ip4....or android ? :/

[dan55]

hi all,

just joined up

ive got an old iphone 3g and now is time to upgrade - obvious choice for me is ip4 - but should i consider android more ?

main thing i miss in ip world is that you cant customise it much/at all

but - the email/web/keyboard are v good

any thoughts ? what are the 3 points above like on say the desire ?

ive hear from people that have recently got the desire, that it can hang etc - poss due to the network providers s/w - so this needs to be removed

cheers
dan

 

[Drhyde]

Obviously in an Android board you're going to get bias towards it, but my two cents on the iPhone 4 is no. I would rather go to the 3GS if you don't have it or a high end Android phone. The reason why I say this is I went to an Apple store and checked out the iPhone 4 and tested the "antennagate" issue. I placed my finger on the lower left side where the notch is to see if what everyone was saying was true. Sure enough after about 30 seconds to 1 minute, all of the signal bars were gone. The screen maybe nice plus the dual cameras, but if a phone cannot perform its main function then I wouldn't purchase it.

If you're going to Android and staying with AT&T (I assume you're in the USA), go for the Captivate. AT&T cripples the Android phones in a bid I assume to make them less appealing and less functional than the iPhone, but the majority of the core functions are still there.

For Verizon, there are so many good choices. Droid X, Droid 2, Fascinate, etc. plus new ones coming in the near future. For Sprint, EVO 4G and the Epic 4G are their best. T-Mobile's offerings aren't that great right now, but they are about to get better. For them, I would say the Mytouch 3G Slide, and the upcoming phones, Motorola Defy and Mytouch 4G for their top phones.

If you really want the full Android experience and you're staying with AT&T, find you a used Nexus One online and root. The fully customized experience and ease of use in it is virtually unbeatable. I would say with certainty that the Nexus One (being Google's personal development phone) is easier to work with (it runs true stock Android), gets priority updates, and has wonderful custom ROM support.

As for glitchy phones, this just depends on the phone. All of the phones have some defect in them that's probably noticable, but not usually a deal breaker. Droid X is supposed to be root proof (we've since broke that notion), G2 is also supposed to root proof and has some hinge issues, the Nexus One touch screen isn't as responsive as other phones, AT&T Android phones can't sideload apps and their marketplace has some apps removed. However, near every Android phone that I have encountered tends to work excellently in the phone use department with nearly no dropped calls. Freezing OS is more related to the specific version of Android and UI on top of it. Typically, anything below 2.1 is prone to OS issues being young Android, but 2.1 and beyond are very refined and stable. Hopefully this answers some of your questions. If not, feel free to reply and I'll see what I can drum up.

 

[dan55]

hi
thanks for the full reply

yes i was hoping for a android bias to balance my ip view - so thanks

right ok - so latest android is ok - im in uk so dont think we get most of those droid phones - best one here is htc desire - think it is better than google phone so i hear ?

any opinion on the email/web/keyboard ? these are all good on my 3g ip

oh, what does rooting mean ? is that like JBing on iphone?

cheers
dan

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Welcome. There have been a TON of iPhone vs Android threads, not just on this forum but pretty much every forum out there.

If you search "iPhone" here you'll find a ton of threads about this. I suggest you read through them and learn from them, and then come back and ask other questions that may not have been covered.

 

[dan55]

hi - yes sorry - should have searched first :/ thanks

btw: im guessing android/htc desire does support landscape keyboard?
....and yahoo email?

cheers
dan

 

[baillou2]

Rooting the phone means gaining "administrator access" if you prefer the Windows lingo. Basically it allows you to do whatever you want with the operating system (which can be a bad thing too

I believe some version of the Samsung galaxy is available in the UK. I have the Galaxy Vibrant and I love it.

One important thing to keep in mind is how much more tweaking you can do to an Android phone. You want customization, be careful what you wish for. It can be time consuming and frankly is necessary if you want the phone to perform the way it should.

The web is great. The keyboard uses Swype which is faster IMO than traditional thumb typing. You can type the usual way as well but to be honest the keyboard doesn't seem quite as accurate as the iphone. This is probably because it doesn't have autocorrect, though it might have the option. I never bothered to look since I always use swype which so much nicer.
When I got my Vibrant about a month ago I thought it would be straightforward. Instead I found myself on, well, forums endlessly searching for the fastest ROM and so forth. I never thought I would be so interested in this level customization.

Android isn't just an OS, it's a hobby.

Hope this helps.

 

[dan55]

hi

i hear you - its like symbian mk2 then

ive had symbian and wm so am used to tweaking stuff to suit

swype - omg! totally forgot about that since early reviews - i must have it

does it work really well? ie doesnt type wrong words all the time etc ?

yes we have the galaxy S in uk - but doesnt seem to review as well as htc Desire - that seems to be king here

cheers
dan

 

[baillou2]

Swype works really well as long as you know the keyboard layout. I'm a really good typist but it's funny how you don't know where the keys are as much as your fingers do. The bottom buttons always get me. Everyone knows qwerty, but do you know zxcvb? But swype is actually amazing at guessing words. I can just about compose sentences with my eyes closed. Try that on an iPhone!

If the Desire is what gets better reviews then go for it. Hopefully it will have a better out-of-the-box experience than the Vibrant which wasn't that great until I got rid of the Twiz launcher etc. The Desire does look like a sturdier phone. The worst thing about the Vibrant is the crap plastic it's made from. I put an ultra-thin case on it which makes it the perfect weight and gives it a solid feel so I'm not too upset.

 

[Bnice]

How about the Desire HD?

 

[dan55]

hi,
cool - swype does sound good - nope - ive tried it on the iphone and it just doesnt work

i hear the desire is very well made - iphone build quality

yes was thinking about desire HD - not sure it is even out yet here - or if it is will be mega money

cheers
dan

 

[dan55]

according to reviews the ip4 and desire are pretty much head to head - depends what you prefer

oddly the desire hd got a bad mark against it for its screen! not as good as sammy so they said - or desire/ip4

 

[Abdur]

hi - yes sorry - should have searched first :/ thanks

btw: im guessing android/htc desire does support landscape keyboard?
....and yahoo email?

cheers
dan

I do have a desire. (SLCD)
It does have a wonderful HTC Sense keyboard. (You wont feel much of a difference from an iphone keyboard)
And it does support POP, POP3, and IMAP, mail carriers, so Yahoo should be fine.
The screen is a bit hard to see in the sunlight, but since I use my phone mostly indoors, and I can see enough to make it perform a lot of functions in the sunlight, I do not see that as an issue.
Desire is also quite sturdy and the physical buttons are always a nice bonus.
HTC Sense is easy to use and provides an amazing interface.
Most of the stats are equal to the ip4, but in some, as in dual camera, and retina display, iPhone has it beat.
Lots of great apps, and the best phone I ever had so far.

(only bad thing is the battery, it lasts 24 hours of moderate to high use)
I myself had an iPhone 3G, and this came as a great upgrade
If you do have any further questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Abdur

 

[lunatic59]

Dan, the Desire and the Nexus are virtually the same phone with a few exceptions ... The Desire has hardware buttons for the menu, a bit more RAM and lacks a second noise cancelling microphone. The most important difference however is that the Desire uses HTC's Sense UI while the Nexus is vanilla Android. They spec out just a little below the Galaxy S phones (which use Samsung's TouchWiz UI), with slightly smaller screen and less internal memory. However, the build quality on the Desire is excellent and feels right in your hand. I though the Galaxy S phones felt clunky.

 

[dan55]

thanks guys

yes i think the htc touch sense is most important on these phones - really makes em rock imo

im just thinking that if i go desire its all new - but if i go ip4, its just the same but quicker - so nothing to explore - plus ip4 will prob cost me more too

cheers
dan

 

[maxnicks]

If you like ease of use, then I'd recommend you go with the IP4.
Go with an Android Phone if you like:
1. the ability to customize EVERYTHING about your phone
2. ability to make it as easy or as complex to use
3. the ability to download apps at a fraction of the cost of the IP4
4. etc., etc., etc.
Tweaking an android is absolutely nothing like tweaking WM6 or WM6.5. I've plenty of experience with both. WM6, WM6.5 are both closed platforms. Android isn't.

I know that here in the U.S. you can get a phone and try it out for 30 days. I am guessing you're in England so I can't say about over there. In other words, try before you buy!

Good Luck!

Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I for one choose Android.

 

[Abdur]

thanks guys

yes i think the htc touch sense is most important on these phones - really makes em rock imo

im just thinking that if i go desire its all new - but if i go ip4, its just the same but quicker - so nothing to explore - plus ip4 will prob cost me more too

cheers
dan

Great stuff mate
If you do decide to get the desire, or have any questions about it, feel free to shoot me a PM.

Cheers,
Abdur

 

[dan55]

thanks Abdur - will do

 

[dan55]

hi
right just tried out desire in shop - pretty nice i thought - not as slick as ip4 though imo
the text entry screen is a bit wm stylee
wanted to try swype input but unfortunately desire was running 2.1 so had to try it on a sammy galaxy
im impressed with swype - all the words i entered it got straight off
not sure they do the 30 days thing in the uk - best you can get is a demo in the shop

so im thinking it could be the desire to go for - BUT, i need to try one fully with it running 2.2 to be sure
cheers
dan

 

[Abdur]

hi
right just tried out desire in shop - pretty nice i thought - not as slick as ip4 though imo
the text entry screen is a bit wm stylee
wanted to try swype input but unfortunately desire was running 2.1 so had to try it on a sammy galaxy
im impressed with swype - all the words i entered it got straight off
not sure they do the 30 days thing in the uk - best you can get is a demo in the shop

so im thinking it could be the desire to go for - BUT, i need to try one fully with it running 2.2 to be sure
cheers
dan

Ask around in the store whether they have the 2.2 update.
With the update everything is more slick AND you can save stuff onto the SD card. (So you can download a lot more apps)
Along with HD video recording etc.
But yeah, ask around, there might be one.
Best of luck with this.
Cheers,
Abdur

 

[dan55]

hi Abdur,

i did...and they didnt
will find another store when i have some time soon and get the full 2.2 experience

cheers
dan

 

[Bnice]

hi,
cool - swype does sound good - nope - ive tried it on the iphone and it just doesnt work

i hear the desire is very well made - iphone build quality

yes was thinking about desire HD - not sure it is even out yet here - or if it is will be mega money

cheers
dan

You can go to the Desire HD forum and see some comparing between the two phones and what folks are saying that have a Desire HD. In all get a hands on experience with the DHD if you can.

 

[dan55]

ok thanks will do

 

[dan55]

what are the reminder/alerts like on android? they are poor on ip

ie: if you have calendar reminder, can you snooze it etc?
also, if you have reminder and then say text+missed call - can it show them all in lock screen

cheers
dan

 

[No_u]

Android has the best way of doing that IMO. You can drag down the notification bar and see any missed texts, phone calls, e-mails, calendar activities, etc. You can also see if apps have reported anything, if updates are available and access them in one click.

Reminders are fine, has sound and everything.

I'm sure there's an app that enables you to show missed text/calls on your lockscreen, but since most android phones have a LED light that lights up when there's a missed call/text I don't see much use in it.

In all seriousness, everything iOS does you can get on your Android device, you can get home replacers that make your homescreen just like the iPhone's.

 

[dan55]

awesome. sounds just what i need

cheers