They say the grass is always greener on the other side, and that's certainly true of the smartphone market.

We've all had that feeling of smartphone envy at one time or another. Perhaps you've rocked up at work or a social event and your smug colleague/friend has whipped out a new phone with a shinier screen, a better camera, or a sharper design.

It's an unfortunate by-product of the fast-moving smartphone industry many of us follow like suckers. When you buy a new phone, you've got at most 11 months of warm fuzziness - and probably a lot less - before it feels worn, over-familiar, and even dated.

Of course, smartphone envy goes much deeper than that for some. There's that old tribal divide between Android and iOS, and while vociferous supporters of either side will shout from the rooftops about their format's superiority (rather annoyingly for the rest of us), it's easy to detect the bitter edge of insecurity and jealousy to it.

First up, let's discuss those areas of Apple's iOS that make many Android users jealous. And yes, before you get your knickers in a twist, we will be handling the other side of things next week. Sheesh.

"Android now has more apps than iOS," Android fanboys will often triumphantly say. "Google is far less restrictive about what it lets onto its store," they might also say.

Both of these points are true. But they both miss the point rather spectacularly.

The Google Play Store is indeed filled with more apps than iOS. As of six months ago, there were around 1.3 million on Android and 1.2 million on iOS.

But what those figures mask is the quality of the apps and games. Generally speaking, you still get better examples on Apple's platform. It's better supported by talented developers, and there's far less worthless dross thanks to Apple's 'draconian' standards.

Important apps will almost always come to iOS first, thanks to the relatively small number of hardware variants (making it easier to program for), not to mention the proven willingness of iOS users to actually spend money on such things.

That's particularly so in the case of games, where the vast majority of smartphone games we want to play debut on Apple's system.

Don't get us wrong - Android has an excellent range of apps. But come on Android users - let's not pretend you're not still a little jealous of your iPhone-owning counterparts and their pristine selection of apps and games, eh?

After-sales support

So, the latest flagship Android phone you picked up has a sharper screen, better camera, slimmer body and more flexible software than the iPhone 6 - and all at a cheaper price. Great stuff.

Now, say it goes wrong, or you encounter a software issue, or you need help with a particular feature. What do you do?

The options here tend to involve a lengthy postal returns process, an irritatingly long-winded and unhelpful call to an unmotivated and undertrained helpline stooge, or trawling the internet for hours to find others with the same issue.

Do you know what iOS users do? They take their product into their local Apple shop and have a (usually) polite and knowledgeable expert take a look, who then apply their very specific knowhow and state of the art diagnostic tools towards finding a solution - often for free.

Indeed, if the issue is fairly serious and your phone is still under warranty, you'll often walk away with a brand new phone there and then.

This isn't purely an Android issue, of course. The simple fact is, no tech company does after-sales support like Apple.

Android phone design has come on leaps and bounds in recent years. A market that was formerly made up exclusively of cheap, ugly slabs of plastic can now boast the all-metal unibody delights of the HTC One M8 and the pimp-my-phone bespoke options of the Motorola Moto X.

But even the best Android manufacturers lack that suave, desirable, iconic Apple aesthetic. That sense that wherever the company goes with its smartphone and tablet designs, much of the industry will follow.

For many Android fans, Apple's specific design language, which incorporates plenty of pretentious marketing jargon and aspirational lifestyle nonsense, are all reasons to hate the company. We can't argue with that opinion.

But there's often more than a hint of jealousy mixed in there too, because Apple simply makes beautiful stuff.

This one's closely related to that last point, in a way. Android enthusiasts often resent how much media attention Apple gets.

Of course, Google's Android platform is highly regarded and regularly discussed, particularly in the specialist press. But it doesn't even approach the levels of feverish speculation and rumour, nor the undignified scrabble for information that surrounds a new Apple release.

Then there's the type of coverage. No other tech company gets the same kind of mainstream press coverage that Apple does. Again, Apple's ability to transcend the normal tech geek market and position its devices as lifestyle items and even fashion accessories is unique.

It's disproportionate by any standards, but particularly so if you prefer your smartphones to be a bit more Googley. And those Android fans may roll their eyes at the latest primetime news report on a new iPhone release, but that's at least partly because they'd like to see the same thing happen to an Android phone.