andy's nerd blog

Android vs. iPhone

General feelings in response to this post and other similar musings this week.

1. I love how all this Android hoopla surrounding Google I/O is going down in May, when for the last two years Apple has announced new iPhone hardware in June. So, enjoy your 3 weeks of cheer?

2. Have the iPhone leaks and OS4 developer preview made people forget Apple’s taste for showmanship? You don’t think they have anything up their sleeves?

3. Heard of a small cloud music streaming startup Apple recently aquired?

4. The Dan Lyons article Beust refers to is a turd with a variety of inaccuracies. Apple’s lack of support for Flash on iPhone is not out of spite. Apple has offered tethering for 11 months on iPhone, AT&T just hasn’t enabled it in the US. iPhone users have been able to buy music over the air since day one. An announced feature or product is nowhere near the same thing as a delivered one.

5. But the worst this week has to have been Google’s VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra:

“If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one
company, one carrier was the future.”

Google acquired Android in August of 2005. iPhone was announced in January of 2007. More comment on Google’s revisionist history here.

droid doesn’t

Well, that was quick. After making the following pro/con list I returned the Droid. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Android though and hopefully 3.0 matched with a white knight device will be much more compelling. At the same time I’m sure Apple will improve iPhone, though as of yet we haven’t really heard anything about what’s coming in 2010!

Motorola Droid vs. Apple iPhone

Pros:
Google Voice integration in dialer
Screen is beautiful and has a ton of pixels
Navigation works well, especially with voice car mode
Wifi/Bt/GPS toggles built-in via home screen widget, no need to jailbreak
App multitasking built-in and somewhat effective
Notification system is better, shows more than just the most recent notification
Better integration with G services, Gmail app is great, calendar and talk
More reliable network and better call quality
You can see the entire screen while typing with the physical keyboard and it has useful arrow keys
Universal click and hold sub-menu access is nice
Quick access to recently used applications by holding home button
Universal back button is useful
Widgets are helpful
Can potentially modify lock screen

Cons:
Big, heavy and brick-like in appearance
Physical keyboard is not very good and doesn’t offer word correction
Cut and paste is cumbersome
Can’t use mobile data during a call
Camera app is slow and camera itself isn’t up to snuff
Limited to 3 home screens
No syncing of music, pictures, videos or bookmarks!
YouTube low quality option is too low quality and high quality option is too slow on 3G
Not enough granularity in media volume settings
No Yelp app and very basic Facebook app
Also, no ability to receive notifications from Facebook
App store is quite a ways behind in quality and selection
Built-in media player is weak
UI frequently seems slow
No pinch zooming in built-in apps like web browser and photo gallery

droid does?

Note: I wrote this last Wednesday.

I’ve been in a place for several months now where in order to be happy with my 3G iPhone I’ve had to jailbreak. The two primary reasons are SBSettings and MusicControls but I also use GV Mobile for Google Voice, the tethering hacks and Backgrounder. There are many other potential benefits but beyond those the device pretty much slows to a crawl. Technically, a 3GS would solve my problems because of the more powerful hardware. But not only is the upgrade prohibitively expensive, it would also likely require a 2-year extension of my AT&T contract. Not to mention that they can be tougher/riskier to jailbreak.. and that jailbreaking in and of itself may not be around forever.

For these reasons I felt compelled to try out the new Motorola Droid. I’ve always liked Android and have been attracted to the platform because I rely on so many of Google’s services.

Some of the potential benefits:

• Verizon over AT&T
• Better notification system
• Google Voice integration and more
• Multitasking

A few of the biggest complaints against the Droid don’t really affect me. Regarding the 256MB app storage limit; I hardly ever play games. The weakness of the built-in media player app; I don’t use my iPhone for video and music much in lieu of Pandora. The weakness of the Android Market may be an issue though. I rely quite heavily on apps like Touchpad, Prowl and Yelp. In any case, it won’t hurt to give it a try!

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