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Android or iPhone?

kdarling said:
Eh? Are you talking about services such as weather on startup?
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On my droid 2 if I go to settings -> Manage Applications -> Running I have every app on my phone running even if I did not open it. I have "Amazon MP3" running, "City ID" running, "VZ Navigator" running, etc...


Why would you even bother to remove anything? Just don't put those apps on your homescreen.
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That would be a viable option if Android didn't automatically start those processes and have them running in the background. I always thought that the less processes/apps running = better battery life and better security. having said that, I'd still rather not root just because it's annoying to go back to stock if you root and mess up. Not nearly as simple as restoring in iTunes.


Heck, even in the Android master app list they're all down in the V for Verizon section. It's not like they're all named starting with an A for ATT :)

At least you can choose what you see on Android homescreens, unlike iOS where we cannot remove factory apps like Stocks, but only hide them in a folder or back homepage.
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Valid point.

I've never had that on my Incredible.
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Out of all of the android devices I tried, the Incredible was by far the most smooth. The Sense UI is extremely polished for Android. On my Droid 2 even swiping on the lock screen it lags across and delays before it goes into the OS. I did not experience this on a incredible but experienced it on the samsung fascinate, droid 2 and droid x. The incredible just recently switched from a AMOLED screen to a SLCD screen, so that's why I didn't go with the incredible. The only downside to the incredible is that it takes a long time for the battery to charge.



I've turned my lock screen off entirely using an app called "No Lock". Now I can turn on the screen straight to my home widgets.

Cheers!
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Thanks kdarling for your replies, I'll check out No Lock and see what I think.
 
I have found this thread quite informative. I was surprised to read from so many folks who had IPhones and moved to Android and why. I have neither. I am a long time VZ customer, patiently waiting for the IPhone. I still plan to get one (assuming that it comes out soon), but it is interesting to read other folks perspectives on the pros and cons of each.
 
I had an iPhone 3G from launch day (mid 2008), till the Droid came out (Nov 09). Switched to the Droid because of work.

I thought Android was quite nifty and useable at first, comparing it to the 3G. After a while, Android's bugginess gets so annoying ... Jerky animations, applications in the background that keep running till your battery drains in 1 hour, the keyboard in landscape mode is horrible, and overall, it was very slow. Android's browser is horrible, compared to Safari mobile.

Then comes the i4, no questions about it. I'm never going back to Android again.
 
fehhkk said:
I had an iPhone 3G from launch day (mid 2008), till the Droid came out (Nov 09). Switched to the Droid because of work.

I thought Android was quite nifty and useable at first, comparing it to the 3G. After a while, Android's bugginess gets so annoying ... Jerky animations, applications in the background that keep running till your battery drains in 1 hour, the keyboard in landscape mode is horrible, and overall, it was very slow. Android's browser is horrible, compared to Safari mobile.

Then comes the i4, no questions about it. I'm never going back to Android again.
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its not quite fair to compare the latest iPhone iteration to an older Droid 1 2.0 Android OS. Thats comparing iOS 4.x to Android 2.0. That would be like comparing Android 2.2 to iOS 3.x

Fact is, Android has come a long way since one year ago that the Droid line was introduced. Crazy its been one year, yet so much has happened in the Android world.
 
I bought the iPhone 3gs late November of 2009, I jailbroke the phone as soon as I bought it and I always thought that it was nice phone, never had a problem and kinda liked having the whole itunes ecosystem thing going, loved the fact that I could use it to tether to my PC/laptop.

Then once AT&T released the samsung captivate (galaxy s series) I wanted to try it because of the bigger screen and wanted to see what android was all about. I was also getting bored with my iPhone I looked into the iPhone 4 but with not jailbreak option available at the time that meant no free PAM (Phone as modem/tether) option a must have for me at the time, so I decided to jump ship.

I purchased the captivate on late August and I used it as my main phone for a while it was nice, it would lag a little but I decided to stick with it, well after a couple of moths of use I realized that the captivate is big steaming pile of ****, GPS is broken it lags like crazy and it freezes when you try to do something after you "wake up" the phone, no wait, let me rephrase that, samsungs implemention of android on the samsung captivate its a steaming pile of ****. Sometimes I would miss calls because it would not respond to my inputs, I finally got fed up and decided to root it then installed a custom ROM, after that the phone ran as good as my old iPhone 3gs.

Currently I'm using the captivate, but I'm thinking of just getting an iPhone 4 I miss having a reliable phone. That's one of the thing I gotta give to apple I know is a tired cliche but their phones just work.

I've owned several smart phones going all the way back to the cingular 8125 oh and 3125 previous to that(those were the days) different blackberries and most of the AT&t line up from 2007/early 08 (anybody remembers the FAN acct deals?)

What I remember the most about those phones is how slow and sluggish they ran, trying to go from regular view to landscape mode on the 8125 took like 3 seconds, the 1st generation blackberry curve that couldn't even read the contents of my memory card without freezing, my razr v9 was faster, then again it was a simpler phone, I didn't make a big deal out of it then because the hardware was not as good or fast, but nowadays is different the power to make these phones run fast and smooth is there, the OS now needs polishing, is kinda like having a car, I have enough horsepower under the hood, how about you give me a better suspension, or better steering?

Android is a nice OS but the implementation by some of these companies is just awful, the fact that you have to modify the phone to that extent to make it work without a problem it's a sign that these companies need to spend more time working on these android phones instead of churning one out every other week.

After this experience with android I'm really not looking forward to try windows phone 7, it looks nice and is tempting but I might go and get and iPhone 4 for christmas.
 
Alex318 said:
I bought the iPhone 3gs late November of 2009, I jailbroke the phone as soon as I bought it and I always thought that it was nice phone, never had a problem and kinda liked having the whole itunes ecosystem thing going, loved the fact that I could use it to tether to my PC/laptop.

Then once AT&T released the samsung captivate (galaxy s series) I wanted to try it because of the bigger screen and wanted to see what android was all about. I was also getting bored with my iPhone I looked into the iPhone 4 but with not jailbreak option available at the time that meant no free PAM (Phone as modem/tether) option a must have for me at the time, so I decided to jump ship.

I purchased the captivate on late August and I used it as my main phone for a while it was nice, it would lag a little but I decided to stick with it, well after a couple of moths of use I realized that the captivate is big steaming pile of ****, GPS is broken it lags like crazy and it freezes when you try to do something after you "wake up" the phone, no wait, let me rephrase that, samsungs implemention of android on the samsung captivate its a steaming pile of ****. Sometimes I would miss calls because it would not respond to my inputs, I finally got fed up and decided to root it then installed a custom ROM, after that the phone ran as good as my old iPhone 3gs.

Currently I'm using the captivate, but I'm thinking of just getting an iPhone 4 I miss having a reliable phone. That's one of the thing I gotta give to apple I know is a tired cliche but their phones just work.

I've owned several smart phones going all the way back to the cingular 8125 oh and 3125 previous to that(those were the days) different blackberries and most of the AT&t line up from 2007/early 08 (anybody remembers the FAN acct deals?)

What I remember the most about those phones is how slow and sluggish they ran, trying to go from regular view to landscape mode on the 8125 took like 3 seconds, the 1st generation blackberry curve that couldn't even read the contents of my memory card without freezing, my razr v9 was faster, then again it was a simpler phone, I didn't make a big deal out of it then because the hardware was not as good or fast, but nowadays is different the power to make these phones run fast and smooth is there, the OS now needs polishing, is kinda like having a car, I have enough horsepower under the hood, how about you give me a better suspension, or better steering?

Android is a nice OS but the implementation by some of these companies is just awful, the fact that you have to modify the phone to that extent to make it work without a problem it's a sign that these companies need to spend more time working on these android phones instead of churning one out every other week.

After this experience with android I'm really not looking forward to try windows phone 7, it looks nice and is tempting but I might go and get and iPhone 4 for christmas.
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Go for it. Sounds like a good Christmas present to me! :D
 
I went from a 3G to a htc desire, at 1st I thought it was amazing , it was so easy to just drag and drop files into the phone, easy to get gba roms onto it, I was able to play avi files etc. But after a while I noticed the battery life was terrible , the apps crashed a lot and didn't look as polished off as iPhone apps.


Then my dad got a iPhone 4 and the screen, better battery life And improved iOS just made my htc look like a POS. my main probably with the desire was the battery, which is the most important thing in a phone for me.


I'm now a proud owner of an iPhone 4 and will never go away from the iPhone again.
 
Acejam2k said:
The Nexus One isn't outdated. Yes, you can't buy it from the public Google Phone store anymore, but registered Google Developers can still buy them. (for any normal person, that's a $25 fee) However, the Nexus One has the same amount of RAM as an iPhone 4 (512mb) and has a FASTER processor. (the iPhone 4 is underclocked to 800mhz)

If you put the two phones side by side, and navigate them to the same webpage, the Nexus wins everytime. The same goes for other various functions. Heck, try performing a Google Search on an iPhone using Safari. You need to open Safari, wait for it to load, type in your query in the top right, hit search, and wait. With the Nexus, just hit the search button, and start typing. You'll see live results stream right in.

Personally, I use an iPhone 4 due to various reasons. However at one point I was using a Nexus One everyday, and still have it lying around today. With 2.2.1 FRG83 (the latest official Android N1 build), the Nexus One IS faster than the iPhone 4 at various tasks, including web browsing, menu navigation, scrolling, and so on. Yes, it occasionally does have a bit of choppiness, but then again, so do iPhones. (you just overlook and don't want to admit it)

Clearly the iPhone 4 is more popular, and yes - the sales of the Nexus didn't take off as Google had hopped - these are facts. But to go out and basically say that it sucks, when "in fact" it's actually faster, both on paper and in person, doesn't make sense. The bottom line is, stock for stock, the Nexus One is faster.
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I said "Outdated". Never said it sucked at all. And im also not saying it is a dinosaur either. Yes it runs well but the features it has is already been passed up. I think the Nexus one is a pretty decent phone and its is Googles fault for not letting a carrier sell it as to why it didnt sell very well. Now the Nexus S/Nexus 2, is going to be a Samsung phone and no it wont look like the one you saw. You should click on the link i posted on it.
 
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Android user here but I frequent these forums because I have an iPad. Im fairly familiar with iOS since most of my friends have iPhones. Im not an android user by choice, if Tmo had the iPhone I would've had that all along. I would love to see the percentage of Android users because they are stuck in contract.

Someone previously menteoned that Android feels like its in Beta. I have to agree. I have a Samsung Vibrant and its buggy and bloated with Samsung apps that constantly run in the background. Battery life sucks, I cant seem to go a full day. This really sucks when I am traveling. Android does have its advantages - better typing/text, customized home screens, widgets, notifications, etc.

I'll say this though- Android has come a LONG way since the beginning. I had the first android phone and in that time the OS has dramatically improved. Most of that improvement has occurred in the past 6 months and sounds like there is a lot of good stuff in the near future. Becuase of the AT&T exclusivity, it has given android just the perfect amount of time to be a worthy competitor to Apple.
 
timeconsumer said:
On my droid 2 if I go to settings -> Manage Applications -> Running I have every app on my phone running even if I did not open it. I have "Amazon MP3" running, "City ID" running, "VZ Navigator" running, etc...
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Ah, okay, so it's not really running every app you have :)

What we have there is the Amazon equivalent of iTunes, an optional incoming call area id app that goes away if you don't buy it after 15 days, and the Navigator service waiting to be used. None of them are actually running all the time. They're just ready to be run again, just like apps on iOS that have been run before. Yes, it's annoying to see them in a task list. Otherwise they're pretty harmless.

In many ways, showing "running apps" to Android users is like showing the "multitasking bar" to iPhone 4 users. Neither means what people think they mean. In fact, if you just ignore those lists, everything works just fine, because each OS will recover memory from unused apps if necessary.

The incredible just recently switched from a AMOLED screen to a SLCD screen, so that's why I didn't go with the incredible.
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Some people want the SLCD over the AMOLED, since it displays crisper text like on the iPhone 4.

Regards.
 
I have been an Apple hater for a very long time. But after giving up on RIM and going for my iPhone 4. I now see why they do the stuff they do. But I love the mess with things at heart and I dont feel right JB'ing my personal phone. So I got an Android Tablet to play with.

The tablet itself is pretty awesome, but boy does Android suck.

Basically the stuff that makes you think Android would be better, makes it worse. All the customization, free apps, multitasking, all that stuff just ruins the thing. I have downloaded almost 30 apps, and only about 3 of them worked with no problems. And thats because there are so many different versions of the apps and hardware, that sometimes you dont know what your getting.

With iOS its very simple and very controlled. Luckily out of my 200+ apps on my iphone, none have ever crashed.

My brother also got the newest Win 7 phone and it seems like a cross between Droid/iOS. But closer to iOS.
 
asr10 user said:
I have been an Apple hater for a very long time. But after giving up on RIM and going for my iPhone 4. I now see why they do the stuff they do. But I love the mess with things at heart and I dont feel right JB'ing my personal phone. So I got an Android Tablet to play with.

The tablet itself is pretty awesome, but boy does Android suck.
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Android 2.2 on tablet form is not supported by Google. Wait until honeycomb is released early next year to make a fair comparison.

Android 2.2 is for smartphones, not tablets.
 
Alex318 said:
Then once AT&T released the samsung captivate (galaxy s series) I wanted to try it because of the bigger screen and wanted to see what android was all about. I was also getting bored with my iPhone I looked into the iPhone 4 but with not jailbreak option available at the time that meant no free PAM (Phone as modem/tether) option a must have for me at the time, so I decided to jump ship.

I purchased the captivate on late August and I used it as my main phone for a while it was nice, it would lag a little but I decided to stick with it, well after a couple of moths of use I realized that the captivate is big steaming pile of ****, GPS is broken it lags like crazy and it freezes when you try to do something after you "wake up" the phone, no wait, let me rephrase that, samsungs implemention of android on the samsung captivate its a steaming pile of ****. Sometimes I would miss calls because it would not respond to my inputs, I finally got fed up and decided to root it then installed a custom ROM, after that the phone ran as good as my old iPhone 3gs.

Currently I'm using the captivate, but I'm thinking of just getting an iPhone 4 I miss having a reliable phone. That's one of the thing I gotta give to apple I know is a tired cliche but their phones just work.
Click to expand...

This is true. The Captivate, in stock form, is probably a average phone and terrible at worst. I have one. With that said, custom ROMs really fix all the issues with the Captivate. I flashed a custom ROM two months ago and I don't have a single complaint. I came from Windows Mobile 6.5, so I was willing to do a little extra work to have what I think is the greatest phone out (hardware wise).

With all that said, this is why Android is not for the average user. In my experience, with so many manufacturers using the OS, you don't get a consistent experience from device to device. So while some may have good Droid 1/2, Incredible, EVO experiences, they will probably have a bad Captivate experience. Most issues have been solved by the developer community, but most users are either unaware, unwilling, or just not technically sound enough to implement these changes, many of which can result in a bricked device. The iPhone 4 just works..for most people anyway.
 
I'm kind of a notorious Apple hater and have never owned a smartphone until this year. I was shopping around because my AT&T contract was almost up, and tried the EVO 4G, the Galaxy S, the Droid, and the Droid Incredible. I wasn't even going to bother trying the iPhone 4, but was killing time one day and checked one out at my local AT&T store.

The first two things that blew me away--the retina display and the silky smooth UI. The second thing that blew me away--the thin, solid, pretty hardware (though I don't care as much about the look of the hardware as I use a case regularly.) Needless to say, I was so impressed, I convinced my wife that we should renew our AT&T contract and I bought an iPhone 4. I have had some issues with it, but the Apple store helped me out until they were 100% sure I was happy.

My happiness was verified when my co worker got a Droid X. I asked him to try it out (this was after I had my iPhone). The first thing I tried doing was swiping the screen from right to left to get to the next screen over. The phone locked up for a good 5 seconds while it thought about what I was trying to do, and then went over to the next screen. The whole point of a touch screen is responsive touch controls. Android doesn't have that......at least not yet, or at least not 100%. Google still has some work to do.
 
I tried out multiple android phones over the past few months, and i am somewhat disappointed overall. 1GHz that, AMOLED this, but after all is said and done, users (including myself) are left with a dead phone before the 9PM mark.
 
lshirase said:
I tried out multiple android phones over the past few months, and i am somewhat disappointed overall. 1GHz that, AMOLED this, but after all is said and done, users (including myself) are left with a dead phone before the 9PM mark.
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My Droid X goes 3 days (max) with its 4.3" screen over the iPhone's 3.5". I average charging every other day though and usually I don't even hit yellow battery. My iPhone 3G was every day no exceptions. I actually ended up keeping it plugged in at work during the day starting after lunch so it could last the work day and the commute home.
 
You're clearly a minority. The android forum is flooded with complaints about the crippling battery life.
 
aohus said:
its not quite fair to compare the latest iPhone iteration to an older Droid 1 2.0 Android OS. Thats comparing iOS 4.x to Android 2.0. That would be like comparing Android 2.2 to iOS 3.x

Fact is, Android has come a long way since one year ago that the Droid line was introduced. Crazy its been one year, yet so much has happened in the Android world.
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Fact is, it's 2010 and we compare apples to apples, OSs to OSs as they stand in their current state. Nobody cares about "OMG they had a head starts" or "WTF this iznt faire, Win7 just launched, iOS has had forever to matures!!".

It's almost 2011. Major companies (i.e. MSFT, AAPL, GOOG) have all had equal opportunity to churn out the first and best smartphone ever created. If GOOG or MSFT entered the market late (which they did) they deserve to receive the full wrath of current consumer demands for "why aren't you as good as AAPL" comments. They were late, period, and they can't expect the appear into the market and expect some sort of free pass for sucking as compared to iOS because they were late. Period.

But whatever. I was a day one iPhone 2G and 3GS adopter. Then a DAY ONE EVO adapter on Sprint (ATT ETF be dammed). And guess what? Two EFFs later (ATT and Sprint) I'm back to the iPhone 4. My main complaint?

Android's battery life is laughable. Every time you power on the phone, you better be concerned about how much battery you have left for other stuff. OK, TRUE MULTASKING!!!! But, it sucks your battery dry. Apple seems to be the only company to realize this.

Lastly, the app market, coupled with the juvenile limited character commenting on apps seems like Android is intended for middle / high schoolers.

Best of luck with businesses and/or adults, GOOG. Yes, your navigation is irreplaceable, but keep in mind, most corporations would LOVE to fire their employees for using their phone while driving, which is what yer phone encourages.

No phone OS FTW. They all suck somehow, but I will always take battery life for my phone over any other feature. Apple wins that, no contest.
 
I have both a 3GS and a Nexus One. In the end, it depends on what you want on your phone. Both sides are not perfect. If you want a free and super awesome fully featured GPS navigation on your phone, the Nexus One is just superb. On the other hand if you already have a lot of your media on iTunes, or don't want to carry both a phone and an iPod, the iPhone is the obvious choice.

As far as apps, unless you are into games, both platforms are pretty much on par now. I can find nearly identical apps both on iOS and Android. Heck, one of the main reason I'm edging on the Nexus One was due to Google Voice, but now there's a native app on iOS too.

What I like about Android (Nexus One):
-Free fully-featured and voiced navigation app (this literally blew me away, it's just so awesome, and it's free!)
-Much better notification system (let's face it, iOS' notification is like a dumbphone)
-My Nexus One is unlocked, thus I can tether and use it as a wifi hotspot on AT&T without additional charge
-Super tight integration of Google Voice (sure, iOS has a native app now, but it's still not as well-integrated as Android, and obviously will never be)
-Live wallpaper (yeah it's just eye candy, but it's still cool)

What I like about iOS (iPhone 3GS):
-iTunes integration and superior media experience
-The OS and apps feel more polished
-Better folders implementation for apps categorizing (really, as stupid as it sounds, I can't re-arrange icons inside a folder on Android)
-Plethora of accessories (accessories for the Nexus One is almost non-existent)
-Less worrying about rogue apps running in the background (eg. Skype for Android is a notorious battery drainer, and there are tons of apps that will run services all the time, even though you might not think so by looking at the function of the apps)

Note that I only consider the Nexus One as the real Android phone. In the US, all the other Android phones are carrier controlled. In case of the Nexus One, Google is the one that controls the OS, just like Apple on iPhones. All the advantages I pointed out on my Nexus One are not necessarily available on other Android devices.

As for me, I was pretty much going full time with the Nexus One, mainly due to Google Voice integration. However, after iOS gets GV native app, I'm using my 3GS again now so I can just carry 1 device. (I was carrying both my N1 and iPod Touch).
 
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Re: the stock Android market.

Everyone I know gets to the market via the AppBrain site instead.

That way, you can browse apps on your laptop, mark them to be downloaded, then use the AppBrain program on your phone to sync up and keep track.

(You can still search and download from the phone itself, of course.)
 
Android camp should be able to narrow the tap to iphone soon. agreed that we need the competition to make both the iphone and Android phones better!

I wonder if some day in the future Apple will license iOS4 to other manufactures. very unlikely at this point but who knows
 
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