Smartphones are MORE than just a Need now. An Average Human in UK has their everyday lives surrounded by it. Making a Choice of Platform is a tricky one. Decide on the basis of your Needs or wherever your Loyalties lie. Only Three Options for You!
Smartphone market is overcrowded which leaves consumer wondering. They spend hours searching for phones which will suit their needs but platform is what they miss. Its best advised to choose your platform then go in the depths to find a suitable Phone for yourself. Platforms are only three, making the chase short. Even then it can be a tough decision to make.
The three choices are of iOS 8 (iPhone), Android 5.0 and Windows Phone 8.1. All of these are great operating systems which have been released to international level. The development teams are well spread out and mobile carriers support them all. iOS is from Apple, Android from Google and Windows Phone from Microsoft. All these companies are giants and multi billionaire corporations. The choice you’d have to make will come down to which OS suits your needs in a better way.
To help you with finding out the right answer for yourself, everything would be discussed in parts to give a wholesome review of each feature of these platforms. It’ll go with the most important things to the least important ones.
Affordability
Yes it’s true that this factor might not be the deciding one for some consumers but it’s inarguably the one most people care about.
iOS 8 comes preloaded exclusively with iPhone so it’s the matter of iPhone itself. It is aimed at users who actually do not care much about price rather than as a status quo. They are mostly quite pricey when they come in the market like iPhone 6 which costs £539. It’s not made for low budget users, neither does it intend to.
Android phones have a huge range of phones. From low-end budget phones to high-end flagships from major manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG and many more.
Windows Phone 8.1 devices also range from low-end budget ones to high-end expensive models. Majority of the windows phone market is from Nokia (now owned by Microsoft) under the Lumia series.
User Interface (UI)
This is the most important feature for many users and second only to affordability. It’s one of those factors which can make you to buy a phone. It is basically dependent upon the User interface (UI) of the operating system.
- Homescreen
Android and iOS have similar designs when it comes to this. Both offer a Homescreen with apps that are put on horizontal paginated tabs that you can swipe with touch gestures. Windows Phone however has tiles on Homescreen and the complete list of apps in vertical format on the right of Homescreen.
- Quick Settings
iOS contains quick settings view which shows almost all the settings that you can toggle. Android and Windows Phone offer Toggle Settings in the notification panel dropdown. Windows phone however only has 4 custom toggles of your choice. The new Windows 10 will allow 12 Settings toggle.
- Multi-tasking
iOS, Android and Windows Phone offer Multiple windows for multi-tasking. iOS and Windows Phone offer horizontal paginated tabs but Android has Vertical tabs. iOS also gives the feature of calling or messaging recent contacts from the same screen.
- Keyboard
iOS, Android and Windows Phone offers Predictive text but only the latter two give the feature of Swiping through the keyboard to type, something which apple still lacks.
- App Drawer
iOS and Windows Phone do not have an app drawer. However Android offers an App drawer which separates widgets from apps. Windows Phone offers tiles which are chosen by the user and the complete list is on the right side.
Apps
When it comes to Apps in App Store iOS app store has 1.2 million, Android Play Store has 1.3 million and Windows Phone app store contains 300,000 apps. Even though more apps do not mean clear disadvantage it surely shows the consumer attention hence that of developers.
iOS by far contains most high quality apps as compared to the others. Windows Phone app store might be small but all the useful daily apps can easily be found in it but updates take a long time to roll out.
Battery Performance
Even though this highly depends on the device but the software battery consumption is what is of concern. iOS 8 brought many twitches to improve battery life as required by users but the new iPhone 6 with its bigger display brought only dismay.
Android offers battery saving options just like Windows Phone but Android is found to be heavier than the latter one hence consumes more battery. Being lightweight and not a Battery hog Windows Phone goes easy on Battery to stand out longer. Again its dependant on the devices’ own battery specifications.
Customisability
iOS does not offer much customisation other than the Homescreen and Lockscreen wallpaper. Android basically offers so much so that you can make it look like iOS and Windows Phone (enough said). Windows phone also brings considerable customising options but still not even near to that being of Android.
Camera
Again this depends highly on the device you are using the platform on. It is only going to compare the app that the operating system offers. iOS has a neat and rich camera app with lots of stuff to mingle within it.
Windows Phone (Lumia) also provides a rich user interface of the camera app with lots of features. Android 5.0 even though brought a lot in the new version still is not that awesome as compared to the other too.
Apps Side Loading
iOS and Windows Phone both discourage the side loading of apps. iOS with Jail breaking option can be made to install 3rd party apps but Windows Phone doesn’t leave the margin for that. Android has a whole community of 3rd party developers and gives a lot of options to load paid apps freely and non-official apps.
OS Updates
When it comes to OS updates, iOS is more frequent in rolling out updates to fix errors and bugs. Second in this race would be a tie between Android and Windows Phone. Android tends to focus more on updates that bring real changes rather than tweaks to make stuff better. Unlike Windows Phone which uses the combined strategy of both platforms.
Rooting, Boot loading and Jail breaking
All of it is possible on Android and after doing it you get a gigantic set of new stuff that you can mess with in the Operating system. iOS once jail broken can be used to side load apps and some other customisation features are also made available. Windows Phone 8.1 doesn’t give any space for it to be broken apart at any cost. However Rooting and Jail Breaking voids the warranty of the phone so you ought to be very careful about this matter.
Voice Assistants
All three of them offer voice assistants as an advanced feature where you can do stuff with a voice command. Siri is for iOS, Google Now for Android and Cortana for Windows Phone. Cortana hands on beats everyone else as Microsoft sure put specific emphasis on it. With it you can write messages, search the phone/internet, open apps and so much more.
Final Verdict
The choice lies in your hands even at the end. All platforms have their cons and pros. iOS and Android have been there in market for quite a long time so they offer mature operating systems. Windows Phone being new still has to go through the entry barriers from the former ones. Even though it has been amazingly sturdy so far the bumpy road has not ended yet. Windows 10 Mobile is the upcoming thing which most users are anxious about.
Hope you make the right choice though!
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