iOS11 vs Android Oreo - what's a better daily driver

The battle between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android is one for the ages and while fans of each side of the pond are quick to pronounce their much-loved OS as the best on earth, today let’s take a look at this from an entirely different perspective!

The latest iPhones have been launched and while the 8 and 8 Plus aren’t that breathtaking from a hardware point of view, iOS 11 elevated the user experience from a mediocre level to an entirely new level of amazing.

On the flip side of this, Android Oreo too has been out for a while and while nothing visually drastic has been changed, there has been several under the hood changes that make the world’s most used OS that much more user-friendly.

But which of these make for a better daily driver? Well to find that out we have broken the OS down into 4 main points with a 5th bonus tiebreaker if we come to that!

1. Speed in Daily Use


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Now running on the latest Snapdragon 835, stock Android is buttery smooth and a treat to use. But even then the sheer optimization of Apple combined with the incredible prowess of Apple’s latest A11 bionic chipset means that the new iPhones simply fly through their simplistic UI as well as open any app and switch between them in the blink of an eye!

When it comes to synthetic benchmarks, iPhones pull away from the rest of the Android pack with even latest flagships like the Note 8 failing to keep up with the Geekbench scores.

So the winner for this round is Apple and they take the lead 1-0 over Android.

2. Photography


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Let’s keep this one short and sweet, iOS 11 takes the lead with the introduction of 60FPS 4K video recording which is something that even decent DSLRs struggle with. Oreo, however, pulls one back for Android with the introduction of manual controls for the camera which gives protogs (professional photographers) the opportunity to frame a shot just as they envision it.

While Apple does lose out in flexibility, it comes back in spades with the introduction of lighting effects in portrait mode that creates some stunning photos when it works. So we have to give this one to Apple again as iOS manages to beat out Oreo by a sliver! 2-0 for Apple.

3. Ease of Use


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Now, this is where everyone would expect Apple to make a clean sweep right? Nope as good as the latest iOS 11 is, the same grid of icons is just too boring and the lack of customisation frustrated me no end. Along with that, while the Control Center has gained some useful options, the current buggy state of it means that Android Oreo takes this round. Google has had 3 iterations of Android to work on Material Design and they have come a long way with regards to design consistency and ease of use. 2-1 but still Apple has the lead!

4. Battery Life


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The battery life on the latest iPhone 8 Plus is one of the best that we have seen in flagships this year and even with the comparatively smaller size of batteries, the iPhones can last up to a whole day of intense usage with ease. Now while most Android flagships can do that as well so we would have to call this one a tie.

Both of them get one point each and iOS clinches this one with a 3-2 victory over Android Oreo.

But wait, what was the special point I was talking about? Well, that one would be the battle of the personal assistants- Apple's Siri vs Google Assistant. While they’re quite evenly matched in most common aspects with them trading blows, Google pulls out ahead with their contextual awareness and if you count this one in Android manages to level with Apple at 3-3.

In the end, as always, there is no clear-cut answer to which OS is the better one for daily use. But hopefully, this comparison has shed some light on the salient points of both and has helped you choose the perfect system for you depending on your usage and priorities!