Android vs Symbian: Where each excels?

In today’s fast growing technological world, cellphones and their technologies are known in terms of operating system. Two of the leading operating systems for cellphones are Nokia’s Symbian and Google’s Android. Before the coming of Android, Symbian was the most trending operating system for cellphones. As Google introduced Android, Symbian’s popularity has taken a backseat for obvious reasons as Android has better applications and is much faster than all other operating systems present in the cellphone market. Since its launch, Android has taken huge strides and has come up with four updates with the latest being Android 4.0 Ice cream-Sandwich. On the other hand, Symbian has also come up with some revolutionary updates like the Symbian Anna and Symbian Belle. Here is a description of some features of the two operating systems to help you make a better choice.Android vs Symbian

Open and close OS

Android and Symbian are both mobile platforms of Open Source. Nokia’s Symbian features an integrated browser that is based on WebKit engine. On the other hand, Google’s Android is an open source that comes with a relatively closed development. Symbian is totally an open source, before it comes out to release its full source code.

Features and tools exclusive to OS

Android has optimized graphics for full 3D support and its multimedia performance is top notch as it has media support for video, still imaging, audio, and many other formats. It also flaunts features such as accelerometer, compass, and GPS. Android uses SQLite for storage of structured data, which is just apt. Besides, core applications of maps, SMS program, calendar, email client, contacts, etc. are highly optimized. However, Android does not support web games, which makes it useless for online gaming.

On the other hand, Symbian effectively supports C++ programming which is definitely a boon. Gaming has its ultimate experience with a Symbian as it supports Java. Online games take time to buffer on other cellphones whereas with Symbian, one can expect a smooth running of online games. As Symbian has wide compatibility with devices, it is a good mobile platform for mobiles, especially for gamers though it does not show the same performance with its downloading gaming but all other

Network

With an Android handset, one can connect to the internet immediately and experience better video calling and networking speed as it has an integrated network accelerator. This feature of integrated network accelerator makes the smartphones running on Android a Wi-Fi hotspot and hence enables to connect to the network even when there is no internet service available on the phone. All you need is to connect to another nearby available device.

Symbian, unlike Android does not feature an integrated network accelerator for video calling but a network accelerator can be downloaded to speed up the internet.

Handset and hardware

Callback on camera error is a unique feature of Android. It also has autofocus camera and interface for supplying the details and data of an image captured by the handset. Geomagnetic field, sensor, and many other eye-catching features for facilitating usage have been incorporated by Android developers.

Many handsets with Symbian OS have been reported to open large web pages slowly or not even supporting larger web pages.

Internet and Email

Android with its new Android 2.0 series of OS has integrated Mozilla Firefox Mobile Browser. This enables faster and swifter internet browsing and downloads. The previous Symbian Browser could open only one page at a time but the new Symbian Web Browser can open multiple tabs.

Applications

Android market has a whooping 4,50,000 applications and that allows the users to keep updating their smartphones as it is an open source operating system with relatively closed development. On the other hand, Symbian has a wide variety or range of third party apps as it is an out and out open source operating system.

Multimedia

Both Android and Symbian supporting smart phones have high megapixel cameras, great image quality, and diverse audio and video formats. However, images seem much better on Android phones.

Verdict

Android provides many apps to its high-end Smartphone users. On the other hand, Symbian needs to inculcate new features and make further improvements to its existing versions. Looking at all comparisons, the Android 2.3 definitely outscores the Symbian Anna OS.

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