iPhone vs Android (The Real Winner)!

(upbeat music) ♪ Ooh ♪ - Alright, welcome to the ultimate iPhone versus Android video. It's an impossible debate, right? In many ways, people become so entrenched in one side that they never want to move to the other. To each his own. You hear that all the time, but I have a solution. So this is how we're going to do this. So I'm going to break this down into seven

real

ly meaningful categories, so it's an odd number, so there has to be a

winner

, there's no tie, but since we're not psychopaths and we know that a

winner

doesn't automatically apply to every human being on Earth, I will actually give you a system, a rubric to help you discover the

real

winner.

You'll see what I mean. Let's get into it. Then it's okay. Category number one. Personalization. Basically, if you see this icon and get excited, you'll probably love the customization too. So digging into the settings and playing with the home screen and the lock screen and tweaking things and behaviors to make the device absolutely perfect for you, I mean, it's a hobby in itself. Now, at the beginning of 2023, it might seem like iOS 17 and Android 14 are pretty close, right? I mean, let's be real. iOS just added a ton of really cool features that are very well done.

The new lock screen update gives you the ability to change all these clock fonts and colors and place several super useful widgets on your lock screen and then save a bunch of different lock screen settings for different situations and different focus modes, and then widgets were also added. It was also added to the home screen less than two years ago, so it unlocked a ton of customization to home screen settings that display visible information, but the more you look at it, the more you realize it doesn't actually is so close, and many This really comes down to the fact that Apple keeps adding all these capabilities, but you're always restricted to doing it Apple's way, the right way, and that's why many iPhone configurations still look like the same.

For example, even if you just grab Google Pixel's Android 14, which isn't even the most customizable version of Android, there's still a lot more you can change, from OS theme colors that match your wallpaper color Thanks to Material You for custom icon packs and widget sizes. I mean, Android will just let you do whatever you want. On the iPhone, you can't expand a widget to the size you want. You can't place an app right on the right side of the home screen for easy access. You literally can't even place an app wherever you want on the home screen.

It must be next on the list chosen by Apple. You cannot change the size of the grid. You cannot change icon sizes. I mean, it just takes a ton of extra work and a Siri Shortcuts trick just to use a custom icon. Just basic things. Now, I think the flip side of that coin is that you can make a really ugly, horrible Android setup, where you can't really mess up an iPhone home screen that much. So while you can definitely argue that iOS does it better, the winner for the most customization would be Android. So, category number two, features, okay?

Simply, which one can do more things. This has been one of the hottest debates at the forefront of iOS vs Android conversations that you always hear, mainly because both platforms, at some level, released missing features, but especially the iPhone. You would always hear, "Wow, can you believe the iPhone can't even set wallpapers?" And then it was, "Can you believe the iPhone is just now starting to copy and paste, seriously?" And then he says, "Wow, it's crazy that iOS is getting widgets now, a decade later." But hey, now it's 2023 and they're both very complete, and even in the ways they're not, they copy each other all the time.

You always see a new presentation with new things on Android, and you think, that came from iOS, and then you'll see things from the iPhone presentation and you'll say, that came from Android, but there are even some new things now. that has the iPhone and that does not have Android. A pretty good one recently is the focus modes, which give you very high control over notifications in a number of different situations with your apps and your contacts. There are also plenty of privacy features, like Hide My Email with iCloud Plus and iCloud Private Relay. You could even argue that Dynamic Island on the iPhone Pro is a feature if you want, but, I mean, you just couldn't because only a small handful of apps support it, but it's a pretty cool and unique thing, which is more. and rarer than ever in the world of smartphones.

At this point, however, neither operating system is missing gigantic features. They have both matured to this level where they are their own character. They both do a lot of things, but I'm still going to have to give Android the edge on this one just because there are a lot of little features, like, modifiable, at the OS level, just little things that you can tweak and changes to Android that aren't in the game yet. iPhone. I'm talking about battery management features, custom charging speeds, or setting manual charge limits to preserve battery life. There's also an actual file management system so you can drag and drop things on your phone into certain folders if you want.

There are specific features for gaming, such as game modes, the ability to increase and decrease the screen refresh rate whenever you want. Independent volume controls for phone calls and ringtones and alarms. Additionally, reverse wireless charging is very useful for charging wireless headphones without breaking a separate cable. Really, what it comes down to is that the benefit of Android is having so many feature options. That's the point, and this affects the hardware as well. So even if the feature you want is a huge camera without a notch, then you should get an Android phone, right? So if the feature is super fast charging or a 10x camera or USB Type-C, from now on, it must be an Android phone.

So while they both offer all the basic features and seem to copy each other all the time on little extra things, the winner here, again, is definitely Android. Now, number three is ease of use. Now, ease of use is very valuable to a lot of people, like a lot of people, and the thing about ease of use is that it often basically has an inverse relationship with customization and a ton of features, because there's this delicate balancing act. what you have to do is have flexibility, give the user flexibility, but not overwhelm them with a bunch of buttons and settings, and this is really where the iPhone excels and has excelled for years as a high priority, without a doubt, even in cases more fundamental ways.

The iPhone home screen has had up to four icons at the base of each iPhone since the beginning, and the phone icon has always been green and always on the left for 17 years. We've all seen that the iPhone camera app remains fundamentally the same with the viewfinder and slider modes. It's been that way for years, and that hides a lot of the settings in a separate settings app and may seem like it's missing features, but honestly, it's still the easiest and most straightforward to use for most people. It's like they hate changing things for no good reason.

The calculator basically hasn't changed for years. Now, there are downsides to that too, like Siri has basically been ignored since it was introduced, but still, Apple moves the end call button about 200 pixels towards the center of the screen and people get scared by that. Sometimes it seems like Android versions just move things around to test and change things, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. They'll move it back, and that's interesting and exciting sometimes, but that hurts user continuity and ease of use. Maybe not for you watching this video, but think for the average person, like your five closest friends.

Think about how they use their phone. Yeah, on top of that, basically no bloatware ever loads on the iPhone, and then customer service is basically always better for an iPhone because Apple stores are everywhere and Apple controls that entire experience, for better or worse, So they can do a great job with clients. So it's just for people who are not enthusiasts and who just want to get it and not think about it anymore, they almost always go for the iPhone. So ease of use is a checkbox for the iPhone. By the way, if you're enjoying this video, please subscribe.

Why not? It's free. Alright, so we need to talk about updates. So number four is support. So this is something I would classify as somewhat underrated, simply because I don't think enough people buy their new phone that they plan to have for years with this in mind. I think having the latest and greatest updates, software, and security patches as quickly as possible and for as long as possible should be a priority, but it usually isn't for people. Either way, it's kind of a mixed bag across the board. In the world of Android, some companies don't make promises or break them.

Some have short promises and others will really stretch out to promise three or four years of software updates. Interestingly, Samsung right now is the undisputed king of Android software updates, with some rumors that perhaps Google is catching up, but Samsung announced in 2019 that all devices in 2019 or later will receive four years of security updates and some flagships will even get five. , but none of them really come close to the iPhone. When iOS 17 comes out this fall, all iPhones since 2018's iPhone 10R will be officially supported and will get the latest version. There are five important software version updates.

I don't think there will be any 2018 Android phones that will get the latest version of Android 14 when it comes out. So this one easily goes to the vertically integrated Apple phone with Apple software all day. So now, my number five category is apps. This is really something fascinating. So obviously we have our standard, like the apps that we all use every day on our phones that we are used to, but sometimes it's fun to just visit the respective app stores, discover new things, find fun apps and in this period, both are flourishing. There are millions of apps now.

There are over three and a half million apps on the Google Play Store and over a million and a half on the Apple App Store, which if you stop there, seems like a win for Android, but quality over quantity, my friends. Quality over quantity. Basically, all the major apps are available for both platforms, which means there are a lot more, you know, niche apps or potential relatively unknown diamonds in the rough on the Google Play Store, sure, but the difference is when you actually talk to these developers. . and looking at the cycle of how these apps are created and how they are updated, the truth is that a lot of them are prioritizing iOS and it's really purely for efficiency.

Think about it. If you only have to update one version of your app and it works with all the newer iPhones instantly and works perfectly for millions of people who have basically the same aspect ratio, of course you would, flip that switch, but, with Android Of course, there are many more complexities. There are a ton of different devices that have different aspect ratios and different pixel densities and different features supported and even foldable, and it's like it's a lot more work to keep all of those users up to date with the same level of optimization. There are a lot of different switches to flip, so a lot of them just don't go through all of that or take much longer to do so.

So the number of captions is one thing, but is it the same Instagram app on both iPhone and Android? Is it the same Threads app on each one? As someone who has been using both phones and often using the same app on both phones, I have first-hand experience knowing that often, even with some of Google's apps, updates take priority on the iPhone. They come to the iPhone first before coming to Android. I wish that wasn't true. I wish they were just as easy to make as each other, but that's the truth. So the slight app advantage here will be for the iPhone, and interestingly, this generally applies to accessories as well.

Again, same reason, same efficiency, but that's a win for the iPhone. So, category number six, I'm going to be a little more subjective with this one, but I still think it matters, which is the emotion.Which one is most interesting or exciting right now for you? Now, honestly, I'm very excited about a lot of different new technologies these days, and in fact, because there are only one or two new iPhones released each year, it's actually very easy to build up excitement for the new iPhone, but it's definitely a different kind of excitement with the huge variety of new innovations and things coming to Android phones all the time.

For example, if you're only interested in foldable phones, well, there are more Android releases than ever for that. Do you want a gaming phone? There will be an Android for that. Do you want a headphone jack? Do you want a compact phone? Do you want the fastest charging in the world? Do you want some new and interesting experimental designs, materials, textures or features? That's the world of Android, and if you think about it, seriously think about this, most of the interesting excitement around the release of every new iPhone, the question really is: will this new iPhone have a new feature that's been in the works?

Android phones for years? Will we finally have USB-C on an iPhone? Will we finally have fast charging on an iPhone? Will we finally have a 5x camera? And just for that novelty reason, the excitement category, that definitely has to go to Android. That brings us to my last category, number seven, ecosystem. We've heard this word before, ecosystem. So, okay, say what you want, but there are a lot of people who won't buy a phone if it doesn't have iMessage or FaceTime, whatever, and Apple has weaponized this and built walls around it and closed it off. as much as possible.

Technically, you can join a FaceTime from an Android phone, but you can't start one. So I made a whole video about the Apple ecosystem. Hate it or love it, it's important to some people. Now, the thing is that Apple is not the only one that has an ecosystem. Look at Samsung, for example. Apple builds bigger walls to keep people in its ecosystem, but Samsung has many equivalents for all the same pieces. For example, you could get a flagship Samsung Galaxy S model and quickly and easily connect your Galaxy Buds as if they were AirPods. You wear your Galaxy Watch with many of the same features as the Apple Watch.

You connect to a Samsung Tab just for entertainment purposes, like an iPad, but then you get a Galaxy Book Pro with cellular Internet sharing and wireless Quick Share, like a MacBook Pro with AirDrop. Do you see where I'm going? It just goes on and on. I'm sure Samsung will eventually release its smart speaker to match the home module. It's totally, totally imminent, but on paper, the idea is that they are surprisingly congruent. So the way I see it, at the time of this recording, because this could change very soon in the next couple of weeks, but the main advantages of the Samsung ecosystem would be things like a USB-C in literally everything, so you can use a charging cable for all your things.

Second, they make more different versions of devices that fit into the ecosystem. There are a ton of different phones and a ton of different watches and headsets and different laptops, etc., so there's more flexibility and hardware options. Classic Android, in addition to Samsung, also makes other things that connect, such as dishwashers and refrigerators, but the advantages of the Apple ecosystem, not only in the United States, but especially here, are, above all, ease of use and fluency. It's really crazy how good some of the continuity stuff is in the Apple ecosystem. Something like Continuity Camera is always so sick.

Simply press a button to use an ultra-high-quality iPhone camera as a webcam. It works very, very well, but the popularity factor, especially in the US, makes things like FaceTime, iMessage and Find My Network super strong. So I can make a whole video about this. I could lay out the strengths and weaknesses and compare just these two ecosystems against each other, but as of now, they are both very strong, and I'll give Apple a slight edge, just because, one. I'm in the US and that advantage is strong, but, two, just the fluidity and how well things are integrated and the continuity features are unreal.

So if we add all this up here, you can see that the winning target, in four of the seven categories I made up, is the iPhone, but leave the pitchforks. Guess what? As you have probably understood from the beginning of this video, there is no objective winner in a decision as personal as this and when the options are so close. You probably already know, if you've been watching my videos you'll know that I use an Android phone most of the time along with an iPhone, but my main phone and my main custom settings are on the Android phone, so what's up?

For example, choosing a de facto winner suggests that winner is better for everyone, but we already know that there are some people who literally don't care about some features that others would say they can't live without. So I've come up with a very basic system to help you choose your winner, and it's really quite simple. All you have to do is put these seven categories in order of importance to you and then rate each of them, say on a scale of one to five. So give them a rating of one to five points depending on how much you care.

So here, for me, what matters most is customization and features. Then I care a lot about apps, and excitement and updates are quite important, but in my daily driving, ease of use and ecosystem are not that important. I have a mixed bag. Then I just give the number of points earned to each winner in that category. So for me, the winner is clearly Android, but hey, for you, maybe you care a lot about the ecosystem and maybe nothing else. I'm sure you know someone like that. Then the iPhone will clearly be calling your name, or if you're the type who wants all the features and excitement in the world, well, then Android is probably what you have in your pocket.

You could even have your own category that you could add that is heavily weighted. I see it like buying a car. Like maybe Cool Factor was there. They have in it. It turns out that buying a phone is one of the most personal decisions you make. I've said this before, but, it's what you spend your money on and you take it everywhere, and that's why people worry so much about this side versus that side, but, at the end of the day, the winner, not to mention be cheesy, that's us, because they are competing with each other to improve and hopefully win you over, and that's how it should be.

Thanks for watching. See you at the next one. Peace. (upbeat music) ♪ Ooh ♪