Features – Expansion vs Refinement
The tables are turned when it comes to features. While Lollipop is all about refining existing functionality, iOS 8 takes major steps forward. It must be said that for the most part the two operating systems are still in the habit of ripping off the best aspects of one another, but this is no bad thing.
For example, iOS 8 now kills annoying pop-ups with more discreet notifications, the majority of which are also now actionable like in Android (for example, reply direct from a new message notification). It also supports Widgets like Android but only within the Notification Center and has song recognition built into voice searches like Google Voice Search.
The similarities continue with expanded sharing options so you can share content with any installed app again like Android, rather than the rather limited selection in iOS 7, and there is now support for swipe typing (made popular on Android) and third party keyboards, ditto.
Read more – The Best iOS 8 Keyboard Replacements
None of this is to belittle iOS. These are major features. They dramatically improve the user experience and also in many ways signal a welcome change of attitude from Apple in letting third party app developers integrate more tightly into the core of iOS.
Furthermore, while iOS has now caught up with many of Android’s best features, it has also charged ahead with innovative new ones like HealthKit and Apple Pay (more in the ‘Differentiators’ section on the next page). As such iOS 8 comes out firing and snuffs out many of the smug stereotypes Android users have long made about the platform.
By contrast Android Lollipop is less about new features and more about refinement.
Notifications have long been the driving force of Android (and since copied by iOS and Windows Phone) and it gets an entirely new look with pull down shortcuts, expandable notifications with more quick shortcut commands and the ability to disable, snooze or prioritise the notifications from every app from one place. Being able to control this firehose is a godsend.
Lollipop has refined multitasking with the App Switcher moving a
card-like interface which no longer breaks down by app, but instead by
the relevant aspect of that application. So, for example, different tabs
within Chrome or different documents within Google Docs get their own
card allowing you to quickly switch between them.
This means you are no longer going back just to an app, but to a specific thing within that app and Google has also integrated the search bar so it is available at all times.
Read more – How Google Changed Reinvented Android And Nobody Noticed
Then again Lollipop is not too proud to do some blatant copying of its own. From iOS it steals the long awaited Do Not Disturb mode as well as more fully realised lockscreen notifications which iOS has had for years. There is also finally a ‘Tap and Go’ mode which allows owners to restore settings and folder structures from a previous handset – another iOS staple – though it doesn’t yet transfer third party app settings.
64-bit chipset support also arrives and Google has followed Apple in improving developers’ access to graphics processing power, much like ‘Metal’ found in iOS that recently enabled Battlefield 4 to run on an iPad. Finally on the hardware side, Lollipop brings support for USB audio, a similar move to Apple which enabled audio support via the Lightning port – a move which could ultimately do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Meanwhile Lollipop borrows heavily from third party handset makers
(most notably Motorola) with a Battery Saver mode (part of ‘Project
Volta’ – more in the Battery Life section), double tap to wake command
and access to ‘OK Google’ voice commands, even when a phone is locked.
Finally Google steals from itself bringing the profiles mode from Android tablets to all Android phones. This allows you to switch profiles between family members in just a few taps, set up a guest mode or even pin certain apps so they cannot be exited – great for parents giving devices to their children.
New innovations are less obvious this time around, though I would count Material Design as a massive one.
Perhaps the most interesting is Lollipop’s approach to security. Where Apple uses TouchID, Android can now perform handset unlocking through automatic facial recognition while you check lockscreen notifications and it works seamlessly. It also pairs with Android Wear devices so the handset is never pin or password locked while both the handset and wearable are paired and therefore in close proximity. Clever stuff.
Differentiators – Real and False
With iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop drastically improving their functionality and design respectively the two have never been closer, but there are still some key differences.
First the false ones: Apple Pay and Healthkit, Google Wallet and Google Fit, Apple Watch and Android Wear, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Yes all four are extremely important products (and they are only going to get more influential as time goes on), but they aren’t significantly different from one another.
Most notably Apple Pay on its own isn’t particularly new. Google Wallet has long offered touch payments using NFC, but traction is only now being gained with Apple also aboard the wireless transaction bandwagon. What Apple Pay does do is reassure its users thanks to its integration with Touch ID and refusal to store card details.
Consequently, while Wallet is the much older service, Pay has the
momentum and a battle royale is going to be fought here over the next
few years.
Read more – Doctors Raise Concerns About Apple Healthkit
The next false differentiators are the newly launched Apple HealthKit and Google Fit. Both act like catch-all umbrellas for the myriad of fitness apps available in both stores (like the roles of Game Center on iOS and Play Games on Android for your health) and they can compile all their data in one place.
Where they may ultimately differ is partnerships. Some popular apps, like Runkeeper, have already committed to support both HealthKit and Fit but other major companies like Fitbit have yet to commit in either direction. As such the gap may increase, but neither is likely to score an indisputable victory over the other.
Similarly wearables are still too early in their lifecycle to know who will win out. Android Wear has great potential and first generation devices are available now, but they remain limited. Meanwhile the much hyped Apple Watch (complete guide) has the potential to change the industry, but won’t be cheap and the reviews are not yet in.
Read more – Moto 360 Review: The Best Android Wear Smartwatch
As for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay,
both aim to put their respective platforms at the heart of your car’s
entertainment system. Support for both remains incredibly limited so it
isn’t something we can speculate on at this point, but the duo have a
wide array of car manufacturers signed up so it is all about whether and
when they deliver.
So where do the real differentiators lie? Mostly in the smaller details and well worn tracks.
Notably where iOS has mimicked Android features they aren’t necessarily all as fully realised. The aforementioned third party keyboards cannot be used in certain situations (such as with a banking app or in some form filling) and the decision to restrict widgets to the notification center is bizarre as they make ideal, informative fillers in hard to reach areas of the screen.
On larger screens Android also retains an advantage, despite
reachability, by keeping its core navigation buttons at the bottom of
the screen within easy reach and by allowing icons to be positioned
anywhere. Android has long been used on big screen phones and that
experience shows.
Apple’s ongoing insistence that icons must fill up a screen starting from the top left corner is a handover from when iPhones had easy to reach top left hand corners. And you still can’t hide apps from your homescreens so everyone now has a ‘Rubbish’, ‘Unused’ or worse named folder on their iOS devices.
Read more – Apple Made One Massive Mistake In iOS 8
That said where iOS does excel is in its newly launched ‘Continuity’ functionality. This allows users to ‘hand-off’ calls, messaging and more to different devices (notably only Apple hardware), depending on which you are using at any one time. Yes much of Android is founded on Cloud-based continuity (emails, calendar appointments, remote app installation, Hangouts messaging, etc) which works smoothly across OS X, Chrome OS and Windows, but Apple has taken a step ahead here.
More to the point, Continuity’s significant ambition is realised at the first attempt and I had no problem with hand-offs at any point during this review. No doubt Google is going to hit back hard here given its Cloud-focus, but for now Apple has stolen a lead.
iOS does also still present the safer environment. Android’s susceptibility to viruses is misunderstood,
stemming from its ability to access third party app stores, and Google
Play is extremely safe but the association may never be lost.
The same goes for iOS and Android hardware. iPhones are consistently excellent, if expensive and restricted to Apple standards while Android offers near limitless choice but you need to dig out the diamonds in the rough. For the novices, sticking with Motorola’s budget (Moto E), bargain (Moto G) and premium (Moto X) is a safe route, but choices (including Google’s Nexus 6 phablet, Nexus 9 tablet and the excellent LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) are plentiful.
Camera – Software Vs Hardware
One of the less discussed areas of major change in both iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop is their bolstered camera software.
iOS brings a timer mode, manual exposure control, enhanced photo editing (colour/brightness) and time lapse video. Lollipop does less, but makes one crucial change: direct access to edit RAW files.
This single change in Lollipop is huge and early tests show it can dramatically improve the images produced by every single smartphone or tablet once it is installed.
This could close the gap on iOS’s biggest advantage: Apple’s bespoke image processing which is tailored to each iPhone’s specific camera sensor. Android can’t hope to do this given the huge variety of hardware it runs, but access to RAW files means some incredible third party apps can be written for specific handsets.
Furthermore Google itself should be able to produce enhanced end
results and take some of the pressure off Android handset makers to keep
coming up with ever greater and higher megapixel lenses to compensate.
Read more: Android 5.0 Camera Tests Show Update Instantly Improves Every Smartphone
Battery Life – Best Vs Better
One of the (quite right) stereotypes about iOS is that it is more efficient than Android. It runs faster on weaker hardware and is less of a battery drain. Or it was.
Google started the fightback with Android 4.0 KitKat, recoding the platform from the ground up to run smoothly on even low end hardware (as best demonstrated by Motorola’s Moto E and Moto G). Now Android 5.0 Lollipop is finishing the job by dramatically improving battery life.
At its heart is Project Volta. This is an initiative designed to cut back on unnecessary operations such as apps waking the phone up repeatedly, only running apps’ house cleaning necessities in batches – often only when plugged in – and stopping continual networking requests (polling) from Android and third party apps when there is no network connectivity.
Finally Google has added ‘Battery Historian’, a deep analytics tool
which it can use to track and tweak battery consumption so the OS
continually learns.
So while a damaging WiFi bug hit battery life in a near final build of Android Lollipop earlier this week (it is now fixed), preliminary tests seem hugely encouraging. Notably Ars Technica found when Android Lollipop was installed on a Nexus 5 (a handset famous for its battery life Achilles Heel) it lasted a remarkable 36% longer.
Read more – Nexus 5 Long Term Test
This is a potential game changer, especially for latter Android handsets like the Galaxy S5 and phablets like the Note 4 which already deliver strong battery life due to their newer chipsets.
Lollipop also now couples this with a battery saver mode that automatically kicks in at 15% capacity (it can be switched off) to add another 90 minutes of usage. It also cleverly changes the top and bottom status bars to red so you won’t forget it is on. Furthermore Lollipop also sees Android move to its new ‘Android RunTime’ (ART) compiler which launches apps faster and more efficiently, with the only downside being a slightly larger install size for each app.
Read more: Android RunTime: An Easy Hack To Make Your Phone Last Longer
What about iOS? While Android makes all the fresh running here, the truth is iOS has little to prove. The iPhone 6 doesn’t have stellar battery life,
but that is down to the small battery Apple has fitted (its 1810mAh
capacity is 50% less than many Android rivals). This is highlighted by
the iPhone 6 Plus whose 2915mAh battery can last 3-4 days between
charges with light use.
The key to iOS’s success is its remarkably efficient standby time. Leave an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus unplugged overnight and it will lose 1-2% charge. Until Lollipop, Android had never been able to get near that.
Project Volta changes this and Android is now every bit as fast as iOS and virtually as efficient, while having phones with significantly larger batteries than the current iPhone models. Android has just about caught up.
Of course the risk is that handset makers and their (often unwanted) skins will undo all Volta’s work, but only time will tell.
The tables are turned when it comes to features. While Lollipop is all about refining existing functionality, iOS 8 takes major steps forward. It must be said that for the most part the two operating systems are still in the habit of ripping off the best aspects of one another, but this is no bad thing.
For example, iOS 8 now kills annoying pop-ups with more discreet notifications, the majority of which are also now actionable like in Android (for example, reply direct from a new message notification). It also supports Widgets like Android but only within the Notification Center and has song recognition built into voice searches like Google Voice Search.
The similarities continue with expanded sharing options so you can share content with any installed app again like Android, rather than the rather limited selection in iOS 7, and there is now support for swipe typing (made popular on Android) and third party keyboards, ditto.
iOS 8 finally brings support for third party keyboards like Swiftkey and its swipe typing
None of this is to belittle iOS. These are major features. They dramatically improve the user experience and also in many ways signal a welcome change of attitude from Apple in letting third party app developers integrate more tightly into the core of iOS.
Furthermore, while iOS has now caught up with many of Android’s best features, it has also charged ahead with innovative new ones like HealthKit and Apple Pay (more in the ‘Differentiators’ section on the next page). As such iOS 8 comes out firing and snuffs out many of the smug stereotypes Android users have long made about the platform.
iOS 8 adds many new features including direct notification replies, upgraded multitasking and widgets
Notifications have long been the driving force of Android (and since copied by iOS and Windows Phone) and it gets an entirely new look with pull down shortcuts, expandable notifications with more quick shortcut commands and the ability to disable, snooze or prioritise the notifications from every app from one place. Being able to control this firehose is a godsend.
Android 5.0 Lollipop screen lock has radically updated notifications and automatic facial unlock
This means you are no longer going back just to an app, but to a specific thing within that app and Google has also integrated the search bar so it is available at all times.
Android 5.0 Lollipop switches to a cards-based multi-tasking UI
Then again Lollipop is not too proud to do some blatant copying of its own. From iOS it steals the long awaited Do Not Disturb mode as well as more fully realised lockscreen notifications which iOS has had for years. There is also finally a ‘Tap and Go’ mode which allows owners to restore settings and folder structures from a previous handset – another iOS staple – though it doesn’t yet transfer third party app settings.
64-bit chipset support also arrives and Google has followed Apple in improving developers’ access to graphics processing power, much like ‘Metal’ found in iOS that recently enabled Battlefield 4 to run on an iPad. Finally on the hardware side, Lollipop brings support for USB audio, a similar move to Apple which enabled audio support via the Lightning port – a move which could ultimately do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Android 5.0 Lollipop brings welcome guest and multi-user modes
Finally Google steals from itself bringing the profiles mode from Android tablets to all Android phones. This allows you to switch profiles between family members in just a few taps, set up a guest mode or even pin certain apps so they cannot be exited – great for parents giving devices to their children.
New innovations are less obvious this time around, though I would count Material Design as a massive one.
Perhaps the most interesting is Lollipop’s approach to security. Where Apple uses TouchID, Android can now perform handset unlocking through automatic facial recognition while you check lockscreen notifications and it works seamlessly. It also pairs with Android Wear devices so the handset is never pin or password locked while both the handset and wearable are paired and therefore in close proximity. Clever stuff.
Differentiators – Real and False
With iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop drastically improving their functionality and design respectively the two have never been closer, but there are still some key differences.
First the false ones: Apple Pay and Healthkit, Google Wallet and Google Fit, Apple Watch and Android Wear, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Yes all four are extremely important products (and they are only going to get more influential as time goes on), but they aren’t significantly different from one another.
Most notably Apple Pay on its own isn’t particularly new. Google Wallet has long offered touch payments using NFC, but traction is only now being gained with Apple also aboard the wireless transaction bandwagon. What Apple Pay does do is reassure its users thanks to its integration with Touch ID and refusal to store card details.
Google Fit in Android 5.0 Lollipop
Read more – Doctors Raise Concerns About Apple Healthkit
The next false differentiators are the newly launched Apple HealthKit and Google Fit. Both act like catch-all umbrellas for the myriad of fitness apps available in both stores (like the roles of Game Center on iOS and Play Games on Android for your health) and they can compile all their data in one place.
Where they may ultimately differ is partnerships. Some popular apps, like Runkeeper, have already committed to support both HealthKit and Fit but other major companies like Fitbit have yet to commit in either direction. As such the gap may increase, but neither is likely to score an indisputable victory over the other.
Apple HealthKit on iOS 8
Read more – Moto 360 Review: The Best Android Wear Smartwatch
Apple CarPlay (image courtesy of Apple)
Android Auto (image courtesy of Google)
Notably where iOS has mimicked Android features they aren’t necessarily all as fully realised. The aforementioned third party keyboards cannot be used in certain situations (such as with a banking app or in some form filling) and the decision to restrict widgets to the notification center is bizarre as they make ideal, informative fillers in hard to reach areas of the screen.
Android 5.0 Lollipop has far greater layout flexibility
Apple’s ongoing insistence that icons must fill up a screen starting from the top left corner is a handover from when iPhones had easy to reach top left hand corners. And you still can’t hide apps from your homescreens so everyone now has a ‘Rubbish’, ‘Unused’ or worse named folder on their iOS devices.
iOS 8 still forces users to make ‘unused’ or ‘junk’ folders and start from the top left hand corner
That said where iOS does excel is in its newly launched ‘Continuity’ functionality. This allows users to ‘hand-off’ calls, messaging and more to different devices (notably only Apple hardware), depending on which you are using at any one time. Yes much of Android is founded on Cloud-based continuity (emails, calendar appointments, remote app installation, Hangouts messaging, etc) which works smoothly across OS X, Chrome OS and Windows, but Apple has taken a step ahead here.
More to the point, Continuity’s significant ambition is realised at the first attempt and I had no problem with hand-offs at any point during this review. No doubt Google is going to hit back hard here given its Cloud-focus, but for now Apple has stolen a lead.
Continuity working across iOS and OS X.
The same goes for iOS and Android hardware. iPhones are consistently excellent, if expensive and restricted to Apple standards while Android offers near limitless choice but you need to dig out the diamonds in the rough. For the novices, sticking with Motorola’s budget (Moto E), bargain (Moto G) and premium (Moto X) is a safe route, but choices (including Google’s Nexus 6 phablet, Nexus 9 tablet and the excellent LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact) are plentiful.
Camera – Software Vs Hardware
One of the less discussed areas of major change in both iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop is their bolstered camera software.
iOS brings a timer mode, manual exposure control, enhanced photo editing (colour/brightness) and time lapse video. Lollipop does less, but makes one crucial change: direct access to edit RAW files.
iOS 8 camera UI enables new levels of user control
This could close the gap on iOS’s biggest advantage: Apple’s bespoke image processing which is tailored to each iPhone’s specific camera sensor. Android can’t hope to do this given the huge variety of hardware it runs, but access to RAW files means some incredible third party apps can be written for specific handsets.
iPhone 6 (left), iPhone 6 Plus (right) – fractionally more accurate colour reproduction on latter (image credit: Gordon Kelly)
Read more: Android 5.0 Camera Tests Show Update Instantly Improves Every Smartphone
Battery Life – Best Vs Better
One of the (quite right) stereotypes about iOS is that it is more efficient than Android. It runs faster on weaker hardware and is less of a battery drain. Or it was.
Google started the fightback with Android 4.0 KitKat, recoding the platform from the ground up to run smoothly on even low end hardware (as best demonstrated by Motorola’s Moto E and Moto G). Now Android 5.0 Lollipop is finishing the job by dramatically improving battery life.
At its heart is Project Volta. This is an initiative designed to cut back on unnecessary operations such as apps waking the phone up repeatedly, only running apps’ house cleaning necessities in batches – often only when plugged in – and stopping continual networking requests (polling) from Android and third party apps when there is no network connectivity.
Android 5.0 Lollipop now offers superb battery life (image credit: Gordon Kelly)
So while a damaging WiFi bug hit battery life in a near final build of Android Lollipop earlier this week (it is now fixed), preliminary tests seem hugely encouraging. Notably Ars Technica found when Android Lollipop was installed on a Nexus 5 (a handset famous for its battery life Achilles Heel) it lasted a remarkable 36% longer.
Read more – Nexus 5 Long Term Test
This is a potential game changer, especially for latter Android handsets like the Galaxy S5 and phablets like the Note 4 which already deliver strong battery life due to their newer chipsets.
Lollipop also now couples this with a battery saver mode that automatically kicks in at 15% capacity (it can be switched off) to add another 90 minutes of usage. It also cleverly changes the top and bottom status bars to red so you won’t forget it is on. Furthermore Lollipop also sees Android move to its new ‘Android RunTime’ (ART) compiler which launches apps faster and more efficiently, with the only downside being a slightly larger install size for each app.
Read more: Android RunTime: An Easy Hack To Make Your Phone Last Longer
iPhone 6 (left) is easily outlasted by the iPhone 6 Plus (right) – image credit: Gordon Kelly
The key to iOS’s success is its remarkably efficient standby time. Leave an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus unplugged overnight and it will lose 1-2% charge. Until Lollipop, Android had never been able to get near that.
Project Volta changes this and Android is now every bit as fast as iOS and virtually as efficient, while having phones with significantly larger batteries than the current iPhone models. Android has just about caught up.
Of course the risk is that handset makers and their (often unwanted) skins will undo all Volta’s work, but only time will tell.
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