IN DEPTH: IOS VS ANDROID VS WEBOS VS MEEGO

Pitting iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo doesn\’t appear like a fair fight.

It’s akin to putting a couple of our TechRadar writers in a boxing ring with the Klitschko brothers. With Apple\’s iPhone/iPod/iPad OS, Google\’s Android, plus the Symbian, Microsoft and Blackberry platforms, do we truly need any more pretenders to the mobile OS throne?

Yes – due to the fact \’competition drives innovation\’ (or so the saying goes). Android improvements will make iOS much better and vice-versa. Whilst lower-league operating systems will have to work harder to stand out, they\’ll assist to make sure that the massive two do not get complacent.

And yes again – simply because beyond the smartphone battleground, the next big tech confrontation is about to be fought on tablet devices.

It\’s not just a straight iPad vs Android face-off, either. HP is prepping a very good-searching \’PalmPad\’ running WebOS, and Nokia is looking to show off its mobile expertise in a MeeGo-powered tablet.

Let\’s see how the four mobile platforms compare.

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo: interface

Few would disagree that the iOS is a brilliant smartphone OS. It\’s cleanly-designed, smooth, fluid, incredibly intuitive and jammed with clever features. What you get with iOS is a consistent look-and-really feel, whether or not you\’re using an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod touch or iPad. It\’s defined by multiple homescreens (with a distinctive grid of application icons) and responsive multi-touch controls.

Android is simply the greatest alternative to iOS, albeit still a small rough-around-the-edges on smartphones. Version 3. (Honeycomb) for tablets gives us a glimpse into the future of the platform: 3D-effect graphics, an onscreen menu bar, improved virtual keyboard, multi-tasking and effortless Google integration. You can watch the preview video here.

FLY-OUT: Note the 3D menus on the Google Nexus S, which runs a pure version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Palm, meanwhile, has a wealth of experience in designing quickly and lightweight operating systems. Its WebOS (now on version 2.) is surprisingly nippy and feels much better designed than Android 2.2/2.3. Apps are launched by tapping icons on the pull-out \’Launcher\’ screen.

They subsequently run in what Palm calls \’cards\’, separate program windows that you can switch between with a deft flick of your finger.

Then there\’s MeeGo… Considering the present state of the operating system battle, you may possibly believe that MeeGo\’s survival chances are akin to a pedalo ramming an oil tanker. On tablets, MeeGo looks promising.

The traditional icon-based screens are supplemented by an attractive \’panel\’ view, which filters what you\’ve seen and carried out into streams – photos you\’ve taken, videos you\’ve watched, web pages you\’ve visited, social media updates and so on. We\’re impressed.

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo: customisation

You can customise the wallpaper on an Android phone and rearrange/prioritise the onscreen app icons (such as gathering them together in folders).

But it’s widgets that are arguably Android\’s greatest advantage, enabling you to extremely customise the look-and-really feel of your mobile with at-a-glance micro-apps. Of course, the app icons in Apple\’s iOS can also be shuffled around and combined into folders. But you still have to launch the weather app to see regardless of whether it’s going to rain…

ORGANISED: Apple\’s iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 added modest UI tweaks, most notably app-grouping in folders

In WebOS, you can pick what icons appear in the Launcher and swap out the wallpaper, but there are no folders for simple app-grouping. Widgets aren\’t a native feature of WebOS, even though you could argue that its notification system makes them irrelevant.

MeeGo, meanwhile, looks to have comparable customisation choices, including Android-style widgets.

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo: internet browsing/email

Internet connectivity is key on any smartphone or tablet and Android, iOS and WebOS all support the WebKit rendering engine within their browsers, delivering a fluid and fast web experience. Meego\’s support for WebKit is unconfirmed at this point.

Unlike Android and WebOS, iOS has no support for Adobe Flash. That said, this doesn\’t constantly negatively impact your browsing experience – iOS users can still watch YouTube videos and stream shows via the BBC iPlayer. Instead, Apple has put its weight behind HTML5, which is also embraced by Android and WebOS.

In terms of email juggling, both Android and iOS say \’yes\’ to unified inboxes, threaded email and Microsoft Exchange support (though Android has fewer security features). WebOS had a unified inbox from day one, ditto threaded emails and MS Exchange.

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo: performance and multi-tasking

Palm\’s WebOS offered multi-tasking from launch. But if you bought the very first Palm Pre, the 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor inside didn\’t enable you to make the most of it. Palm rectified that dilemma with the Pre 2 and its 1GHz CPU. Similarly, any WebOS-powered tablet must zip along.

ON THE CARDS: WebOS provides exceptional multi-tasking and app-switching making use of an innovative \’cards\’ system

Android is the next very best thing (with judicious use of a task-killer), followed by iOS. Apple has been criticised for not offering accurate multi-tasking. Instead, iOS 4 suspends apps in the background or provides limited functionality. You can run a radio app in the background or stay signed in to Skype. But it’s a resource-saving approach compared to WebOS and Android.

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs Meego: app stores

Apple blazed the trail as far as on-line software selling is concerned and iOS simply wins any \’who\’s got the most apps?\’ contest. Distimo ranks the iOS App Store top with over 314,000 free and paid apps;

Android is second with over 135,000 apps; and Palm is way behind with just over 5,200. Although Intel\’s AppUp Store has over 2,000 apps, most of these are for Windows XP/7 netbooks.

RECOGNISE: MeeGo is still baking in the Intel/Nokia oven, but early shots show a familiar menu system

Even though iOS wins out comfortably, there\’s a question over whether it’s correct just to compare raw numbers. Put it this way: there\’s a lot of rubbish available on the App Store. But you could argue (and we do) that Apple gives a much better purchasing experience, less complicated store navigation, an effortless payment system and a rapidly expanding games library.

The classic counter-argument is that iOS is a \’closed\’ and restricted environment compared to the \’open\’ (or \’anything goes\’) Google model. Any person can develop an app for Android and they do not have to jump via the hoops of an approval process to do so. Consequently, Android and WebOS can both install applications outside their official marketplaces.

But the App Store still casts a substantial shadow. Palm has recently revamped its App Catalog to appear much more Apple-like, but the platform continues to suffer from a lack of developer support. The exact same difficulty awaits MeeGo and, in the short-term, this will make it hard for it to gain momentum.

It’s a classic Catch 22 situation: developers don’t want to produce apps for a modest user base; but you require much more apps to encourage more people to purchase the hardware…

iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo: updates

Few would argue that Android has made the biggest strides forward since it first launched. It\’s effortless to forget that the original 1.1 release didn\’t have features like video recording, turn-by-turn navigation, widgets, tethering or Wi-Fi hotspot functionality.

But the pace of Android development has left the market fragmented – some devices run 1.6, other people 2.1 or 2.2. New Android updates are often delayed for the majority of users. Not simply because Google is slow to release them, but since smartphone manufacturers have enhanced Google\’s software with their own UI tweaks and so require to recode and retest them.

HTC customises Android with the Sense UI; Samsung modifies it with TouchWiz; while Motorola bakes in MotoBlur. Only the two Nexus devices have featured a pure version of Google\’s software. The next update, provisionally codenamed \’Ice Cream Sandwich\’, will probably take some of Honeycomb\’s features and squash them into the smartphone OS.

SNEAK PEEK: Could this be the very first glimpse of a Nokia tablet running MeeGo?

Apple updates its iOS platform much less regularly. But when it does, the availability of the new firmware becomes an event that ranks up there with a hardware launch. And speaking of hardware launches, expect four/five finger multi-touch in iOS 4.3, whilst a future iOS 5 in a future iPhone 5 could include: NFC mobile payments, improved notifications, wireless syncing and a \’close all apps\’ button…

WebOS has seen 10 updates since its launch in June 2009 and original Pre and Pixi devices now run version 1.4.5. Version 2. debuted on the Pre 2 but is expected to be rolled out to older devices throughout 2011. HP has large plans for WebOS. We need to know what they are in February.

As for MeeGo, this intriguing blend of Intel\’s Moblin and Nokia\’s Maemo is still waiting for a full commercial release. But the clock is ticking…

In conclusion

The battle for smartphone supremacy is larger than iOS vs Android. The battle for tablet dominance is greater than iPad vs Android-powered Motorola Xoom. But just how several operating systems can the mobile marketplace support? Far more importantly, how several operating systems will the gadget-purchasing public tolerate?

PALMPAD: HP believes that WebOS is best for a tablet form factor

The four-way ding-dong that is iOS vs Android vs WebOS vs MeeGo is actually a six-way showdown. RIM\’s striking PlayBook device shows that the organization is keen to give Blackberry addicts a larger-screened option, even though Microsoft\’s Windows 7 will be forced into tablet form factors whether we want it or not. The Windows Phone 7 OS would be a significantly much better alternative.

If the mobile marketplace can only support 3 or four operating systems then some of the software here is doomed to fail. It’s unlikely to be iOS or Android, and Microsoft will stay a massive player. Similarly, RIM\’s success in the phone company suggests that it won\’t be driven out by a newcomer. So does that mean it\’s curtains for WebOS and Meego?