Mobile operating systems (OS) provide the underlying platform upon which the user interface, functionality, and app ecosystem of any smartphone or tablet is based. Understanding the unique traits of each major mobile OS can give consumers insights into choosing an OS that most suits their preferences and device.
Apple’s iOS, first released with the debut of the iPhone in 2007, also got us into this glittering new smartphone world.
Android and iOS
In 2007 – years before Android – with very few users, and entirely owned by Apple, iOS redefined user interface and app ecosystem design.
Android’s open-source model made it possible for competing manufacturers to make cheaper smartphones with various specifications, and emphasise customisation and preferences, with more control over what features apps could access – better protections for privacy.
In the end, competition, and the forces of rivalry, encouraged innovations that accelerated development and mobile technology. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are now two of the most widely adopted OSes in the world. Each has continued to mutate and adapt to users’ needs and progressive demands.
Android’s Open-Source Nature
The open source nature of Android has given manufacturers a free hand to create their own software skins – from Samsung’s One UI to Xiaomi’s MIUI, via LG’s LG UX, and a host of others. All these specialist interfaces are built upon AOSP (Android Open Source Project), containing the necessary OS components and some critical applications.
AOSP includes a number of software layers, each built upon the other. The bottom layer consists of the Linux kernel and the hardware abstraction layer, which encompasses the hardware from which different parts of the device may derive their functionality. Next are several Java API framework layers, which provide hooks to hook in applications, and at the top is the Android runtime, which translates the applications into native hardware instructions.
From low-end phones to high-end flagships, Android powers more devices in more spaces than any other operating system. It is a leader in emerging technologies such as machine learning and augmented reality.
iOS’s Closed Ecosystem
In addition to the unique control Apple has over consumer experience, the iPhone maintains control over most aspects of the consumer experience because of its closed ecosystem: iOS, the operating software that powers an entire family of devices (every iDevice, from iPhone and iPad to Mac computer) is created to function the same way on all devices. This applies especially to iOS.
With its loyalised customers, there is less reason to worry about new entrants, and so Apple can afford – indeed it gains competitive advantage – by launching evermore dazzling innovations in augmented reality and other features, to reinforce its brand love.
When consumers increasingly shunned feature phones for smartphones, Symbian was able to compete only with Android and iOS for oxygen until Nokia terminated Symbian because the codebase was too complex and it could not support new mobile hardware.
Android’s Innovative Features
Users have easy access to the Open Services for Lonely Individuals, where they can discover, download and install applications from various providers. Beyond normal multitasking, activities can be switched from one application or task to another (say, from playing Infinity Blade to making a call), and everything can be themed: by adding wallpapers, themes, widgets or even replacing the launcher with something a third-party provider makes.
It includes better secure hardware: Android will work on both ARM and Intel x86 architectures for different processor chips, and it has better protections for the security of both personal and corporate data on mobile devices. The new version includes tools for defeating text scammers who use ‘cell-site samplers’; and Android developers will now have more control over how apps scale to work on different screens for phones, tablets, and desktop computers.
iOS’s Game-Changer
Since the pace of evolution of mobile technology is very fast, high-quality software is required for it.
With the industry evolution, smartphones are gradually replacing the regular PDA and feature phones. Mobile OS is a key part of such evolution, which provides great comfort and convenience for us to take charge of our lives.
Whether it was Palm OS or Symbian OS in the early days, or Apple and Android today, our own evolution has been reflected in that of the mobile operating system that lives on and near us. As a result, each OS that has emerged has created its own ecosystem to serve the needs of users – an app store, multitasking for managing work and play – with each one offering a different set of features that noticeably help people to connect, collaborate and get things done.