Android Gamers: Why Your Platform?

Discussion in 'Android Games' started by JBRUU, Mar 12, 2013.

  1. JBRUU

    JBRUU Well-Known Member

    May 9, 2012
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    Genuinely curious as to why you chose Android over iOS. Was it cost? Contract? OS? Storage expandability? What made you go with Android?
     
  2. Tommet

    Tommet Well-Known Member

    Apr 5, 2011
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    I have both. An iPad for IOS gaming, and a Galaxy Note II for a phone. I came from an iPhone 4. Was really interested in a 5, but the screen size was just too small. And to top it off what they did increase was worthless for landscape mode (as in surfing the net...). For what I use it for, screen size is my major concern.

    Apple simply didn't offer what I wanted. Android did.

    I'm extremely happy with my Note II (had it since launch on AT&T) and would go Android again with no hesitation. I would like to keep one foot in iOS gaming tho. Apple does have a better app store - however, Android is catching up pretty fast.
     
  3. EightRooks

    EightRooks Well-Known Member

    Jan 13, 2012
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    Cost, and ease of customisation. I'm not living in poverty or anything - I'm posting on the internets, for starters - but I can barely afford a 5th gen iTouch, much less a new iPad of any description. The Nexus line is much more appealing from that perspective. And while I like that iOS "just works", for the most part, it's also frustrating how my iPod never really feels like it's mine. I can't possibly tailor it to the way I want it to look to the same extent as I can with my Nexus 10.

    iOS still has a vastly more appealing game library and I'd never want to abandon it entirely. But Android's catching up, little by little, and while the hardware can't quite match Apple for that rock-solid precision engineered feel, the huge discrepancy in price more than makes up for it for me.
     
  4. awp69

    awp69 Well-Known Member

    Oct 30, 2009
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    #4 awp69, Mar 13, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2013
    I have both - my 3GS (which I hope to upgrade at some point this year) and a Nexus 7, which my wife bought me. I always was curious about Android and am finding the platform is still pretty far behind as far as gaming. The Tegra exclusive games are pretty impressive though and I really like my Nexus overall even if it doesn't have quite the range of iOS games.

    I knew Android was a more open platform, which is great for things like emulators and music. But that has it's drawbacks too with multiple storefronts and, quite frankly, the general default of Google Play is seriously bad compared to the App Store for searching and finding apps (and this is Google for goodness sake!).

    I find it extremely frustrating to find out about new releases, which is one reason I wanted this forum.

    I think Android and Tegra devices in particular - with 4 coming soon - have a lot of potential. The variety of devices and sources of apps makes it a challenge to get on the same level as iOS though. It's interesting to see after having both.
     
  5. racer-007

    racer-007 Well-Known Member

    Feb 15, 2013
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    #5 racer-007, Mar 13, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2013
    Android as an OS is fundamentally much more advanced and capable than iOS.

    However, since it tries to do so much and cater to basically anybody, it has got obvious shortcoming like not getting the basic stuff right (i.e. lots of lag in the system compared to almost nil levels of lag on iOS).

    Bottomline: Android can do more, but iOS can do most of the basic stuff anyway, and that too better.

    I am platform agnostic so I have both Android and iOS (as well as Windows) devices. May get BB soon too cause it is promising.

    As for games, strictly speaking, two reasons iOS is the clear leader:

    1) Lots more games, variety and a more developed Appstore.
    2) Stable, much smoother performance/framerate and devices can play top-level games for much longer than Android (my iPad 2 is 2 years old and going strong!). The Galaxy Tab 10.1 which launched a few months after the iPad is a friggin dud. As is my one year old Tegra 3 phone. The iPad 2 just outperforms even the latest Android devices (no kidding).
     
  6. BrEaKBEaT

    BrEaKBEaT Well-Known Member

    Nov 22, 2009
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    That's my setup too. I actually liked the original note because of the mammoth screen, so when I heard about the Note 2 I was pretty certain that'd be my next upgrade. People often comment on the size, if they didn't I'd see it as 'normal' , as I can honestly say the dimensions have never hindered my use of the phone.

    2gb of RAM - the Note 2 doesn't lag in my experience.

    S-Pen - well it's a stylus, I use it to cut round images or text on web pages and mostly to write notes with, most days. The hover gimmicks aren't for me. The recognition is excellent though, so my handwriting appears pretty much as it does with pen & paper.

    sd card and usb mass storage mode - I'm not a fan of itunes, so being able to transfer films and music etc from any pc is a big plus.

    So yeah, loving it as a phone. My iPad 2 gets plenty of use too. Various on demand/live TV and of course gaming which is a good few steps above what you'll get on the Play store.
     
  7. Carados

    Carados Member

    Feb 23, 2013
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    My phone is an Android, because the physical phone itself was what I wanted (need a keyboard. I hate with a fiery passion virtual ones because they gunk up my screen so much and I text more than I talk on the phone). I have my iPad and love it to bits but it's wireless-only, and my phone is more likely to be on hand for those random wait times--and is more easily concealed for playing when I'm not supposed to ;) . I do tend towards more casual games on my phone though, because it's just for short waits.
     
  8. Essex

    Essex Well-Known Member

    Jan 28, 2012
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    I chose Android back in 2009 because I wanted a touchscreen smartphone but I didn't want to switch from Sprint to AT&T for the iPhone. Had the iPhone been on Sprint back then, I probably would have bought it. (As an aside, I firmly believe that the iPhone being exclusive to AT&T from 2007 to 2011 was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, AT&T gave Apple total control over its product; but on the other hand many people chose Android because it was cheap and available on every carrier.) Once I started using Android, I never even considered buying an iPhone. Now with Android 4.2.2, there is no way I'd buy an iPhone. iOS is just a bit too "basic" for my tastes.

    However, iOS is perfect as a tablet OS because tablets and apps go together like peanut butter and jelly and iOS dominates Android when it comes to games. So I use an iPad 3 for gaming (I thinking of getting the next iPad Mini when it comes out) and a Nexus 4 for my phone. Android is, in my opinion, a better phone OS than iOS.
     
  9. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    I don't actually own an Android phone, but I usually like Samsung's stuff. I'm not fond of how big their phones are getting, but other than that their products are good quality. I'm kinda tied to iPhone now that everyone I know uses iMessage, but that's okay with me. If it weren't for that I wouldn't be averse to going with Samsung and Android. I'd still need my iPad for app shopping though...
     
  10. SwarmConnect

    SwarmConnect New Member

    Mar 20, 2013
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    United States
    The Android team does a great job making the OS easily accessible to a wide variety of people through its lower costs of entry ($25 vs $99 developer account fee) as well as its flexibility to use as a developer. It was pretty rough around the edges at first, but in the past couple of years the polish has really started to make it shine :). Now that it holds a serious market share, it's being taken seriously as a gaming platform which makes it all that much more appealing.
     
  11. Bigmac1910

    Bigmac1910 Member

    Jul 13, 2012
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    I wanted a larger screen, and the Galaxy Note II offered that. (Have iphone4 and Ipad2) Getting less eye fatigue as a result of it when I play games or surf the web. Has pretty much replaced my iPad 2, well, my daughter is using the iPad 2 mostly anyway.
     
  12. jar0d

    jar0d Well-Known Member

    Jan 4, 2010
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    Same here. Started with an iPhone 2g switched to an iPhone 4 on release. After I got my ipad (2) I didn't really play much on my phone. Because of the - for me - too minor changes of the iPhone 4S, 5 (scrren size) and especially ios 6 (development over the years) I switched to a Nexus 4. My ipad is still my main platform for gaming but I try games on my nexus from time to time. Just to compare for future references (next tablet a Nexus 7?). E.g. Modern Combat 4 or Towelfight 2.
     

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