Face-off: iOS 4.2 vs Android 2.2 the fight for supremacy

The challenge

Google’s gradually venturing out of the image of a search engine alone and is targeting the mobile OS market with the best to date product in its repertoire, the Android operating system. Besides the more celebrated Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Android 2.2 Froyo is the OS that’s making into the consumer gadgets at this point in time and is set to change the OS market for good. But the big player in this market is the iOS, which recently rolled out in version 4.2, thus it seemed to us that it would be fitting to inform our readers about what’s superior in Android 2.2 and the iOS 4.2 and thus we set out to pit them against one another to see which one overcomes the other and in what department. While the iOS 4.2 is accompanied with features like threaded e-mail, folder support and tethering, the Android sets pace with support for Flash, speedier processing and tethering/hotspot, now let’s see how they face off feature by feature

android 22 vs ios 42 image

Round one:

Comparison attribute: Software Updates

When we talk about the software updates, Android 2.2 is reported to allow users’ access to online Android Market to help them wirelessly install selected software from the Web to their phone, while iOS 4.2 on the other hand is largely playing catch-up with its heaviest-hitting software upgrades, so it presently misses on the cloud syncing platform provided by Android.

Winner: Android 2.2

Round two:

Comparison attribute: Apps

The Android 2.2 Froyo introduces many exciting features for users and developers. Android 2.2 is reported to run apps many times faster, but still the limitation of the apps available sets it way behind the iOS 4.2 which we learn has over 250,000 apps lined up in the store.

Winner: iOS 4.2

Round three:

Comparison attribute: Ease of use

Users may have varying opinions on this one, but for our understanding and experience we think the Apple’s operating system is simpler and easier to use. No doubt the Android 2.2 brings in a host of new features that make it ever more exciting to use, but strange quirks have been reported on Android.

Winner: iOS 4.2

Round four:

Comparison attribute: Responsiveness

This is a little twisty, yes the Android 2.2 if fast but it isn’t all as quick in responding as it should in comparison to iOS 4. This does not mean there are responsiveness issue with Android 2.2, when compared to other OSs, it does square of very well, but Apple’s platform is absolute beauty in this respect, iOS 4.2 simply provides more responsiveness when users interact with it than any other OS out there.

Winner: iOS 4.2

Round five:

Comparison attribute: Folder support

One thing that we may overlook could be the perfection of the iOS’s folder support, besides other things here the users can create folders very quickly and can , lump similar programs together. While in the Android 2.2 may just lack behind in this respect, Google may have a long way to go before it can match the Apple’s operating system’s folder support.

Winner: iOS 4.2

Round six:

Comparison attribute: Multitasking

The iOS 4.2 does support multitasking, and yes apps and other browsing features make it mandatory for the present day OSs to support multitasking, but the iOS offers very limited multitasking when squared off with the Android 2.2 that supports full multitasking, allowing the default apps to run in the background.

Winner: Android 2.2

android 22 vs ios 42

The verdict:

Though it depends on the user’s preference as to which OS he chooses, but I think we’ve tweaked your brain to think deeper as to which OS you need with the aforementioned comparison. The Android has a lot to prove and it may in the forthcoming versions, with Gingerbread and Honeycomb but from the comparison we’ve compiled instigates us to support iOS 4.2 as the outright winner for now.

Top image courtesy: CellphoneBreak