[TriLUG] Android Phone vs iPhone vs other smartphones

[Adam Gregory]

I think you'll get varied responses based on who you talk to, but being a
Mac guy myself (a G5 tower and a MacBook Pro) I was in the same boat a month
ago. I was switching from a Blackjack and had been with ATT for almost 5
years. So naturally being a Mac guy and already being with ATT I looked at
the iPhone. Some pros:
It has a nice UI and is very sexy looking.
It is a well tested so you know what you are getting.
Camera is decent enough 3.something megapixels
Plenty of apps available in the App store.

Cons:
It's ~$200.
It's on ATT. Even when I was just on my blackjack and only using the
internet sparingly I would get locked out and dropped forcing me to reboot
just to pick up internet connection again. Also 3g coverage was ok as best.
It's locked down, unless you want to jailbreak it.
If you want to develop apps for it you have to sign away your life to Apple.

After looking at the iPhone I took a look at the Droid on Verizon. There has
been a crap load of marketing dumped into this phone and I wanted to know if
it lives up to it.
Pro:
Way cheaper. I could get 2 Droid from an online wireless store for $50 each,
no rebates needed.
Screen is slightly larger.
Camera is 5 megapixels and has a flash.
UI is nice and easy to use. My 5 year old was able to pick the droid and the
iphone up and figure out how to play games in 5 seconds. Yes, that's
ultimately how I measure a good UI. Can my 5 year old figure it out. The
droid gets the nod though because of the ability to customize the UI to your
liking, the iPhone you're locked in to the base Apple design.
Android Market has plenty of apps, and for the most part all the same major
ones as the iPhone.
I think Verizon has significantly better 3g coverage then ATT.
Physical keyboard
Google integration. Since I already run my calendar, email, docs, and
voicemail through them this was great and probably the most selling feature.
The ability to have perfect integration with Google Voice was especially big
for me. If I wanted to I could actually make all my calls for free with this
feature by simply adding my GV # to my circle.

Cons:
Not as mature a device as the iPhone so there could be some issues
Monthly plan is more expensive then ATT
Kind of funky form factor for a phone

Ultimately I chose to go with the Droid. It has been great so far (2 weeks)
and I immediately went out and downloaded the Android SDK to start building
apps for it (I've already released two) something I'm not sure I would've
done with the iPhone due to Apple's Stalinesque control of the App Store. I
think for the money the android phones are a better deal and they offer way
more flexibility and features then you get with an iPhone. But thats just my
opinion. I'm sure you'll get others who feel the opposite.

-----
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Adam A. Gregory
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On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 7:53 PM, <kwoodie at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ok so I am thinking about switching from my blackberry curve to a Android
> based phone or an iPhone.  Which is the best in the eyes of TriLUG?
>
> FYI I do own a mac book pro, so any Mac specific benefits should be
> considered.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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