ios 14 vs stock Android 11, Which one is best for you?

  In today’s article  i'm   gonna do a comparison between stock Android 11 and iOS 14, So, if you are thinking about   switching from one OS to the other this video will help you decide which one is better for you.  I did the same comparison between stock Android 10 and iOS 13 last year and since   then Google & Apple added a lot of new features and refinements to their operating systems,   so, it’s time to take another look to see which operating system is better for you,   now let’s take a closer look at each OS but, before getting started let’s make sure to   subscribe and hit the bill icon to get notified every time I post a new video so, let’s jump in.  Now let’s start with the look and feel, once I unlocked my iPhone 12 pro max, I started to see   how good the animations are in iOS. in every action I take like, launching & quitting apps,   navigating the recent apps screen, checking my notifications, scrolling, haptic touch & more.  Overall It feels a lot smoother in iOS than stock Android  The second thing I liked in iOS is the home indicator or the small bar at the bottom of   the screen, in iOS it floats over apps and it looks the same way in every single app but,   in android there are some inconsistencies sometimes, it floats over apps like in iOS,   sometimes you see a black bar at the bottom of the screen and sometimes you see a thin   line that separates between the app and the home indicator. So, Android lacks consistency here.  Next, the icons and widgets in iOS they have a subtle 3d effect that gives more   depth between the icons and the background, while, in Android they are totally flat,   in my opinion iOS approach gives a better visual experience specially when I use a   colourful wallpaper, in stock Android it feels a little bit messy and it’s hard for my eyes   to differentiate between the icons and the background while on iOS it looks just fine.  That’s why on my Android phone I always use minimal wallpapers with 1 or 2 colours maximum   and sometimes I use a third-party app to blur the background and add extra depth between the two. Also, Apple used the same compact design of Android in iOS 14, so, now Siri and the   phone app have better designs in my opinion.So, overall, when it comes to the look & feel   the win goes to iOS 14, this doesn’t mean that stock Android 11 has a bad design,   I do like the simplicity of the Stock Android but, the lack of consistency in the animations & the   overall design is the main reason why I chose iOS over stock Android in this category.  Now let’s talk about the system navigation, and in this category,   Android was a lot easier for me and here’s why:in iOS the control centre and the nonfictions   are separated which requires 2 different swipes to access each one,   while in Android with one swipe you get access to both at once which easier and less confusing.  I understand that you can add your home kit devices to the control centre and that could   be the reason why the notification centre and the control centre are separated to have more space,   but, with Android 11 when I press and hold on the power button I get the new power menu   that includes the power controls, Google pay cards & my smart devices all together,   if we gonna compare that to iOS to power off my phone I have to press and hold on   the power and volume down keys, to get my Apple pay cards I have to double press the power button   and to get access to the smart devices I need to go to the control centre so, these are 3 different   things vs only one press for all on Android.Next accessing the app library and app drawer,   in iOS requires me to scroll all the way to the right, so if I have 3, 4 or 5 pages   in my home screen it will be annoying.in Android to access the app drawer you   simply need to swipe up from home screen while in iOS the swipe up gesture is not even utilized.  Next, there are couple of things that annoyed me while navigating iOS, for example there is no   shortcut for the settings in the control centre or the notifications shade like in Android, so, every   time I need to change something, I have to look for the settings icon or use the spotlight search.  Some buttons like “cancel” are always located at the very top and to tab on it I had to use the   reachability gesture or use two hands as usual, in Android with a simple swipe from any of the edges   I can cancel or get back one step which is easier.This doesn’t mean that Android is perfect, but it   has a couple of issues as well, the back gesture sometimes overlaps with the horizontal scrolling,   so you might accidentally go back one step.Accessing the hamburger menu using the peak   gesture on Android also overlaps with the back gesture sometimes but, am glad that   Google started to remove the hamburger menu from some apps like google photos and google maps to   work better with the gesture navigation.As an alternative I can use the 3 buttons   navigation on Android 11 to overcome this issue but it’s not a big deal for me so,   I will stick with the gesture navigation for now.So, overall in the system navigation category   the win goes to Android 11 as, it was easier to use and required less steps to navigate. Now let’s talk about multi-tasking, in iOS 14 Apple added the picture in picture feature,   which is already available on Android for years but, in iOS it’s limited only to facetime calls   and playing videos while, in Android it’s part of a bigger feature called display over apps,   this feature allows you to have floating chat heads like in Facebook messenger,   you can use picture in picture with videos, you can use it with Google maps, it gives you the   ability to use floating keyboards and more.The only advantage in iOS is the picture in   picture is easier to use while playing videos, first it supports pinch to zoom, you can dock   the window to any of the sides and get it back easily finally, it has more sizes to choose from.  In Android you can resize the picture in picture window by dragging your finger   on any of the corners no pinch to zoom, it has less sizes to choose from and when you hide it,   you have to re-open the app and close it again to get it back which is inconvenient.  The second thing to talk about is the split screen, and this is one   of the features that I love in Android, it helps me a lot in calculating my budget,   shop for products while watching videos and more.It’s a shame that Apple didn’t add the split   screen feature in iOS 14, the iPhone 12 pro max I have here has 6.7 inches display   which is almost the same size of tablet, so, the split screen on it will be very useful.  Overall, when it comes to multitasking the win goes to Android 11, because you get the   display over apps feature which is more capable than the picture in picture feature of iOS 14   in addition to the split screen.Now let’s talk about managing notifications  In this category Android was better than iOS in most cases, in Android 11 the notifications are   categorized in 3 different categories, silent, default & priority, silent are the notifications   that don’t make any sound or vibration but you still can see in the notifications shade,   the default notifications are the exact opposite to silent and priority gives you the ability to   set certain conversations within your messaging apps to always notify you even if do not disturb   is active, these notifications will always appear at the top of your notifications list   and you will be able to see the profile picture of the contact in your status bar.  On the other hand, iOS 14 has only 2 types either the normal or quite notifications   both work the same way as Android, but it does not have the priority option and I couldn’t   find a way to mimic the same behaviour on iOS.Next Android 11 has the notification history   feature which doesn’t exist in iOS 14, this feature allows me to check my dismissed   notifications up to 24 hours back. So, if I dismissed any by mistake or if I don’t   remember the app that sent me a specific one, I can easily check that in the history  Next Android smart replies which also doesn’t exist in iOS, smart replies allow me to quickly   replay to messages while doing other things without touching the keyboard. But I only found one thing that iOS 14 does better in this category which is the ability to listen   to voice messages from your notifications.So, overall, the win goes to Android 11 in   managing notifications because of the more features I have.  Now let’s talk about messaging and here am referring to the native messaging apps,   with Android 11 Google messages now supports RCS messaging which is the same thing as iMessage,   but the question is which one is better, for me am not into using any of them because, I would   rather go for a cross platform messaging app like WhatsApp or Telegram over an app that only   works on one operating system. But if we gonna compare both, I see iMessage should be the winner,   because it has more features like mimoji, Animoji, digital touch & the bubble effects, while Google   messages offers only the basic functionalities like sending stickers and GIFs but, the only   advantage Google messages has is the ability to be use it through the web, so, you can chat with   others on any computer with a web browser.Now let’s talk about the apps & games,   when it comes to games iOS was a lot better, I even subscribed to Apple Arcade and Google   Play Pass to get the most out of each operating system, and I found that iOS exclusive games are   better and more fun to play, even if the same game is available on both operating systems,   the iOS version will always have better graphics.When it comes to apps, the iOS version usually has   better design, but this is not a big deal as far as both apps function the same way  but the advantage Android has is most of the apps & games are free,   but you have to deal with the ads.Overall, when it comes to apps and   games iOS has better quality, but Android is more wallet friendly so, I will call this one a draw  Now let’s talk about the virtual assistant or in other words Google assistant vs Sir but,   it requires a separate video, so, if you didn’t check my previous Siri on iOS 14 vs the new   Google assistant you can click the link showing now on the screen or in the description below.  Just to sum up everything Google assistant is way smarter,   and it can be integrated with more services. So, the win goes to Android in this category.  Now let’s talk about the ease of use, and here I will go through a lot of generic   features that make my life easier while using my Android phone and how things changed after   switching to iOS so, let’s start with the things that Android does better.  In Android 11 I can have the media controls of multiple apps in my quick settings area,   scroll through them and resume playing from whatever app I want without the need to open   this app which is something I could not do in iOS.In Android I can copy text from the recent apps   screen which is very useful in cases where the app am using doesn’t support copying.  iOS Widgets are not interactive like in Android, for example the calendar widget   allows me to scroll through the months and tab on the day I want, to quickly jump to that day   in the calendar app, while in iOS no matter where I tap on the widget it will keep opening the app   on today’s date, other widgets in Android support scrolling which is also not available in iOS.  In iOS I miss Android’s now playing feature, it automatically identifies songs in the background   and store the names for me to check later and with the latest feature drop I can multi-select   the previously identified songs and create a playlist in YouTube music. While, In iOS your   only options are shazam or Siri and in some cases the song playing might end before you   even make your music ID app ready, so, the now playing feature is very useful and convenient.  Now let’s talk about the home screen for a second. Once I started using my iPhone I wanted   to reorganize my apps and make everything the way I want but, I knew that I will face a hard time   doing so, every time I move an app it keeps reorganizing everything, as am not allowed   to have empty spots in my home screen which is very confusing, and when it comes to widgets I   couldn’t resize my widgets after adding them, if I want to change the size I have to remove it first   and then add the size I want, plus I couldn’t place my widgets in the centre instead, I have   to stick to any of the sides. While in Android I can place any icon or widget anywhere I want   on the screen as far as it fits, I can move any app without impacting the position of other apps   and I can resize my widgets after adding them.Next the keyboard, in Android 11 the keyboard is   way more useful than in iOS 14 and here’s why:The numbers row is available at the top without   the need to download a third-party keyboard, there is clipboard manager that allows me to pin   any text or images I want to keep for future use, I can search for GIFs from within the   keyboard in any app I want, I can translate text, adjust the keyboard hight and use the floating   keyboard that helps in the split screen mode.While in iOS its extremely limited, first,   I didn’t have the ability to show the numbers row at the top, I couldn’t search for online   images or GIFs from within the keyboard in third-party apps, it only works in iMessage   and similarly all other extensions only show up in iMessage, there is no option for resizing,   no clipboard manager and no floating keyboard. I tried to improve the experience on iOS   by using a third-party keyboard and I found Swiftkey delivers the best experience on iOS,   because it has a clipboard manager, a numbers row & I can search for GIFs in any app I want.  Next the smart camera features, In Android 11 with the help of Google lens I can use my camera   to copy text, scan the contact information on any business card, search for products,   scan QR codes, translate text and more. In iOS the only thing you can do with the camera is to scan   QR codes which is very limited, but I was able to get my hands-on Google lens by downloading   the Google app but the experience is not as good because I have to open a separate app for this.  Talking about the camera, in IOS I wasn’t able to access the camera settings from within the camera   app which is annoying, sometimes I need to make sure I have the right settings before taking the   shot and if I want to do this I have to quit the app, go to settings, locate the camera and then   do what I want, in Android with I can get access to the camera settings in a couple of seconds.  Next organizing the quick settings or control centre, in iOS you can only   organize the control centre icons in settings, while in Android you can do this right within   the quick settings area which is easier.Next voice memos, in Android I use the   Google recorder app which can identify sounds and transcribe speech on the fly and the reason   why it’s important to me because, I use it to add captions to my YT videos in case YouTube   did not automatically generate one for me. so, I play my video, start recoding and wait for   it to transcribe my words then I take the text from the app and add it to my video on YouTube.  But in iOS the voice memos app is very basic, and it can only record audio.  Next the default apps, in IOS 14 you the option to use third-party apps as your default browser   or email client, which is better than before but still limited, in Android you have a lot   more options, you can use a third-party launcher, digital assistant, phone app,   messaging app and browser, you can also manage the type links each app can open by default.  There are other gaps that Google addressed with Android 11 like the inbuilt screen   recorder and the Nearby share, which is Android’s equivalent to Airdrop,   the screen recorder works pretty much the same on both operating systems, but AirDrop   was faster than nearby share so, if you want to see my detailed comparison between AirDrop   and Nearby share please click the link showing now on the screen or in the description below. Android 11 Power menuAfter this very long   list of stuff that I missed while using iOS I found few things that iOS does better as well,   like the ability to choose the Wi-Fi network or the Bluetooth devices from the control centre,   something I used to have in Android but not anymore, the ability to take full page screen   shots in Safari, which is something am looking forward to have in Android and the back tap   gesture, that allows me to do certain actions by tapping the back of the device which is expected   to be available in Android but not at the time of filming this video, I still can add   this functionality to my Android phone by using an application called tap tap from xda-developer but,   certainly it’s better to have it built in the OS.So, in the ease-of-use category stock Android 11   was better by far due to the deep integration of Google smart services which is unmatched in iOS,   less restrictions & more customizations.Next the Ecosystem and here Apple is better   than Google because with Apple’s ecosystem you have the Apple Watch which is better than smart   watches that use WearOS, you get better accessories like AirPods Pro, AirPods Max,   beats heaphones & MagSafe accessories.Apple also offers more services   like TV+ & Fitness+.But Google started to scratch   the surface by acquiring Nest and Fitbit to have a better ecosystem in the future   and there are a lot of steps in the right direction like the Chromecast with Google TV,   Pixel buds 2, Google Stadia & nest accessories. But they still lack behind in the wearables so,   hopefully fitbit acquisition will do the trick.Finally, the software updates and in this area   both operating systems were fine, they get day one software updates which is a draw between the two.  So, now let’s sum up everything, from my experience I recommend iOS if you are into gaming,   if you want a better ecosystem and care about the visual design of the operating system,   While stock Android is for people who want simplicity, to do things faster by utilizing   Google smart services and multitasking capabilities, it’s also for people who want   less restrictions and more customizations.So, that’s pretty much it for today that   was my comparison between stock Android 11 and iOS 14, please   let me know in the comments what do you think.So, I hope you like my video and if you do please   hit the thumbs up and subscribe for more posts.Thank you for visiting.