I’ve been using an Android G1 phone for more than a month now on a daily basis, but I still haven’t given up my iPhone. The more I use them both, the more that I realize my iPhone is a Mac and my Android is a PC.
That is not necessarily a bad thing—except for when my Android crashes (which is a lot). Okay, it does not actually crash so much as it freezes up, forcing me to wait until it figures things out. Which it usually does. Except that one time when I plugged it into the wrong mini-USB charger and it gave me the screen of death: a white danger triangle with a cell phone flat on its back next to it. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I took it with my iPhone).
Whose fault was that crash? I’m sure it was mine. But believe me, I’m equally careless with my iPhone. It’s just a lot more stable. That’s kind of what you’d expect since Apple goes to such lengths to control every aspect of the device, including the kinds of apps that can run on it. Android apps also have to go through a vetting process, but it does not seem to be as strict as Apple’s.
I make this judgment simply by looking at what is available in its app store, which seems to have been flooded recently. Sifting through all the Android apps, the bar for admittance seems to be pretty low. Some of the descriptions of the apps include messages from the developers. One typical plea:
If it does not install, please try uninstalling old version first. I am working on figuring out why this happens. Please let me know if you have a clue.
A lot of apps in there still feel experimental, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. The quality of the apps is even more mixed than for the iPhone, which might have apps that are just as useless but you can at least count on them to work. The Android apps have more of a free-for-all attitude.
Android is a much more open development environment than the iPhone (or than a PC, for that matter). There aren’t as many restrictions on what parts of the phone an app can access. Right now, that makes for a messier overall experience. But it also opens the door to a much richer set of apps over time.
It almost harkens back to the hobbyist days of the PC. In fact, at the Android launch event, Google co-founder Sergey Brin talked about how he loved to tinker with the Android phone as a programmer:
The first app I wrote was one where you throw the phone up in the air and it calculates how much time it takes to hit the ground, using the accelerometer.
That one thankfully never made it into the Android app store. We’ve covered some that did and that are worth checking out. Among some of the newer ones that I really like are:
ParkMark—Helps you mark where you parked your car so you can find it later.
Orienteer—taps into the internal compass to give you a virtual needle reading.
Translate—uses Google Translate to turn phrases from one language into another.
Pintail—Let’s you SMS your phone if you lose it, sends back its ocation.
JOYity—a game of GPS tag.
Punch-O-Meter—measures how fast you punch.
So if mobile phones are where computers were 30 years ago, which would you rather be?
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Oh and lets take a massive stab in the dark and say Erick has a Mac at home.
This Mac v PC thing really sucks ass, stop fuelling the fanboi fire and take each on their own merit, this article has no content other than to ensight trolls.
Let me guess… you have a PC at home. fussy baby
I’m taking the iPhone side. Love my 3G the apps rock!
totally with you, now i can’t imagine my life without it
happy thanksgiving to all by the way
who saw the sandbottle of techcrunch on flickr ?
Ummm… a PC. They were successfull and Apple wasn’t.
How do you work that out then? If it was 1978 I would defintatley be an Apple II…
sorry to break it to you, but Apple are outperforming every PC manufacturer out there in terms of sales growth… I don’t know the exact figures, but i’d imagine that Apple have a very healthy (and increasing) market share… Another thing, the target market is actually different… Mac’s are for people who are serious about the work that they do on their computer, whereas PC’s are for people who check their email…
I recently had to switch to macbook pro, because my dell couldn’t handle the workload I was throwing at it (audio processing, video processing, image processing, and ruby on rails development)… Windows really just sucks in the end…
“Apple are outperforming every PC manufacturer out there in terms of sales growth…”
Of course, when you’re in a growth market thats easier than when you’re in a completely saturated market.
“Mac’s are for people who are serious about the work that they do on their computer, whereas PC’s are for people who check their email…”
Oh do tell… can we compare the number of “serious” business apps which run on Windows vs. Mac. How many do you have? How many enterprises use Mac’s? How many companies in manufacturing use Mac’s on the assembly lines, etc.? If we are talking about work done, the PC accomplishes more work than the Mac by far. Fact. (This is irrelevant to which is better, I’m just exposing how silly/blind your statement is)
“I recently had to switch to macbook pro, because my dell couldn’t handle the workload I was throwing at it (audio processing, video processing, image processing, and ruby on rails development)… Windows really just sucks in the end…”
Hahahahaha… now this is funny. Your Ruby on Rails development was tolling your computer. Haha… wow, you must type fast.
By the way, I own/use Macs.. I have been using Mac’s pre-OS X (so I’m not a new found wanna be, like say, you).
Apple may be outperforming the others, but Windows still has a 90% market share. Therefore they have won, heck even Steve Jobs has admitted that.
And to the article, the iPhone has only recently got more stable. With the original 2.0 software, I had a crash a day which wasn’t fun. Also the majority of those crashes came from Apple apps and not 3rd party ones.
However, it will be interesting to see what happens in the phone market. I do have my doubts though about one company owning the entire industry like Windows. I think it will be more difficult for a company to achieve that nowadays.
@ Nellboy
I find it funny how you essentially classify graphic design, video editing, and DJing “serious work” and categorically construe the work people do on their PCs are not serious at all. I would see it the other way around, PCs are primarily used by the government, enterprises, hospitals, etc. That sounds a whole lot more “serious” to me than some guy with headphones on photoshopping. And before you think I am anti-Apple, I actually have a an iPhone 3G.
I developed for both the PC and the Mac when they were new platforms. Your last question is intriguing, and I don’t have an answer. The PC was very easy to work with once Peter Norton’s book came out. The Mac at first was a mess, but in a few years they had it straightened out. But the Mac was never remotely as controlled as the iPhone is. I guess it all comes down to how well both teams learn. If Apple loosens up to allow competition into the iPhone, it might be great. But that doesn’t seem likely. Android has to learn about fit and finish.
And that’s the problem as I see it Dave… I see no evidence in the tone of Google’s announcement or continued dialogue about Android that they “get” the fit & finish piece. There is a natural dichotomy that exists between the UI/experience once gets with “openness” versus that of a controlled environment.
With the direction they’ve gone (and espouse) there’s no indication to me that Google intends to exercise any control over that fit & finish. In fact, I am convinced it’s going to get a lot *worse* as other vendors adapt Android to their phones & platforms. Over time, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the variety, inconsistencies and incompatibilities of Android become much worse than Windows Mobile has even been.
Mobile handset developers (especially the lower-tiered guys whom a cheap/freely licensable OS appeals to) are far more aggressive than the early PC manufacturers were, and the rate of product development is far faster (i.e., more variety in handset manufacturers and designs today than there were early PC manufacturers in the time period we’re alluding to here). Thus, I see it near impossible that Google will get the kind of compliance and adherence to “standards” that even mid-80’s Microsoft got from a friendly audience of PC manufacturers.
Even if Google were to come out with the most amazing design & development guidelines; but the very nature of the Android model, the genie is out of the bottle, and it’s only going to get worse from here.
“…my iPhone [is] just a lot more stable. That’s kind of what you’d expect since Apple goes to such lengths…”
You could also put a fair bit of this stability down to how long ago the iPhone was released - I suspect Android will improve fairly rapidly over the next few months (even if it never reaches the iPhone’s hyperbolic stability).
Where does that leave blackberry? Fortunately with BBs and Nokia’s the marketplace isn’t the same as it was for the personal computer.
CP/M
It would be a much better to compare the G1 to the iPhone 2 months after the iPhone launch.
Yeah, I get the creeps when pundits expect the same maturity from the new Android and Blackberry touchscreen platforms, as with the 18 months old OS-X Touch. Oh well.
I am a PC.
I got my first PC in ‘92 running DOS. Even after that first Screen of Death, where I accidentally erased the hard drive loosing all of my father’s business records for which there were no backups, I loved my PC. The countless hours playing with the Flight Simulator and Crystal Caves enriched my childhood. And at 9 years old knowing how to input commands on DOS opened the doors to Linux and the open-source movement later in life. I am a PC, now and forever.
And Steve can lick my balls.
You wish.
i cant afford one of them
more like Linux actually. Welcome to open source, dude. Where have you been for the last 20 years?
linux is linux and dos is dos, but i want my phone to be available and working always. this is a phone and if you need to dial 999 (or 112 or whatever) you don’t want to start installing and uninstaling stuff. or do you?
Just recently someone droped me this:
http://www.themodernword.com/e.....vs_pc.html
It seems that 14years ago Umberto Eco was very precise to define difference between mac and pc.
“The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. ”
A lot has changed during these years, DOS is out of picture, Microsoft has adapted a lot from Macintosh, but I’ve a feeling that it’s still true - MAC is more about order - “you’ll do what I say” or “i’ll tell you what’s cool and what’s not”, but PC is still a mess of freedom. It seems that Android is going to be Protestant
I would now add to Eco, that opensource is Buddhist
Nice one dude. LOL
At this early stage of “phone2.0″ (sorry, but this is a new dawn for phones, with a new era of applications and all) you got to embrace open innovation - and that really is the Android platform over the iPhone.
Apps that are innovative but encroach on Apple’s business models are banned and it’s impossible to develop iPhone apps without agreeing to certain NDAs.
We need innovation, and for that to occur, we need open platforms.
wrong. Just look around. Who is innovating? Consumers don’t give a damn about open platforms, only geeks.
geeks are consumers too.
Don’t blame the window for the view
The comparison seems a tad unfair, my Mac seems to freeze far more often than any of my other computers. I admit that the iPhone has got the G1 licked on stability but PC vs Mac comparisons seem to be a bit off.
Hum…
Well, I must not be as lucky as you : my iPhone does freeze hell too often
…but love it anyway, because it’s beautifull and fun to use
Mmmm… Mac and PC are now two popular related tags to Android (http://tweetag.com/android)
One question… how easy is it to write an app for both platforms??… does it have to be completely rewritten??…
You know whats funny. My PC’s run on Linux.. I don’t get why “PC” is an acronym for “MS Windows”. To some extend this also goes for the Macintosh, as there are several Linux distributions that work for them.
I also don’t believe OS X is better for “people who are serious about their work”, it’s a matter of opinion.
The article is biased towards the iPhone due to the stellar experiences Erick has had with it.
Android might be less stable, but it’s got a lot more potential because it allows developers to do more and through that it’s much easier for creative ideas to be tried and tested.
Just my 2 cents.
Surprised Josi didn’t flamed you for saying that
PC is of course a personal computer. You are right: win mac and linux all fall under that category. Microsoft is the one to take over the name PC. Check your computer games and what does it say? PC! Apple was not the one to assign PC to Windows. In fact, on their website, it says Why Your Next PC Should Be A Mac.
As far as android goes, i have an iphone and have never tested the G1 so no comment there!
I am happy with the iPhone but waiting for a mobile ubuntu and a new GUI (no GTK/QT X).
the iphone is still better
rc
trading tennis blog
Your iPhone is a Mac and Android is a Linux. That’s why it even runs on Openmoko, Nokia Internet Tablets, Sharp Zaurus or older XDA handsets - which were never supposed to do that, but some free thinking minds made it possible.
Maybe they will even install Android on an iPhone. The whole concept behind that is called „Freedom“. But there are always people who find that spooky, even in the US.
It’s so great to see how versatile Linux is. Only one day after this comment we get the news that some people have managed to install a basic Linux version on the iPhone. This means that in some weeks we can really see Android on the iPhone, if everything goes well.
“Pintail—Let’s you SMS your phone if you lose it, sends back its ocation.”
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!
Android is Anarchy. iPhone is a Benevolent Dictatorship. I like to think my Blackberry is somewhere in between.
I see you on Android constantly on GTalk. I mean, you seem to use it all the time, and yet you’re blasting it for plugging it into the wrong adapter with the wrong voltage ???
When you go to Europe do you tie bare wire to your UL List appliances and stick the other end into the European sockets hoping it works?
You’re a poser Schonfeld. This wasn’t a well thought out article at all.
The only thing that makes Android like a PC is the fact that the Apple II A-E had very limited success where as PCDOS and eventually Windows OS became the defacto standard because it ran on multiple hardware and allowed non-approved applications to run on it.
In 5-10 years Android will be Windows and HTC and other devices will be sold in interchangeable and upgradable parts on Tiger Direct, where as Apple will be doing the same thing it did with the Apple II, LISA and Mac.
Web 3.0 will grow on Android.
Android is the new Windows, that’s only thing you got right.
The Android SDK is “Hello Windows 95″, and it’s only going to get better from here.
The one thing you ALWAYS hear with Android and iPhone is
“I don’t like the small screen and the tiny keyboard”
You hear that over and over and over again. And over and over and over again.
Somebody, somebody needs to make an Android G1 docking bay that lets you sit the G1 or X device into it, and accepts a VGA/DVI adapter and USB Keyboard.
You sit the G1 or Android driven device into the docking bay, and Android shows up on your BIG computer monitor, where you can use a full sized keyboard and mouse.
When you’re done, you undock it and use it as a phone again.
Somebody needs to make an Android GPS mount for your car. When you get in your car, you mount it as a clipon, horizontally, use it as your GPS.
When you get out of your car, your remove it and use it as a phone.
It’s that simple!!!
No more auto GPS, no more Windows PC, everything runs off of Android as an Android app or thin client. Even games would run off of engines like OTOY.
Why are hardware developers so stupid???
Oh SNAP!
If you could buy this non-existent docking bay:
A. You wouldn’t need to pay for Time Warner Cable anymore either because all your internet use would run off of your $25 a month T-Mobile 3G band.
B. You wouldn’t need to pay for MSN Direct or other such services for your GPS
It would save a person on average $100 a month
SOMEBODY PLEASE MAKE THIS STUPID DOCKING BAY AND GPS WINDSHIELD MOUNT!!!
Where are the Chinese when you need them??
ASUS??
re-cap
Docking bay device for Android
A. You dock the G1 or other Android Device in the docking bay
B. You plug in your 17″-19″ monitor with via a VGA female socket on the side of the docking bay
C. You plug in a USB keyboard and mouse in the docking bay
D. You run flash your phone with a non-standard Android build to stream the frames to the USB as external VGA and have a scanner in the docking bay.
Winshield GPS mount for Android
A. You manufacture a suction windshield mount
B. You manufacture a cilp that seals to the back of the G1 or android phone as not to obstruct the camera or be a pain to carry in your pocket.
C. You create a dash mount for people in California who may not use Windshield mounts.
Is it that hard?
christ, it’s called a laptop you retards.
As I write this from my iPhone I shake my head in dissapoimtment. I write software for a living. I contribute software to the OSS community.
The misnomer of p.c. In the title of this article blows my mind. What people must realize is that android and iPhone are unix based, their stability has very little to do with the OS running on them.
Furthermore, the comparisson is flat wrong because google taking microsofts role in the mac vs pc stance wouldn’t make sense. Apples and oranges…
I guess you could compare apples business plan for the iPhone to microsoft, so maybe it’s the pc in this situation.
In any case, I’d say it’s a clear win for unix based os’s
Couldn’t agree more. Android will evolve (it already has more functionality than the iPhone) but it’s clear that both Apple and Google made smart decisions when choosing the base OS. I would like to support Google more however for making their’s open source.
I think you’re taking the article too literally. Let me clear it up.
PC = Android = Poor Quality/Usability = Frustration
Mac = IPhone = High Quality/Usability = Delight
The comparison holds.
If you want to get more literal I think Android is more comparable to Linux on the desktop and its success there. Theres something thats just not attractive as a consumer device, even if it has a better and open source foundation. Android needs a company like apple to come along and make it nice.
thats an interesting comparison.. in the early days macs were the computers to use but PCs soon took over. Macs still have a tiny market share today though it is the fastest growing. It is certainly cooler.
There is a whole separate debate on whether Apple will ever be the most popular computer out there (or whether Apple even would want that). Its entire positioning is on being the cool and trendy device - something that is very difficult to achieve if you are the most common.
Long term if Apple doesnt open up, I tend to think that the iPhone will not be the most popular but will stay the coolest - but it does require work and copying (!) on the side of the Android/WM, otherwise Apple will achieve both dominance and remain closed.
Unlike the MP3 space, I think this will happen in the mobile space. I await the courtcases similar to the 90s where Apple took Microsoft to court for copying their look and feel.
Prediction: Its too early to tell but BB to adopt WM/Android; Apple to be the cool popular device in the short term. The ball is in WM/Nokia’s court to do something to move the space forward.
One thing is for sure - this is all great for innovation.
I strongly disagree with your comment that cell phones are where computers were 30 years ago. Robotics are where computers were 30 years ago, highly specialized and big. I look at the iPhone and the G1 as the next evolution or branch of evolution of a computer. Afterall, these portable computing devices can do almost everything a computer can do these days. Some would argue they can do even more because they travel with you every where you go and they are easily accessible (unlike a laptop). When was the last time your home desktop helped you find where you last parked your car?
I get what your saying I just think you phrased it wrong and embellished too much. I would say that mobile phone computing platforms are like the desktop computing platforms from 20 years ago. Still new and trying to find there way in an otherwise mainframe dominated market.
Google android will give competition to the IPhone. Google will have lot of option for the consumer compared to IPhone.
I have to agree that iPhone matches Mac’s standards but Android is way ahead of PC in every possible sense.
The one thing you can count on is that Android will gain market share through multiple handset makers and due to it’s open source nature will not go down the path of Windows. Open source has consistently outperformed proprietary software in terms of innovation since the movement began.
Plus I find my fiancee’s iPhone just as bad. Safari crashes at least once every session. The Facebook app crashes constantly. There was a stretch where it kept dropping her calls. The other day she tried to charge it and for a few hours all she got a black screen with stripes running across it.
I too have just moved to a Mac from a PC because of all the development work that I do, but it’s more for the fact that I am tired of Windows crashing, corrupting files, and then forcing me to reinstall the OS and everything else I had on there. I just can’t have that kind of liability with my work. But when I was running Vista on a Dell with 3GB of RAM it was crazy fast and a generally good user experience, never really had any issues with it…until it crashed. Then I tried to recover the files from the hard drive and found that a Mac could see all the partitions on the drive while a PC could only read one of them. So I couldn’t even back up my PC with another PC. That was the last straw.
I love what Ray Ozzie is doing there though so I’m no PC hater and honestly the PC is largely responsible for the ubiquity of computers today, not Apple.
I have an iphone and it is horrid. It will freeze and lock every now and then if you are on a train dropping in and out of reception. Switching between screens is like treacle. I wish I had my Nokia, they remembered that it’s a phone first and a toy afterwards. Apple seem to think it should be around the other way, you can see that in the adverts they run (well, when they don’t get pulled off air for being misleading that is)
Oh brother: Mac vs PC. An easy way to ignite debate (and lots of comments) on any day.
When you are comparing the 2 platforms I think that you should compare applications that run on both of them.
TuneWiki is a good example- TuneWiki on the iPhone is a bit better then the iPhone music application, because there is as much as you can do on the iPhone platform. TuneWiki on the android is miles ahead as the best music player ever made, with seemless integration to video and maps.
…on the other hand…iPhone is still so much cooler…
The thing is…
Apple is best all has been hope to say always will be soooo…
The iphone wins! its by fare better then any another phone on the market for pure design and interaction.
All I want to know is when the 3g iphone will get a better camera.
What a terrible article, Erick. Sometimes it’s hard to believe you get paid to write.
Totally agree with this post. The Android Market does seem like a free-for-all right now. But it’s young, and with time, and Android OS feature releases as well as hardware upgrades, I’m sure we’ll see some amazing apps… and the cool ones get even better
Do an article on connectbot and shell and superuser.
I think that Apple is going to make another huge mistake. Check out this article on their flashback:
http://wobegi.blogspot.com/200.....hback.html
Too much of fighting.
Apple just launched Iphone before android thats why they ve short lasting dominance. Apple wont stand the competition coz their s/w is tied to their h/w specifically. Android is only a platform, and would run on multiple h/w from various companies.
But if you talk about money, Apple would ve fairly large share (compared to the number of instances of their s/w) coz they SELL it.
I used to be a PC dude for 20 years until I moved to North America. I just could never see a good reason to switch to a more expensive system that has less software options to offer - until I tried it.
I guess that’s what it comes down to again: The iPhone is about the experience first and the application second. Android is about options and choices. The funny thing is that when I moved to North America I only had an old notebook with me and left all me other computing legacy behind. That meant that investing in a new system was way moire compelling. And here comes the thing: After twenty years and an overwhelming amount of choices in software on the PC platform the somewhat limited but quality and experience focused fewer options for the mac where like a fresh breath of air into my computing life.
The same happened to me recently switching from a windows mobile smart phone to the iPhone. It might be fun to play with more options and more choices of apps etc for the sake of it but when it comes down to getting things done with the least amount of hassle and and the highest fun factor there is only one choice (so far).
I am not an Apple fab boy by any means but one has to admit that they put an awful amount of agonizing work into providing a perfect experience. In this day and age where users are flooded with options and features that are often implemented *without* the user in mind this extra effort is what makes the difference and opens the doors to success.
g1 has a faster cpu then the iphone, it has keyboard, less limitations on programs (background processes), it offers a removable battery, and more sensors (gravity, orientation) then the iphone which makes for an entire new range of application (just check out skymap or wikitude) - it blows your mind when you can point your camera at something and you get an overlay of what things are. Or seeing constallations on the sky as you move your phone… the g1 will blow the iphone to bits and pieces.. just give it a year or two.. (what the iphone had). What google did within such a short period of time is simply mindblowing.
Oh and did you know that the gphone is 15% cheaper to produce then the iphone…
I’ve never used the Android, but there is no way I would call my iPhone stable.
Most of the reviews I read said the major positive of Android is that it was fairly stable, though in user forums I have heard of freezing issues recently.
I say it really depends, but I think I heard a lot more about iPhone crashes than Android crashes, even with 1st party software like Mobile Safari.
A little too early right now in it’s life to really clearly tell the direction of Android. I expect after a year with more phones we’ll see.
I love how this discussion of the iPhone and G1 turned into a Mac vs PC war. In fact, nearly any article (or comment, even) with a mention of BOTH Mac and PC are enough to spark a conflict.
Well, for the first few comments, anyway…
But back to this post. Not gonna lie.. I was greatly disappointed by the G1. For some reason I cannot quite name, I was expecting something far better, something that would maybe offer a slight (but not a great portion) edge of competition. Hopefully the next installment, if there is one, will be greatly improved.
Wait a minute…. Now I have not read every post on this topic but I have read alot of them and I have to ask why is it that we are comparing the Android OS to PC? Android is a Linux based OS? This is a brand new platform that is replacing what windows/pc was back in the day. The comparison is good in the fact that we are talking about a software developer which also desings and develops there own hardware, versus a software developer who leaves the hardware to other companies. As far as the OS only Android has much more promise just as Windows did which made windows what it is today. Love it or hate it windows is still the world. Again, Anrodid is Linux based providing a much more secure/stable environment, which is why it will be much more powerfull than windows will ever be. Linux and Mac are built on a similar platform with the one exception that Mac controls everything about their hardware and software, we all know this. Android will be much more innovative in the long run since more developers will be able to input their creativity into this device. Lets remember, the OS has only been out for 1 month people and honestly it does more than what an Iphone does/did at this stage in its life. Most dont understand linux and its power which is why they dont understand Android now. Ubuntu and Android are now the two most “popular” in that they are the most commcercial Linux OS’ in the market to date. With all this being said, the comparison is cool and everything but we are playing a whole new game people.
to the person who wrote this artical. And all those who side with him. Why and the hell do y’all keep comparing the two phone to each other.. there’s no way you can do so. At least not right now. The iphone has been around a lot longer then the g1. So its had a lot more time to get the kinks out. But as I recall, in the beginning the iphone had a lot of problems itself. But since there was nothing else to compare it to. It got more of a pass. I personally am a big fan of steve jobs and apple. But in my opinion they still have there ups and downs. I have 2 cousins who have both. For one thing, in this economy it appears that the iphone is more for the upper class or the rich. At&t is expensive! By comparison look at the prices for service. The g1 on ther other hand is not cheaper. But the service is a lot more affordable for everyone. The iphone is prettier. But I think its too pretty. It looks like some thing that should be mounted on a wall. Not to be used. And that’s where the g1 ones ugliness comes in handy. And the surface is not all shinny and easliy scratchable. For me the clincher is that the g1 will soon be getting flash. Some thing I have heard will never happen on the iphone. Because of possible competion with the app store. For me the g1 wins.
iPhone is Mac, Android is Linux (literary)