By the time the next-gen iPhone gets its likely unleashing in summer 2010, Android 2.0 will have been kicking it for six months. And not just on the Motorola Milestone. There a slew of new Google-loving blowers coming next year. Here’s how Android 2.0 could take down the iPhone before Apple can even get its newbie out of Cupertino.
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Navigation is the single greatest thing about Android 2.0. The Big G’s free satnav system is an absolute stunner and will only get better as it lands on big screen phones from HTC. Why pay £60 for the TomTom iPhone app when you can use Google Maps Navigation to get free live traffic info, 3D and even Street View to make getting around even easier.
Better camera support
While the iPhone 3GS remains a 3.2 megapixel disappointment, Android 2.0 offers stacks of ace camera support. There’s now zoom, white balance, a scene mode and macro focus. And with an 8MP Android offering due this year from Motorola, the iPhone is going to be well off the pace come summer.
Google Visual Search
Known also as Google Goggles, Visual Search was shown off on US TV late last year. The idea is simple: snap a pic with your Android phone and Google will search for info using it. Take a shot of your local pub and it’ll give you reviews, news, basically anything it can find. How many iPhone apps can do that?
Combined inbox
Tired of hopping around accounts to see who’s emailed you? Android 2.0 has taken a cue from BlackBerry and combined all your inboxes, so you don’t need to keep ducking and diving to stay in touch. The iPhone still only manages separate mailboxes, with its contacts pages not matching Android 2.0’s efforts.
Beefed up virtual keyboard
Just because the Motorola Milestone has a proper QWERTY doesn’t mean a decent virtual pad isn’t a necessity. The new Android 2.0 one has a better layout than the iPhone and its smart dictionary doesn’t throw up pesky autocorrect words, instead learning your word usage. Handy if you’re a fan of a bit of blue.
Better browser
The iPhone’s Safari browser has always been top dog. But Android 2.0 is primed for Flash support in 2010. It’s unlikely that Steve Jobs will end his war with Adobe, leaving Apple’s blower without the video goodies you can expect on a string of Android 2.0 phones.
And these features will kill the iPhone?
None of them are compelling in themselves, and each new release of alleged ‘iPhone killers’ has dulled the public’s belief that anything which claims to be one actually is. The iPhone offering is an integrated, iconic experience. The plethora of Android devices guarantees that none of them will be iconic — unless one sweeps the market and does away with all the others, which runs straight against the Android ethos. Equally, because of the iTunes-App Store-iPhone eco-system, which Google is nowhere near replicating, Android will struggle to gain traction in the iPhone’s core market. Android is simply too far behind in Apple’s market to be able to easily overtake it. What Google must do is to find another market segment which is poorly served by the iPhone or the Blackberry, and offer it a compelling solution to its perceived problems. In the mean time, there are signs that web-users are beginning to fall out of love with the extended web Google experience. Endless line extensions dilute a brand, and, a year from now, Google may be expending its main efforts in defending its core territory.
Don’t get me wrong — I love Google and want the Android to succeed. But simply listing a few features that the iPhone doesn’t have is not the path to success. The iPhone has always been underspecified compared to its main competitors. This has never harmed it.
you couldn’t have said it better and i couldnt agree more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
i tunes blows…my wife got an i pod touch for xmas now I have to completely redo my music library on my pc to get it to sync music to her ipod. I just got the motorola droid with verizon and so far it is great and super easy to use on any pc. I guess if your a mac person the iphone is probably more impressive but I find the droid easier to use all the features. iTunes and iStore are just ways for apple to suck more money out of consumers that should have to spend it.
FAN BOY!
The above sums it all up for me….here here old chap!
Apple are just slick marketing and presentation, nothing they do hasn’t been done as well if not better by someone else, their “core market” are people who will always put device status before device function. On the odd occassions I go to London it’s full of them Iclone owners but tell them there are devices better than the one in their hot little hands and they are adament there isn’t, they’ve been brainwashed to that degree.
The thing that suprises me is that Sony shook up the gaming console world with the playstation and with the other phone manufacturers were caught napping by the original Iphone which was good in it’s time but now everyone has caught up. There are a number of handsets that are better than the present Iphone and will probably be better than the next, in fact there are too many and they are competing against each other rather than the Iphone. Android is making feature rich smartphones available to everyone rather than an exclusive, well marketed and overpriced status gadget. I’m actually waiting for the Apple Ivehadanoriginalidea but I’m not holding my breath.
[...] Google Goggles which was shown off on US TV late last year, it is a simple idea just snap a picture with your Android phone and Google searches for info for you. You can take a picture of your local pub and it’ll give you reviews, news and anything else it can find of interest. To find out other ways that the Google Android is capable of tackling the iPhone simply visit electricpig.co.uk [...]
iPhones will still be around and thriving in 2010. The hype for the iPhone will probably die down as the hype for Android increases. Probably the biggest feature for Android isn’t Google Maps and Navigation but support for Flash. This is because Flash does open up the door for a lot of web based apps. It may even be possible to run a Flash app while offline although that depends on the capability of the browser supporting that. This of course is a major threat to the iPhone because as long as Apple continues to avoid supporting Flash, customers comparing phones will be impressed that they can view Flash-enabled sites on an Android device and that alone could be a selling feature. Apple is simply afraid that once they include Flash support, many developers will then begin to write Flash apps that could potentially run offline and therefore circumvent the need for customers to use the App Store to download apps.
As much as I like the iPhone, it would be naive to think that Apple’s competitor’s are just going to sit on sidelines and watch Apple gobble up the market. The greatest benefit that Android will offer both customers and developers is freedom from being locked in. When customers buy Android apps, in most cases, it is highly likely that the app will run on most Android devices.
Customers will be able to choose from a broad range of devices that compare to or exceed the features of the iPhone and developers will be able to maximize their profits by not having to hand over 30% of the sales of an app to Apple.
If I were a betting man, I would bet that in 2010, Android will have a higher rate of increase in market share than the iPhone. That doesn’t mean that Android devices will outnumber iPhone devices nor will there be more Android apps than iPhone apps. But the rate at which the Android ecosystem increases will be much higher than it is for the iPhone.
yea yea yea but when does it come out on tmobile??!!!??
Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone won’t kill each other. They’re both doing very well, and the market is big enough for the two to coexist.
I’m glad that Android has finally killed Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and made it irrelevant in the smartphone race. We wouldn’t want a desktop monopoly to be extended into a smartphone monopoly.
One thing is for sure, Google certainly knows their game, Its not just the iPhone, Googles gonna be a huge threat to all phone makers! Especially with their free OS, Nokia better do something quick
[...] Traffic app for iPhone and Google Android uses Google Maps and overlays areas of congestion with start and end points. It’ll also pinpoint [...]