You're hilarious.
HTC Sense + Android WIPE THE FLOOR with the iPhone OS.
- TRUE multitasking. And Android is smart enough to "suspend" applications so they're not just fully running in the background sucking up your battery.
- Widgets on your home screen. There are hundreds of these available.
- Social networking integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.
- More freedom. If you want Flash on your Android phone - you've got it. If you don't want it - you can turn it off or uninstall it. If you want to install an app that Google doesn't allow in the Android Market, you can install it using a direct link.
- Android is seeing more updates than the iPhone and progressing much more rapidly. Android is newer than the iPhone OS, yet it has more features?
- HTC/Google don't dictate what you can and can't do like Apple. They don't stop you from listening to an FM Radio just because it will cause them to lose money on music sales. They don't stop you from playing flash games just because it will cause them to lose money on game sales.
- HTC Evo specific: better camera, removable battery, gorgeous OLED screen, WiMax support, WiMax hotspot, snapdragon processor (trust me - these things fly), MicroSD card support, so if 32GB isn't enough for you, you can just buy more cards.
The ONLY thing that iPhone is better than Android at, at the moment, is the apps side of things. There's about 6-7 times more apps available for the iPhone - but Android is rapidly getting more and more every day.
Up until recently iPhone was always the king of usability, but with HTC Sense this is no longer the case - HTC Sense is just as easy to use as the iPhone.
The HTC/Android experience is always going to be better than the Apple iPhone experience because you have the freedom to do what you want with your device without jailbreaking and voiding your warranty.
<3 my HTC Desire
I was really going to stay away from replying to your post as I think these forums are filled with people who look at one side of the coin no matter which side they are on. But your post was SO incredibly one sided I just couldn't resist. I currently have 2 android phones (I have had 4 in total) and an iPhone (I'm a phone enthusiast) Let's do this step by step. Before we start let's establish something right now. I'm including the jailbroken aspect to this as it's applicable to this conversation. For those who say 'well you shouldn't have to jailbreak', I'll just say right back 'you shouldn't have to create a gold card or download and flash to better roms'. For those of you who actually use Android, you know what I'm talking about. Jailbreaking = flashing to a new rom with a gold card. IT's THE EXACT SAME THING. Anyhow let's get on with the conversation.
1. TC Sense + Android WIPE THE FLOOR with the iPhone OS
Answer: While visually this is absolutely 100% correct with a few caveats. The first caveat is that Sense is nothing but an over glorified shell over top of android much like the old shells that used to be around for Windows during the Window 98 days like Litestep and blackbox etc... While they are visually appealing they really add no functionality or the functionality they do add is actually pretty cumbersome because no matter how well they look they are still nothing more than a visual shell over top of someone else's OS. This is a truly an example of form over function. Don't believe me? Do this, shoot a video with your Android phone then send it to your mate through MMS. Can't do that? Why not? Oh because you didn't specifically take an MMS video...? That's right... The video app in android OS and in Sense have a lot of options but lacks basic functionality. You're telling me I have to take an MMS video specifically before I can send it to my mate? With the iPhone I can take the video at full resolution and when try to send an MMS video, not only does it allow me to edit the video, it then converts it to MMS acceptable format for me and then sends the video. With Android/Sense I'll just get a message stating that the video is too big to send and no other options to do anything with. Also don't give me the garbage about 'Well you only have to download a separate app to get this same functionality'. The fact of the matter is, this low level, minimal functionality should be available out of the box.
2. TRUE multitasking. And Android is smart enough to "suspend" applications so they're not just fully running in the background sucking up your battery.
Answer: This works and you're right until you realize that Android only suspends a few apps for you to quickly switch to and that if I want to choose a particular app to keep suspended while I use 10 other apps, I do not get that functionality without downloading and installing another app. It keeps the most recent apps suspended but I do not get the choice... I also don't get a good choice of which apps not to suspend unless again I download another separate app for that. So out of the box this is better than iPhone not having it at all (which is mute in OS 4.0 because iPhone does the same thing and also includes a way to manage this out of the box without a separate app). But it begs the question that if I have to download another app to affectively/efficiently manage closing apps that I don't want suspended then what's the difference in downloading an app for like backgrounder for iPhone (firmware versions below 4.0) which does the same thing and does it visually better I might add. Either way, on either platform I have to download a separate app to make the feature really useable.
3. Widgets on your home screen. There are hundreds of these available.
Answer: Can't argue with you there. Widgets are pretty awesome except for the fact that the ones that HTC include are great however 98% of all the third party ones are pretty awful. Either buggy or just plain ugly looking and reminds you have windows 95/98 applications. And at that point I also offer that with a jailbroken phone you have widgets.. Both platforms you have to download widgets. Android however does include them out of the box so score one for Android in this regard.
4. Social networking integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.
Answer: Same as above. Also again most of the third party widgets for integration are pretty awful. But it's there so no matter how bad the integration is, we'll still count it as them having it, sure. Again Jailbroken iPhone, same functionality. That's not to excuse Apple from the fact that this definitely should be included out of the box.
5. More freedom. If you want Flash on your Android phone - you've got it. If you don't want it - you can turn it off or uninstall it. If you want to install an app that Google doesn't allow in the Android Market, you can install it using a direct link.
Answer: Direct link to Google is as Jailbroken App store to iPhone... Same concept... If you want to install apps that they either company doesn't allow then you can do so... so this point is mute... One caveat to remember though is that with less oversight such as the android market with pretty much a completely open arena, come less quality control. It's a fact, not an opinion... With less standards comes lower quality... While Android is rapidly adding apps every day, the majority of apps on the platform so far are rubbish. I have the Google shopping cart bills to prove it. I've spent hundreds of dollars on Apps for both platforms. Overall quality with third party apps including games, go to Apples market. That simple.
6. Android is seeing more updates than the iPhone and progressing much more rapidly. Android is newer than the iPhone OS, yet it has more features?
Answer: Android could theoretically have 'more features' I'm not sure because I haven't bothered to count but features don't equal functionality and as I've pointed out already there is a basic lack of functionality with the OS. Further proof would be the email clients... Both the Gmail client and the HTC mail client have problems rendering true HTML emails... this is just unacceptable. Especially as google is a web based company at it's very core. Not saying it doesn't render them at all but I have 65% or more of the HTML based emails either don't render OR they render improperly so the text and pictures are misaligned and pretty much useless. There are two more caveats here, Android progressing more rapidly than iPhone OS is a farce. They have more releases in a years time span but more releases does not equal platform progression especially when some of the flaws (including ones listed in previous answers here) are still present. Adding new features before making sure the that current features are rock solid, stable, and functionally make sense does not equal progression... I'm sorry mate, it just doesn't. The last caveat to this point is even if it is progressing faster (which it isn't) when does <input any older android phone here> actually get the new OS? With every iPhone OS release, it's available for all iPhones, all at once. No waiting 6 months to get the updates. With Android this is not the case. I'm just now getting 2.1 for my hero and it's been out for quite a while. Fact of the matter is it's up the carrier whether or not it gets updated... so no guarantees.
7. HTC/Google don't dictate what you can and can't do like Apple. They don't stop you from listening to an FM Radio just because it will cause them to lose money on music sales. They don't stop you from playing flash games just because it will cause them to lose money on game sales.
Answer: As stated above, less over sight means less overall quality. Not only do I see that every day with my job (I manage a multi million dollar government IT contract), it's a known fact. So this is pretty much opinion, you can have the perception (only a mere perception mind you) of more options or you can have better quality. I know what my choice is but it doesn't mean that you can't choose another choice.
8. HTC Evo specific: better camera, removable battery, gorgeous OLED screen, WiMax support, WiMax hotspot, snapdragon processor (trust me - these things fly), MicroSD card support, so if 32GB isn't enough for you, you can just buy more cards.
Answer: More megapixel camera doesn't equal better... Fact of the camera industry. it's all about the sensor and CMOS of the camera. The new iPhone has a much larger lens AND sensor. But this is a moot point as the phone isn't out yet and no one has seen it's quality so for now the EVO will have a better camera (hopefully) than the current iPhone 3GS. On the side of the OLED screen, something that you probably don't care about and would never notice if I hadn't pointed it out but all the current OLED Android phones have a slight tint to them (most I've seen, the tint has been cyan). I believe this is because of battery life. Let me explain when you display a complete white background this means that all pixels are on... All the pixels on the screen being on all the time will drain your battery. Don't believe me? Having a complete white background on your phone will drain your batter quicker than one with color... I'm such an UBER nerd for knowing this information but I spent many years in graphic design so I know how pixels work. Anyhow, slightly tinting the pixels so there is never really a true white, helps preserve battery a bit. I believe this is another reason why Apple didn't have changeable wallpapers on their phones for the longest time. I'm not saying I'm ok with that reasoning, I'm just saying that this is more than likely the case... ANYHOW OLED screens look OK but the colors are saturated for the current android phones and the colors are also slightly tinted. Again this is another quality compromise for the sake of having 'more features'. On the processor end of things the A4 kills the snapdragon, hands down. Just look at the real world benchmarks. The A4 is already confirmed to be in the next iPhone... Again this next iPhone isn't out yet but then again neither is the EVO now is it? Mix the A4 with the better graphics hardware that the iPhone possesses and you have Apple winning in this department.
9. The ONLY thing that iPhone is better than Android at, at the moment, is the apps side of things. There's about 6-7 times more apps available for the iPhone - but Android is rapidly getting more and more every day.
Up until recently iPhone was always the king of usability, but with HTC Sense this is no longer the case - HTC Sense is just as easy to use as the iPhone.
Answer: See Every point above.
Conclusion: It's not my intention to bash Android as that would be lame. I have both phones so I know the pros and cons of both. All the information I've presented is fair, and pretty much true (accept for the OLED part which isn't confirmed but I see evidence of it so it's merely my own educated opinion). This is about objective as you're going to get with an answer so at this point you need to try each platform and make your own opinion.
Cheers Mate
