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I've looked around a bit but haven't found any other threads that have satisfied me, so I'm posting my own here. I haven't really done any research other than a few Google searches, which has only told me that the scene changes drastically every 6 months or so. Please keep in mind that I'm in Korea, so advice regarding non-Korean carriers or phones that are not available in Korea is not as helpful.
Why I want to get a smartphone:
+ Show Spoiler +
First of all, I don't feel the appeal of a smartphone. The concept feels too much like a gameboy-and-phone-in-one, so I've been tsk-tsking at all my friends who've been sinking $50/month into them. I don't use my current phone extensively: On top of the $18/month basic service rate, I pay something like 2 cents per SMS and 3 cents per 10 seconds of phone time, and the total bill comes to around $25/month. My understanding is that if I sign a contract for a smartphone for 2 years, I can have basically unlimited (read: I'll never hit the limit) data transfer, phone calls, and SMS for $50/month. So I'd be paying $25/month for a gameboy that has internet connection.
With all that said, my dad has informed me that the extra $25/month is definitely worth it, and if I use a smartphone for a couple of months I won't remember how I got along without it. He's giving me, erm, let's call it an allowance of $300/month to help with my expenses, which means I've got that much more money, so I can afford it. I think it's worth giving a shot, and if I decide it's not really that useful for me after a couple of months, I can just give it to my girlfriend. I think. Could I just swap SIM cards with her without fucking up the contract or anything?
iPhone or Android?
Okay, so that was the background behind why I'm thinking of getting a phone. Now, I'm considering either the iPhone 4 or er.. some Android phone (no particular one in mind, although I hear "Galaxy S" more often than any other model).
I've been given the impression that the iPhone 4 experience is overall better: never any software/hardware compatibility problems and higher iPhone loyalty rate compared to Android. I don't like the idea that I wouldn't be able to make any apps for the phone myself without buying a mac or doing some crazy shit running OSX in a VM or something. Or I'd have to jailbreak it, probably voiding any warranty. Would I have to do both anyways in order to write a program and have it running in my own phone in an hour? (That is, would anything I write have to be approved by the iTunes app store before I could use it myself?)
The Android phones seem to be a real alternative: people actually use them and buy them. However, I hear of minor quality issues: GPS is slow on some models, some vendors are slow to upgrade the OS (what does the OS version matter anyways?), there aren't as many good apps for Android (and some of them break on different versions). But the appeal of opening up Eclipse, pounding out code for a couple of hours, and having my phone do something new in a day is pretty strong.
I'm hoping you guys can set me straight on any misconceptions I have, and point me in the right direction.
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I'm interested in some knowledgeable responses to this as well 
for what its worth, OS changes are usually quite significant, at least from major to major versions. for example, I am running gingerbread (2.3.3) now and immediately I noticed a quite large UI overhaul as my first impression (still playing around with it tho as I just installed it)
edit : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history
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I think you just answered your question.
What do you want more?
* A solid user experience by a company that treats software and hardware as an integrated solution.
* Consider getting a Mac for development sometime in the future.
– or —
* The ability to tinker and customize the phone with many companies offering an option in hardware.
* Already have a computer for development.
I am a programmer for a living, but I prefer to draw a line separating my personal and professional life. I deal with computer and software problems a bit too much during the day, so at home I prefer to have the smoothest possible time. Mac and iPhone server that purpose well to me. Might get an iPad 2 mid-year.
However, once you get used to Apple's products its not hard to see why they have such a loyal consumer base
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So I'm right in my perception of what the pros and cons of the iPhone and Android are? I want to make sure that I'm not mistaken about making iPhone apps for personal use (that it isn't going to happen without a bunch of hoop jumping). And that doing it with an Android phone is relatively painless.
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You can get the LG optimus, a very entry level android phone. It runs Android 2.2 and is pretty cheap. But it's actually pretty decent for the price.
Review part 1 :
+ Show Spoiler +
*Edit* Oh, in Korea. Sprint/LG is available in Korea right? O_o
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On March 06 2011 02:24 BottleAbuser wrote:
So I'm right in my perception of what the pros and cons of the iPhone and Android are? I want to make sure that I'm not mistaken about making iPhone apps for personal use (that it isn't going to happen without a bunch of hoop jumping). And that doing it with an Android phone is relatively painless.
You can create your own iPhone applications using Apple's tools and sync them into your phone no problem. Application development works like that for an organization's internal applications. The Apple approval process only kicks in when you want to submit your application into the App Store.
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android tears apart iphone
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I recommend getting one of the new or upcoming dual-core android smartphones. Learning to root your phone is pretty easy and is rewarding because you can basically customize it in a huge number of ways with ROMs or general UIs.
You sound like you have a certain quantity of disposable income and don't have the time and interest to invest in android to make it worth it, so I suppose getting an iphone 4 is the best way to go. You might want to wait for the iphone dual-core...this is very important because it increases your phone's effectiveness dramatically and also usually has even more battery life...!
This was from my phone so forgive me if I said anything completely incoherently :p
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theres been a bunch of blogs asking this same question and the general resounding response so far has been SGS if you want something functional and iPhone if you want to play angry birds.
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I'll be getting a Samsung Galaxy S II when they are released here in Australia in April. Currently using a Motorola Milestone. SGS II is dual core, 1GB ram and has the sexiest screen ever. It's also extremely thin.
+ Show Spoiler +
I think it's a really nice looking phone too.
The main thing I disliked about my Milestone when I got it was that it didn't have an OLED screen. I was used to how crisp it was on my old Nokia so it was a bit of a step backwards. Not to mention OLED uses less power than LCD.
Only thing missing from the SGS II is a physical keyboard but I figured I rarely use the one on my Milestone so I wouldn't miss it too much. It is nice to have when you need to type out a long email on the run though.
I dislike iPhone because of the annoying reliance on iTunes and just the fact you feel trapped in an Apple world. Sure you get more apps overall on iPhone but I have never had trouble finding what I need on the Android marketplace. I love how seemless the Google apps integration is for Android yet at the same time you never feel trapped by it.
BTW. You don't need to spend a huge amount on phone bills. I mostly use my phone for Email/messages for work and listening to music while I browse TL on the train. I spend $30 a month (low call high data usage) because I just buy the phones outright. It almost always ends up cheaper in the long run. You can also sell your old phone whenever you buy a new one.
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5930 Posts
Having used the Galaxy S, iPhone 3gs, and Palm Pre, neither the Android or iOS are worth a damn compared to WebOS. But sadly WebOS is literally the Dreamcast of smartphones: owned by a company as bad as Sega, extremely unpopular, and going to die a lonely death yet again.
After playing around with a few Android devices, the only one worth a damn are the Google flagship devices (in the past it was the Nexus One, now its the Nexus S). The reason for this is that:
- the stock Android OS is the best OS, most companies that aren't backed by Google will tack shitty and poorly implemented GUI "skins" with the phone
- it will actually get timely offical updates (fuck you Samsung)
If its not the flagship device, you're probably going to have to root and fiddle with the Android device to get anything decent out of it. Its pretty much crap if it hasn't been rooted though.
While the Android flagship device is solid, it lacks the iPhone's app (read: game) store, locked nature, and the lack of fragmentation. If they're similarly priced, there isn't a reason to pick Android over iOS unless you seriously, seriously hate Apple; its not like you can't jailbreak the iPhone if you really want to fiddle around with it.
The loyalty rate with Apple is high because they treat the consumer with respect, its not rocket science but RIM, Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, etc seem to think it is. You get immediate updates when they are released, a few of the applications on the store do much more than what Android devices can do because there is no fragmentation issues to deal with, developers tend to like dealing with iOS over Android due to said fragmentation issues so you get more apps, and its easy as hell to get damaged iPhones replaced so long as you have AppleCare. Steve Jobs isn't a genius but when Motorola thinks its OK to release a tablet that has a defective SD card slot, he might as well be one.
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I love Apple as far as there mobile OS but honestly.. droid isnt half bad either.. My phone is a droid and I have grown to love it. I still think Apples version is cleaner though. Honestly man, its up to you. I have a Samsung Transform.. but I also have an Itouch so I have dealt with both platforms.
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I'll take it that they're really both so awesome that it's hard to figure out which one's better. I woke up late today so I'll have to wait till next weekend to decide anyways, but I'm leaning towards iPhone right now. My reasoning is thus:
The iPhone is very functional without jailbreaking. You can only load Apple blessed apps on it, but those cover a huge portion of what most people (and I assume me as well) want. If I get an expensive phone, I don't want to void the warranty if it's not necessary, so this is a big plus. Another big plus is the iPhone's reputation for being a seamless experience. If I'm getting a new toy under the guise of being a productivity booster, I'm not going to want to spend much time maintaining it. There seems to be some FUD with reception problems and hand placement but this doesn't actually seem to result in loss of functionality (such as dropped calls).
The Android phones, on the other hand, are also quite functional. Despite the occasional hardware/software problems they may have, they can do pretty much everything that the iPhone can, with the added bonus of not needing a mac to make my own apps for it.
I guess I'm saying it comes down to how much time do I want to spend on my phone. Right now, I'm viewing it as a toy, but I'm hoping it will improve my productivity. Either way, I don't want it draining my time, but I'm open to the idea that as a productivity booster it might be more effective if I do spend time on it. I won't know until I use it, and I won't be able to change my mind after I choose. Without further information, I'll lean towards just hoping the built in functionality of the iPhone is enough. I guess it's kind of unreasonable to expect people to know how I'll use it before I do. Hmm.
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5930 Posts
You reasoning is 100% correct. I have to iterate that what makes or breaks these mobile devices is the software and currently Apple is without a doubt the leader in the market in the operating system, in the quality of their software store, and how the developer is treated. There is no reason to pick Android except for price (which isn't really a factor with the high end smartphones), requirement of a Mac to develop apps, dislike for Apple, and you only use "open source" platforms.
If you are not going to use the applications from the Android Market or App Store, just get a dumbphone like Motorola FONE F3 (I use one for work, it is the best dumbphone because of the eink display) or a cheapass Nokia featurephone because you're going to be wasting money otherwise.
The main problem with the mobile, post-PC market right now is that Apple pretty much has the market cornered, especially in the tablet sector. The only thing keeping Android alive in the smartphone sector is their pricing compared to the iPhone...that isn't the case in tablet market and it shows with all the shit that's currently happening with RIM and Samsung. Hilariously, the best Android tablet tablet out right now is a rooted Barnes & Noble Nook Colour simply because it is significantly cheaper than the iPad.
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On March 06 2011 16:36 Womwomwom wrote:
You reasoning is 100% correct. I have to iterate that what makes or breaks these mobile devices is the software and currently Apple is without a doubt the leader in the market in the operating system, in the quality of their software store, and how the developer is treated. There is no reason to pick Android except for price (which isn't really a factor with the high end smartphones), requirement of a Mac to develop apps, dislike for Apple, and you only use "open source" platforms.
If you are not going to use the applications from the Android Market or App Store, just get a dumbphone like Motorola FONE F3 (I use one for work, it is the best dumbphone because of the eink display) or a cheapass Nokia featurephone because you're going to be wasting money otherwise.
The main problem with the mobile, post-PC market right now is that Apple pretty much has the market cornered, especially in the tablet sector. The only thing keeping Android alive in the smartphone sector is their pricing compared to the iPhone...that isn't the case in tablet market and it shows with all the shit that's currently happening with RIM and Samsung. Hilariously, the best Android tablet tablet out right now is a rooted Barnes & Noble Nook Colour simply because it is significantly cheaper than the iPad.
Actually, almost all of those points are debatable.
In terms of operating system, either devices can apparently run either OS, and android has the added advantage of having extremely customizable ROMs and themes and the like (as do the iProducts to a certain but reasonable extent).
The Android store is much more open to developers as well and is quickly rising. The Apple store essentially is set up in a way such that all apps have to be sent to Apple for approval, whereupon significant payments must be if they're accepted, or Apple can just flat-out deny the app. The Android market is much more open and developer-friendly. Unfortunately, it's a nightmare because of Android's fragmentation--you have super high-end phones here and terribly designed phones on the other end of the spectrum.
Hardware-wise, Android phones also have the iPhone beat. Android phones have had dual-core processors and some upwards of 1GB of RAM for a while now. While the resolution on the iPhone is undeniably higher than the WVGA displays of most high-end Android phones, even the single-core processors were more quick, the high-end phones possess more RAM all in all, have (arguably) better cameras, and also have better front-facing cameras (on the ones that do have them).
Even the new iPad has only 512 GB of RAM when phones have had that much for a long time, and it's touted retina display (?) has been eclipsed by the Motorola XOOM. Tegra 2 dual-core processor is also better as are both the cameras.
Samsung's SAMOLED+ display is also ridiculously strong and vibrant, not to mention has little glare and saves tons of battery according to random user comparisons that you can find with a quick google.
Basically, Android devices are superior in display, RAM, processor (not to mention that Steve Jobs blatantly lied that iPad 2 was the first tablet "with a dual-core processor to ship in volume" when the XOOM had been out a while back), network (4G LTE now), battery life (with or without under/overclocking), GPU, flash support (iPad 2 still doesn't have flash support, which kills a lot of the utility of a tablet), features, customizability, the list goes on and on...the one the Apple does have over Android is actually the app store, in my opinion, and Android is quickly catching up in that respect.
Consumers don't buy by specs, though, so most consumers turn to Apple as one can very quickly pick up all one needs to know about the device, and it's very simple. UI is based on preference, however.
Edit: definitely not trying to be inflammatory or argumentative...I admit I'm somewhat of an android fanboy and was merely pointing out some advantages of android. Apple's products are very solid, but I personally don't feel as if they actually lead the industry (though they do in sales).
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Android phones to me are like Linux, where everyone who uses it says how much better it is, but it'll never be as popular as mac or pc.
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5930 Posts
Hardware and all of the associated benchmark figures is irrelevant, its what you do with the hardware that matters. For instance nVidia's GPUs has stuff like PhysX and CUDA, which are extremely cool features, but because literally nothing on the consumer side uses either technology (or bastards like Adobe lock it for everyone but people paying $3000 per GPU) its meaningless.
My loyalty to with WebOS because of how solid the operating system is. I bought an iPhone 4 because the old Palm Pre was dead and frankly I still think iOS is worse than WebOS. But holy shit when I played Infinity Blade and other games optimized for the retina display, it just showed how far ahead the developers are at using the technologies being offered compared to all other software stores. They're not good games but the graphical quality is mindblowing and I haven't seen any Android device yet matching it.
Because there is literally only one iPhone, there is no fragmentation so smart developers can optimize software to Apple's hardware. You don't need crazy good hardware if the software is solid and more people need to understand this.
Even the new iPad has only 512 GB of RAM when phones have had that much for a long time, and it's touted retina display (?) has been eclipsed by the Motorola XOOM. Tegra 2 dual-core processor is also better as are both the cameras.
And the Xoom's operating system is buggy and prone to random shutdowns, the SD card doesn't even work, the Android Store has very few tablet only applications, it bizarrely can't actually run Flash, and 5GB of the internal storage is unusable due to the operating system. Now all of these problems might not mean that much if it was cheap, but during launch it wasn't even cheaper than the iPad. There is literally no reason to choose the Xoom over the iPad (now that you can get it cheap) unless you are literally a fanboy or an anti-fan...it really shouldn't be a terrible product but why would you choose it over a product that is proven to actually work as described?
(They might have fixed those issues, but if you launch with half of your features being defective what the hell were you doing before launch? Did no one use the device at all before shipping?)
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6 months ago if you ask me and I would recommend Apple over Android even though I owned G1 and Nexus phones but yesterday after installing Ginger Bread I have to say that Android has finally reached feature and quality parity with Apple products.
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On March 06 2011 18:43 ZlaSHeR wrote:
Android phones to me are like Linux, where everyone who uses it says how much better it is, but it'll never be as popular as mac or pc.
lol android market share is already bigger than Apple and they will get further ahead since Nokia is dead.
Do you want a superior hardware device with an open OS or a life-style product with a company that treats is customers as slaves :D
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3861 Posts
If in Korea I'm hearing that SKT is better than KT in terms of service for their smart phones and the Galaxy S2 is coming out in May(ish). Might wanna look into that.
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If you want to develop, grab the phone that is most popular with people around you.
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On March 06 2011 17:41 Z3kk wrote:Show nested quote +On March 06 2011 16:36 Womwomwom wrote:+ Show Spoiler +
You reasoning is 100% correct. I have to iterate that what makes or breaks these mobile devices is the software and currently Apple is without a doubt the leader in the market in the operating system, in the quality of their software store, and how the developer is treated. There is no reason to pick Android except for price (which isn't really a factor with the high end smartphones), requirement of a Mac to develop apps, dislike for Apple, and you only use "open source" platforms.
If you are not going to use the applications from the Android Market or App Store, just get a dumbphone like Motorola FONE F3 (I use one for work, it is the best dumbphone because of the eink display) or a cheapass Nokia featurephone because you're going to be wasting money otherwise.
The main problem with the mobile, post-PC market right now is that Apple pretty much has the market cornered, especially in the tablet sector. The only thing keeping Android alive in the smartphone sector is their pricing compared to the iPhone...that isn't the case in tablet market and it shows with all the shit that's currently happening with RIM and Samsung. Hilariously, the best Android tablet tablet out right now is a rooted Barnes & Noble Nook Colour simply because it is significantly cheaper than the iPad.
Actually, almost all of those points are debatable. In terms of operating system, either devices can apparently run either OS, and android has the added advantage of having extremely customizable ROMs and themes and the like (as do the iProducts to a certain but reasonable extent). The Android store is much more open to developers as well and is quickly rising. The Apple store essentially is set up in a way such that all apps have to be sent to Apple for approval, whereupon significant payments must be if they're accepted, or Apple can just flat-out deny the app. The Android market is much more open and developer-friendly. Unfortunately, it's a nightmare because of Android's fragmentation--you have super high-end phones here and terribly designed phones on the other end of the spectrum. Hardware-wise, Android phones also have the iPhone beat. Android phones have had dual-core processors and some upwards of 1GB of RAM for a while now. While the resolution on the iPhone is undeniably higher than the WVGA displays of most high-end Android phones, even the single-core processors were more quick, the high-end phones possess more RAM all in all, have (arguably) better cameras, and also have better front-facing cameras (on the ones that do have them). Even the new iPad has only 512 GB of RAM when phones have had that much for a long time, and it's touted retina display (?) has been eclipsed by the Motorola XOOM. Tegra 2 dual-core processor is also better as are both the cameras. Samsung's SAMOLED+ display is also ridiculously strong and vibrant, not to mention has little glare and saves tons of battery according to random user comparisons that you can find with a quick google. Basically, Android devices are superior in display, RAM, processor (not to mention that Steve Jobs blatantly lied that iPad 2 was the first tablet "with a dual-core processor to ship in volume" when the XOOM had been out a while back), network (4G LTE now), battery life (with or without under/overclocking), GPU, flash support (iPad 2 still doesn't have flash support, which kills a lot of the utility of a tablet), features, customizability, the list goes on and on...the one the Apple does have over Android is actually the app store, in my opinion, and Android is quickly catching up in that respect. Consumers don't buy by specs, though, so most consumers turn to Apple as one can very quickly pick up all one needs to know about the device, and it's very simple. UI is based on preference, however. Edit: definitely not trying to be inflammatory or argumentative...I admit I'm somewhat of an android fanboy and was merely pointing out some advantages of android. Apple's products are very solid, but I personally don't feel as if they actually lead the industry (though they do in sales).
Some clarifications:
iPad has no retina display, only iPhone 4 does. "Retina Display" refers to those close to 300 dpi, basically print quality, very hard for the eye to distinguish individual pixels (hence, "Retina".)
iPad and iPad 2 displays are 132dpi. iPhone 4 is 326dpi. So when it comes to pixel density, yes, iPhone 4 is still on top.
XOOM needs to be send back to Motorola for the 4G upgrade, and Flash is not available until April. That doesn't look very good for the "most viable" Android competitor for the iPad.
As someone already said, higher specs are not that meaningful compared to how the hardware is used. Android still has pretty deficient GPU acceleration in the interface, and it does make a difference in the user experience. Not only in performance, but also battery life. This is the polish where Apple is still king.
http://www.satine.org/archives/2011/01/01/the-care-and-feeding-of-the-android-gpu/
Android has a lot of potential, but really, its a real shame how hardware manufacturers keep throwing things hoping that a spec sheet is what is going to beat the iPhone and iPad. It won't. Its the user experience. And IMO, Android is becoming the Windows of mobiles/tablets: high volume but generic, lowest common denominator products. It doesn't help when the developer of the OS's primary concern is advertising volume.
RIM acquired QNX to create a new software stack and HP acquired Palm's for WebOS. I think these two are the one who can make a dent on Apple's dominance.
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serious reply here,, get the iphone 4 because of the apps collection it has to offer and sleek design.
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I prefer the Android OS, however I don't like how the best Android phones coming out all have pretty large screens. I don't consider a 4.3" screen on a telephone to be better then say a 3.7". The iphone size is nice and small.
That being said, I am picking up an HTC thunderbolt running android in the coming weeks.
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On March 07 2011 19:15 Bosu wrote:
I prefer the Android OS, however I don't like how the best Android phones coming out all have pretty large screens. I don't consider a 4.3" screen on a telephone to be better then say a 3.7". The iphone size is nice and small.
That being said, I am picking up an HTC thunderbolt running android in the coming weeks.
on the other hand they weigh twice as much instead
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EPT![[image loading]](http://androidandme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II_4-1.jpg)
