iPhone vs. Android

[hbelkins]

When I become eligible for an upgrade in a couple of months, I am seriously considering giving up my iPhone in favor of an Android, basically to get out from under Apple's thumb regarding apps. Has anyone made this switch, and what were your impressions? Would be especially interested in hearing from AT&T subscribers (I really have no other options, and I"m grandfathered into an unlimited data plan and don't want to give that up) and/or those who use a Mac as their home computer.

[realjd]

I'm an AT&T iPhone user and have been for years. I have an unlocked Android phone I use for international travel. I like the iPhone much, much better. My big problem with Android is how unresponsive the touch interface is. It's usable but not as fluid as an iPhone. Also it tends to crash about once a day in my experience, and I'm only using it for things like Google Maps and Yelp when overseas. I also don't like the default Android browser, but there are better ones available.

I tend to find the app store cluttered. There are equivalent apps for any iPhone app, but it's hard to find a quality one sometimes IMO.

I was on a grandfathered unlimited plan, but gave it up to switch to a 4GB tethering. Are you actually using that much data? I found it was rare for me to crack 1GB so I wasn't losing much.

I have both a PC and a macmini. I can't speak for Android's syncing or media management since I don't use those features on my travel phone.

My android phone makes much better phone calls than any iPhone I've owned.

In the end, Android phones work and work well, but aren't as slick and polished as an iPhone. Go play with a few to see if it's worth switching for you. Personally, I won't be giving up my iPhone for domestic use.

[NE2]

Fuck smartphones.

[realjd]

Fuck smartphones.

It's not really my thing, but hey, whatever you're into is your business.

[Stratuscaster]

With an iPhone, you know what you are getting. The hardware is - within the model line - specific, the screen size doesn't change, so when you write an app for it, you pretty much know it's going to work on every other iPhone of the same model line, if not every model currently sold.

There is no specific hardware requirement for Android phones - you can have small screens, larger screens, slow CPUs, fast multi-core CPUs, less RAM, more RAM - it's a clusterf**k at best. Top that off with the fact that there are currently at least 4 shipping versions of the Android OS out there, and handset makers aren't under any obligation to provide upgrades, and they can load whatever crapware on top of Android to suck up space and slow things down, and it doesn't help the situation.

Yes, you can sideload apps on an Android phone - usually. Otherwise you deal with the Android Market or the Amazon Market. Wasn't until recently that Google started to crackdown on malware apps in the Android Market.

Based on overall user experience, I'd rather have an iPhone - but the expense keeps me away. I pay $25/month for 300 minutes and unlimited text/data/web with no contract and grandfathered - same plan today is $35. I don't talk much, but do use data and web quite a bit. Using a Samsung Intercept running Android 2.2 - at the time it was a mid-level phone, today it's considered below entry-level compared to other offerings. And quite honestly - as a phone - it's worse than my collection of old "dumbphones".

That being said - if you are going to go Android, then I'd only consider the upper end phones like the Motorola DROIDs or the Samsung Galaxy series. You need that better quality and faster hardware to really make Android even compare to iOS.

[Takumi]

I prefer Android. I'm on Verizon (Droid Bionic), but there are good Android phones on AT&T as well. I'm grandfathered into an unlimited data plan as well, and I use the phone for almost everything (including almost all of my posts here) and rarely if ever have problems. Camera's good for a phone (8 MP), battery life's decent (but again, I use it more than most), the Market's good, and many newer high-end ones have 4G LTE.

[Ian]

My family has been stuck on using Androids since they first came out. I have a Sony Ericsson with Android, and it seems to work fairly well.

[relaxok]

I had the first iPhone (earlyadopterlol), and am still on the grandfathered unlimited plan, and on AT&T.

I now have a 3GS I've had since it came out.. I didn't see a great reason to get the 4/4S but i imagine i may upgrade to a 5.

After using an iPhone and using friends android-based phones, to me there is no comparison.. Apple's iOS interface blows it away, IMO.

And since I got an iPad, I rarely even use my regular computer except for audio/video/programming and other such heavy work (which is rarer these days).

[hbelkins]

My biggest gripe about the iPhone -- besides battery life and the fact that it sucks as a phone compared to the Motorola Razr or v551 I had prior -- is how AT&T and Apple control the app market. Apple can approve an app, but if AT&T (and I would guess Verizon, too) think it will use too many network resources, they'll get Apple to pull it from the iTunes Store.

[Stratuscaster]

On the upside, it's not often - if at all - that you find rogue, malware, or phishing apps on the iTunes App Store. I cannot say the same for Android at this point in time.

I've not heard of an example where AT&T has gotten an app pulled because it thinks it will use too many network resources. Aside from grandfathered service, I would imagine that getting your users to use your resources means you can charge them for it, and AT&T certainly isn't beyond that.

[kurumi]

Happy with my iPhone, though I'm happy with smartphones in general.

My previous phone was this LG something-or-other with a flip-out keypad and a screen the size of a Triscuit. Even though I installed a 2GB microSD card, the software was hard coded to store only 50 SMS (50 x 160 bytes = 8K), so it was always complaining that I was running out of space. Verizon crippled its Bluetooth (and possibly some other features) to force us to transfer data through its archaic, expensive, clumsy service. To view my own photos, I had to navigate to "Get it Now" -> "Photos and Videos" -> "My Photos". The only times I launched the web browser were by mistake, and I closed it as quickly as I could. Their "VCast" was the same thing, and I'm pretty sure the UI was designed to get people to inadvertently use it. Verizon stamped it name three times on the phone's shell, and its foul branding was everywhere on-screen.

You might hate Apple with good reason, but you can't argue that their telling the carriers to suck it -- the old way of doing things was no longer acceptable -- wasn't a good thing for all users. Fuck American dumbphones. I'll never go back.*


* Vodafone in Australia was a pretty good experience. About $80 got us a basic phone (free and clear), a prepaid plan with 200 minutes to start, and we could add minutes at almost any shop anywhere. Not much to complain about there.

[hbelkins]

On the upside, it's not often - if at all - that you find rogue, malware, or phishing apps on the iTunes App Store. I cannot say the same for Android at this point in time.

I've not heard of an example where AT&T has gotten an app pulled because it thinks it will use too many network resources. Aside from grandfathered service, I would imagine that getting your users to use your resources means you can charge them for it, and AT&T certainly isn't beyond that.

For a few brief hours, there was a tethering app available in the App Store. I can't remember its name, but its appearance in the App Store, and its subsequent removal, got a lot of play from MacLife's site and Facebook feed.

No tethering apps are available for the iPhone unless you jailbreak. Then you can choose from at least two, PdaNet and MyWi. You don't have to do anything to an Android to install PdaNet.

And then there's the whole Flash thing, although there are some third-party browsers for the iPhone that claim to be able to do Flash.

[realjd]

On the upside, it's not often - if at all - that you find rogue, malware, or phishing apps on the iTunes App Store. I cannot say the same for Android at this point in time.

I've not heard of an example where AT&T has gotten an app pulled because it thinks it will use too many network resources. Aside from grandfathered service, I would imagine that getting your users to use your resources means you can charge them for it, and AT&T certainly isn't beyond that.

For a few brief hours, there was a tethering app available in the App Store. I can't remember its name, but its appearance in the App Store, and its subsequent removal, got a lot of play from MacLife's site and Facebook feed.

No tethering apps are available for the iPhone unless you jailbreak. Then you can choose from at least two, PdaNet and MyWi. You don't have to do anything to an Android to install PdaNet.

And then there's the whole Flash thing, although there are some third-party browsers for the iPhone that claim to be able to do Flash.

I travel enough that I felt paying for tethering was worthwhile. Plus you get an extra 2 GB data per month with the ATT tethering plan.

Honestly, how often do you run issues not having flash anymore? Other than flash games and, oddly enough, older restaurant websites, most interactive web content anymore is HTML5.

[Stratuscaster]

Haven't had a need for tethering just yet myself. And I think I'd just as soon get a USB cell modem and pre-pay to use it if and when I needed it.

Google Chrome for Android hit beta, and it does NOT support Flash. Content is moving to HTML5 anyway. Yes, there's lots of stuff that uses Flash. Nothing critical for what I do, thankfully.

[formulanone]

I have an HTC Evo 4G (through Sprint), and I really like the ability to have 4G coverage. I travel a lot, and coverage is about 50% in medium-sized cities, to nearly 100% in the larger cities. Ironically, my home is in a bit of a donut hole when it comes to coverage; within a 5-mile radius, there's no 4G coverage. Normally, you pay an extra $10 just for the privilege of having a 4G phone, so if you live in an area where there is no coverage, you're paying for others to use it.

Call quality is slightly better than AT&T in many places, less dropped calls, although there's been a handful of places where even 3G coverage is literally non-existent (Northern Alabama, are you there?), which means you can't even place a call.

A few apps tend to crash the phone; this seems to happen more often since an update from 2.2 to 2.3 occurred. The phone isn't really "smart" enough to figure out what you need to do next, so you wind up hitting "Force Close" about every other day. Typically, the Google apps that come with the phone are stable, and although I used to go app crazy, I've gone back and deleted a bunch of stuff I rarely use anymore, or stuff that is too unstable.

If you're looking for accessories, the iPhone has probably a hundred times more junk than you could get with the myriad different form factors of the Android-based phones. Mostly, you're stuck with whatever accessories the phone store has for you for many Android devices. As an example, I found a squishy-type case for my phone at an airport, but haven't found anything like it since at the big box stores. My wife wanted an Otter Box, but the price online was the same as the Sprint store (well, after I showed the salesman the printed-out price when I bought the phone).

I don't have a ton of experience with iPhones, but I can't argue that the Android phones are a better deal, cost wise. Basically, my work paid for it (and the plan) and half the cost for my wife's phone and plan, so I can't complain, but again, I don't have much user experience with iOS.

Battery life on some of the Androids, especially the Evo, is awful if you surf the web more than an hour a day, leave the Wi-Fi on, and especially if you leave the GPS on. Games tend to kill the battery. If you use it as a normal phone that can text and leave web use to 15-30 minutes a day, you'll have plenty of battery life left for emergencies. But I'm charging it at least once a day, perhaps twice if I'm traveling.

Side note: Websites for mobile devices are starting to think that everyone's on Wi-Fi, which is a sucker punch when you really want information where the signal isn't great.

Side note 2: The Apple/Android debate snobbery is worse than any political/religious debate with some people. Some people can take a joke or have an honest discussion, others take it to a whole new level of stupid.

[Takumi]

Side note 2: The Apple/Android debate snobbery is worse than any political/religious debate with some people. Some people can take a joke or have an honest discussion, others take it to a whole new level of stupid.

That's an extension of the Apple/PC debate. In my experience the Apple fanboys see Android as an imitation of iOS, which, seeing as Android came later, could be justified aside from the aforementioned snobbery. I'll take a high-end Android phone any day of the week, but if someone legitimately prefers the iPhone and can say so without resorting to trolling, then I have no problem with that. To each his own.

[english si]

My brother got an iPhone not that long after they came out over here. A year later, when his contract ran out, he dumped it and got an Android. The switch over occurred at a LAN party, with me bringing his new phone to him when picking him up. He was on the tech team, so the people he was talking to would salivate over any piece of tech. This wasn't the newest Android phone, so they weren't impressed. Choruses of "why didn't you get an iPhone?" rang out - these weren't Apple fanboys - in fact, my brother's iBook and iPhone were probably the only non-iPod items owned by these 4 or 5 ubergeeks. My brothers response was to pull the iPhone out of his pocket. Jaws dropped. He told them that it wasn't that good, just that smartphones are good and iPhones have the marketing down - his phone, while not top of the range, was better than his iPhone. He told them that the iPhone cost more to renew the contract on than getting the Android phone.

He's not looked back, though didn't have a real problem with Apple products (he kept the iPhone, as it was his to keep after the contract, developing apps for it), he doesn't really consider them.

[1995hoo]

To me it really comes down to two questions:

(1) Is there a particular app or other feature that you must have and that is supported by one platform and not the other? Or is your employer paying for the device and restricting their support to one type only (eg, many law firms are behind the times and say "Blackberry only"). If so, get a phone that runs on that platform. For example, the Verizon iPhone 4 does not work outside North America except when connected to wi-fi. If you want to use Verizon and need a phone that will work in Europe, don't buy an iPhone 4. I believe the 4S may be different.

(2) If the answer to #1 is "no," then you should go to the store and play extensively with the various phone models to see what you like and dislike. My brother felt strongly about wanting a physical keyboard rather than the touchscreen. When I played with the same phone he bought, I didn't like the added weight and bulk that came with the physical keyboard and I found that I didn't type any faster on it. Instead I use the Dragon Dictation app (it's free) when I don't feel like typing. Who cares what somebody else likes or says is "better" if you don't like that particular phone, regardless of your reason for not liking it? My brother bought a Droid 2 Global in January 2011; when the Verizon iPhone was released about three weeks later, I asked him if he would have bought that instead and he said no, he'd played with friends' iPhones over the years and just liked the Droid better and that the physical keyboard was the crucial thing for him. I, in turn, simply found when I went to the store that I liked the iPhone better and found it more comfortable to use, and as I said before I found that I disliked the physical keyboard on this size device. (I clarify that because I once had a Blackberry Pearl, the type with two letters per key, and I found it to be fine and easy to use, but the Blackberry is a very different device from an iPhone or Droid.)

One major difference in shopping for an iPhone versus an Android phone is that there are so many varieties of Android phone that it can make the research time-consuming. It's worth doing, though, and I'd suggest reading reviews of the various phones online (both from the tech columnists and the users) before going to the store simply to help you narrow your focus. Also, if you may be using the phone for work in a specific business, you might try an Internet search for comments from people in that profession–for example, I'm in the legal field and there are a couple of bloggers who routinely write about iPhone apps and such targeted at attorneys. Very useful info.

Final thought: One mistake some buyers make is to get hung up on the rumors about what sort of device might come out in the next few months. There are always people saying things like, "You're stupid to buy this device now because in June HTC will release a phone that will give you a BJ while you talk to your girlfriend and look at sports scores at the same time." But if you start falling into that trap, you'll never want to buy anything because there's always something new coming down the pike. If you need a phone, you buy a phone based on what's available at the time of your need. You can't worry about what might come later (plus, who knows whether the new feature(s) might prove to have bugs?).

[formulanone]

Final thought: One mistake some buyers make is to get hung up on the rumors about what sort of device might come out in the next few months. There are always people saying things like, "You're stupid to buy this device now because in June HTC will release a phone that will give you a BJ while you talk to your girlfriend and look at sports scores at the same time." But if you start falling into that trap, you'll never want to buy anything because there's always something new coming down the pike. If you need a phone, you buy a phone based on what's available at the time of your need. You can't worry about what might come later (plus, who knows whether the new feature(s) might prove to have bugs?).

My father was literally afraid to buy a computer because he heard "Internet 2" was coming out, and didn't want an incompatible computer.

Being the savvy consumer that he was, he thus held out on his purchase for three years, for fear of obsolescence, never mind he doesn't do anything more than e-mail, visit a few websites, and scan old photographs. On the other hand, I typically tend to let others deal with the growing pains of being an early technology adopter, mainly because it saves you money and teething troubles. While in the large scheme of things, there's always beginning and ends of technological waves, they at least last longer than your average product's lifespan.

[Duke87]

I've had a Droid since August (having switched from an old school phone). I have no complaints about it, although I'm not a heavy app user. All I have installed other than the stuff it came with is Facebook, Twitter, Advanced Task Killer, and QR Droid. Other than that all I use besides standard phone functions is the Google Maps app, the web browser, and the weather gizmo.

One thing I will say, though: the fact that my phone has a physical QWERTY keyboard is vital to me. I cannot type on a touchscreen. Not one the size of a phone screen, anyway. The lack of tactile feedback as to where one button ends and another begins combined with the large size of my fingers compared to the spots I need to touch makes aiming quite difficult. If I attempt it (on someone else's phone, generally). I have to go slowly and even then I still mess up keystrokes.

As for providers, I'm on Verizon. Didn't make the decision because of this, but apparently making a phone call in Manhattan during the day during the week with AT&T is quite difficult since they don't have the infrastructure capacity to meet the demand and calls often end up getting dropped.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

I'm just going to leave this here... (warning, language, don't watch at work)

[US71]

I bought a Droid 2 weeks ago. I mainly bought it for SquareUp, but it came in handy in other ways when I was on the road: I booked 3 hotel rooms, found a good restaurant, avoided most of the bad weather and saved 14cents a gallon on gas.