Not a troll/flame: Android fans - Now what is missing?

[TheStu]

Integrating 3rd party apps as in being able to use or set 3rd party apps as default selections for files, functions, etc. Like installing a video player from the market and having it become the default player for media files, or open URL links by default with the browser of your choice, etc.

I use my phone to torrent TV episodes that I can watch on the go (rather than be stuck in my DVR at home). It's just another feature that lets Android be an entire computer replacement for me, while with iOS I'm still relying on an actual computer to do certain things.

Gotcha

By Integrated third party apps I think he means that Android apps can share content between each other and the system unlike iOS. For example whenver I take a picture it is automatically uploaded to dropbox without the need to launch any other apps or use a third party camera app.

I have heard good things about the Sharing system in Android, especially ICS.

 

[JohnAn2112]

I would like to see better third party integration within iOS.

For example, with Android, when I take a picture, I can click "share" and then I get a list of apps where I can share that picture. The list will include MMS, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, etc. This makes sharing way more seamless and I can do all of this without leaving the camera app.

 

[Dominato3r]

Widgets are important for me. I like being able to turn wifi on or off with a tap of a button, change screen brightness, look at twitter and fb updates, and turn off GPS.

All of this without going into any settings or app.

 

[AstroManLuca]

For me, the only thing the iphone was missing before is a big enough screen. I'm sure there's other stuff too, but I don't use any of it. If they put a bigger screen on the next iphone, that's what I'm going to buy.

Yeah, I agree. Well, not completely, I don't think I could switch from Android to iPhone at this point, but I really like the availability of large screens on Android devices and the iPhone's tiny screen is definitely one thing keeping me away from it. Obviously that's a hardware thing not a software thing, but Apple DOES have full control over both hardware and software and they could have made a larger screen device if they had wanted to.

As others have mentioned, USB storage is a big one. I cannot stand Apple software so I'd have to choose between installing horrible bloatware and having a gimped phone if I got an iPhone. The other thing is alternative keyboards and launchers. I love Swype and that's one thing keeping me on Android (since there's no Swype or equivalent for iOS or WP7.5). Although apparently you can install alternative keyboards if you jailbreak. And then of course there's navigation, which Apple is finally fixing.

I don't really care much for widgets but they are kind of nice sometimes. I do like having a clean home screen with only my most-used apps, and then I can hide all my less-used apps behind the app drawer instead of having a wall of icons all the time like on the iPhone. That's just personal preference though.

 

[Munky]

- Does it have multiple home screens?
- Does it have customizable home screen widgets?
- If you have one app open (for example, photo gallery) and from there it takes you to a second app (for example, photo editor), does it take you back to the gallery after you're done using the editor?
- If you're listening to streaming internet radio, can you use the web browser to surf the web?
- Can you install a third party browser and set it as the default? In fact, can any third party apps be set as the default?

It's very telling to see that only now in 2012 does Apple allow you to set music tracks as an alarm tone. Really, it took them 6 revisions to add that ability, when other phones could do it at least 5 years ago? It's incomprehensible how people can put up with such restrictions and limitations while raving how the iphone is the best phone ever.

 

[Ns1]

It's incomprehensible how people can put up with such restrictions and limitations while raving how the iphone is the best phone ever.

It goes both ways.

 

[kyrax12]

Well, since I got ICS on my SGS2 a few days ago the mutli-tasking is phenominal. Does IOS 6 compare to it? That would be major if it did.

Link to the ICS for SGS2?

 

[Aikouka]

Third party browsers and tab syncing: While Safari is pretty good, i need to own a mac in order to be able to use live tab syncing. Chrome is universal

Safari is available on Windows too, and I'm sure it will gain the same feature. The real bummer is the lack of a Windows iMessage client, and honestly... they should make a web-based client.

Also, Firefox supports tab syncing... I think. :hmm:

Personally, I use Atomic Web Browser on my iPhone. I can't sync tabs, but I keep so many tabs open on my desktop that I don't think that I would want to!

Your other three are spot on, but I don't think that iOS is ever going to get them.

I don't think it will ever see Flash either, and after seeing how much of a battery hog it can become on my ASUS TF300, I don't think I want it on my iOS devices. To be fair, Flash would be better if I could just kill all ads, which would greatly reduce the number of them that I see. Unfortunately, Chrome doesn't have add-ons on Android, and Firefox, which does, feels really sluggish compared to Chrome.

 

[bucwylde23]

Kind of mirroring what other people have said but this:

- integration of 3rd party apps into the OS/much better sharing
- Setting apps to default actions other than the stock apps
- Widgets on the home screen. On my iPad it's ridiculous that I have icons spaced so far apart and am not really able to use that space to display information quickly.
- I still prefer the ability to access the file system. In the dropbox app for example I can't save a file then open it up in whatever app that I want. Seems to be more of a "make available offline" option which I hate.

Maybe it doesn't matter to everyone, but for me I have to have an android phone as it currently stands. iOS is just not flexible/powerful enough for my needs on a daily basis. For my iPad, it works well enough since I mainly use that for media consumption.

 

[Robert Munch]

How about auto prediction? Next time you swipe to unlock your phone it'll go the the preferred app or dialer based on a number of times accessed, time of day or maybe recommend?

 

[TheStu]

How about auto prediction? Next time you swipe to unlock your phone it'll go the the preferred app or dialer based on a number of times accessed, time of day or maybe recommend?

Is this something that ICS does? That seems... annoying, to say the least.

 

[WelshBloke]

Is this something that ICS does? That seems... annoying, to say the least.

No its not, you could probably set up Tasker to do something similar though.

 

[Robert Munch]

Is this something that ICS does? That seems... annoying, to say the least.

I'm not aware of ICS doing this type of feature. Could be useful for people that tend to check corporate mail frequently maybe a particular website that's viewed often etc.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm not aware of ICS doing this type of feature. Could be useful for people that tend to check corporate mail frequently maybe a particular website that's viewed often etc.

For Android it would be easier to just have an email widget on your home screen.

 

[AstroManLuca]

CM9 does have a feature where you can configure your lockscreen with extra shortcuts. So on stock ICS, you swipe left to launch the camera and right to unlock. In CM9, you can also swipe up-left, up, and up-right to launch three other shortcuts that you specify.

HTC Sense 4.0 has a similar feature where you can immediately launch any of the four apps in your dock from the lockscreen, or you can jump to your call log or messaging app if you received a missed call or a message.

 

[WelshBloke]

CM9 does have a feature where you can configure your lockscreen with extra shortcuts. So on stock ICS, you swipe left to launch the camera and right to unlock. In CM9, you can also swipe up-left, up, and up-right to launch three other shortcuts that you specify.

HTC Sense 4.0 has a similar feature where you can immediately launch any of the four apps in your dock from the lockscreen, or you can jump to your call log or messaging app if you received a missed call or a message.

WidgetLocker will do the same thing for any Android phone. I forgot about that.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Play a mkv file in the stock from store OS.

 

[poofyhairguy]

WidgetLocker will do the same thing for any Android phone. I forgot about that.

Or the JKay mod on a SGS2.

 

[WelshBloke]

Or the JKay mod on a SGS2.

Is that working on stock rooted ICS SGS2s yet.

/fingerscrossed

 

[gsaldivar]

USB (digital) audio support.

For the love of god, please star this issue:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24614

 

[dagamer34]

Android really needs more smartphone and tablet apps that follow ICS Holo theme guidelines.

 

[ponyo]

OP, did you get the answer you were seeking? Plenty of people have answered and there are things missing or could be improved on iOS6. Android isn't perfect either but it's far more robust and featured OS than iOS. Not that anything mentioned is going to change your mind.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Android really needs more smartphone and tablet apps that follow ICS Holo theme guidelines.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how many of my apps have been updated to include those recently. And for the ones that haven't been updated in a long time, I can usually find a newer replacement that does the same thing but better fits ICS.

 

[WelshBloke]

OP, did you get the answer you were seeking? Plenty of people have answered and there are things missing or could be improved on iOS6. Android isn't perfect either but it's far more robust and featured OS than iOS. Not that anything mentioned is going to change your mind.

I think the advantage Android has is things don't need to be baked into the OS as much as iOS, so any missing features in android are easier to fill with 3rd party apps.

 

[MotionMan]

OP, did you get the answer you were seeking? Plenty of people have answered and there are things missing or could be improved on iOS6. Android isn't perfect either but it's far more robust and featured OS than iOS. Not that anything mentioned is going to change your mind.

So far, it has confirmed my belief that the OS wars are a lot like arguing religion - Interesting, but, in the end, few will be convinced to convert.

MotionMan