Android vs. iPhone: How to choose
— -- In many ways, today's smartphone era is a two-party system. While Windows Phone is finally starting to pick up a little speed, and there are BlackBerry devotees among us, smartphone shopping often boils down to picking between Android and the iPhone. Sure it's true that they're head-to-head competitors in many respects, but the two mobile juggernauts offer very distinctly different experiences. We'll break down what they have in common and where they differ, so you can size up your own needs and find your smartphone soulmate.
The iPhone: The one and only
When people talk about something "on the iPhone" they're usually referring to a feature of the iPhone's software, known as iOS. Unlike other smartphones, there's really just one iPhone, though older versions of the same phone do exist. Apple is also on-point about keeping its devices up to speed on the same software, so it's way less confusing across the board than Android. Apple's current generation of iPhone is the iPhone 4S, and before that we had the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and so on. While there's just one (current) iPhone, you can buy it in black or white, and you can choose how much storage space to spring for.
The many faces of Android
The term Android refers to both Google's mobile operating system as well as any device running Android. This gets tricky: some Verizon Android phones are branded as "Droids" but Android owners occasionally refer to any Android device as a "Droid," regardless of carrier. There are Android phones of all shapes and sizes from all four major mobile carriers.
The App Store vs. the Android Market
Getting down to it, apps are the reason most of us buy a smartphone these days. Apple's App Store is a bustling hub of downloadable games and tools, and it's widely regarded as the biggest, best app marketplace to date. Apple is known for having a relatively strict and at times arbitrary approach to the apps it lets into the App Store, which has resulted in some controversies in the past. Still, the App Store remains king of the hill.
From the beginning of Android, Google emphasized the "openness" of its mobile OS, and the company doesn't have the same kind of strict app approval process for its own app hub, the Android Market. Critics of Google's approach suggest that this system fails to filter out malware, while Android evangelists believe that the laissez-faire approach works itself out.
Either way, the app stores are quite comparable. The iPhone OS has been around for longer, so the iPhone's store naturally boasts more apps than the Android Market. But increasingly, new and popular apps are being developed in parallel for both platforms, and very few big hits remain exclusive to one store or the other.
Android advantages
A unique advantage afforded by Android is its integration with Google. Gmail's ubiquity means that just about everyone can benefit from Android's superior native Gmail app. Beyond Gmail, Android's version of Google Maps offers some unique and extremely useful features like Google's Navigation, a GPS-driven, turn-by-turn directions app for the car that's a solid substitute for a stand-alone GPS system. If you're plugged into Google's Web world, you'll feel right at home on Android.
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