Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem

ijeff@lemdro.idmod to Android@lemdro.id – 96 points –
Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem
computerworld.com
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I think the point is rather the opposite, what can Android do that iOS can’t? And the honest answer is effectively nothing. It can’t side load unsigned apps. Literally nothing else. So to claim that Android is so super advanced in the article is disingenuous.

As power users we should be watching both mobile platforms closely and honestly, and demanding parity and improvements in both. The moment we declare one “better” and the other one trash is the moment we stop holding our own platform of choice to account for bettering itself.

Just off the top of my head, Android allows multiple browser engines to work on it, allowing firefox to use extensions. Android can torrent, while you can't on stock iOS without hacks. Firefox with extensions on Android is god send if you're a power user.

For someone who claims to be a power user, it's really showing… And don't forget open source ecosystem is much much much bigger on Android.

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Are you for real?

Downloading third party apps is the single biggest advantage I'd argue android has over iOS. This is highly practical - for example, I get zero ads on YouTube, and it even skips the sponsored content. This is free to everyone on Android. You have to pay Google's troll toll if you want half of that on iOS (you cannot pay to skip the sponsored stuff.)

You can also easily, and safely install Roms on Android. This extends support for old hardware out, and gives full control over just about every single aspect of your phone.

Additionally, unless something changed recently, Firefox doesn't have extensions on iOS still. This means you can't use vital plugins looks ublock origin to block ads like you do on your computer.

Next we have one of my favorite features - swapping the entire launcher. You can't do that on iOS, but on Android you can easily switch between really creative and interesting layouts in seconds.

There's a lot of other things Android can do that IOS can't (multiple user accounts, simultaneously running multiple instances of the same app, multi tasking apps in split screen, advanced keyboards that have gifs and such built in, direct and full access to the storage via usb, changing the default system apps, etc.), but the above are the practical ones I use daily.

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