First Apple released iOS 6 at WWDC, then Microsoft announced the most awaited Windows Phone 8, and recently at the Google I/O event, the newest Android iteration Jelly Bean (Android
4.1) was launched adding a new competitor to the two-horse mobile race.
The new OS iterations were sheer improvements for Apple and Google to
stay in the competition. On the other hand, Microsoft is here to prove
its mettle and regain the ground that it has been losing on the mobile
platform. It has tried hard and the feature set of the Windows Phone 8
will vouch for it. We decided to compare these three leading OSes, on
the basis of what we know to be on paper, so far.
User Interface
Apple’s iOS platform has been
endowed with some nifty features over the year as it leaped forward
with newer versions. It has ensured to keep its competitors on their
toes. However, it is the user interface that still remains stagnant in
the iOS 6, save minor visual changes. There hasn’t been much change and
we still see the plain menu stretched across pages, and yes it lets you
segregate apps into folders. Android ensures complete customizations,
as you can pick your most favoured and frequently used widgets and
place them on to homescreens as you wish. Now, it also allows you to
resize these widgets. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 is quite similar to
what we loved about Windows Phone 7.5. It offers a refreshing change
with live tiles that can be resized.
Interface...iOS 6, Jelly Bean, Windows Phone 8
We like the Windows Phone 8 UI, not just for its fresh, refreshing
and sheer attractive looks, but also for the personalization of the
lively tiles. Though many iOS loyalists may not agree, iOS UI looks too
old, dull and boring; we would love to see an overhauled iOS UI.
Maps
With the new iOS 6, Apple has shrugged off
its reliance on Google Maps. The maker of popular ‘i’ devices now has
its own Maps app that is powered by TomTom. The company just didn’t lay
out a mapping app, but added some useful features too. Android users
can access Google Maps, which are integrated with Google search
listings, something we all pretty much like. Microsoft has been trying
hard to keep up with the competition, and plans to leave no stone
unturned with its new Windows 8 OS for phone and tablets. To rebuild
its losing mobile ground, the software giant even ditched its own Bing
Maps to favour the Nokia Maps.
Jelly Bean, iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8, all support turn by turn
navigation, 3D views, and traffic information. However, Jelly Bean and
Windows Phone 8 support offline mode for Maps, while iOS 6 doesn’t.
Also, all iOS 6 features would be made available for users in India.
Here, we think iOS 6, is comparatively new and could need some tweaks,
while we don’t at all doubt the capabilities of Google Maps and think
that Nokia Maps are good at what they do.
Voice assistant
Talking about voice assistants,
iOS 5 stirred waves in the tech arena with Siri last year. Siri was an
instant hit, although it didn’t really work that well. However, Siri
has been taking intensive lessons and is launched with some
good-to-know improvements in the iOS 6. Siri-integration within iOS
platform also gets tighter. Android has some voice enabled abilities,
and is working on a full-fledged assistant too. The Jelly Bean update
adds some improvements to its speech recognition and voice search
abilities. It now brings along the knowledge graph and also a built-in
speech recognizer. Microsoft has entered the battle fully armed to face
its competitors, Google and Apple. It also allows voice commands to
make calls, send texts, search the web and more.
Siri is famous and improving and Google has added some nifty
improvements to its voice commands. Though Microsoft is armed with
voice commands, we aren’t sure how well it would be trained to do so.
New maps for iOS...goodbye Google maps
Social network integration
‘Mobile’ and
‘social,’ walk hand in hand, and phone makers know how much social
networks matter to the masses. Last year iOS 5 had Twitter integration
and Apple added Facebook integration this year, to make the iOS 6
completely socially integrated. Jelly Bean follows suit, and you get
integrated social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Picasa, its
own Google+, and more. Windows Phone 8, has been learning the tricks
of the trade and has also integrated Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and
its own Windows Live.
Seemingly, Google offers more integration, and yes of course it is
also trying to pimp its Google+. Apple and Microsoft have also
integrated the two most popular social networks.
Newest flavour of Android...
Mobile payment
‘Mobile payment’ is one
promising aspect that leading mobile players plan to exploit to the
fullest in the future. Apple has given NFC a miss, but stays in the
game with its Passbook feature in the iOS 6. Passbook is a mobile
wallet that keeps your debit cards, credit cards, tickets, and likewise
in one place. It even offers updates to tickets in the passbook, and we
may expect a lot happening in this space in the future. Google’s Jelly
Bean brings in Google wallet, which is inclusive of mobile payments,
rewards, offers, deals and more. The support for NFC ensures that
Google’s mobile wallet is warming up for the mobile payment in the
future. While Google has NFC and Apple has Passbook, Microsoft has
both. Now, we don’t mean it has Passbook, but a similar feature called
Wallet that stores all your credit/debit cards, rewards and more.
Calling features
Apple has added some cool
calling features with the iOS 6, like ‘rejecting the call with a
response.’ There are response templates, while one can even personalize
their response. It also adds Do Not Disturb feature wherein the device
doesn’t alert users about their calls/messages. However, the feature is
smartly designed, so that if the number of calls from the same number
exceeds 5 times, the phone recognizes the urgency and alerts the user.
Android also allows users to create several replies, which can be sent
as quick auto-replies, while declining a call and you can also filter
out calls from specific people. Windows Phone has missed out on this
bit. There is no Do not Disturb-kind feature nor the support for
composing auto-response replies, while declining calls. However, it
adds advanced filtering and call block options.
Apple and Google both offer call rejection functions, while
Apple earns brownie points for its Do Not Disturb feature. Windows
Phone 8 has some catching up to do here.
Video calling
Apple has spruced up its FaceTime,
which can now be used on cellular networks, along with Wi-Fi. However,
like everything else ‘Apple,’ its usage is restricted to ‘i’ devices.
Google has Gmail and GTalk for Android (works on cellular network and
Wi-Fi), that allows communicating with Gmail users on other device
platforms. For Microsoft, it has to be Skype, the company had acquired
the video calling service lately. Skype also supports other devices and
platforms.
Google and Microsoft come with support for multiple platforms, while Apple’s FaceTime is limited to its platform.
Lively and attractive...
Apps
Apple’s App Store is inundated with apps
and the number is growing with each passing day. Google has been taking
its Market seriously and has redesigned the Google Play store
experience with the Jelly Bean version. It has even re-christened the
Android Market as Google Play, to take the experience beyond Android
apps. It is even selling the Nexus 7 through Google Play. As beginners,
Microsoft has also been adding new apps from the time it was conceived.
Apple scores high, not just for the number of apps, but also for
the quality, Apple strives to offer malware-free apps by laying dowm
some strict rules. Google has a growing number of apps, but has failed
at controlling malware. Microsoft is still at the nascent stage, taking
apps into account, especially while comparing it to the other two
giants.
Conclusion
Though Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 appears to be promising, Apple’s
iOS 6 and Google’s Android Jelly Bean still appear to be superior in
many aspects. We can clearly see the efforts Microsoft has put in to
keep up with the existing competition, and is striving to deliver neck
to neck competition to the leading mobile OSes. However, it is nice to
see another addition to the mobile race, which is until now dominated
by only Apple and Google (we do miss BlackBerry). However, the overall
performance delivered by all three OS iterations and how soon they
reach the market will make quite a lot of difference. We still believe
that Microsoft will have to do some catching up initially, but may
completely allure masses sooner or later (this again would depend upon
how it prices its smartphones).
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