What can an android phone do that a iphone cant

[glitteratzzi]

Either way... Im selling an android Nokia x unlocked for $100 and a windows Htc 8x unlocked for $200 if anyone is interested...like new! Personally I prefer iPhone.

[ice4351]

The answer is simple. The new Samsung can take your blood pressure--an iPhone can't. I would stick with the iPhone if I were you!

[robblok]

There is a reason why many people jailbreak their IPHONE.. because it lacks flexibility and they don't want to depend on Apple. Kinda says enough Android phones mean you control your own phone not that your phone and phone producer controls you.

[ice4351]

And by the way, I had one of the first Android 4G phones, the HTC Evo, so I have used both platforms too. I currently have an iPhone 5 and a MacBook Air. What does that tell you? Android tries to copy everything Apple does. My friend had Samsung and damn near destroyed it in frustration. He now owns an iPhone 5S. The fact is both phones are unbelievably good phone. Unlike one of the responders I will not talk stupid and put down the Android phones, but in my humble opinion I feel the iPhone is a more intuitive device. I prefer a phone that is user friendly and easy to carry around--no a bulky big screen. If I need a bigger screen for some reason, I would get an iPad or Tab.

[thhMan]

Bitcoin...

[Strangebrew]

Well for one cost and I phone if battery dies try and change it yourself or download there apps and see what happens. Issues and more issues with apple. Better off buying a clone does the same cheaper too.

[2008bangkok]

Sorry, but I fear most of the iPhone users don't know what they talk about unless they have actually been extensive Android users.... I've been both and PRACTICALLY speaking, the best iPhone cannot hold a candle to a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or 3. Just try one for a few weeks and you'll see. It's like night and day in terms of practical functionality. iPhone is good Note 2 or 3 is simply much better.

Do you have a couple of examples how it's practically better

I gave you examples that you choose to ignore.

Adding and taking files from your phone inclusive music like a hard drive (no annoying iTunes and you can always get it back without difficult extra programs)

Not having to pay a lot of money for more storage capacity (you can just buy a memory sim)

Just like other said there are so many other reasons not to take an inferior apple product.

Hardly anything to write home about, adding and removing files easily and using it like a hard drive, I mean let's be honest does anybody ever need to carry files around

The funny thing is nobody has provided any examples it's just ' because it is'

[2008bangkok]

There is a reason why many people jailbreak their IPHONE.. because it lacks flexibility and they don't want to depend on Apple. Kinda says enough Android phones mean you control your own phone not that your phone and phone producer controls you.

Actually a jail broken iPhone has far more flexibility than an android ever will even a rooted android

[robblok]

Sorry, but I fear most of the iPhone users don't know what they talk about unless they have actually been extensive Android users.... I've been both and PRACTICALLY speaking, the best iPhone cannot hold a candle to a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or 3. Just try one for a few weeks and you'll see. It's like night and day in terms of practical functionality. iPhone is good Note 2 or 3 is simply much better.

Do you have a couple of examples how it's practically better

I gave you examples that you choose to ignore.

Adding and taking files from your phone inclusive music like a hard drive (no annoying iTunes and you can always get it back without difficult extra programs)

Not having to pay a lot of money for more storage capacity (you can just buy a memory sim)

Just like other said there are so many other reasons not to take an inferior apple product.

Hardly anything to write home about, adding and removing files easily and using it like a hard drive, I mean let's be honest does anybody ever need to carry files around

The funny thing is nobody has provided any examples it's just ' because it is'

Working without itunes.. its a blessing. Being able to copy the songs you want from and too.. you cant do that with an iphone.

Plus the extra ram for a couple of thousand baht instead of a lot more from apple.

Seems you made up your mind without realisticly looking at what is better. I used both.

[Regyai]

No multiple SIM capability = no interest from me

[PHP87]

You can delete much of the "bloatware" by "rooting" your android phone.

You can also expand storage with a SD Card, easily replace the battery and they cost far less.

I dumped my iPhone about 1.5 years ago and haven't looked back.

My Android phone outperforms my old iPhone (since sold) and it cost half the price.

Anything by Apple is going to be waaaaaay overpriced, iPhones included.

My 1.5 GHz Dual Core, 1 GB RAM Android phone with a 4.5" screen cost me $159 after mail in rebate 1.5 years ago.

It replaced an iPhone 4S that cost $399.00 at the time.

Bigger screen, better performance, easier to delete the bloatware (rooting an Android phone is soooo easy) adding more storage (32 GB SD Card was $20) customizing your phone, etc....

My Android phone Benchmarks in the low 17,000's - nearly the same as a Samsung S-3 and this is for a nearly 2 year old phone. (LG Spirit)

Thru Metro PCS, I got a Promo for $30.00 a month that includes unlimited talk and text, plus 500MB's of 4GLTE Data. If I go over my allotment, they throttle me down to 3G, but I'm always close to WiFi, so I rarely use up my allotment of Data.

I also noticed no more dropped or missed calls. Not sure if that was the iPhone or AT&T, but the LG phone hasn't failed me and works great.

I bought mine thru wirefly.com, but they are no longer in business but Android phones are available everywhere. Wirefly had the best prices at the time though.

And as mentioned above, no damn iTunes. I hated that app, or should I call it a virus?

And the Android "PlayStore" has just about everything that the Apple app store has, if not more.

It's no wonder that Android-based phones are taking a larger market share than iPhones.

Android over iOS by far.

BTW, I just upgraded from a 2150mAh battery to a 3230mAh battery for my LG phone for 13.00 shipped and get over 2 days of heavy use between charges.

Swapping out the battery took less than a minute.

Try adding more storage or swapping out a dying battery on an iPhone or upgrading to a more robust battery.

Too many limitations on an iPhone.

Best of all, since I'm with a no-contract carrier, I own the phone and can sell it anytime I want.

Before buying the LG Spirit, I had an LG Motion. Basically the same phone, but the LG Motion had a smaller, 3.5 inch screen.

Instead of being stuck with it for 2 years, I sold it, sold my iPhone and bought the LG Spirit and had money left over, not to mention the $70 MIR that came a few months later in the form of a Visa gift card.

If you're in the US, I would recommend Metro if you are in their coverage area as well as the LG Optimus L70 which is free after rebate, although you will have to pay tax on the $149.00 cost before rebates. $100 instant rebate and $49.00 mail in rebate.

I'm thinking of getting one of these and selling my LG Spirit on eBay.

BTW, LG advertises their phones at 1.2GHz, but they Benchmark at 1.5GHz

Not sure why, but better for the end-user.

[Cosmo88]

The OP shold note that there are three Smartphone OS:es of relevance today; Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

It is a matter of taste which one you like. Personally I prefer WP, after years of using the other two.

[vox2]

Android gets you more malware

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/google-android-chief-sundar-pichai-says-android-not-designed-be-safe

[PHP87]

Android gets you more malware

http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/google-android-chief-sundar-pichai-says-android-not-designed-be-safe

I have Avast AV installed. No issues with viruses or Malware in nearly 2 years of Android phone ownership.

Like Windows, the more popular O/S will likely be targeted.

Edited April 23, 2014 by PHP87

[JDGRUEN]

I have used both iPhone and various Androids. The only thing I thought Apple had an advantage over was the voice mail. The iPhone was under AT&T in the U.S. and the voice mail was on the phone --- not out in some service provider cloud. No silly messages to get to your voice mail -- delete one and it was gone ... loved it.... Everything service providers give in the way of voice mail seems to be to be 1980's technology... I love the Android -- does everything and more than I could possibly ask for ... People who get into one upmanship with iPhone versus Android are just kids bragging about their bicycle ... Apple should consider various sizes of their phone - if they haven't already

What does the android phone do that iPhone doesn't in terms of usability?

Sorry you missed my point... I think both iPhone and Android phones are excellent phones and it up to the user's individual tastes - likes and dislikes. And that I think such discussions often turn into childish playground stuff like 'my bike is better than your bike' ... I did point out rather directly -- that the iPhone voice mail approach (if all iPhone service companies do it the way AT&T did it) has a distinct advantage over Android phones... Bottom line --- both phones are so capable - depending on Apps used - that it is pointless to debate the issue - since manufacturer offerings coupled with App downloads make most any Smartphone an extraordinary device...

[PHP87]

If you like to tinker with your device, add custom ROM's, Launchers, have an open source OS, and have far more control over the look, feel and operation of your device, then I would recommend the Android OS. Especially if you know basic Linux commands. Then it opens up an entirely new world for you on top of everything else the Android OS has to offer.

If you want a more rigid OS that doesn't let you do these things or even swap out the battery (without a lot of hassle and/or expense) and no option to expand storage, then go with the iPhone.

I'm the type of person that likes to know what makes a device work and how I can make it work better, work it so it's customized for my liking instead of being the same on every phone and being able to do all kinds of tweaks to enhance the device. This is why I like the Android OS

And again, no iTunes. With Android, it's just drag and drop. Just plug it into your PC with a USB cable and drag and drop all of your music into the correlating directory.

You can even create your own ringtones from *.MP3 files very easily.

My current ringtone is the "hotline" Red Phone from the "Our Man Flint" and "In Like Flint" James Coburn movies for my friends. I also have different ringers for different callers as well as a call-blocker so I can have spammers hung up on without even hearing my phone ring. I'm sure iOS has that by now as well.

I can also set my alarm to play any one of the thousands of MP3 songs on my phone as well. Not sure if that is available on the latest iOS build, but it's nice to wake up to a song you like and it also allows the volume to ascend slowly (or whatever rate you choose) so you are not jolted out of bed by a blaring "fire alarm" type of sound.

IMO, Android is far more flexible and adaptable than iOS while the iOS is a bit more refined looking, but I prefer substance over style and customization over the status-quo.

Open source is huge and YouTube if filled with tutorials on how to tweak your Android phone to do a million different things.

Also, backing up your info and even your lock screen and home page is automatic and restoring is a breeze.

When I upgraded from my LG Motion to my LG Spirit, I just put in the new SIM, dialed a phone number, punched in a few numbers and I was set - no dealing with iTunes and having limitations on how many computers I can have my iTunes account on, etc... and it was much, much faster and everything looked like it did on my previous phone after upgrading to a new phone.

Like I said, I've been out of the iOS loop for a couple of years and I'm sure they've made a lot of advancements, but at the time I bought my first Android phone nearly two years ago, the OS was far better, way more configurable and faster and easier to transfer everything over to my new phone that outperformed my 4S at less than half the cost

Which reminds me, Google voice recognition works better than Siri.

iOS seems to be more suited for new smart phone user's where Android seems to be a better experience for the more experienced smart phone user who will get more out of the ability to tweak the OS, customized it, personalize it, etc...while at the same time, it's easy to do all of these things and learning how is also half the fun, as is teaching others how to as well.

Example of something simple:

"Hey, let me show you how to speed up your Animations and your OS in general - It only takes a minute"

"OK"

"Go into "Settings" and then "Dev options", select "Windows Animation Scale" and change it from 1.0x to 0.5x. Now do the same with "Transition Animation Scale" and "Animator Duration Scale" and you're done.

"Hey, that's so cool and it runs much faster! Thanks!"

That's just scratching the surface. There's so many cool things you can do with an Open Source OS and Android OS. Like I said, check out You Tube. Lot's of great tutorials on how to tweak you phone millions of ways.

And it's just about impossible to "brick" your phone and you can always do a quick restore back to exactly as you had it, unlike iTunes which takes ages.

So glad to be rid of that app, not to mention Apple forcing OS and other updates on your phone making it difficult to "Jailbreak" your phone if a JB wasn't available for the update yet.

There's even a way to get just about any app in the Play Store for free with the Android OS, but it would likely be a forum TOS violation for me to post it, so I won't but a little research on Google will help you find what you're looking for.

Much like Torrents, be sure you have an AV running that will scan any D/L's

I've never run into anything malicious, but better safe than sorry.

[vox2]

I think Android phones are great with many models to choose from. I like and would highly recommend the HTC One models, Sony Xperia Z1, Z2 and the Samsung Galaxy S5.

I very much liked my Android phone (Samsung S3) but eventually I went back to using an iPhone because it worked better for me for the following reasons:

- Ease of communication and compatibility useage with my other Apple devices

- Greater resale value than any Android phone

- Great hardware and thousands of accessories (such as camera lenses, speakers, waterproof cases, etc., etc.)

- Availability of quality apps

- Accessibility options (for low vision users like me for example)

Just my opinion. All in all it depends what works best for you and what your budget is. I would say it's worth getting an iPhone if you have other Apple devices (Laptop, iPad etc). If not then Android phones are great phones.

[lvr181]

For a starter it is likely to cost less!

And don't listen to s**t about virus. Apple community love to say that PCs have more virus than Apple - that is because PCs still have around 85% of market therefore it is more productive to try and break into PC than Macs! Android phone sales outsell Apple in market place, once again it is more

likely to be a cost benefit in targeting android phones for information. It is a numbers game.

Apple phones are a closed community and therefore any "extras" going to cost you money!

And don't get caught out by fancy marketing term about "features" purportedly used only by Apple, many of these features have been improved by the android system and its manufacturers of hardware.

HTH with my "two bobs worth".

[tw25rw]

I've seen loads of iPhones with smashed screens. I've dropped/slammed my Galaxy S3 face down on hard surfaces and not scratched it.

[thrilled]

I believe 1 smart phone is as good as another.I use A tablet to do any internet work.Smartphones to small.

[PHP87]

I never understood why Apple keeps their O/S tied to their hardware and doesn't make their hardware available to others.

Windows will run on just about any PC, even one you build yourself, while the Apple OS will only run on an Apple computer built and sold by Apple at a premium price.

Same with their phones.

You want to buy an Apple Smart Phone? Be prepared to shell out a lot of money. The 5C is $199 for a 16GB model and 399 for a 64GB model.That's with a contract.

Without a contract, and you're looking at well over $600 USD,. That's just insane for a 1.3GHz Dual-Core, 1GB RAM phone with a 4" display and just 16GB internal storage.

How do they justify that price?

And it's still only a 4" screen which is minimum size these days. I'm not one for "Phablets" but I think 4.5" is the minimum for smartphones with 5" being optimal.

Anything bigger is a pain to carry unless you're a woman with a purse or you are wearing a jacket with pockets. Not during Summer and for sure not in Thailand.

Maybe in the pockets of Cargo shorts, but I find 4.5"-5" perfect. 4" is just too small, especially for the price.

Want to buy an Android phone? You can get an entry level phone such as the previously mentioned LG Optimus L70 for free after rebates from a no-contract carrier like Metro PCS in the US

Add a 64GB SD Card for $40.00 and you have pretty much everything and more that a $600 iPhone can do with similar hardware specs.

It's a 4G phone, but not 4GLTE, but for free, a great smart phone: http://www.metropcs.com/metro/category/PhonesandMore/Phones/Android/detail/LG_Optimus_L70/610214635211

Metro is also merging with T-Mobile, so they will have more selections of phones as well as expanded coverage.

And plans starting at $40.00 a month in the US. I'm sure in Thailand, no-contract carriers are probably about $10.00 a month for everything, if that.

This is why Android beats the heck out of Apple. With Apple, you have to pay $600 for an entry-level phone. Or pay $200 and be tied to a 2-year, expensive monthly contract that comes out in the end to paying $600 for the device.

Android OS runs on numerous makes/models of phones from entry-level to top of the line, and anyone can afford a free smart phone running Kit Kat 4.4 with a 1.5GHz CPU and 1GB RAM as well as 4GB on board storage with room for more storage via SD Card and with unlimited calls and text plans starting at 30-40 dollars a month.

Apple did the same thing with the PC and they are making the same mistake with smart phones and will find themselves eventually at about 10% of the market. Again.

Seems like Apple is great at innovation - the PC, the iPod, the iPhone, but they are stubborn about marketing their products, everything is proprietary and other companies whether it be IBM or Samsung come along, improve on their product at a lesser price and make it available to far more people, then Apple ends up with a tiny market share.

[Gonsalviz]

If apple sells it, I am against it. They are doing exactly what they got the US government to against microsoft. Not that I like microsoft any better. Better to make android better.

[PHP87]

I've seen loads of iPhones with smashed screens. I've dropped/slammed my Galaxy S3 face down on hard surfaces and not scratched it.

I believe both Apple and Samsung use Corning "Gorilla Glass"

I keep my phone in a sturdy case and dropped it once in two years.

Right on the corner from about 4' high from my inside jacket pocket onto the cement sidewalk.

It bounced a few times and landed face down. I thought the screen would be cracked for sure.

Fortunately, the $8.00 case did it's job. I also never carry keys, coins, knives or anything sharp or made of metal in the same pocket as my phone so I don't scratch the screen. I don't care for screen protectors much either and don't use them.

Some new phones are talking about having a "borderless" screen, an idea I don't like as it would not allow you to use a protective case.

I'm not one to drop things, especially a cell phone, but accidents happen and that protective case will help when needed. All it takes is just one time to ruin your phone which I almost did but my cheap case saved me.

[jay1980]

u can drag and drop movies and music into the memory of an android phone, without any 3rd party software or converting the file type of the movies, or you can put a micro SD card into your andorid phone that contains music and movies of almost any format and the phone will just play them.

also you do not need to leave flowers outside the store where you bought your android phone if one of the founders of google dies 555

Edited April 23, 2014 by jay1980

[GBK]

Well, that didn't take long to degenerate now, did it?

All the usual misinformation being thrown down as facts.

Apple DID license their OS and it was a flat out disaster with the clone manufacturers selling substandard crap. El Jobso canned it. Apple computers are relatively expensive, albeit less so these days, but you get a premium machine. I still own a 12 year old iMac that is still perfectly serviceable.

Dropping an iPhone will more likely result in a damaged screen because the device is in a metal case. If you went to school, you may remember that Force x Mass = Accelleration, thus a metallic object will fall at a faster speed than a similarly sized object made of plastic. Yes, a good case will be worthwhile if an accident occurs with any device.

In terms of malware, yes, the authors go for marketshare. So what?

Choose what you prefer and live and let live. If I'm happy in Apple's walled garden, what's it to you?

[kaveh]

technically nothing because operating systems don't have potential disablities

[build6]

Well, that didn't take long to degenerate now, did it?

lol

perhaps the TS is trolling :-P

but if he's not, then, my attempt to bring it back on topic -

a lot of the information here is anecdotal, and that's not really a good basis for decision-making. Some of the stated reasons are ultimately political/religious in nature and not directly relevant to someone who just wants "a product that works well".

you can't directly compare hardware specs between iPhones and the Android competition. Apple's official stance in tying together hardware and software is to allow for "efficiency" in design to take the place of "brute force". A lot of the processing cycles in Android units is ultimately wasted. That is why even with lower specs an Apple device feels smoother than a comparable Android unit -

My iPhone and iPad have far less "stuttering" and strange/sudden pauses than my Android tablet and phones (I assume while the Dalvik garbage collector kicks in), even though on paper the specs of my android units are far superior. This single data point is anecdotal in nature but I'm certain if you research this you'll find this to be the consensus, even amongst many Android fans.

(You can (and should) compare the specs between Android phones. But it's really not that meaningful to compare how many GHz for an iPhone vs. whichever Android).

apple products are never cheap, but I am not sure about whether they are overpriced - and if they are, to what extent they are so. I can't really answer that since the answer depends very much on people's likes/dislikes. you could buy a cheap Android phone and if it turns out to not do anything you want it to do, it's still wasted money.

re: what was said about rooting, custom ROMs, unlocking etc. - speaking as a guy who used to regularly compile custom kernels, the advantage of all this "flexibility" is questionable. if you're looking to test the waters of custom ROMs etc., you should limit yourself to popular phones (and the more common variants), or you'll find few custom ROMs to use.

Unless you're at the level where you can write your own device drivers (but in that case would you be posting the question... ), the android "flexibility" is generally meaningless.

And the sheer numbers of iPhones out there - and the extremely few models available - actually mean that if you're prepared to root your iPhone there's arguably more stuff you could do with it than most Android phones.

And a lot of Apple's early decisions about phone design turned out to be correct, with Android subsequently quietly doing the same. I remember the original hoopla about the lack of Flash support on iPhones. Android eventually dumped that too. Apple not allowing microSD expansion makes life a lot easier in terms of dealing with storage (android has been steadily backtracking on what the memory card storage can be used for, and now there's actual Nexus phones without expandability). Refusal to support true multitasking helps in battery life and system stability, etc.

To go back to the original question - what do android phones do that an iPhone cannot? it generally boils down to hardware. If you need something like Dual-SIM support, there is no iPhone that does it (there's an aftermarket device that allows you to run circuitry into the SIM slot and have the SIMs essentially be external to the phone, but that strikes me as a terrible solution). If you need waterproofness without some sealed external case, then no iPhone does that. If you need a removable battery pack, then no iPhone does that. in terms of software feature set, iOS/Android are essentially at feature parity.

[PHP87]

Adobe is still providing Flash support for older devices, although most mobile sites now run HTML5 so the need for Flash is disappearing, but still supported.

Mac O/S 10.x never got along well with Flash anyways. Same with iOS

And I'm not a dev, but I use and experiment with several different custom ROM's. And if one "bricks" my phone, I can restore, even without a PC by using a USB stick or an SD card.

And because Nexus doesn't offer storage expansion via SD card barely measures a blip on the radar as I doubt that the rest of the Android phone industry will follow. It's these innovations that make the Android phones more attractive, as well as the price point.

I can't speak for recent iPhone builds/OS's but my 4S would slow to the point where a reboot was required a few times a day until a JB allowed me to clear the memory (which took a bit of time)

Android offers several apps that let you do the same without a JB, and Rooting the phone allows you to purge the O/S of extraneous, non-essential apps with the "Titanium Pro" app. or to "freeze" unwanted apps.

As stated, I switched from iOS to the Android O/S nearly two years ago and never looked back - for me, the difference is like day and night.

There's a reason why Apple is rapidly losing market share. They are good at innovating products, but tend to rest on their accomplishments while competitors will find ways to improve the product.

As stated, we're seeing a repeat of Apple history again.

Nowadays, the iPhone is more of a status symbol with kids. I'll take substance over style anyday.

As far as "cheap" I can get an Android smart phone for free after rebate that performs on par with an iPhone 4S and has a bigger screen.

Again, how does Apple rationalize charging $600+ for a 5C without a contract? And with a 4" screen to boot?

Again, Apple and iPhones are becoming a smaller and smaller dot in the rear view mirror. The iPod and iPhone saved them from basically going under as less than 10% of the O/S market wasn't going to keep them solvent.

But what will they come up with next to save their azzez?

Even the overpriced, under-performing iMac G3, which saved their azzez in 1998 was again, style over substance.

But they were popular with teenage girls and those in college, but they were more of a fad than anything else and a quick design change brought about the iMac G4, along with an LCD screen.

Again, the G3 didn't allow the user to upgrade to a larger screen, for example. Much in the same way the iPhone doesn't allow the user to expand storage which is why it's quickly losing market share to Android based devices.

Apple could easily make their phones with an expandable memory slot, but they choose not to because they want to keep you buying a new device every two years.

Like I said, I bought a mid-level Android phone nearly two years ago and never looked back. The value and the flexibility of an Android device beats the iPhone in substance in every way, although the iOS looks a bit more polished than that of the Android although 4.4 is quickly closing that gap as well.

The OP asked what can an Android phone do that an iPhone can't?

I would say that being able to expand storage for well under a dollar per GB is one, replacing or upgrading the battery is another as I just upgraded my 2,150 mAh battery with a 3,230mAh battery for a few bucks and I now get far more battery life between charges.

And if you like to tinker with your phone, customize it, root it, tweak it to your liking, etc..that's also a plus.

But the biggest is bang for the buck. The iPhone can't come close to an Android phone when it comes to value.

[wolf5370]

Our company develop mobile apps for iOS and android. For me it's just strange how google deal with there own store. You upload a software and some minutes later it's just available to download from the playstore. For me this feels complete unsafe. Apple proof your app against there rules. That's fine for me. Sure android isn't bad at all. They have some very nice features. But have to say after trying many android phones in the office I switched back every time to the iPhone. It just works. And yes it's not failure free. But who is without any failure?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yes agree with this - and why there are so many bad, non-working apps on Google Playstore and viruses too. Windows phone is similar to Apple - Apps need to be certified (bit more logically than Apple does it too IMHO) - they have to fully comply to rules, and have user opt-in and links to privacy statements etc where needed (like anytime data is sent out of the phone - or local stored data is accessed from the app). My daughter has and Android tablet and I have a Google Phone for Dev work (along with iPhone 4S/Win8.1/BB 10 and PB/various tablets/etc) - we are very careful in downloading apps from Playstore or even more so externally! I also write apps/games for phones btw (new game going live this month in fact - out first in Win 7+, then ios and finally Google - maybe BB too later in the year).

[wolf5370]

Adobe is still providing Flash support for older devices, although most mobile sites now run HTML5 so the need for Flash is disappearing, but still supported.

Mac O/S 10.x never got along well with Flash anyways. Same with iOS

And I'm not a dev, but I use and experiment with several different custom ROM's. And if one "bricks" my phone, I can restore, even without a PC by using a USB stick or an SD card.

And because Nexus doesn't offer storage expansion via SD card barely measures a blip on the radar as I doubt that the rest of the Android phone industry will follow. It's these innovations that make the Android phones more attractive, as well as the price point.

I can't speak for recent iPhone builds/OS's but my 4S would slow to the point where a reboot was required a few times a day until a JB allowed me to clear the memory (which took a bit of time)

Android offers several apps that let you do the same without a JB, and Rooting the phone allows you to purge the O/S of extraneous, non-essential apps with the "Titanium Pro" app. or to "freeze" unwanted apps.

As stated, I switched from iOS to the Android O/S nearly two years ago and never looked back - for me, the difference is like day and night.

There's a reason why Apple is rapidly losing market share. They are good at innovating products, but tend to rest on their accomplishments while competitors will find ways to improve the product.

As stated, we're seeing a repeat of Apple history again.

Nowadays, the iPhone is more of a status symbol with kids. I'll take substance over style anyday.

As far as "cheap" I can get an Android smart phone for free after rebate that performs on par with an iPhone 4S and has a bigger screen.

Again, how does Apple rationalize charging $600+ for a 5C without a contract? And with a 4" screen to boot?

Again, Apple and iPhones are becoming a smaller and smaller dot in the rear view mirror. The iPod and iPhone saved them from basically going under as less than 10% of the O/S market wasn't going to keep them solvent.

But what will they come up with next to save their azzez?

Even the overpriced, under-performing iMac G3, which saved their azzez in 1998 was again, style over substance.

But they were popular with teenage girls and those in college, but they were more of a fad than anything else and a quick design change brought about the iMac G4, along with an LCD screen.

Again, the G3 didn't allow the user to upgrade to a larger screen, for example. Much in the same way the iPhone doesn't allow the user to expand storage which is why it's quickly losing market share to Android based devices.

Apple could easily make their phones with an expandable memory slot, but they choose not to because they want to keep you buying a new device every two years.

Like I said, I bought a mid-level Android phone nearly two years ago and never looked back. The value and the flexibility of an Android device beats the iPhone in substance in every way, although the iOS looks a bit more polished than that of the Android although 4.4 is quickly closing that gap as well.

The OP asked what can an Android phone do that an iPhone can't?

I would say that being able to expand storage for well under a dollar per GB is one, replacing or upgrading the battery is another as I just upgraded my 2,150 mAh battery with a 3,230mAh battery for a few bucks and I now get far more battery life between charges.

And if you like to tinker with your phone, customize it, root it, tweak it to your liking, etc..that's also a plus.

But the biggest is bang for the buck. The iPhone can't come close to an Android phone when it comes to value.

I think it was the iPods in the 90s rather than the G3 that saved their butts - G3 was very niche. Even though competitors made smaller, better devices, they won as always with style. This allowed them to have pretty shoddy internal design as they don't have to work that long before people are upgrading for a different colour or digit. I remember shelling out 500 quid on a new iPod only to have the hard drive freeze and need replacing just out of warranty - so pay a hundred quid for the fix? No. But the latest model instead - iPod Colour / iPod Photo / iPod Mini / iPhone 1 / iPad 1 / and so on...they have always been more expensive and more style than substance (right back to the Apple IIe days! - 3 times the price of the Cmd64 it sat next to - 4 or 5 times the price of the ZX Spectrum - but heavier and with lower or equal specs! - blown out the water by the Amiga). Apple has never done well when Jobs was away - now he is away forever - we'll see how it fares.