Droid X vs. IPhone4

So.. who here has a Droid X and wants to share their first thoughts on the phone?

And does anyone want to speculate what they think the Xmas releases of these phones will have that the summer releases don't?
 
I'll call complete ******** on the 20%. Taking a quick look at the Yankee Group website, they provide marketing services in addition to research studies. Considering the number of positive Apple/iPhone related articles they seem to be associated with, I'm guessing that Apple is a client.

Carl Howe director for Yankee Group's Anywhere Consumer research group provides a weekly blog basically providing free advertising for Apple. He's not the only one with nice things to say about Apple on that site.

Certainly, there's a lot of good things to say about Apple and their products, but when you can easily find dozens of articles/blog entries about Apple and have to search around to find much on Google/Android, that somewhat indicates an agenda.

Android users may not have the same level of satisfaction as Apple owners, but its a lot higher than 20%.
 
So if 1 company makes 40% profit per unit and sells 100 units, and another company makes 28% profit per unit and sells 10,000 units, which company is more profitable? profit margin per unit alone isn't an indicator of success.
 
The survey didn't conclude that they didn't like their Android phone. It concluded that only 20% would likely buy another one. There's a difference. This statistic is extremely significant and forecasts the likely future of the platforms, and it implies Android users know there's something better available. And there is: iPhone. Many people selected Android phones because they were unwilling or unable to move to AT&T and thought an Android phone would be an acceptable alternative. As soon as the iPhone is available to other carriers, just watch the huge wave of new adopters discard their Android-based phones and move to the iPhone. Don't believe me? Just wait and see. Because of pent up demand, I could see Verizon selling 10 million iPhones in their first year if Apple can build them fast enough.
 
I don't understand about 90 percent of what's in this thread, but I thought I'd tell you that I have a plain old iPhone 3G, and I love it. When the time is right, I will upgrade with the new iPhone.

I'm your garden variety technodolt. I'd never even consider changing to Droid.
 
Texanne:

They are geared towards two different types of consumers. The iPhone is extremely basic and simple to use. My 2.5 year old daughter has been able to use one for a year. It's incredible engineering to create something that easy to use and its why the iPhone is so successful. It's also part of why it is somewhat restricted because by adding capabilities, you increase potential confusion/reduce simplicity.

Android is designed for people who like to customize their phones, add widgets, tinker with settings, manage files, etc. Its much less restrictive, but not as simple to use. I don't give my daughter my phone unless I open up an app that locks the buttons etc. Definitely not as intuitive or simple to use, but it has more flexibility.

Both have their positives and negatives, neither is going away, and I just don't understand the fanboys on either side who want their side to "win." Actually, the competition makes it better for everyone, and the consumer wins because they have a choice between multiple different phones/OSes to fit what the user wants. And the competition has them pushing boundaries.
 
I don't disagree with you, but if you're holding out for linux to win, you're going to be waiting a while. Your best option is to hope that there is enough competition among the competitors that it fosters some awareness on the part of consumers. In that regard, while a Google/Android win is not really a win in your eyes, it is probably a step closer to the direction you would prefer.

Apple is on the other end of the spectrum from Linux, they want to control the entire spectrum from hardware to software to even controlling user-provided content through censorship. So to the extent that people adopt Android, it is a step away from that locked-down proprietary ecosystem.

I don't think Linux is truly an option because you can already see the confusion caused in Android with a relatively few number of manufacturer skins (Sense, Motoblur, Touchwiz) and a variety of hardware options, and an ad campaign from Verizon which has half the people calling Android, Droid.

Apple is successful because it plays to the masses. Their user interface guidelines basically lay out that you make simple enough that 80% of people can use it and you ignore the 20% who want additional features because it will confuse people the majority of people. It works, they've got a huge, committed user base and they've created a very easy to use product.

Android is much more open that Apple and allows for much more flexibility. Linux takes that approach to the extreme and allows for a level of customization and flexibility that it is prohibitive. While theoretically I like the idea of completely open systems, I don't even have the patience to figure out Linux and what distribution I should be using. That is never going to work in today's society and its only going to lead to mass confusion.

One thing Apple has an advantage with as far as app development is that its easy compared to Android currently because you only have one or two phones and OSes to worry about at any one time. Android has 30+ phones with different hardware specs, different screen sizes, different graphics capabilities, 4+ versions of the OS at any one time, custom skins, etc. Imagine how reluctant developers would be to try to make apps for a platform with little to no commonality or standards among the various distributions. By increasing the openness and choice with your software, you would eliminate choice in other areas, specifically hardware and user-generated content, because manufacturers aren't going to include it on their phones and developers aren't going to create apps to run on it.

There has to be a middle ground there, and I personally think Android is a good middle ground. Especially if the companies who are members of the open handset alliance actually maintain a commitment to that philosophy, unlike Motorola who seems to be moving away from it.
 
It took seconds to hack the iPhone in Pwn2Own this year (yes I know its the 3GS, but the point is that pretty much everything can be hacked. I'm sure the iPhone4 will be hacked at some point once it has been out longer.

The Link

As far as the Android exploit, your link never pulled up for me, but I found The Link which basically discusses the Black Hat Android Hack.

"CVE-2009 1185 has been known for more than a year and can be patched, but so far the carriers have not issued patches, Lineberry says."

Not sure why it hasn't been patched, but the fact it was known and it wasn't able to be used in Pwn2Own hacking competition indicates to me it must not be too easy to accomplish. But it exists, and they need to patch it. But that will only last until the next hole is found.

The article goes on to discuss the type of attack which was used recently with the Live Wallpaper which gathered data from users.

"But root control is unnecessary in order to carry out the type of attack executed by Jackeey Wallpaper, according to another Lookout researcher, Tim Wyatt. Applications require permissions in order to access features of the phone, and these permissions can be exploited."

That seems pretty close to this, from Blackhat earlier this year.

Blackhat iPhone Privacy

There isn't much reason for hackers to spend a lot of time trying to hack the OS when users are the ones that are the weakest link. Why do you think that hackers target Windows over Apple - the number of users. In fact, according to The Link Apple is the least secure. But its easier to just send out tons of spyware/phishing attacks/etc. to the larger user base knowing that you'll get some percent of people dumb enough to give you the access you need.

Do the security holes need to be patched? Yes, of course, but at the end of the day, the user is the easiest point of entry.

But you aren't interested in an actual discussion about any of this.
 
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