Remember Vic Gundotra? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps a quote will: “two turkeys do not make an Eagle.” Yes, he’s the former Google executive who famously tweeted that zinger about the unholy union when Microsoft and Nokia first teamed up to launch new Windows Phones. It turned out that Gundotra hit the nail on the head, and the Microsoft-Nokia saga ended up being nothing short of a complete and utter disaster.
Perhaps that crisis could have been averted if Nokia and Microsoft had listened to the former Googler’s advice. Well, now Gundotra is back with some new advice for everyone: Buy an iPhone.
In a thread on Facebook, Gundotra sang high praise of the iPhone’s camera, sharing photos that he took with his iPhone. He wrote that Apple’s stellar camera system on the iPhone 7 has eliminated his need to carry a DSLR. The former Google exec continued, explaining that anyone who really cares about photography should own an iPhone.
Gundorta’s initial post is embedded above, and it quickly received a reply from a friend. “Indeed that era has arrived and Samsung S8 even does a better job as compared to i7,” Ravi Belwal wrote. But Gundotra was quick to shoot him down, stating that he “would never use an Android phone for photos!”
Gundotra then elaborated, “Here is the problem: It’s Android. Android is an open source (mostly) operating system that has to be neutral to all parties. This sounds good until you get into the details. Ever wonder why a Samsung phone has a confused and bewildering array of photo options? Should I use the Samsung Camera? Or the Android Camera? Samsung gallery or Google Photos? It’s because when Samsung innovates with the underlying hardware (like a better camera) they have to convince Google to allow that innovation to be surfaced to other applications via the appropriate API. That can take YEARS.”
He continued, noting that much of the iPhone’s strength lies on the software side. While he believes Google excelled with computational photography several years ago, the company has since fallen behind Apple.
Gundotra’s conclusion is fairly clear: “Bottom line: If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don’t mind being a few years behind, buy an Android.” Ouch.
