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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.
But seriously? iPhone superior to Android? Were they buying budget phones?
What's done's in the past, forever shall last.
Work is work; life is life; fair is not!
Other apps can help with high altitude jumps;
So are they supposed to just whip out an iPhone in the middle of a HALO jump to figure out when they need to open their chute?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
*doh
You may not use this device to kill people?
then how did pokemon go get approved?
If they're switching, it's because somebody's getting a kickback.
Now the army spec ops guys just need to get their apps approved through the app store.
Can the Army install custom apps for themselves or they need to be approved first for Apple?
I kinda bet Apple will see $$$$ signs much more than they will see peace signs....
A DoD contract would mean a LOT of money to Apple, and after all, they are a company who's business is to make money.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
A natural consequence of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If they didn't want it to freeze I would hope they bought a Google Nexus, the only arguably vanilla Android phone. Otherwise, yeah, if it's worth the extra cost to you an iPhone probably will be more stable.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I can totally see Apple making a big stink about using Apple products in wartime missions.
"This insurgent extraction brought to you by iTunes, the only way to jam out with your rifle out! And Apple Maps, accurate to the last drop!"
You don't remember all the free press Apple got early in the Iraq War when a bullet went through a soldier's vest and stopped in his 1st gen iPod?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
> A DoD contract would mean a LOT of money to Apple,
Meh. They could sell what, a couple thousand phones to SOC? 10k maybe? That's what, an hour of retail?
This isn't the 50's.
Usually there's a lot more to it than that. There's usually support contracts, etc.
I deal with the DoD phones every day and it's not that the Android hardware or OS is slower or inferior, it's that the DoD's implementation is. I personally don't like iOS and find my Samsung phones far superior for personal use, but once the security software is installed the Galaxy phones are virtually useless (and this includes all the way up through the S6, not just completely outdated models). They completely missed the point on how Knox is supposed to work and try to secure both the regular partition and the Knox partition which just screws up both of them. They constantly lose connection to the server and have to be reset or just freeze entirely. Despite my vehement dislike of iOS I advise people to only get iPhones now for the office. It's just not worth fighting with what they've done to Android. So when SOCOM says their Android phones are slow and freezing and the iPhone is much faster it's completely true in the context of government secured versions (in the context of personal phones that don't have everything useful disabled in the name of security, I'll stick with my S7 Edge).
Thats a TACTICAL turtleneck you insensitive clod!
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
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.
Bad guess. Note "United States Army's Special Operations Command", they get a lot of say in what equipment they use. A friend's brother made some unique camera equipment. SOC guys thought it interesting. The only people this small company every saw during evaluation were "operators". The "suits" did not get involved until the "operators" said "we want this". What you say may be true for normal military procurement, but its very different for SOC.
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".
Really - three nearly identical posts ...
Apologies for communicating with three different individuals.
... and in all three, you seem almost desperate to have someone acknowledge that you are an insider with super-meaningful knowledge.
I am not an insider, nor have any special knowledge. It is quite well known that SOC has a wide latitude in gear selection. I merely saw a single instance of this well known practice. Apologies if your anti-military industrial complex meme or whatever failed. Perhaps there will be an F-35 post for you soon and you can find some joy.