back to article Woz praises Android, blasts iPhone limitations

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has underlined his love for Android handsets, stating his gripes with the iPhone and why in many ways he prefers Google's OS. He even claimed voice commands worked better on Android, as does the GPS system, the Daily Beast reports. “My primary phone is the iPhone, I love the beauty of it. But I …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Bonce
    Mushroom

    Light blue touch-paper

    Stand well back.

    1. Steve Evans

      Hey, move over, there must be more space behind the sofa, stop hogging it all!

      1. K. Adams
        Alert

        "...there must be more space behind the sofa..."

        Let's hope the cushions are made of a properly flame-retardant material...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Um!!!

      I wonder if Apple is going to sue him after those comments?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      A Gerald Ratner moment

      I think.

  2. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Yay Woz!

    Always respected the Woz. He approaches hardware objectively and is not afraid to give his opinion (pro or con) based on the actual design and performance of a piece of gear.

    Whether you are pro-Apple or pro-Google, the Woz tells it like it is.

    1. Piro Silver badge
      Pint

      That's because he's an engineer

      Not like Jobs, who was more of a visionary.

      Wozniak has been too under-emphasised in the success of Apple - Jobs took advantage of his skills, I believe.

      Still, at least he doesn't have to worry about offending Jobs now. I don't think he'd have said this in such plain terms before.

    2. ChrisC Silver badge

      "the Woz tells it like it is"

      As you'd expect from someone with an engineering background.

    3. Giles Jones Gold badge

      He's an electronics engineer, he enjoys fiddling with all the nuts and bolts. He isn't representative of the average person.

      1. David 164

        Which he recognise in the statements he gave.

    4. admiraljkb
      Thumb Up

      Woz

      The actual brains of the *original* Apple, with nary a marketing bone in his body obviously. But he's an engineer's engineer! Woz - I respect, admire and definitely just like the guy.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TRAITOR.

    1. januaryfirst

      FRONTSTABBER.

  4. Pabs
    Mushroom

    Malware...

    The only problem I have with Android is Malware and lack of app store control...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Malware?

      Wow - how much malware have you received on your Android device?

      You must be really, really unlucky or just quite gullible to have it cause you a problem?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Right and the "stringent checks" that come into play with the apple system mean that malware has never happened, other than when the phone itself was storing info it shouldn't or when the program got in that was sending texts out without people knowing, or the one snooping on your phoen book (both of which they used the secret kill switch for i believe)

        Or the current one of a game with tracks directly copied from mario kart that is available for sale.

        Yes the stringent checks that apple stop everything bad from getting onto the app store, also it makes pigs fly as well.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Security is never 100%

          Security is never 100%. But Apple's is 99.99% versus Android's 0%. I guess if you have a binary mentality (and don't know how to round) then 99.99% = 0%, but for most of us there's a slight difference.

          1. tomsk
            WTF?

            Whatever your assessment of the differences in security between iphones and android phones, it’s obviously impossible to take anyone seriously who thinks it’s of this kind of magnitude – apple 99.9% effective, android 0% effective, or in other words Apple infinitely better. Fanboyism of the most comical stripe.

          2. David 164

            Security experts have shown ways to get passed Apple security checks. In fact one researchers got a spyware packed app release on Apple app store.

            Apple security is worst than Android for the simple fact that Apple and it fanboys and girls believes Apple security is 99.99 % secure. Why Android use know that Android is far from being 100% secure.

          3. Craigness
            WTF?

            Security is 100% on android

            Android only allows apps to do what users agree to let them do when they install the app. That can't be less secure than iOS.

            1. ratfox
              Stop

              @Security is 100%

              Erm: In practice, that means that almost every app from Angry birds to wallpapers asks for every permission in the book. So yeah, you can refuse to install these apps... if you don't want to have any apps on your phone.

              Try to find, say, a Sudoku app that asks for NO permissions. Go ahead, I'll wait.

              1. ChrisC Silver badge
                FAIL

                Actually, in practice it means nothing of the sort. UC Berkeley published a paper titled "Android Permissions Demystified" which found that, out of a sample of 940 apps, only one third asked for more permissions than were required, and of those third, over half only requested one additional permission, and only 6% requested more than 4 additional permissions. And this seems to reflect my experience with the 134 apps I've installed on my own device. BTW, of the three different versions of Angry Birds on my phone (original, seasons and Rio - all the free versions), none of them ask for more than a handful of permissions.

                And it's important to understand that just because an app asks for permissions doesn't mean it's up to something dodgy. I'm not about to trawl the entire Market checking the permissions on every single Sudoku app out there right now, but a quick check of the two on my phone show that one of them (Andoku Sudoku) only asks for access to the SD card and the vibrator. Meanwhile its successor (Andoku 2) in its free incarnation only additionally requests internet access (to download ads - though it works OK in areas of no network coverage too...).

                1. ratfox

                  Point in case

                  When I install something on my computer, I can block it from accessing the internet. And why would a Sudoku app access the SD card anyway??

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Why access the SD Card?

                    Perhaps to install itself on the SD card?

                  2. Daf L
                    Pirate

                    RE: Point in case

                    "When I install something on my computer, I can block it from accessing the internet"

                    Really, Have you blocked every program on your PC apart from a select few from accessing the internet?

                    Does any program on a PC tell you it needs to use the internet before you install it?

                    Do you stop all programs on your PC from accessing your hard disk and set up individual permissions for all of them so they can only access a specific area of userland?

                    Do programs on your PC ask you before they can access your USB port, or access your printer?

                    Do you only get programs for your PC from a safe area, where all the programs have had their source reviewed and checked for malware or bugs? Any software downloaded from a manufacturers website or bought in retail packaging hasn't been checked.

                    How much junk is out there that you could install on your PC?

                    Android is far, far safer in all these respects. But still gives you the freedom to decide yourself what gets installed (after knowing the permissions it needs) without anyone telling you that you are not allowed to.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wel in that case you're either an Apple fanboi/shill trying to stir up non-existent shite or you've been a naughty person and downloaded naked boob apps from some very dodgy places! I've stuck to Google Marketplace, downloaed something like 175 apps in 2 monhts and haven't had one problem that I am aware of on my rooted SGS2 from O2.

      So why don't you just bugger off back under your bridge troll!

  5. Annihilator
    Go

    If only

    Shame Woz can't post that summary in every flame war on the Internet around iOS vs Android, he's summed it up brilliantly: for those who like tinkering, get an Android; for those who just want a instant gratifying/usable (but inevitably restrictive as a result) experience, get an iPhone.

    It's why I use an iPhone. I *could* put the effort into an Android (and did try for 2 months - one of the few people I talk to that has honestly lived with both devices) but ultimately don't have the time or inclination to do such a thing for my phone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What effort?

      I got my wife to get an Android phone at her last upgrade and she is as technically illiterate as they come. She has had no problems getting it to do everything she wants it to do and I haven't had to give her any support - unlike my sister-in-law with her iphone who seems to ring me about every little thing.

      1. Disintegrationnotallowed
        WTF?

        And???

        My girlfriend is very technically literate, and has Android which drives her insane as it requires serious effort and swearing to get it to simple things like join our home network (which she has to do manually every single time), adding new email accounts, transferring data, getting more apps on to her phone with an SD card, etc etc

        Your point proves nothing, and neither does my gfs inability to get along with Android.

        1. Robin Bradshaw
          FAIL

          You are a troll and i claim my £5

          Ok ill bite, what sort of cheap nasty chinese knockoff android phone did you buy for your girlfriend?

          "join our home network (which she has to do manually every single time)"

          Are you hiding the SSID of your network? thats the only thing that springs to mind that might stop the phone connecting as soon as you turn on wifi and a hidden ssid doesn't really offer any security.

          "adding new email accounts"

          Ill give you this one, in my guise as an evil spammer i find updating all the email accounts i burn through in a day a real chore.

          "transferring data"

          Plug in usb cable, enable usb storage, copy. Or if your like me and too lazy to get out of the chair and find a usb cable upload the data to your website and download it to the phone with the phones convenient built in web browser (yes i really did that)

          "getting more apps on to her phone with an SD card"

          Inconvenience is the price of piracy, you do have the option of using the market but you'd have to pay for some of the apps then.

          1. Disintegrationnotallowed
            FAIL

            I love fandroids

            As condescending as usual, no wonder you are the tech equivalents of dinosaurs. Also shows you did not read nor really understand the point of the post.

            Anyway the phone is the samsung s9000, so no not a cheap £5 device, "cheap" agreed as that is what she wanted to determine if she wanted an smartphone.

            Are you hiding the SSID of your network? Nope, the device simply refuses to connect, we are not running anything strange, any other device (including my new Galaxy S2), connects fine. The s9000 point blank refuses to see the network and simply connect. Could it be something on the LAN? Possibly, do I want to spend any more time trying to fix the stupid thing, no thanks.

            Email: Yes of course it is likely this is the case. Rather than she wants to access her personal email which the s9000 refuses to pick up. Again it is accessible from other devices, PCs, etc. Could I spend another 5 hours trying to determine why her configuration is unhappy? probably..

            I could go on, but seeing as you will have already stopped listening, I will make the point again:

            The suggestion of one person that because their partner works perfectly (when they are tech illiterate), with Android does not prove a thing. It only proves a single use case.

            1. Peter 48
              Stop

              hmmm

              so you admit yourself that you have no problem with other android devices, just this particular Galaxy S. Has it dawned on you that the problem may just be the device itself and not some inherent problem with android?

              1. majorursa

                He probably forgot to open the MAC filter that he tagged ON last time. He should try to connect another _new_ client to the router.

            2. Keep Refrigerated
              Facepalm

              "single use case"

              Umm... which 'single use case' are you referring to?

              The one where someone's tech-illiterate wife is able you use Android with ease, or the one where your tech-(il)?literate girlfriend's phone hardware appears to be defective?

            3. Gerhard Mack
              Stop

              Disintegrationnotallowed is right but the problem isn't Android

              It's a Blasted Samsung issue and I have the same problem with my P1000 Tab.

              They did something strange to their wireless manager and email client. With wireless I am constantly turning it off and then on again to get it to connect to my office and home WiFi networks but my HTC (runs Cyanogenmod) doesn't have that problem. The same goes for email, I can't speak for pop3 but Samsung's clever Email client can't delete IMAP emails from the server so if I delete the message it's gone until the next time it checks the server.

              Someone at Samsung thought they needed to modify Android to make it better and they failed badly.

            4. 20legend

              Try these:

              WiFi Manager

              K9

              AirDroid

              All easily found on the marketplace, all work flawlessly on Galaxy W, all are free and the whole job will take you about 5mins to install and configure.

              HTH.

        2. Jedit Silver badge
          FAIL

          "My girlfriend is very technically literate"

          Really? I can't see how she has problems joining your home network, then. My Droid automatically connects to my home network. It also automatically connects to my friend's home network when I'm visiting her in Edinburgh, to the O2 Cloud network, and indeed to any wi-fi network I have previously given it the password for. Likewise, getting apps onto the SD card is done by a single keystroke in my app manager. Transferring data onto the phone is *literally* a matter of dragging and dropping in Windows.

          I submit that your girlfriend is not technically literate at all, assuming she doesn't live in Canada. And neither are you, or you would have made up better lies.

        3. pochrist
          FAIL

          Wow on what planet are you

          Wow on what planet are you... I have never seen anyone have to join a home network manually eveytime as you say, I have 4 Android Tablets from differn't manufactures and 2 phones and never had this problem, getting Apps from an SD card means your getting from a source outside the Market (which I do on a occasion) but not because of Limitations of Android OS, but by the Limitations of Manufacturer. Your problems are caused by external sources, ie your poor understanding of Local area networks and Blaming the wrong source for your problems. I think she is not as " literate" as you think..

          As for setting up an email account if you don't actually DO it how will it get on the device by "wishing"

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            I've had my Android phone for about 8 months now and I'm still waiting for this "effort" that I'm going to have to put into it... Hasn't happened yet. I'm getting really sick of this particular trolling comment. Maybe it's time for a new one.

            My friend just got her 10 year old daughter a fairly cheap Samsung and she's having no problems with it either, so I really have to question the other commenter with his girlfriend's issues too. When I walk into any place where there in wifi, my phone pops up a notification that there's wifi available and asks if I want to connect. I set up my Gmail and corporate ActiveSync on my phone with zero problems.

            However, my sister's iPhone can't see half of the wifi networks that my Android can (although they magically show up if she enters the SSID manually) and she's already had to have it replaced once because the battery was only lasting about 5-6 hours.

            Luckily it's much easier to install apps onto an iPhone from the SD card than it is on Android, isn't it? Oh, wait.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I totally agree.

        I support end-users. If I spend a little time explaining whats what, the end user is always 100% happy with their choice of Android handset.

        iPhone users just don't want to listen/learn, it should just work. Well it does, it works well for those brain dead people.

        But for the majority, they can, do and want to learn and understand their phone and what it can do for them.

        The Malware thing! BOLLOX, i've not had any trouble. I tell people to check app permissions before installing and to use a bit of common sense. You don't allow a wallpaper to "make chargable calls" for example.

    2. Ammaross Danan
      Joke

      Pack up

      "well, here’s a [i]phone that is simple to use and does what you need it to do."

      Here's your side of diapers since you likely aren't smart enough to use the Loo either....

  6. Bob Vistakin
    Happy

    Its just about game over for the rest

    The way things are heading there won't be much to tell them apart anyway, especially as its looking more and more like these two will clean up 80%+ of the smartphone market, leaving the losers behind to scrap amongst the dregs.

    1. admiraljkb
      Coat

      The smartphone market is getting fuzzy

      Well, Android is rapidly evolving now at a good clip after a slowish start. iPhone seems stuck in 2007 and little real evolution (outside of slightly improving hardware) as they're too busy with lawsuits right now. Not much innovation coming out of Apple other than rounded corners... That's pretty embarrasing. Apparently they don't feel its worth the effort (or their huge cash bundle) to spend R&D money on it.

      Personally, I think Apple is exiting the smartphone business, which sounds crazy at first until you look at where the focus is. The focus is on iPad currently, and they've shifted resources to that rather than bringing out the much delayed iPhone 5 which is now closing in on a year late on the outside and 6 months late on the inside. Why might they do that? The smarphone is becoming a commodity market now, and without them being willing to take less of a profit cut, they're going to get marginalized (already occurring), and eventually forced out anyway. Another high profit margin company, Cisco (well its CEO John Chambers), states when a market goes commodity, they will exit rather than reduce the margins. Best example there is when they stopped making NICs. So it isn't out of the question Apple deciding to focus on high margin iPads instead and killing off the iPhone. The timing of Woz's statements also hint at something *possibly* afoot long term.

      Of course, much of the above could be complete bollocks, and fair enough if it is. Apple has been too secretive for its own good. Maybe Cook will fix that and he is making some efforts at Glasnost to fix the worst of the Jobs era, but right now the actions of Apple are pointed towards a smartphone EXIT while they continue the tablet ramp-up.

  7. cnapan

    Meanwhile in an office in Apple Head Office

    A shady characters presses a button, speaks into a mike...

    ...Kill him!

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Joke

      .....followed by the strains of "Jerusalem" playing over the office speakers:

      "Siri, you arse! I said 'kill him' not 'killer hymn.'"

      1. Toastan Buttar
        Thumb Up

        axe gravy soup

        Good to see Apple has provided us with a fresh batch of "Newton" jokes for the new millenium.

      2. Someone Else Silver badge
        Coffee/keyboard

        TeeCee...

        ...you owe me a new keyboard!

  8. Frank Bough
    Facepalm

    We all love Woz but...

    ...what he knows about phones can just about be crammed onto the back of an envelope.

    1. sisk

      Woz is one of the top engineers in the world. The man could probably build a phone from chips if he really wanted to. Don't belittle him just because he sees more potential in Android than in iOS.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      sour grapes!

      No one like to hear the truth, cause it hurts.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Mushroom

    GAME OVER

    Taxi for Mr/Ms Fanboi!

  10. TeeCee Gold badge
    WTF?

    Hmm.

    So that's iPhone for the sheep and Android for those with a clue.

    Has Woz taken to summarising the El Reg comments sections?

    1. ThomH

      Not really what he was saying

      That's Android for those who are willing to invest a little time to get a large reward, iPhone for the time starved and those who just don't care. And even then I'm stretching Woz's words. At no point does he invoke the peer pressure or crowd following sentiment that you impute.

      So I'm not sure he's in line with the El Reg gang but I think he's quite right.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Android for those who are willing to invest a little time to get a large reward, BANG ON

        iPhone for the time starved (too time starved to learn how to use your phone! but can turn the telly on and send an email) and those who just don't care, BANG ON! The Brain dead.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          And you had to resort to the pointless insults did you?

          If you want a Caterham Classic, you can pay £15k for a kit to build yourself or £18k for a one already built. Does that make the people who buy the ready-built one brain dead?

  11. b166er

    Ouch!

  12. sisk

    Most??

    In one paragraph you say that he recommends iPhone for most people and in the next you quote him as only recommending it to Mac users and technophobes. Surely Mac users and technophobes don't outnumber the rest of us, so which is it?

    1. Martin
      Thumb Up

      Of course they do!

      Most people are technophobes in the sense he means. They want to pick up a gadget and it should work, and if it doesn't, they don't want to spend time investigating.

  13. DrXym

    Navigation is great on android with one caveat

    Google's navigation app is fantastic. It has far more detail than "thick" satnav apps and tends to give more useful and specific advice too, e.g. knowing which lane to be in, or what the street is called. I tried Copilot and frankly it was useless by comparison though it did work in offline mode.

    Which is where Google's app falls down - you need to be online to use it. It would be great to be able to plan a route in advance and for the app to cache the route and major roads either side and be able to use it offline.

    As an aside, I have a Nokia Lumia 800 and I was looking forward to using the Nokia Drive app which allows you to download maps to the phone. Great when you're in France or somewhere and don't want to be screwed on roaming data. But can use it in offline mode? Nope. The maps might be offline but you still need to go online to find destinations or work out routes to those destinations. This is the worst of both worlds IMO. What is the point of offline maps if you still have to go online to use them? Useless app.

    So my advice is that if you have data then Google's app is superior. If you're offline or roaming then buy a satnav (app) and live with its limitations. And don't bother with Nokia Drive.

    1. sisk

      No offline

      Google Navigation's lack of offline access bit me in the butt once. We stopped for lunch and when we came back out to the car we didn't have data. We were then lost for the next two hours because no one in the car remembered that they still have these analogue things called 'maps' that can generally be picked up in any service station until a week later when someone else pointed it out. I've never trusted Google Navigation without an atlas for backup since.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "Google Navigation's lack of offline access"

        Check again. Google have added map caching for use offline.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Really?

        I have used Google Navigation extensively over the past 15 months and I have travelled through many dead zones with many lunch stops, but it has never failed me that way. My understanding is that it does a good job of caching, but I don't know about that voodoo. Now my Galaxy S's GPS chip is a different matter altogether. It has led me to curse out loud and long many, many times.

        1. sisk

          As long as you leave the navigation app running it's fine. My problem was that I closed it to save my woefully inadequate and desperately in need of replacement battery.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The people I recommend the iPhone 4S for... people who are just scared of computers altogether and don’t want to use them"

    Oh Wow, from the horses mouth comes the truth. I've been saying it for years.

    Apple=brain dead. Gone is that Apple shine.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Woz Sez ..

      Apple=brain dead?

      i = idiot, shirley

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Siri is full of bull?

    So much for the 'It just works' yet again.

    He seems to be saying that Siri used to work for him but they seem to have done something on the 4S that did not happen previously.

    1. Craigness

      From other reports of his comments it sounds like Siri was made worse by having a load of advertising pumped through it. When he doesn't get the answer he used to get, he gets given opportunities to spend money.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dumb tards then.

    Yes, he is saying you buy an iPhone because you are thick.

    There is no mention of standing on street corners wearing a hoodie or shell suit though.

  17. James Katt
    Thumb Down

    Woz is a nut job

    Woz has become nuttier and nuttier as time has passed.

    He no longer has the technical expertise to work at Apple.

    He has become more eccentric with age.

    1. sisk

      Eh?

      He's not that old. At 61 he's not even retirement age yet.

      As for his technical expertise, he remains one of the top engineers in the world. He's probably got more widespread respect than anyone else in the technology sector. If anything he's getting more honest with age (which, given his level of honesty before, would be quite an accomplishment).

  18. Alan Denman

    Oops Woz, what have you done

    The Apple taliban will be after you now.

    1. gazlaz
      Happy

      Um...

      Appliban, shurely?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What would Woz say?

    I would be curious to see Woz's opinion on the Wp7 phones, to be honest. I think he might be able to give an interesting perspective/comparison.

    I personally love my WP7 phone and think it should now be considered a viable option to the other platforms.

    My friends (iPhone owners, mainly) all scoffed when I told them I got a WP7 phone, but when I actually let them use the phone, they were all quite impressed at how fast, intuitive, and smooth it was.

  20. radioaktivty
    Stop

    Love the Woz. But droid fanbois get boring quickly. It's won. There's more droid than ios handsets being sold right now. It's a bit like windows vs osx. You can stop feeling all insecure now. However, it's good to have have competing os's to keep driving innovation, surely? For the record, some of us who do have a clue still have a preference (yes it's a preference, not a religious calling) of ios to android. This doesn't mean I think android is somehow unclean (though it would be nice if they sorted out the realtime audio latency issues and being able to connect through proxy servers without faffery).

  21. Sean Baggaley 1
    FAIL

    ODFO. All of you.

    Woz did the boring engineering shit nobody (aside from other engineers and nerds) actually gives a shit about. Jobs did the rest: the boring management, sales, marketing, packaging and _design_ shit nobody (aside from other managers, salespeople, marketers, designers, etc.) actually gives a shit about either.

    Together, they solved crime!

    Alone, neither would have become famous. Woz may have created the early 8-bit (pre-GUI) Apple machines, but he never wanted to go into business. Without _both_ Woz _and_ Jobs, there would _be_ no Apple. It needed both characters.

    *

    "Creative things have to sell to get acknowledged as such. Steve Jobs didn't really set the direction of my Apple I and Apple II designs but he did the more important part of turning them into a product that would change the world. I don't deny that." — Steve Wozniak.

    Now shut up, all of you, and go to your rooms!

  22. LPF

    There may be more droid handsets...

    But whose making all the money?? ;)

    1. EyeCU

      Easy

      Samsung

      They make money from every android device they sell, from some of their android competitors who source components from Samsung and from every iPhone and iPad sold - guess who's making a lot of the important components

  23. scarshapedstar
    Facepalm

    Never seen Siri work

    Every time my dad has tried to impress me with it, like asking it trivia questions, it returns comically unrelated local businesses.

    E.g. asking it "can wolves breed with dogs?" gave a listing for a local pet store.

    Asking the same question to my Android phone gave me exactly what you'd hope for:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdog

    Having grown up accustomed to search engines, it makes little sense to ask a computer questions in plain English, because unless it's Watson it will inevitably fall short and waste my time. But at least Google doesn't get tripped up on auxiliary verbs.

    1. admiraljkb

      Well, Apple went for "cutesy" with Siri rather than a serious tool. Google is on record as saying they want theirs to work like Star Trek. You ask for info, you get info, no gimmicks. I appreciate that viewpoint, but as an engineer, I would. :)

  24. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    What the

    Why is the Apple Headed Man fighting an arse on a stick?

  25. Julian 3
    Devil

    Heresy

    Any praise of Android is heresy. Steve Wozniak should be hung from the nearest Apple tree! Saint Steve will be turning in his grave.

  26. twilkins
    Thumb Up

    Woz has always been in favour of the separate software / separate hardware approach vs the integrated "we do it all" approach that Apple has taken since the Mac.

    He is however right on the money that Android is actually as good as (and sometimes better) than Android. Apple without Jobs is going to have a tough time over the next decade.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ DrXym

    "The maps might be offline but you still need to go online to find destinations or work out routes to those destinations."

    Excuse me if this is a dumb question, but how would you work out routes to destinations if the phone cant go online to work out where you are?!

  28. Anonymous Cowherder
    Gimp

    I'm an android fanboy

    I've got an android and when my wife was due an upgrade I got her to get an android, we are both happy. I take the micky out iBones and the latte culture...

    I am also writing this on linux and commenting on el reg, I'm a geek.

    2 months ago my 60+ mother in law wanted to join the smart phone world, she runs her own business, has used windows PCs for donkey's and is a more competent PC user than she gives herself credit for but I strongly recommend her get an iphone and she loves it. I also love the fact that the support overhead for me is minimal, she didn't even know she was supposed to plug it into her PC to do certain things.

    I could have recommended she got an android and with a little bit more handholding she may have got it and fully utilised it but that would have taken more of my time. I think she just wanted an iPhone so that she could say "I've got an iPhone" to her less tech-literate friends, if she had got an android the conversation is a bit different, "I've got an android" "What's that?" It's like an iPhone, but different"....

    I fully agree with Woz, if you just want simplicity get the iBone, if you want to RTFM and have a potentially richer experience, get an android.

  29. Slx

    This is like the Mac V PC religious wars of the 1990s all over again!

    I don't know why people get so invested in an OS!

    Android's a fantastic smartphone OS. It does exactly what it is supposed to do 99% of the time. Apple's iOS is another fantastic smartphone OS and it also does exactly what it's supposed to do most of the time.

    I haven't found anyone who has a major issue with either platform to be perfectly honest.

    The only comments that I do hear quite a lot is that a lot of people are finding the iOS grid of icons on a desktop approach rather limited, particularly if they are familiar with Android.

    The main thing that most people notice is that with iOS, all of your apps are dumped on your home-screens and are rather difficult to sort. Where as on Android, your apps are stored in an apps folder / drawer and you can decide which ones you want to put on your home screens. The ability to add widgets to the screen also differentiates Android.

    Also, you have to compare like with like. Apple does not make low-end smartphones. Where as Android runs on everything from cheap and nasty devices with small screens and limited processing power to devices that have significantly more power than any iPhone. So, it's quite hard to generalise about Android as it is only an OS, it's not an OS + hardware combination unless you're talking about the the Google Nexus range.

    Also, I don't understand why people would want Apple or Google to be the absolutely dominant player. We have a wonderful situation at the moment where several major players are competing in this space and it's driving innovation forward rapidly. Google, Apple, Microsoft/Nokia, RIM/Blackberry are all still there.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like