Why Choose Android? Part 3

In the final post in this series, we will look into Siri and Google Now, the two voice assistants from Apple and Google respectively.

Voice Assistant:

(From the left: Siri Home Screen, Google Now On Tap launching, results on the right.)

Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface a.k.a Siri, is Apple's inbuilt voice assistant in iOS 5.1.1 with the iPhone 4S launch, Apple added an innovative new feature not found anywhere else at that time. Google to compete with Apple came up with its very own Google Now with inbuilt cards with snippets of information based on your synced search data and thus improves with time as it learns your patterns. The voice assistant in Google Now can search anything and also perform system functions on being prompted by you. Siri can be activated at any time by you on saying the keywords "Hey Siri" which launches it. Google Now on the other hand can activated on saying the keywords "Okay Google". Also with the launch of Marshmallow by Google, they have enhanced the functionality of Google Now by adding Google Now On Tap. This new feature added allows you to long-press your home button to make Google Now scan your screen and offer you information on the contents without leaving the page.

Security:

iOS has a historically good reputation when it comes to security. In part they have been helped by the exclusivity and Apple also scans all apps and subjects them to stringent quality control before approving apps to the App Store. This combining with the small numbers when compared to Android make Android a more common target though Google rolls out continuous updates to patch up security. Also the newest iteration of Android, Marshmallow brings with it app permissions control, allowing you to chose which permissions to grant and not to grant any unnecessary permissions which may lead to data mining or identity theft.

Conclusion:

Android is very popular and open source. This and granting the user many privileges allows good customizability and robustness. iOS feels drab in comparison and though it has its own perks, Apple can sometimes be a bit short-sighted or over controlling at times. This and better hardware available in Android swings it in Android's favour. To compound it, the addition of chatbots and VR support in the recently concluded Google I/O, which adds Daydream(a platform for VR).