Android L vs. iOS 8: Google beats Apple for power-saving feature, performance boost

Both Apple and Google have announced or released new mobile operating systems, both boasting a number of new features. Those features range from APIs that make apps run faster to a way to track battery use to enhanced and interactive notifications.

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Even though the final version of Android L has not yet been released, Google has released developer versions and announced a number of new main features. Which is better, iOS 8 or Android L? Here are a number of their features compared.

Design

These days minimalism is in. Both iOS 8 and Android L are taking advantage of this and offering a more simplistic design without compromising on ease of use.

Google's new design language is called "material design," which is consistent across Android, Google Chrome, Chrome OS and Android Wear. This design language essentially adds depth by adding shadows to objects and makes it so that everything is animated, from little rings of color that appear when a user taps numbers on the phone dialer, to the way that app windows slide in from out-of-screen. While a layered design is introduced in Android L, that doesn't mean that Google is breaking the trend of flat design, but rather that the flat design is now layered.

Apple's iOS 7 received a major design overhaul, which was much needed for the software. This means, however, that iOS 8 did not get any significant upgrades as far as design goes. iOS 8 keeps the clean look that iOS 7 brought, with Apple's clear glass effect remaining prevalent.

Notifications

Android L introduces an enhanced notifications method for users, allowing users to see notifications straight from the lock screen. Android will even list these notifications in order of what it deems important. Users can then swipe away notifications they don't need to see anymore, or they can tap on them to open up the associated app.

Notifications have also rather radically changed in iOS 8, now being interactive. What this means is users can now reply to texts, snooze reminders and even like Facebook statuses without leaving the app they're using. Alternatively, users can swipe to the app associated with the notification.

Performance

Both the Android L Software Development Kit and the iOS 8 SDK offer thousands of new APIs for developers, with iOS 8 coming in at around 4,000 and Android L at 5,000. Both iOS 8 and Android L support 64-bit processors, with Apple rolling out the support in iOS 7 and Android L being the first version of Android to offer it.

When iOS 8 was announced, Apple made sure to talk about its new Metal graphics API, which allows developers to create games that run quite a bit faster. Apple also began rolling out its Swift programming language, which should help developers streamline apps as well as safeguard against errors.

Google responded with the new Android RunTime, or ART, which should give apps a rather large boost in speed. This spells the end of the road for Delvik, which is the virtual machine that other versions of Android used and compiled Java into native code. Rather than compile code on the fly, ART compiles all the code for a particular app upon installation of the app and then caches it, allowing apps to run significantly faster.

Battery Use

Both Android L and iOS 8 incorporate more battery-saving features, with iOS 8 now showing a power usage screen that allows users to see exactly where all their battery juice is going.

Android L takes battery saving to the next level and allows users to tweak how much battery power apps can take up through "Project Volta." This essentially makes tweaks on how a battery is used to extend battery life as much as possible. While a number of OEMs are already offering similar features on their devices, the feature will be nice, especially for stock Android users.

Handover

While there are some apps that offer handover features between a user's computer and Android phone, such as PPLConnect, most handover features in Android are best taken advantage of with Chrome OS.

Apple has taken this to the next level with the combination of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, now allowing users to take calls and send texts from their computer and iPad.

Conclusion

While it's clear both mobile operating systems have vastly improved over older versions, it is also clear Android L has made the most changes. While a few new features in iOS 8 will keep iPhone users happy, and with good reason, Android users will see a completely new OS with a completely new look and the power to back it up.

How to get iOS 8’s best new features on Android even before iPhone users get them

When CEO Tim Cook and his fellow Apple executives unveils iOS 8’s great new features on stage during their WWDC 2014 keynote presentation back in June, the most dramatic audience response might have come when the crew unveiled iOS 8’s new Continuity features. With this great new functionality, iOS devices and Mac computers will be more closely connected than ever, able to quickly and easily exchange files and other data. Better still, iOS device notifications appear on a user’s connected Mac, and messages can even be sent and received right from within OS X.
But there’s a catch: despite the fact that Apple released iOS 8 to the public on Wednesday, none of this awesome new functionality is available to iPhone and iPad users yet. If you have an Android smartphone or tablet, however, all of these great features and more are already available thanks to a single fantastic app.


The idea of moving files between devices, seeing notifications on your desktop and sending text messages from your computer might seem novel to iPhone owners, but more than 10 million Android device owners have been enjoying all this functionality and more for quite some time now thanks to an awesome free app called AirDroid.

We’ve covered AirDroid here on BGR in the past, but now that interest in this feature set has been revived by iOS 8, it’s worth discussing again. And of course, none of these new Continuity features are available to iPhone and iPad owners until OS X Yosemite is released sometime next month, so Android users still have an edge in this area.
But if you’re an Android user, you can do everything iOS 8 can do and more with AirDroid.

Manage your Android devices on the web, all over the air.
– No USB cable required.
– No driver installation required.
– Same WiFi network or Internet.
– Pure web app, works on Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Linux.
Simply install AirDroid on your Android and you’ll be able to enjoy the following features on your computer at web.airdroid.com:
– SMS: send and receive individual or group messages.
– Apps: Import and export .apk files.
– Files: Manage files on Android and transferring files between Android and computer.
– Photos: View and manage photos on Android and transferring photos between Android and computer.
– Music & Videos: Play and manage music & videos on Android and transferring them between Android and computer.
– Ringtones: Set music as ringtone and export any ringtone.
– Contacts: View and edit all the contacts.
– Screenshot: View the real time screen of Android devices, take static screenshots. (root required)
– Camera: See through the lens of both front and back camera, also supports flashlight.
– URL: Push url to Android and open automatically open it with Android browser.
– Clipboard: Share clipboard content between Android and computer.
There are also some very useful features on the Android client, including WiFi tethering, file manager, task manager, etc.

AirDroid is a free download in the Play store, and premium features are available for $1.99 per month, $19.99 per year or $38.99 every two years.

Hey, Android Users, Don't Buy the New iPhones

Tim Cook wasn’t kidding when he said the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are the best iPhones ever. The new phones have bigger screens, run an operating system that allows users to customize their experiences in an increasing variety of ways, and even incorporate different kinds of keyboards. If you’re an iPhone user, there is no good reason to bat your eyes at fancy Android (GOOG) phones anymore.

But what if you already have an Android? Cook has boasted that the new iPhones will inspire tons of converts, but much of what’s new for Apple (AAPL) is old hat for Android. Both systems offer phones with big screens and powerful cameras. Software innovations available for one type of phone are quickly adopted by the other. Price is essentially not an issue. Neither, necessarily, is design.



If you’re starting from scratch, the iPhone may be the best choice on the market. At this point, there aren’t many people who haven’t picked a side, and jumping ship is still a hassle. Yes, phone carriers will help you export your photos and contacts from one operating system to another. But apps—and the average smartphone owner uses about 27 each month, according to a recent study by Nielsen—aren’t coming with you.

For a Galaxy Note user, then, going over to the iPhone 6 Plus means building up again from zero. And for what? Apple’s operating system may be more intuitive to someone who has never touched a smartphone before, but it’s not going to be any easier for people who have spent over an hour staring at their Android phone every day for the last two to four years. Any benefits are probably outweighed by the drawbacks to abandoning the investment someone has already made.

Phone manufacturers make it hard to switch on purpose: They want you locked in forever. That’s the idea behind the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, which don’t work for Android. (Ditto for Samsung’s (005930:KS) Gear S watch and Gear VR headset, which are made to work with the company’s other devices.)
This doesn’t mean that Apple can’t convince people to abandon their Galaxys; it just makes it harder. Traditionally, Apple’s advantage has been the quality and quantity of available apps. If you’ve wanted the best apps the minute they came out, you had to have an iPhone. Android—and, to an even greater extent, BlackBerry (BBRY) and Microsoft (MSFT)—have had trouble convincing developers to create software for their devices: Apple users spend more on apps, which means bigger potential payouts for developers. After it takes its share, Apple sends about twice as much money to developers from consumer spending on apps as Android does—with half the total number of users. (The same incentives exist for merchants as they consider whether to participate in Apple’s mobile payments system: They know people carrying iPhones have deep pockets.)

Apple’s advantage in areas like this, though, isn’t as significant as it once was. Of this week’s top 25 most downloaded free apps for iOS devices, only five aren’t available for Android. One, an emoji program, isn’t much different from what’s available in the Google Play store. The rest are games, and at least two of those have an Android version in the works. As for payments, once the technology is in place for merchants to accept Apple Pay, the adoption of Google Wallet or some such won’t be far behind. Neither merchants nor developers are being compelled to choose between Apple and Android, so many will be happy to work with both.
In the end, there are two kinds of Android users who will end up buying the new iPhones: those who have always wanted one but couldn’t live without a bigger screen, and anyone who really wants the Apple Watch—although those people probably have iPhones already.

Google May Ban Android Developers Who Do Not Hand Over Their Postal Addresses

Every Android developer with a paid app, or an app that includes in-app purchases, will soon be required by Google to list their geographic address publicly on their Google Play developer profile.
Developers who do not cooperate may be banned from the Play app store, an email from Google to a developer revealed.

As Phandroid reports, Google is warning developers that their apps could face rejection from the app store unless they publicly list their address on their profiles.
For big app development companies, this new policy won't be a problem, as they'll have office addresses they don't mind publishing. But a large number of Android developers are private individuals who won't feel comfortable sharing their home address. 

Speaking on Reddit, Android developers expressed their concern over the policy, with "hoti0101" commenting "This is unacceptable. Why can't we opt out due to privacy concerns?"
It's been suggested that the new policy has been put in place to discourage scammers from creating misleading apps and releasing them on Android. If Google is now requiring developers to provide an address, then it's going to be far more difficult to quickly create a low-quality apps.
Concerned Android developers reached out to Google to confirm whether the policy does indeed require them to reveal their address. Reddit user "gonemad16" posted this email, which he claimed to have received from Google after querying the new policy: 

We are requiring developers to provide a physical address for all paid apps or apps that enable in-app purchases. The address will be displayed to users in the app store listing page. By September 30, 2014, you'll be able to add a physical address by going to your Settings page on the Developer Console (https://play.google.com/apps/publish/#ProfilePlace[1]). Please comply within 30 days of the warning notification on the developer console. If you do not provide an address within this period, Google may take action affecting your account. This may include restricting your ability to update apps or publish new apps. Continued failure to provide an address may result in published apps being removed from the store