If you mention the word Android to anyone under the age of 30, you’re likely to be met with a barrage of unfounded prejudice and apprehension. They’ll likely begin spewing asinine phrases such as, “I wouldn’t be caught dead with an Android phone,” or “Those phones are garbage.” But what these incredibly misinformed people fail to realize is that most recent Android phones are just as good (if not better) than any iPhone. The smartphone market has matured so beautifully into one of preference and choice instead of objective superiority. No phone is the objectively better phone. Below, I’ll be debunking some of the most prevalent myths about Android phones and showing you why the rich and expansive operating system deserves just as much respect as the iPhone.
1. Android is slow.
Because Android is open source, meaning it can be licensed out to any company and put on any device they choose, some phones running Android may not have the processors necessary to make sure every app is running smoothly. This is especially true of Android phones from foreign markets and those meant to be budget phones. However, many recent phone releases from companies such as Google, HTC, and Samsung all have lightning quick, multi-core processors that can keep up with the most demanding of tasks.
2. Android phones have bad cameras.
If this was 2010, I would whole heartedly agree with this statement. For a long time, most smartphone cameras were terrible. But, in the past couple of years, the smart phone camera industry has seen some amazing technological innovation from both Android and iPhone; so much innovation that smartphones now rival and even surpass actual cameras. While the iPhone has historically led this category, phone makers like Samsung with the stunning quality of its Galaxy phones or the dual lens setup of the LG G5 have caught up and maybe even surpassed the iPhone.
3. Android is buggy.
Define buggy? Just like iOS on the iPhone, Android has been through years of refinement and stabilization. I will concede that, due to some companies tendencies to overlay their own crappy software over Android, the operating system can be bloated and unstable at times. Lucky for us, Google has rescued us from this Bloat ware night mare by releasing its own line of Android phones called the Nexus.
These phones are notable for running a version of stock Android which is as close to a “pure” Android experience as the average consumer can get.
4. Android is complicated.
It’s just a phone, not rocket science. Most people, given the time and practice, would at least be able to navigate the phone at a moderate level. Since the beginning, Android and iOS have been stealing and implementing each other’s ideas at a rapid clip. Most users of one can easily adapt to the other because of these overlapping similarities.
5. Android phones are ugly.
The diversity of Android phones is one of its best strengths. Unlike the uniformity imposed on us by the iPhone, there is an Android phone to match any personality or preference.
So what are you waiting for? Go out and buy that Android phone your friends have been mercilessly shaming you for wanting, or don’t because, like me, you’ve been locked into Apple's insidious ecosystem. But, we can dream right?
