Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Symbian are the world’s best mobile operating systems. However, there are many differences between their features and performance. The following are the key areas of comparison –
User Interface
Android 2.3 is loaded with several new color schemes and various changes have been made in the user interface. Changes in settings and menus make it easier for the mobile users to navigate and control the features of system and device.
Blackberry OS 6 is having the same professional home screen of its previous version. The swipe-up application menu is included on the bottom on the screen, which is very similar to Android’s pull-down menu.
Symbian OS 3 is an enhanced version of its previous versions of operating system. It features multi-touch support for gestures (for example, pinch to zoom functionality), homescreen support multiple widgets, etc.
iOS user interface is visually striking with bright, finger-friendly icons, pleasing color schemes and fonts, and lovely menu transitions. There is no match to Apple’s beautiful design and intuitive user interfaces.
Winner – iOS
Application Support
There are not many applications for the Android operating system. Android Marketplace is not full of applications. However, the count for total numbers of applications is increasing day by day.
There are also not many applications available for the BlackBerry platform. However, you will certainly find all the major applications in the BlackBerry App World.
Nokia is the oldest among the other big mobile phones, so it is having a massive number of applications in their Ovi Store.
Apple’s App Store is having the most number of applications than any other App Store available in the market. You will find applications for everything.
Winner – iOS
Performance
Android supports NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, whereas Blackberry, Apple and Nokia are planning to include dual core processor support in their upcoming Smartphones. Therefore, there is no doubt that the performance of Android operating system will be higher than any other mobile operating system. Android is a clear winner in terms of performance.
Device Support
Android is an open source operating system. Therefore, any mobile manufacture can integrate this operating system in their mobile phones. Whereas, BlackBerry’s OS, iOS and Symbian are available only for their respective manufacturing companies, so you will see those operating systems in their manufacturer’s devices only. Therefore, we can say that Android supports most number of devices than any other mobile operating systems.
Winner – Android
From above comparison, we can draw conclusion that Android and iOS are the only two major operating systems available in the market until 2010. However, there are several possibilities that BlackBerry and Symbian operating systems will give tough competition to them in the year 2011.
