iPhone, iPad now represent 83% of WiFi mobile devices as PCs shift into minority use - Page 2

Assuming your question is in earnest, no, using an iOS device as a wi-fi hub is pretty much like any other wifi hub, usable by any wifi-enabled device. I use mine to connect my kid's Android phone, wife's iPad, various laptops and even a Blackberry Playbook (which didn't work very well due to some stupid error when trying to set up a Blackberry account, after which the playbook froze, the screen stopped responding to touch and so was unable to be turned off without physically removing the battery).

In fact, my iPhone came with Wifi tethering built into the OS so it can be used as a wifi hub or directly tethered via USB or Bluetooth.

Let's start with your username.

Want me to go on?

I know the definition rather well. And, the fact that PA types are the last to see it/acknowledge it when it's pointed out.

That list is incorrect. Several of the airports on the list do NOT have free WiFi based on personal experience.

What seems to happen is that if there's a single Starbucks in the airport, they entire airport is listed as being free.

Here's a better list of the top 20 airports (by number of flights)
http://www.travelpost.com/usa-airports-wifi.aspx
Even the ones that are listed as free are often very limited - only one terminal in some cases or students only in another.


Then he should have said "open" instead of "Free".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY

"Fewer" is certainly preferred when describing discrete items, but the use of "are less" instead of "is less" itself implies plurality of content, so would not refer to a stream.

It really doesn't seem likely that the hot-spot feature explains this, even if it were more common with Android. Most devices in airports will be connecting independently via either wi-fi or 3G, and as has been pointed out, 3G data is available equally to Android and iOS devices. Roaming considerations should also be the same.

To be fair, iOS only featured wifi Hotspot starting in March this year. The Boingo data go back much farther.

Fewer PC's what? PCs is plural PC's is possessive. Solipism used the correct syntax, you didn't.

Ouch. But to be fair, "PC's" may have just been a typo - I think he was commenting on the use of "less".

They're all rooted and running unauthorized tethering apps.

I'll offer myself and my wife as a case study. I'm a bit of a geek and I have an iPhone 3G and she's very put off my technology and has a Droid Eris. Both of these phones are from roughly the same time period (the Eris is about 10 months newer, but close enough for the point I'm making.) If we're traveling or out doing something, and she needs to look something up on a map or go online for some reason, she will invariably grab my iPhone to do it if I'm not using it. The frustration level with getting the information she needs from the Eris drives her to the point of aversion. I have been out with her at times where she needed to look something up online and she has just dismissed the idea, preferring to go without than dealing with the hassle of her phone. (On many occasions, she'll text our daughter with my phone too.)

I don't know if we're typical, but I can see a lot of non-geeks out there like my wife having the same reaction. Hell, I could see ME having that reaction. I hate using her phone too. I would go online with my phone a lot less to if I had hers.

The thing a lot of Geeks always leave out when they babble on about raw specs, A LOT OF ANDROID DEVICES ARE A PAINFUL CHORE TO USE.

So you have used "a lot" of android devices to be able to prove this statement? How about you provide a summary of all those Android devices that are "a painful chore to use"?

So she uses your phone to load google maps, which is exactly the same as google maps on the android phones?

Don't most Android phones provide the exact same experience? I though most Android users hate skins and carrier bloat because the stock Android UI is supposed to be the best. Aside from hardware differences, what exactle makes two random Android phones so much different in the way you use them?

I can add my own personal anecdotes. My brother, who has literally zero affinity with Apple products (mainly because he can't afford them), used to have a HTC Hero. He was one of the biggest Android fanboys I have ever met in real life. Within 2 years he started to hate the thing with passion, the last few months he had it all I've heard him talk about was slowness, instability, lack of updates (he finally got Froyo, but it didn't help much), and low quality applications. Now he has a WP7 phone, and he can't stop talking how awesome it is compared to his Android phone.

One of my colleagues has had a Droid something for a year now, but he's already thinking about replacing it because he thinks it is 'outdated'.

My neighbours daughter who never owned any smartphones before asked me to help her set up her brand new Galaxy S 2 weeks ago, because she couldn't figure out how to put music on it herself, not even after reading the manual which turned out to be freaking inch thick. Eventually I figured it out for her by installing Kies and plugging in and out the USB cable at least 10 times because it lost connection to the phone all the time. In the meantime she was playing with my 3GS, and by the time her music was on her Galaxy S she already seemed disappointed she went for the Galaxy S on a two year contract, seeing how snappy and simple my 2-year old iPhone was. Compared to my 3GS the Galaxy S was slow, didn't register touches half of the time, kept accidentally opening apps because of it, didn't recognize the unlock pattern half of the time, kept popping up cryptic messages about stuff she need to accept, and required navigating a maze of settings just to get the Samsung app store that came installed with it to work, amongst others.

Now of course these are all anecdotes, and if you learn to live with it, you could probably get used to doing things the Android way, but my personal judgement is that for most people, the Android user experience sucks, plain and simple. Many will resort to simply not using their Android phones for anything besides calls and text messaging. This article seems to confirm this.

I'm not making things up if I say this: of all the real-life people I know that have Android phones, no-one ever told me how much they like their Android phones. Of all the people I know that have iPhones, no-one ever told me how much they hate their phone for whatever reason. Strangely, reading tech websites, things are almost completely the opposite. Based on just reading websites you'd get the impression that Android really is the best thing since sliced bread, while the iPhone is just meh, locked down, a toy for people who don't know anything about technology, a fashion statement, a hype, lacking in hardware, with bad a bad antenna, really, I can make a list of at least 50 reasons the iPhone supposedly sucks, yet I still have to meet the first real-life iPhone owner who recognizes any of this.

Sometimes I wonder why things are like this...

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So Apple devices are popular on paid wireless hotspots?

Fairly straightforward really. Apple devices are expensive and often purchased by people with higher disposable income. Access to Wi-Fi in airports is also usually expensive and purchased by people with higher disposable income. If you are able/willing to pay the additional cost for an iPhone over an Android phone, you're more likely to be able/willing to pay for overpriced airport wi-fi than the average Android user.

I'm sure that if you collected stats for free wireless hotspots, the results would be pretty different.

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But would that not just be because the other stats are not effectively isolated to travelers, who, almost by definition, are much more likely to be using mobile devices?

Well judging the adverts I see, there must be a huge difference between them all, you have unsubsidised phones going from NZ$250 to over NZ$1000, all with slightly different interfaces. Not that I have used them as I have no intention of personally owning a HTC phone, but they have their own interface on them, same with Samsung etc.


I have a cheap Android phone (cheap as in full unsubsided price, not cheap with contact) as I have better things to spend my money on an expensive phone, and an even more expensive contract. It came with 2.2, I had no issues with that, I upgrade to the phones offical 2.3 release, it goes faster now, some options are in a funny place, but I have found that with the iPod touch as well.


Isn't that the same as people that purchase every new iPhone?


There must be something wrong with the Galaxy, I would take it back. My phone is faster than the 3GS and it is a slower Android phone, a Galaxy should be a lot faster. As for loading them, there are several options, I will agree they are not as simple as iTunes, but honestly, not having to use iTunes is a huge plus right there



Wow, that is a huge assumption. This article doesn't prove anything, I have never connect my Android phone to an Airport wi-fi, nor any other device for that matter, and I use mine for more than calls and texting, infact they would be the least of the things I do.

Remember, not everyone uses their devices the same way you do, some people just buy fancy phones and use them as a phone.


I know you are not making this up, you are basing it on the limited pool of people you know, that is all everyone does when they judge a product. I could claim the same for Apple, 50% of my Apple computer purchases have had major failures, and the repair process was poorly handled each time, so going by my own experience I shouldn't recommend Apple products to people as they are poorly made. But no, they is just my experience, not others, don't assume everyone has the same experience as you.

I wonder what the percentages are in the U.S. alone, that would be interesting.

You aren't a paid troll. But you are a troll. I'm sure you do have a wide variety of personalities...handles anyway.


Bullcrap. You're still pushing that lame theme that iOS doesn't have multitasking which is clearly false and completely trollish.

Not disagreeing with you but if I were still doing 100K mile/year I'd be mighty pissed with myself for picking an airline without free wifi in their lounges...I wouldn't even notice whether or not the airport has (generally) crappy free wifi.