Android Development Vs. iOS Development
Smart phones work on two operating systems – Android and iOS. Developers who build applications for Android OS are known as Android developers whereas those who do it for Apple products are known as iOS developers.
The number of applications which are available on these platforms is rising with each passing day. Whenever companies want to design new applications for smart phones, they are in a fix as to which platform or operating system they should prefer. Following points highlight the major differences between the two in a more subtle manner -
To build any application, you will be writing long codes using an integrated development environment (IDE). The IDE for iOS applications is Xcode which is both powerful and fast. The debugger operates seamlessly, and the simulator is quick and responsive. On the other hand, [+ the Android developers+] make use of Eclipse IDE that has been customized with Android plug-ins. It is complex, slow, messy and to locate an error, one needs to debug the log files. The emulator takes time to launch and often fails to connect to Android Debug Bridge.
The coding can be a bit more complex for iOS apps and it may involve extensive programming that includes macros, header files, linker modules and build configurations. Android configuration is much easier and includes a single manifest file that is created every time you save your file. The Eclipse IDE then builds the whole application.
The apps you build for Apple devices may look visually appealing when you use Interface Builder, but things get complicated and messy as the apps need to be upgraded to better versions. In these apps, the UI is simpler and has attractive ads or pop ups as compared to Android. A developer XML coding for Android applications so that it can be used on devices with varying screen sizes.
The applications for both the platforms are developed using different programming languages. The native applications for Android are coded in Java whereas those that are available on Apple devices are designed using objective C. Using Java, you can easily trace sporadic bugs, and provide with garbage collection. Comparatively, Objective-C facilitates block coding which makes it much better than Java.
Both the platforms operate on libraries that are almost similar. The library software includes APIs for phone’s functioning and features, network access functions, a collection of View objects and a complete WebView that operates as a web browser. The iOS applications comprise additional frameworks and have relatively simple classes and View Controllers in their code. On the other hand, Android applications are written using a number of inner classes making the code look complex.
The ultimate aim of any application is to become available on the Internet and run smoothly on all cellphones. Whenever you launch any application, network connections keep functioning in the background to ensure that the main thread of the app does not face any hindrance. While Android makes use of AsyncTask class to determine if the user is online, the applications on Apple devices mainly function on open source libraries.
Today people share every small detail on social networking sites, or want to have enhanced inter app communication to forward messages. Android provides an efficient system known as Intent for the same which allows sharing of data via different apps and facilitates calling through apps. Although Apple has come up with similar applications, doing it with Android device is much simpler.
This is one of the main causes of concern for developers. With the platforms getting upgraded as technology advances, threat of fragmentation has become a serious issue. Due to this, it happens that application does work properly on some Android devices and shuts down abruptly. This is not the case with Apple products as they get immediately upgraded to the new version of OS.
Publishing an Android app is not at all a daunting task. All you need to do is mail the APK file or upload it on website or Google Play Store, and it can be accessed by other people within an hour. On the other side, publishing an app on the Apple store can be a gruesome process and involves a lot of steps.
Both development methods have their own set of pros and cons. Depending on the target, time factor and revenue goal one must decide in which platform the app will be more beneficial and provide maximum returns to the company.
If you are planning to develop apps for smartphone, selecting the right platform is essential for success. This excerpt on Android Vs iOS will make choosing easy.