Android Ecosystem?

the_beginner

the_beginner

Disciple
I've heard enough about "Apple Ecosystem" from my collogues. I already have an iPad and I bought an iPhone (I lowkey always wanted to use an iPhone too). I'm using an Apple (Iphone12), an Android (Realme XT) for the past 8 months and I have to admit that the iPhone didn't affect me as I expected it to. My hands will automatically pick up the Realme even If I have the iPhone nearby, so, I don't want to waste more money on Apple products. The summary here is "iPhone isn't for me" and nobody is talking about the Android ecosystem. I saw this video on YT and apart from this, do anyone here know any apps or software that fits in Android ecosystem? or if anyone reading this is using Android Ecosystem do share your suggestions below and hey... Android is more popular is India.

Please don't say "You have to buy all the Apple products (which easily costs 2L) to see how great it is". I kinda know what Apple Ecosystem can do if you use everything parallelly but I'm not ready to spend 2L INR for experimenting how being in an ecosystem feels like. So..... Android Ecosystem anybody?

Thanks in advance for your reply!

Mobile - Realme XT (Android 11 & Realme UI 2.0).
Smart Watch - I currently don't have one.
Laptop - Windows 11.
 
The reason nobody talks about an 'Android' ecosystem is because its all around you. Mix and match all you want with best of breed from phones, watches, buds, tablets. Companies can specialise on one or more products and still be allowed to join the party.

The reason the term Apple 'ecosystem' exists is because Apple is the only player in it. Meaning its proprietary. This has advantages but the biggest con is does not support mix and match to the extent if at all. The second is it promotes vendor lock in.

You have something similar developing with Samsung when it wants to create its own ecosystem. Meaning all samsung products work together best say laptop, buds, watches tabs but won't prevent non samsung from playing to the extent that Apple might do. Won't be 100% but still acceptable.
 
Another reason why people don't talk about Android ecosystem, apart from what @blr_p spoke about, is that Android itself is a part of the Google ecosystem. Android plays really well with devices like Google Home/Nest, Chromecast, etc. Google's ecosystem is not closed and Google only (even though it's not as open as we'd like it to be). There are many devices which have Android TV and Chromecast built in. Similarly there are some smart speakers using Google smart assistant (not too many though).

Similarly, almost all smart watches (except Apple probably) are a part of the Google ecosystem because they have compatible apps on the play store. And more tightly integrated if they use Wear OS.

I don't know what's happening with android auto but there are cars with built in navigation systems which rely on Android and Google maps. I expect these to work well with Android phones as well.

Yes, the cost of being an open ecosystem is that the integration is usually not as tight as a closed ecosystem. So you can't just use an Android tab and Chromebook side by side with a single keyboard mouse. Or simply mirror the display as easily. But there are apps which can do these things.

If you're looking for a closer integration with PC (since Google doesn't have a real PC OS), you should try apps like KDE Connect, JOIN, Swiftkey, etc. which will allow you to quickly share stuff between your PC and phone and also sync your clipboard so that you can copy your OTP on your phone and paste it on your PC.
 
I have a samsung phone and the link to windows functionality has really impro ed , it let's me even mirror phone apps on windows and along with one plus buds pro which supports 2 devices at once or even Bose headphone, the integration is on par with apple IMO. Even the galaxy watch shows a lot more data , so overall the integration seems seamless. Only that airdrop is a loot faster than the quickshare.
 
gourav said:
If you're looking for a closer integration with PC (since Google doesn't have a real PC OS), you should try apps like KDE Connect, JOIN, Swiftkey, etc. which will allow you to quickly share stuff between your PC and phone and also sync your clipboard so that you can copy your OTP on your phone and paste it on your PC.
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I've been playing with an app called MyPhoneExplorer

I wanted a way to time file transfers between PC & phone. It also does the things you said and allows to backup to a PC in a non-cloud manner
 
Technically speaking, the Android Ecosystem now includes Windows too.

There is another side to why people do not talk about the Android Ecosystem is that there is no cohesion with what Google does. It seems as if each product is developed by a team that works in complete isolation from the others.

If you want something close to an Ecosystem, I would strongly recommend top tied Samsung Hardware - their OneUI and apps come close to resembling the Apple Ecosystem - while using OneDrive for backing up everything. It is a smooth process but not as smooth as what you would have on apple. (Just like @blr_p said)

I am no fan of Apple's but there is something to said for how seamless the integration is (iPad and how easily it works as a secondary screen if you have a Mac PC) and things like that.

That said, I far prefer the flexibility and ease of use in Android and how you can customise most stuff and the vast availability of opensource stuff and how easily it integrates with the Windows Ecosystem.

While Apple seems to have a wider selection of the so-called top-shelf apps, anyone who tried using Instagram or Snapchat, or some other similar app on an iPad will say how shitty the experience is. Not to mention you cannot call from or text from and iPad despite having cellular connectivity - This is where the Android Ecosystem comes into play - like others have said - it is all around you and despite everything - it just works.

Like they say, great design in Invisible - the Android Ecosystem is Invisible but it definitely is there.
 
Apple ecosystem is a thing because it just works for most of the people using Apple products across the platform, especially with hand-offs. The closest you will come to it on the Android side is Samsung which mimics a lot of the functionality but without the finish. The Google ecosystem on the other hand is very incoherent.

It is not to say you cannot do a lot of things across Android (and Windows) but it requires effort to keep everything working seamlessly which most regular users will not bother with.
 
soulweaver said:
While Apple seems to have a wider selection of the so-called top-shelf apps, anyone who tried using Instagram or Snapchat, or some other similar app on an iPad will say how shitty the experience is. Not to mention you cannot call from or text from and iPad despite having cellular connectivity.
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For the 2 points mentioned by you, it is not really Apple's fault that Instagram is shitty. It is because Facebook is not willing to make an iPad version and hence what you see on iPad is actually iPhone version / optimized for screen app.

About no calls on cellular iPads, I understand what you are saying and it is a bummer but Apple never promised it would have calling so it is kind of how it is. I personally feel that cellular iPads are great of people on the move and use iPad as productivity tool wherein they have apps that need internet. For most of us, when outside, if we need internet on iPad, and no wifi is available, we will just use phone hotspot on iPad. I am sure no one would have had any problem with no calling on iPad if Android tablet manufacturers too went the same way right from beginning and gave no calling.

Not trying to defend Apple, just stating what I feel is correct but I am open to corrections.
 
raksrules said:
For the 2 points mentioned by you, it is not really Apple's fault that Instagram is shitty. It is because Facebook is not willing to make an iPad version and hence what you see on iPad is actually iPhone version / optimized for screen app.
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Apps for tabs are slightly different. Whether this also applies to Android tabs.

if it works there i don't see why they cant make one for the ipad
soulweaver said:
While Apple seems to have a wider selection of the so-called top-shelf apps, anyone who tried using Instagram or Snapchat, or some other similar app on an iPad will say how shitty the experience is. Not to mention you cannot call from or text from and iPad despite having cellular connectivity - This is where the Android Ecosystem comes into play - like others have said - it is all around you and despite everything - it just works.
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You're saying that Instagram/Snapchat work fine on an Android tab ?
 
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