Study Shows Women Prefer iPhones and Men Prefer Androids

A recent study conducted by Nielsen found that when purchasing their next smartphone, women are much more likely to buy an iPhone and men are more inclined to purchase an Android device.

Nielsen Media Research is an American company headquartered in New York City that researches media audiences and their opinions of television, radio, theatre films, newspapers, and lots of other media outlets.

According to the data that Nielsen collected in October 2010, 31 percent of women wanted to buy an Apple iOS device of some sort as their next mobile device, while only 22.8 percent of them were interested in a Google Android device. On the other hand, among men the study found that 32.6 percent were more interested in purchasing an Android device, while 28.6 percent said they would first consider an iOS smartphone.

The report also said that in terms of market share, iPhones and Blackberrys are in a “statistical dead heat.” Both of these manufacturers each claim 27 percent of the smartphone sales. Android comes in behind them at 22 percent, Microsoft Windows Mobile has 14 percent, and Symbian, Linux, and Palm systems have less than 8 percent of the market.

However, the survey did not just look at the current numbers. Nielsen realized that the important thing to look at was the breakdown of “next desired smartphone purchases.” The study clearly showed that iOS and Android were going to be the preferred systems in the future. Of those surveyed, 35 percent checked that they were most interested in an iOS device and 28 percent said that an Android device would be their preference. Only 13 percent of those surveyed wanted a Blackberry device, which was the next “most desired” smartphone operating system. Following behind Blackberry, Windows Mobile was the next preferred device, but it only snagged six percent of the votes of those studied.

Nielsen even went as far as observing which operating systems were preferred among different age groups. They found that every single age range was most interested in Apple iOS except for 35-54 year olds. This age group said that they would prefer to make an Android their next smartphone purchase. Although this was the preferred system by this group of individuals, the numbers were very close. The study showed that 27.4 percent of those surveyed preferred an Android phone, but 26.3 percent said they would prefer an iOS device.

Another interesting figure that the report by Nielsen found was that 29.7 percent of U.S. mobile phone users currently own a smartphone of some sort. This is the highest figure recorded to date.

Earlier this month, two other research groups, NPD Group and Canalys, reported that Android was installed in about 44 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, putting it ahead of Apple and RIM. Another study released recently was conducted by comScore and claimed that Android was the fastest growing operating system in the market right now.

It’s interesting to see the audiences that different operating systems are appealing to and how close the numbers really are between the desire for an Apple iPhone and an Android device. It was intriguing to see that right now in terms of market shares Blackberrys are tied with iPhones and ahead of Android devices, but considering the future preferences that people have made clear with the Nielsen study, we should be seeing a decrease in the number of Blackberry devices being purchased.

Of course this could all easily change, but for now things are looking good for Apple and Google. We’ll just have to see how it all turns out.

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Netflix Coming…But Only to “Select” Android Phones

Netflix is showing up in a lot of different places these days. Phones, TVs, laptops, tablets, game systems, etc. are all starting to have Netflix capabilities. Well, Android phones are about to be added to that list of devices, but only a few “select” smartphones. A blog that was posted by Netflix on Friday, November 12th said that by next year the company will have their service fully extended to the select phones. The reason why Netflix is not able to provide their service for all Android platforms is due to some concerns about security, privacy, and content protection.

Android product developer Greg Peters wrote, “The hurdle has been the lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism available for Android. The same security issues that have led to piracy concerns on the Android platform have made it difficult for us to secure a common Digital Rights Management (DRM) system on these devices.”

Peters continued saying that unless there are some developments made to assist with protection, major studios won’t provide their content for Netflix. So, as Peters has stated, Netflix simply does not have the “common platform security mechanism and DRM” that is necessary for an Android phone. On the other hand, Netflix has recently been working with individual manufacturers to add content protection to their devices so that they can utilize the Netflix service. So hopefully, all Android phones will be able to utilize the service sometime in the near future.

“Unfortunately, this is a much slower approach and leads to a fragmented experience on Android, in which some handsets will have access to Netflix and others won't,” Peters said. This may be disappointing to some Android users, but as of right now, there isn’t much that can be done. "This clearly is not the preferred solution, and we regret the confusion it might create for consumers," continues Peters.

Peters adds that he feels that providing the Instant Streaming Netflix service to some Android users is better than to not provide it to any. That is why the decision was made that by next year certain Android-based phones will have the ability to utilize Netflix’s streaming service. As of yet though, it has not been revealed which “select” Android phones will feature the service.

Peters finishes by saying, “We will also continue to work with the Android community, handset manufacturers, carriers, and other service providers to develop a standard, platform-wide solution that allows content providers to deliver their services to all Android-based devices.”

Google has made no comment about this so far.

Most recently in August, Netflix added their streaming service to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. They also made it available for the iPad. Apple’s Steve Jobs is mostly likely getting a kick out of Netflix’s use of the word “fragmented” to describe Android platforms. During Apple’s most recent earnings call, he made a comment about the devices that caused a bit of a stir. He said, “Android is very, very fragmented, and becoming more fragmented by the day.”

Well, despite everything, some of the “fragmented” platforms will soon have Netflix streaming capabilities, and hopefully, all Android phones will have streaming abilities soon.

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24 Hour Android Sale

Wirefly, the online site that sells discount mobile devices, is having a 24 hour Android sale that only lasts until this Thursday at midnight. They are offering amazing deals on some incredible phones. You can pick up the Motorola Backflip or the HTC Aria for free when you set up a new account with AT&T. You can also get the Sony Xperia or the Samsung Captivate for only $49.99. All you have to decide is which phone fits your needs the best.

Motorola Backflip
The Backflip features a great keyboard and has a battery life of about seven and a half hours of continuous talk time. MotorBlur also integrates e-mail and social networking quite nicely.

HTC Aria
This Android phone from HTC is absolutely adorable, and it is incredibly fast. It also has an excellent 5-megapixel camera. It is being called the first “usable” Android phone from AT&T.

Sony Xperia
The Xperia is great on battery life. It runs a little bit over 7 hours of continuous talk time. It also has a fantastic camera and great video playback. Sony gave the Xperia a slim, chic feel and plenty of features to make it a great choice.

Samsung Captivate
People are calling Samsung’s Captivate the top Android phone from AT&T and quite possibly the best alternative to the iPhone. It’s sleek, fast, and powerful. It has a big bright screen and tons of great apps.

You better hurry because this sale won’t last much longer. These are some excellent deals on some fantastic phones. Wirefly is the place to go if your looking for a new Android phone.

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AT&T's Much Needed Android Smartphone: The Captivate

AT&T has finally come out with a much-needed Android smartphone. As one of the four major cell phone providers in America, AT&T was the only network truly lacking in the Android smartphone area. They no longer have this problem though thanks to the new Samsung Captivate. The Captivate is part of the Galaxy S series by Samsung and is by far AT&T's most dominant and feature-rich Android device. It has some really exciting features and is a great alternative to the iPhone 4.

The appearance of the Captivate is really nothing special, but the design is clean, simple and it gets the job done. The device is fairly large at 4.18 x 2.5 inches, but it is quite thin. It is only 0.39 inches deep and easily slips into your pocket. The Captivate is a very well constructed phone and feels very solid in your hand, but at the same time, it also feels sleek and modern.

The front of the smartphone is mostly taken up by the extraordinary 4-inch Super AMOLED touch screen. This screen supports 16 million colors and a WVGA resolution of 480 x 800. The Captivate’s touch screen is one of the best-looking touch screens to be seen on a smartphone. It is truly brilliant. The coloring is incredibly vibrant and has a great sharpness that makes texts incredibly easy to read. Samsung’s decision to use the Super AMOLED screen presents several advantages. It has wider viewing angles, improved responsiveness, and also consumes less power. The scrolling experience on the Captivate is very smooth and supports the pinch-to-zoom feature. The display also possesses a six-axis accelerometer, which is quite useful for gaming. It is even quick to change the screen orientation whenever the phone is rotated.

The Captivate has four buttons on the front of the phone located below the screen: menu, home, back, and search. All four buttons are touch-sensitive. On the left side there is a volume adjustment button, and on the right is the power/lock button. Conveniently located on the top of the phone is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Micro-USB port, and as usual, the camera is found on the back of the device.

As mentioned earlier, the Captivate is part of Samsung’s Galaxy S series and therefore runs Android 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface. Samsung has worked really hard to re-vamp this program. They have enhanced the functionality and given it a more polished look. They also added new widgets including one called Feeds & Updates and another called Buddies Now. The Feeds & Update widget streams updates from Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. It has the capability to display content from one, two, or all three of the social-networking sites at once. The Buddies Now widget allows you to immediately call or text the contacts from your Facebook, Twitter, or MySpaces pages or comment on any of their updates. There are also a number of other Samsung and Android widgets and other shortcuts available.

The Samsung Captivate also comes equipped with a variety of features including: speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, text and multimedia messaging, and a full range of wireless options for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, and GPS. It also gives you access to AT&T's Wi-Fi hot spots and a hot-spot locator app. The Captivate is also compatible with Gmail, POP3 and IMAP, Microsoft Exchange, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

This magical little device also provides quite a nice list of available apps including a Write and Go app. The Write and Go app lets you compose a message on a notepad then send it to yourself whether it be by way of SMS, an e-mail, or a status update. Other apps include: Mini Diary app, Mobile Banking, Where, Yellow Pages Mobile, instant-messaging clients for Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo, a calculator, a voice recorder, and a memo pad. There are also several AT&T-specific services, such as AT&T Music and Video, AT&T Radio, AT&T FamilyMap, and AT&T Navigator. There are even more apps that you can obtain through the Android Market.

The camera on the Captivate is 5-megapixels and has an HD video camera. You have the ability to adjust the white balance and even add effects. The camera also offers lots of editing options like ISO settings, antishake, and blink and smile detection. One odd thing about the Captivate’s camera is that it is strangely missing a flash. This causes outdoor and night photos to be fairly poor, and the night setting doesn’t do much to help the situation. Despite the camera being a disappointment, the HD video camera is still very impressive.

The Captivate comes with a 1,500mAh lithium ion battery with a talk time rate of 5 hours and 50 minutes and up to 12.5 days of standby time. The battery should be able to easily get you though a whole day of checking e-mail, playing music, and browsing the Web. It’s well equipped with Samsung's 1GHz Hummingbird Cortex A8 processor. Every once and awhile there may be a very brief delay when exiting out of an app, but as a whole, the smartphone is extremely quick.

The Samsung Captivate is currently available from AT&T as of July 18 for $199.99 with a two-year contract. This is really a good buy with all the features it has to offer!

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