Development-wise, I've been living on Android (to whatever degree) for the better part of the past year, after only seeing the Apple side of things for years before that. Honestly, I like it. It's not been easy, but then things have never been anything but difficult in many ways on iOS either I do feel that while people always say "oh, Android will catch up to the iOS culture, it's just around the corner..." for a couple of years now, I can honestly say that it's starting to look like the seeds for this are finally being sewn. I do see more devs slowly trickling bigger, well-known releases out over to Android - and they aren't doing too badly. The usual known issues (fragmentation, availability/"unification" of stores) are of course nothing to shake a stick at, as well as some high-level issues I never would have expected (the enthusiast press/forum scene of Android gaming is nowhere near as friendly, or even interested, like it is for iOS gaming!) At the same time, if you come over there with some strong software, a little patience, and a bit of aggression (in a friendly way) it looks like you really might be able to do a little damage in the longer term. One of the key things to remember, as it's always been the case on iOS is simply "don't just develop and release - concentrating on marketing and being social, especially in these days, is critical to exposure and success." I'm finding that this is helping me a great deal and getting me much further than I ever have on iOS. Pardon the self-plugging, but if you are interested to learn more of the nuts and bolts of what going from iOS to Android has taught me, keep an eye on my blog as I am often fairly transparent about my experiences. Otherwise, Apple or Android, it's still early to tell from a consumer point of view. This battle is still so early, and there's a lot of things which are just starting to open up on both sides. I think it's a good time for everyone, no matter where you are, really..
android will never come close to apples amazing user experience and interface. i dont like crashes every 5 seconds and i know this happens 2 of my friends have androids and their phones are always breaking and going all crap! normal people have iphones and my 2 friends get laughed at. apple also has close to a million apps on the app store, whereas android would be lucky to have 100,000.. plus theres fragmentation! a new android phone every month with each one running a different version or custom os means its hard on the developers too as they need to account for so many different devices, apple and idevices just win imo no other choice APPLE=FIRST AND BEST, all others are just copycats trying to get in on it for some ca$h
Unless Apple makes a major mistake on their marketing strategy, I can't find a way for the Android Market to catch up with the iOS. I've been hearing from a lot of people that they're waiting for the release of the iPhone 5, instead of some new HTC phone, or anything about the Droid phones. Android phones however are having good sales, even though the iDevices are still up on the market. So I wouldn't give up hope for those Android users out there.
The only real problem that I see, from a customer view-point, is that iPhone is too reliant on iTunes. I am sure it puts off quite a few prospective buyers. From Apple's perspective, it seems that vast majority of iPhone users use the iPhone mostly as a phone, with some standard apps for weather, GPS, texting, etc... They probably play some games like angry birds and flight control. As far as these users go, they might as well go the Android way, since they anyways do not use most of the million apps that are available on the appstore. And from a gamer's perspective, who really thinks iOS is the best mobile gaming platform there is, well, we hope that iOS will continue to have devs support for years to come
iTunes will only rule your idevices life if you allow it to. Purchased iPhone 4 about 6months ago, and ipad2 the week it was released and have never plugged them into a computer apart from bringing them to life.
"Will Android eventually take over iOS as the top mobile gaming platform?" Yes. On the same day that winged monkeys fly out of my nether area.
As an android user (for my phone), I believe there is a ton of unfilled potential for android. I feel like many devs choose to ignore this or go iOS only. There is an infinite amount of stuff you can do on android that iOS simply can't do. As google keeps rolling out more of these features, I think devs will start porting/do both/jumpship to android. iOS got a significant headstart though. But to be honest- I don't care. I DO NOT game on my android device, I have my iPod Touch for mobile games. That's the same with many other android users. I like iOS because of the games, and I like android because of the infinite customization, tricks and dedicated developers (I'm not talking about games).
I don't think it will ever "take over" but it will catch up. It will be like the age old battle - snes v mega drive, atari st v amiga, spectrum v commodore 64, psp v ds, ps3 v xbox 360. Each will end up with their own fan base, with each one slagging off the other. Apple does have the head start being the first and also having a good support from a developer point of view. Many consoles/computers have succeeded/failed based on support from the developers and the quality of games released. It will also depend on whether the idevices and android devices move forward with technology, allowing for the quality of games to grow further.
Your second paragraph undermines your first. As far as I know there isn't a comparable product to the iPod Touch that runs on Android. I know a ton of people with no iPhone, but an iPod Touch to play games (and a lot of kids with no phone at all but an iPod Touch). I don't know a single person with an iPhone and some android device to play android games on, nor do I think I ever will to be honest.
Seems to make sense to me. He was saying that he has an Android phone and an iPod touch. The latter being for the games. I was in this situation about 5 months ago. I got an android phone as a company phone and I had my iPod touch. Android was for phone, emails etc while iPod was purely music and games. I tried some games on The android and while some were a little nicer (angry birds), most were poor. The quality of games really sucked in the Android store. Most were little slide puzzle games and nes emulated games which were poorly presented/emulated. When I say a little nicer for angry birds, I mean with the HD screen compared to the iPod. I since own an iPad 2 and the hd games now are much nicer again. Ps the phone was crap compared to the phone. Battery was 3 hours max of normal use. The got me a blackberry now lol.
Yes, that is exactly what I meant. I guess it's easier to understand if you have first hand experience with android. There's a hidden layer of deep charm after you use it for a bit. But yes, battery life = abysmal, but you have to know how to use it to maximize it, but yeah, still pretty horrible. I guess it's cause of all the multitasking and running the OS.
