For all the heated debates over whether Android is better than iPhone or the other way around, many of us have forgotten that actually, the global market share of both the iPhone and Android combined only provides for 25 % of the market place. In Q1 2010, an amazing 44.3 % of market share belongs to Symbian and Blackberry accounts for 19.8 %. Just for comparison, iPhone comes in at 15.8 % and Android, 9.6 %.
If you are a Symbian user and looking to switch to a new smartphone soon, please do consider these 5 points before making a decision, especially since Verizon is planning to release a few good Android smartphones, such as the Motorola Droid Pro soon!
1. Notifications.
The top of the screen on Android devices is set aside for notifications. In a small strip, you can easily see the time, battery level, signal strength, GPS, WiFi, etc, and a set number of applications programme notifications. On Symbian, this same area takes up twice as many pixels and provides a fraction of the information . This notifications feature is perhaps the most convenient portion of Android, and one that most appraisals overlooked.
On every other platform, new messages, emails, etc pop up and you pretty much have to do some actions with them. With Android, these notifications are tucked out of the way in the notification bar until you draw it down to address them. This allows you to handle things on your own time, rather than cutting off what you are doing at the moment. This also allows you to easily remember what previous notifications you have had.
2. Applications.
The number of application programs on the Android Market and 3rd party applications programmes vastly outnumbered those in the Ovi Store. At last count, the number of Apps on the Android Market exceeds the 100,000 mark. Given that the argument that quantity does not imply quality applies , the fact remains that developing on the Android platform is much more popular than development on Symbian.
While browsing the Android Market, users can click to install an app, and then continue browsing while that applications programme is downloaded and installed in the background. Users are also notified when there are updates available for the applications programmes that are installed , something Symbian doesn't do currently, but hopefully will in time to come.
3. Integration.
This is one major area that Symbian really needs to handle, specifically for Nokia handsets. As part of the process of setting up your Android phones for the first time, the initial setup procedure will cue the user if he has a Google account, and if he wanted to login with it. If the user chooses yes, all the info that is saved with your Google account will be automatically synced with the Android device.
However, on a Symbian device, a Nokia N97 for instance, the user will have to separately download, install, and setup the Ovi Mail, Ovi Contacts, Ovi Calendar, and Ovi Chat accounts. The user also has to repeatedly login to these services, whereas on Android, the user account is always logged in. It's a seamless and intuitive experience for the Android users and one which Symbian users will definitely appreciate.
4. Browsing.
The built-in browser on Android is noticeably faster than the Symbian one, specifically for large sites. It is also much smoother to use, and allows for more accuracy when clicking on links. The Android browser also provides visual bookmarks, which is useful to get a peep at each web page, and these are updated when you open them, too.
5. Platform Updates.
Any updates to Android devices are delivered over-the-air whereas both Nokia and Samsung continue to release firmware updates through their PC-only applications . This may not be an issue to most users but this added convenience provides an additional alternative for users on the go.
Secondly, when you purchase a Symbian-powered smartphone, you get whatever version it comes with -- S60v3, S60v3 Feature Pack 2, S60v5, etc, and that's all you get. Most Android-powered smartphones currently shipped with either v1 .5 or v1 .6 pre-installed, but nearly all of them has been officially scheduled for the newer v2 .0 + upgrade sometimes in the future.