All the very best news on android.com
Prepare for an anti-cr(apple) rant from an Android user.
I'm very passionate about why the Android kills the iPhone, that I don't know where to begin. I'll just jot down what comes to mind and maybe edit later. If you disagree, write to me and I'll be happy to retract anything that isn't correct.
The iPhone 4S which was just released was touted as having Siri, the female bot that talks to you. Android users have already been using Voice Actions from Google for a year or two so this is nothing new. Voice Actions works by long pressing the search button (yes, a smartphone should have a search button! Thank you Google!) and then saying,
- "Navigate to 150 Main Street" (launches navigation to 150 Main St.),
- "Call Dynasty Cleaners" (dials closest match from business search),
- "Send e-mail to Kristen Johnson subject thank you message kristen comma it was great to meet you at dinner last night period would you like to do join me for that fundraiser question mark" (drafts an e-mail with all the spoken punctuation),
- "set alarm to 7am".
- Play Bob Dylan (pulls up music app and plays all Bob Dylan matches in your pre-loaded music)
- And more. Other voice commands are executed as google searches.
Siri is a late newcomer to the scene. The difference is that it talks back to you which I don't like (not that I don't like women who talk back) because it just takes longer. I'd rather have the phone just perform the action on the phone tell me what it will do. Siri may be developed to perform more tasks, but I'm sure Voice Actions's next stride will surpass Siri.
It's funny how Apple goes around suing the whole world for stealing their "ideas", meanwhile, the new pulldown notification bar on the iPhone 4S has been with Android from the beginning of time. Fortunately for Apple, Google won't sue them for "patent infringement".
Google Maps: Far more superior on the Android than on the iPhone. And it's extremely important because Google Maps is only second to calls and texts in terms of smartphone usefulness. The Android has free GPS navigation which means if you drive you don't need to buy a Garmin or TomTom. I don't have a car, but I've used this on trips where I was able to put it on the dashboard and make calls on speakerphone simultaneously. It just awesome beyond compare! There are other features in the Google Maps app for Droid that make it so much more useful than the Google Maps for iPhone (offline maps anyone?).
Google Voice: For the entire first year I was using the Droid, Apple did not allow the Google Voice app for iPhone. This is what I call anti-competitive activities which have been pretty much illegal in this country for nearly 100 years. Those who use Google Voice know how awesome it is and want it on their Droids (free texting anyone?). Apple finally consented to allow the Google Voice app, but once again it lacks features that the GV app for Droid has.
Over the air updates: OS updates on the Droid come without plugging into your computer. In fact, I rarely ever need to plug my phone into the computer for reasons other than charging the phone. This is how it's done: I wake up in the morning and look at my phone and there's a notification pop-up: "System update available. Install now? Later?" It's already downloaded, I just tap now and it updates, reboots and is done in a couple of minutes. IPhone users will have to wait for the iPhone 5 to enjoy this convenience.
The flexibility in customization of the Droid is light years apart from the iPhone. I once downloaded the CyanogenMod version of Android from the web, flashed the ROM and installed the newer version in under 20 minutes all while sitting in the backseat of a friend's car. It was as if I was working on a desktop. I can't imagine this is possible with the iPhone.
The Droid is way ahead as far as new advancement in technology. At the time I'm writing this, 4G (or "LTE") phones have been available from Android for 8 months, but a 4G iPhone has not yet been released, nor has a release date been set.