10 advantages Android phones have over iOS and iPhones in 2021
Cool new features
Seriously, they're cool
To start with something big related to Android phones themselves, they aren’t really produced by a single company, which means that there is competition among Android phone manufacturers. Quite often, companies on this side of the camp are forced to not only iterate their new flagships but also add new features to them to make them stand out. Sometimes this ends up being a flop, like the poor LG Wing, which was really cool, but not special enough with its tilting second screen, and other times, it ends up being a success like with periscope zoom cameras. In any case, while some small risk may be involved, we’d say that it also ends up washing away in the face of being the first to the coolest new feature which iPhones will eventually implement.
Launchers and app icon themes
Custom goodies
Yet, you can still get bored with your new design or feature in a matter of weeks, especially since you’ll be looking at the same home screen over and over again. This is why you can download a launcher.
You can essentially change the look and feel of your home screen. From the app icons’ size to their spacing. You can make them square, circle, or round their corners. But if you don’t like how the icons look with your specific launcher, then you should also be able to download specific icon themes. Even then though, if that’s not customizable enough for you, there is always the option to root your device and install a different version of Android which feels and looks different. The possibilities are endless at that point. If you contrast all that to iOS’ option to either move the icons and just put them in folders, then you can easily see why many point to Android’s customizability as being its main selling point.
Pricing
Your mileage may vary
To double down on why having an iPhone isn’t exactly great though, having iOS isn’t cheap because frankly, iPhones aren’t cheap, but that’s because Apple is mainly in the business of selling you flagship phones.
This is probably the main reason why we see Android devices dominating the world in terms of numbers. You can get a device that fits your budget and needs. Of course, that may mean that you could sacrifice a feature or two, but you’re still getting a full-fledged smartphone for less money. Honestly, devices like the Galaxy A52 or Oneplus Nord aren’t that bad at less than half the price of their flagship counterparts.
Apple tried to offer a more sensible option with their iPhone SE 2020 edition, but while pretty compact and powerful, its screen was subpar in terms of resolution and the battery life was terrible. Therefore it’s still an overall win here for Android and its devices.
Different phone designs to suit you
Material You
Also, we're sure you guys already know this, but there are a lot more Android devices to choose from. Apple may have a sleek and premium line of devices, but they end up looking really similar while on this side of the camp, you can choose anything you want. Need a screen that can rotate?
LG Wing has you covered. Need a camera that flips? Well then, the Asus Zenfone 8 Flip also has you covered. We also have foldable phones on this side of the camp. We quite like what Samsung is doing with their Fold 3 and Flip 3. The point is, there is a phone for every type of person.
USB Type-C
The future is now
Here’s a quick one related to the hardware, USB Type-C. It’s universal, it’s everywhere. Your new PC has it, your laptop probably has it, your Android phone uses it. Even MacBooks and iPads use Type-C, but iPhones don’t. This is frankly a major drawback here.
Android devices started incorporating it quite a fair bit back in 2015 and 2016 and now it’s the norm for a lot of devices. It’s easy to use since it goes in both ways, much like the lightning connector that Apple’s been dragging since 2012, but it’s also a one-man show. USB Type-C can be used for intelligent fast charging, as a display port, and it can do amazing speeds while transferring files.
Samsung’s flagship devices since the Galaxy S8 have had the option to share their display via USB C with the help of Samsung DeX and that’s honestly pretty cool, but it’s not really why we're giving Android the win here. It’s because even Apple knows that Type-C is good since it’s on the rest of their devices, but they still refuse to add it on iPhones.
Number of apps on the Play Store
More than zero
Fast charging
Faster than slow charging
Here’s another small one related to the phones themselves. All of us want a device that lasts a day or more, but sometimes that’s unrealistic. Some of us could manage a day with the S20 FE, but others might not. So it would be pretty nice if you could somehow top-up in 30 minutes right? Well yes, and most Android devices have you covered with charging speeds exceeding 30 watts.
The Asus ROG 5 offers around 65 watts, but it’s not the fastest, nor the only one to offer such speeds. There is a notable difference from one device to another and some cheaper devices do come with barely 15 watts, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy A32, but the point lies elsewhere. You have options and some are miles better than what Apple can offer. The iPhone 12 charges at around 20 watts which is fine, but you don’t even get the charging brick for that. Even the iPhone SE gets only a standard 5-watt charging brick in the box while other budget-oriented options such as the OnePlus Nord, come with a 30-watt charging brick.
Split Screen
Better than whatever unsplit screen is
There is also something a bit extra for us productivity nerds. Split-screen is a feature we Android users don’t really consider as something too amazing, but we do acknowledge that it’s useful when needed. Well, too bad for iOS, because it doesn’t have this option. You do have picture-in-picture to lean back on, but it doesn’t really work with all apps and plus, Android has that option too. Granted, Apple may implement this feature down the road, but for now, we're calling it an “Android exclusive”.
Sideloading apps
Highly recommended
By the way, if you scroll through the Play Store and find that some app you need is missing, you can always just find and download it from another store or just as a standalone file and install it on your device as we mentioned earlier. That of course opens you up to potential security threats, but it’s also useful if you need a specific app that does not meet the Play Store’s rules.
File management system
Better than you remember
Also, as mentioned at the beginning of this video, Android has a solid file management system. You can go online and download as many shady files as you want, then you can open them if they are in text format or anything of the sort. iPhones did receive sort of a file manager a few years back, but it’s still a bit weak in feel especially. And if that wasn’t enough, when you connect an iPhone to your computer, you still need iTunes or something else to properly transfer all sorts of files. The only easy things to transfer back and forth on an iPhone are images and videos while Android lets you touch all sorts of files buried in its system. You can also download WinRAR if you feel like using zipped files or archiving them yourself.
In the end though, while we did cover why Android is better, there are some reasons why iOS is superior which we will cover in another article, but we still might have missed something cool here so let us know down in the comments below if that’s the case or if you just want to share a thought in general.
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