Among numerous other smartphone specifications, operating system is a choice which can confuse potential buyers. Currently, there are four popular OSs which major cell phone manufactures incorporate in their smartphones, namely, iOS, Windows, Android and Blackberry OS.
Apple's iOS is without any doubt the best option as far as quality, efficiency and innovation are concerned. However, Apple devices are too costly for most of the low income mobile phone users. On the other hand, Blackberry seems a little outdated with counterparts rapidly coming up with new versions. This leaves us with Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows.
Now the question is: will Android be a better option or Windows? The answer does not actually rely on the quality of the operating systems. The linux-based Android is just as easy to use as the user-friendly Windows. Moreover, the latest 4.2.2 Jelly Bean version is out there to compete against the advanced Windows 8. Therefore, your decision about buying a cell phone with either of the operating systems will mostly depend on what the market has to offer.
Market Share
When you make a trip to the market to buy a smartphone, you will find a great variety of Android phones as compared to Windows based phones. Nokia seems to be the only manufacturer trying to overcome Android's domination with a few new and upcoming releases such as Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520. HTC is also contributing a little share by promising a Windows 8 phone, i.e. HTC Windows 8X.
However, other biggies including Samsung and Sony are only concentrating on Android. The number of new releases for the year 2013 by all cell phone manufacturers is countless. The list of the upcoming Android based phones for the rest of the year is also huge. Sony Xperia Z, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and LG Google Nexus are just a few of the phenomenal Android releases of the year. Unfortunately, Microsoft does not have anything revolutionary to match these extraordinary Android phones yet.
Therefore, with a limited choice among Windows phones, Android is currently winning the race.
Apps
Google's play store has a huge collection of free as well as paid apps for its Android users while Windows is lagging behind. According a recently conducted survey, Android apps were 800,000 in number in January 2013. Thousands of new releases every other month keep on increasing this number. On the other hand, Windows could only come up with 125,000 apps by October 2012. If it had continued with the same rate of new releases, only 300,000 apps would be there with the end of 2013.
Apps games, media players, photo editing software, free calling, messaging services and many more add life to your cell phone. You can increase the utility of your smartphone as well as add more fun to it through a plethora of apps. Therefore, if you want to try something new every now and then, Android will be the perfect choice for you as compared to Windows which is still struggling for dominance.
Upgrades
Even though Jelly Bean 4.2.2 is the latest upgrade by Android, manufacturers are still free to use older versions. This keeps the budget of the phone low. When you buy such a phone, bringing updates to the OS later on can be complex and sometimes impossible. This means you miss out many latest apps along with being deprived of the enhanced performance of the new OS.
This is where Windows wins. With Windows 8 out, all new phones will have this new version. Plus, for the old Windows 7 phones, Microsoft has promised an upgrade to 7.8 version.
Therefore, Windows phone should be your choice if you do not want an outdated OS. However, if your concern is the number of apps and a greater variety of specs, go for Android instead.
