Microsoft vs. Apple: A User Review, Conclusion

By Richard Woods

The score ended up at 3-2 with Microsoft edging out Apple in the end when I found that the Windows Phone was a better experience than the iPhone. I paired up the Surface Pro and the 11″ MacBook Air and despite the incredible battery life of the MacBook Air a tablet that contains a Core i5 like the Surface Pro is a truly innovative machine even though it only gets about 4 hours of battery life. After all, the next iteration of it will have the fourth generation Intel Processor and will have that long battery life. Windows RT 8.1 Preview is a much better user experience than iOS 7 Beta 2 but in Apple’s defense they haven’t actually offered it to the public yet.

On the other hand, I gave the point to Mac OS X Snow Leopard over Windows 8.1 Preview because it’s a full operating system. Windows 8.1 Preview does work incredibly well and I’m pretty convinced that if I tried Mavericks and paired it with Windows 8.1 Preview Microsoft would have gotten the point. The one spot where Apple really shined was with the iPad over the Surface RT. The RT has so much to offer but the iPad just has everything you need. It is perfectly designed for gaming, a portable television, productivity, and music.

So the new Windows ecosystem is then topped off with the coming Xbox One which will be an all in one entertainment center that will integrate very nicely with your computer, tablet, and Windows Phone. But we’ll return to that in a moment.

Let’s take a look at history. Years ago, if you bought a pc, it was a Mac or an “IBM Compatible”. Macs were made by Apple and then there were IBM computers. Anyone else that wanted to make a computer had to make them the way that IBM did because Apple locked down their technology, as they still do. IBM Compatibles ran DOS in the early days, and later they ran Windows. Since there was competition among these pcs, you were able to get the same thing that you could get from an Apple computer for a cheaper price eventually causing Windows computers to dominate the market throughout the late 80s and 90s.

In 2002, Apple released the iPod. It was the first thing that put Apple on the map in years. I remember thinking, “This company still exists?” It was a revolutionary way of listening to music and the Apple logo started appearing in more places. In 2007, the iPhone was released and that changed everything. Apple was the company that was changing the world and if you went out to buy a pc, why not buy one that works just like your phone works? Throughout the beginning of the 21^st century, Apple gained market share from every end of the technology market and the Microsoft brand became stale.

But this is a new Microsoft and a new Windows in a new age. There are no more Start Menus or Program Managers. The Apple ecosystem and the Microsoft ecosystem would appear almost identical from afar. Both sync your data and settings through a cloud service offering a smooth transition from pc to tablet to smart phone but as I mentioned in part 2 (Windows RT 8.1 Preview vs. iOS 7 Beta 2), iOS 7 feels like a fresh coat of paint on something old while Windows 8.1 feels like something new, fresh, and exciting.

Instead of clicking a box to close an app now you swipe or drag down from the top of the screen. To switch between apps you swipe in from the left. Swipe up from the bottom and you get a menu and if you swipe from the right you get the infamous charms. Many people don’t like it. They miss the old design but the old design doesn’t work very well with a touch screen.

With a little bit of imagination however you might realize how well it would work with a Kinect. If your computer monitor were mounted on the wall, it would be very simple to use a Kinect to wave your hand through the air and close your apps or switch between apps. This would be where the Xbox One gets very exciting since Kinect is bundled in with every Xbox out there and it’s supposed to be the all in one solution. I can imagine streaming Madden to my Xbox One and drawing my own plays on my Surface tablet. Playing against friends that aren’t even in the same location that I am. The Kinect allows you to move like you are playing a real football game.

It’s a real game of football. Only played in a virtual world but every other aspect of it is the same.

This is the direction that Microsoft is heading. Things are happening all around Microsoft as it is and it’s not about to slow down. Apple still hasn’t released a touch screen laptop and the new Mavericks OS doesn’t appear to be “touch-centric” so I don’t expect to see one within the next year. They had a chance to roll one out when they released the new MacBook Air but didn’t in favor of promoting the all day battery life which is amazing.

So when the Surface Pro was made, why did they use the third generation Core i5 instead of waiting for the Haswell processor? After all, 4 hours is not a lot of battery life for a tablet especially when a new generation of processors is right around the corner. But the Surface RT was not receiving the welcome that Microsoft was hoping for. If Microsoft pushed back the Pro another six months so that they could use a fourth generation processor and give us all day battery life, the Surface brand would be dead and Windows 8 wouldn’t be moving at the same pace that it is. It was necessary to give us the Surface Pro, even if Haswell wasn’t ready yet. Perhaps if they had used an Intel Atom processor instead of an nVidia Tegra 3 and Windows 8 instead of Windows RT but we will never know. The Surface 2 will be here soon enough.

The ultimate decision between Apple’s or Microsoft’s ecosystem is a matter of opinion. One may be more comfortable in either one. But the last thing I want to say is that they do the same thing and they sync the same way. From pc to tablet to phone. Microsoft still holds the majority of market share in pcs and as people get used to Windows 8 people may go to upgrade their smart phone and decide that they want one that works like their pc does. After all, in 2007 people bought MacBooks because they wanted a pc that worked the same as their phone did.

Microsoft is adopting the same strategy that they did that dominated the market in the 80s and 90s. They are creating a system that is essentially the same as Apple’s and it is available at a lower price because competitors are able to build Windows machines. You don’t have to get the Microsoft Surface Pro or RT. You can get a machine that’s made by ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, or even Samsung. Apple will always be Apple and if you ask me, it’s overpriced. So as someone who spent time in both ecosystems, I declare. . .

Microsoft wins!!!

Microsoft vs. Apple: Part 5, Windows Phone vs. iPhone

by Richard Woods

Just in case you haven’t been following along at my blog at rwoods716.wordpress.com, it’s a tie ballgame between Microsoft and Apple at 2-2. The Surface Pro beat the new MacBook Air due to the tablet form factor and the touch screen but the iPad beat the Surface RT because of the number of apps available, the 4:3 aspect ratio, the games, and the entertainment value. The Windows RT 8.1 Preview overpowered the iOS 7 beta 2 build due to sheer functionality but Windows 8.1 on a non touch screen fell to Mac OS X 10.8 Snow Leopard only due to the fact that Snow Leopard is a more mature operating system.

Next we’re going to compare the Windows Phone to the iPhone. More specifically the Nokia Lumia 920 and the iPhone 4S, because of the $99 price point of each. When I wrote about iOS 7 beta 2, I was comparing it to the Windows RT 8.1 Preview so the iOS 7 that I was writing about was on an iPad. For the purposes of this evaluation, we’re going to look at an iPhone 4S running iOS 7 and giving it a little imagination and saying that it’s fully functional.

Where do I even start? The camera? Why not? Both of these phones have amazing 8 megapixel cameras. In fact, the iPhone 5 and 4S and the Lumia 920 and 928 are known for having the best cameras in the smart phone market. The Pureview lens on the Nokia Lumia 920 allows you to take a much sharper picture than the iPhone when you are shaking the phone, which gives a slight edge to the Lumia. So I give the point to Microsoft for the camera.

Siri vs. the voice assistant on the Windows Phone. Does the voice assistant on the Windows Phone have a name? I wouldn’t know. I didn’t even know that it existed until I bought the phone. Previously, I had my iPhone connected to my car via Bluetooth and Siri was an excellent way to safely use my phone while driving. If someone sent me a text, I could hold down the home button, ask Siri to read me my message and she would read me my message through my car speakers. If I wanted to respond, I could hold down my home button on my iPhone and tell Siri to send a text and dictate the message through the microphone in my car.

Like I said, I didn’t even know that my Lumia had a voice assistant when I first got it until someone sent me a text while I was driving and the podcast that I was listening to was interrupted. I was told that someone had sent me a text and was asked if I wanted the message read to me. When I said “read it”, the message was read to me and then I was given a list of options of which I chose to respond. I then dictated my response to the message and told it to send it. The phone never even came out of my pocket.

For a digital voice assistant, the point definitely goes to Microsoft. It makes the Windows Phone that much safer to use when you don’t have to press that home button to activate it. For this reason, I would recommend a Windows Phone to any parent who is buying a smart phone for their teenager who is learning to drive.

Let’s take a moment to compare the apps. Apple brags about its 900,000 apps and Windows Phone only has around 100,000-150,000 but there are some really cool apps on this Lumia. The “City Lens” app allows you to hold up your camera and through augmented reality find local businesses or restaurants or shops. There’s even a “Job Lens” app that does the same thing so you can even find businesses around you with job openings! It’s really amazing. Both platforms have Office now, although you need a 365 membership if you want to use it on an iPhone.

The difference between Apple’s apps and Microsoft’s apps is that most of Microsoft’s apps are available across platforms while Apple’s apps are only available on iOS. If you were to compare Apple’s FaceTime to Microsoft’s Skype for video chatting, the one thing that you would notice is that you can only FaceTime between iPads, iPhones, and Macs, but you can Skype between virtually any smart phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop running just about any OS. Other useful apps by Microsoft like OneNote, SkyDrive, and PhotoSynth are also available on both platforms. In fact, if you still have an iPhone 4, Apple’s native camera app won’t let you take panoramic pictures but if you download Microsoft’s PhotoSynth app from the AppStore, Microsoft makes it possible to take a panoramic photo with an iPhone 4! For those reasons, the point for apps goes to Windows Phone.

I’ll admit. I was scared to switch. When you are invested in Apple’s ecosystem, it’s not that easy to switch. All of your music comes from iTunes, all of your books come from iBooks, and all of your Apps come from the AppStore. Once I did switch, I never looked back. This Nokia Lumia really does support an astronomical amount of features. At a shutout score of 3-0, Windows Phone blows away the iPhone giving Microsoft the lead in the Microsoft vs. Apple comparison at 3-2.

“The New Windows” just keeps getting better and better and one thing that Microsoft hasn’t talked a whole lot about was what the Windows Phone 8.1 update will be like but I am super excited about it.

For part 6 we’re going to do a blast from the past for those that aren’t using the latest pieces of technology like I’ve been reviewing. I’m going to compare a second generation iPod Touch to a Zune HD. Stay tuned. There’s more to come.