iOS > Android

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Everything I’ve read explaining why Android surpasses iOS has focused primarily on two things: the number of service providers who have Android phones and the wide range of Android phones available.

Here are the two main reasons why I believe iOS will prove to be the superior choice: the number of service providers who have Android phones and the wide range of Android phones available.

Yeah, I know, but read on.

Each carrier offers several models of Android phones from various manufacturers and they’re continually updating their product line to add the newest models.  The newest and most popular models get the updates first, leaving owners of the older or unpopular phones to fend for themselves.

T-Mobile VibrantI bought the T-Mobile Vibrant (aka Samsung Galaxy S) not too long after it was introduced with much fanfare by Big Magenta, and it came with Android v2.1.  Meanwhile, Google continued to upgrade the Android operating system with enhanced capabilities and bug fixes, but I never received an OTA (“over the air”) update from T-Mobile.  Finally fed up with waiting, I checked the Samsung web site and learned they’d released Android v2.2 four months earlier, so I updated my phone manually.

Version 2.3 has been out for a while and many phones have received OTA updates to it, but neither T-Mobile nor Samsung have it available yet.  At least, not for the Galaxy S.  You see, the Galaxy S has been surpassed by the Galaxy S II, the newest flavor of the month, so it’s no longer a priority.

Getting back on point, Apple Corp. releases updates to their Apple products (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) simultaneously.  The OS for all devices is updated at the same time.

Google updates Android, the various cell phone manufacturers compile the code for the models they carry, the service providers send OTA updates based on whatever criteria they set and maybe, just maybe, the phone you have is new or popular enough to warrant being included in the update.

It’s actually worse than getting Windows updates.  Imagine there’s an update to Windows7, but only Dell computers are getting it.  Not just that, but only Dell computers bought at Best Buy.  That’s similar to what’s happening with Android updates and why iOS > Android.

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Chicken-fried Steaks

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There are three factors that go into making the perfect chicken-fried steak.  It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that the steak must be tender.  Chewing food that’s tough as shoe leather is unappetizing.  Period.

White gravy, the second of the three factors, should be served on the steak and not on the side.  Why?  If the crispy coating is cooked correctly, it will adhere to the steak and not allow the gravy to soak in.  Should a restaurant serve you gravy on the side without you have requested it, they don’t have a lot of confidence in their version of the chicken-fried steak.

The third component is that fried, crispy coating and possibly the most important of the three.  It is not an easy thing to master the perfect coating.  Too thin and everything turns soggy.  Too thick and it might seem like you’re chewing on bits of cement.  But when you find that perfect coating on a tender steak with white gravy so good you could eat it like soup, you will understand why we Texans (and our neighbors) take our chicken-fried steak seriously.

When I was just a young-un’, that steak was at Beam’s Restaurant in my hometown of Lufkin, Texas.  Mom was an excellent cook, but even she couldn’t match the cook at Beam’s.  It was also the only time she could get me to eat a salad.

Last month I went back to Texas to visit family and discovered T-Bone Tom’s in Kemah.  Well, not so much discovered as “was introduced to.”  That plate-sized steak was so delicious, especially with a side of fried okra and Texas toast.

I’m looking forward to my next trip home and more chicken-fried steak discoveries.  It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

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