Reasons why @Android is better than other options available

It has been a good year for Android, considering the latest reports mention it has an 84.7% market share (as of Q3 2015), but with a bunch of competitors waiting in the wings there’s no time to rest on laurels. Android and iOS will forever be a battle in the mobile industry. As long as Apple keeps making devices and Google maintains Android, there will be battle to have. But there are some key features that Android 5.0 Lollipop has that iOS wishes it had.

Devices… devices everywhere!

There is something for everyone on the Android platform. The sheer variety of Android smartphones from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Sony, Motorola, LG, Huawei, ZTE, and others is staggering. You can get a compact phone, something with a huge touchscreen, a stylus, a rotating camera, an edge screen, or even a physical keyboard such as found on the Blackberry Priv. Niche demands like dual SIM are catered for, and the flagship devices are on the cutting edge when it comes to specs. There’s also features you just can’t get with Apple’s devices, like microSD and removable battery. Yes, some Android manufacturers have moved away from offering these extras, but the nice thing about options is there are manufacturers that still do.

The same story exists largely for the tablet market too, with all sorts of different devices from the Pixel C to the Nexus 9, Xiaomi’s tablets, Honor’s tablets, Samsung Note tablets, and the list goes on.

Prices to fit your needs

This naturally follows on from the first point on our list. A wide variety of devices with different designs and specs means that Android has something for you at just about any budget. The exclusive nature of Apple’s products is in stark contrast to the inclusive nature of Android. Almost anyone can afford an Android phone. It might not be all-singing and dancing, but there are solid budget options that give people a true smartphone experience.

This is even more true in 2016 than it was when we first created this list in 2013. Not only do you have the Moto G line, but there’s the Honor 5X, a variety of BLU devices, OnePlus X and OnePlus 2, and even low-cost flagships like the Moto X Pure Edition and Nexus 5X. In contrast, the iPhone and iPad are prohibitively expensive for many, but a budget Android device doesn’t need to cost much more than an old feature phone. And if you can afford to spend somewhere in the $150 to $300 ballpark, you can find a handset that gives a near flagship-level experience with just a few concessions in order to keep pricing down.

More Storage for Less Money

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are priced like high-end phones, but that doesn't stop Apple from skimping on storage. For starting prices of $648 and $744 respectively, you get just 16GB of internal memory. After you deduct 1.3GB for iOS 9, you have almost no space for the 12-MP pictures you'll take, the 4K videos you'll shoot, your music collection or iTunes movies, which can take up between 1 and 3GB depending on resolution. Some popular iOS games can also eat as much as 1GB to 2GB a piece. If you really want to make the most of your iPhone, you need to add another $100 to the price to get 64GB of storage.

All of the latest high-end Android phones, including all the major Samsung phones, the HTC M9 and the LG G4, start with a more-reasonable 32GB of internal storage. Better still, HTC and LG's flagships come with microSD slots that allow you to add more capacity by using very inexpensive memory cards. A 64GB microSD card costs around $20.

Completely Open

Android is completely open. Everyone and anyone can mess with it. You can change it, make it better or worse if you don’t know what you’re doing. It is completely open-sourced. You can change a lot of its customization settings right on your smartphone. There are people who change Android even further. Samsung and LG even makes skins to interfere with the way Android looks.

But again, all of it runs Android. There’s a really big market on the way Android can be customized. Users can change the way notifications are delivered and how their phone interacts with everything. It generally is a very interesting world.

Better Multi-tasking and Completely New Notification System

By far, the multi-tasking on Android devices is ten times better than iOS 8. Multitasking has always been much better on an Android phone. Lollipop just made it an even better experience to use multitasker on Android than the one on iOS 8. Anyone can also argue that iOS 8 does not have a true native multi-tasking system. Android Lollipop has one of the best multi-tasking modes. It does not have a “kill all” because it goes into the software that when there are unused idle modes, it does not take up battery life.

Notifications for Android Lollipop has also been revised, making it more available on home screen and adding interactions that didn’t used to be on Android in the past.

Multi-User Support

This feature is not even remotely available on iOS products such as the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. This feature allows you to have different profiles for people who could use your phone. You can create a user profile for whoever wants to use your phone—kids, wife or spouse; complete with their own Google accounts, processes and settings. It’s a nice way to have it.

Customization

One of the strong points of Android has always been the level of customization it allows. While Apple wants to keep control of default apps in order to maintain a homogenous software and hardware experience, Android lets you pick your own level of customization. This extends all the way from simple things like live wallpapers, to alternative keyboards, to custom ROM installs.

Detractors will always say only hardcore geeks care about this level of customization, but at the shallow end of the pool this isn’t true. Plenty of iOS users loved it when Apple started allowing third-party keyboards and basic widgets, and that on its own is proof that this flexibility is what people want.

Some manufacturers are even allowing complex hardware customization. Motorola has Moto Maker, LG has replaceable leather back plates, as does Xiaomi. Those are just a few examples of something Apple will never do for you. Consider yourself lucky to have champagne gold and rose gold available… that is pretty revolutionary for Apple.

Widgets

Android’s widgets have long been a feather in its cap compared to the static rows of icons you find in iOS. Even Microsoft saw the advantage, developing the Live Tiles system for Windows Phone. Widgets are still a major advantage for Android over iOS. Simply put, you can see all of the information you want at a glance on your home screen without having to fire up an app.

Launchers

Grab an iPhone, sit next to another iOS user and compare your home screens. Oh wait, they look exactly the same! That’s not the story with Android.

If you want control over how your Android smartphone or tablet looks then you’ve probably tried out a custom launcher. You can choose from a wide variety of custom launcher apps in Google Play and tweak everything from your home screen layout, to your page transitions, to effects and even gestures. There’s no risk involved with launcher apps and you can really open up a world of possibilities.

Custom ROMs

You can actually replace the software that came with your device with a custom ROM if you want to. This is essentially installing a new operating system and many Android users do it because their carrier or manufacturer is slow to upgrade to the latest version of the Android platform, but you may also do it for better performance or to gain access to some add-ons or tools. This is definitely the extreme end of Android customization and you need to exercise a little caution to ensure that you don’t run into trouble. That said, as long as you can follow a tutorial and your device is supported, the benefits can be enormous.

Hell, there’s even ways to install completely different operating systems on some Android devices, such as Ubuntu, Firefox OS, Sailfish, and the list goes on.

The industry moves fast, and so does Android

Bugs, lag, an ugly interface, a lack of apps – Android’s weaknesses have been systematically dealt with by a determined development team. The Android platform is unrecognizable compared with the first release and it continues to improve and evolve at a faster pace than the competition.

That big user base and the wide range of manufacturers producing Android devices can only drive further improvements to greater heights. While iOS stagnates, paralyzed by the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” school of thinking, Android continues to innovate and improve at a faster rate. Think about it. Android adopted NFC first, as well as fingerprint readers, and retina scanners, and mobile payments, and higher definition displays. The list goes on.