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Why Android has won

By Adrian Rogers on April 6, 2012 in , ,

After MWC and the release of lots of new phones, many people are talking about what their next phone will be.

Myself and the rest of the team at Coolsmartphone.com are no different, and most of the debate has been around the new Sony’s and HTC’s.

Personally I have always loved HTC’s Sense interface, but I know lots of people don’t. Sony’s interface is closer to vanilla Android, which lots of people like, and then you have Samsung’s TouchWiz and of course there’s bog standard Android á la Nexus.
And that’s not to mention all the custom ROM’s that are out there, which are very popular.

The thing is though, they’re all Android. Underpinning all these user interfaces are Google’s software and services, but with an amazing variety of how to access them.

 

And I think that is problem the other platform’s have – especially Windows Phone. Like Apple, Windows Phone focuses on a unified user experience. Pick up any Windows Phone and that interface is the same – regardless of how much you like it or how good it is, its the only interface you can get.

With Android you have a massive choice of user experiences, by they’re all still Android. People who like Sense can buy an HTC, or you can have Sony’s subtler adaptation, and so on – they’re all Android underneath.

That’s why I believe Android is only going to get more popular. It really can be everything to all people, because there is such variety in the eco system. There is more choice of interfaces and form factors for Android than any other platform. There is even a watch that runs Android – ok, not a phone, but does show the variety vs the standard spec that all Windows Phone manufacturers have to follow.

 

And that is the problem Nokia seem to be running into. No matter how nice they make their phones look-and I believe they have uped the quality in Windows Phone devices-if you don’t like the interface, you’re not going to buy one.

Even Apple, who will always sell lots of devices, will hit a saturation point where they have captured everyone that likes the Apple interface.

 

I think there is already only one winner-and they’re only going to get bigger.

About Adrian Rogers

Technology Blogger & occasional musician, who works in neither industry, just to confuse!

I’m currently using an HTC 8X and 3rd gen iPad, and focus on all things Windows Phone and music making iOS apps.

Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/shortnwide or e-mail me [email protected]

  • Anonymous

    I;m sorry I can’t take this post seriously when you put WMC- might want to fix that (For the record it’s MWC= Mobile World Congress)

  • rrs

    Sorry but I completely disagree with above.

  • Anonymous

    first time i’ve heard someone arguing so vehemently that fragmentation is the saviour of android… (from a self confessed wp7 fan :-) )

  • http://twitter.com/SimonAllum Simon Allum

    i agree to a point. The adaptability and user customisation is exactly what i love about android.  However what needs to improve is the ease of use.  Try giving any android to a 50 year old woman that knows little about phones and see how they get on compared to what happens if you give them an iPhone. 

    There is little or no documentation provided with android phones and the simplicity of the UI on the iphone and wp7 is a distinct advantage over android.

  • http://www.amlr.co.uk Shortnwide

    There’s definitely a balance on that, but I think now there is enough commonality across Android to counter that. 
    With a core of devices sticking to the same specs, coupled with the sheer volume of people buying, there is a large enough market for developers to build for. 
    At the beginning fragmentation was a real issue, but now there are so many Android devices, that even if only a portion of Android devices share specs, that’s still larger than the entire Windows Phone population (at present). 
    Developers can target niche markets within Android and still get more buyers for their apps than on other platforms. 

  • Patch

    So you are telling me having a live wallpaper on you phone makes your phone much better than another persons.???? Im not 12 anymore …

    what about having to clear the memory and close apps down all the time….

    Hope i never catch you next to me on a bus trying to show me how individual your phone is…

  • http://twitter.com/hassan14_pk Hassan

    my wife had htc desire which she hated against my iphone 3gs and then she had samsung galaxy s2 even then i had an iphone 3gs and she like the 3gs more, now she has nokia lumia 800 and she loves it because what she wants she can do no fuss. Yes she wishes it had more apps but she is not interested in my new iphone 4s as she says it is not easy and its battery finishes within a day and lumia’s battery goes on for at least 1.5 days

  • Gues

    There are more differences in the different interfaces from (for exemple) Sony or HTC than only the background. New features, different menu layouts etc.

    And why is weird to close apps? Don’t you close the browser on your pc after you’re done with browsing the internet?

  • http://twitter.com/android4phone Android Phone News

    I personally know several 50+ people (one female) who have recently moved to Android. None of them are techies. They all have disposable income and the choice of any device they want.  All found Android easy to pick up and fun to customise. Maybe your stereotype of a 50 year old woman needs an upgrade.

  • http://twitter.com/SimonAllum Simon Allum

    fair enough, I stand corrected.  I was simply going from experience of a couple of 50+ ladies that i knew that have struggled.

  • http://twitter.com/trick202 Rich Fletcher

    I love to know how many people who have android phones know what android is.

    It’s the default platform.