The great phone debate

[D Walker]

No matter what, if you have a smart phone, you'll have:

Bad battery life.
A higher monthly bill.
Glitches.

Comes with the territory.

He is right! No matter what, battery usage is a pain. My bill is not really that high, but the data plan definitely is no help. I think Tmobile has some "bundle" now that gives you a great price for data/text/phone but you need to check. Also, I have had good service with all the carriers, and the only one I would ever complain about is Verizon because they are seriously prone to overbilling, but coverage, no matter what they each claim is not that different in practical use. I also like that T-mobile does not cap my data usage, although I really do not use my phone for surfing very much.

[kingtut]

My phone is better than all your phones, period.

/end thread

Hey yo!

[dommo_g]

My G2X allows me to surf the web or text or check email while on the phone, not sure I could do much more multitasking lol! The I4 did as well but it was reaaally slow if you were trying to search the web while talking on the phone.

I just looked that phone up....looks pretty badass!

[speedjunkie]

Typed out a long response. This POS site had an internal server error. Lost everything. Not doing it again.

Android, win. iPhone fail. Some data plans cheaper than my regular plan.

[speedjunkie]

Once I cool down some more I'll post more of a response again. I don't want to destroy the gov't computer I was on lol.

Thanks for your input guys.

[Operator]

Once I cool down some more I'll post more of a response again. I don't want to destroy the gov't computer I was on lol.

Thanks for your input guys.

I've learned, when posting from a gov computer, to copy the post before I hit submit "just incase".

[Operator]

AT&T has a military discount which also helps, not sure about the others. I got my wife a refurb'd Atrix for $99 I think http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/Motorola-ATRIX-US-EN Has an HDMI output, and the normal bells and whistles associated with smart phones. I'm choosing to stick with my iphone due to the apps, I already have, and overall, it's been a good phone for me. Just started using Logworks to do data logging on my car, decent little app.

[mOOsE]

I've owned 4 iPhones and 2 android phones. My simplistic and objective recommendation would be:
iPhone if you want apps, games, media, simple device with failsafes like complete backups, full compatibility with future versions(next iPhone will 100% copy all your apps /data with no effort), guaranteed new OS features

Android if you want to customize your phone, tinker, have more choice in hardware, more carrier options and arent interested in games or investing in apps.

Iphone negatives: limited carriers and only one phone design. Locked to iTunes and the Apple environment, limited customizing.

Android negatives: Fragmentation (all phones perform differently, may not work with all apps, and may never receive a single update). Battery life and OS mileage is
inconsistant. Phones retain little value after 2 years, new device every month coming, app quality is poor vs Apple, no method to do full device backup without complex root tools and 3rd party solutions.

Posted from my Galaxy S2

[I`m Batman]

I hate Apple but I love the iPhones. It's the best in the market. Jailbreak is a must. I would like Android to get better and catch up to iOS so I can make the switch. But until that day comes, I will stick to the iPhones. Androids seems to have battery life issues.

Posted from iPhone 4S. lol

[erod550]

I came from Palm phones, so I'm by no means bashing Palm, but that platform is dead. The only reason to get that phone is if you're strictly a fan of the new Palm OS, or whatever HP calls it since they took over Palm. I wanted that phone so bad when it came out, but decided against it after researching more. It has absolutely no advantage over an Android phone other than the fact that it offers true multitasking. And it will have the smallest fraction of apps available compared to Android. That's if anyone is even developing apps for it anymore.

I got a launch day Palm Pre and loved it, but dommo is right. The platform never really took off. You're way limited on apps compared to Android and Apple. If you're going to get a smartphone, those two platforms are really your only choice. Otherwise you're pretty much violating one of your first reasons for hesitating on getting a smartphone in that you're basically buying a device that's already obsolete.

I have an HTC Evo 4G and, while already almost a year and a half old, I still love it. It's a bit on the large side though, but I love the huge screen. It still fits in my pocket no problem and it's easier to hold for playing games because of its size.

I originally didn't think I'd like not having a physical keyboard because I was coming from an HTC Mogul and Palm Pre, and my wife had an HTC Touch Pro 2 and now a Samsung Epic 4G, all with slide out keyboards. But now I doubt I'll ever go back to a sliding keyboard. It just adds too much extra bulk and moving parts which wear out over time. Plus I've gotten pretty good with Swype and like it much better than normal typing.

Personally, I would stay away from iPhones for the reasons Dommo mentioned, but if you're a novice user who isn't planning on rooting or customizing your phone, it might not be a bad choice for you. Every newbie phone user that I know that has gotten an iPhone has loved it, and they can overlook the limitations because it's nothing they would try to do with their phone anyway. But AT&T is generally the most expensive when it comes to plans and they do limit your data usage. Claims on signal strength vary from person to person. Just depends on where you are. My brother-in-law says he gets great signal the places he goes with AT&T while I've heard others complain that it's no good. I get good reception most everywhere with Sprint except in a couple large stores in town. My parents get almost no signal with Verizon in their house which is frustrating as they drop calls all the time at home. So I'd ask around if you know anyone in your area how the signal is, or ask people who go the places you go.

Like Dommo said also, be ready for somewhat crappy battery life. There will be days where you need to charge it in the middle of the day if you use it a lot, and sometimes even if you use it a little if some app is running in the background eating all your juice. The plan will be more expensive no matter what because you have to get a data plan of some sort and most carriers charge an extra fee for smartphones as well because they use a lot more data than regular phones.

I will have to strongly disagree with Moose on one point. The apps and games available on Android are every bit as good as on the iPhone. Some numbers I've seen is that the Android Market has around 200,000 apps while the Apple App Store has 500,000. However, you have tons of duplicates in there and apps that do the same thing. You can definitely find what you need in the 200,000 apps on Android. I can't think of anything right now that I wanted an App for that there wasn't one available on Android but was on Apple. All the popular games like Angry Birds are available for both platforms these days.

[iani1.1]

im lovin the iphone 4s... i do miss the evo just cause of the bigger screen but i needed something that i didnt have to charge everyday and something that didnt freeze from time to time. one charge for the iphone for me lasts up to 2 1/2 days with heavy use and easy to use. i do gotta say siri is a trip. you ask it to marry you, itll answer "i need to get to know you better"

[mOOsE]

Some people might say the Android marketplace doesn't have nearly as many apps as the iPhone. Bullshiit. Anything that matters is there. You might miss out on the crappy ### homemade apps, but anything with substance is available on Android.

Interesting claim from someone that hasn't had one. The Apple AppStore eclipses the Android market in size and quality. Android is getting better, but their infrastructure is built around free apps that run on cheaper hardware. There are no apps to take advantage of dual core processors, graphics chips, etc. There are also a fraction of big name developers for Android because of hardware fragmentation and piracy. This is why the Apple ecosystem allows for games like Infinity Blade 2, which is near indistinguishable from ps3 level graphics. Closest I can get on my Galaxy S2 is something like NOVA 2, which resembles Halo 1. This sort of benchmarking goes for many apps. The quality just isn't there on Android, but there are many apps and many that do fill the needs of a basic smartphone user.

I do understand that Android users find what they need in the Market. But coming from an iPhone with 300+ apps downloaded, I can tell you from experience on both platforms (not just speculation) that iOS AppStore is far beyond the availability of quality Apps. This is also why the AppStore generates far more money, because it's filled with apps worth paying for. While, at least from my experience, most Android users rarely download more than 10-20 apps, of which most are free.... And Angry Birds is about the worst benchmark for a measure of an App stores success.

[Operator]

I'm kinda stuck. I'm a PC guy, and have never really been a fan of Apple/Mac's. I don't use itunes, and think the itunes interface itself is bunk. Like I said, I prefer being able to use an SD card for expanded memory (mainly movie files). All that said, I grabbed a iphone 3g after having a Cingular 8125 Pocket PC. And have been impressed enough to continue on to a 4g. And most likely I'll end up with the 5 whenever it hits. So I'd at least give the iphone a look.

[christi]

As far as space, you don't need more gigs, the smallest size should be fine, unless you want tons of music on there... Apps barely take up any room...

I have iPhone 4s 16gig, I love it, only thing is I despise iTunes which you need to set it up and sync... Luckily I found a program that lets me load music on here wo iTunes... The new camera on here is great too and it does hd video... $200 with a 2 year ATT contract, I pay $70/mo for service/unlimited data... One thing I don't like is that iPhone doesn't play website-flash, but I'm surviving...

I HATE YOU! buy me a 4s please?

By the way, with the 5.0 software that came out on 10/14/11, you do not need to sync to iTunes anymore. Once you updated, and esp on the iphone 4s, as you can sync wireless through iCloud. The iPhone 4s should have been intergrated with the Flash should it not? I thought Apple introduced it. Maybe it was just the flash portion for the camera?

I personally am a iphone user by heart. I enjoy the macs, everything in my household is a mac but my PC for gaming purposes. I've had the 2G iPhone, 3G and now 3GS. I will be purchasing the 4S soon. One thing on 5.0 software and the 4S is the fact that it's much faster - A5 processor, better camera (1080p HD photo and video). It also has Siri, and those of you don't know it is pretty much hands-free talkable software.


It really depends on what you want. 16GB/32GB whatever... as a iphone user, it depends on the amount of applications, videos you take and photos as well as music. My iPhone 3GS is a 32GB version. I have roughly 181 Applications, but I think more than that - I have about 200 songs and about 800 combined photos and videos. I still have 16GB remaining.

Touch screens are always nice, but don't depend on not getting it greasy and just wiping it off will be best. Because, afterall you're a car freak - any phone you do get I'd recommend getting a Otterbox. Best case out there. I don't have one myself, and although it's between 20$ and 60$ dollars, it helps if you drop your phone.

I'm with AT&T aswell, been with them for a while. I also have the grandfathered unlimited data package. On a monthly scale, I use around 200MB-5GB of data depending what I'm doing.

Honestly though, if you're going to use it for some apps (no matter what phone), browsing, and facebooking or whatever... you should be fine with atleast a low end to medium end plan.

Wow. I posted alot. Hope this helps.

(Can you tell I'm a apple freak?)

[christi]

I've owned 4 iPhones and 2 android phones. My simplistic and objective recommendation would be:
iPhone if you want apps, games, media, simple device with failsafes like complete backups, full compatibility with future versions(next iPhone will 100% copy all your apps /data with no effort), guaranteed new OS features

Android if you want to customize your phone, tinker, have more choice in hardware, more carrier options and arent interested in games or investing in apps.

Iphone negatives: limited carriers and only one phone design. Locked to iTunes and the Apple environment, limited customizing.

Android negatives: Fragmentation (all phones perform differently, may not work with all apps, and may never receive a single update). Battery life and OS mileage is
inconsistant. Phones retain little value after 2 years, new device every month coming, app quality is poor vs Apple, no method to do full device backup without complex root tools and 3rd party solutions.

Posted from my Galaxy S2

sorry have to correct you:

iphone 4 is on AT&T and VZW
iphone 4s is on MOST carriers.

If you're smart enough, you can purchase a iPhone and jailbreak to be on any carrier (GSM if purchased through AT&T, im not sure VZW came out with their unlockable from Apple since they just released the iPhone 4 this summer in June/July) but your data speeds may not be accurate.

If you buy the iPhone 4 out right from apple, they released the unlockable version but it's full retail price.

Backing up the iphone is not bad... ive never lost my information once..... but then again never said it couldn't be impossible.

in regards with the android updates, it depends when the manufacture gives the permission to the carrier. Most of the time you can push it from the website .