive lockscreens, etc. Giving iOS a higher score doesn't seem to make sense to me.
Hardware
Android: 9
iOS: 2
Windows Phone: 10
I'd like to think the massive range of Android phones would overcome the simple fact that Windows phones come in several new colors. I think it's fair to say Android should hold top dog in this regard.
Android: 5
iOS: 6
Windows Phone: 10
Above are the scores for social networking on each mobile OS. Again, if Android by default has every third party application installed automatically integrated, how can you justify giving it not only that low of a score, but below iOS? (While iOS only has facebook/twitter integration).
Also, I'm curious as to which keyboard you used for Android.
But great write up, honestly I don't mean to try and dismantle everything you said, I just don't entirely agree with the scoring. But good work, I gave ya a thanks )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a problem at all, friend. I love criticism regardless and constructive is my favorite flavor. I gave UI to iOS over android because I'm trying to use vanilla android opposed to sense or touchwiz and sadly it still suffers from minute hickups. Had I been reviewing Sense, android and Windows Phone would have certainly been neck and neck.
As far as my hardware statement, as much as the hardware for android differentiates under the hood, they do little to differentiate themselves cosmetically and that seldom makes for a beautiful device even when the power under the hood is insane. It's often left looking like a bunch of generic Samsung phones.
In social networking, I ignored the existence of third party applications and only gave the bonus point to iOS for the ease of setup as both are essentially the same in that regard.
When I use android, I've been using swype since the HTC Dream days and don't feel a need to switch. Swiftkey isn't terrible though.
Again, there may be some bias as I'm still in the honeymoon phase but I made an attempt to be unbiased that at least beats out what you'll get at cNet.
Poecifer said:
Not a problem at all, friend. I love criticism regardless and constructive is my favorite flavor. I gave UI to iOS over android because I'm trying to use vanilla android opposed to sense or touchwiz and sadly it still suffers from minute hickups. Had I been reviewing Sense, android and Windows Phone would have certainly been neck and neck.
As far as my hardware statement, as much as the hardware for android differentiates under the hood, they do little to differentiate themselves cosmetically and that seldom makes for a beautiful device even when the power under the hood is insane. It's often left looking like a bunch of generic Samsung phones.
In social networking, I ignored the existence of third party applications and only gave the bonus point to iOS for the ease of setup as both are essentially the same in that regard.
When I use android, I've been using swype since the HTC Dream days and don't feel a need to switch. Swiftkey isn't terrible though.
Again, there may be some bias as I'm still in the honeymoon phase but I made an attempt to be unbiased that at least beats out what you'll get at cNet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most definitely ahaha, cnet is one of the most Apple centric tech sites I've ever seen. And I really do appreciate this write up, I always told myself if I had to move to a locked down OS Windows 8 looked like a viable choice, and now it seems I have a third party to back it up reasonably. It's sad really, most people glance at Windows phone and ate immediately turned away because of how strange the ui is initially. I think it's a beautiful design personally, and they're innovating in their own way.
One thing however. Do you really find sense more appealing then stock android? I've found the last three versions on android (4.0 - 4.2) to be wonderful. Honestly, everything from the notification bar to gapps with the blue tint looks great. I always thought sense was overrated, but more now than ever it seems to be riding on the tailcoat of its gb days. Maybe then I might've thought it sleek and edgy but lately sense hasn't seem to have changed at all, it looks dated. Everything from the app drawer to the notification panel is rather stale looking, I'd go as far to say that the touchwiz nature ux is much preferable, but that's just me.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
MultiLockOn said:
Most definitely ahaha, cnet is one of the most Apple centric tech sites I've ever seen. And I really do appreciate this write up, I always told myself if I had to move to a locked down OS Windows 8 looked like a viable choice, and now it seems I have a third party to back it up reasonably. It's sad really, most people glance at Windows phone and ate immediately turned away because of how strange the ui is initially. I think it's a beautiful design personally, and they're innovating in their own way.
One thing however. Do you really find sense more appealing then stock android? I've found the last three versions on android (4.0 - 4.2) to be wonderful. Honestly, everything from the notification bar to gapps with the blue tint looks great. I always thought sense was overrated, but more now than ever it seems to be riding on the tailcoat of its gb days. Maybe then I might've thought it sleek and edgy but lately sense hasn't seem to have changed at all, it looks dated. Everything from the app drawer to the notification panel is rather stale looking, I'd go as far to say that the touchwiz nature ux is much preferable, but that's just me.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From a purely aesthetic perspective, I completely agree. Sense looks stale. However, it brings to the table a plethora of built in apps and widgets that I find more useful than anyone else's offerings and for that I will choose Sense over Touchwiz or stock any day. I liked the way Sony was going, too bad they can't quite get their software right.
I think you overreacted when you said iphone has score 2 as far as hardware is concerned. Just because they do not take the route android does (make up for poor software with overkill hardware) doesn't mean their hardware ain't good. They basically do just like Windows Phone: pick up a nice platform, then base everything on that so it can be optimized.
mcosmin222 said:
I think you overreacted when you said iphone has score 2 as far as hardware is concerned. Just because they do not take the route android does (make up for poor software with overkill hardware) doesn't mean their hardware ain't good. They basically do just like Windows Phone: pick up a nice platform, then base everything on that so it can be optimized.
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Click to collapse
They still only release one device a year with severely dated hardware and ridiculous fragility. They often have next to no real selling point aside from habit. I'd say it was justified.
dont agree with you about the keyboard. check out swiftkey.... i miss it so hard on wp8 :S
Love the write up, and I agree with most of what was said. I can support the lower hardware score for iOS because it is a gradual improvement of an existing design, as opposed to every year the hardware is cutting edge. That does have something to do with the fact that the OS doesn't require such boundary pushing hardware...
That's why I gave up on iOS. After a while you really get tired of the apps as the only attraction. Heck, jail breaking took off merely for the fact that it was a way to unlock the phone for usage on other carriers. Based on the hardware limitations, once you started to add the custom add-ons to change the looks and performance of the phone, iOS starts to lag. I'm sure things have improved with the iPhone 5, but I've got no interest in trying Apple.
It still boils down to taste. I do enjoy using WP7, and so far WP8 is a nice upgrade. As far as Android goes, I prefer stock over any other skin other there. Yes, stock used to be atrocious and not as friendly visually, but 4.0 has changed much of that. Still, I like Sense as the best skin out there, even though it has gotten bloated. sense 4 is a right step, but I won't use anything HTC Android wise until Sense gets much lighter (that's why my Galaxy Nexus will back up my Lumia 810 for the foreseeable future).
I like the WP idea of letting some customization in the form of apps and amps and hardware tweaks. But the consistent UI is my biggest draw to the platform. Now, if only MSFT can make Windowsphone.com easier to use and add a few more apps and tweaks...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Poecifer said:
They still only release one device a year with severely dated hardware and ridiculous fragility. They often have next to no real selling point aside from habit. I'd say it was justified.
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Click to collapse
You're not talking about Apple are you? If so, this just ruins everything you typed Severely dated hardware? Seriously ?
Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion; but dated hardware? ?
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vetvito said:
You're not talking about Apple are you? If so, this just ruins everything you typed Severely dated hardware? Seriously ?
Don't get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion; but dated hardware? ?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
1.3 GHz processor, underwhelming screen, no NFC, no wireless charging, nothing that sets them apart hardware-wise. At what point as of late have they innovated?
Poecifer said:
1.3 GHz processor, underwhelming screen, no NFC, no wireless charging, nothing that sets them apart hardware-wise. At what point as of late have they innovated?
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You said severely dated hardware, didn't you? Name one phone that beats the iPhone 5 in graphics and performance? Underwhelming screen? Do people even legitimately know what the iPhone is clocked at?
NFC? Seriously, what is windows phone doing with it now besides pairing speakers?
Wireless charging, now thats palm pre innovation. Wow.
I know you can come with something better than that.
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vetvito said:
You said severely dated hardware, didn't you? Name one phone that beats the iPhone 5 in graphics and performance? Underwhelming screen? Do people even legitimately know what the iPhone is clocked at?
NFC? Seriously, what is windows phone doing with it now besides pairing speakers?
Wireless charging, now thats palm pre innovation. Wow.
I know you can come with something better than that.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Graphics is a matter of the software and developer interest, neither of which have been called into question. The screen was cool when it was introduced 2-3 years ago, now it's certainly not top tier. The iPhone 5 is clocked at 1.3 GHz which does prove we don't need ridiculous specs with optimized software. It simply hasn't been top of the line in a long while.
^ but no other chip is beating the iPhone 5 in graphics or performance right now. Not even the S4 Pro(quad core). If that isn't top of the line, then I don't know what is.
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Poecifer said:
Graphics is a matter of the software and developer interest, neither of which have been called into question. The screen was cool when it was introduced 2-3 years ago, now it's certainly not top tier. The iPhone 5 is clocked at 1.3 GHz which does prove we don't need ridiculous specs with optimized software. It simply hasn't been top of the line in a long while.
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Genuine question, where do you find a graphics test that ignores the OS software as a whole? I want to know for personal testing.
Poecifer said:
Genuine question, where do you find a graphics test that ignores the OS software as a whole? I want to know for personal testing.
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You don't really. Every test in SOME way is going to be more optimized for one gpu then another; you can't say "well this game runs smother on this phone thus making this gpu better". Benchmarking isn't realistic at all. To be honest I'm not sure of a great way to judge graphics card performance other then a long term
Overview of how it handles games. I could be wrong though, if someone wants to correct me feel free
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"hardware choices"
you gave more credit to one _software_platform_ (your definitions of competitors) for choice of colors....
yes, that makes sense.
ohgood said:
"hardware choices"
you gave more credit to one _software_platform_ (your definitions of competitors) for choice of colors....
yes, that makes sense.
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Average consumer perspective. How much do cores matter to your mom or dad?
Android has some design flaws that have been there from the start. UI will always lag because it is not a priority. Audio also lagging for this reason. Also we have all the other problems with Google itself.
Apple, is Apple. Not playing nice with others. No swiping keyboards, no darkened screen for use at night, killing Bitcoin apps, just some examples.
So I thought I'd check out FirefoxOS. But does it have the same design problems as the majors?
There's an openness to it. Great. What keeps that protected?
Can the .zip signing process be both decentralised for those who prefer this or is this a security can of worms?
Is the UI and audio designed like iOS or is it just another mess like Android?
In other words, do you see a basis of a great alternative because it has it's own merits in design? Or is the only thing going for it a more open design?
In my opinion, currently the only advantage is the open nature and how you are in control of your data on the device quite easily.
UI is simplistic to a fault and there are tons of missed opportunities to make it work and flow easily. Performance is pretty poor considering how it looks and the specs of the Flame.
Advantages: Themes and add-ons are coming. They're in the emulator build to test. This is incredibly exciting if Mozilla manage to not **** this up completely or hobble it to make it completely ****ing useless.