natehoy
Well-known member
- Sep 2, 2011
- 2,667
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Maybe, or maybe one will become the bleeding-edge that reshapes the boundaries of what is possible, and the other will be the also-ran that actually works most of the time.
Don't get me wrong, but I've been in the Linux/Android world for some time, and I've slowly come to the realization that not everyone is a tweaker and a lover of things that push the boundaries (at the risk of occasionally breaking them).
Say what you will about iPhones, but they do have one major advantage. They Just Work. Apple builds their devices to the Lowest Common Denominator, meaning they have lost their edge as a risk-taker, but they do have a reputation for taking the time to make things easy to use before releasing them, and insisting on a consistent user experience by keeping any apps from messing with base functionality.
This is not what you and I are looking for in our phones or our computers, but it is what most people are looking for. Something that just works.
By the same token, I bet very few of us buy kit cars and spend time and effort re-chipping our cars or messing with them.
To the iPhone crowd, it's a phone that has a fixed list of features that work. It's the "Toyota" of the smartphone world. They aren't terribly sexy, but they just plain work, and the company spends a lot of time making sure they do. When problems crop up, they'll do the usual corporate denial ("floor mats" versus "you're holding it wrong"), but they eventually fix the problems.
The Android is more like Lego. Things don't always work QUITE so smoothly (we have to buy upgrades to Pico if we want to understand our phones, the FFC still doesn't work on the Tbolt in Google Talk even now that we have long-delayed GB), but we have the freedom to find our own solutions. I can replace the keyboard, replace the launcher, replace the voices, and even replace the whole farking OPERATING SYSTEM if I have a mind to.
But few people have a mind to. They don't want to tweak and hack and fribble around with their phone/fondleslabs, they just want them to work as phones and fondleslabs.
I think that, until you get an Android manufacturer who steps back from the frantic pace of FASTER, MORE FEATURES and really honestly puts some effort into making their phones work as perfectly as possible in every way, Apple will still have a market for the iPhone.
One example of this is screen size and 4G.
Apple isn't going to expand the screen size. They aren't going to add 4G. They know what both of them do to battery life. They'd end up with a Thunderbolt without the ability to add an extended battery, and it'd be a publicity NIGHTMARE. Honestly, with current battery technology, and especially with the pathetic battery HTC chose for the Tbolt, a 4.3" screen is way too big for this phone and a 4G radio is too aggressive, and the extended battery (which I have) is still only barely adequate and makes it look all lumpy and chunky to boot.
If they wanted this big, beautiful screen and power-sucking 4G, they really should have thickened the whole phone by 1/4" and put in a 4Ah battery, paired it with a 2A charger instead of the 1A we got, and called it a day. 2-hour recharge time plus a solid 24 hours of heavy usage even on 4G, and a few days of moderate use? I'd pay a few ounces of weight for that! But HTC wanted thin, sexy, light, AND huge screen. And the current technology just doesn't support that.
I love this phone, and I love this screen, but I'm willing to take the time and effort to tweak brightness settings and get apps to help me do so. I don't have 4G and don't really care about it, but I understand that some people want more instant gratificaiton than I do. But they also have to expend additional effort managing their battery.
Apple's going to do what they need to do in order to maintain acceptable battery life and offer an acceptable user experience. So they keep the screen small and focus on insanely high resolution and a faster video card, both of which offer improvements to the experience with less impact on battery. Instead of speeding up the data, they offer animations and other time-consumers to make the phone feel faster without needing the additional carrier speed.
Apple is catering to the vast majority of consumers who just want to go and pick up a commodity item that works like their best friend's commodity item.
Android is catering to those who want to push the bleeding edge of technology, and understand that sometimes the bleeding edge cuts deep (hence the name!).
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