Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Brace yourself . I hate to say it but Lollipop might be a superior operating organization liken to iOS – or at least iOS in its present state . Personally , I still prefer iOS , and I think you might too , but that ’s the cardinal event – it ’s now a thing of preference , rather than reject Android because it ’s so woefully poor character , as was the case in the earlier 4.x releases . Things I have n’t mentioned here but I admired admit Lollipop ’s ability to let setup multiple substance abuser accounts ( useful for share your telephone set or pad with Thomas Kyd ) , and the ability to unlock via a Bluetooth smartphone . But a top - specification feature list is nowhere near the full story . Most of what make Android unequalled is usable in the App Store for Io too , such as Google Now , Chrome and Google Docs / Drive . And Lollipop does little if anything to address Android ’s many weakness – the poor app store , for example , where innovation is rare and most apps are round-eyed knock - offs design to roil ad revenue . Or the fact that pad of paper are a mere afterthought for most Android app developers , or the fact Android is fragmented out in the literal world thanks to a want of upgrade path supply by manufacturers , or Android ’s only huge malware job , or the distinct want of wish for surety ( somewhere iOS excels ) . Google is undertake to crack down on some of these issues but the ultimate disaster of Lollipop might be nobody catch to use it in its pure form thanks to manufacturer fiddling / personalisation , and a lot of Android owners wo n’t get to see it at all thanks to no rising slope selection – or at least not until their one or two - yearly contract are renewed with a new gimmick . By that stop Android will probably have travel on yet again .
In this comparison review we will pitch Apple ’s iOS 8 against the modish offering from Google , Android 5.0 Lollipop , if you are an iOS substance abuser you could see exactly what you are missing .
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Setup and the cloud
Unsurprisingly , setting up both iOS and Lollipop involve being pushed towards cloud service – iCloud in the case of Apple , and the Google Drive / Gmail ecosphere in the grammatical case of Google . Which is better ? That’sanother article in itself , but privacy for our secret information has to be a key progeny and we take to sum what Tim Cook said of late . As for Google , well , your information is the social unit of currencyfor their services .
First use of Lolipop involves frequent stride - by - tone start - up wizards sharpen out raw feature film , along with daddy - out balloons evidence you where things are and how they work . It gets baffling very quickly , even for those who have mind that well take - in such information , and make for a stuttered initiation process because you ’re frequently held - up extend to where you require to be – the equivalent of walk down the high street and being hook by survey takers andchuggers .
orchard apple tree offers gentle training with theTipsapp , new to iOS 8 and which pour down up weekly notification , but other than a handful of very abbreviated clues here and there , the whole raison d’etre of iOS isnot to require instruction . To rephrase Steve Jobs when he was talking of style on touchscreen : if your group O or apps require didactics then you ’ve mishandle it .
Apple ’s Tips app trains user gently but most of iOS is designed to be intuitive
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Look and feel
The expression and feel of iOS 8 , and introduced with iOS 7 , is infamously Marmite – people love it or hate it . Although hazardously close to being ideologic in its push for planeness and to shun skeuomorphism , few would argue that the feel and finger acquaint with iOS7 was n’t bluff – and boldness is what Apple does best .
However , when many are forced to employ handiness cock such as bolding schoolbook , reduce demarcation , or turning off liveliness in edict to make an user interface acceptable – as they were with iOS 7 and then 8 – then something has gone wrong . Amazingly , no fixes were offered in Io 8 away from a few more accessibility controls to tone things down .
availableness tool in iOS to do thing like slim zoom effects are consider an all-important feature for many Apple users
Lollipop also is n’t ashamed to make sheer use of color , although in a more moderate way as part of its quirkily - named Material Design concept . Icon schoolbook has shadow in Lollipop – something banished from iOS on aesthetic ground , but without it it ’s insufferable to view to app icon label against most wallpaper .
break is the any - colour - so - long - as - it’s - dark attack of earlier Android and in its billet are mostly white backgrounds in apps like configurations . Google manufacture the posting - based approach , which utilise the visual metaphor of the user shuffling throughindex board , and it ’s in laboured enjoyment in Lollipop in the chore whipper ( called Overview ) , in Google Now ( see below ) , and in apps like place setting for differentiate various division . Aesthetically it can be a little stark but it does the job very well .
Lollipop attain heavy use of the cards visual metaphor , and it works very well
Read : iOS 9 release date rumor and boast wishlist
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Launcher
All of the above is somewhat moot because , ultimately , the Android equipment manufacturers are likely to skin Lollipop with their own icons and wallpaper selection to make product differentiation . Thus , they are the ones who ’ll decide how Lollipop looks to most exploiter .
When it comes to launch apps , or doing just about anything , everything is renovate in Lollipop . start the telephone set app from the lock screen , for lesson , and it expand out in a screen - consuming orbitual fill . Apps scroll - up from the bottom of the blind when activate . Even push button and switches are liven up . This is always operational as well as fun , and there ’s never invigoration for the saki of it – Google enjoin that “ motion [ must ] supply meaning ” . Arguably this is true of Io 8 too although some multitude find the rapid animations a fiddling jarring and a little flashy . To cite a friend of mine , “ I do n’t ask Safari to explode out of its icon at me . I just want it to give apace . ” It feel as if Lollipop has the benefit of hindsight travel along such criticisms , and is much more restrained .
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Notifications and widgets
iOS 8 introduced gismo toNotification Center . These provide flying access to various app functions – everything from regard the latest news headlines to chop-chop create and viewing notes , provided you have the right apps instal . It works well so long as you frequently use Notification Center ( I do n’t ) . Lollipop continue Android ’s power to add widgets to the rocket launcher alongside app icons if there ’s distance , or letting you add widgets to launcher pages of their own . Arguably , this is a superscript approach and certainly more intuitive – the power to wake your phone and then view vital information provided by a widget , before you tap a nearby app icon , is simply more effective .
Notifications appear at the top of the screen door within Lollipop , much like in iOS , and some have button that get you switch to the app for certain features ( such as replying for emails ) . Dragging down from the top of the silver screen let on the notification centre of attention on both operating systems , although with Lollipop you’re able to continue get behind to get at the Control Center , which is virtually identical to that in iOS . It even include a new Flashlight option if your gadget has an light-emitting diode flash .
Lollipop ’s notification and iOS notifications both drop down from the top of the sieve , and are seeable on the lock blind too
pink and holding a notification in Lollipop reveals details of the app itself – a nice touch – and you subsequently can tap to choose if the app can keep notifying you . This is undecomposed for easily dealing with badger plot notifications , for example . Additionally , clicking the ironware volume ascendency on the side of the phone or tablet lets you set whether you want to inactivate notifications entirely ( and for optionally how long , measure out in minute ) , or whether you want to switch to precedency notifications only ( and again with the theory of arrange a sentence demarcation ) . Yes , iOS has a similar feature in its Do Not Disturb mode , configured via the options app , but Lollipop ’s approach really puts to lie the idea that Android simply copies iOS . There ’s some real innovation go bad on .
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Task switching
iOS ’ multitasking system lets you alternate between apps by double - clicking theHome push . This has n’t evolved a great stack in late times and the addition of Favorites and Recent contacts to the top of the screen in iOS8 has annoyed some . However , swap apps remains fiddly and more piece of work than it could be .
In Lollipop ’s Overview arrangement , brought up by tapping the straight hardware clit on a machine or the on - screen control , each web web browser pill from Google Chrome appear as a separate card , alongside apps . This is an example of what Google calls “ papers - centric ” working . Theoretically other apps can take the same approaching of split out individual file as individual card too – tidings processing documents might have their own cards , for representative , or movies you ’re playing .
iOS ’ multitasking screen has n’t changed much since being introduced but Lollipop ’s Overview screen takes a novel card - based approach
Document - centric ideology has an ulterior need . Google wants us to take that cloud apps accessed via a internet browser , such as its Google Docs suite , are just as valid as “ right ” apps . However , this is n’t to say Overview does n’t make inherent sense . For object lesson , a Brobdingnagian issue within Safari on my iPhone and iPad is that I build up one C of tabs as time decease on and getting rid of them is a drag – I have to switch to viewing them in Safari , and then abstract them out of the direction , or tap the disco biscuit to close them . By move browser app tabs to the main task whipper , Lollipop makes you aware of them , and return you the opportunity to efficiently kill them when you gain they ’re no longer needed . Indeed , doing so becomes second nature in purchase order to keep the Overview rolodex easy to regard . And being capable to interchange to that document you ’re working on , rather than shift to the app andthenswitching to the written document , really does save clock time .
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: System
Both iOS 8 and Lollipop use a specific app called preferences to let you tweak the arrangement . learn ourComplete pathfinder to iPhone and iPad options . In setting on Io you ’ll also find centralised ascendance for apps , and this is part of Io ’ intricately thought - out innovation – outside of the fundamentals , users simply are n’t asked to wade through leaning of switches and skidder within an app . However , Lollipop continues the tradition established in background computing machine of each app receive its own scope panel , usually accessed by tapping the fare button and then the preferences entry . Some of these can be ridiculously complex .
New system features included with Lollipop let in battery saver mode , plan for manual activation should the charge set out to bunk humble , and which twist off setting services . This is well thought out – the top and bottom of the CRT screen plough red to show it ’s touch off , for example – but the fact it even exists shows a fundamentally different philosophy compared to Apple . If your battery is running low on your iPhone , iOS will do certain thing mechanically . When pilot viaMaps , the screen will turn off unless you ’re approaching a junction or turn , for object lesson ( pro tip : can activate this feature at any metre by locking the screen while navigating ) .
The System app in both iOS 8 and Lollipop provides access to gist feature
In other word , the old truism slaps us again in the face : Apple poppycock just works . Apple has sweated the details . Why is something as essential as barrage saving an optional toggle in Lollipop ?
While Apple beatAndroidto the draw with 64 - bit support in iOS 7 , and is rumoured to be bring important refinement and performance optimisations along with iOS 9 later this year , Google has filch ahead with its artistic production runtime in Lollipop . This is one of the underlie levels of Android that uses various trick to make the system and apps fly the coop faster . It appears to deliver , too , with many reporting that Lollipop act well even on elder devices . This is a stark change to the fierce ingestion of resource that characterise previous Android releases . Meanwhile , iOS substance abuser , particularly those of iPads of just a few years old , keep to be frustrated by laggy operation and serious bugs that simply should n’t have made it into a major release .
iOS 8 v Android Lollipop: Assistant
Sirihasn’t seen a keen deal of betterment recently although remains as utile as it ever was – and as obstinate in failing to read what you say , and as keen to bounce the exploiter out to internet searches when it misinterprets . In iOS 8 Siri is bafflingly plump for up by Microsoft Bing search , implemented in an evident paroxysm of pique against Google , although you may still say something like , “ Google washing machine ” to force the use of Google . Siri is also backed - up by the superb Wolfram Alpha cognition railway locomotive and verbatim access to Wikipedia .
Read : comical things to ask Siri
Siri vs Google Now does n’t produce a conclusive winner , although Siri has bags more personality
In iOS 8 substance abuser gained the ability to activate Siri at any clock time if the machine is charging by sound out “ Hey Siri ” , then speaking the interrogation . This was arguably stolen from the “ OK Google ” feature of speech from Android Kit Cat , and which is present within Lollipop as part of Google Now . If the Android machine ’s screen is lit - up – even if locked – saying OK Google will make the machine mind . If the machine is charging then it will listen even if it ’s log Z’s ( although support motley depending on manufacturer ) .
Google Now is approachable from a right - swipe from the home cover , a lilliputian like the hunting concealment in older versions of iOS 8 , and its finish is to be ready with information you need so you do n’t even have to search for it . It learns what you like and do because it can – Google collects an huge amount of data point about you via your email and searches . Thus , Google Now will learn your favorite sportsman team , and your favourite music , and where you live and run , and what your parcel number is so as to track it , and so on . This is either extremely creepy-crawly or sci - fi bright , depending on your spot of horizon . Notification and Siri will give some of this in iOS 8 , such as telling you how long it would take to drive home from your current location , but Google Now is far more immersive .
Google Now offer access to information you might seek for , before you get a probability to look !
In terms of distinctive spoken mastery ( “ Create a admonisher to bribe Milk River tomorrow at 9 am ” , “ Who was Henry Ford ” etc ) , a side - by - side comparing with Google Now was passably much a numb heat in our tests . Sometimes Google Now betray to construe the request and sometimes Siri did , but both do pretty well . The bug difference with Siri is that it has personality and even humor . Google Now ’s feedback is like a automaton beetle off onto Google ’s search railway locomotive .
Read more about Android :
7 types of Android fanbiy ( and girl )
20 iPhone apps to make Android drug user jealous