Comparing the iPhone and the Android Smartphone
General Saturday, May 15th, 2010Since the launch of the iPhone, AT&T has had the upper hand in the smartphone market. Recently, Verizon Wireless introduced the Motorola Droid which runs on the Android operating system. Google has also launched an Android based smartphone called the Nexus One which has been confronted by Apple with a patent lawsuit. It is public knowledge that Apple and Google are direct rivals in the smartphone market and these two companies are not too fond of each other.
Currently, the Google Nexus One is offered on AT&T and T-Mobile networks and in the second quarter of 2010 it will be available for the Verizon network. Since Apple was the first to introduce a touch screen mobile device with the iPhone there hasn’t been any competitors until now.
The new Android platform is developing and advancing in incredible speeds. With a majority of mobile applications developers are creating iPhone apps along with Android apps thus making the competition livelier. During its launch a minor disadvantage the Android platform experienced was that the Apple App Store controlled a large share of the app market. Although, in the past few months since its introduction quite more Android apps are becoming available and Android has increased its shares of the app market.
The following are several comparisons between the Android and the iPhone.
The Android platform runs on the Android OS which uses a modified form of Linux kernel. This platform was initially developed by Android, Inc. before bought by Google. It allows app developers to write and program managed code in Java. Android based smartphones allows its owners to multitask. Several smartphones that are based on the Android platform include the Motorola Droid, HTC Nexus One, LG Eve and many more.
The iPhone runs on an operating system known as iPhone OS which originated from the Mac OS X and shares the same Darwin foundation. This operating system has four different abstraction layers which are divided into the core OS layer, the core services layer, the media layer and the Cocoa touch layer. One essential factor of this operating system is that it uses less than 500 MB of the iPhone’s memory. This operating system is unable to multitask. From now until the foreseeable future, the only smartphone running this operating system is the iPhone.
Considering the various factors above, the Android Platform can potentially increase its market share for smartphone devices. Smartphones using the Android Platform such as the Nexus One may appeal for to users due to its ability to multitask. Even though the Android apps are not in the same level of iPhone apps, it will only be a matter of time until it surpasses the iPhone.
Other stories that readers found helpful:
Posted by