Android vs. IOS 2018

Android vs. IOS; the truest of rivalries. Which one is best? That question lurks in the heads of consumers daily. To most, a phone is an investment outside of a contract. If you are buying an unlocked version of either, you may feel the price tag weighing more heavily on your decision between the two. And if you're signing a contract, you may not feel the financial price difference as heavily but still, the choice remains, IOS or Android.

When it comes to a $1,000 dollar investment, whether that be paid out in a monthly contract to a service provider or out of pocket, one must think, I can buy a car for this! So with both platforms having the same price tag for their top of the line products, it all comes down to ease of use, accessories, apps, camera, navigation, photos, and privacy to highlight the top things that shoppers set out to measure when deciding on the different operating systems. We will get to the differences and who wins out in each of those categories in a minute.

First, let’s go to price. Now for the budget consumer, how much can you spend and what will I get for my money? IOSs' cheapest phone, without dipping into the second-hand market, is the iPhone SE coming in at $350.00 in late 2017. That’s a steep price tag and doesn’t leave the poorest consumer much savings at the checkout line. Android offers phones as cheap as $35.00 for a smartphone. Now, your internal memory, ram, and CPU capacity are going to lower. And the lower you drop the price tag the more those, among other features, suffer, or are left out entirely. Still, you would walk out with a phone with just as many features, for the most part, and it wouldn’t break the bank. Android has to be the winner in the price tag war, hands down.

Now, when it comes to privacy the IOS comes out as the champion. It recently fought the FBI in a case to protect its users' rights to privacy. They will go to bat for their customers. The case made it to the federal level. It was big news across the country. Apple defied the government and the government ended up giving up on Apple breaking their customers' trust. Now Apple is designing a safeguard against a future breach of privacy, to prohibit hacks like the one the government's go-to hacker used when they gave up trying to get Apple to hack it.

Onto apps, if you're looking at apps for the budget-friendly consumer, Android is the winner. Most of its apps are being offered for free. The system is also able to download and run 3rd party apps from outside sources (app not offered in the app stores).

As far as power usage and battery longevity, the Android wins again. Androids are built bigger and can hold bigger batteries, outshining the IOS in capacity. Android also holds a charge for longer intervals of time.

Google Maps makes Android the winner, yet again, when it comes to navigation. It is just superior to the IOS’s offering in every way. Google Maps allows you to download entire cities at the drop of a hat, this comes in handy if you don't have service on your phone. This is a problem the poorest of consumers have to deal with regularly.

Photos are a snap to backup in Android as well with its automatic backup to Google cloud services. Android even offers more free storage for customers to employ. And after the given allotment of storage has been utilized, the extra space is offered cheaper from Android than the IOS’s iCloud offering.

Lastly, the accessories and accessory customization in Android outshines the IOS. Android even offers an easy mode for those less technically inclined to use to maneuver and navigate the phone's features and operating system. This ease of use opens up the smartphone to people who couldn't use one otherwise.

All in all, Android is the winner hands down. It beats IOS in price, customization, everything almost. It shouldn’t take consumers long to make the decision between the two if they look into their purchase a little more thoroughly. The price is way more affordable for an Android and you get a better product. An IOS purchase is just buying a name. Take it from me, Android should be your choice no matter the budget.