Updated May 17, 2023
Introduction to Android Alternatives
Android – Google’s humanoid OS dominates the mobile trade, and there are no doubts regarding it. According to 2018-2019 statistics, the humanoid has a share of 36.5%, Windows has 35.9%, IOS has 13.99%, and the remaining operating systems have the other share. Android has grown vastly within the previous few years and deservedly, therefore. Most people love Android for its customization and nice options; however, there are times when we consider alternatives to Android. Apart from Android, there are different mobile operating systems with some nice features. Though many of them aren’t as feature-rich or mature as humanoid, they offer some cool interesting, unique, and amazing features that are open source and the best alternative to Android.
List of Android Alternatives
The list of Android Alternatives is as follows:
1. Tizen
Tizen OS is an associate open-source, UNIX-based mobile operating system and was later converted as an official mobile operating system of UNIX to support the projects by the UNIX Foundation. Companies like Intel and Samsung also support the Tizen project. Initially, Tizen OS was planned to release in 2013. Still, it got postponed and released in January ’15 along with the primary Tizen phone; Samsung Z series televisions were released in the South Asian market, followed by Tizen OS. Samsung launched several Tizen OS devices, like the Samsung Z series and various Smartwatches. Some of the Positives about it are: it has great HTML5 support and intuitive gestures, and on the other side, the negatives are: they are very few apps, and it looks like Android.
2. Kai OS
People regard Kai OS as the third-largest mobile software system globally. But this Kai OS is not widely spread worldwide, and very few people know it. It was recently released in 2017 and powered support for an enormous range of mobile phones in just two years. Unlike other mobile software systems, Kai OS targets the basic feature phones and cheap phones in the market rather than high-end phones and touch phones.
They have targeted feature phones and basic because they are cheap and have functionalities similar to a smartphone, making them a gorgeous and reasonable devices. Kai OS depends on the UNIX Operating System because it is a copy or child version of the Firefox operating system, and we can gauge the potential of Kai OS based on the fact that technology giant Google recently invested some disclosed amount of million dollars in it.
3. Cyanogen OS
Cyanogen OS was an in-style custom computer memory on the robot. Cyanogen OS first came pre-installed with the OnePlus One, and now it has a series up to OnePlus 6T; different companies like Micromax use it for its YU series phones. You can transfer its open supply CyanogenMod computer memory for many robot smartphones. While gas OS appears constant as the robot, it permits you to customize it.
The Android-based OS provides a different collection of themes and custom controls on mobile, with a better camera interface and an integrated Gallery with various features like portrait, etc. Cyanogen OS has a deal with Microsoft to use its services like Cortana, OneNote, Outlook, Office 365, and One Drive instead of Google, Gmail, Keep, Text, news, and Drive. Hence, they need to remove support for Google.
Mobiles with Cyanogen OS have a huge market share in the premium phone segment. Some of its positives are that it has great customization features, frequent updates, and a great community, but the only negative is it doesn’t have Google services, but the latest news is that we can get those too.
4. Plasma Mobile
KDE recently announced the Plasma Mobile operating system, an open-source mobile OS developed by KDE. The Plasma operating system is based on the Kubuntu operating system, and it is the mobile version of the desktop OS by Plasma operating system, which gives flexible performance to KDE users. They tested it on the LG Nexus 5 device in the experimental phase. It will be interesting to check if it gets separate hardware support in the future so that it can be released along with it for public use.
5. LineageOS
LineageOS is an open-source mobile OS, and it is an Android distribution. In different words, you’ll decide it is a custom memory. When CyanogenMod’s more productive humanoid distribution was interrupted, it created it. CyanogenMod OS, which started in December 2016, serves as the basis for Lineage OS, a copy of it. The latest update reveals that it has been installed on over 1.7 million devices and supports 170 varieties of mobile models, which is a good number.
6. MIUI
Xiaomi has been creating nice inroads in whichever country they must expand to. Xiaomi company got a huge success due to various mobiles across price ranges, strategies, good features at less price, and finally, the OS, which is at its best for that price. MIUI has been glorious for its IOS-like appearance and highly customizable options. Users can utilize the MIUI OS not only on Xiaomi devices and mobile phones, but they can also employ this operating system on other devices by using custom CPU memory specific to the respective devices.
If you wish for robust flexibility with an IOS appearance, then MIUI might appeal to you. Xiaomi OS brings a lot of customization options and different types of themes for better user appearance, which makes MIUI OS a better alternative to Android OS. Some of the positives are it has good themes, customization features, and an IOS-like interface and feeling, and on the other side, the negatives are slow updates, much different from the stock Android.
7. Apple IOS
Android and IOS are competitors in the mobile market against each other for the premium segment mobile. Android and IOS almost enjoy an excellent user base, and there’s nothing much competition regarding this. Whereas Google has large numbers of mobiles and users, Apple has the profit on the other side. After all the comparisons, we can say that IOS is the best alternative to the Android OS due to its features and best user experience as it has a unique interface among all applications, smooth user experience, beautiful animations, exclusive applications for IOS users, regular updates, high-quality third-party apps from Apple store. We can complete Google apps, whereas you won’t find any Apple applications on the Android operating system. Some positives are awesome UI, better touch and smooth operations, regular updates, and best-quality applications. Some negatives are OS is locked-down, few customization options.
Conclusion
Finally, It’ss a brief overview of different alternatives to Android available in the market and Open Source. Android OS has had a good demand over the years and keeps increasing its user base due to its customization, flexibility, and better features. Still, as we have seen, they are better alternatives to Android, offering better features in some categories and almost the same experience in others.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to Android Alternatives. Here we have discussed the top 7 Android Alternatives with their pros and cons. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
