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Phones What can an iPhone do that a android phone can't? [EDIT: and vice-versa]
- Thread starter utl768
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I've had both devices and have settled (happily) on the iPhone4 - and plan to stay with it into at least the next generation.
Meanwhile, my 4-month old (expensive) Droid Bionic rests quietly in the desk drawer. I loved the Droid X, but it's now outdated and so opted for the Bionic. Suddenly, there's an avalache of new 4-G Android products without much apparent difference among them. The Bionic had issues from the get-go and, for someone who uses my cell as the primary phone, that was unacceptable.
The main reason for my attachment to the iPhone4 is iOS5 - it made all the difference. And, the iPhone is considerably more stable than Android with outstanding battery life. Also, all iDevices work together. Buy an app for an iPad and, chances are, it will also be available for the iPhone at no extra cost.
In addition, the updates are true updates - not just bug fixes. The updates are predictable, well tested and make a significant improvement. Apps for iPhones/iPads are more sophisticated (better, prettier, more capable) for the iPhone when compared to the same app in Android's Market.
Overall, I really think the iDevices are leading the pack in quality.
Meanwhile, my 4-month old (expensive) Droid Bionic rests quietly in the desk drawer. I loved the Droid X, but it's now outdated and so opted for the Bionic. Suddenly, there's an avalache of new 4-G Android products without much apparent difference among them. The Bionic had issues from the get-go and, for someone who uses my cell as the primary phone, that was unacceptable.
The main reason for my attachment to the iPhone4 is iOS5 - it made all the difference. And, the iPhone is considerably more stable than Android with outstanding battery life. Also, all iDevices work together. Buy an app for an iPad and, chances are, it will also be available for the iPhone at no extra cost.
In addition, the updates are true updates - not just bug fixes. The updates are predictable, well tested and make a significant improvement. Apps for iPhones/iPads are more sophisticated (better, prettier, more capable) for the iPhone when compared to the same app in Android's Market.
Overall, I really think the iDevices are leading the pack in quality.
There is only one example of this, the 3G and only when iOS moved into 4.xx territory. That is one exception, not the rule.
3GS, 4, 4S and both iPads actually got better and better with each update (iOS 5 snappy on all these devices). So yes, overall, getting updates and support devices is a selling point.
Unless you believe having your phone getting zero support only months (or gasp, weeks!) after release is the better choice.
Sorry buddy, but there's just no contest here.
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You'd think so, but not in the way you'd expect. There seems to be more Fandroids than Apple fanboys (sorry, can't seem to come up with a nickname merging Apple and Fanboy) on these boards these days, since every pro-Apple post seems to get voted down unanimously while pro-Android posts get up-votes.
Not just in this topic but across the entire message board. An invasion I tell ya.
Guess the Android forums were getting boring or something.
More easy to use.
Better designed app and universal support for them.
High quality hardware and software.
Better support.
Tried mytouch 4G running android 3.2 and the blackberry touch 4G. Both had bigger screens, worse battery, and most importantly frustrating to learn.
That said I do wish Apple would add stuff like turn by turn navigation, live icons, Siri for all devices, more notification center widgets, etc...
Better designed app and universal support for them.
High quality hardware and software.
Better support.
Tried mytouch 4G running android 3.2 and the blackberry touch 4G. Both had bigger screens, worse battery, and most importantly frustrating to learn.
That said I do wish Apple would add stuff like turn by turn navigation, live icons, Siri for all devices, more notification center widgets, etc...
I actually use that as a barometer of the Android handset customer experience. When Android owners are happy enough with their devices that they no longer feel it necessary to troll others that make different choices, I think it might be time to give Android a serious look. I assume that happy people will just get on with using their devices, secure in the knowledge that they've made the right choice for themselves.
As it is right now, based on their own apparent unhappiness and my own use of CM7 on my TouchPad, Android is fun to play with, but I wouldn't buy a device running it natively.
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Yes in a honking contest
iMikeT said:
Yes in a honking contest
-sync with your iTunes, iPhoto, in a good reliable way
-scroll smoothly, pinch and zoom smoothly, do animations smoothly... The only exception is something like the GSII. Other Android phones lag pathetically.
-more apps, and the first to get most apps if devs are only choosing one platform
-get updates. With an Android phone, buy it with the mindset that you'll never get an update. You'll need to use custom ROMs if you want to stay up to date
-long battery life. You can leave everything on all day and still get good battery life.
-at least 16GB storage. With Android phones you may or may not have this much. Just research before you buy, obviously.
-iWorks. Very helpful! Pretty full document editing, and reliable.
-backups. You can back up your phone (or have iCloud do it automatically) and you'll know that if something goes wrong, you get a new phone, or whatever, you can restore it.
Personally though, I'd wait till next month. GSIII is gonna murder the 4S. But if you live in the US, the GSIII won't really be an option unless you wanna drop $800
-scroll smoothly, pinch and zoom smoothly, do animations smoothly... The only exception is something like the GSII. Other Android phones lag pathetically.
-more apps, and the first to get most apps if devs are only choosing one platform
-get updates. With an Android phone, buy it with the mindset that you'll never get an update. You'll need to use custom ROMs if you want to stay up to date
-long battery life. You can leave everything on all day and still get good battery life.
-at least 16GB storage. With Android phones you may or may not have this much. Just research before you buy, obviously.
-iWorks. Very helpful! Pretty full document editing, and reliable.
-backups. You can back up your phone (or have iCloud do it automatically) and you'll know that if something goes wrong, you get a new phone, or whatever, you can restore it.
Personally though, I'd wait till next month. GSIII is gonna murder the 4S. But if you live in the US, the GSIII won't really be an option unless you wanna drop $800
And every other Android phone...
The SGS2ET4G (oh my goodness, is that seriously it's name abbreviated?) is one of quazillions of other Android devices that do basically the same thing. Yes, quazillions. They all have Google Maps
Funny you mention that because I have noticed something along those lines when I browse around forums when a new Android phone is announced.
Every thread about a new Android phone coming out, I see a lot of posts prefaced with "My current one is buggy, laggy, slow etc. so can't wait to upgrade to this one" and I just shake my head. If the experience is so bad on the current one, I don't get why one would stick around? This is especially bad with the "Droid" series of phones. Everyone complains about the one they own but still get excited about the new model just announced and they state their intention to upgrade to it, all in the same sentence.
Get a WP7 or iOS phone instead and avoid the headaches.
That varies by phone model.
The Nexus models tend to retain their value, as do many of the higher end models.
The ones with unlocked boot loaders tend to fetch the most.
As for the Droid series of phones, part of their issue is they are only on Verizon, so you either get slow 3G or battery sucking LTE.
And Verizon likes to have new "Droid" models every 3 months.
This kills support for the older models pretty quick.
Remember, Droids are made by several companies, not just Motorola.
So your software support will vary by model.
<rant>
Motorola is the worst at supporting their handsets.
Fantastic hardware, but slow or no long term software support.
If it wasn't for XDA and the CM teams, I would have tossed my Atrix 6 months ago. Motorola has already said they have no more plans to update it even though official boot loader unlocks were promised when the phone was released.
Thankfully I now have CM9 ICS 4.0.3 running on my Atrix and it's smooth as silk even without proper hardware acceleration.
</end rant>
No one saying bugs can't appear on iOS. They have and they do. The important difference however is that you can usually expect an update that rectifies the problem on iOS. On Android, you have to pray that the manufacturer hasn't already abandoned that model, with regards to updates and support, for the next big thing.
As for the 4S's battery life, I think the restored 3G toggle in 5.1 should do the trick. (assuming you've already done all the past tweaks on it to optimize battery life)
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I love my iPhone, but I miss Flash. If you're a Flash geek, you're out of luck, unless you're on Android.
Eh, this has dropped a LOT. I used to be able to sell my previous iPhone for just under retail shortly before the next iPhone launched. I was able to sell my 16gb iPhone 4 for $325 just before the 4S launch and that was basically average price. I sold an EVO a few months ago for $250, and that's also a year and a half old phone. iPhone is obviously better in this regard, but not by as much as it used to be. I think market saturation and the fact that one can easily buy an unlocked device at the Apple store has a lot to do with this.
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There is a lot more malware on Android because of people installing everything under the sun from anywhere under the sun. Some people literally need Apple to say "no no, the fire is hot" in order to not have issues. I don't say this derogatorily, but honestly. There are a ton of smartphone users (iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and others) that have no idea what sorts of steps need to be taken in order to stay safe. The irony is that there really is no ACTIVE process here. Just don't download from shady sites. Problem solved.
not liking the iPhone is ok but being poor and bitter about it... like creating threads like this is just sad...
This thread was created to tell what the iPhone can do that android can't. Ie pro iPhone