EVO 4G owner would NEVER switch back to an iPhone

[aohus]

I currently have the DroidX on my left hand, iP4 on the right hand.

Sorry, but the build quality (i mean durability) of the DroidX is far superior than the iP4. The rubberized exterior makes it much less prone to scratches and God forbid if it drops, it won't shatter.

The iP4 is made of all glass, so of course, the phone is more prone to scratching, and if, God forbid, it drops, more than likely the glass will shatter.

Pros of DroidX (OP, why bash the DroidX? its a very durable phone, and doesn't have that cheap plasticky look and feel that some android phones have)
- Web based Android Market (no need for 3rd party software to install apps from the desktop)
- LED light, for notification purposes (a la blackberry style)
- Superior Notification integration
- Phenomenal battery life for a 4.3 inch screen.
- Highly customizable OS, with scrollable widget support on the home screen
- Replaceable battery (ability to put in a bigger battery with no hassle)
- Replaceable SD card. Essentially, the disk space is limitless.
- Does not require 3rd party software to put music onto the phone (ahem iTunes, aka bloatware imo). DroidX is as simple as drag and drop. You just create a folder in your SD card, and put mp3/flac/lossless files in there, and boom, you're done.
- 4.3 inch screen. Real estate screen is essential for me.
- HDMI out, allowing you to stream 720p videos onto the big screen with no hassle.
- Upload to Youtube instantaneously in 720p format
- Superior Google Maps, Navigation, Street View, with Vector Map Support.
- Voice search functionality. I can voice search while driving, with no problems, and send texts using voice. Sample here
- Ability to undervolt if you root (jailbreak), giving even better battery life.

Pros of iP4
- Applications are more mature on iP4, although the gap is closing between iOS and Android in terms of maturity
- Learning curve is lower. More intuitive to use.
- It looks nice.
- Superior camera than the DroidX, particularly in low light settings

 

[Gavernty]

Well said.
Seems like every android fanboy who root their phone think they are smarter than everyone else, especially iOS users. Newsflash, they aren't.

they are l33t h4ckers that speak in binary code.

 

[Gavernty]

aohus, I like how you set up your droid like it's a beautiful model and take a picture of it at the perfect angle and light setting.

 

[Darthdingo]

clearly the people posting on that forum have NEVER used a jailbroken iphone.... that's like asking me if I would ever go back to stock ios over a jailbroken one.... hell no

I think you are right. I don't own an iPhone now, last one was two years ago, but if I do get the Verizon iPhone4, will only be once there is a stable untehered Jailbreak released.

 

[Darthdingo]

aohus

Great write up, showing the greatness that is Android once rooted with a good rom. I like how yours is setup. And the 4.3" screen is hard to let go of, once you have used it awhile.

 

[zenio]

I've used an iPhone 4 since they were first shipped, the same Applies for my EVO.

These two are both excellent phones, just different. That's why iPhone users that buy an Android phone don't like it. They compare it to their iPhone.

It's a completely different OS, therefore just like people who switch from a PC to a Mac, have things to learn, so do those who switch phones.

Too many people are afraid of change and still they choose a different platform then complain. When indeed they have no idea what they're talking about cause they expect it to be the same.

Open minded users find that each have their pros & cons and it's about what you prefer. If Android was a bad as the fearful negative bashers say, it wouldn't be selling like it is.

The argument about it being cheaper is BS. If someone would rather have an iPhone they'd make it happen. Used, refurbished, there are plenty of ways to get one.

I will always use both. I enjoy the variety and no one makes a perfect phone.

 

[fertilized-egg]

I hate how a lot of the things you do on Android is so choppy. Even switching home screens, scrolling, and web browsing is so choppy feeling. Everything on the iPhone is smoother and that is something I value a lot.

That's something continuously undermined by Android users. I use an Android phone and from what I've read the custom ROMs would've turned it into a world destroyer with more smoothness than a pack of butter.

After trying about 4 different ROMs and launchers, there's no way it competes with the iPhone when it comes to smoothness. When I scroll around and zoom in and out on my iPod Touch, I feel instantly connected and everything feels very natural. On my Vibrant things are speedy enough but it's an eerily disconnected feeling because things would get suddenly choppy and things just aren't as smooth. UI and animation aren't just eye candy. They make things "feel right" even if its' just a simple motion going left to right on a swipe screen.

 

[mightygitis]

I know several people with Android phones. They freeze, hiccup, and suck down battery life like there is no tomorrow. The ONLY thing it had on the iPhone (for me at least) was the Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot capability.

But now iPhone has that too. Sorry, I've done my research, I pick Apple over Google.

 

[Darthdingo]

There is only one reason the Android phones feel choppy and laggy compared to iPhone4. The iOS uses the GPU to accelerate the UI, Android still uses the cpu, which is much slower. Android OS is changing it to the GPU in the newer phones coming out this year, and then it will be silky smooth just like the iPhone4.

 

[Pink∆Floyd]

long post

This post is obviously biased...not worthy of reading through it

 

[Darthdingo]

 

[foodle]

There is only one reason the Android phones feel choppy and laggy compared to iPhone4. The iOS uses the GPU to accelerate the UI, Android still uses the cpu, which is much slower. Android OS is changing it to the GPU in the newer phones coming out this year, and then it will be silky smooth just like the iPhone4.

... just wait for the next update/handset/ROM, and Android will do X ...

How do you know that this will be true? Have you used an experimental build of Android with GPU acceleration?

 

[Darthdingo]

... just wait for the next update/handset/ROM, and Android will do X ...

How do you know that this will be true? Have you used an experimental build of Android with GPU acceleration?

I have seen several interviews with the Google developers, and they have said it is a known issue the cpu is choppy and not the best at handling the UI, and go on to say that GPU accelerating the UI, will really smooth things out, and that it will be a standard requirement for future Android phones running either 2.3 Gingerbread or the next update, forgot which one.

 

[Darthdingo]

Stumbled across this interesting thread;
http://androidforums.com/android-lo...oogle-implement-gpu-acceleration-android.html

iOS's smoothness is just unbelievable.
It is VERY smooth.

This is exactly what happens when you fully specify the hardware and build the graphical interface to match it.

However, having used an iPhone 4, I don't find it unbelievable at all - I do tend to believe my eyes.

The same three statements can be said for the Desire HD or the Evo running Froyo - for the exact same reasons - total hardware integration with a specialized software team exploiting the platform fully. Adding a higher-performance, independently-developed kernel to the mix makes the entire solution jaw-dropping. Naturally, HTC tends to incorporate these sort of updates once proven in the dev / root community.


Could it be because Apple got more talented engineers than Google?

Given Apple's business proclivities, we'll never really know the answer to that question. Sadly, their management heavy-handedness tends to cause their best and brightest to leave, but happily, you often see Apple hiring new market leaders to work on their software side.

Don't you find it really, really sad, as I do, that Android uses the same unix-based pre-emptive multitasking as OS X, yet they chose to hamstring the iPhone with iOS, possibly forever, with a multitasking scheme that harkens back to Windows 95 and has no possibility of ever performing like Android?

Don't you feel sorry for iPhone users that can't access Flash sites properly?

Don't you fell sorry for iPhone users that have to pay for most of the apps that we find free in the Android market?

Don't you agree that it might've made more sense to provide iOS a solid foundation for technical capability so that it might one day catch up with Android, rather than getting the eye candy right first, and then the infrastructure?

All in all, I have to agree with you 100% - iOS sucks the chrome off of a bumper hitch without trying.

And yet, the iPhone just looks so smooth.

 

[foodle]

I have seen several interviews with the Google developers, and they have said it is a known issue the cpu is choppy and not the best at handling the UI, and go on to say that GPU accelerating the UI, will really smooth things out, and that it will be a standard requirement for future Android phones running either 2.3 Gingerbread or the next update, forgot which one.

You've seen several interviews ... Uh huh. Your overwhelming technical evidence clearly is in line with your extremely confident statements on this subject.

When will this update be released? How much faster will the UI be? Which GPUs will be supported? Currently released one? The upcoming Android super phones? Will it support older phones?

So, based on some interviews, you predict that at some unknown point in the future, some as yet unreleased build of Android will enable GPU accelerated UI features for some unknown phone models that might accelerate the UI to reach parity with a product that has been in consumers' hands for over six months. Wow.

 

[foodle]

Don't you find it really, really sad, as I do, that Android uses the same unix-based pre-emptive multitasking as OS X, yet they chose to hamstring the iPhone with iOS, possibly forever, with a multitasking scheme that harkens back to Windows 95 and has no possibility of ever performing like Android?

Don't you feel sorry for iPhone users that can't access Flash sites properly?

Don't you fell sorry for iPhone users that have to pay for most of the apps that we find free in the Android market?

Don't you agree that it might've made more sense to provide iOS a solid foundation for technical capability so that it might one day catch up with Android, rather than getting the eye candy right first, and then the infrastructure?

At first I thought you actually wanted to have a rational discussion of the pros and cons. But now it's patently clear that you're just an immature fanboy looking to troll. Or at best working a cognitive dissonance angle. Have a great time with your EVO.

 

[Darthdingo]

You've seen several interviews ... Uh huh. Your overwhelming technical evidence clearly is in line with your extremely confident statements on this subject.

When will this update be released? How much faster will the UI be? Which GPUs will be supported? Currently released one? The upcoming Android super phones? Will it support older phones?

So, based on some interviews, you predict that at some unknown point in the future, some as yet unreleased build of Android will enable GPU accelerated UI features for some unknown phone models that might accelerate the UI to reach parity with a product that has been in consumers' hands for over six months. Wow.

Dude don't be such a tool. This year ( 2011 ) Android phones released with the newer than 2.3 Gingerbread update will have GPU acceleration to handle the UI. I know it is called the "Ice Cream Sandwich" update for the phones, not sure which OS # that is. Google say this release is due in the 2nd half of 2011.

 

[err404]

Don't you find it really, really sad, as I do, that Android uses the same unix-based pre-emptive multitasking as OS X, yet they chose to hamstring the iPhone with iOS, possibly forever, with a multitasking scheme that harkens back to Windows 95 and has no possibility of ever performing like Android?

Don't feel too sorry for me. On a road trip recently (as a passenger), I used my iPhone to do following simultaneously...

Providing 3G tethering to my iPad (JB mywi, but will be native in 4.3)
Streaming music (Pandora)
Background Voice Navigation (TomTom)
Realtime logging of route (GeoTag Photos)
Receiving IM's (Beejive IM)
Background downloading Podcasts (Podcaster)
Downloading and installing apps​

All while browsing the net (iCab) in the foreground (jumping between the browser and mail and other apps instantly while pages loaded in the background)
I'm not suggesting that Android couldn't do the same, but I ran out of this that would want to do before I ran out of things that I could do.

 

[Jman14]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Uhm, cool story? Glad your satisfied.

 

[foodle]

Against my better judgement, I'll forgo a few minutes of sleep to reply again to this thread ...

Dude don't be such a tool.

Did you seriously just write this?

This year ( 2011 ) Android phones released with the newer than 2.3 Gingerbread update will have GPU acceleration to handle the UI. I know it is called the "Ice Cream Sandwich" update for the phones, not sure which OS # that is. Google say this release is due in the 2nd half of 2011.

The new crop of Android super phones coming out in a few months are all shipping with 2.2 FroYo. The manufacturers can't even get it together enough to ship with 2.3 Gingerbread that's been out for months. And you speculate that the next update after that one will have GPU acceleration ... someday ... someday ...

And you still didn't answer any of the most relevant questions:
When will the update be released? (and no, second half of 2011 is not sufficient)
What GPUs will be supported?
How much will it improve the UI?

... Well? You don't know? I'm shocked ...

 

[tsolt]

Cool story bro. But android has lots of bugs..

 

[314631]

I just came across this thread on one of the best tech sites on the planet; XDA. The poster asked a simple question, would you sell your current Android device for a new iPhone4, and the replies were great, no smart asses, just solid reasons on why it would be a major downgrade.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=934772

I would like to hear solid replies why you already have, or plan to buy an iPhone4 over a new flagship Android device like the, HTC-Thunderbolt, EVO 4G or Nexus-S ?

Thanks for the link. I've often wondered what life might be like outside the walled garden. Once you experience freedom of choice you never go back.

 

[Keleko]

Have iPhone owners that always complain about the crappy UI and slowness of Android even tried a newer Droid, and not the crappy Motorola ones, those are known to blow. But try a Nexus-S, EVO 4G, or G2, those are smooth as silk and fast as lightning.

On my rooted EVO 4G with custom rom "Myn's Warm2.2" my phone is smooth as flowing water, ZERO hiccups or jerkiness, and flipping between screens is very fast and smooth. My Brother owns a newer iPhone4 he bought in December, and my EVO is easily as fast, if not a hair bit smoother in all areas.

You lost me at "rooted" and "with custom rom". My preference, as well as >90% of real world customers, is that the phone should be that way out of the box. Only the techno geek is going to want or know how to root and put on a custom rom. I happen to be one of those that could do it if I wanted, but I don't really want to waste the time. I'd rather spend my time using the device rather than making the device useful. That's also why I use a Mac instead of Linux. I actually did try jailbreaking my old 3G after I got the 4 to see what all the fuss was about. Cydia blows chunks. It felt completely out of place with the rest of the iOS apps. What a horrible piece of crap it was. I was happy to restore the phone to its pure iOS state.

Yes, customization is nice, but I don't care to spend loads of time customizing anymore. I've lost interest and patience in spending time customizing just to make whatever device useful. THAT'S the sign of a well done OS or app or whatever. It shouldn't NEED all sorts of tinkering and hacking and so on to be useful.

 

[Keleko]

I currently have the DroidX on my left hand, iP4 on the right hand.

Sorry, but the build quality (i mean durability) of the DroidX is far superior than the iP4. The rubberized exterior makes it much less prone to scratches and God forbid if it drops, it won't shatter.

The iP4 is made of all glass, so of course, the phone is more prone to scratching, and if, God forbid, it drops, more than likely the glass will shatter.

It probably is more durable, but it is also less pretty. Apple has kind of messed up the durability with the glass back. However, my iPhone 4 still looks as good as the day I bought it. I have no scratches on either glass, and the only case I have is the Apple bumper I got for free. No other phone I've owned has been able to do that.

Pros of DroidX (OP, why bash the DroidX? its a very durable phone, and doesn't have that cheap plasticky look and feel that some android phones have)
- Web based Android Market (no need for 3rd party software to install apps from the desktop)

This sounds like a huge security hole. All I need to do is steal your phone info, and I can install anything I want on your phone without your consent or knowledge. A real security researcher has already noted this, too. I hope Google fixes this fast so you have to approve or something on the phone before the app installs.

- LED light, for notification purposes (a la blackberry style)

I had that on my Treo. I don't miss it on my iPhone. But then usually I have an email or something waiting, so the light would always be on anyway.

- Superior Notification integration

Yep, I hope Apple fixes this soon.

- Phenomenal battery life for a 4.3 inch screen.

Meaning what? I've gone a full 2 days with my iPhone 4 with normal usage. Can the same be said for the EVO?

- Highly customizable OS, with scrollable widget support on the home screen
- Replaceable battery (ability to put in a bigger battery with no hassle)

I did this with my Treo. It was nice to get the longer life. My iPhone 4 outlasts my old Treo's battery life by a full day. I don't need a bigger battery anymore, and I'm glad I don't have the extra bulk, either. Also it is extra cost, so it increases the overall cost of the phone. Anyway, this is really moot because you can buy an external battery to increase the battery life of an iPhone. It doesn't require you to replace the battery and reboot the phone in the process, either.

- Replaceable SD card. Essentially, the disk space is limitless.

And extra cost. Remember, you have to buy those extra cards, so they increase the overall price of the phone. I only bought one for my Treo and never replaced it. I was too worried about losing any extra cards if I carried them, so it was never a useful feature for me.

- Does not require 3rd party software to put music onto the phone (ahem iTunes, aka bloatware imo). DroidX is as simple as drag and drop. You just create a folder in your SD card, and put mp3/flac/lossless files in there, and boom, you're done.

I had to do that with my Treo. It was really tedious loading up the music and checking how much space is left to see how much room I had, and that was only with a 4GB SD card. I couldn't set up a playlist to copy over. If I wanted individual songs, I'd have to dig down in each folder for the mp3 and copy the file to the card. It took forever. I REALLY like that I can set up a playlist in iTunes and with a single check of a box have it copied over to my iPhone. I can set a smart playlist to pick up all music I bought in the last 3 months and with a single checkbox have that copied over. You may or may not like using iTunes, but it is FAR, FAR easier to find the music I want and put it on my phone using it or something like it to manage the music. Copying files and folders is NOT "boom, you're done" in comparison. It's a slow, tedious, slogging through the mud march.

- 4.3 inch screen. Real estate screen is essential for me.

Screen size doesn't matter if the resolution is less. No Android phone has yet matched the iPhone 4 resolution. Therefore the iPhone 4 has the most screen real estate. It just doesn't have the biggest physical screen. Also, bigger screen means it is less comfortable in my pocket, assuming it isn't too big to fit. That's a personal preference, though.

- HDMI out, allowing you to stream 720p videos onto the big screen with no hassle.
- Upload to Youtube instantaneously in 720p format
- Superior Google Maps, Navigation, Street View, with Vector Map Support.
- Voice search functionality. I can voice search while driving, with no problems, and send texts using voice. Sample here
- Ability to undervolt if you root (jailbreak), giving even better battery life.

Root - shouldn't be necessary. Undervolt - shouldn't be necessary. Neither are for my use of my 4. The others above that would be nice on the iPhone, especially the better Maps. I think Google is a bit biased, though. Other than HDMI out, those features may be available with apps. I haven't looked, so I can't say for sure.

Pros of iP4
- Applications are more mature on iP4, although the gap is closing between iOS and Android in terms of maturity
- Learning curve is lower. More intuitive to use.
- It looks nice.
- Superior camera than the DroidX, particularly in low light settings

I'll just add one more.
- Updates are available as soon as Apple releases them. Less than half of the Android phones out there have gotten Froyo. Many will never get it. Are any on Gingerbread? Rooting and custom ROM install don't count for this because the average person doesn't do that. I could put 4.3 beta on my iPhone now if I wanted, but I don't count that, either. Apple's really the first time any vendor has been able to do that with OS updates for the phone, AND they support phones older than 2 years old with updates. They've spoiled me here. My old 3G may not have all the latest features available, but that's a limitation of the hardware itself, and I can accept that. Lack of Android updates for devices is mostly a lack of support interest by the maker. They'd prefer that you buy a new phone, which suggests a "throwaway" feel to the whole Android line.

 

[Darthdingo]

Honeycomb has GPU acceleration, it is a requirement.
http://code.google.com/p/android/iss...l?id=6914#c197

Honeycomb is for tablets, but they've also introduced API improvements and behind the scenes enhancements (like this one) that are unquestionably needed for phones.
Ice Cream will be that release for phones, and it's going to be announced at Google I/O in May. It's possible we could see a scaled down version of Honeycomb for phones released before then. It's more a question of timing and names though -- whatever the next release of Android is for phones, it is expected it to have GPU acceleration for the UI.

The Android phones releasing with "Ice Cream" in the 2nd half of 2011 will be the ones with the GPU UI, now will that be July or December ? No one really knows at this point.

Also "Ice Cream" release is the only Android OS update to truly take advantage of and use dual core processors, phones released with dual cores before "Ice Cream" are wasting tech, and not getting any real extra use out of the OS.