this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2023

101 points (89.8% liked)

Android

17688 readers

27 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

💡Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.

Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: [email protected]

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: [email protected]

💬Matrix Chat

💬Telegram channels / chats

📰Our communities below

Rules

Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to [email protected].
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to [email protected].
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

See thread

Chat and More

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

101

Google's increasingly prickly Android perception problem (www.computerworld.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

68 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[+] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Meaning, we dont have extension in firefox. We get it.

launchers; icon packs, system ui changes
custom roms
android kitchen to make your own android
those root level apps
adb (wireless as well.)
linux windows interoperability
set your cpu and gpu governor
kde connect and other stuff which wants to work in backend can keep working
others.. i dunno i am bored cannot think of more
ability to pirate apks
third party stores
easier to develop for

But yeah mostly for nerds🤓

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is a great list! Allow me to help expand it:

Multiple user accounts (great for kids)
Multi tasking split screen with different apps
Direct plug-and-play access to files on a computer with a usb cord

And since it's impossible to ignore the fact Android allows for hardware choice, there's hardware benefits like...

Faster charging
Brighter, more advanced screens
High frame rate (Apple is still stuck on 60fps)
Foldable
Better cameras
Charge other devices with your device
External storage Alright, there's a LOT more, but I realized I don't want to do the legwork haha. These are huge features, though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some of those are true I don’t think it’s fair to say Android is easier to develop for. I’ve been developing software for both professionally since 2012, and I would argue iOS may be slightly easier, due to the maturity of the tooling and ubiquitous, predictable, and mature system frameworks. I often find myself reaching for some dependency on Android to provide what a one-liner on iOS can do. Just my two cents.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

While i understand you are coming from, when i said its easy to develop for android i meanT that i can work in almost any os and the tooling will be available to develop. So its easier to start for most people.

I.e. easier to develop without requiring specialized hardware

Other than that, what you said is true. java is a VERBOSE language. Kotlin solves this a little

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Safari is extremely limited, and web developers are starting to hate it. For example, the latest wepm video type that's been out for years doesn't work on Safari. It's the only viable format for making videos small enough to not impact performance.

As such, iPhone and Mac users often don't have the same web experience as literally every other Browser. Not many people know this, but now you do!

Source: I'm a web developer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

really creative and interesting layouts

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you, good bot.