To iPhone or not to iPhone?

So I have been wondering if it would be worth getting an iPhone/iPad solely for it's superior gaming. I bought a windows phone because I had faith that Microsoft could really create a unique gaming experience with windows phone 8. The ground work was there but I feel like Microsoft have just short of completely neglected the windows phone 8 Xbox platform. The Windows Phone OS is actually pretty nice but it's lack of app's and more specifically quality games have me wanting to switch to a better supported Smartphone OS. So I guess my real question is Is iOS the only worth while smartphone OS for good mobile gaming or does Android provide an equal experience?

Android has the largest market share and gets everything of note. There are still the odd games that come to iphone first and are exclusive for a little bit, but anything worthwhile comes to android too. The main thing though is even the best phone games are garbage imo. I won't bother going into detail here and derailing it, but when I got my first smartphone I jumped in after hearing all this talk about phone games being amazing for so many years and it's all facebook style nickle and dimming crap. I have never played a phone game that made me glad I had a phone to experience it. They are just glorified flash games.

iPhone gets far more games than Android. There are lots of exclusive games that never hit Android. I've played a lot of phone games that I really enjoyed, chiefly Year Walk, Sword & Sworcery, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space (both different games from their console counterparts), Waking Mars, Tiny Wings, pretty much every Kairosoft game (e.g. Game Dev Story, Mega Mall Story), Rayman Jungle Run, Mikey Shorts, Polara, Mass Effect: Infiltrator, Ridiculous Fishing, The Room, Punch Quest, etc.

Games like Year walk, Sword and sworcery, Insane fishing and the room interest me because they seem greater than normal angry birds or cut the rope mobile game.

Sorry i meant Ridiculous fishing lol

I'm not sure you should choose either iOS or Android based on the games...they are pretty similar across both platforms. I guess it depends on your personal preference and which device you like more. There are just so many games out there on both platforms that you'll never lack something awesome to play. Don't lock yourself into an ecosystem just because of a few exclusives that may not stay exclusive for very long anyway.

That's true enough

I've been perfectly happy with the number of full games available for Android.

Yesterday, EPOCH, Out of This World, Broken Sword, Kingdom Rush, Rayman: Jungle Run, The Room, Terraria, Organ Trail, and Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption are just a few of about forty games I've had installed at some point, and I rarely play on my phone.

Plus, iPhone users are already in the minority in most places, and if Apple doesn't get their act together after iOS 7 they may never regain dominance. We could very well see a future of apps flowing from Android to iOS.

I really like my iPhone. It's a solid fucking phone.

Ridiculous Fishing is totally on Android, guys.

Is year walk on Android?

My contract just ended, but I'm still waiting for Microsoft's Build Conference where they're gonna reveal their Goldfinger and Moneypenny phones. Goldfinger is the high end phone I'm waiting around for, with 3D touch or whatever.

Rumor is though, that iPhone 6 is coming out in May. If i were you, I wouldn't get on the wrong boat.

I cannot speak for anyone else but the deliberate obfuscation of settings and the complete barrier it throws up for anyone even remotely in need of advanced system features is an insurmountable deal-breaker from where I'm sitting..

For gaming? Apple sorda has that shit down. Android is catching up for sure, but it's still not where Apple is.

non-apple platforms allow controllers, right?

iPhones are great.

Yeah non apple platforms slow controller input

Give it up now, gaming on phones and tablets is awful for pretty much everything except strategy, puzzle, and adventure games. I haven't played a game on my phone or tablet in about 6 months.

I don't know about everyone else here, and I don't know about the iPhone, but I can tell you my Droid 4 has some serious issues when it comes to games crashing and freezing and whatever, particularly when it comes to quitting and resuming games. Since most of this stuff is so bite-sized, it's not a huge deal, but I bet Apple is better on that front.

So does iOS, that was part of this years update.

The games are largely the same on both, they might come out a little sooner on iOS. If you like to tinker with settings and visuals and all that stuff Android is for you. If you want a phone that runs apps super well, maybe the iPhone is for you. i have a 5S and I love it, I've tinkered with Android on a Nexus 7 and it just wasn't for me, from my experience (and I'm sure it'd be way different if you tried hard to make it better) you have a lot of options for how to do everything on Android, but none of it works as well as iOS.

Choose whichever ecosystem you are already knee deep in.

Just buy an iPhone, unless you're short on money. If you are, then I guess that cheap Motorola Android.

If you wanna appear cool and hip with people you should buy an iPhone. If you want a good mobile OS with which you can do whatever you want, you should go Android.

E: Also I think every single game that's been linked so far is also on Android, so you should very much just base this shit on which UI you prefer and whether or not you want any sort of customisation options.

Yes, I recommend that you iPhone. They're nice and solid. I used to be a diehard Android person (and technically still have phones that run the newest versions of Android. I still check them out from time to time) and I got fed up with all of the little things Android had that drove me nuts. I've had an iPhone 5 for just over a year and have yet to have anything resembling an issue with it. That is something I definitely could not say about any of the Android devices I own. The battery life is better too.

Edit:

I always find arguments like this hilarious. Believe it or not, there are people who don't care about being "cool" that use iPhones. I use them because they are dependable and cause me few issues if any. I'm sure there are many others in the same boat. After going through a multitude of Android devices that all either died on me because they were poor quality (original Samsung Galaxy S, the supposed best Android phone at the time when I bought it. Was useless after just over a year because it overheated constantly even though I babied it. Of course warranty was done on it so I was out of luck), were made obsolete because of Android updates no longer supporting them after incredibly short lifespans or manufacturers cutting off updates and making them obsolete in order to drive sales of new devices (looking at you again, Samsung), I gave up.

I like Android in concept, I just have yet to find an Android phone that doesn't turn into a complete downer to own after a year or doesn't feel like it is going to fall apart after a year of usage.

There are some real good mobile games, but there has yet to be one which is really great enough to justify owning the platform (whichever platform it is) solely for the games, in my view. I have owned devices on all three platforms and gaming on those devices is and always has been something I do as a very occasional aside, not as a main activity, despite trying and trying to get into it more. If you're really sure that you will play games enough to justify it then go for the iPhone but I don't think it should be a key criteria.

When it comes to Android or iPhone (or Windows) at this point it just comes down to whose services you prefer and if there is an individual phone with design or features that you really desire. Windows Phone has the best camera, Android the best screens and so on. I think iOS is still slightly more intuitive than stock Android but it's not a huge difference, and I prefer the greater flexibility of Android*. I have an HTC One and love it more than any device I have ever owned - HTC Sense is probably the only manufacturer variant of Android which actually improves it significantly (it incorporates quite a few features which are similar to the best things about Windows Phone). The screen is utterly awesome and the camera isn't amazing but is really quite good in low light (and as I live in Scotland half the year is 'low light' haha). Just don't get a bloody Samsung, crap phones.

*For example, you can plug a 360 controller into some Android devices and it just works. In practice, of course, I NEVER DO THIS because that is insane.

I love my iPhone

I liked my iPhone 4. Then I got a Nexus 7 tablet, and I liked that way more than my iPhone 4. Then I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS 7 without reading about the effects it would have on my phone, and now my iPhone 4 is a hunk of shit. So I'm getting a Moto X. Fuck the iPhone.

Also, games like Ridiculous Fishing and 10000000 are on Android.