You’re in the market for a new smartphone (maybe your first smartphone), but which digital horse should you put your money behind?-Choosing a smartphone OS-is a bigger choice than you realize. Thankfully, if you can’t decide whether to pick iPhone, one of the many Android phones, or Windows Mobile, we’re here to help.-We’ll break the battle down into categories and find a winner for each. Just-pick what matters most to you, count up the wins in those categories, and you have a recommendation. Jump to: Affordability, interface, and apps Battery life, OS updates, customization, and communication Peripherals, cloud, photos, voice assistants, and connectivity Security, maps, camera, simplicity, and-summary Affordability Winner: Android Apple doesn’t make budget devices, and the latest iPhone is always among the most expensive handsets on the market, costing $200 with a two-year contract and $650 without. Last year’s iPhone 6-comes in at $100 less. The two year-old iPhone 5S-is as close as Apple gets to budget at about $200 cheaper, but it’s still pricey. Microsoft’s main hardware partner Nokia (which it now owns) was always good at producing quality hardware at relatively low prices.-There are a wide range of older Windows Phones at varying price points, and finally a few that push the limit and rival Android and iOS on specs. Hardware manufacturers like Samsung, ZTE, LG, Lenovo, and Huawei were-Windows Phone 8.1 partners, but it’s unclear who’ll be making Windows 10 Mobile handsets. We expect to see-some cheap handsets in the near future, but Microsoft’s Lumia is likely to be the only flagship. For sheer scale and variety nothing competes with Android. There’s a huge choice of low-cost handsets from a wide variety of different manufacturers and the platform has been deliberately optimized to run on low-end hardware. The fact that Android also leads the field in free apps makes it the natural choice for the budget-conscious. Chances are, if it’s a smartphone by HTC, Samsung, Sony, ZTE, Huawei, or LG, it’s running Android. Interface Winner: Tie Led by Windows Phone, all three platforms have gravitated toward a minimalist, flat, fast, colorful user interface. The big difference is that many Android manufacturers have added their own user interfaces on top of stock Android, and so your mileage will vary. The basic structure with customizable home screens, an app drawer, and pull down notifications is standard, but there’s much more variation on Android than you’ll find on the other two platforms. The Android Lollipop roll-out ushered in Google’s “Material Design,” which is a minimalist look with simple animations that’s intended to create a new continuity across the platform and in Google’s apps. It’s stylish and slick, and it runs on around 30 percent of Android devices, at the time of writing. The aesthetic hasn’t changed much in the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow release, which brings a few subtle refinements, but you’ll need a new device or a Nexus right now to see it. App developers are still adjusting, and it will be a while before Android 6.0 Marshmallow-represents a big share of Android users. After a major redesign in iOS 7, Apple’s platform is bright and modern-feeling. The slick animations as you navigate around give a sense of depth, and it’s easy to understand. Under the new paint job, this is still the same iOS that came out in 2007. Still, many have complained that the new version of iOS is hard on the eyes. There are settings to turn off its offending animations. Apple has made further refinements in iOS 9, but the aesthetic remains largely unchanged. Windows 10 Mobile-is based on a grid of “Live Tiles,” which can be arranged and resized to suit the owner. It looks and acts much like Windows 10-PCs and tablets, and there’s a consistency here that Microsoft’s desktop and Xbox users will find familiar. Windows Mobile-can still sometimes feel overly stylish and sluggish compared to iOS and Android. It is very customizable, though, and Windows 10 Mobile definitely feels slicker than previous versions. The latest Windows 10 Mobile hardware also supports Continuum, an intriguing feature that allows you to dock your phone, and-switch to a desktop interface. You can throw it up on a big screen and use a mouse and keyboard with it, effectively making your phone a PC. - Apps Winner: Tie We can bump Windows Mobile-straight out of the running here, because it trails way behind Android and iOS when it comes to overall app numbers and app quality. Android apps:-1.6 million iOS apps:-1.5-million Windows Mobile-apps: ??? Traditionally, iOS has been a more lucrative platform for developers and easier to develop for, so there has been a tendency for new apps to appear there first, but that is changing as Android’s market share continues to grow. In the United States, iOS still leads the way, but developers elsewhere are increasingly targeting Android first. The Play Store still has a higher percentage of free apps than the App Store. Android also benefits from the latest and greatest versions of Google’s apps, which are sorely missed on Windows Mobile. Microsoft has a “Universal Apps” plan for apps to run on multiple device types with common code, and it’s supposed to be easy to port Android or iOS apps over, but we’ll have to wait and see how developers respond. In terms of variety and quality, we have to give this one to iOS, but it’s a narrow win. App store usability Winner: iOS None of the app stores offer an excellent user experience, and it can be tough to sift through the thousands of apps on offer to find what you really want. In terms of recommendations and curated charts, the Apple App Store maintains a slender lead over Google’s Play Store. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile-store definitely lags behind in terms of usability and aesthetic Alternative app stores and sideloading Winner: Android It’s relatively easy to sideload apps (install them from your PC using a USB cable or alternate download method) on Android and there are a lot of alternative app stores-beyond the Play Store, although sideloading can open you up to the risk of malware. Both Apple and Microsoft are opposed to third-party app stores and expect users to stick to their app stores. If you want a wider choice of apps and easy sideloading then your choice is obvious. Android is more open than its competitors and is more geek friendly. Battery life and management Please enable Javascript to watch this video Winner: Android As one of the biggest bugbears for smartphone owners, battery life is a huge-factor. It’s difficult to compare the three platforms because there’s no common hardware. We could say iOS is optimized to squeeze the most out of the battery per mAh rating, but you can buy an Android device with a much bigger battery that will easily outlast the iPhone. In Android you can see your battery usage at a glance, broken down by app, with an estimate of how much battery life you have left. With Lollipop, Google baked a basic battery saver feature into Android, and Marshmallow has added the ability to configure-battery optimization for apps. Most manufacturers also offer some kind of battery saving feature, which allows you to tweak performance or turn off background syncing for specific apps when the battery hits a certain level. Windows 10 Mobile-has a battery saver option that shows estimated remaining life, battery usage across your apps, and allows you to turn off background usage for apps or other non-essential features to save battery. Apple introduced more detailed battery usage statistics by app in iOS 8, and a-battery saving mode — called Low Power Mode — followed in iOS 9. We had a terrible time with battery life in iOS 7, and the bigger screens in the latest iPhones cancel out improvements made in iOS 8. There have been further improvements in power efficiency in iOS 9, but the iPhone 6S has a smaller battery than the iPhone 6, and the battery in the 6S Plus is exactly the same as its predecessor, so there’s no tangible benefit. Apple has lost a lot of ground in the battery wars. OS Updates Winner: iOS All three platforms are updated on a pretty regular basis. There are big releases with new features and occasional redesigns every few months, and smaller releases to deal with bug fixes a little more frequently than that. Microsoft and Apple maintain greater control over the software, so it’s easier for them to roll out updates and compatible devices tend to upgrade to the latest version in a timely fashion. Apple always leaves behind a couple older devices each year when new software comes out, so it’s not entirely free of fragmentation, but it does better than Microsoft or Google. For example, Windows Phone 7 devices can’t be updated to Windows Phone 8, and the Windows Phone 8.1 update to Windows 10 Mobile has been postponed until early 2016. If you opt for a Nexus Android device then you’ll get the latest updates quickly, but if you don’t, you may never get an update. Samsung, Sony, and LG have finally begun providing some updates, but you’re at their mercy and the mercy of your wireless carrier, which also demands-the right to test and release all new software updates for Windows Mobile-and Android. Apple is exempt. At last count, 0.5 percent of Android devices are running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and 7 percent of Windows phones are running Windows 10 Mobile, compared to 71 percent of iOS devices running iOS 9. Customizability Winner: Android There are a lot of different elements to customizability, but we can state unequivocally that this is one of Android’s strengths. Out of the box, you can customize your Android experience in a variety of ways. You can install alternative launchers that will change the look of your user interface. You can set up your lock screen and multiple home screens with backgrounds, resizable widgets, and shortcuts. Both iOS and Windows Mobile-offer limited options. You can set up backgrounds and shortcuts. With Windows Mobile, you have re-sizable Live Tiles and color schemes to choose from, and you can add background images. In iOS 8, Apple added-support for at-a-glance style widgets, but they’re confined to the Notification Center. Google has always allowed you to choose your default keyboard in Android. Microsoft has gradually improved the keyboard in Windows Mobile, but it’s still locked down to the default option. Apple has opened up third-party keyboard support in-iOS 8, and there are more options now, but it still has a way to go to match Android. Beyond the keyboard, you can set third-party apps as defaults for all kinds of things in Android that are locked down in iOS and Windows Mobile. Rooting, bootloaders, and jailbreaking Winner: Android We’ve looked at how to root your Android phone or tablet-before. It’s not for everyone, but if you want root access and complete control over your device, then rooting is the way to get it. Rooting gives you access to more apps, the latest OS updates without waiting, new software skins to get the aesthetic you want, the chance to get rid of bloatware from carriers and manufacturers, potential tweaks to boost your device’s speed and battery life, and more. Many Android OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) also offer a way to unlock the bootloader, which determines how the operating system loads up on your device. Microsoft and Apple are completely opposed to this kind of thing. Unlocking bootloaders and rooting is possible on some devices with-Windows Mobile, and you can even install Android apps, but it’s not advisable. Jailbreaking is an option for iOS, which lets you download and install apps from outside the App Store and bypass some other limitations. Calls and messaging Winner:-Tie Basic calling and messaging functionality is good on all three platforms. Google has made moves to fold everything into Hangouts, so you can send messages via Wi-Fi, data network, or SMS. You can also make video calls online. FaceTime and iMessage are basically exactly the same thing on the iOS platform. Skype is Microsoft’s answer, but it’s separate from your standard SMS. Skype works on every platform; Hangouts doesn’t work on Windows Mobile; iMessages and FaceTime are only for iOS and Mac OS X. Email Winner:-Tie The default email apps on Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile-are very easy to use and quick to set up. You can pull in multiple email accounts and view them in a single inbox if you desire. Android and iOS have a huge range of third-party email apps available as well. Jump to: Affordability, interface, and apps Battery life, OS updates, customization, and communication Peripherals, cloud, photos, voice assistants, and connectivity Security, maps, camera, simplicity, and-summary Peripherals Winner: iOS The average iPad or iPhone owner spends more money on more things than the average Android or Windows Mobile-device owner, and Apple has built up a great ecosystem of peripherals for its phones and tablets. There are far more peripherals and cases aimed at the iPhone-than any other device, but something like Samsung’s latest Galaxy S6 would be a close second. On the other hand, Android and Windows Mobile devices have adopted the Micro USB standard, whereas Apple insists on its proprietary Lightning cable, which means it’s much easier to find a charger if you’re not an iPhone owner. This often means you have to splash out on an overpriced Apple adapter, which are known to break. Peripheral manufacturers may still go after iOS as their main target, but it’s very rare to find something without Micro USB support. The USB Type-C ports on the latest Nexus phones are the future, because they offer more outputs through a single cable and they’re reversible, unlike Micro USB, but the peripheral market is only just starting to gear up for USB Type-C. Cloud services Winner:-Android Apple is the one lagging behind when it comes to cloud storage and automatic backups. Microsoft’s OneDrive and Google Drive both offer 15GB for free and cross-platform support (although Google Drive doesn’t work with Windows Mobile). You only get 5GB with iCloud, and it only works with Windows, Mac, and iOS. If you need a lot of additional space, then Google Drive was the cheapest at $2 per month for 100GB ($24 for the year), but Apple and Microsoft dropped their prices to match. Apple charges $1-per month-for 50GB, and Microsoft charges $2 per month-for 100GB. It’s worth noting that if you subscribe to Office 365 Personal, you get 1TB of storage, 60 minutes of Skype calls per month, and all the latest Office apps for $7 per month or $70 for the year. Photo backup Winner:-Android If you use the Photos app in Android, then you can automatically backup all of your photos and videos. You can also use Photos-on iOS. OneDrive allows you to automatically back up photos on Android, iOS, or Windows Phone. You can only backup to iCloud on iOS, and-it offers less free space at 5GB compared to 15GB with Google Drive and OneDrive. It’s also worth noting that Google’s Photos app lets you backup an unlimited number of photos or videos at standard size for free, only full-sized files count against your allowance. Voice assistants Winner: Windows-Mobile We had a look at Cortana vs Siri vs Google Now-a while back. All three can interpret and act on a wide variety of voice commands. Siri is more like a straightforward assistant for setting calendar appointments, searching the Web, or making calls. Google Now has an extra element, in that it can pre-emptively offer useful information. If you allow it to gather data on you then it might suggest directions to a place you recently searched for, or let you know the latest score for your favorite sports team. Android 6.0 Marshmallow introduced Now on Tap, which can provide information within the app you’re using, whether it’s info on a track you’re listening to, or throwing up details on the restaurant mentioned in the email you’re reading. Cortana falls somewhere in between Siri and Google Now encompassing-elements of both. There’s an attempt-to push things further by-offering access to functions within apps and reminder prompts linked to specific people in your contacts. Cortana can also work contextually within apps, and seems to handle voice recognition better than its competitors. Microsoft has really taken its time getting Cortana right and it has the potential to be a big win for the Windows Mobile-platform. Of course, you can now download Cortana on iOS and Android. Connectivity Winner:-Tie All the mobile platforms support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as standard. Android and Windows Mobile-led the way with NFC (near field communication) for easy wireless transfers and mobile payments, but Apple included NFC in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It also launched Apple Pay with some major partners, which could close the mobile payment gap very quickly. Android now has Android Pay, too. NFC can also be used for quick file transfers, tapping phones together to share contacts or Web pages, or tapping on supported speakers to stream music. There’s nothing to really separate the platforms here. Jump to: Affordability, interface, and apps Battery life, OS updates, customization, and communication Peripherals, cloud, photos, voice assistants, and connectivity Security, maps, camera, simplicity, and-summary Security Winner: iOS Much has been made of the supposedly “toxic hell stew” that is Android, but the threat of malware is grossly exaggerated by the competition. The truth is that most people will never encounter a problem because they don’t go outside the Play Store for apps. Specific manufacturers like Samsung have taken extra efforts to beef up security for the enterprise market. But the slovenly nature of updates on many Android devices can seriously delay important security patches. Speedy updates are now more important than ever because security breaches are becoming more serious. As long as Android lags behind in the update world, its devices will be less secure. Apple is already firmly entrenched in corporate America and has also worked on improved security for general consumers, most notably with Touch ID. The tight oversight that Apple has on apps and the ability to push updates out to more devices, more quickly, gives it a definite edge over Android. The company also encrypts data in iMessage and its other apps. Windows Mobile-is not as widely used, and that means MDM programs focus on iOS and Android, but Microsoft is certainly working to improve security and woo the business world. Maps Winner: Android All three platforms offer a good maps solution, despite what you’ve heard. Key features are pretty similar, you can download maps for offline use, get accurate estimates based on current traffic conditions, and turn-by-turn directions for driving or walking. They all work well and should get you where you’re going. Still, the scale and quality of Google Maps is unsurpassed. It has more points of interest and it is generally more detailed than Bing Maps or Apple Maps, but the accuracy can vary from place to place. Camera Winner:-iOS This is another area where Apple extracts maximum value from the hardware it offers. The 12-megapixel camera in the iPhone 6S has been numerically surpassed by Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 at 16-megapixels and Windows Mobile phones-like the Lumia 950 at 20 megapixels, but there’s more to a great camera than just the megapixel count. In the past, we’ve argued that Apple does the best job capturing lighting, coloring, and other details, but the latest Android smartphones are casting some doubt on that assertion. The iPhone 6S Plus also has a noticeably better camera than the iPhone 6S.-Some phones from LG, Samsung, Huawei, and others take excellent photos now, and some offer manual mode, which isn’t available on iOS yet. The camera apps on each platform are very good and very fast. For ease of use and best results without tweaking, the iOS camera app takes the cake. There’s more variation on Android simply because OEMs tend to add their own camera apps with lots of features, some good, some a bit gimmicky, but we’d still take Apple’s camera any day of the week. Simplicity Winner: Tie All three of the platforms are relatively intuitive and easy to pick up. If you were looking for a device for an elderly relative, or a technophobe then you’ll find some specialist offerings on Android, but they tend to scale down what’s possible. Manufacturers like Samsung also include options like “Easy mode” which make the interface bigger and simplify the whole experience, or you can opt for a third-party app to do the same. There are lots of good apps aimed at the elderly on Android and iOS as well. There has been a perception that Android is more complicated than iOS, but it’s not really true. There’s no need to dive into the customization options if you don’t want to. All three platforms offer a good range of accessibility features. Out of the box Windows Mobile-is probably the most readable. If you’re willing to do a little tweaking and dig into the accessibility features then there’s little to choose between them. Summing up Counting up the wins Android scores 8, iOS scores 6, Windows Mobile-scores 1, and there were 5-ties. Realistically, different categories will be important to different people, so you should just pay attention to the ones that count for you and make your decision based on that. They are all good platforms with-far more similarities than differences, so you can’t really go wrong. Android Android is a great all-rounder which offers by far the greatest choice. Thanks to great support from companies like Samsung and LG, there are more handsets at different price points, a much wider variety of customization options, and greater freedom to tweak your device if you choose to do so. Google’s apps and prowess when it comes to cloud services also weigh in here, and if you’re a big user of Google services already, Android definitely makes the most sense for you. One of its strengths is also one of its greatest weaknesses, and that’s the old fragmentation argument. It’s hard to discuss Android as a single experience, because there is a big gap between a premium flagship and a budget release, though Google is taking steps to close that gap. Feature Rank Feature Rank Affordability 1 Email 1 Interface 1 Peripherals 2 Apps 2 Cloud services 1 App store 2 Photo backup 1 Alt app stores 1 Voice assistant 2 Battery life 1 Connectivity 1 Updates 3 Security 3 Customizability 1 Maps 1 Rooting 1 Camera 2 Calls & messaging 1 Simplicity 1 iOS The downside for iOS is the premium price tag, walled garden, lack of customization options, and the underdeveloped cloud services.Apple’s iOS is a slick platform that has matured well, and it offers an accessible, uniform experience. It has the best official-library-of apps, a huge range of interesting peripherals, and an excellent camera app that sums up Apple’s focus on making things easy for the user. Apple also has tighter control, which means updates are rolled out quickly across the board-and-security is generally better, partly due to the popularity of iOS devices in the enterprise. Feature Rank Feature Rank Affordability 3 Email 1 Interface 1 Peripherals 1 Apps 1 Cloud services 3 App store 1 Photo backup 3 Alt app stores 2 Voice assistant 3 Battery life 2 Connectivity 1 Updates 1 Security 1 Customizability 3 Maps 3 Rooting 2 Camera 1 Calls & messaging 1 Simplicity 1 Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is playing-catchup, just like Windows Phone before it. Microsoft struggles to keep up with the pace set by Apple and Google. The new platform is solid and there are some intriguing improvements in Windows 10 Mobile, but we can’t overlook the lack of apps and the lack of quality in the apps that do exist when compared to the big two. In terms of general usability and basic phone functions, Windows Mobile-is on par, and Cortana is impressive.-As Microsoft makes a play for cloud domination, exploits its popular Office suite, and takes steps to create a unified experience across devices,-it may become a more attractive prospect, particularly for business users, but beyond Cortana it’s tough to see a good reason to choose Windows Mobile-right now. Feature Rank Feature Rank Affordability 2 Email 1 Interface 1 Peripherals 3 Apps 3 Cloud services 2 App store 3 Photo backup 2 Alt app stores 3 Voice assistant 1 Battery life 3 Connectivity 1 Updates 2 Security 2 Customizability 2 Maps 2 Rooting 3 Camera 3 Calls & messaging 1 Simplicity 1 We’ve updated this post many times and will continue to update it, as new versions of iOS, Android, and Windows Mobile arrive. Jump to: Affordability, interface, and apps Battery life, OS updates, customization, and communication Peripherals, cloud, photos, voice assistants, and connectivity Security, maps, camera, simplicity, and-summary Updated on 12-26-2015 by Simon Hill : Changed to reflect the latest platform versions, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, iOS 9, and Windows 10 Mobile.



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