Droid X vs. IPhone4

I had an ipod touch, but never an iphone. So I am making a huge assumption that function is fairly similar, just with a phone function..and the things that that brings...
I also have had multiple palm phones including the new Pre with Web 0S... My wife just got the android Evo phone.
I agree to a great degree with what has been said before. I don't always know what my wife's phone is doing. It is not as intuitive as the ipod touch. That being said, I still think palm slays both as far as function and usibility. I also can't stand ATT so that is a massive drawback with me.
 
Maduro:

I agree with pretty much everything you said. Linux needs to focus on a single product to market so that it gains more widespread acceptance. As the younger, more tech savvy generation grows, I see linux becoming more and more popular, but I just don't see it making huge inroads. However there could be aa really nice niche market where it could be successful.

brnt:

Yes, Apple is always going to have more control, I agree with that. I also agree that any security issues should be fixed. I would presume that manufacturers aren't fixing the issue because the issue is going to be patched by the Android team at some point if it is considered a significant threat. I don''t know enough about the technical aspects, but there is sandboxing in Android, but I don't know to what extent and how its implemented or how that compares to Apple. I also can't discuss the details of how easily and app can propagate. Android allows for remote removal of the offending application. That would seem to be a pretty effective means of stopping the app from propagating. Android is far from static, and to this point has been very secure, so I anticipate that it will continue to be a pretty secure environment overall.

We'll just have to disagree about it being the downfall or the end of Android. Again, it seems that you really want Apple to "win" and Android to "lose" and I wonder why you would even hope for that. Without Android, the iPhone wouldn't have any competition, ios4 likely wouldn't have multi-tasking, wallpapers, etc. which make it a better platform than it would have been otherwise. It's pushing innovation.

afat:

I'd say your numbers are exaggerated, first of all. Second, the iPhone has a huge number of users who are older, non-tech savvy people. They are going to love the iPhone, its incredible technology without the "technology" It's extremely easy and great for that group of users. Also great for kids. I'd recommend an iPhone to my parents over Android currently. But again, when you are making your device easy to use for the "lowest common denominator," or in other words, completely non-tech people and very young children, there are limitations associated with that.

But the younger generation is much more tech savvy, and they are increasingly expecting their devices to do more. so I'd say that Android has a much higher appeal to that group of users, and longterm, I just see the overall percent between people looking for a closed ecosystem/locked down system is going to decrease while a more open, flexible system will increase. This is especially true as more people become familiar with the technology.

All of this stuff is new, and its moving at breakneck speed. So I think of it like the early days of the internet. Alot of the non "tech" people had AOL to access the internet and email, etc. That was a closed-wall ecosystem that has pretty much disappeared as users have gotten more savvy and comfortable with the technology and navigating the "internet".

Now, I'm not comparing Apple to AOL, because Apple will continue to make great and useful products; however, I don't think its hard to imagine that as the younger generation matures and the population as a whole gets more informed and knowledgeable about the mobile technology, that a less confined/less controlled product is going to increase in popularity.

I'm not predicting that Android is going to win and Apple is going to lose. I just think that both have a place in the market, and that the percent is going to continue to move higher for Android - that has already been shown. Android continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

As far as 2.2, it is a very nice update that greatly improves performance. Everything I have read indicates that it will also improve battery performance, or at least not negatively impact it. 2.2 has rolled out on the Nexus One, and is scheduled to be released on numerous phones, including the Droid and the EVO within the next week or so. It is scheduled to roll out to the Samsung Galaxy S phones in September. I'm sure its scheduled for a lot of other phones as well, but those are the ones I've seen specifically.

One issue that Android has had is that they have been in catch up mode, so there have been several updates a year, which does create some issues and confusion among users. However, Google has indicated they would like to have a once a year update similar to Apple. My guess is that begins with the 3.0 release which is rumored for later this year. At that point, there will be a transition period as devices rotate out of use and are finally able to catch up with the pace of the OS upgrades.

That consistency will reduce confusion among users, allow more developers to make the transition to Android, which will improve the available apps, and further increase Android's popularity. Especially when the developers see that they are able to do quite a bit more with Android than they are on the iPhone.

As far as kids having iPhones, that is another advantage that has led to a huge number of iPhones being purchased by people with children. That market hasn't been developed nearly as well in Android; however, we're about to work to change that. On its own, the iPhone is much more simple to use for young children; however, I have some ideas that I'm hoping to develop soon that will make Android phones much the same. I personally know a lot of people who chose the iPhone over Android specifically because they have children - I've even recommended that family members get an iPhone over Android for that very reason. Android isn't ready for that yet, but it can be done by creative developers.

As far as you never thinking that you would like your iphone to do something that it can't do. That's great. I think a lot of people are probably the same, but alot of that is because the iPhone is really their only experience with the mobile platform and smartphones. They don't even know what else it could do at this point because they are relatively unfamiliar with the technology and its capabilities.

In fact, the company I started is going to develop apps for the iPhone. However, the first three apps we are doing are going to be Android only. The reason is that they CANNOT be done on the iPhone. Our speed dialer can be (and has been) somewhat replicated on the iPhone, but not how I want it to work. Our next two apps specifically can't be done at all, specifically because of limitations imposed by Apple.

As more people are exposed to what Android can do that the iPhone can't do, they will be more people thinking about what they would like for their phone to do. That's exactly what happened to me last December. I was looking at either an iPhone or the Droid. I went with the Droid. My wife got the iPhone. So until 7 or 8 months ago, I didn't know much, if anything about either one. The openness of Android has led me to start thinking about a ton of different things that smartphones could do. I can mess around with my phone and do different things and alter settings, and customize it and that inspires various ideas. It led me to start a company.

I tried playing around with my wife's iphone also, but it was just boring in comparison. It feels "closed" and "limited" to me. I realize I'm an outlier in how much I feel limited by the iPhone. However, I do think as more and more people realize how much a more open platform offers, Android will continue to grow AND Apple will continue to increase the features included in their phones.

As far as increased functionality and not really having any thoughts about what the iPhone can't do that you want it to do, here's something my wife brought up. She forgot to turn off the volume on her iPhone one night and the next morning mentioned that it woke her up in the middle of the night. I immediately suggested she download an app (which I had seen several similar apps available for Android) that simply automatically turns the volume down on your phone at night. That's an extremely easy app to program for Android that is impossible to do for the iPhone.

Sure, you can do it manually, but wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to worry about remembering that at night and also to turn the volume back up in the morning? Or have a quick setting for meetings that turns down the volume and then turns it back on automatically after the meeting is scheduled to be over so you don't miss calls. That is simple functionality that improves the users experience that is specifically prevented by Apple.

Anyways, as soon as I saw that couldn't be done on the iPhone, I realized, in a practical sense, how limiting that controlled environment is. Obviously there's tons of examples, but that is one that actually happened to me and my wife pretty much right after we got our phones which highlighted the difference between the platforms.

THEU: I've heard that alot. What specific things about Palm did you like which made it more usable? As a developer I am interested in how to create a user experience that is easy to use and intuitive, along with being flexible. One thing Android has suffered from is that the big name developers have been working on the iDevices, so the developers for Android tend to be less experienced with less resources, and in order to get their product out to the market ahead of the competition, have released early/beta versions of apps and continued to update them instead of releasing full/mostly complete versions.
 
There are a lot of predictions going on in this thread and almost all of them seem to be based on zero information and 100% feelings.

Jesus invented Linux, an Iphone is more dependable than an atomic clock, no one will ever buy a second android.


The Link

Sorry fellas the writing is on the wall.
 
Interesting that they fail to note that iPhone 4 didn't launch until the end of the quarter. Regardless, Android appears to be doing well for now. That is until Apple adds more US carriers and consumers have an opportunity to decide if they really like their Android phone or would still prefer an iPhone. The data indicates they would prefer to get an iPhone next time. We'll see how this all plays out for years to come. I suspect iOS and Android will solidify their positions as the OSs of choice and the others will fade. Not sure if RIM can hold on, gradually fades, or moves to Android.
 
Houston Horn,

That is a very interesting link. Amazing that android generated more than 50% more sales than the Iphone this past quarter.

I don't have a dog in the race, yet, but I don't think the "closed ecosystem" model that Jobs and Apple chose is going to work out for them in the long run. I would have thought that they would have learned this the first time around, when Macs competed with PC's.
 
Actually, I think the study stopped partially through the quarter. The article references that it is unclear how much of the new iPhone sales is actually included. However, its still an impressive rate of growth, regardless.

I do think Q3 will skew back towards Apple somewhat because of the new iPhone.
 
I have no idea what data he's seen, but there was this from a couple months ago. I don't vouch for this data, because I don't know anything about the research group.

Customer Satisfaction

Shows Apple leading over other manufacturers; however it appears that if you just look at the OSes and ignore manufacturers, you have Apple at 71% vs. Android at 67%. So it's pretty close.

Also, I'm betting that as more manufacturer data is taken which includes the new Android phones which have come out, EVO/X/Incredible/Galaxy S, etc, you will see the manufacturer rankings begin to climb somewhat as well because really, the study is currently comparing low end/early Android phones/non-smartphone phones with Apple, which only has smartphones. On the other hand, this doesn't count the new iPhone, either.

So looking at it by manufacturer is skewed since Apple only has the iPhone and these other manufacturers have a lot of other lower-end phones which would likely bring down the average. What I would like to see is this same study at the end of the year when it has a chance to compare Apples to Apples, so to speak. New iPhone against the top of the line Android phones.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see where it goes in the future.
 
Here is an interesting report that claims Android sales are up 200% from just 2 months ago.
The Link

"Google's Android was expected to become the world's second most-used smartphone OS by 2012, after the Symbian OS, but now accelerating sales will help it get there this year, according to analysts."

Another article claiming sales are up 333% since Feburary.The Link
 
Anyone here care to speculate what the Christmas version of the Droid X, or even the IPhone will offer? I ask because I'm going to wait this one out until December and let some dust settle- plus I want the newer and better OS 2.2 that is coming out soon.

Better video to video calling? Something else?
 
This site used to be better updated, but it has a lot of info on phones, but not much for late in the year.

Android Phones

3.0 Gingerbread is rumored to be out sometime around the end of the year, although that has purely been speculation at this point.

1.2GHz dual processor chips are going to be coming out for mobile devices.

Motorola has said that it wants a 2 GHz chip by the end of the year.

For quite a while, there has been talk of a super phone being developed for the end of the year, but I haven't really seen much about it other than just random speculation.

I would imagine that there will be several new badass phones coming out near the end of the year, and with Gingerbread scheduled to come out, I'd wait for that. In fact, Google hired a VP from Palm a while back who was basically the mind behind the Palm Pre. Considering how much everyone likes the Palm Pre UI, I would expect 3.0 to incorporate some of those features and make it more user friendly. Not a complete revamp, probably, but I'm anticipating some significant changes.

To that extent, I would be much more interested in a phone running stock Android, so hopefully we see that as well.
 
havent read the entire thread, but i'm on cingular and seriously considering the samsung captivate over the iphone 4. two quick questions

1) how's the exchange integration? the phone is mostly for play, but i do need to be able to manage my email/calendar on it. pretty good?

2) is there anyway possible to download content from itunes and easily put it on the android phone, or would i have to go through and burn it to a CD, then rip it in a different format?

thanks!
 
Not sure about the exchange integration on the Captivate, but I would assume that it wouldn't be much different from other Android phones. I use the default mail program to manage my exchange email and it is fine for what I need. There are other programs like Touchdown or RoadSync that provide more features if you need it.

As far as syncing with iTunes, you can use iSyncr or DoubleTwist to play iTunes music on your phone. There may be others, but those seem to be the two most popular.

For future reference, if you purchase music from Amazon MP3 its not protected, then you can just drag and drop the music to your phone's music folder. Also, Amazon MP3 will automatically import any music from Amazon into your iTunes. That way you can still play it from iTunes or put it on an iPod if you need to. Also, its typically cheaper than iTunes.
 
Nice link HH.

What are LTE MiFi units?

And, this is exactly what I needed to see- if the Droid Pro is good for work/personal that may be my next phone. Wish they had more details..
 
Verizon is building out their LTE (4G) network and presumably there will be 4G phones which can also act as mobile hot spots. Similar to Sprint with the EVO.

However, it mentions MiFi devices like Novatel, so maybe they will also have non-phone hotspots as well.
 
So if I understand this correctly, 4G is a better network enabling much faster data transfer rates.. thus our bandwidth hog smart phones can work a little better.

I know Spring brags about having this, but have not enjoyed anything yet in this area with my BB Storm.. The Android Pro looks like it will be a nice upgrade..
 
4G has not been the beast that it was claimed to be. It will probably develop into that, but early reports basically said that the benefit was marginal and the increase in power use was drastic. From my standpoint, it's a feature that I would avoid or at least disable for the time being.

There is also the fact that 3G is rarely an obstacle for my use.
 
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