Even if you have a preferred platform, it’s always good to keep an open mind about things that other platforms do better. Android Police’s Shawn De Cesari has put together an interesting list of six things that he believes iOS actually does better than Android, even though they’re not enough to make him completely switch platforms. While some of the items on his list are obvious — I think even the most hardcore Android fanboys would have a hard time saying Android does a better job than iOS at pushing out timely software updates — others are surprising and perhaps even counter-intuitive.
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For example, I was surprised to see that De Cesari mentioned battery life management as one of iOS’s best features since I’ve personally found battery life to be my biggest complaint about the iPhone 6s. Even so, he makes a case that iOS’s battery power management “embarrasses” that of Android.
“Even with advancements like Marshmallow’s doze mode, Android still can’t compete effectively in this area,” he explains. “A lot of this has to do with the fact that iOS doesn’t allow apps to do very much in the background. In this case “background” means while the screen is off, and while the app isn’t the one on the screen and actively being used. Android, on the other hand, allows apps to do basically whatever they want in the background as a service.”
That’s all nice, but I still find my iPhone 6s battery is insufficient compared to the batteries in past Android phones I’ve used.
Another prominent feature he includes is the ability for iPhone SMS to work seamlessly with Macs and iPads, which I have to admit is a fantastic feature that I absolutely love.
“If you have an iPad or a Mac (or both), all you have to do is sign them into iCloud with the same Apple ID as your iPhone,” he explains. “At that point, you can turn on text forwarding to your iPad or Mac. A prompt containing a six-digit code will pop up on your device. Enter that code on your phone, and you’re done. You can then send SMS or MMS messages using your carrier phone number in a seamless manner, just as if you had banged it out on your phone.”
And it really is that simple. I remember the first time that text messages starting popping up on my MacBook Air even though my iPhone was nowhere near and being delighted at how well the two devices work together.
Other items on De Cesari’s list include notification settings, carrier integration and backup functionality. Check out the whole thing for yourself at this link.
