When people talk about features of the iPhone, they are referring to the iOS mobile platform. The speed of the software is great across the board and there has always been one iPhone even though we have several versions every year. One can just choose the storage that it boasts of: 16 GB to 64 GB.
The many looks of Android
Android is Google's mobile operating system and many smartphones run on this platform. Android owners refer to their smartphones as a "Droid" even though the carriers differ from one another. Android phones are found of all shapes and sizes.
The App Store vs. the Android Market
Now this is the most important part that constitutes both platforms: apps. Apps are cited as the primary reason why people opt for smartphones these days. Apple's App Store includes a huge list of downloadable games, tools and is the biggest market of apps in the world closely followed by Android. Apple is relatively strict in its choice of apps in the market and takes critical judgment of the apps that pass through its scanner. The App Store though is the king here.
Alternatively, Android emphasizes on "openness" and does not have a strict app approval process for its own app market. This is the main reason why malware cannot be fixed, but Android followers are happy about the approach.
The iPhone OS has been in the market for long now and hence boasts of good quality apps and more apps compared to Android market. But there are new apps being developed in both platforms and hence both iOS and Android have their own share of hits and misses.
iPhone vs. Android
A unique advantage with Android is its seamless integration with Google and its services. Everyone can benefit from Android's superior native Gmail app. Google Maps feature in Android include Google's Navigation, GPS navigation app for the car. On the whole, Android is a flexible OS which helps you to tweak some phone features if it bugs you. All simple settings can be controlled too. There are slick design and theme apps which can easily modify the look and feel of the smartphone.
But there is a huge issue of "fragmentation" with Android since there are multiple versions of Android available. The latest version of Android is 4.0 or Ice cream Sandwich but there are many new devices which are still running an old version of the OS. Additionally, phone manufacturers come up with their own "skins" which rests on top of the Android platform. These "skins" have their own look and own apps that cannot run on any other phone of any other manufacturer. Only the Galaxy Nexus offers a vanilla Android experience and are always first updated before any other smartphone.
Now coming to the iPhone advantage, Apple has always been able to offer the best possible experience for its customers and hence seamless experience is guaranteed on all levels. With its latest Retina display technology, iPhone has the best pixel-rich display in a phone and presents a superb UI for web browsing and multimedia. Apple's FaceTime app makes video chatting seamless between Apple devices. Siri is the best phone assistant till date too.
The iPhone is less customizable which might be a huge turn-off for some users. Also there are problems with its support for 4G capability. This is a huge minus in terms of speed when Android 4G phones are around.
