Hi guys, I read everywhere that according to a lot of people Android with the One UI is the best operating system for phones on the planet and is infinitely better than iOS for countless reasons. I ask a question to those who have full knowledge of the facts because they use the two systems (iOS 17 & One UI 6) on a daily basis, thus knowing them in the smallest detail of real use: why is the One UI indisputably superior to the iPhone, which therefore does not have a shred of sense compared to Galaxy? What are the real-world details that make the iPhone a significantly poorer product than the Galaxy? Thanks to those who will want to answer!
I can sum up why Android beats iOS (for me) with one example.
On my iPad, when I install a new app, it gets put into a folder on the app page based on some unknown criteria. iOS categorizes it for me (or maybe the app tells the OS what it’s category is, I’m not sure). I’m not allowed to move it to a different folder. Yes, I can pin it to the home screen or the app bar, but it’s stuck in that folder whether I like it or not. And, some apps even wind up in MULTIPLE folders. So if I don’t agree with the categorization, it will forever be an annoyance to find that app but cause iOS is creating a mental model that doesn’t match my own.
Apple always thinks they know what’s best for their users. And you know what? For a lot of users, they probably do, or at least the users don’t care that decisions are being made for them for better or worse.
So you have to ask a basic question: do you want a device that thinks for you and forces you to do things the way the designers of it decide for you, or do you want a greater level of flexibility and control?
To be clear, not everyone needs or wants to tailor their experience. Some are perfectly happy to never have to think about how they want things to be. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that mindset necessarily, so if that’s you then you’ll probably get along just fine with iOS.
For the rest of us, we wind up feeling like our device is actively working AGAINST us, and that’s the crux of why I prefer Android. It always feels like my device is working FOR me and WITH me, never against me. It adapts to my mental model, I don’t have to adapt to its mental model. To me, it’s a more effective tool that way.
I get your point, but you absolutely can put apps in your own folders besides the automatic ones. Android offers greater flexibility, but iOS doesn’t take away flexibility to the degree that you seem to be saying.
I would also ad that the iOS search is great - I haven’t had to memorize an app’s location in years, I just swipe down, type 2 characters and there it is.
In specific areas. I still can’t turn off that shitty overscroll animation introduced in Android 12 that stretches the screen because… reasons I guess
Fuck the person who came up with that bullshit, and fuck people who make it so it can’t be disabled
Yeah, that’s annoying. It used to stretch sideways, too, if you scrolled side to side. That was the worst and it actually made me nauseous. Recent Android UI also made the quick settings panel unbearably ugly. I’m grateful to Samsung for protecting us from it, haha. I understand why you can’t control every single aspect of UI behavior. There would be so many settings that no one would even bother trying to find the right one, and it would require a lot of extra programming. I am happy with the options that Android and Samsung provide.
To be clear for other users, u/fzammetti is talking about the App Drawer. It’s a menu that you can access if you swipe to the right after the last panel in the home screen. He is right, it’s the app devs themselves that set this categorization and the user can’t change it (as far as I’m aware)
In the home screen though, you can edit it any way you want, put in whatever folder, etc.
Yes, correct, thank you for clarifying on my behalf.
Well said, very fair and nuanced.