Ok folks, here’s the deal, there are a lot of smartphone OS’s on the market these days and they all have a lot to offer but do it in very different ways. Today, I wanted to take a look at one of the most popular OS’s in Android by Google and also the “new kid” in Bada by Samsung. I will be doing my comparison in 3 areas: Customization & UI, Multimedia, and Apps & Development.
I also wanted to say that things like battery life comparisons, features, etc will not be included in this comparison since those are unique to each phone. This is strictly an opinion based comparison as well so lets get started!
1. Customization and Interface:-
If you are like me, then you like to customize your phone! No, I am not talking about arranging icons on a black screen. I am talking about widgets, icons, contacts, wallpaper, etc. Both the Android platform and Bada platform are very good as delivering a huge customizable interface for users. Bada is very flashy and utilizes Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. This allows for widgets like calendar, weather, and social networking to be right there in front of you. You can drag and drop things anywhere you like on your 3 home screens. For example, the home screen could have a clock and weather widget or maybe a daily briefing widget and another screen could be for music. It is up to you. One thing to note, Bada is in its early stages of life so there still are some bugs and the OS does need some polish here and there. However, Bada seems to take the best things from IOS (Apple), Android, and HTC Sense and put it all into one which is great.
The Android platform is very much the same as Bada. It offers widgets, icons, and contacts but it does so in a very bland way. You will still get 3 home screens by default but since it is open-source, phone makers can decide what they want to add to it (TouchWiz or Sense) or leave out. Android is very smooth and efficient but it still needs some polish.
Winner: Bada OS
Reason: Bada is customizable and takes the best of the best in terms of features and puts it on display in a very user friendly way without making it bland!
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2. Multimedia:-
This is where Android lacks but not by much. The stock Android music player in my opinion is the worst music player found on any smartphone. It is ugly, very weird to use, and I have had problems with music tags being messed up by Android. The flip-side to this is again since Android is open-source, companies can do what they want with it. Some leave it stock while others like Samsung TouchWiz and HTC Sense make the experience 100x better! The video player on Android is not bad but not great either. It has limited features but honestly, as long as the video plays then its all good right? The big gripe is the YouTube client. Videos take forever to load even on wifi and the quality is not as good as it is on an iPhone or even a Palm Pre. Android has many options though in the Market to enhances your multimedia experience like different music players, internet radio like Pandora and RadioTime, and other video clients. Android provides a decent multimedia experience but leaves me wanting more.
Bada however, all I have to say is wow! The music player on the Wave is very easy, full of features, and just a great joy to use. The sound quality is great as well. The part of the multimedia experiences that seals the deal for me is viewing videos on a SuperAMOLED display. Videos look absolutely stunning…that is all I have to say about that really. What else can I say? Go view a video on a SuperAMOLED display and tell me what else there is to say except, WOW! Bada also offers apps in the app store to enhance your multimedia experience like Android.
Winner: Bada OS
Reason: Easy to use music player and SAMOLED screen for videos is out of this world. Simple as that!
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3. Apps and Development:-
I almost do not think it is fair to do this as part of my review but since Apps are a big thing, I feel I should include it. Currently, Android has close to 200,000 apps in the market and some tech bloggers say it will surpass Apple by the end of the year. However, the Marketplace is very very unorganized and full of junk. This is a problem with open-source development and I think Google needs to go through the Marketplace and clean it up a bit. Android has the developers and the apps! Also, since Android is made by Google, it syncs very tightly with everything Google (Gmail, Docs, Talk, Calendar, etc) so that is huge plus.
Bada currently has 500 apps in the app store but the development interest for Bada is very very high which is a good thing. Bada is being developed by numerous developers around the world and Samsung has made sure that bada apps have quality! Samsung has also conducted bada developer days around the world so it will be quite interesting to see the OS grow!
Winner: Android
Reason: Close to 200,000 apps (130-150,000 not including junk) and the developer support is there big time. Bada is catching up but for now, if you want apps…go for the little green robot!
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CONCLUSION
Winner: Bada OS!!
Bada has a motto which is, “Smartphones for everyone” and after seeing the ease of use, customization, multimedia features, and developer support…I have to say they are a strong competitor to Android and the other OS’s! Remember, Android started with one app and one phone not too long ago so give it a chance. Bada takes some features from all the popular OS’s and combines them into a feature packed and well designed package. Granted the OS still needs some polish, remember that it is version 1! Bada is here to stay and a great option for those who are just starting out on a smartphone or have been a power user for years. Bada is stable, fast, easy, stunning, and feature rich! The decision is still up to you so will you “catch the Wave” with Bada?? Or will you join the “Android Army”??
