Droid X -vs- iPhone 4 : Day 2

[Travisimo]

I've been using the iPhone 4 since launch. Because of compounding fumbles from both Apple and AT&T, I was fed up and picked up the Droid X today. I have just about a week to use them both side by side before deciding which one to keep. I've been using iPhones for about 2 years, and this is my first Android phone. So I know it'll take more than 1 day to really do a good comparison.

That said, here are my initial impressions of both phones:

- AT&T's download speeds are faster (I average 2+ mbps most of the time), but Verizon's upload speeds are faster (getting over 500 mbps). Right now on AT&T, my uploads are capped at 100 kbps because of a "software bug" that AT&T has acknowledged but not fixed yet. At any rate, more noticeably is the LATENCY difference. Even though AT&T's throughput is faster, Verizon's latency is less than half of what I'm getting on my iPhone. What this means is that Verizon's network *seems* quicker.

- I really like the Android notification system and how it is all integrated. The iPhone's notifications are pretty much useless. I love being able to slide my finger and open up a whole list of recent notifications, though I'm still learning how it all works.

- The iPhone's screen is crisper and richer in color, but the extra screen real estate on the Droid X is very nice! I haven't noticed any jaggedness in the browser, so maybe I already have that firmware update that addressed it? At any rate, I guess this is really a personal preference. I think the size of the Droid X is perfect, but I can't deny the iPhone 4 looks awesome.

- The iPhone is much smoother and consistent in its interface, but the flexibility and customization on the Droid is a nice change for me. I love the Live wallpapers, the widgets, and the extra settings that Android offers. For ease of use and simplicity, however, the iPhone can't be beat. Again, a personal preference.

- The Droid X has locked up on me a couple of times, mainly when I'm in some setting (once during Live wallpaper settings). I'm not too worried about it, but you can tell the iOS is definitely more polished than Android. Of course, glitches with the software are more expected with an open operating system. Apple polishes their software for a very small hardware variance.

That's about it for now. I'll definitely do a more extensive comparison over the next few days. I couldn't really say which I'm leaning towards right now, but I'm still in the "excitement" phase with the Droid!

EDIT: Changed to "Day 2" and added additional info at the end of the thread.

 

[Airmaxx23]

Try the launcher pro UI, you'll be impressed.

 

[Phantom_LS2]

Good review. Coming from an iphone myself I can see where you're coming from on a few of your issues. Although I know i'm for sure sticking with the X, i'll still be watching this thread.

 

[syntrix]

Dive in and ask questions. Android has many more options in the OS compared to iosfour.

I was shocked how the four's screen showed icons in a weird and cloudy way on the newest one.

Plus with the X, depending on who you read up on; you don't have to hold it a certain way, and a leading expert made the news the other day on the consumer reports article.... basically he said that if you are using the iphone, you CAN NOT be in the same ROOM. That made me laugh.

I'll add this comment I posted in another thread.... two iphone owners at work were demanding that I enable wifi tethering (we have no wifi at work for other than corp devices), just so they could use FACETIME. I lol'd.

 

[Wolfedude88]

Try the launcher pro UI, you'll be impressed.

I will be messing with it in a little while, but now I am enjoying what came stock on the X. Figured play with stock until I get bored, then switch it up. I haven't had any lag on my X so I see no reason to switch yet.

 

[deekum1627]

give it a little more time droid rocks. there alot of cool things im sure you didnt even use yet.and wait to the new updates comes out should fix a few of the issues u are haveing that the i phone dont have.

airmaxx what is the launcher pro ui is just for the droid x right, for the droid there is only launcher pro beta

 

[Airmaxx23]

give it a little more time droid rocks. there alot of cool things im sure you didnt even use yet.and wait to the new updates comes out should fix a few of the issues u are haveing that the i phone dont have.

airmaxx what is the launcher pro ui is just for the droid x right, for the droid there is only launcher pro beta

It's always a beta (why, I dont know), but he updates and makes changes on a regular basis. Much more customization, and overall it's smoother, crisper and faster than the stock ui.

 

[Garrett67]

I also have both and I agree with your post.

My problem is ATT service sucks here and if wasn't for poor signal, I would probably stick with my iPhone 4.

With that said, I LOVE the integration of notifications and the overall customization.

The Droid is fun!

 

[Travisimo]

So yeah, I'll for sure be digging into the Android interface and may give Launcher Pro a try as well. I'm just trying to keep a level head here... there's no reason for me to jump on a particular bandwagon. I just want to do an honest fair comparison of them to make my decision, and hopefully it'll be illuminating for others as well.

I do have one strange problem with the Droid so far. I have several e-mail accounts set up (a gmail, a Yahoo, and my MobileMe). For some reason, sometimes e-mails are pushing to my Droid and sometimes they don't. I know they are all set up as IMap. Just a bit ago, I had to reboot the Droid because it was stuck checking for messages and wasn't receiving anything.

 

[syntrix]

First time imap sync's can take a long time if you have a lot of email. Or if the settings are wrong, it might stall, but that's old news, thought all that was fixed.

 

[deekum1627]

wow what a diff launcher pro makes i cant beleave how much smoother it is. i just installed it lol

 

[2009m6]

Interesting thread, the op wields a great tool, he just doesnt know how to really use it yet.

cue the star wars music

 

[Airmaxx23]

wow what a diff launcher pro makes i cant beleave how much smoother it is. i just installed it lol

I told ya...you can change a lot of things around too...customize the dock up with up to 15 scrollable slots, 1-7 home screens, 3d app drawer, blah, blah, blah.

Turn on the HQ scrolling, it looks even better. Menu, preferences, advanced settings, then put a check in high quality scrolling.

 

[Airmaxx23]

The OP realized it was because he stopped using the live wall paper.

 

[2009m6]

yeah, there is also adw launcher which has many settings as well.
and you can also add beautiful widgets and the weather addons to spice it up more
also get pure messenger and pure grid calendar.

 

[syntrix]

I told ya...you can change a lot of things around too...customize the dock up with up to 15 scrollable slots, 1-7 home screens, 3d app drawer, blah, blah, blah.

Turn on the HQ scrolling, it looks even better. Menu, preferences, advanced settings, then put a check in high quality scrolling.

Are there options for the dock interface, or is it still the same when you dock the X?

 

[damstr]

The OP realized it was because he stopped using the live wall paper.

Are you confusing him with me? Haha

 

[thecrock0984]

You shoudlve went Droid Incredible. Im not a fan boy of the Inc. I have just compared all of them and this is my opinion.

 

[damstr]

I've owned everyone iPhone except the latest one. Apple's OS IMO is getting really really stale. When I first went to use the new iPhone when it came out I was immediately reminded why I left Apple and went Android. I was a die hard Apple fan.

Btw Im typing this on my iPad so Im not biased! Haha

 

[durangojim]

You shoudlve went Droid Incredible. Im not a fan boy of the Inc. I have just compared all of them and this is my opinion.

I agree. I after playing with the company this morning, and I decided to stick with my Incredible. I won't get a new smartphone until the larger have higher resolution screen.

 

[ndfan4u]

You shoudlve went Droid Incredible. Im not a fan boy of the Inc. I have just compared all of them and this is my opinion.

Has the Incredible been rooted???

 

[dzien]

You shoudlve went Droid Incredible. Im not a fan boy of the Inc. I have just compared all of them and this is my opinion.

inc's are p nice... if you can one without a pink hue or garbled sound quality. gl

 

[sohc sti]

Launcher pro definitely makes a huge difference. Especially when you set it up right. I put that and the mario lwp on the store Model just to see how it handles the stress and it does it beautifully compared to my oc'd Droid. Much smoother even stock. Really waiting to see how it goes after froyo.

 

[Travisimo]

UPDATE: DAY 2

Okay, I've spent two complete days with the Droid X now! I definitely have some more comments to make regarding my iPhone 4 vs Droid X comparison.

1) Thanks to those who recommended Launcher Pro. This has really made the Droid X more useable. After getting things exactly the way I want, I can certainly say it's a much more flexible interface than the iPhone. While the iPhone is simpler and smoother, the Droid X is more useful with the additional of customizable widgets, home screens, etc.

2) Both screens are very nice, but there definite advantages to both. The iPhone 4's screen is easier to see in bright daylight, contrast is better, and text is crisper. On the other hand, I really like the bigger screen on the X, as well as the 16x9 aspect ratio. As I said before, there definitely is no clear winner here and it remains a personal preference.

3) The camera interfaces and abilities are significantly different. The camera on the Droid X takes longer to start up and there is some very noticeable lag in the refresh rate, especially when shooting video. For example, while you are shooting video, the screen looks like it is showing a very low frame rate, but when you play them back, they are smooth. The iPhone 4 is faster to start and does not have any lag during shooting. On the other hand, the Droid has many more options for both still and video shooting that come in handy. I haven't had time to compare the actual output of both.

4) The battery life is significantly better on the iPhone 4, especially if you are using Live Wallpapers on the X. It's a double-edged sword, however, because you are trading flexibility for battery life The iP4 lasts longer because it is very limited in what you can do. The Droid X's battery life can be all over the place, depending on how you set it up. It's definitely acceptable, and I really like the Live Wallpapers, so I'll probably just end up getting the larger capacity battery for the X when it comes out next month. In this way, I'll have a larger battery and a spare if the need arises.

5) Widgets are a wonderful thing! I'm not using any of the default widgets, but those Beautiful Widgets are very nice. And being able to quickly toggle Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, etc is definitely a convenience that the iPhone 4 cannot match. Being able to customize simple things like the data, time, and weather on the home pages is also something you can't do on the iPhone 4.

6) The free Google Navigation app included with Android is very nice. However, I've noticed that the GPS takes quite a bit longer to start up than it does on the iPhone 4. Using a navigation app on the iPhone 4, the GPS is almost immediately able to pinpoint my location and begin turn by turn directions. On the Droid, it takes sometimes a minute or two before it can start navigation, which is more in line with stand-alone GPS devices. And yes, I have all of the navigation settings turned on.

7) Voice integration on the Droid is awesome! I love being able to speak a lot of things I would normally have to type. It's especially handy for searches and text messaging. I'm sure this is something Apple is working on right now, but it probably won't be out until iOS 5 so this is a pretty significant advantage for Google.

I really don't think you can go wrong with either device! I'm just ready for a change, so I'm almost positive I'm going to stick with the Droid and return my iPhone 4. I'm ready to change carriers too, and if the iPhone ever does come to Verizon, I might considering it again. I also found out I get a better employee discount with Verizon than AT&T, so that's a nice bonus.

I can't really say at this point that one phone is overall better than the other. To me, the iPhone 4 looks sexier from the outside, but the Android OS is definitely more desirable at this point. It has quirks, and it's not as smooth or refined, but the freedom is something you really grow to love.

So as you probably noticed, I'm definitely leaning towards keeping the Droid!

 

[2009m6]

welcome to the darkside