OT: I Phone vs Droid
Basically my contract is coming up on my Blackberry and I have not been real impressed with any upgrades Blackberry has made to the web browser on their new phones. SO I am in the process of deciding between a Droid or I Phone. At the moment I am leaning towards a Droid only reason being I have never owned a Mac (main reason I used to be a big gamer and their selection used to suck) & I would really hate to sell my soul to AT&T...I have been with Verizon and I would like to stick with them.
Howeva, you can't deny the fact that I Phone is stellar and with over 50% of the market share that speaks for itself. Has anyone owned both? I would be interested to hear your opinion. I have read all of the reviews on-line, but I get a little skeptical....you get the feeling some of these sites are basically promotional machines for some of these companies and you don't get a fair/honest review.
tl;dr: Need new Phone. I Phone or Droid?
The exclusive agreement doesn't expire until 2012 unfortunately.
Verizon is thinking about getting rid of unlimited data plan. Nothing like getting to charge customers insane amounts for going over in the slightest without giving customers any easy way to tell how much data they've used.
Unless you know someone who has an iPhone in your area who has no problems, you should probably avoid AT&T. It is awful in many markets (I had one for 3 months here in Chicago and finally ditched it and went back to T-mobile) and things could actually get worse due to the current launch of the new iPhone and the pending launch of the broadband enabled iPad.
The fact that T-Mobel is better than AT&T should tell you something right there.
I didn't even neg this comment for spelling, that should tell you something too...
AT&T's network is overloaded and given that they will now allow tethering on iPhones, they have launched a whole slew of more data-hungry phones besides the iPod (android devices, Palm phones, some upcoming S60 phones) that will continue to bog down their network, plus iPad traffic, their service level is only get worse in the near term as none of the expenditure plans I have seen for network/infrastructure will address this adequately.
This can be area-specific though, so whatever phone you get, test the network for 30 days and see which is best and if the service is terrible, before 30 days are up, take it back tpo the store, hand it back to them and say 'no thanks'. Nothing says 'improve your network' more than a returned device. That goes for all carriers.
I recommend you go Android, but not "the Droid". I had a Droid and its slide out keyboard hardly got used. If I could do it again I would get one without a slide out keyboard, as they are much thinner. Like someone above said, you probably want to wait a month or two anyway, as there will be a couple new Android phones coming out to choose from.
I would also recommend not leaving your Droid at a bar on St. Pattys day. Didn't work out so well last time I tried it.
Get the iPhone 4 and jailbreak it, then you've removed Android's only advantage. Unlock it and take it to T-Mobile if you must.
The Droid feels laggy compared to the iPhone, Android does not have any good games in its app store and has fragmentation issues, Android is unsupported in corporate environments whereas with my iPhone I have all the tools and apps I need to "work" remotely with it, it has Cisco VPN built in, and don't underestimate the value of support at the Apple Store. I have gotten a brand new iphone replacement for free from them after I dropped mine on the floor and cracked the screen. There are so many ways it beats out Android, particularly once it has been jailbroken.
Then you could just as easily root the Droid and overclock it. It's processor was underclocked to 600mhz out of the box, but once you have it rooted (Android version of jailbreaking), it can run at 1.2ghz without breaking a sweat. This will solve all those laggy issues you referred to.
All the things you mention that can be done with an iPhone can be done with Android once rooted. Except a lot faster and with better battery conservation (my rooted Evo gets 18+ hours with endless use as compared to my iPhone which I'd be lucky to get 10 out of).
I live in Chicago and I find that the service is fine. I don't think I'm going to get the new I-Phone though because I find it odd that AT&T is letting people upgrade even if it's only been a year. Seems like they might be losing the contract next year and they are just trying to lock people up for 2 years to plans.
Also I'm not pro-Apple the only Apple products I've ever owned are the I-Pod and I-Phone but to completely hate Apple for their "business practices" because they own most of the market share is well... stupid.
Why is an operating system called "Android"? An android is a machine that takes a physical human form.
these aren't the droids you are looking for
I currently have an iPhone and my fiancee has a Motorola Backflip (Android 1.6). I'm not sure about Android 2.1 but I'll tell you that she absolutely hates that damn phone. It drops calls like no other (no, it's not an AT&T thing, I'm in the car at the time using mine and hers drops and mine doesn't - I haven't had a dropped call in quite some time actually), it freezes up and is generally just a total POS OS wise. Hopefully they've fixed a lot of these things but I'll tell you that her Android 1.6 is much crappier than even iPhone 1.0 back 3 years ago. So, I'd say, at the very least, make sure if you get an Android phone make sure it's running the latest OS - I can only assume it's better because if it wasn't Android would literally be dead at this point with how crappy her phone OS is.
I think a lot of it depends on what you want to do with your phone. There are more apps and more possibilities to find a particular app on the iPhone App Store (current ratio is 10:1). From my experience the iPhone is much easier to manage than the Android OS but you'll also find a lot more free stuff on the Android marketplace since it's not policed at all (read: free stuff that is borderline stealing but to you, the end user, it's still free). But if you're really worried about AT&T's service in your area then go ahead and stick with Verizon. To get a better idea about AT&T's service in your area you should probably ask some iPhone users - if you live in NYC or SF they are probably going to tell you it sucks but if you live where I live (Fort Worth) I'll tell you it's worked just as well if not better than any phone I've ever had (I've been w/ Verizon and Sprint as well). So, really the ultimate decision you have to make is do you want more control over your phone or do you want more app options? You can customize your Droid quite easily but today Apple's walled Sandbox is 10 times larger than Droid's beach so it's really about what's most important to you.
Personally, obviously, I'd go with iPhone, it works seamlessly, rarely if ever crashes and has treated me very well.
The Backflip was rushed to market by AT&T to get an android phone into their lineup ASAP. Moto is desperate for sales and didn't do the appropriate level of testing/review on the hardware platform underneath the OS nor the radio components in terms of how well they function in the network environment. Backflip is a nice idea for a mid-level phone, just did not get fully cooked.
... iPhone has 50% of market? Jailbreak an iPhone and take it to T-Mobile? Root and overclock your Droid?
WTF?
You might as well have asked: who are better, blondes or brunettes (redheads are Nokia, BTW).
I am in the same position, on Verizon, rocking a Blackberry. If you don't want to leave Verizon, you are looking at Android for now, iPhone on Big Red has to wait, although not until 2012 as someone said (the Apple-ATT deal has some outs..). Likely Apple is waiting until Verizon deploys its 4G-type LTE service nationally in 2011, then Apple can drop an iPhone 5 that will be a screamer.
Plus all the carriers are moving away from unlimited data plans so it depends on how you will use the phone, monthly fees will start to diverge for many users.
While some of the new Android handsets are eye-catching, most of the new ones have their own interface between Android and the user (Sense for HTC and Blur for Motorola). These sort of clog things up and make Android phones lag in getting updated. Apple has one phone, and pushes an updated OS when ready. .
Some of the time spent demonizing Steve Jobs is mind-boggling. He is a focused, smart MoFo. Apple isn't a religion (I think); if you don't like what goes along with their excellent products and user experience buy a frickin' Droid or use some tin cans with string.
The way I see it, a phone is just a tool; If you are spending too much time with it, you're not getting out enough...
I have used both the Droid and my iPhone 3gs.
The upper advantages that droid had is that you could use more than 1 app at a time.
The Ipod feature alone is great all the adapters that car stereos have for your iphone to listen to music is great. My Iphone never crashes it never drops calls. My droid would drop calls and i coudnt get service in parts of the country that i could with my iphone and i would have 3g with my iphone. Theres a reason why so many people have the iPhone its stable and it works all the time i also love my singbox app on my iphone i dont know if droid has this or not but its amazing and its awesome even with 3g.
Get the new iphone
and have preordered the iPhone4. Using AT&T in the Phoenix area with few problems, and have been able to travel to Europe because GSM is more compatible world-wide. That said, I love the Droid simply because with competition, the winners will be US. Verizon will eventually be on the iPhone, rumors are as soon as 3Q 2010, but my guess would be mid 2011. The big advantage of the iPhone is its integration within Apple's "Digital Lifestyle," which for me means that I now have consolidated mutliple devices into one object, including being able to travel without my laptop. I obviously prefer the iPhone over the Droid, but getting into platform wars is stupid. Use the tool that gets the job done.
I still find it funny that Verizon turned down the iPhone originally because they didn't want to give up any control of the devices on their network. Interesting how that turned out for them.
The backstory is that Verizon has always been the most draconian when it came to what devices they allowed on their network. They were able to get away with this because they effectively had a proprietary network and a device had to be authorized to use it. They controlled the authentication which allowed them to do things like force Motorola and other handset manufactures to put custom verizon only firmware on the phones which limited their capabilities to only those that verizon chose. In contrast, most of the rest of the world either used GSM or a derivitive of GSM for authorization which only required changing out a SIM chip to get a phone authorized on a network.
The rapid rise of the iPhone was the leverage that the various handset and mobile OS companies needed in order to get Verizon to loosen up some control of their network and what enabled devices based on Android to use the network.
So if you are using an android device on the Verizon network, be sure to thank Apple and the various iPhone users for forcing verizon to open up. ;)
The new phone is suppose to be better at picking up Cell signals due to the fact the whole outter case is an antennae. And you don't need to be a MAC computer owner to enjoy the iPhone.
But, it's a toss up as Droid has its advantages over the iPhone. I think the biggest difference is intergration where the iphone is better integrated with the OS as Apple controls both the hardware and OS.
I think your answer is pretty clear if you're sticking with Verizon. On the other hand, if you're willing to consider AT&T, I would recommend the iPhone 4. The App Store absolutely blows away the Android market and I actually like the fact that Apple controls what developers submit and advertise on the App Store. I'm also a bigger fan of the iPhone 4 pseudo-multitasking because it preserves battery life while generally giving the same functionality from a user's perspective (developer-side, not so much).
Other benefits to iPhone 4 include: Built in video conferencing, much better usability, iTunes sync'ing, better battery life, awesome display.
Things I like about Android: Wifi-hotspot feature is sweet, no approval for unsigned apps, Verizon, smaller learning curve for app development (though Apple's Interface Builder is absolutely sweet once you know what you're doing), FLASH.
Buy a droid. Install a custom ROM (e.g., CyanogenMod). Bask in your glory.
If I wasn't so new I'd +1 you good sir.
Sent me on a walkabout through numerous tech site reviews, message boards, and finally Ebay, though sadly (two hous later) I still haven't decided on a new phone.
And they are both great phones. If you are a business user, the droid is the way to go. If you are using it for fun, happy, wow things, then the iphone is the way to go.
As for the Apple vs WinTel debate. I wrote a final exam on this in bschool. I won't go into all the details because it is putting me to sleep thinking about it. Putting the learning curve aside, Apple is by far a better product. There was some chatter in the industry that Apple and WinTel companies were in collusion, in that WinTel would rule the office and Apple would rule the home and both companies will be happy. However, Apple has made great strides in attracting the "prosumer". IMO, the only thing that is better on WinTel computers are the Office products (office 2008 for Mac has no VBA!).
I've used both and i prefer android over the iphone just because of the user interface. i like to see the weather and and other things on my home screen instead of just a bunch of icons like the iphone.
i was the kind of person who got a new phone every year. i got an iphone 2 years ago and still love it. there are far and away more apps. the interface is much easier to use than the droid also. As far as ATT coverage being bad i really think this is a non issue. my work phone is a verizon blackberry and it has just as many dropped calls/deadspots if not more than Att. I really think if you asked 100 iphone users if they'd rather have a different phone less than 5% would say yes.
- Battery life -- Apple held off on multitasking because of battery-life problems -- Android's unrestricted multitasking drains battery life at unacceptable rates -- I believe both platforms will find good solutions for this problem in time, but as usual, because they produce integrated hardware and software, Apple is way ahead of the curve here with (reportedly) really good battery life with the multitasking that is built into iOS 4.
- Flash -- People often fail to note that Adobe still has not produced a finished version of Flash for any mobile platform, not Android, not anybody. The beta that Adobe has only just recently released drains your battery like there's no tomorrow. Good luck with that. The iPhone has been out for three years -- how long exactly was Apple supposed to wait for a functioning product? Not to mention the fact Flash is not conceived for multitouch technology. Plus, Flash is the number one cause of crashes in Mac OS X. Apple has spent enormous resources isolating Macromedia/Adobe's bad code, trying mitigate the problem from their end. I don't know why anyone would think this situation would magically change for the iOS. So Apple said fuck it.
- Finally, how do you think Google is going to make money from Android? Do you think they are just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts? No. They make money by selling ads and analytics about people's habits -- Google's goal is to monopolize the entire mobile ad business. Google's AdMob basically bilks mobile developers and leeches off their properties. Apple, with its new iAd, does pretty much the opposite -- they deliver most of the ad revenue to the content creator as an inducement to make more great content for the retail hardware Apple makes its money from.
In short, competition is good. I think people should be thrilled that Apple is taking on Google, especially in the advertising/analytics space. I obviously have an iPhone, but I'm sure I'd be happy with a phone that will run Froyo when it comes out. If you're buying an Android phone today, make damn sure it has the specs to upgrade to Froyo (Android 2.2).
I have an iPhone and have never even tried an Android phone but this seems pretty biased to me.
1) My iPhone battery lasts maybe 6 hours of normal use throughout the day. I don't know that the droid is any better, but you're implying that the iPhone has a good battery situation when it's actually rather poor. I need to find a way to charge during the the middle of the day at least once. Furthermore, multitasking is a choice and if you'd rather not run an app in the background then don't! Not even allowing the choice is not a "feature"
2) Again, flash is a choice. If you don't want to run it, then don't. Not even allowing the choice is not a "feature"
3) I don't think many users care at all about the Ad platform on their phone, it's an issue that app developers and advertisers are more likely to worry about. However if you do want to worry about the ads as a user, iAd has been promoted to advertisers as being able to do things like display full screen ads that the user can't dismiss, or must interact with to dismiss. Frankly I prefer iAd. And I doubt that Apple will be giving any more revenue to develpers than they have to, or than AdMob is now.
+1 on your explanation of Flash in the mobile space. I am amazed at all the grief Apple has taken over this when it is Adobe that created the mess. Sort of like the PDF reader; a constant source of frustration and crashes for me.
Yes Steve Jobs does push the envelope most of the time. But at least its refreshing when he calls out someone (Adobe) when they deserve it, and only after Adobe took the first shot.
On point 2., Adobe flash support is being added in the next OS release for Droid 2.0.
On point three, i have nothing to hide with my buying purchases. Additionally google adspace HQ is in Ann Arbor. I am more than wiling to add big brother to support an Ann Arbor business.
The version being added to Droid 2.0 is effectively a beta which still have signficant performance and compatibility issues. Its pretty bad when the developer of mobile flash is on stage and asks people what sites he should go to and he has to shoot down 1/2 of them because they don't work with mobile flash or cause it to crash.
I know several people with the latest android and adobe build of flash and their universal opinion is that as it currently stands, it will do more harm to adobe and android than good.
This seems like a pretty biased opinion. As I've owned both products for long periods of time, #1 is FAR from true. Battery capacity and duration on Android is much more than, if not often double, that of the iPhone.
#2 is somewhat correct. While OSX definitely experiences issues with Adobe, I'm not so sure you can just proclaim it as a bad software. I've had it on two different Android devices and it was never a battery killer nor did it have issues with force closing. While html5 will ultimately win, in the short-term iOS4 users will miss Flash while Android users enjoy it.
#3 Listen, I'm neither anti-Apple or pro-Google as I own more Apple devices (ipod + ipad) than Android devices (Evo 4G). But let's not pretend both companies aren't out for themselves and to make the most money. I'd say they are basically ethical equals.
One thing we do agree on, Froyo will be epic.
Doesn't matter which one.
Phones are like computers now - in the way that in 6 months someone will come out with a better one.
Get the one you like, the one you prefer. People will debate tech specs all day but like I said, they won't matter much at all in the end since someone will come out with a better phone in a year, if not earlier.
You have alot of replies already but I thought I would give you my take on it. I own a Droid and haven't had a major issue with it. The only thing I don't really like with the droid is the email app but part of the reason is I don't use gmail. I use hotmail and also I have my work email synced. Other than that everything else works great. I would probably wait for the new Droid X but if you get the original droid there is suppose to be a new update coming soon for the droid that adds quite a bit to the phone including adobe flash which will let you watch internet videos.
I went with the Droid solely because I go to every home football game for Michigan and all my friends with Iphones have no service around the stadium during the games and I have had service with Verizon. Sometimes it is slow but I always have service.
Blackberry DOMINATES the smartphone market. Someone's smoking some SERIOUS weed or crack if they think APple has 50% market share.
Also, Apple sucks and always will because they are a closed system and they are a bunch of profiteering bastards. Also, Verizon's coverage is WAY better. No matter where you live.
So
What we have learned is Droid = The Cool and Apple = The suck
Thank You for your inuiry.
Let me guess you have Verizon and are one of those people that thinks ATTs coverage is lousy.
I ve got coverage in a ton of places my friends dont. Ive had both services at the same time. Here on the west coast ATT is at least equal if not better.
I have a Droid and I love it. It does a lot that the iphone cant. Swype is so good I stopped using the physical keyboard. I don't wanna hear "just unlock the iphone". I shouldn't have to unlock a phone to get what I want out of it.
Get a Droid IMO.
You'll be using in bright sunlight much of the time.
Do you have one? Does it actually work? The one that I tried previously didn't help much, and that's (glare) the biggest reason that I'm leaning toward the Droid over the Incredible.
The biggest difference between the two is that the iPhone is in Apple's safe little garden while Droid lets you go into the jungle. This leads to the iPhone being easier to use, but certain Droid phones will have features that the iPhone doesn't have.
Also, ATT sucks in Chicago, so that pushed me to Sprints Evo 4G.
Just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to write some solid reviews and share some experiences. As it stands I am leaning towards waiting a few months for the next Droid models to come out. It's funny reading how passionate we become about brands (eg Ford vs Chevy, Google vs Apple) I am not pointing this out to make fun, b/c I am also very guilty of this. Thanks again!