The Smartphone OS Slugfest

What is the best mobile OS (operating system) for the smartphone today?

To answer the question with a singular statement, without enumerating possible options and delineating their relative strengths and weaknesses, would do injustice to any answer worth reading. So in the interest of becoming an unbiased observer of all things digital, I shall remove traces of Google-inspired fan-boyishness (or at least attempt to) and sift through the major systems involved along with their obvious characteristics.

Apple’s iOS - For the aesthetically-inclined. If you enjoy the Mac, you’ll also love the simplicity of iPhone functionality. Because Apple built the first App Store, iOS has first-mover advantage and thus has more apps at present. It’s also carved a reputation for doling out windfalls to developers whose products make it to front page of the App Store. Juxtaposed with the latter scenario are apps that aren’t allowed into the Store at all - thus creating the “walled garden” monicker. As of a few days ago, Apple appears to be breaching its own “great wall” by becoming more transparent with its app approval process. On the other side of the coin, the system, now in its fourth version dubbed “iOS4,” also seeks to challenge extant handheld gaming platforms currently dominated by Sony and Nintendo. The current physical iteration of the iPhone is, unfortunately, plagued by the proximity sensor bug (rumored to be addressed in the latest update) and the notorious antenna-gate fiasco. Notwithstanding these deficiencies, the iOS platform is here to stay.

Google’s Android - Function first, beauty later. Android’s user interface has been described to be “linux-like,” meaning not as intuitive as iOS4; while it’s learning curve is said to be a little steeper than handling an iPhone. Because the system is free, updated frequently by Google, and open to tinkering to both manufacturer and telecom alike, Android, as an OS, is widely perceived to suffer from version, hardware and carrier fragmentation. This simply means that developers become inconvenienced since, instead of building for just one system, they have to consider the intricate nuances of (a) what version they’re building for, (b) what hardware will host their product and (c) how carriers have pre-customized the very-customizable Android OS. The current version of native Android is 2.2 which is also known as Froyo. The last one was Eclair v2.1 and the one prior thereto was Donut v1.6. Note the alphabetical listing of dessert names to determine the most recent version. Gingerbread v3.0 is said to be in the works to fix this oft-complained-of platform fragmentation. But for all it’s many flaws, Android doesn’t dictate the way a user does things and takes a freer hand in approving applications for its own Market. There is freedom here. And for this reason alone, I label it my preferred choice.

RIM’s Blackberry 6 - Marketed as ‘the business phone,’ the Blackberry once stood at the pinnacle of the smartphone world. Blackberry was king of e-mail, Microsoft Exchange integration, and synchronization. This period of Blackberry hegemony is also known to the layman as the pre-iPhone era. The very recent introduction of ‘Blackberry 6,’ as an OS to compete with the likes of Android and iOS4 has, sadly, failed to impress. This is not to say that ‘Blackberry 6’ is a bad system but rather that it’s failed to offer something better than the Google-Apple upstarts. Add to that is the distinct lack of third-party developers for the platform. The only good thing going for it is it’s remarkable security features which, even now, is at the brink of being compromised after having recently earned the ire of paranoid governments. Because of the aforementioned reasons, analysts predict a downward spiral of Blackberry’s share in the market in the coming years. The only question being, how fast (or how slow) it’s going to take for RIM to reach the end of its rope.

The rest of the mobile operating systems - Microsoft’s Windows 7, Nokia and Intel’s Meego, HP’s (formerly Palm’s) webOS 2.0, and Samsung’s Bada - have yet to show their true colors to the buying public but are already garnering attention. These big names are out to crown themselves the new Blackberry’s of the modern world. Unfortunately they face stiff competition from the reigning overlords, upstarts really, who have simply changed the smartphone game. The first, by making third-party apps marketable; the second, by making everything (including the operating system itself) customizable. As to which entity will come out with the best strategy for the long haul is anyone’s guess. One thing, however, is certain: in this world of cutthroat smartphone competition, the consumer wins in the end. So go forth ye smartphone makers, dealers and developers! Multiply, battle, and prosper so that us tech-starved netizens can see our money’s worth in a mobile melee that should last a lifetime.