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back to article Woz he talking about? Apple co-founder wants iPhones to run Android

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has infuriated fanbois everywhere after suggesting the fruity firm should start building Android iPhones. The corpulent Cupertinian said said he owned all three colours of the iPhone 5S, but would rather the fruity firm jettisoned iOS in favour of the other operating system. Fanbois lambasted …

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    1. Ian 56
      Reply Icon

      When asked, my iPhone-using friends only ever mention two "features" - build quality, and the ecosystem (i.e. the fact that apps work together seamlessly), and it's the second that really matters to them. Neither of those need to be any issue at all - assuming Apple wanted to come over to the light side.

      The OS "experience" is obviously weak compared to equivalent Android and Windows devices.

      The appstore has a larger selection than the Play Store, but that won't last, and in any case Google's store is already large enough to support anything you're likely to need.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      iOS is the jewel in the crown - the hardware is great but iOS, iCloud, iTunes and the app store are what makes it better than Android.

      Errr

      I think you'll find iTunes is why so many people wouldn't touch Apple with a barge pole. iTunes has to be one of the worse bits of SW ever to disgrace the world.

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  2. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Woz's comments make more sense in the context...

    ...of his previous musings... specifically, on the subject of The Ultimate Device for The Consumer. Basically, there may be aspects of iPhones and iOS he likes, and aspects of Android and of Android handsets he likes - and he knows that he will never see all these aspects rolled together into his ideal handset, because companies jealously guard what they believe to be competitive advantages.

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  3. Chad H.

    Ive never been a fan of android. maybe its the devices that I've had in my hand, but when I've had them in my hand I've always found the interface to be frustratingly slow to open things and otherwise respond to me.

    Anyone else notice this, or is it just me?

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    1. Beamerboy
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      Well my HTC Widfire was a bit slow, Ok so veeeeeerrrrrrry sloooooow, but not had any issues since I've had my Nexus 5. Though that's like saying a G-Whiz is a bit slow but my Ferrari seems to be alright for speed!

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    2. GregC
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      When/what device was the last time you used Android?

      What you're describing sounds like the first Android device I had, a Galaxy S2 running Gingerbread - compared with an equivalent iPhone at the time the UI definitely felt slightly sluggish.

      The Nexus 4, 5 and 10 that I've had since then on the other hand are every bit as quick and smooth as any iPhone I've used.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        I still find the S2 a snappy little phone, my old S1 is a slug, but for the day was fine.

        The S2 has had update after update each one making it seem that little bit slicker, and it runs MineCraft just fine for my son!

        Even the S1 runs minecraft, if a bit slow...

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      2. Chad H.
        Reply Icon

        @GregC

        January. Admittedly it was better than the last time I held one about a year earlier.. the experience going from me tapping 2-3 times (and then makin things worse) because it was long enough for me to presume a failure to register to taking just enough time to make me wonder if it had registered my touch, but still seemed very slugish when compared to iOS.

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    3. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Not just you, 4 cores @1.7 Android is slower than 2 cores @1.5 QNX

      Android is just a really poorly optimized OS, Linux shares much the same traits.

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      1. Miek
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        Linux

        "Android is just a really poorly optimized OS" -- No, Android is implemented in "Java" hence it's apparent sluggishness ~(I do not find it at all sluggish on my S3).

        "Linux shares much the same traits." -- You spelled Windows wrong.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Sluggish indeed, atleast they're honest with the naming; Android quicksand, jelly, treacle, sticky chocolate et al

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        2. Adam 1
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          >"Linux shares much the same traits." -- You spelled Windows wrong.

          You spelt spelt wrong. ;p

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          1. Miek
            Reply Icon
            Linux

            You forgot your GRAMMAR NAZI icon.

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    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      "Ive never been a fan of android. maybe its the devices that I've had in my hand, but when I've had them in my hand I've always found the interface to be frustratingly slow to open things and otherwise respond to me."

      If that is true, then a supposedly superior Apple hardware build running Android would change your mind.

      But since Apple devices have basically always been Samsung hardware with an Apple case on it, your perceived difference is really just that, your perception.

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      1. Chad H.
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        Bullseyed

        >>If that is true, then a supposedly superior Apple hardware build running Android would change your mind.

        I have no idea how you got there from there. If the issue was with Android, then I dont see how simply slapping an apple badge on it woudl change things.

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  4. cs94njw

    Well.. they could follow Microsoft mentality.

    Embrace and extend. Take Android, fork it, add usability, and slowly make it incompatible with other Android devices...

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    1. Tim99 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      Wrong Company?

      @cs94njw

      Well.. they could follow Microsoft mentality.

      Embrace and extend. Take Android, fork it, add usability, and slowly make it incompatible with other Android devices...

      It seems that was what Samsung was doing. Maybe they will fall back into line after Google got rid of Motorola: digital trends.com, but It would be foolish of them to drop plan B: kdramastars.com

      We really need a Google icon, unless this one will do for now? >>-------->

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  5. sisk

    I can see his point. Apple's hardware isn't bad, but I loath iOS with a passion. I wouldn't buy an Apple Android even if they did exist. Nor would any other fandroid. Nor would any fanboi. It would get relegated to the technically ignorant crowd who'd see it as simply "That new iPhone with more buttons"

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      "I can see his point. Apple's hardware isn't bad, but I loath iOS with a passion."

      Part of the problem is how Apple sells the same hardware as Samsung, just with 50% margin though.

      This Apdroid phone would have to have a fair pricepoint, unlike the iPhone.

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  6. Mark Southcombe

    And Mac's should run Linux!

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    1. Lars Silver badge
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      "And Mac's should run Linux!". They do if you choose to. Still Woz, why are you talking.

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    2. Chad H.
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      They already run BSD.

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    3. sisk
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      I had a G4 that ran Debian at one point. It was given to me and it took me about 15 minutes to decide OSX had to go.

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    4. T. F. M. Reader
      Reply Icon

      Linux on Macs and Android on iPhones

      @Mark Southcombe: "And Mac's should run Linux!"

      I assume they still do. Years ago I grabbed an unused G5 from under a co-worker's desk and installed RedHat on it. My intent was to play with PowerPC's LPARs (Intel didn't have HW virtualization support yet). I quickly learned that Apple had made IBM disable the virtualization features in PPC970, which otherwise would be a perfectly good POWER4. Kinda obvious once you learn which side of Apple's sliced bread is buttered, but on that occasion the possibility that a HW company would deliberately cripple its own CPU didn't occur to me in time. I made the G5 a (Linux) development server instead. Servicing it, compared to IBM/Lenovo PCs, was a pain, as I recall.

      Back on topic: how crippled would Android be on iPhone HW? NB: no criticism actually intended - iPhones may have been specced with iOS design in mind, which I would assume may be very different compared to an Android phone designed to run a (more) open OS. Hence some stuff common on Android may be degraded on or difficult to port to an iPhone. Does anyone know?

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  7. John Riddoch
    Facepalm

    No, for one very good reason...

    We (the consumers) need to have some kind of competition in the phone operating systems. If Apple did the unthinkable and adopted Android, it would remove competition from the market and leave competition essentially between Google & MS with Blackberry a distant 3rd.

    For reference, I prefer Android and use that, but I wouldn't want it to become too dominant in the market for the reasons above.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No, for one very good reason...

      "We (the consumers) need to have some kind of competition in the phone operating systems. If Apple did the unthinkable and adopted Android, it would remove competition from the market"

      If Apple offered an Android phone, it wouldn't remove iOS from existence. This would be a supplemental product for Apple, not their flagship. This was clearly stated in both the Woz quotes and the Reg article. I suggest English lessons.

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  8. jonathanb Silver badge

    Macs can run Windows, so why not? The iPhone hardware is capable of running Android without modification.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Already been done many times

    It's called iDroid. It installed on a jailbroken iPhone. Don't think the project has been updated in a couple years though.

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  10. Bladeforce

    Ha!

    Apple's Android phones would be abysmal. They'd lock out all the great options you get in a heartbeat. Can't stand Apples walled garden. ITunes is pure bloat and follows Apples tradition if crappy programming. QuickTime anyone?

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    1. Miek
      Reply Icon
      Linux

      Re: Ha!

      "QuickTime anyone?" -- No thanks.

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    2. Micky 1
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      Re: Ha!

      "They'd lock out all the great options you get in a heartbeat."

      What great options? Once you have played with a phone for 30mins after getting it out the box you only end up using the base OS for navigating to the apps that you actually want to run (and texting and phoning of course) So once you have got over yourself and stopped showing your mates the new shiney it really is just about the apps that are available. Both platforms have tons of apps...the iPhone ones tend to look nicer in general though, where as the Android ones tend to be cheaper.

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    3. Adam 1
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      Re: Ha!

      > QuickTime anyone?

      I would rather real player

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    4. John 62
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      Re: Ha!

      Like Google's walled garden?

      http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/neither-microsoft-nokia-nor-anyone-else-should-fork-android-its-unforkable/

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  11. James Katt

    Woz's Dementia Has Progressively Worsened

    Steve Wozniak's dementia has progressively worsened. He already forgot that Apple created the iPhone, He forgot that Google copied the iPhone to create Android. Woz is confused and did not realize that Apple making an Android phone would be the same as making a copy of a copy of the original iPhone. Uh why? are the right words.

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  12. Semtex451
    Gimp

    Ok I was trying to avoid this but...

    Give me a walled garden over an open sewer, any day.

    Yes iOS is far from perfect but until Kitkat is on both the landfill roids and the high end, there's still too much fragmentation in design function and crapware.

    Hopefully when 5.0 comes, Android will have matured enough to be worthy of iPhone hardware.

    (Taking cover behind wall, leave out the face with that bat)

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      "Ok I was trying to avoid this but...

      Give me a walled garden over an open sewer, any day."

      How does one get started in the paid shill industry, anyway? Seems like a viable side job for those of us with desk jobs that offer some free time.

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      1. Frankee Llonnygog
        Reply Icon

        Re: How does one get started in the paid shill industry, anyway?

        Contact Samsung's marketing agency

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  13. Miek
    Linux

    http://www.idroidproject.org/

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  14. chivo243 Silver badge
    Pint

    Two pieces of the pie?

    Why not? Would make perfect maniacal sense. You can order the same model of car with a different engine than your neighbor.

    Would the users be called “boidroids”?

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  15. Darryl
    Mushroom

    One thing would happen though

    Remember the Samsung commercial with the iPhone lineup and the one guy with the 'head explodes' over them moving the headphone jack?

    Put Android on an iPhone and a lot of hardcore fanboys' heads would literally explode

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  16. Azzy

    I know people who'd buy an android iPhone

    Within my circles of friends, I don't have trouble finding someone who prefers the design of the iPhone (even with the small screen and second rate hardware specs) - but most of these people still use an android phone and/or complain bitterly about the limitations of iOS.

    There are people who like the hardware design decisions, but not the software ones. All apple would need to do is make it possible for someone to install a non-standard OS on an iPhone, and some genius on XDA would figure out how to make android run...

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    1. Tim99 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: I know people who'd buy an android iPhone

      @Azzy

      I was going to stay out of the "My Android phone is better than the rubbish iPhondle thing that fanbois use" debate (I use a 14 year old Nokia), but your comment:

      Within my circles of friends, I don't have trouble finding someone who prefers the design of the iPhone (even with the small screen and second rate hardware specs)...
      - Could be seen as ironic, uninformed, or taking the piss.

      There aren't many 64-bit Android phones now, but they will obviously be superior to the current second-rate 64-bit iPhones really soon: phonearena.com.

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  17. David Kelly 2

    CP/M Envy

    Woz was quoted saying about 35 years ago that he wished he had used or could have used an 8080 or Z80 in the Apple ][.

    He did a fantastic job on the Apple ][ and the later floppy disc controller, apparently bucking his own lust for compatibility and conformity.

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  18. Demosthenese

    Could...

    "There’s nothing that would keep Apple out of the Android market ... We could compete very well ... We could play in two arenas at the same time.”

    Nothing to suggest should or would.

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  19. Frankee Llonnygog

    Apple devices should run iOS, and other phones should run Android, Windows, or whatever

    Having an OS monoculture which is ultimately beholden to Google will in the long run be of benefit only to Google.

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  20. Frank N. Stein

    Why? Why bog an iPhone down with a stuttering, stumbling Android OS? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

    www.mobiletechnologytalk.com/challenges-for-microsofts-new-ceo

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  21. Vociferous

    this is what happens when you use linux.

    soz, woz.

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  22. king of foo

    I have a dream...

    "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a world where their phones will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their SD cards."

    Cross platform operabilty... Now if only there were some way of coding once and then letting the operating system (whatever it may be) interpret that code and run it on whatever architecture it happened to be running on...

    Um... Hang on... Didn't someone already have this idea? WHO F*@#£D IT UP THEN??? And how do we fix this?

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    1. Adam 1
      Reply Icon

      Re: I have a dream...

      I have a dream that one day phone manufacturers will stop ruining perfectly good phones by not including sd card slots.

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  23. 60srocker

    Sounds like a good idea to me!

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