iPhone Rene Goes Android -- Round Robin Help!

[Ali Fazel]

Ooteenee!

I'm Rene from theiphoneblog.com system and I'm lightspeeding up to this cantina in hopes you Heroes and Droid'ekas can help an iPhone guy like me understand the power and possibilities of Google's Android platform. And since this is an official 2009 Smartphone Round Robin thread, every day you decide to help by replying to this thread, you get another chance to win an Android smartphone! Uta puta indeed!

Enough with the Star Wars silly (I blame Verizon this year!). Here's what I'm struggling with:

1) Which device do I focus on? Let's face it, those Droid commercials called the iPhone a princess, but the white, touchy-feely Hero looks just a pretty. Is it powerful enough? And speaking of the Droid, is it all hype or does it live up to it? Aside from the quasi-keyboad, how do I decide which is the better Android for me?

2) Do I need to be afraid of platform fracture? On my network, Rogers, the Dream and Magic may never get updates since they aren't "with Google" and don't use Sense UI. Do Android users need to be more careful about getting a device that's great now, rather than hoping for software update improvements later?

3) What if I don't want to use Google, can I still use an Android device? Let's say I don't like their privacy policy, or just think they're evil. Or I work for Bing or Yahoo! On every other platform, I can pick and choose my search, email, calendar, etc. solution, can I avoid Google and still enjoy the Android?

4) If I do sell my soul to Google, I'll get Google Voice, Navigation, and Latitude, which Apple has stricken from my usual device. What else will I get that the iPhone could never give me?

5) Yeah, that iTunes thing. Right now I enjoy super-simple sync and on-device download for movies, TV shows, and podcasts and I *adore* it. The G1 wasn't great for media. Are the 2009 Android device better? Anything else I'll miss if I go from iPhone to Android?

6) What's with this Nexus One? Seriously? Is it THE Google Phone, A Google Dev Phone, or just the next HTC we'll see in 2010?

7) Can someone please tell the Droid to stop yelling and me and just staring with that one, red, eye. Banta Poodoo!

Thanks, and *really* looking forward to Android this year!

1. It's not out yet, but the Nexus One is the device to focus on. For released devices, go with the Hero on Sprint or the Droid on Verizon. The social network integration with the Hero is amazing, and the Droid has some power behind it.

2. I wouldn't think you should have to worry about that level of fracturing, as long as you get a phone that has the "with Google" branding on it. So far, the devices that are being left behind are those without the Google branding.

3. I think you would have to go out of your way to do this. You can use Bing and Yahoo! searches, but you would need to go to the Bing and Yahoo! websites and search from there.

4. A great notification system, simple backgrounding, open app development, open source operating system, ....

5. You can download DoubleTwist and that will sync your Android device with your iTunes. You can also just drag and drop the files onto your phone. I don't miss anything from my iPhone, except I think the iPhone's on-screen keyboard is better.

6. It's the new Jesus Phone.

7. It's part of the charm!

 

[korp#IM]

1. Depends on what type of phone you're looking for. The Droid is definitely the newest and best thing out there but it does require customization. With HTC phones you have the sense ui, which basically lets the phone be pretty out of the box ... although you can even make your droid look like the sense ui . The droid has features like hd playback and overall might be more of an advanced phone than say a first time smart phone user is ready for but if your willing to be dedicated than you really can do pretty much anything.

2. Just like when Blackberry upgraded to 5.0, only the newer phones got the upgrade due to hardware/memory ect. Your always safe with the newest for 1-2 years which is the length of the contract anyways but that might be reason to get the newest best thing even if you aren't ready.

3. You can avoid google to an extent but to even setup the phone you are required to have a gmail account .... gmail is the only type of email that the phones will actually "push". Any other email will update every 5 minutes at the quickest.

4. How about good call quality and no dropped calls? Seriously though, the market is not as big as the app store yet but remember it hasn't been out near as long and is growing at a pretty fast pace. You can also use tons of themes on your phone and truly customize your phone.

5. There is a program called doubletwist, which lets you sync anything from iTunes directly to your android device with ease. As far as media, the Droid wins hands down ... amazing screen and hd playback.

6. Google apparently is going to sell the Nexus One personally but sell it for tmobile service.

7. The eye sees all.

 

[AndrewWestSide]

checking in to win a Droid!

 

[Johnny5Walker]

Ive never used the droid, but i do have the Sense UI on my htc magic right now. and as far as im concerned, unless you absolutely need a hardware keyboard(which you don't you iphone loving bastard!!!!!) go with the hero. The CPU on the droid may be faster, but if you can't find anything to utilize that cpu than it becomes kind of redundant. It does have a Higher Res screen, which may peak your interest if you plan on watching video on it. But other than that, the overall size of the hero is more than useable.

And we are in kind of a sticky situation as far as fragmentation goes, but if you bought the device with android 1.5 you knew what type of functionality you had on the device then, so you arent really in a position to complain about the feature that you dont have that are included in android 2.0(maybe just learn to load custom roms????). But the android platform is still so young, and is constantly changing, and i think that google understands the issues that fragmentation can cause(windows mobile...cough cough) and hopefully they learn from the mistakes of the past.

i honestly went to all of googles services when i got my android device. I already used gmail, just started using the calendar, however i havent had any problems with my hotmail address.

I think as far as the search goes, google brings back (questionably) the best results, despite there aspirations for world domination.

when you sell your soul to google, you get the google cloud, and google has the funding and talent to make that cloud the most violent, competition crushing storm(minus surepress) service available. but seriously the ability to customize things is something that i dont think apple will ever give you(if your lucky maybe you'll be able to put up a background pick in june!!)

drag and drop your video's and music, i dont know why people think itunes is so convenient. basically they've brain washed you into thinking that Itunes is the be all and end all. Ive been dragging and dropping for years and havent had any issues.

Nexus1 has the same CPU thats running the HTC HD2 which wmexperts has put forward as their representative in the smartphone roundrobin. (did you see that thing running tekken 3?????)

snapdragon is the next best cpu's for smartphones, but it's got some stiff competition in the tegra/tegra2.

p.s. the best way to get rid of that all seeing eye is to throw that clunky phone in the garbage(sorry droid fans, i think its just more hype than prowess)

p.p.s. If the nexus1 sounds interesting you should also have a look at the experia x10, UI looks very impressive.

p.p.p.s. give me the free stuff.

 

[bradyloveland]

Hero

I really like my Hero and so does my wife. I am not sure if i would go with the Droid now after hearing some things about it. The Hero seems to be pretty solid, but slow at times - which will hopefully be fixed with Android 2.1 coming out... hopefully soon.

Only real complaint I have had with this phone is the dust that gets under the screen... really annoying!

 

[gryn]

Another entry!

1) I think you should stick with your Droid. Verizon + coming updates should keep you happy until the next wave of phones. By then you might get a better deal on the Nexus One and it'll have it's issues solve.

 

[jankyhanky#WP]

Android all the way! Loving my Eris!

 

[cafe_civet]

Saw my friend's Eris. Really liked it...wished the notification light was bigger.

 

[ripcity00]

along with the market, turn by turn navigation and voice search were big selling points for me on the Droid...

 

[threeravens]

The Droid....

I just got my droid yesterday. Personally I think theat they should have called it the Cylon as the default voice sounds just like the Cylon voice from the original BG series...cool in itself as I was a big fan back then hehehe... So far I am very impressed. While they may not have to 200 gazilloion apps like the apple store, the number they do have is impressive and hard to go through because there are still a buttload of apps. 2 million vs 10k...you are really looking at degrees since 10k is still a lot of apps and as many have already stated, that will grow. Android is still a baby vs iPhone which is a few years old...ancient in computer years.

I am coming into the Droid from a Treo, which, even with some of the design flaws, I really liked. It was time to upgrade with my New Every 2 with VZ, and since they didn't have the Pre, which I originally wanted, I went with the Droid...which turns out to be way better then the Pre anyway.

Apps...I have found a lot of very useful apps and have yet to even hit the for pay apps. Also found some useless, but cool ones, like the light saber app *geek buzz* hehehe


Weight...yeah...it is a lot heavier than my treo...didn't realize just how much heavier it was until I went to look up some contacts to put on the droid. Wow...still no big deal. If you are getting tired from hefting the droid...might I suggest a gym ;-) It's still not that heavy.

Keyboard...I really haven't used it. The on screen one works good enough for me...even with my big fingers, I am finding it pretty accurate.

The only issues I am having is finding an easy (read automated) way to transfer my contacts over from my Treo.

On day 2, I would give it an A so far....

 

[pbrennan42]

I just bluetoothed mine over from my Nokia 9300i to my Pulse. Simples...

Phil.

 

[trumptman]

1) Which device do I focus on? Let's face it, those Droid commercials called the iPhone a princess, but the white, touchy-feely Hero looks just a pretty. Is it powerful enough? And speaking of the Droid, is it all hype or does it live up to it? Aside from the quasi-keyboad, how do I decide which is the better Android for me?

Focus on the Moto Droid first because it is the flagship model for Android right now.

2) Do I need to be afraid of platform fracture? On my network, Rogers, the Dream and Magic may never get updates since they aren't "with Google" and don't use Sense UI. Do Android users need to be more careful about getting a device that's great now, rather than hoping for software update improvements later?

I don't think so. Most people who are developers seem to have a good handle on these things and know the tools help abstract the hardware from the software.

5) Yeah, that iTunes thing. Right now I enjoy super-simple sync and on-device download for movies, TV shows, and podcasts and I *adore* it. The G1 wasn't great for media. Are the 2009 Android device better? Anything else I'll miss if I go from iPhone to Android?

Seems like a lot of folks are recommending DoubleTwist.

I'm entered. Now win me a Android phone!

 

[loco90]

Do you want a phone or a mini computer

In my opinion, if you want a phone go after Eris if you want a mini computer focus on the Droid. No phone buttons make the Droid a pain.

 

[pbrennan42]

Really? With my Pulse I don't even have to touch the phone keypad widget to dial - I just hit the green button and it comes up ready for me to dial and make the call.

I am sure that many of the Android phones work in a similar manner - and if not, why not?

Phil.

 

[loco90]

Good luck finding the "green button" on the Droid!

 

[leonl]

There is already some platform fracture, special among the non-flagship model which are still on Android 1.5 (and thus do not benefit from newer applications). The bigger names don't seem to suffer from that.

 

[frettfreak]

If there is anyway to get your hands on a nexus.. I would try that as I would be very interested in hearing an iphone users opinion on the platform and that device..

 

[li2327]

I had the eris up until a couple of days ago and decided to try the droid. The Android platform works well. I was never really and all google user but google is stable and it makes things very simple. I think you will enjoy any Android device that you choose. I came from an iphone so I started of with the eris. After playing watching all those droid commercials I had to try one. I'm glad I did. I love it. Good luck with whatatever device you decide to get and Happy New Year!!!

 

[klebron23]

Happy new years hopefully I win a Droid!

 

[AZbear]

I was rockin an iPhone on T-Mobile and did not want to lose my great plan but I was tired of no 3G. I looked at the Cliq and G1 and did not like the keyboards and the extra weight they added so I picked up the MyTouch. I am very happy with this device but it would be nice if it had Android 2.x