It may take you by surprise, but the iPhone 4S only has 512 Mega Bytes (MB) of RAM and an 800MHz dual-core processor; this was verified by iFixit and Anandtech. Peoples’ first thoughts might be something like “How does Apple think they are going to compete with Android if they can’t keep up with their respective phones’ hardware specs?” The simple answer is the iPhone’s software. I’m not saying that hardware isn’t important; it most certainly is. The problem with many peoples’ conception of mobile phone technology is that they don’t fully understand the relationship between software and hardware, and this is a relationship that Apple seems to have mastered. The second you turn on an iPhone and play around with it, you realize that the software you are interacting with is vastly superior to its Android and Windows Phone 7 counterparts. The smoothness of the interface is unmatched and every little detail throughout the operating system is taken into consideration to maximize efficiency and simplicity for the user. No one does this better than Apple.

 

In a world where all we hear about is the fastest processor and the most RAM, you would believe that the iPhone 4S, with the best performance of any phone available, has superior hardware to that of any other phone. Given the specs that were discovered about the new iPhone 4S, its software is really what should be getting some attention. The way that software interacts with its hardware has the ability make or break a system. The first step is to get everything to work. Once everything works, refining every part of the system is what separates the men from the boys. Throughout any phone’s operating system, there are countless little details in every nook and cranny that can be, and should, be refined to make the user experience the best possible.

 

Apple’s philosophy is simple: Start with how you want the user to experience the product, and work backwards from that point. It seems like common sense, but, surprisingly, Apple is the only company that really implements that idea in such a way that it sets the standard for the entire industry. That industry-leading attention to detail and efficiency trickles down all the way down to the crucial element that is the software-hardware communication. There are a few reasons that it is so extremely crucial to maximize efficiency.

 

The first reason is because it cuts costs. If you can do the same for less, it doesn’t make sense not to. 512MB/phone is a lot cheaper than 1GB/phone, and when multiplied by every iPhone manufactured, that’s a lot of money being saved. All of that extra money being saved can be invested in other things such as higher-quality materials to build each device, or it can just be stored into Apple’s 81 billion dollar reserve.

 

A second reason is because it saves battery life. The more RAM you add to a device, the more battery life is going to be drained at a quicker pace. This is because the bigger the RAM is, the more addresses you have to power and maintain. If you have a 1-bedroom apartment, the electric bill is going to be a lot less than if you have a 2-bedroom house. The same concept applies to RAM. Having a slower processor also saves battery life. For the clock to run faster in a processor, it needs more power delivered to it to provide more cycles/second. Another way of looking at it is, if you want to drive your car 25 miles in 25 minutes, it’s going to take more gas (power) to do it than if you drove it 25 miles in 50 minutes. The iPhone is the Gold Standard when it comes to smartphone battery life. This has a great deal to do with the slower-clocked processor along with the smaller RAM.

 

A third reason efficiency is key is that, particularly in Apples case, you can keep older phones updated without worrying too much about them not being able to keep up with newer software. If you run iOS 5 on an iPhone 4 or 3GS, you won’t notice much lag throughout the phones operating system. Even though iOS 5 was designed with the iPhone 4S in mind, past iPhones were not forgotten. The ability for Apple to do this is made clear once you take the software written into consideration.

 

My third point can be highlighted by taking a look at Android’s Motorola Droid 1. I had this phone up until a month ago, and Android’s latest update available for most new phones, is not available for that phone. The only way to obtain it is through root but Verizon does not push it out. This is because the hardware cannot keep up with what Gingerbread, which is the newest update besides Ice Cream Sandwich. This is because Gingerbread is greedy and needs more resources than those offered by the poor, old Droid. While the two-year-old Droid is left out in the cold, the two-year-old 3GS is still invited to enjoy the latest update.

 

These advantages are passed on to the consumer. If you want a phone with the best battery life, as well as a phone that will always be up-to-date, you need a phone whose software is the most efficient; no one does that better than Apple. This is a big reason that Android phones will always be second best to the iPhone, and until Android catches up, it’s going to stay that way.

 

Picture Source: http://theopinion.in/android-ios-war-fanboys/