News

Security and Privacy Privacy has long been the cornerstone of Apple’s mobile philosophy and a host of new security features were added with iOS13 to further improve this.   ‘Sign in with Apple’ has proved to be one of the most successful of these and lets users sign-in to websites and applications without compromising their personal information. This uses your Apple ID, rather than your email address as verification when logging in, so, you don’t have to reveal any of your personal data.   In this way, these online services are not able to gather any personal information from you outside of your name and email address. If you do not want to give up your email address, then Apple has also developed an option in which it can generate a one-off, throwaway email for you to use instead of your own. If any correspondence is sent to this unique email, then Apple can automatically forward this to your real address. Using iOS, applications will also have to ask to access your location data every time that you use it, meaning that nothing can be stored without you explicitly allowing it. With Android 10, Google also gifts more control over location settings, allowing you to choose from granting location access to a particular app at all times, turning it off altogether or allowing it only when that app is being used. Your Android device will also now inform you if a particular app has access to your location information at all times. Since a large source of revenue comes from advertising, Google has generally found it trickier to improve privacy restraints, however with Android 10 users have greater power over which apps can access certain information. So too, apps are no longer granted access to sensitive information such as IMEI or serial numbers. Photos Smartphone photography and subsequent editing capabilities are one of the key reasons why users choose to purchase a particular device. When it comes to editing in Ios13 and Android 10, it’s very difficult to pull the two apart. In iCloud, Apple users are given the first 5GB of storage free of charge, whilst Google offers a whopping 15GB, which is certainly something to consider if you snap a lot of photos. Google Photos possibly has the easier to use editing features and photo-sharing features too, whilst the ability to back up is similarly as effortless. The editing capabilities in iOS are not to be shunned and with Ios13, Apple has brought a host of new features including the ability to adjust portrait lighting and rotation of videos. Face-recognition tech also helps to organise images. As such, whilst the actual editing capabilities are probably on par, iOS is possibly slightly behind when it comes so storage and sharing.   Dark Mode Dark Mode works by utilising a darker (almost black) colour palette for screens and controls, reverting text from black to white for a unique look. This supposedly puts less strain upon the eyes, helps to improve battery life by using fewer pixels and looks pretty cool! Android was the first operating system to introduce Dark Mode to smartphones and was greeted by huge praise from smartphone users. This was first incorporated within Android 9.0 Pie (released 2018), however with the upgrade to Android 10, Dark Mode also enjoyed new tweaks and updates. Most noticeable, is that Dark Mode now enjoys better distribution across Android’s platform. In comparison, Apple’s Dark Mode was introduced with iOS13 and darkens all first-party apps. This means that Apple Store, Safari, Calendar and Apple Maps all enjoy this feature.   Maps When it comes to navigation, Google Maps was first developed many years before Apple Maps and is thereby undeniably superior in terms of accuracy and ease of use. That said, with iOS13, Apple has vowed to focus on improving its Maps app by adding more detailed information for pedestrians as well as having greater accuracy over addresses. It has also added ‘Look Around’ which gives Apple users a 3D view of a chosen location. As anticipated, Google Maps has utilised these features for some time and is considerably more reliable when it comes to marking exact locations. A large amount of updates weren’t of great importance with Android 10, however a Navigation Mode has been added which is based completely upon gestures.   Siri / Google Assistant Love them or hate them, voice assistants generally come as standard with flagship releases now and Apple was the first to introduce this with Siri in 2011. In iOS13 the trusty assistant has been updated and now features a new, less robotic voice, the ability to stream radio stations, search for WatchOS applications and read incoming text messages. Siri shortcuts is also a popular update and gives an iPhone user the ability to utilise different applications with voice commands. This could include crafting a message on WhatsApp or making a payment on PayPal. Google Assistant was developed after Siri, however, is far superior in terms of differentiating between voices and new commands. Indeed, Google’s Assistant is integrated in more or less every application that you would use your smartphone for, keeping track of appointments, events, messages and payments.  

Customisation Options One of the greatest joys of Android is the freedom that it gives users to change almost everything about their smartphone devices. Indeed, Android allows you to choose your own levels of customisation, whether it’s live wallpapers, changing themes, alternative keyboards or custom ROM installs. The widgets available are particularly productive and allow you to quickly glance at your home screen at certain information, without having to physically load up an app.    In comparison, whilst the customisation options of iOS are undeniably improving, they are generally stuck to their particular ways. iOS is crafted under the assumption that Apple knows how things should work for you more than you do, which may well be true. But, if you want to take back control of the design of your smartphone, then Android is certainly the way forward.   Better Hardware Apple’s operating system only works on Apple phones and you’re therefore only generally given the choice of 3 devices a year. If you’re looking for a new iOS phone in 2020, then your options simply do not extend past the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max. In comparison, Android is used by a vast array of manufacturers, giving it the greatest variety of mobile devices on any platform. Whether it’s Samsung, Huawei, Google or Nokia, you’re all but covered for a huge range of sizes, features and price points. This also means that you have the option of more specialised devices, including Dual SIM or rugged smartphones. The possibilities are endless, giving you access to features such as microSD support, a 3.5mm headphone jack and removable batteries which Apple phones simply do not offer.   Greater Affordability With a greater array of devices available, it naturally follows that there are more smartphone options available to Android users on a budget. The iPhone 11 was the ‘smallest’ member of Apple’s iPhone 11 family and you’d be hard pressed to find a device at under £700. In comparison, Android users have the benefit of choosing from manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Honor that focus on providing high specifications at a more user-friendly price point. Some of our favourite options are listed below. Google Pixel 3a | From £360 inc-VAT 5.6" FHD OLED display, 1080 x 2220 Best in class 12MP main camera  8MP front camera, 84-degree FOV Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 3,000mAh battery  Android 9.0 Pie - guaranteed system & security updates for 3 years     Pocophone F1: £189.98 inc-VAT  6.18" FHD display with Corning Gorilla Glass  Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor  Dual rear camera: 12MP + 5MP  20MP front camera  4,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0    Honor 10 | From £399 inc-VAT 5.84" FHD+ Display; 1080 x 2280 Huawei Kirin 970  Dual rear camera: 24MP + 16MP  24MP front camera, f/2.0 Dual SIM  Fingerprint scanner    Google integration Being crafted by Google, all Android devices integrate efficiently and effectively with Google’s highly lauded array of services. These include Google Docs, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Music, Google+ and Google Chrome. Google is undeniably the online leader and users are using their smartphones more and more to access the web. Whilst these services are now available in iOS, that same level of integration just is not available.   Google Assistant AI assistants on smartphones have become commonplace and whilst Ios comes with Siri, Android phones are blessed with Google Assistant. Google Assistant is extremely intelligent and utilises everything that it has learnt from your smartphone uses to make tasks easier for you. For example, if you have an event booked in your Google Calendar, it can determine whether traffic is bad and subsequently send a notification nudging you to leave earlier. Siri is always improving and achieves a wide range of tasks without a problem. However, these are far more simple than the tasks of Google’s Assistant.