Iknow most of you reading this probably have an iPhone. Apple’s iPhones are always among the top-of-the-line smartphones every year, and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are no exception. But beauty is only skin deep, and as our parents always told us, “It’s what’s inside that counts.” To me, that’s where I feel like Apple left me wanting this year. There are three things that I think still make the top-end Android phones better than the iPhone: the hardware, software and customization.
If you’re not familiar with what hardware is inside the phone, I’ll give you a quick rundown. The processor is sort of like the “brain of phone,” and its speed is measured in gigahertz. The higher the speed, the faster your phone runs. Random Access Memory (RAM) gives your processor the ability to run the operating system and application. The more RAM you have, the more apps you can run at the same time without the phone slowing down. The phone’s display is the screen, and higher resolutions (pixel counts) make text easier to read, and videos and pictures are clearer and sharper.
In terms of performance, they’re no slouches. With a 1.4 ghz dual-core 64 bit processor, a 4.7 inch display with a resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels (1920 x 1080 on the 6 Plus), 1 GB of RAM, and 16, 64, or 128 GB of storage, the 6 and 6 Plus have respectable specifications. But if you compare those to, say, the LG G3 (my phone of choice), they start to look a little sheepish. The G3 comes with a 2.5 ghz quad-core processor, a 5.5″ display with a 2560 x 1440 pixels, 3 GB of RAM and 16 or 32 GB of storage (with up to 128 GB additional removable storage). Not to mention that the battery in the G3 is removable, so if your battery ever completely dies, you can just buy another one from the store, without having to send it back to LG for replacement (or Apple, in the case of the iPhone). I think it’s safe to say that the G3 takes the cake.
The hardware isn’t the only thing that makes up the phone, however, and this is where the distinctions start to grow. Now, I’m sure the majority of you are familiar with iOS (the iPhone’s operating system) or Android (the operating system of other major companies’ phones such as Samsung, HTC or LG). There is only one thing that I, as an Android user, envy of iOS users, and that would be software updates. Since Android is open source, all of the manufacturers put their own touch on their phone’s version of it. This creates some problems, as Google is the distributor of the Android operating system, and if you don’t own a phone made by them, you might have to wait a few months for the other Android sellers to put their finishing touches on the new update. Since Apple makes their own phones and operating system, they are able to optimize their updates for all of their devices before releasing them, so all iPhones get upgrades at the same time.
And that brings me to my final advantage: customization. This is my favorite part about the Android OS. Take a look at your iPhone, and then go find someone else with an iPhone, and compare what they look like. The phone looks the same. The apps look the same. Sure, you might have different backgrounds, but that’s about where the differences end. On Android, there are infinite ways to customize your phone to make it completely unique. If you don’t like the look that your phone’s manufacturer gave to the Android OS, you can download a different theme from the Google Play Store, or even make one yourself. You control what your phone looks like. In the case of the Motorola Moto X phone, you can customize the physical phone to your liking as well, with 25 different backs, including wood, leather and metal.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an “Apple hater” as some people might label me. I own an iPad and I really do enjoy iOS — although not so much iOS 8. I originally had an iPhone and loved it until I switched over to the “dark side” and got my first Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. But I just can’t justify buying a $900+ phone when one that is $300 less has better hardware and won’t bend in my pocket. So until Apple stops playing catch up and releases an iPhone with the same shock factor that the original had seven years ago, don’t expect to see me walking around campus with an iPhone anytime soon.
