Help Switched from iPhone 3g to Droid X.. Regretting decision

[Piiman]

You really need to adjust sync settings if your battery is poor. FYI the X has better battery life than the Incredible. I can only compare to my ipod 3g and 1g which obviously have pretty good battery life. However my X is just as good when it is surfing using wifi as an ipod.

Does the iphone really have better battery life or just a bigger battery since it can't be swapped out? What size is the battery in the iPhone?

 

[VDubBugMan53]

seems nobody has recommended opra mini for web browsing...i love it

and as a banker and reguarding to your chase online banking for many reasons i in this case would not recommend a new app but a new bank or even better credit union

 

[PeaceMaker]

My opinion on all of the issues that have been brought up in this thread is this:
Android is still a very fresh and young OS. It needs refinement. I don't think any of us can honestly say the Android OS looks more refined and nicer than the iPhone OS. However, for those of us who like options and tinkering to have feature rich technology, Android suits us perfectly.

I think that Google & Android are focusing on growth right now rather than refinement. Granted, Froyo should provide some background refinement, which is definitely important; but I don't think it has changed drastically to say that Android looks "gorgeous." Sure, we can download an app for that; but Apple OS is stock "gorgeous."

Apple OS was referred to as the training wheels of OS'; well, sort of. Everything just works and it is easy to use; that is the way everything should be. On the contrary, we should also have a bevy of options to customize and be flexible with our OS' and phones.

True multitasking vs fake multitasking. iPhone4 really limits the multitasking abilities. Last night, I was on a call, on wifi, gps, browsing the web, updating apps, checking emails all at the same time. The phone wasn't stuttering or anything. I was truly impressed with its capabilities last night. As for the battery, I'm not the biggest fan of it, but I have to think about all of the things I am asking from my phone and its ability to do it. On the other hand, I would rather demand to have a better battery. This should be the manufacturer's worry, not ours.

To sum it up, these two OS's are very different. It comes down to preferences. There are pro's and con's to each. Right now, I am loving my new phone as it is worlds better than the Blackberry I had before. I believe that Android is growing faster than iPhone OS right now. I believe that in time, they will surpass the iPhone. Once Google gets some serious momentum in the market, I think they will eventually focus on the user interface and refining it; once this happens, will it be hard to really find many faults in Android's OS.

All of the above are just my thoughts and opinions.

 

[mrspeedmaster]

C:I know.im a cardholder myself. fortunately, the skyfire browser is very useful. again create a shortcut to the chase website.

Is there an Android version of the Chase Mobile banking? Couldn't find it.

On the iPhone, I love how you can take a picture of a check and it deposits it automatically to your account. No need to go to the bank or ATM ever. The web browser/mobile website doesn't do this. So, you sort of need the app.

 

[dzien]

i don't understand how people have battery problems with the droid x. That is, unless you have brightness on full, network on all the time, real time syncing, and all kinds of crap running daily. I make it through the day with my phone over 30% and that's with tons of internet/app use to waste time.

 

[HalfFrozen]

i don't understand how people have battery problems with the droid x. That is, unless you have brightness on full, network on all the time, real time syncing, and all kinds of crap running daily. I make it through the day with my phone over 30% and that's with tons of internet/app use to waste time.

This.

I may not have mine yet, but my fiances phone works through the entire day and I am sure can go through another, she plays games, surfs, and DLs a bunch of crap. And she even has that damn mario LWP. lol

 

[ylexot]

i don't understand how people have battery problems with the droid x. That is, unless you have brightness on full, network on all the time, real time syncing, and all kinds of crap running daily. I make it through the day with my phone over 30% and that's with tons of internet/app use to waste time.

I don't know about other people, but I have really bad reception at my desk at work. So, I know that it is chewing up battery looking for a signal, but that's also why I don't complain about it.

 

[Garrett67]

I have no widgets or shortcuts on my X. I use LauncherPro and have all 15 dock buttons set for what I need. I too hate clutter and am a minimalist. My house has no furniture, just levels. JK with that last bit.

Kramer FTW

 

[jonnyk]

i came from iphone 3g and there's no comparison, droid X dominates it in every way.

 

[droidx_fan]

I came from iPhone3 and it appears that was a huge mistake. I think referring to the iPhone OS as training wheels is absurd. It works. There are so many freaking bugs on this DroidX it is beyond belief. Complexity and chaos does not equal flexiblity. Or efficiency. Or productivity. After power using the DroidX ( and I mean really power using), I am ready to throw the thing on the floor and stomp on it.

I think all the people who like the Droid OS would have surely loved DOS back in the day.

 

[DrJD]

I came from iPhone3 and it appears that was a huge mistake. I think referring to the iPhone OS as training wheels is absurd. It works. There are so many freaking bugs on this DroidX it is beyond belief. Complexity and chaos does not equal flexiblity. Or efficiency. Or productivity. After power using the DroidX ( and I mean really power using), I am ready to throw the thing on the floor and stomp on it.

I think all the people who like the Droid OS would have surely loved DOS back in the day.

I actually very much disagree with this. The beauty of Android OS is that myself, a techie, love and have lots of room to customize. My wife also got a DX on launch day as her first smartphone. Its also so simple that she loves it and hasn't had a single problem.

While iOS has the simple down, it doesn't have the customization ability. So I think Android wins for appeasing both parties.

 

[Ninja Monkey]

One thing I have to say, I am very disappointed in the camera. Even my 3gs takes better pics.

OK, I have to COMPLETELY disagree with you on this one. I have a 3GS and the camera bows. It takes horrible pictures. Even most fanboys will tell you the 3GS camera blows. The Droid X camera is way better than the 3GS. Maybe not as good as the 4 but certainly much better than the wretched 3GS camera.

 

[varaonaid]

Try looking at the market more and customizable widgets. I came from an iPhone 3G as well and I was just tired of Apple honestly. I feel the Android is much more customizable, you just have to play around with it

What they said. You can pretty much make it what you want. I personally use Jorte calendar with the Pure Calendar widget...awesomeness. Couldn't be happier with that combo. Try different apps and see what you like. But life (and Android) is about choice. If you love Apple so much, switch back. But, really, 4 days with a totally new device and OS isn't a really long time. I'm finding more and more you get out of the device what you're willing to put in in terms of taking a few tutorials, reading some app reviews, trying and uninstalling some of them, etc.

Personally, I can't cope with Apple and their closed system at all. Never owned even an ipod, never will. Don't have itunes and won't even think about using it let alone purchasing through it. So, everyone has what they like and don't like. Most people can configure their Android device to fit them perfectly. I've had mine for almost three months and I'm still learning and tweaking and making it better all the time. Maybe Apple fits you better because you've been in their system long enough that it's hard to switch.

Ultimately, it's up to you. And no one but you can make the choice and no one but you should. So we can tell you why WE love Android in all it's different device flavors and choices but in the end...you decide.

 

[varaonaid]

I actually very much disagree with this. The beauty of Android OS is that myself, a techie, love and have lots of room to customize. My wife also got a DX on launch day as her first smartphone. Its also so simple that she loves it and hasn't had a single problem.

While iOS has the simple down, it doesn't have the customization ability. So I think Android wins for appeasing both parties.

Haha! Same thing exactly with my DH and me but reversed...I'm the techie who loves to customize, and he adores his DX for it's simplicity. I do think that Android does well with both. But then again, I love Android, love linux, open source, et all.

 

[droidx_fan]

I actually very much disagree with this. The beauty of Android OS is that myself, a techie, love and have lots of room to customize. My wife also got a DX on launch day as her first smartphone. Its also so simple that she loves it and hasn't had a single problem.

While iOS has the simple down, it doesn't have the customization ability. So I think Android wins for appeasing both parties.

I purchase a phone and cell service to work for me, not me work for them. If the ability to customize was streamlined, documented and was integrated, I think that is great. It is not with Android, Moto and the DroidX, not even close. I will acknowledge my utilization of the phone is purely for business purposes. I could care less about something kewl, something pretty, etc.. I just need it to have robust capabilities, be simple, be productive, be efficient and most of all, be reliable. You know, just freaking work.

 

[jdk33]

I just need it to have robust capabilities, be simple, be productive, be efficient and most of all, be reliable. You know, just freaking work.

You should get a blackberry then. They're great if all you need to do is make calls.

 

[SgtBaxter]

I'm just baffled by a few things, like why is the Sound/Silent/Vibrate modes so hard to configure? There is no such thing as vibrating mode. You have to go through each function in order to make things vibrate.

Another thing is reloading websites. I have to click on the options button and then reload, can't just press a reload button on the screen. No stop button on the screen either.
iPhone Apps:

Facebook (which is 100x better than the droid version for some odd reason)
Chase Mobile Banking (non existent on droid)
Gallery
iPod (better interface)
Broswer (reload button is a click away, droid you have to press options then reload... why?)
Email (terrible email interface)
Maps (led me to the wrong coordinates for the DroidLanding hunt!)

If all you want to do is nit pick, I can counter every thing you mention here with similarly annoying/stupid behaviors in iOS, and probably toss in a dozen more. Can't sync without iTunes and a USB cable? That's so 2007. iPhones offline failure notifications are pretty cryptic and useless too.

As others mention, it's all in your personal preference. For instance, I prefer the android facebook and have always found every apple mail product to be substandard. Exchanged integration in Android is better, but not to the degree it was on my winmo phone, but there are applications that solve that for me.

I find notifications are horrible on the iPhone, and there's no real information presented to you on the home screen, nor can there be. Search is about 1000x better and faster on Android, and so is multitasking. My friend was all excited about how he could multitask 2 GPS programs, until I showed him the Droid X multitasking 4, while still streaming music smoothly. I find voice recognition to be much better on the X too, and find having more than one button to push makes navigating the phone faster. I've also averaged 17 hours of pretty decent usage on my battery, so I don't want to hear about battery drain - at least not on the X. You can talk about it on the Evo though.

But biggest for me is, Google Voice is non-existent on the iPhone, where as Android pretty much is a Google Voice phone. I can't live without Google voice. Not to mention, AT&T doesn't even have 3G service here so the iPhone experience is horrible anyway.

Now that said, I actually love the iPhone, and if AT&T wasn't so horrible and actually offered something resembling service I'd probably have bought one. The things it does well it does very, very well and the overall experience is very polished. So if you don't like your Android, that's cool, take it back and get what you want. Just don't pretend like the iPhone isn't full of faults, because it's really chock full of 'em.

 

[kishin14]

I purchase a phone and cell service to work for me, not me work for them. If the ability to customize was streamlined, documented and was integrated, I think that is great. It is not with Android, Moto and the DroidX, not even close. I will acknowledge my utilization of the phone is purely for business purposes. I could care less about something kewl, something pretty, etc.. I just need it to have robust capabilities, be simple, be productive, be efficient and most of all, be reliable. You know, just freaking work.

If its purely for business purposes then you did get the wrong phone at least for now.

I think what many people fail to realize is that the android OS is only in its second generation while the iOS is in its 4th. Frankly, I'm amazed it works as well as it does for being only second generation. When froyo comes out, it will be even better (much better in fact) and also provide improved business support. And froyo is also still second generation. I can't even imagine what 3.0 will be like.

I was also new to the android platform so it took me a while to fully customize my droid x with the right apps, widgets, and configuration. Probably much longer than it would on the iphone. But now that its set, I don't even have to think about it. I just check the app store every once in a while to look for updates and new apps. My battery life is great, my web browsing experience is smooth, and I absolutely love the widgets I've installed.

For example, I have all of the "Buzz" news widgets (Tech Buzz, Mobile Buzz...) across two of my home pages. These widgets download pretty detailed news capsules with links to the larger, original article. It keeps 20 stories each. The great thing is, the news capsules are automatically downloaded to my cache so I can read them even when I don't have a connection (like on the subway). I also love little things like the countdown widget, which constantly reminds me how many days there are until NFL season starts and how many days until my wedding. The live scoreboard widget I have on another home page also give me instant access to scores without opening up a single app. I also love the divx/xvid/avi support, which the iphone does not have.

Obviously YMMV. But what I can say with relative confidence is that the android OS will continue to get better and it will happen quicker than it ever did for the iphone. The Apps will get better, the interface will get better, and the general ease of use will get better.

 

[Westcoast]

The iphone just seems and feels like such a little toy compared to my droid, i love it.

 

[ylexot]

I figure that iOS is pretty much the android app drawer...

 

[droidx_fan]

If its purely for business purposes then you did get the wrong phone at least for now.

I think what many people fail to realize is that the android OS is only in its second generation while the iOS is in its 4th. Frankly, I'm amazed it works as well as it does for being only second generation. When froyo comes out, it will be even better (much better in fact) and also provide improved business support. And froyo is also still second generation. I can't even imagine what 3.0 will be like.

I was also new to the android platform so it took me a while to fully customize my droid x with the right apps, widgets, and configuration. Probably much longer than it would on the iphone. But now that its set, I don't even have to think about it. I just check the app store every once in a while to look for updates and new apps. My battery life is great, my web browsing experience is smooth, and I absolutely love the widgets I've installed.

For example, I have all of the "Buzz" news widgets (Tech Buzz, Mobile Buzz...) across two of my home pages. These widgets download pretty detailed news capsules with links to the larger, original article. It keeps 20 stories each. The great thing is, the news capsules are automatically downloaded to my cache so I can read them even when I don't have a connection (like on the subway). I also love little things like the countdown widget, which constantly reminds me how many days there are until NFL season starts and how many days until my wedding. The live scoreboard widget I have on another home page also give me instant access to scores without opening up a single app. I also love the divx/xvid/avi support, which the iphone does not have.

Obviously YMMV. But what I can say with relative confidence is that the android OS will continue to get better and it will happen quicker than it ever did for the iphone. The Apps will get better, the interface will get better, and the general ease of use will get better.

Nice reply and points. I understand. When I got an iPhone the first time, it was prior to their 3.1 release (I think that was it). I was at the time using a Blackberry, loved it. The iPhone in the state it was in had some crucial holes, I took it back in a couple of weeks. When 3.1 hit and plugged those leaks that were essential to me for business, I bought it. Reluctantly I might add because I've always been a PC guy and thought the Mac people were seriously screwed up. As it turns out, I ended up loving the iPhone, it helped my productivity a ton. I can't even imagine going back to a BB now. LOL

Perhaps that is where the Android is at this time, where the iPhone was for me before 3.1. I can see the potential and if it ever gets smoothly integrated, I can also see how it can be awesome. But I am struggling with a decision. I absolutely do not want to go back to AT&T. I didn't realize just how bad their network is until coming back to Verizon. But I also can't tolerate some dumb phone that offers no productivity. While I want integrated and efficient, I am a Mech Eng by degree and admit, I enjoy gadgets and some tinkering. And honestly, I still hate those Apple Bastiges and puke at the thought of putting $1 in that egotistical prick Job's pocketbook. Perhaps that helps describe my frustration.

 

[Piiman]

i don't understand how people have battery problems with the droid x. That is, unless you have brightness on full, network on all the time, real time syncing, and all kinds of crap running daily. I make it through the day with my phone over 30% and that's with tons of internet/app use to waste time.

Yeah I'm with you . Once we get out of the playing with it all day every day phase the phone easily last through the day.

If you use it like a net book then battery is on right on for a net book.

 

[rushmore]

Seems like the OP is used to the iPhone environment. Nothing will probably ever change that. Seems the Incredible would fit the OP better, based on some concerns pointed out, but that still will not fill the Apple void. Best to bail and go back to At&t. Next year may have better carrier options for iPhone.

I will always hate iPhone, since I hate not having Flash, stuck with iTunes and no straight drag&drop. Prefer the bigger display size options and better codec support on Android too. Not to mention no microsd support with iPhone.

OP will probably never be happy unless back with iPhone.

 

[evanedge]

I am still under the 30 day trial so I can just cancel and return the equipment + restocking fee.

I agree. I got a HTC Incredible because I didn't want to switch to AT&T and I am really regretting it. I heard everybody talking about how Android is equal to or better then Apple in a lot of ways and after 3 months with my phone I would have to respectfully disagree. The UI is a mess and while highly customizable it is scattered and a lot of times hard to use and don't even get me started on the quality of 90% of the apps. I wish I would have returned mine within the 30 day trial period but I didn't and now I will just have to deal with this phone for 2 years and hope with the Android updates (that I will have to wait for months after they come out to get because HTC has to make them work with their sense UI) the experience will get better.

 

[KB3MMX]

Can people please convince me that Android is better? I've been using my droid x for 4 days and I've had to worry about battery life and reception more than I ever did with my iPhone3g.

I also find just the little things really inconvenient, like double tap to zoom and then having to move the screen around to find the text; iphone automatically does that.

Small things like the Calendar blows on android, who ever thought that a rectangular long boxes would look nice?

Syncing music and videos are okay with doubletwist, but then again, it's just another set of programs i need to use.

Apps are not as colorful or polished than the iPhone.

Also, why are all the vibrating functions sporadically everywhere and not under the centralized sound&display setting?

Why does auto-focus make a sound when you're in silent mode?!?!

Motorola's Stock UI is incredibly lame and irrelevant. I tried ADW and Launcher pro and they both hogged my precious battery life.

The things i love about android are:

-Swype
-Google integration
- Notifications
-Screen size (though that's not really Android)
- widgets (especially the nytimes!)

Why didn't you get the Samsung Captivate if you're a AT&T guy????