Bionic Vs iPhone

[mzdrati]

OK- I know this has been talked to death, but please hear me out before yelling at me for starting yet another thread about the same things.

I am currently a Blackberry (Storm- GAK!) owner via Verizon. The Storm is not very good (and that's being kind), but at least it does make and hold phone calls, email works reliably, and synchronizing my data is easy and predictable.

I can't wait to switch devices, and (as many other Storm owners may feel) I have wanted the relatively reliable, quality user experiance that iPhone users have enjoyed for years. I do not own any Apple products other than an old iPod (which gets minimal use). I don't dislike Apple products, but I'm not in lust with them either. I know a few people with Android phones, and they tend to like them. It seems like they offer a lot of functionality, but reading internet discussions on the topic often (if not always) becomes a polarizing quagmire over who is best, who was first in this or that technology, etc.

I love technology, and look at smartphones as basically a high-tech swiss army knife. I like to use applications (not games so much- then again- you ever see the "games" available in Blackberry App World? Pathetic in comparisson. Maybe that's why...).

I've never used or owned an Android phone, or an iPhone (ok- I've gawked at a few friend's iPhones before, and was amazed at how fluid and solid the OS was, but remember- I'm comparing this to a BB Storm 1)

In reading the specifications for the soon to be announced Bionic, it seems to be everything I want in a smartphone EXCEPT- I have my business set up such that all of my contacts, calendars, and customer notes are through MS Outlook (version 2007). I REALLY want to be able to synchronize Outlook 2007 on my PC with Android (and being able to do so directly via a USB cable would make me feel even better.) However, nothing I have ever read in all of my research has led me to believe that there is functionality in any of the Android versions that will allow that. I have read about applications like "CompanionLink" and a few others, but I did not get the sense that the act of synchronizing using those methods was easy, or without problems.

That is really the only thing keeping me from buying an Android phone. I really don't want to have to depend upon Google (or anyone else) to synchronize my data, and keep it away from prying eyes. Can any of you speak to this? I know I am posting this on a pro-Android forum, so I should receive answers on why buying anythinfg other than an Android phone is foolish, but I've read and been told syncing Outlook with Google Calendar and Google Contacts messes with the formatting of the data, and the data contained in the "Notes" section won't transfer (and I have a lot of data on clients in Notes sections of contacts.)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

TONY

 

[Joelist]

I am a former BBer and iPhone-er (currently DROID X). I would say the Bionic has multiple advantages over the iPhone:

1) Better OS. Android 2.2 at present is fully the equal of iOS in "smoothness" while being far better in enterprise level features and simple user customization. Gingerbread will be even better in these regards. Also Android will take advantage of the Tegra 2 CPU better than iOS would because of it's full multitasking as opposed to the pseudo multitasking in iOS 4. So Android is more future proof.

2) It will be a better phone in a very fundamental sense. None of the iPhones have ever been really good AS PHONES. They have always suffered from excessive dropped calls and other signal related issues. The Moto Droids are much better in this regard, and in my lifetime experience this is an area where Motorola phones have always been great.

I will note here that I and others have tried some experiments on the AT&T network with iPhones and others (WP7 units and BBs) . Only the iPhones had the chronic call dropping and bluetooth connectivity issues so we cannot blame AT&T.

Syncing Outlook to any Android phone by cable is not as hard as it may seem. For example, I use the Missing Sync for Android and it works beautifully:

Android Sync Software for HTC EVO, Nexus One, Droid, Hero and Other Android Phones

Truthfully I have not missed my BB (Storm 2) or my iPhone.

 

[thebizz]

While I like the iPhone 4 their are some things that I would miss about android if I were to get the iPhone. From free navigation to the ability to customize my homescreen and use Widgets. But the thing that draws me to the iPhone is how fluid it is and the quality of the handset it feels great in the hand but the screen is to small so I will get the bionic

 

[Cyber Warrior]

Check out CompanionLink. It will sync your outlook contacts, calenders, notes and tasks. Haven't used it before but its worth checking out. Either way you will be more happy with Android over an iPhone.

 

[mzdrati]

Folks:

I've noticed in some of the pre-release literature, that the Bionic is supposed to support "Activesync". Does anyone know if that happens to be the same Activesync that MS offers (or offered) to synchronize Outlook with older WinCE platforms? That would be a native sync between Android and Outlook, no?

 

[joelmic24]

What phone did you end up getting?