We are nearing the end of yet another year and it is time to see the best mobile operating system. In the past couple of years, the number of people using mobile platforms to browse has increased drastically. This has forced companies to come up with exclusive operating systems for mobile platforms.
Let’s see which OS is the most user-friendly and offers the best experience this year: Windows Phone 8 vs. Android Jelly Bean vs. iOS 6. Let’s analyze every mobile-friendly feature these operating systems offer:
User-Interface
As Apple upgraded their platform, they included some interesting features making it easier for their target audience to use the phone. Though there are just minor tweaks, the company gives their competitors a run for their money. Though there are many novel features now, the user-interface of iOS still remains the same except for few insignificant changes. There is still the same grid view, but who can complain? It serves the purpose and gives one-tap access to all the features.
Android’s highlight is the customization options the platform offers. You can place the most used widgets on the home page without having to swipe every time you wish to access a particular widget. You can also reduce or increase the size of each widget. Similarly, you can change colors and themes as you wish like any other platform.
Windows has finally decided to keep up with the trend and introduce grid-style tiled home pages on its 8 version. The overall look is similar to what we saw on the Windows phone previously. You can resize the tiles and personalize them. When it comes to UI, iOS is the only platform that has not offered any refreshing changes. The other two platforms are in-level when it comes to flexibility and simplicity of User-Interface
Maps
Apple’s first wrong move is their integrated maps. It is the biggest failure in the company’s history and they went to the extent of officially apologizing to their customers. The latest iOS axed Google maps and introduced their own maps which lacked in features and provided wrong information.
Android users on the other hand can access Google maps which are integrated with Google listings. The maps offer the most reliable information and are backed with sufficient features.
Microsoft on the other hand axed their Bing maps in favor of Nokia Maps which is reasonably good. Both Google and Nokia maps offer offline features which are not available on iOS maps. When compared, Google maps definitely win the votes.
Social network compatibility
Nowadays, mobile phones and social media go hand-in-hand. Compatibility to social media plays a huge role in the success of a phone. The iOS 6 platform is completely integrated to all the leading social networking sites. Jelly Bean is not far behind and the platform is now integrated with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Windows has integrated some of the social media sites as well. When you compare all these, Google’s platform seems to offer better integration.
Calling features
iOS 6 has come with some extremely useful calling features like ‘reject with a response’. A user can customize the response you wish to leave when you reject the call. There is also the ‘DO Not Disturb’ feature which is the ‘silent mode’ version in Apple. When you choose the feature, the phone will not notify you about the incoming calls or messages. Though Microsoft and Google offer call rejection features, Apple has gone a step-ahead with some innovative features.
Apps
Apps are yet another marketing-magnet for a phone. Apple has their exclusive apps store with the number of apps increasing day-by-day. The online store has it all – from entertainment apps to educational apps. Google has renovated their Google Play store with the introduction of their Jelly Bean version.
Microsoft is just a beginner to the app store and we have to wait and see how well the company is going to fare in this category. Apple easily wins this round by offering quality plus quantity in their app store.
The result:
Though Microsoft is new to the market, it has to go a long way to reach Google’s and Apple’s standards. So far, Google and Apple seem to be balanced. Microsoft’s OS is a welcome change which till date has been dominated by Android and iOS.
