In this article, I give you Android vs Windows Phone differences. One of the questions you often ask us is “ What is the difference between a Windows and an Android phone? “. We have decided to deal with this topic and present some of the basic characteristics that distinguish these two platforms.
Market representation
Android – this platform has been on the market since 2007 and is the first operating system developed exclusively for touch mobile devices and tablets. Today, about 80% of mobile devices in the world work with the help of Android, so you can use it on a phone that costs around € 100 and on much more expensive devices.
The great thing about this approach is the fact that this very interesting and quality platform is available to everyone.
However, the disadvantage is that it often happens that phone manufacturers for some of the cheaper models often limit some of the functions of the operating system (or use earlier versions), so such devices are more vulnerable to malicious software attacks and do not provide real pleasure to users.
Windows Phone – this is the successor to the Windows Mobile platform used on smart devices that were intended for business people in the late ’90s and early 2000s. As Apple and Android focused on all users, not just business people, Microsoft is starting to lose the race in the field of smart devices, so in 2010 it decided to take a step and launch Windows Phone.
Although they now occupy only 3% of the global market, Windows 10 is expected to make a bigger breakthrough and gain more users willing to change the platform and try something new.
Appearance and design of the operating system
The look of the screen is one of the first things you will pay attention to when choosing a phone.
Android – hasn’t changed much in its history. The latest version of the Lollipop operating system (5.1.1) is very vibrant, full of color, and the icons follow a trend called material design.
You can change the look (wallpaper), set of applications, and widgets on your home screen however you want. Based on your choice, certain information will be more visible to you. For example, the clock and weather forecast may be available to you at all times, and if you don’t really care what the weather will be like today, you can use the calendar widget instead of the weather forecast. The choice is entirely yours.
Windows Phone – Unexpectedly, Microsoft surprised us with a completely different approach to design (from Android and iOS). The metro design, which is characteristic of Windows phones, is characterized by a group of squares or “living tiles” that inform you in real-time what is happening in your applications.
For example, if you received an email in the tile of your inbox, you will see a message about it, and if someone changed their Facebook status, another tile will throw out that information.
You determine exactly which apps will be represented on your home screen, what colors they will be, and whether they will have a background image, but you can’t turn them off. It’s amazing how beautiful the tiles can look and give a very pleasant impression of tidiness and order compared to the chaos you can create for yourself with Android applications.
Applications
Android – by the number of available applications, Android has a huge advantage over Windows. Google Play can find about a million and a half different applications. This practically means that there is an application for almost everything that comes to your mind. Many of these applications are free, so feel free to use them. Unfortunately, such a large number of applications does not guarantee quality, so it is possible to come across a lot of bad applications that are not completely safe to use.
Windows Phone – has far fewer apps on offer in the Windows Store – has about 400,000. Since Windows is a closed development platform and developer control is much stricter, the applications you can find here are of better quality, but they are not as diverse as those for Android.
General features of the operating system
Android – notification center, where you can see all system notifications and find shortcuts for most settings, battery control, camera control, adding and deleting applications, syncing data with your Google account and similar functions work great. You will find them very easily and be able to use them. In the latest version of Android, many of these options have been improved and should work flawlessly.
Windows Phone – with version 8.1 Microsoft has come dangerously close to the competition and added most of the options available in Android. Now and here you can use the notification center, control how power is consumed from your battery, set up the camera, and easily manage applications.
However, data synchronization can be a bit problematic, because MS uses primarily its services. – instead of Chrome there is Windows Explorer 11, instead of Google your browser will be Bing, and GoogleDrive and Dropbox have been replaced by OneDrive, etc. If you are familiar with MS technologies and tools and use them, synchronization will not be so difficult for you.
Which operating system is better?
After the question from the beginning “What is the difference between Android and Windows phones?” usually followed by another question “ Which is better? ”. The simple answer would be – one that best suits your needs. If you are the type of person who likes to have everything under control, enjoy setting up everything on your phone yourself, like to experiment with new applications, and follow the gaming scene, then the Android platform is for you.
On the other hand, if you need a phone that simply works, it is fast, everything is already set up on it and it requires a minimum of commitment to start using it, and in addition, you actively use MS tools (Word, Excell, PowerPoint, OneDrive) and you like “tiles” buy a Windows phone, preferably some of the Lumia models.