Android and iOS are the top and the two most advanced mobile operating systems, available on this planet. Though iOS established its base in this regard before Android, but still Android isn’t giving up, and Android has made some remarkable changes in these years. Both operating systems can be considered best in their respect, but when it comes to comparison between the two, only one can emerge as the champion. But for us to compare between these two powerful operating systems, we have to have a look at the major features what these operating system has to offer.

Before going into the faceoff of Android vs iOS 6, we will have a look at the currently provided features for both the operating systems in an exciting view. So, let’s have a look,

Top 5 Android 4.0 Features

Some of the best Android 4.0 features are listed here,

User Interface at its Best

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User Interface has been totally redefined to have a much more powerful, useful and a better look. Better accessibility of apps and comfortable use of the Android has been made sure by this new UI. This UI is flexible according to screen size, for example, when it runs on a big screen, the notifications and other buttons appear in the System Bar located at the bottom of the screen, while in smaller screens, the traditional but better drop down bar hangs from the top of the screen, giving you better management of apps and notifications.

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The Recently Opened apps menu has been given a whole new look, and now displays a list of apps with the screenshots for each app, so that you can quickly resume working. You can embed interactive widgets rather than just shortcuts in the Home Screen, as well resize those widgets and they will take a new shape according to the size to which you resize them.

Face Unlock

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Face Unlock of one of the best features of Android 4.0, giving you the ability to make your locked, which will only open when your face is kept in front of the front camera in your phone. Though Face Unlock is in experimental stages now, but still it works great even in dim lights, and recognizes your face almost instantly and unlocks the phone.

If due to circumstances like very low light, or something else, the Face Unlock feature is unable to recognize then you have the option of unlocking your phone by using a pattern or a pin that you can set when setting up the Face Unlock that makes Face Unlock totally safe.

Better Data Usage Management

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Have an eye on your data usages with ease on your Android 4.0, using the Data Usage tool that comes inbuilt with the OS. With the Data Usage tool, you can view detailed usage of Mobile Data as well as Wi-Fi Data represented by numbers as well as graphs. You can also set a limit for Mobile Data usage so that it doesn’t exceed that limit, and you may not incur any extra charges for data.

You can also see the detailed data usage for a single app by clicking on the app name, and you will be presented with a graph, a pie chart and other details. This is like an analytics for the data usage right inside your phone.

Android Beam

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Android Beam uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to share different files and information with other NFC enabled Android 4.0 powered phones just by touching them and tapping. For sharing any kind of information, apps or files, you just have to touch the two phones and tap on screen, and your information of file will be received in the other phone.

In case you want to share an app, then after tapping, the receiving phone will receive a link and will open Google Playstore to download the app automatically. That makes sharing really easy and fast.

More Advanced Features

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Android now includes many more advanced features to control any Android devices with ease. Some of the great features include, a better and more useful Lock Screen, where you can not only unlock the screen, but also perform tasks like pulling the notification window to check for new notifications, go straight to the gallery, change music tracks and much more.

You can now remove unwanted notifications one by one, from the notification window by just sweeping the notification away from the screen, and it will be removed from the notification window.

It has a powerful voice input system, which lets you enter text for your messages, email, or any other thing, with ease, and that’s in a fluid manner. You can keep speaking, and you will see your messages getting typed on the screen as you speak.

Top 5 iOS 6 Features

Here are some of the newly added and best features of iOS 6,

Brand New Apple Maps

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iOS 6 now has Apple Maps, a brand new feature which displays beautiful maps both in sketch style and in satellite view too, like Google Maps. One of the best things about this app is that, it offers 3D view of buildings from around the world, so that you can fly through the buildings like Superman. It also offers route by route navigation for easy travelling, and extremely high resolution views of cities from above, so that you can zoom in, without hurting the view.

The map elements are vector so that you can navigate, pan, or zoom in smoothly, like you are slipping on butter, without any distortion. You also get real-time traffic updates so that you can catch the best route. Maps is one of the most wanted features in the iOS 6.

Full Facebook Integration

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Facebook is fully integrated throughout iOS 6, so that you can give thumbs up to everything you want with just a touch. With a onetime sign-in, you will be able to post photos to your Facebook account directly from the Camera app, post a live update of games and scores from the Game Center, or have Siri post anything you like for you to Facebook.

This makes you stay connected to your friends, all the time, and it’s really easy to share anything on Facebook, as you will be having the option to share on Facebook, on almost all Apple built-in apps on iOS 6.

Your Very Own Virtual Passbook

Passbook in iOS 6 lets you have a virtual passes for you at all times and at all places. You can keep your movie tickets, coffee shop card, flight ticket and lots more in just one place, and Passbook app will automatically have your passes ready for you depending upon your location, for example, if you are in an airport, it will have your ticket ready, so that you can scan your iPhone or iPad to check in for your flight.

It’s smart enough to show your current available balance on your cards, and give you live updates about your flight once you check in, so that you don’t get lost or get in trouble. With this app, you will always have your passes organized for you.

Better Phone App

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The new iOS features an all new and better Phone app for answering and rejecting calls smartly and easily. With this new Phone app, you can easily reject any calls by leaving a message that you will call later or any other such messages, with just a single touch. This app makes it easy for you to attend or calls, or can choose not to attend your calls, without having to go the Message app to type a separate message and let your caller know that you are busy.

In this app you can also choose to set a reminder for you, so that can you can call the one who was calling you, later on after you manage finish off with your work. This is a very handy app, and one of the most needed features in the iOS.

Enhanced and Selective Photo Sharing

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Photo Stream app in iOS 6 lets you share the photos you capture with the people you want, with just some few easy taps on the screen. With this app, you can just select which photos to share, select with whom you want to share, and they will receive your photos on their Apple devices or on the web, and they can also put their comments on the photos.

All this doesn’t affect your iCloud storage in anyway, so that you can freely share whatever photo you like without worrying about your storage space. This is a good feature that iOS 6 has in it, and is really helpful.

Android vs iOS Market Share

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Android vs iOS market share is represented by a small section of an infographic created by LucidAgency, as given above. From this infographic we can clearly see that Android is growing at rate much faster than iOS in all the fields, be it in the market share, or having more users, or having more apps. Looking at the rate at which Android is grabbing the market, it is expected that Android will take over about 50% market share, over 500,000 users and over million apps by the year 2015.

Though iOS is leading in terms of the number of apps available for iOS devices, but this won’t continue for long, as Android is catching up with iOS rapidly, and is estimated to surpass the number apps available for iOS by August this year at around 425,000 apps. Thus Android is making its place firm in the smartphone OS market very quickly, and is ready to take over the OS giant, i.e., Apple iOS.

Android vs iOS 6: The Faceoff

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Now that we have learnt about the various new features that both the operating systems has to offer, and about their respective market shares, so now it’s time for the final faceoff, and see who is the best OS for smart devices. Well, in this regard I would like to bring out some points from the new features of both the operating systems and compare between the two in those fields.

New Maps Feature in iOS

Apple iOS might have come up with a well designed Apple Maps feature, but this advanced maps feature has been present in Android for years, and Google Maps is no less than Apple Maps in features and performance. This is a good effort as well as a good feature from Apple in the iOS 6, but it isn’t going to beat Android.

Face Unlock in Android 4

Android now sports a brand new security feature called Face Unlock as I have already discussed above, and it’s quite useful in unlocking your phone, and to be precise there is no such feature in iOS 6 that can be compared with this Face Unlock feature in Android, so that’s a plus one point for Android in this regard, and iOS is yet to receive such feature maybe in the future.

Passbook App in iOS 6

Passbook is a handy app that is available in iOS 6, and can help you in managing your passes, tickets and others coupons by providing them to your in a timely manner, as discussed above, and ignoring any third party app, there is no such feature that is provided in Android. That gives the iOS a plus one point in this context, and we hope that Android will come up with such a feature too in the next update.

Facebook Integration is an Old News

Facebook integration might have been done in iOS 6, for better sharing of things to Facebook, but it’s a very old feature, and Android has this feature for years. Photos, Videos and other things can also be shared to Facebook, using an Android phone, and this feature has become an old thing for Android users, though it may be a new thing for iOS 6 users.

Better Photo Stream in iOS 6

Well the capability of instantly sharing captured photos with loved ones only, having their comments on those photos, and that which can be available in any other Apple device or on the web, is appreciable. Android lacks such a feature neglecting any third party app, and such feature should be introduced in the future versions on Android. So, this is a plus one point for iOS in this regard.

Better Data Usage Management in Android

Android offers a superb utility for managing your Mobile Data and Wi-Fi data usage as discussed above in this article, and this tool is quite helpful on cutting off any additional amount from your phone bills due to extra data usages. iOS 6 doesn’t have such feature to track the data usage in a convenient way, and to cut off data connection when a limit set by the user has been reached. This gives Android a plus one point in this context, and makes it a necessary feature to the included in the next iOS version for beating Android.

Rejecting Calls with a Message is not a New Feature

iOS 6 has a newly built Phone app which has the ability of rejecting calls followed by sending a text message to the caller to give a suitable information, as it was explained above, but this is not any new concept, as it is present in Android phones for years.

Well, bringing this article to an end I would like to say, that both OS are good in their respective fields and respective audiences, but when it comes to advanced features, Android is surely leading iOS by a good margin. To beat Android in terms of advanced features, iOS will have to come up with some more great features, and we hope that iOS will emerge as an advanced OS too in the future. Well, this android vs iOS 6 comparison was not made with an intention of terming any OS as a bad one, it was just a friendly comparison of features that both the OS has to offer, and the choice of OS solely depends upon the user.

So, which OS do you prefer on your mobile device, Android or iOS?

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