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It doesn’t take a self-help author to see that Android and iOS users tend to be different breeds. Anyone who has read blogs devoted to either platform has seen it. Hardcore Android fans tend to measure devices more on technical specs and the ability to customize. Apple loyalists, on the other hand, lean towards enjoying a smooth, ready-made experience. You could even say that Android attracts objective thinking, and iOS attracts subjective thinking. Android is more math and science, iOS is more art and humanities. We’re generalizing here, but you’ve probably seen more than enough evidence of it to understand the point.
Are there exceptions left and right? You bet. Is one way better than the other? Only you can decide that for yourself (you probably already have).
But just look at the criticisms you typically hear from Android users about Apple products. They often point out features that Android has quietly had for some time — only to have Apple later make worldwide headlines for introducing their own version. From the perspective of objective facts and figures, the amount of attention Apple receives seems ridiculous. Hence, the Apple resentment we see so often.
Apple fans’ dismissals of Android, on the other hand, are often based more on the kind of experience it all adds up to. “Who cares whether specs and features are a little greater if I find it more enjoyable to use them on an iPhone? Why does it matter if Android did it bigger, if Apple did it in a way that’s more fun, attractive, and cohesive?”
Of course many fans from both camps were disappointed that we didn’t see an iPhone 5 with a radical new design and some flashy hardware features. But that’s where the similarities end in reactions to the iPhone 4S.
A5 processor
I read many an Android blog laughing at the hub-bub that Apple made over the A5 processor in the new iPhone. There are already lots of Android phones that have dual-core chips, like the LTE-equipped Droid Bionic, so they saw the A5 as lots of hype over something that’s already been done, many times over. “Now a quad-core phone, that would be something special.”
To an Apple fan, their retort to this is something along the lines of “who gives a hoot if Android phones also have dual-core chips? This is an improved version of the experience I know and love.” The Android side isn’t impressed because the A5 doesn’t top the numbers (measured in cores and GHz) that we have already seen for months. For the Apple side, it’s more like a favorite movie that just got restored and remastered.
Siri
Probably the most noteworthy feature of the iPhone 4Sis the Siri personal assistant. Or, rather, if you’re anApple fan, it’s a personal assistant. If you’re an Android fan, it’s a voice recognition API connecting to servers and a variety of applications and databases to make those iOS users think they have Rosie from the Jetsons.
Android fans have made the point that their platform has had Voice Actions for a while now. Any Android phone will let you use speech to search Google, initiate a phone call, navigate to a specific restaurant, or listen to a song. It can achieve many of the same end results as Siri, no doubt.
To a typical Apple fan, though, Siri will be a conversation with an assistant. “Learning voice commands is for nerds,” they might say. “Just give me a conversation.”
Android Voice Actions can get you from point A to point B. Siri is a personal assistant.
Being an expert vs. going on a ride
Maybe another way to sum up these differences is that Android fans like to be experts, and Apple fans like to go for a ride.
Android can definitely be more complicated than iOS, and I think the hardcore fans like it that way. Rooting your phone, flashing a custom ROM with a new kernel, even learning Voice Actions — they all require a process of research, learning, and, finally, expertise (all of which often takes place in XDA-Developers’ forums). Rocket science? No way. But it has enough of a learning curve that you feel like you’ve accomplished something by mastering it.
iOS is focused on simplicity. Apple doesn’t want you to worry about customizing your phone, beyond changing the wallpaper. That’s their job. You just get to play in the garden that they built. It’s a tailored experience that requires little more than a childlike sense of discovery. Yes, you can jailbreak your phone and install apps that Apple doesn’t want on it, but that’s pretty far from the point.
Different languages
Now, does this mean that all Apple users are technically illiterate Kool-Aid drinkers, or that every Android fan is too hung up on nerdy stuff to enjoy the ride? I don’t see it that way. What it does mean is that each team tends to speak its own language. With many exceptions, Android’s language is full of numbers, stats, and procedures, while iOS’ speaks of journeys, sensations, and adventures.
Is one right? Is the other wrong? Maybe your answer to that says more about you than it does about the subject.
