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Army Special Operations Command Ditching Android For iPhone, Says Report (gizmodo.com)
The United States Army's Special Operations Command is ditching its Android phones for the "faster" iPhone, according to a report. The source cited in the story says that Android phones were freezing unexpectedly, which was one of the reasons they decided to give the iPhone 6s a spin. Gizmodo adds: The smartphones allow members of the Special Operations Command to access rich information about the battlefield. There's also quickly accessible information, like a weapons and ammunitions guide. Other apps can help with high altitude jumps; another can detect radiation. While DARPA helped develop the program on Android due to the operating system's open platform, Apple's hardware is apparently superior enough to warrant the switch.
*doh
It does seem like we're missing part of the story here. The hardware isn't the core difference between Apple and the various Android phones, most of them are as capable as any other if you picked up a reasonably recent model. If anything, there are Android phones sporting more memory or faster processors.
The real difference is in the software. It's in the operating system, as well as how it handles applications, and which applications are available for the device. It's also potentially in the enterprise management of such devices, but I don't see that mentioned here either. All of those are software differences primarily.
In demanding, life-and-death situations, being an open platform and full of nifty gizmos doesn't always make for the best mobile platform. Build quality, durability, and reliability is key, speed is a nice perk too. Samsung does okay, but Apple still has these features dialed in. When you get over being grumpy about Apple's walled garden approach to apps, those key features are really what we are looking for in the field.
In my experience decisions like this are typically made because somebody high up likes their iPhone and doesn't want to have to learn how to use an Android phone.
Sounds overly simplistic, but I've seen it happen too many times.
The real difference is in the software.
Nope, the real difference is in the ability and willingness to navigate the military procurement process.
I thought about that, thinking maybe the only Android OEMs who were willing to do that were obscure ones making crappy devices, but then I remembered that Samsung has actually gone to the effort of getting at least one of their devices certified for classified data. If they're doing that, they can certainly navigate the procurement process. And the Samsung flagships are very good devices, clearly competitive with the iPhone.
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I doubt it. I had android phones most of my career and only switched to iPhone about 18 months ago. The android phones tend to suck, it's that simple. They freeze, they lose performance (frequent reboots often fix that) and occasional exhibit unexpected and inconsistent behaviors (icon/button clicks don't work until app/phone restart, a button that did one thing sometimes does something else, etc). Android battery life sucks so bad there are apps you need to use to help manage it - not because the battery is a problem but it seems something is always running that drains it. With my iPhone, it just works. In 18 months I can count the number of reboots on one hand. I can go the entire weekend without recharging. Occasionally there is an app crash but nothing like I saw on android. When you're out on the sharp tip of the spear and your life may depend on information being reliably available, android is not the best bet. I'm not saying iPhone is something I'd want to bet my life on either but if I was in their position and wanted the best available, it's the iPhone.
Yep - another S6A Knox user here.
If i lose data connection for a bit, i feel-it as the phone heats up like mad while sucking the battery dry.
If i lose the data connection for too long, it will self-format (and destroy all the data/photos/application settings on the phone)
And when the data connection is working fine, the fscking antivirus randomly kicks in and slows everything down. I had battery life varying from 3 full days to 3 hours.
There's no way to get consistent functionality from a secured Samsung phone. While on iPhone everything works as it should.
Linux kernel on Android vs MACH Darwin microkernel on iOS.
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GP is right, All the vendors market to the guys wearing stars. If the general likes it then that's what we buy, doesn't matter what the grunts think.
Note "United States Army's Special Operations Command", that works entirely different. A friend's brother made some specialized photographic gear for the civilian market. SOC guys heard about it, visited, asked to evaluate it. They made some suggestions. These were incorporated into the design. They then told the guys wearing stars "we want this" and then "suits" got involved for the paperwork. Selection, evaluation and decision for this gear was made by "operators".
The iPhone could be in fact superior to the task that the Army needed the device to do.
Don't go all Android Fanboi! Android does many things better than iOS... However iOS does some things better.
When designing a software there are tradeoffs that are needed. Sometimes those tradeoffs may enhance more people than they hinder, however the minority may find that missing ability to greatly improve that function they prefer.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.