That's false. KitKat was a minor bump that added support for slower, lower speced phones. It was not a big release.
iOS 7 was a major release. Both were unveiled around the same time. It's just that most android uses can't upgrade, while essentially all iOS users already have.
Apple achieved greater adoption much faster than KitKat, in large part because Apple simply makes its software releases available to all of its users at once.
I wouldn't call an entirely new compiling method a 'bump'. That's a big change to the inner workings of the OS.
So even that piddly iOS 7.1 point update kills Android 4.4 which you claim is a major release. That just makes it sadder in my opinion.
PS: Thank you for having me look this up because I didn't realize the disparity between iOS and Android updates were as vast but you've inadvertently shown everyone here the truth.
Really nice work Soli. One quibble tho and probably never entered your mind: Many feature and security updates are no longer delivered with an Android update. Google now uses Google Play Services to accomplish much of what Apple uses OS updates for.
Really nice work Soli. One quibble tho and probably never entered your mind: Many feature and security updates are no longer delivered with an Android update. Google now uses Google Play Services to accomplish much of what Apple uses OS updates for.
I considered that, but since those are not a part of KitKat but some lateral update feature via GooglePlay it's not an Android update and therefore not included. If Apple decided to make all their default apps in iOS — like Mail, Safari, Messages, FaceTime, etc. — App Store apps that were no longer updated via iOS I wouldn't count them just as I don't count Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iMovie and iPhoto as part of the iOS changelog (and I think those are all free or free with the purchase of an iOS-based device).
I considered that, but since those are not a part of KitKat but some lateral update feature via GooglePlay it's not an Android update and therefore not included. If Apple decided to make all their default apps in iOS — like Mail, Safari, Messages, FaceTime, etc. — App Store apps that were no longer updated via iOS I wouldn't count them just as I don't count Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iMovie and iPhoto as part of the iOS changelog (and I think those are all free or free with the purchase of an iOS-based device).
Then in some ways Google Play Services is a better or at least more timely update solution than what Apple offers. New mail, map, search, music etc, etc features get out to Google Android users without waiting for an update of the entire OS (that may never come :rolleyes: )
I considered that, but since those are not a part of KitKat but some lateral update feature via GooglePlay it's not an Android update and therefore not included. If Apple decided to make all their default apps in iOS — like Mail, Safari, Messages, FaceTime, etc. — App Store apps that were no longer updated via iOS I wouldn't count them just as I don't count Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iMovie and iPhoto as part of the iOS changelog (and I think those are all free or free with the purchase of an iOS-based device).
But if Apple decided to decouple their system apps from the base OS like Android now does, then the import of rapid adoption of iOS updates would be diminished and this issue probably would not make the news because many user-facing changes would happen independently of the OS version number. This is how updates have always worked for desktop OS's. People don't make a huge deal of the quarter of Mac users still using Snow Leopard, an OS from 2009 which according to some researchers actually lags Vista in some aspects of kernel security (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137992/Apple_missed_security_boat_with_Snow_Leopard_says_researcher). The reason is that although the base OS is dated, the system is modular and lets users substitute the outdated system apps, like Safari 5.1, with modern equivalents like Chrome that regularly receive security updates. Other components such as iTunes also receive patches independently of the OS version number. Security vulnerability in Flash Player? No problem, just update Flash Player.
Refreshed interface with white elements instead of blue
Clock no longer shows bold hours, all digits are thin. The H, M, and S markings for the stopwatch and timer have been removed, leaving just the numbers.
Ability for applications to trigger translucency in the navigation and status bars[127]
Ability for applications to use "immersive mode" to keep the navigation and status bars hidden while maintaining user interaction[128]
Action overflow menu buttons are always visible, even on devices with a hardware "Menu" key, which was officially deprecated by Android 4.0[129]
Optimizations for performance on devices with lower specifications, including zRAM support and "low RAM" device API[123]
Wireless printing capability[123]
NFC host card emulation, enabling a device to replace smart cards[123]
WebViews now based on Chromium engine (feature parity with Chrome for Android 30)
Removal of unofficial Flash Player support
Expanded functionality for notification listener services[123]
Public API for developing and managing text messaging clients[130]
New framework for UI transitions
Storage access framework for retrieving content and documents from other sources
Sensor batching, step detector and counter APIs[123]
Settings application now makes it possible to select default text messaging and home (launcher) application
Audio tunneling, audio monitoring and loudness enhancer[131]
Built-in screen recording feature (primarily for developers, as usage of ADB is required)[132]
Native infrared blaster API
Expanded accessibility APIs and system-level closed captioning settings
New experimental runtime virtual machine, ART (not enabled by default)[133]
Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP) support[134]
Disabled access to battery statistics by third-party applications[135]
Settings application no longer uses a multi-pane layout on devices with larger screens
Wi-Fi and mobile data activity (TX/RX) indicators are moved to quick settings[136]
Applications' write access to secondary storage (memory cards on devices with internal primary storage) is made possible but restricted to their designated private directories only, while full access to internal primary storage is still allowed through a separate application-level permission.[67][68]
iOS 7[.0.0] changelog:
UI
Flat design and move away from skeuomorphism in general (exceptions exist - for a move towards more skeuomorphism, see for example the Countdown with a new skeuomorphic 3D animation of a spinning wheel).
System Helvetica Neue Regular font.
Full Screen apps that make use of the system status bar and navigation bar.
Translucent design in tab bar, navigation bar, status bar, system keyboard, Control Center, and Notification Center (some translucent layers not on iPhone 4, iPad 2 or iPad (3rd generation)).
Opaque design in Alert view, Action Sheet and Share Sheet.
Borderless buttons in general.
Back navigation gesture by swiping from left edge of the screen.
New UI for arranging tab-bar icons.
System-wide dynamic font size, configurable in Settings.
Enhance the viewing experience of non-iPad apps on Retina iPads, remove the 1x and 2x toggle, apps are opened in ’2x’ mode by default on non-Retina iPads.
Home Screen
Search dialog is now accessible on each screen by pulling it down.
"New" banner on newly installed apps have been replaced with blue dots.
Brand new icons for built-in apps.
Newsstand is now a dedicated app instead of a folder.
Control Center
A unified screen to quickly access toggles and controls for system settings and services, and for using AirDrop and AirPlay.
System wide, accessible by swiping upward from the bottom of the screen.
Accessible in the lock screen.
Flashlight (device-specific features that come with physical camera) toggle button.
Landscape support.
A grabber in full screen apps.
Mute/silent toggle button in iPad.
CarPlay
Providing iOS control to in-car control systems on some car models by selected vendors from 2014.
Includes Siri integration (eyes-free/hands-free modes), satellite navigation, telephony, music, and iMessage integration.
AirDrop P5, P5C, P5S, T5, S4, M1
Integrates Apple's ad-hoc Wi-Fi sharing feature AirDrop (iPhone 5 and later, iPad (4th generation) and later, and iPad Mini (1st generation) and later).
Alert view, for receive invitation from other devices, option to accept/cancel.
Options to set discoverable: Off/Contacts only/Everyone.
Inter-app Audio
Register audio streams to share with other apps.
Provides for MIDI control of audio rendering, remotely launching other registered Inter-App Audio apps.
Notification Center
Accessible in the lock screen.
Today tab, for previewing the events calendar, stocks, and tomorrows events; provides traffic info on frequently visited places.
Missed filter: can filter list to see notifications that occurred when phone was not actively in use.
Bounces when swiped down quickly.
Folders
Unlimited number of apps via folder subpages.
Newsstand app can now be moved inside any folder.
Transparent background.
Folders change color when apps are downloading and clock-like animated progress graphic is superimposed over folders that have actively downloading apps.
Alert
A countdown for snooze.
Calculator
New feedback when pressing a key.
Toggle landscape mode button.
Spotlight
Accessible on every page of the Home screen by swiping downward from anywhere.
New animation.
Multitasking
Redesigned switcher, with horizontal scrolling for previewing all running apps, and swipe upward gesture to stop any running apps.
Can close multiple apps simultaneously by swiping with multiple fingers.
Landscape switcher.
Smart background app running mode; fetches data based on network connectivity and user habits.
Gyroscope-responsive parallax wallpaper effect, based on user's movement.P4S, P5, P5C, P5S, T5, S2, S3, S4, M1
Weather
Dynamic animation for different weathers (iPhone 4S and later and iPod Touch (5th generation)).P4S, P5, P5C, P5S, T5
Shows sunrise/sunset humidity, chance of precipitation, and wind speed.
Can see multiple locations simultaneously when the menu icon is selected.
Can select GPS icon at bottom to immediately see weather for current location.
Phone
Block list.
Contact pictures on Favorites.
Transparency in the number pad button when pressing.
Phone History and Voicemail Info options allow one to return the call in multiple ways including call back, FaceTime and Messaging.
Contacts
New fields in Contacts: "Add Social Profile", and "Add Instant Message".
"Chat", "FaceTime", "Mail" buttons next to the contact information; no longer need to scroll down to the bottom.
Send contacts through AirDrop.
FaceTime
FaceTime Audio.
Block list.
A dedicated app on the iPhone, like the previous version on iPod Touch and iPad.
Messages
Long SMS.
Block list.
No longer have to scroll to the top to access "Call", "FaceTime", and "Info".
Contact pictures in group chats.
Ability to see exact time of when each message was sent by dragging conversation bubbles to the left.
Event and address detection in the message context, tap to open in Calendar and Maps.
A contact with a nickname will appear in Messages under the nickname, rather than the full name.
New animation when compressing video to be shared.
Safari
Full screen browsing, the previous version only support in iPhone landscape mode.
Unified text field for both URL and search.
Bookmarked website thumbnail icons appear when text field is activated.
Top-hit, Google suggest, Bookmarks, and History appear on the unified text field while typing.
Preview tabs on iPhone and iPod Touch are no longer limited to 8.
Preview tabs use new 3D vertical animation for previewing the opened tabs; long press to edit positions, swipe to remove.
Reading List shows website thumbnails on the right.
Scrolls articles one-by-one vertically from Reading List, as per OS X Mavericks.
Swipe gestures for back/previous history, as per OS X.
Parental controls.
Private button: enables "Do not track me." feature per website within the app. Previously, configuration appeared in Settings for every website.
Recent links: a reading list of all user's friends on Facebook or Twitter post.
Reading List button: new round glasses icon pays tribute to Steve Jobs.
The .com button removed and replaced with a simple period button. The .com, .net, and .org domain extensions can be accessed by holding down on the button.
New bolder loading bar, private browsing UI tweaks and tab/bookmark changes on the iPad .
iCloud
Photo Stream video support, and more than one contributor per photo stream.
Notification Sync across different iCloud devices.
Maps
Automatic Day/Night Mode that responds to ambient light and current time to switch between day and night color schemes.
Turn-by-turn walking directions, with estimated time.
Maps bookmarks syncing.
Receives notification data sent from the new Maps app in OS X Mavericks (version 10.9).
A live compass at the right top corner.
Clock
App icon reflects the live time.
Timer shows in the lock screen.
City shows how many hours ahead/behind from your current location.
Music
New iTunes Radio service.
Scrub along the song to get to a certain part directly from the lock screen.
Download full albums from iCloud from iTunes Match.
Tapping a song in the Now-Playing screen allows users to rate.
Cover Flow: Instead of swiping though individual albums, one can now swipe through multiple albums.
Reintroduced on-screen lyrics for iPads (this feature was absent in iOS 5 and iOS 6).
iTunes Radio
Slider/discovery feature.
App Store
Automatic app updates: switch to enable/disable in Settings, under iTunes, App Store.
New catalogues for kids based on their age.
Genius tab replaced with "Apps Near Me" tab for app recommendations based on user's location.
Volume purchase.
Search tab redesigned, the number of results appears on the right of the search field.
Circular download progress animation during downloading/updating in Home Screen.
Add to wish list.
It is now possible to download older versions of apps (the last compatible version supported by the device legacy firmware).
iTunes
Smart download of TV episodes.
Photos
Albums are organized by Places, Moments, and Years, using the EXIF data as the base of the collection.
Share Sheet shares photos to iCloud, social networks, and AirDrop (if available).
New default album "Panorama Photos".
Camera
Control redesign: swipe horizontally to select the still images, videos, square photos, and Panorama modes (if available).
Live image filters. P4S, P5, P5C, P5S, T5
SDK for 60 FPS video recording.
Pinch to zoom while video recording.
Redeem iTunes gift card using front camera.
Panorama reduces when battery is low.[clarification needed]
Slow motion video recording at 120 frames per second.P5S
Burst mode.P5S
High-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) for iPad.
Calendar
New layout for Calendar list view on the iPhone.
Years view.
Week view.
Integration with Mail.
Integration with Maps, users are notified with transit information when entering places information.
Can now hide or show declined events.
Will support custom calendar colors.
All Day toggle on the Add Event Screen instead of buried in the Select Time control.
Can snooze or View Event when an Event Reminder appears.
Can set up a second alert time for an event.
Can change Busy/Free Status.
Selecting the name of the calendar month shows the monthly calendar.
Game Center
Secure game scores.
Authenticated players.
Turn-based game modes.
Ranking-style leader boards.
Compass
Inclinometer.
Mail
View PDF annotation.
New smart mailboxes.
Improved Mail search.
Hotmail is now Outlook when adding an account, using new Outlook icon.
Flagged, Unread, To or CC, Attachments, All drafts, All sent, All Trash smart mailboxes.
Shake to Undo to un-archive something.
When emailing a passbook pass, it appears as a pass.
New animation when compressing video to be shared.
New animation when moving mail into a folder.
When selecting a target folder while moving an email, an iconic image of the email above the folder selector appears.
Have the ability to move an email to Junk folder when flagging.
New Print option available when Reply option is selected.
Notes
New design, mostly white.
No longer change fonts in Notes.
Can AirDrop notes.
Settings
Per app cellular data usage permission.
Per app using microphone privacy permission.
Per app using camera privacy permission.
Password required to reset networking and contents.
Accessibility
Head movement detection for different gestures.
China features
Tencent Weibo social network integration.
Chinese-English bilingual dictionary.
Improved Chinese input including T9 keyboard for pinyin (Added in Beta 4), and handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters.
Siri
Updated voices, and a new male voice (in select regions/languages). English (US), French, and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7 (additional languages will be added over time).
Controls certain system settings, such as turning on/off Bluetooth, and changing display brightness.
Search from Wikipedia and Bing search engines.
Post to Sina Weibo.
Search tweets on Twitter.
Option to open MLB scores in the MLB.com At Bat app.
Navigation, access and voice are more natural.
Reminders
Geofencing.
Ability to create repeating reminders has been removed.
Passbook
Scan and recognize barcodes/QR codes.
Add gift cards as a folder.
Find My iPhone
Activation Lock: re-activation with iCloud account if the device have been wiped remotely using Find My iPhone service, to prevent unauthorized usage of the lost device.
Password required to disable.
Enterprise
Enterprise single sign-on.
Per app VPN.
Managed app config, for more efficiently deploying and managing of iPhones and iPads.
Accessories
Unauthorized Lightning cables are blocked and can no longer be used.[93]
Set up and configure Wi-Fi accessories, such as AirPlay speakers.
iBeacons, a new class of Bluetooth LE low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify devices of other nearby devices/services.
Bluetooth LE profiles; including time, notifications, keyboards, and stereo sound.
MFi game controllers.
Screenshot
No longer included in the Assistive Touch, they appear on the layer of the image.
Trusted Devices
User is warned when plugging their iOS device into their Mac/PC, "Trust the currently connected computer? Trusting this computer will allow it to have full access to your device and all of its data."
Voice Memo
New design.
Save to iCloud.
Share using AirDrop.
Status bar
Translucent design.
1xRTT icon on CDMA iPhones changed from "o" icon to "1x" icon.
GPRS icon on GSM iPhones changed from "o" icon to "GPRS" icon.
Dots representations for cellular signal strength.
Icon size slightly increased for better readability on the lock screen.
Lock screen
Charging the battery: rather than battery image on the lock screen, x% charged briefly appears under the clock, then reverts to the date.
Access to Notification Center and Control Center.
When playing music, the lock screen will now display the time.
iPad has Camera control on the lock screen, like the previous version on iPhone and iPod Touch.
Timer counting down is shown when the device is locked.
Scrubbing bar is now displayed on the lock screen.
Wi-Fi
New Wi-Fi diagnostics mode.
Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0.
Other
New first-time setup menus.
Add Passcode Lock during Setup Assistant.
Vimeo and Flickr social network integrations.
Italian, Korean, and Dutch dictionaries.
New fade animation when pressing the power button.
New Tamil keyboard.
New ringtones and system sounds.
(You can remove 48 of these as they are category headings for changes. Yeah, they have that many changes.)
Also note that list isn't even close to exhaustive as it doesn't list developer features like frameworks and APIs that were added whereas the KitKat change log does list APIs and frameworks. Apple adds thousands of new APIs each year with excellent documentation to go along with it.
And here is 7.1, that measly point update we just had:
CarPlayP5 P5C P5S
iOS experience designed for the car (iPhone 5 and later).
Works by connecting a Lightning enabled iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle.
Supports Phone, Messages, Maps, and audio apps (inc. Music and third-party).
Siri (except P4 P4C S2 S2C)
Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the Home button while you speak, then releasing it when you're finished.
New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese.
iTunes Radio
Search field above Featured Stations to create stations based on Artist or Song.
Buy albums directly from the Now Playing screen.
Accessibility
Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs.
Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations.
New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point.
Calendar
Option to display event list with the month view.
Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries.
List view has been redesigned.
UI
Camera app has a new "HDR Auto" feature.P5S
Photos & Camera tab in iOS Settings has a new "Upload Burst Photos" option.
You can disable Parallax effect independently of other animations when setting up wallpaper.
Notification Center now displays "No Notifications" and "No Missed Notifications" for the "All" and "Missed" sections respectively when there are no notifications.
Caller ID photos: no longer full screen, instead small circle portrait for incoming/outgoing calls.[94]
New Yahoo logo, in both Notification Center and the Weather app.
A new dialogue "Touch ID requires your passcode when iPhone restarts" when restarting.P5S
New iPad wallpapers.
"Touch ID and Passcode" has been moved-up to the main menu in Settings.
Animations and transitions are noticeably faster.
Keyboard has new Shift/Backspace key highlights.
Control Center has a new "spring" animation upon opening.
Control Center sliders — volume and brightness — have momentum.
Wi-Fi toggle in Control Center now black when Wi-Fi not available (greyed-out in Settings)
Icons for Phone, Messages and FaceTime apps have less vibrant colors.
Music app: Albums now in descending order when browsing by Artist.
Numerous changes that make iOS 7 whole, consistent.
The Phone app has a new-look dialer.
The slide-to-power-off UI has been redesigned.
Bug Fixes/Improvements
Touch ID fingerprint recognition is improved.
Improved performance.P4
Fixes a home screen crash bug.
Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000.
iCloud Keychain support in additional countries.
FaceTime call notifications, automatically clear when call answered on another device.
iBeacon improvements.[95]
Patches 41 security exploits, including those used by the Evasi0n 7 jailbreak.[96]
(And you can minus 7 of the items from this list for the previously stated reason.)
So even that piddly iOS 7.1 point update kills Android 4.4 which you claim is a major release. That just makes it sadder in my opinion.
PS: Thank you for having me look this up because I didn't realize the disparity between iOS and Android updates were as vast but you've inadvertently shown everyone here the truth.
Thank you for posting the changelogs.
I went through the list of changes for iOS 7 in detail and marked all the bullets that were section headings (48 as you said before), non-functional design changes (18), duplications under separate headings (2), descriptions of functionality (14), and updates to system apps that would come through the Play Store on Android (103). This left an actual changelog of 75 items, which I will reproduce here:
Full Screen apps that make use of the system status bar and navigation bar.
Back navigation gesture by swiping from left edge of the screen.
New UI for arranging tab-bar icons.
System-wide dynamic font size, configurable in Settings.
Enhance the viewing experience of non-iPad apps on Retina iPads, remove the 1x and 2x toggle, apps are opened in ’2x’ mode by default on non-Retina iPads.
Newsstand is now a dedicated app instead of a folder.
A unified screen to quickly access toggles and controls for system settings and services, and for using AirDrop and AirPlay.
Providing iOS control to in-car control systems on some car models by selected vendors from 2014.
Integrates Apple's ad-hoc Wi-Fi sharing feature AirDrop (iPhone 5 and later, iPad (4th generation) and later, and iPad Mini (1st generation) and later).
Register audio streams to share with other apps.
Provides for MIDI control of audio rendering, remotely launching other registered Inter-App Audio apps.
Notification Center accessible in the lock screen.
Today tab, for previewing the events calendar, stocks, and tomorrows events; provides traffic info on frequently visited places.
Missed filter: can filter list to see notifications that occurred when phone was not actively in use.
Unlimited number of apps via folder subpages.
Newsstand app can now be moved inside any folder.
Folders change color when apps are downloading and clock-like animated progress graphic is superimposed over folders that have actively downloading apps.
A countdown for snooze.
New feedback when pressing a key.
Toggle landscape mode button.
Redesigned switcher, with horizontal scrolling for previewing all running apps, and swipe upward gesture to stop any running apps.
Smart background app running mode; fetches data based on network connectivity and user habits.
Gyroscope-responsive parallax wallpaper effect, based on user's movement.P4S, P5, P5C, P5S, T5, S2, S3, S4, M1
Weather shows sunrise/sunset humidity, chance of precipitation, and wind speed.
Block list.
Contact pictures on Favorites.
Phone History and Voicemail Info options allow one to return the call in multiple ways including call back, FaceTime and Messaging.
New fields in Contacts: "Add Social Profile", and "Add Instant Message".
"Chat", "FaceTime", "Mail" buttons next to the contact information; no longer need to scroll down to the bottom.
Send contacts through AirDrop.
App icon reflects the live time.
Timer shows in the lock screen.
City shows how many hours ahead/behind from your current location.
Control redesign: swipe horizontally to select the still images, videos, square photos, and Panorama modes (if available).
Live image filters. P4S, P5, P5C, P5S, T5
SDK for 60 FPS video recording.
Pinch to zoom while video recording.
Redeem iTunes gift card using front camera.
Panorama reduces when battery is low.[clarification needed]
Slow motion video recording at 120 frames per second.P5S
Burst mode.P5S
High-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) for iPad.
Inclinometer.
Per app cellular data usage permission.
Per app using microphone privacy permission.
Per app using camera privacy permission.
Password required to reset networking and contents.
Head movement detection for different gestures.
Tencent Weibo social network integration.
Enterprise single sign-on.
Per app VPN.
Managed app config, for more efficiently deploying and managing of iPhones and iPads.
Unauthorized Lightning cables are blocked and can no longer be used.[93]
Set up and configure Wi-Fi accessories, such as AirPlay speakers.
iBeacons, a new class of Bluetooth LE low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify devices of other nearby devices/services.
Bluetooth LE profiles; including time, notifications, keyboards, and stereo sound.
MFi game controllers.
Screenshots no longer included in the Assistive Touch, they appear on the layer of the image.
User is warned when plugging their iOS device into their Mac/PC, "Trust the currently connected computer? Trusting this computer will allow it to have full access to your device and all of its data."
Save to iCloud.
Share using AirDrop.
Charging the battery: rather than battery image on the lock screen, x% charged briefly appears under the clock, then reverts to the date.
When playing music, the lock screen will now display the time.
iPad has Camera control on the lock screen, like the previous version on iPhone and iPod Touch.
Timer counting down is shown when the device is locked.
Scrubbing bar is now displayed on the lock screen.
New Wi-Fi diagnostics mode.
Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0.
New first-time setup menus.
Add Passcode Lock during Setup Assistant.
Vimeo and Flickr social network integrations.
New ringtones and system sounds.
The changelog you listed for KitKat can be reduced by 3 for non-functional design changes, but is also incomplete. It lists none of the changes to the dialer, email client, lockscreen, download manager, location settings, camera, and emoji. It also excludes a lot of the low level system updates, although I think that's fair from a comparison standpoint since the iOS changelog only lists a few of them as well.
The iOS 7 changelog would still be longer I suspect, but more like 1.5 times longer rather than 10 times as the "full" changelog implied.
I went through the list of changes for iOS 7 in detail and marked all the bullets that were section headings (48 as you said before), non-functional design changes (18), duplications under separate headings (2), descriptions of functionality (14), and updates to system apps that would come through the Play Store on Android (103). This left an actual changelog of 75 items, which I will reproduce here:
[…]
The changelog you listed for KitKat can be reduced by 3 for non-functional design changes, but is also incomplete. It lists none of the changes to the dialer, email client, lockscreen, download manager, location settings, camera, and emoji. It also excludes a lot of the low level system updates, although I think that's fair from a comparison standpoint since the iOS changelog only lists a few of them as well.
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">The iOS 7 changelog would still be longer I suspect, but more like 1.5 times longer rather than 10 times as the "full" changelog implied.</span>
Did you also exclude all the frameworks and Apis listed for KitKat -or- all the frameworks and APIs listed for iOS 7.0 to balance the results?
Did you also exclude all the frameworks and Apis listed for KitKat -or- all the frameworks and APIs listed for iOS 7.0 to balance the results?
No I didn't exclude those. From the KitKat list I see 5 bullets that say API and 2 that say framework. I'm not familiar with programming, so I'm not sure if any others fall into that category. None of the remaining bullets on the iOS changelog use the terms API or framework.
No I didn't exclude those. From the KitKat list I see 5 bullets that say API and 2 that say framework. I'm not familiar with programming, so I'm not sure if any others fall into that category. None of the remaining bullets on the iOS changelog use the terms API or framework.
Right, but I included a link in my original post to their developer link detailing some of the major ones. I think there are at least a dozen new frameworks and thousands of new APIs for iOS each year.
When your phone doesn't get the new features in an OS update, who cares? Apple only gives the neat new features to the latest phones. So, if I still had my iPhone 4, I'd still not have the panoramic camera, the parallax screen effect, yada, yada, yada... The only thing I got upgrading from iOS 6 to 7 was an uglier UI.
When your phone doesn't get the new features in an OS update, who cares? Apple only gives the neat new features to the latest phones. So, if I still had my iPhone 4, I'd still not have the panoramic camera, the parallax screen effect, yada, yada, yada... The only thing I got upgrading from iOS 6 to 7 was an uglier UI.
Features aren't the only thing you would miss out on. Developers will update their apps so that they only work with the new O, you wouldn't have access to a large number of apps.
Actually percent change is the only way to compare growth rates. In other words you misused the word faster in your comparison of the growth. KitKat is changing more rapidly but controlling less market share. iOS 7 is adding more market share but changing more slowly.
But what matters, in terms of where the body of users resides, which is important to developers and to security, is the overall percentage using the latest OS version, not the relative growth of that percentage. Please tell me you comprehend this.
When your phone doesn't get the new features in an OS update, who cares? Apple only gives the neat new features to the latest phones. So, if I still had my iPhone 4, I'd still not have the panoramic camera, the parallax screen effect, yada, yada, yada... The only thing I got upgrading from iOS 6 to 7 was an uglier UI.
The only thing we get from you is your whiny post.
Features aren't the only thing you would miss out on. Developers will update their apps so that they only work with the new O, you wouldn't have access to a large number of apps.
maybe apple should never update their products. Would that make the winers happy? Lets stay in 2010 forever!! better yet, lets stay in1995 and stick with MacOS7. That way nothing will ever change.
My point is that's not a problem on Android. Developers make their products work on the most popular OS releases. The thing about Android is, that when the new OS comes to your phone, you get all of the features. Admittedly, if you buy a low end phone, you probably aren't going to see updates. But, then again, few Android updates are all that moving. Kit Kat is just a marginal improvement from 4.3 Jelly Bean, and its major change is moving from Dalvik to Art for runtime execution. However, since Art is in its infancy, it's not fully implemented in the software community. Other than that, there are only small improvements in many things here and there that are inconsequential to the user, who has no trouble getting apps for his older version of Jelly Bean. Many of the parts of the OS that relate to Google are now updated via the Play Store independent of the OS itself, nullifying, somewhat, the lag of carrier approval and OEM hardware support of upgrades. With Samsung's agreement with Google, things should improve further in future phones.
The only thing we get from you is your whiny post.
You know, I try to be a person presenting actual facts and realistic viewpoints. I used to use all sorts of Apple products dating back to the early 1980's. I may be harsh in my criticism in Apple, as expectations following Jobs are high. But, this response is about as dumb as they come. You have nothing to offer in real data of facts? Why bother? Unlike many of you, I'm just not a blind follower of everything Apple. They're a company that makes products, not a religion that many of you seek to worship at the alter of.
I'm here to tell you, I nervously jumped ship in October, but I found out much of the FUD put on this forum is unfounded. My Galaxy Note 3 is an awesome phone. People should open their eyes to what the competition is doing and not just blindly bash them and believe Apple knows best.
Comments
I wouldn't call an entirely new compiling method a 'bump'. That's a big change to the inner workings of the OS.
[B]BAM!!![/B]
I considered that, but since those are not a part of KitKat but some lateral update feature via GooglePlay it's not an Android update and therefore not included. If Apple decided to make all their default apps in iOS — like Mail, Safari, Messages, FaceTime, etc. — App Store apps that were no longer updated via iOS I wouldn't count them just as I don't count Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iMovie and iPhoto as part of the iOS changelog (and I think those are all free or free with the purchase of an iOS-based device).
Then in some ways Google Play Services is a better or at least more timely update solution than what Apple offers. New mail, map, search, music etc, etc features get out to Google Android users without waiting for an update of the entire OS (that may never come :rolleyes: )
I agree with that.
It's still a Band-Aid on a fragmentation problem they created with poor inital planning but I contend it's a good Band-Aid.
More like.
My hat's off to Soli for a job well done.
I considered that, but since those are not a part of KitKat but some lateral update feature via GooglePlay it's not an Android update and therefore not included. If Apple decided to make all their default apps in iOS — like Mail, Safari, Messages, FaceTime, etc. — App Store apps that were no longer updated via iOS I wouldn't count them just as I don't count Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, iMovie and iPhoto as part of the iOS changelog (and I think those are all free or free with the purchase of an iOS-based device).
But if Apple decided to decouple their system apps from the base OS like Android now does, then the import of rapid adoption of iOS updates would be diminished and this issue probably would not make the news because many user-facing changes would happen independently of the OS version number. This is how updates have always worked for desktop OS's. People don't make a huge deal of the quarter of Mac users still using Snow Leopard, an OS from 2009 which according to some researchers actually lags Vista in some aspects of kernel security (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137992/Apple_missed_security_boat_with_Snow_Leopard_says_researcher). The reason is that although the base OS is dated, the system is modular and lets users substitute the outdated system apps, like Safari 5.1, with modern equivalents like Chrome that regularly receive security updates. Other components such as iTunes also receive patches independently of the OS version number. Security vulnerability in Flash Player? No problem, just update Flash Player.
Android 4.4 "features":
iOS 7[.0.0] changelog:
(You can remove 48 of these as they are category headings for changes. Yeah, they have that many changes.)
Also note that list isn't even close to exhaustive as it doesn't list developer features like frameworks and APIs that were added whereas the KitKat change log does list APIs and frameworks. Apple adds thousands of new APIs each year with excellent documentation to go along with it.
And here is 7.1, that measly point update we just had:
(And you can minus 7 of the items from this list for the previously stated reason.)
So even that piddly iOS 7.1 point update kills Android 4.4 which you claim is a major release. That just makes it sadder in my opinion.
PS: Thank you for having me look this up because I didn't realize the disparity between iOS and Android updates were as vast but you've inadvertently shown everyone here the truth.
Thank you for posting the changelogs.
I went through the list of changes for iOS 7 in detail and marked all the bullets that were section headings (48 as you said before), non-functional design changes (18), duplications under separate headings (2), descriptions of functionality (14), and updates to system apps that would come through the Play Store on Android (103). This left an actual changelog of 75 items, which I will reproduce here:
The changelog you listed for KitKat can be reduced by 3 for non-functional design changes, but is also incomplete. It lists none of the changes to the dialer, email client, lockscreen, download manager, location settings, camera, and emoji. It also excludes a lot of the low level system updates, although I think that's fair from a comparison standpoint since the iOS changelog only lists a few of them as well.
The iOS 7 changelog would still be longer I suspect, but more like 1.5 times longer rather than 10 times as the "full" changelog implied.
Did you also exclude all the frameworks and Apis listed for KitKat -or- all the frameworks and APIs listed for iOS 7.0 to balance the results?
Did you also exclude all the frameworks and Apis listed for KitKat -or- all the frameworks and APIs listed for iOS 7.0 to balance the results?
No I didn't exclude those. From the KitKat list I see 5 bullets that say API and 2 that say framework. I'm not familiar with programming, so I'm not sure if any others fall into that category. None of the remaining bullets on the iOS changelog use the terms API or framework.
Right, but I included a link in my original post to their developer link detailing some of the major ones. I think there are at least a dozen new frameworks and thousands of new APIs for iOS each year.
When your phone doesn't get the new features in an OS update, who cares? Apple only gives the neat new features to the latest phones. So, if I still had my iPhone 4, I'd still not have the panoramic camera, the parallax screen effect, yada, yada, yada... The only thing I got upgrading from iOS 6 to 7 was an uglier UI.
Features aren't the only thing you would miss out on. Developers will update their apps so that they only work with the new O, you wouldn't have access to a large number of apps.
Actually percent change is the only way to compare growth rates. In other words you misused the word faster in your comparison of the growth. KitKat is changing more rapidly but controlling less market share. iOS 7 is adding more market share but changing more slowly.
But what matters, in terms of where the body of users resides, which is important to developers and to security, is the overall percentage using the latest OS version, not the relative growth of that percentage. Please tell me you comprehend this.
When your phone doesn't get the new features in an OS update, who cares? Apple only gives the neat new features to the latest phones. So, if I still had my iPhone 4, I'd still not have the panoramic camera, the parallax screen effect, yada, yada, yada... The only thing I got upgrading from iOS 6 to 7 was an uglier UI.
The only thing we get from you is your whiny post.
Features aren't the only thing you would miss out on. Developers will update their apps so that they only work with the new O, you wouldn't have access to a large number of apps.
maybe apple should never update their products. Would that make the winers happy? Lets stay in 2010 forever!! better yet, lets stay in1995 and stick with MacOS7. That way nothing will ever change.
Anyone who tells me that they don't know people who hate iOS7 is lying. I'm just trying to find out what exactly it is that he's lying about.
yup, so many hate iOS7 that apple just can't sell any phones, right? It has really disrupted their position in the market, right?
My point is that's not a problem on Android. Developers make their products work on the most popular OS releases. The thing about Android is, that when the new OS comes to your phone, you get all of the features. Admittedly, if you buy a low end phone, you probably aren't going to see updates. But, then again, few Android updates are all that moving. Kit Kat is just a marginal improvement from 4.3 Jelly Bean, and its major change is moving from Dalvik to Art for runtime execution. However, since Art is in its infancy, it's not fully implemented in the software community. Other than that, there are only small improvements in many things here and there that are inconsequential to the user, who has no trouble getting apps for his older version of Jelly Bean. Many of the parts of the OS that relate to Google are now updated via the Play Store independent of the OS itself, nullifying, somewhat, the lag of carrier approval and OEM hardware support of upgrades. With Samsung's agreement with Google, things should improve further in future phones.
The only thing we get from you is your whiny post.
You know, I try to be a person presenting actual facts and realistic viewpoints. I used to use all sorts of Apple products dating back to the early 1980's. I may be harsh in my criticism in Apple, as expectations following Jobs are high. But, this response is about as dumb as they come. You have nothing to offer in real data of facts? Why bother? Unlike many of you, I'm just not a blind follower of everything Apple. They're a company that makes products, not a religion that many of you seek to worship at the alter of.
I'm here to tell you, I nervously jumped ship in October, but I found out much of the FUD put on this forum is unfounded. My Galaxy Note 3 is an awesome phone. People should open their eyes to what the competition is doing and not just blindly bash them and believe Apple knows best.