iphone vs android ...

[tooblue]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/11/android-fragmentation/

“You may build an app that works perfectly with all three firmwares, but then when you run it on carriers’ ROMs it completely blows up,” says Fagan. “So we find ourselves having to create apps that are compatible with multiple firmwares, multiple ROMs and multiple devices with different hardware.”...

“When we have to start writing rules based on the phone model in our code, it adds more code to our code base, creates more work for us and makes the app heavier,” says Pick.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/16/technology/apple_tablet/index.htm

Apple's lips are sealed about its widely rumored tablet computer, but technology experts are giddy about the device, already exclaiming it will be the gadget to end all gadgets.

[falafel]

Odd. Neither of those quotes mentioned android or the iphone.

[Uncle Ted]

Want an iPhone or Android cell phone for free*? Then join the army...

Army Times
December 13, 2010
Pg. 22

Cover story

Smart Phone Warriors

Army sees device as a 'force multiplier' -- and it wants to give you a free
one

By Joe Gould and Michael Hoffman

FORT GORDON, Ga. - The Army wants to issue every soldier an iPhone or
Android cell phone - it could be a soldier's choice. And to top it off, the
Army wants to pay your monthly phone bill.

To most soldiers, it sounds almost too good to be true, but it's real, said
Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.
He said the Army would issue these smart phones just like any other piece of
equipment a soldier receives.

"One of the options potentially is to make it a piece of equipment in a
soldier's clothing bag," Vane said.

With the backing of officials such as Vane, efforts are underway around the
Army to harness smart phones to revolutionize the way the service trains and
fights.

Army-issued smart phones are already in the schoolhouse and garrison, in the
hands of some students at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Lee, Va.; and at Fort
Sill, Okla., under an Army program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital
Applications. CSDA's next step, already underway at Fort Bliss, Texas, is
testing for the war zone.

In February, the Army plans to begin fielding phones, network equipment and
applications to the first Army brigade to be modernized under the brigade
combat team modernization program. That test will not be limited to smart
phones but will include any electronic devices that may be useful to troops.

"We're looking at everything from iPads to Kindles to Nook readers to
mini-projectors," said Mike McCarthy, director of the mission command
complex of Future Force Integration Direc-torate at Fort Bliss. The
directorate is one of the agencies leading the CSDA project.

The Army plans to roll out wireless Common Access Card readers for the
iPhone in January and for Android phones in April. This would give soldiers
secure access to their e-mail, contacts and calendars.

At war, smart phones would let soldiers view real-time intelligence and
video from unmanned systems overhead, and track friends and enemies on a
dynamic map, officials said. But the Army must first work through the
complex task of securing the data and the network before it sanctions smart
phones on the battlefield.

The goal is for soldiers to get information when they need it, wherever they
are.

"What we're doing is fundamentally changing how soldiers access knowledge,
information, training content and operational data," McCarthy said. "The day
you sign on to be a soldier, you will be accessing information and knowledge
in garrison and in an operational environment in a seamless manner. We're
using smart phone technologies to lead this."

Who's buying what

The Army's fielding plan, which calls for fitting commercial phones into
antenna sleeves and linking them to the network via a patchwork of ground
stations and airborne nodes, was scheduled to be presented to Vane this
month.

While the Army plan will be far from definitive - it's likely to be updated
every six months - it will provide a starting point for an initiative that
has proponents in the Army's highest ranks, including Vice Chief of Staff
Gen. Peter Chiarelli.

To date, the Army has not conducted testing of the concept over classified
networks. First, the service had to prove it could combine the phones and
applications with a mobile infrastructure capable of offering service in an
austere environment.

"We had to prove that we could make the electrons flow from one end to the
other successfully," McCarthy said. "We took a little bit of license in not
going over classified networks. Once it works, we can start working on the
information assurance piece." The Army is open to using multiple phones,
according to Rickey Smith, the director of ARCIC-Forward.

"We're not wedded to a specific piece of hardware. We are open to using Palm
Trios, the Android, iPhone or whatever else is out there," Smith said. Vane,
too, is open-minded; he carries both an iPhone and an Android.

The Army probably won't develop its own phone or do much to alter the
commercial phones it buys. Even if a cell-phone giant like Apple agreed to
modify its production lines to tinker with the iPhone's insides, it would be
so expensive for the Army that it would defeat the purpose of going to cheap
commercial technology.

The service would rather make minor tweaks and "ruggedize" existing phones,
which as long as the phones' shapes and electronic guts aren't modified,
will place them at close to retail prices, said Tony Fiuza of the Army's
Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

"What we're looking at buying is probably in volumes large enough so that
you can buy a one-off and not break the price point of whatever you can
buy," he said.

Buying the software for the phones might pose a challenge to the status quo
for Army acquisi-tions and its traditional purchasing model, said Mark
Bigham, a Raytheon vice president, because the Army may have to create its
own portal, like the iTunes apps store, to track and pay for individual app
downloads.

Indeed, the Army is exploring such a portal, officials said, to guarantee
what apps it sanctions are secure, and free of viruses and malicious code.

Vane said that he understands the challenge and that the Army is still
figuring out the dollars and cents of buying smart phones and apps. One
option, though, is giving the purchasing power to the soldier.

Soldiers could receive a monthly stipend - what Vane called a "maintenance
fee" - to spend on both minutes and apps, allowing each soldier to
personalize his phone with the training and tactical apps he needs.

"If you did it that way, the advantage would be to pay for the phone once
and then you pay a maintenance fee to the soldier ... and then the soldier
can buy whatever iPhone, Android or hardware that he or she likes," Vane
said. "Then the challenge is just figuring out how we pay for the minutes
each month." Soldiers would be able to choose some apps, have others
showcased for them and still others put on a "must-load" list tailored to
their jobs, said McCarthy.

"The requirements that General Vane have are far different than Private
Jones down in second squad of 1st Platoon," he said. "We need to create an
environment that lets them find the applications that are best suited for
that individual, and that's the approach we're taking."

[...]

[LiveCoug]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/...fragmentation/



http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/16/tech...blet/index.htm

So, the IPad is the gadget to end all gadgets? Hyperbole much?

[MartyFunkhouser]

I've played around with iOS and now have an Android phone. I would go with Android because I actually like the customization options. Both are good platforms though.

[Uncle Ted]

DHS-FBI Bulletin... If you want your smartphone to be pwn'ed then go with Android:

rrteh4.jpg

http://publicintelligence.net/dhs-fbi-android-threats/

[TripletDaddy]

Now that we are doing more deals in China, I am amazed at how utterly Android dominates the global games marketplace, not just in total distribution (which isnt even close), but in how games are actually launched and marketed. In the West, Android users are basically going to Amazon or Google Play for their app fix. In China, there are probably 20-30 equivalent marketplaces for crazy Android apps that are unique to that one particular marketplace. These days, if you don't have a localization path that includes an Android port, amen to your business model in Asia.

The major downside to the Android marketplace is still figuring out how to effectively monetize your game. Also, conformity across so many different Android devices is a severe limiting factor, perhaps the single biggest reason why iOS will continue to have a critical advantage in this vertical.

interesting to watch, though.

[Uncle Ted]

Eric hasn't changed a bit from his Novell days...

Eric Schmidt Says Android is 'More Secure Than The iPhone', Prompting Laughter

Eric Schmidt called Android a more secure mobile operating environment than the iPhone today during a 45-minute question-and-answer session at the Gartner Symposium / ITxpo, reports ZDNet. The answer came when Schmidt was prompted by a Gartner analyst:


Gartner analyst David Willis, who is chief of research for mobility and communications and who runs Gartner's Senior Research Board, said to Schmidt: "If you polled many people in this audience they would say Google Android is not their principal platform [...] When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure."


Schmidt immediately responded, saying "Not secure? It's more secure than the iPhone", which reportedly prompted laughter from the audience. He then noted that Android had over a billion users, is a platform that will be around for a long time and how that means the platform has gone through rigorous real-world security testing.


At the end of the session Schmidt once again referred to Android as secure, causing the audience to laugh. He then paused and told the audience they'd be happier using services like Android, Chrome and Gmail, prompting more laughter.


Back in March, Apple SVP Phil Schiller tweeted out a "Mobile Threat Report" by F-Secure which showed that Android accounted for 79 percent of the 301 mobile threats in 2012, while iOS only accounted for 0.7 percent of mobile threats.


Security is a major point of interest for enterprise users and as iOS is looked upon as the more secure mobile platform Apple has seen itself dominate the mobile enterprise space, with one February report claiming iOS represents as much as 77 percent of mobile device activations in the enterprise market.

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/08/eric-schmidt-says-android-is-more-secure-than-the-iphone-prompting-laughter/

[Pelado]

Eric hasn't changed a bit from his Novell days...


http://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/08/...ting-laughter/

A little more info on Eric:

Schmidt was a campaign advisor and major donor to Barack Obama and served on Google’s government relations team. Obama considered him for Commerce Secretary. Schmidt was an informal advisor to the Obama presidential campaign and began campaigning the week of October 19, 2008, on behalf of the candidate. He was mentioned as a possible candidate for the chief technology officer position, which Obama created in his administration. After Obama won in 2008, Schmidt became a member of President Obama's transition advisory board. He proposed that the easiest way to solve all of the problems of the United States at once, at least in domestic policies, is by a stimulus program that rewards renewable energy and, over time, attempts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. He has since become a new member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology PCAST.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt

[Brian]

Hey gang. I'm giving the samsung flip5 a try. As I mostly used my iPad to take notes, the pen and folded screen drops me down to a single device.

After 2 days of using, there are a few things that I hate (or don't know how to do on android)
1. The iPhone's screenshot, crop, copy and delete function was amazing. Saves many steps on something I do a fair bit. It seems I have to clean up these turds in my photo gallery now. Lame.
2. App search bar is at the top of the screen. I have to move my finger up to activate the text box, then start typing. Annoying.
3. Browsers. Big complaint. I really like the Safari browser on iPhone. The address bar at the bottom, easy access to bookmarks and a refresh button. Firefox allows me to put the address bar at the bottom of the page. Bookmarks on Chrome and Firefox take multiple steps.
4. Haven't found a podcast player that I really like... Using google right now. I also have a paid version of Snipd which can't migrate my Apple subscription. However, the Snipd team is working to fix it.

Does anyone have any solutions to these issues? It seems there are all kinds of fancy widgets and settings for doing various things. However, I haven't found a way to solve these issues. I definitely get the controlled environment of the iPhone. Things seem much more consistent and tend to work more smoothly. I really wish Apple would embrace the stylus for phones.

Thanks for any suggestions, etc.

Regards,
Brian

[Moliere]

Buy Apple

[USUC]

Some of this is just lack of familiarity with the Android system. When I use my work iPhone I am completely lost and it feels like I'm trying to brush my teeth with my left hand. But I do get the appeal of the simplicity of Apple. Androids give you more freedom but it takes a bit to get things dialed in to how you like them.

I use a galaxy S20 and I'm reluctant to give it up. It's the last model with external storage. I have an SD card that has my entire music library on it. I have tons of bootlegs that aren't on apple music or Spotify. Android users are a strange bunch. The lack of simplicity is the feature, not a bug for us. My android experience is a bit chaotic. Android allows me to design my own prefered chaos.

I rarely take photos. My wife despises my phone when it comes to pictures and will avoid me taking pictures with my phone. I assume it's for the reasons you state here.

Widgets are your friend. It does take a bit of trial and error to figure out what works for you. But I like the versatility they provide.

I haven't found a single browser that does everything I like. Safari on my work phone is fine, but I don't think it would be a gamechanger if it was on my Samsung. I use Chrome most often, but mainly because it is seamless with the Google ecosystem. But because it is in the Google ecosystem, I use Firefox and DuckDuckGo browser as well. Opera has a nice bulit in VPN and I have a friend who uses it for all browsing. Edge is garbage.

I use Pocket Casts for podcasts and I like it.

[Bo Diddley]

I have the Samsung S21 Ultra. Love the camera on it. I suppose one day I'll feel the need to upgrade to a newer model, but not yet. I use Chrome almost exclusively.

[Copelius]

My s23 gives the option of editing and cropping screenshots as I take them. Not sure why the Flip doesn't. They are both high end Samusung phones so they should have similar functionality.

[BigPiney]

My s23 gives the option of editing and cropping screenshots as I take them. Not sure why the Flip doesn't. They are both high end Samusung phones so they should have similar functionality.

I can do the same on my Pixel