Best phone 2016: What are your options? Android vs iOS vs Windows
There are multiple mobile phone operating systems, but really only
three worth talking about: Android, iOS and Windows. You’ll note that
right now there aren’t any Windows phones in our top 20, but that could
all change over the next few months thanks to the release of Windows 10.
If you do have your heart set on Windows, also see our list of the best Windows phones 2016. (Similarly, for purely Android choices see Best Android phones 2016.)
The great majority of phones available run the Android operating system, with Marshmallow
the latest version (yet just 7.5 percent of Android devices were
running Marshmallow at the beginning of May 2016). In 2015 Android held
82.1 percent of the global smartphone market share, and is expected to
grow to 82.6 percent in 2016 (source).
While Apple’s iOS platform held a much lower market share of 15.8
percent in 2015 (expected to shrink to 15.2 percent in 2016), there are
far fewer iPhone models in circulation, meaning that each individual
iPhone holds a larger market share than each individual Android phone.
That’s generally speaking, mind, since Samsung had a higher market share
in Q4 of 2015 than did Apple, with 20.7 percent against its 17.7
percent (source).
Windows, meanwhile, held just 2.2 percent of the market in 2015, but
with the release of Windows 10 for phones it is expected to grow to 5.6
percent by 2018. In common with iOS, there are far fewer phones running
Windows than there are Android (source). See all smartphone reviews.
The figures aren’t what’s important here, though. More important is
which mobile operating system is best for you, and to work that out
there are several factors you need to take into account. (For a more
in-depth look at each OS see our Android Marshmallow review, iOS 9 review and Windows 10 for mobile review.)
Apps and compatibility: Windows has always been
criticised for the lack of apps available in the Windows Store, but the
fact is all the biggest apps are present and, with the OS built on the
same core as Windows 10 for laptops, the possibility of universal apps
that work on phone and PC may mean we’ll soon see a lot more
functionality on Windows phones.
Android and iOS are these days fairly level in terms of app support,
with very few apps available on one platform and not the other. We say
fairly, because there are still a few app developers who will prioritise
getting their new features to iOS before Android.
Android tends to offer more free apps (although not all are
high-quality), and makes it easy to sideload apps outside the Google
Play Store (you will need to be careful not to download anything dodgy
if you go down this path, however). By comparison, Apple prefers that
you play only in the walled garden of its App Store.
Google has by far the best set of built-in apps - we’re talking about
the likes of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Photos and so
on. These are all synched online, allowing you to access the same data
on any device to which you are signed into your Google account.
If you've used an Android phone or iPhone before, it is possible to
fairly easy move your contacts and other data from one to the other (see
How to move from Android to iPhone and How to move from iPhone to Android). What you can't move is paid-for apps, so keep this in mind if you're considering a change of platform.
User interface: While Apple places shortcuts to all
your apps on multiple home screens, Android hides them away in an app
drawer and leaves it up to you which you want quick access to from the
home screen. Windows has a very colourful and pretty, yet arguably less
user-friendly tiled interface, with an alphabetical list of all your
apps just a swipe in from the home screen.
Whereas both Android and iOS will present notifications on the lock
screen, Windows fills its tiles with live information that mean you
don’t always need to open an app to get the info you need. Android
achieves a similar task with the use of widgets, and Apple is getting
there with its Extensions.
Both Android and Windows let you swipe down from the top of the
screen to access quick controls for the likes of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi,
while iOS offers a similar deal Control Centre.
Only Android lets you apply custom skins and themes, which is
something you’ll either love or never use. Android phone manufacturers
can also apply their own skins, the best known of which is Samsung’s
TouchWiz.
Voice assistants: iOS’ Siri is famous for its humour, and Windows’ Cortana can be quite the comedian.
Both are intelligent assistants that will respond to your spoken
requests and do anything from setting an alarm or calling a contact to
searching the web for information or telling you a joke. Android’s Google Now is a little different,
as you would expect from the search giant, and is primarily focused on
search, be that online or browsing the information stored in your
emails, calendar and other Google apps. It also serves up cards
throughout the day, for example telling you how long it will take you to
get home at around the time you would usually leave work. (If you are
missing the personal touch of Siri and Cortana, note that Samsung builds
in its own S Voice assistant - see funny things to ask S-Voice.)
Best phone 2016: What makes a great smartphone?
A flagship phone specification will look something like this:
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow, iOS 9 or Windows 10
• Slim, lightweight metal frame
• 5-5.in high-resolution (full-HD or Quad-HD) IPS display with Gorilla Glass 4
• Apple A9/Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor or comparable octa-core chip
• 4GB of RAM (2GB for Apple devices)
• 32GB of storage (plus microSD support for Android devices)
• Fingerprint scanner
• 12Mp-plus primary camera with dual-tone flash, optical image
stabilisation, laser autofocus and large apertures, plus support for 4K
video recording
• 5Mp selfie camera
• 4G LTE Cat.9
• Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.2
• NFC, GPS, GLONASS, OTG
• Circa-3000mAh battery (half this for Apple devices)
