Comparison Apple iOS vs. Google Android vs. MS Windows Phone 7 (WP7)

iOS is the oldest of the four platforms here. While it has made great strides in terms of market share since we first glimpsed it back in January 2007, the last year has really seen Android lay down the gauntlet - and it continues to improve. And, Android on the other hand has gone through considerable changes since its first iteration and has only got better with age. Android 2.2 brought a whole host of performance updates over 2.1. From an improved battery to considerably less choppy video recording, things are just generally better with 2.2. Finally, Windows Phone 7, the latest entrant into the world of smart phones, took the world by surprise when it was first announced. The beauty of the UI design on Windows Phone 7 is unlike anything that you have seen before on other smart phones. What follows is a brief comparison of the top three smart phone platforms.
Interface- WP7’s clean and fresh interface is a new approach in a world clogged up with iOS clones. Android, supports up to seven home screens and animated wallpapers, is endlessly customizable with widgets and shortcuts. iOS’s grid of icons and folder’s does the job admirably.
Physical Layout- The home screen of WP7 features two pages. The left column is composed of rectangular/square tabs called Live Tiles. They serve as shortcuts to user’s favorite applications and pull in data from them, similar to Android’s widgets and iPhone icons. The right panel represents a list of all the applications.
Tools- Flash 10.1 and cut-and-paste are coming into Windows Phone 7. There’s Zune media, Xbox Live gaming, Bing search, Office Mobile and show-stealing maps. And Flash 10.1 is also given Android, the ability to turn handsets into Wi-Fi hotspots out of the box and USB tethering. But there’s no Flash, no tethering, no hotspots in iOS.
Applications- WP7’s marketplace is still in it’s infancy but with apps from Spotify and Twitter on the way and major-label games to follow. Android market is a bit Wild West compared to Apple’s, but it’s the closest competitor to iTunes when it comes to breadth of choice. A catalogue of over 250000 says iOS leads the way on the apps front.
Entertainment- Wi-Fi syncing and Zune’s Marketplace gives you music and video on tap with WP7. And, wider format support makes Android more versatile than iOS when it comes to playing music and video. To many, iPod means music, so building it into iOS was a no-brainer.
Android/WP7 for HTC vs. iOS for iPhone
HTC has launched tremendous Microsoft and Android OS running smart phones in very short of time. And, HTC HD2 was found running on Android as well as Windows Phone 7 together using two SD cards, a micro SD card reader, and partition software. So, HTC users will be able to run the device over WP7 with OS being stored in NAND memory of the handset, while Android taking the backing of SD card. HTC HD2 is originally a WP7 based phone, with few of popular features like 8 hrs of video playback, Wi-Fi router, 5 MP camera, 4.74 inch capacitive screen etc. And on the HTC devices you get HD video capture, as on the iPhone and Android phones.
iPhone has the best app store, and solid, beautiful hardware, but some may find it too restrictive. Its app store is the easiest to navigate and find what's good. iPhone includes a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod and an Internet communications device into one handheld device. You can enjoy photos, videos, music, TV shows, audio books, movies on its 3.5-inch LCD screen. It also lets you sync the media from iTunes library on Windows PC or Mac. Apple's iOS 4 software promises 100 new features for owners of the iPhone 3GS, including the ability to multitask, or run more than one app at once.