An Operating System (OS) is the master software that manages other programs or applications in a computer, smartphone and other smart devices.
Consumers choose phones and computing devices for various reasons. While some consumers consider the device’s OS, display, processor, others consider the camera, battery, among other features.
What makes Android stand out from the rest of the OS ecosystem is its open source feature.
With many device makers trying to win the lucrative enterprise mobile market by continually expanding the functionality of these devices, there are several mobile operating systems to choose from.
Let’s check out the individual features of Blackberry’s RIM (Research in Motion) OS and Google’s Android OS and see how they compare:
RIM Operating System
The BlackBerry OS, a proprietary mobile operating system developed by Research in Motion (RIM), made its first entry into the tech market in 1999 with the version 1.0 released for Pager BlackBerry 580. Since then, the tech company has released quite a number of succeeding versions.
Blackberry has made itself popular within the corporate market much more than the everyday smartphone use but Blackberry is also gearing up to counter its rival, Android. Most of the corporate organisations choose Blackberry over Android because of Blackberry’s secure data encryption. Unlike Android, Blackberry smartphones are also known for their data compression features. They can compress data up to half of the original size.
Thanks to Blackberry’s push image technology, users are always up to date when it comes to messaging. BlackBerry easily integrates push email technology in a breeze, allowing users to instantly receive messages as soon as they start showing up in the user’s inbox. With BlackBerry’s push email service, users can easily receive and send messages in just a matter of seconds.
Also integrated in the BlackBerry version 10.3.2 is the “BlackBerry Hub with Instant Actions” which the tech company says will allow users to quickly organise and action their inbox without having to go into each individual message.
Following the lead of Apple, Blackberry launched its own apps store under the name BlackBerry App World with much excitement but the app world is still far from nearing its goal. The App World mainly lacks enough apps like Android, it has poor interface and has not been able to attract developers.
Blackberry also has slow response time when it comes to web browsing. Even with the high data compression facility, the browsing experience is still sluggish when compared to Android.
Android Operating System
The Android OS by Google is currently the most widely used platform for smartphones and tablets on the market. The latest version- Android 6.0 Marshmallow features “Now on Tap” which Google says anticipates what users need in the moment.
What makes Android stand out from the rest of the OS ecosystem is its open source feature. This attracts many programmers and developers from all walks of life, as Google freely distributes its source code for the Linux kernel and other publicly licensed code for anyone who wants to contribute to the development of the software.
Programmers and developers alike can easily whip out their own versions of Android custom-tailored to whatever pleases them. But this is not so with Blackberry. With a simple tap, users can get cards with useful information and apps that feed their need to know.
Android can be easily customised to provide some interesting and useful enterprise applications and it can also run multiple software applications at the same time. In addition to that, surfing the Web is often easier on an Android device than a BlackBerry, and there is often less lag time when using instant messaging apps such as Skype on Android.
However, due to Android’s open source feature, there is the problem of useless Android apps with poor quality. Google hardly screens any app added to the Android market and since a lot of Android apps are developed on a regular basis, this leads to inclusion of poor quality apps. You can find most of the apps are compromised on quality standards.
Although the two OS have some limitations, they are still solid and extremely convenient operating systems. While Android has a wider appeal, BlackBerry mostly has its charms towards corporate users and business professionals. The user experience on either platform may differ in a lot of ways, but the two offer similar basic functionalities and a lot more to users.
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