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Year In Review: So how did the iPhone stack up against the competition in 2009?

I'm still waiting for the "iPhone killer". Pretty much sums up how I feel about this year's smartphone roundup. The only thing that interested me this year was the HD2.
 
Palm Pre: Hyped as the closest competitor the iPhone had at it's time. I own one now, and it really is a great phone. To beat the iPhone though, the SDK has to open up, and GPU support has to come in. Without that, it doesn't stand a chance. With that, it may be as good as of a choice as the iPhone is.

Palm Pixi: Yeah, it was hyped a lot again. Didn't live up to it at all, due to it's lackluster processor and unused GPU. Again, if Palm opened up the GPU, this guy could be a lot more powerful, and sell well.

HTC Magic: Terrible Phone. It was hyped a bit, but after the processor was discovered, it wasn't even worth mentioning anymore. Had basically no upgrades from the G1, except for taking out the landscape keyboard.

HTC Hero: Decent phone, but retaining the same 528 Processor. Hyped more than the HTC Magic, but the processor and the overall lagginess and maturity of the Android platform killed it.

HTC HD2: Still hyped quite a bit. Powerful device. Of course comes with Windows Mobile, which is generally viewed as a Con. Not released yet, so I'll have to wait to decide.

Motorola Droid: Suddenly appeared one day, and was released the next. Overall, a decent phone, but the maturity of Android just isn't there yet.

G1: I've owned one too. Yeah, it's last year, but still worth mentioning. A good phone, but a bit too big for your pocket. Once again, Android makes the deal a little less appealing.

(HTC) Nexus One: Another hyped phone, regarded as the "Real Android". From the rumours I've been hearing of it, I'm not that impressed. For me, the default Android keyboard, or any other virtual keyboard for that matter, doesn't even compare with the iPhone's. Until they come up with something that can include multitouch (Motorola Milestone) and have a decent keyboard, nothing successful is going to come out.


Just my thoughts from trying out most of the phones released above.
I have owned: 3 iPhone 2G, 2 iPhone 3G, 1 iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, G1, HTC Hero.
 
greygray said:
The only thing that interested me this year was the HD2.
Click to expand...

I'm seriously considering a change to the HD2 when my 02 contract comes up for renewal in January. The 'novelty' of the app store has come and gone now and most of the apps / games are all the same.
 
Yeah, but in user experience, Palm Web OS is catching up. Once they open GPU support, the iPhone is really going to have a competitor. Of course, I failed to mention the build quality of the Palm Pre is also lacking.

Competitors are catching up with their user interfaces, and Apple is going to have to respond this June.
 
ct2k7 said:
In terms of hardware, iPhone most certainly isn't the best by far.
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Assuming you are referring to capacity, processor, RAM, and GPU; I'm quite perplexed. What else gives you the bang for your buck as the 16GB iPhone 3G S? I can't think of anything seeing as though the Droid is just on par with the iPhone in processor (it is slightly more overclocked), RAM is the same, and GPU is the cortex. Factor in capacity and the iPhone is the real winner there, and that's it's closest competitor in this discussion.
 
Abyssgh0st said:
Assuming you are referring to capacity, processor, RAM, and GPU; I'm quite perplexed. What else gives you the bang for your buck as the 16GB iPhone 3G S? I can't think of anything seeing as though the Droid is just on par with the iPhone in processor (it is slightly more overclocked), RAM is the same, and GPU is the cortex. Factor in capacity and the iPhone is the real winner there, and that's it's closest competitor in this discussion.
Click to expand...

while being really happy with my iPhone since I don't really care that much about certain hardware aspects or at least the iPhone is good enough for me even from that point of view, I'm pretty sure people tend to just look at numbers, since most manufacturers don't talk about CPU and Ram, the "real" numbers are pixels, inches and again pixels. So I guess people could be referring to the screens, and in some cases the camera's MPx. For some OLED is also a big thing. I personally hope the next iPhone doesn't have an a lot bigger screen since I would like to keep using it in one hand only as well, I doubt that's easy with a 4.x" screen
 
Abyssgh0st said:
Assuming you are referring to capacity, processor, RAM, and GPU; I'm quite perplexed. What else gives you the bang for your buck as the 16GB iPhone 3G S? I can't think of anything seeing as though the Droid is just on par with the iPhone in processor (it is slightly more overclocked), RAM is the same, and GPU is the cortex. Factor in capacity and the iPhone is the real winner there, and that's it's closest competitor in this discussion.
Click to expand...

The Nexus One utilizes SnapDragon, and comes with 512 MB of RAM.
The Motorola Droid has a much better display. Also, the processor is not overclocked, the iPhone is merely underclocked.
 
dvdhsu said:
Yeah, but in user experience, Palm Web OS is catching up. Once they open GPU support, the iPhone is really going to have a competitor.
Click to expand...

The problem is that there is a very specific window for these devices to gain traction and momentum, and the Palm Pre's window of opportunity is closing. It's not new anymore, and the initial launch hype has greatly faded. Palm has lost whatever mojo they had in keeping their products fresh and selling well, and I think the Pre is going to die on the vine before they figure out how to make it sellable.

It's especially telling that they do lame things like make a stink when Apple disabled iTunes sync after the USB fiasco, and the Pre friendly press comes up with arguments like "500 apps is plenty! Who needs 100,000 apps? That's just too confusing!"

Competitors are catching up with their user interfaces, and Apple is going to have to respond this June.
Click to expand...


I disagree. There's really only two competitors in the game right now: Android and WebOS. Both are okay, but they lack the responsiveness and simple utility of the iPhone. The phone manufacturers' idea of "catching up" is to have a really catchy, busy interface that's flashy on looks but not as great in actual usefulness.

That's fine if you want to appeal to the cell phone geeks who have interface ADD, but there's an important effect to this: people get bored of other phones and leave for something else. Yet, we see it all the time in here that people "get bored" of the iPhone, only to try something else and then come back before too long.
 
scaredpoet said:
That's fine if you want to appeal to the cell phone geeks who have interface ADD, but there's an important effect to this: people get bored of other phones and leave for something else. Yet, we see it all the time in here that people "get bored" of the iPhone, only to try something else and then come back before too long.
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I was one of those. I got bored with the iPhone a few months after the 3G came out. Went and bought a BlackBerry. Used it for about two months and got soooooo bored with that. Cancelled that account, paid the ETF and went right back to my iPhone and haven't looked back.

I have owned all three versions of the iPhone so far and they just keep getting better and better each time. Can't wait to see what is coming this summer.

In my opinion, there is no other phone that can draw me away from the iPhone. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
 
scaredpoet said:
I disagree. There's really only two competitors in the game right now: Android and WebOS. Both are okay, but they lack the responsiveness and simple utility of the iPhone. The phone manufacturers' idea of "catching up" is to have a really catchy, busy interface that's flashy on looks but not as great in actual usefulness.

That's fine if you want to appeal to the cell phone geeks who have interface ADD, but there's an important effect to this: people get bored of other phones and leave for something else. Yet, we see it all the time in here that people "get bored" of the iPhone, only to try something else and then come back before too long.
Click to expand...

Well, you do have some good points there. Android and WebOS are severely lacking, and some of their strategies I don't agree with.
What Android is doing is similar to what Microsoft has been doing. They all use the same OS, and predominantly the same hardware. However, with that, comes competition, something the iPhone doesn't have.
If Apple came out, and said to us, that you can now install iPhone OS 3.1.2 on any phone meeting the minumum specs, I'm pretty sure something better than our current beloved iPhone 3GS would be made by some company.
Sooner or later, Android is going to get better hardware, a better user experience.

When that day comes, Apple is going to seriously have some competition.

I've owned all the iPhones, and multiples of each version. I own all the generation iPod Touches, and quite frankly, I'm tired of the iPhone.

I switched to a Palm Pre, which, admittedly, isn't better than the iPhone 3GS in it's current stage. Then, I got an iPod Touch 3G. Works fine for me.

Here's hoping that the more competition there is, the better the iPhone, and competitors get.

Merry Christmas to you all too. :)
 
Truthfully, I feel like the competition is really starting to be able to appeal to the iPhone demographic, more so this year than ever. There was a lot of hype behind the Palm Pre and the Motorola Droid this year and they are both excellent phones. Android also gained a lot of mindshare this year. In my opinion, webOS (obviously) has great, comprehensive multitasking and an incredibly aesthetically pleasing user interface. I also feel that Android has become increasingly innovative --- more so than iPhone --- and has many futuristic features that the iPhone could really benefit from. So how did the iPhone stack up against its competition in 2009? Of course it has been sitting pretty with its only real marketshare competition being Research in Motion, who will continue to loom over Apple in the smartphone market for years to come. However, its most recent competition have continued to build mindshare over the course of the year, and mindshare eventually leads to marketshare. Personally, to complement software changes learned from competitors to improve on the iPhone's now dull, boring, stale interface, I would like to see some improvements on what I feel are iPhone's two biggest hardware issues, lack of pixel density in the screen and disappointing camera quality.
 
Looks like Palm didn't have the best of starts in 2010.
Droid getting knocked off the top Android handset position fairly swiftly. iPhone due an update. Seems like the iPhone's satisfaction (and iPhone OS satisfaction) are pretty high, considering their one handset update a year strategy.
 
I tell you what, the only thing Apple has over all these other phones is the AppStore. That is basically why I have not left, along with a few months left on contract. When the HTC HD2 comes out, I am sure I will pay the $80ETF and be on my way. Especially if Apple does not deliver a new phone that is light years ahead of all this HTC Droid mess we are in. The difference better be far more than 3G to 3GS. I want a Nexus very badly, but I am waiting to see what the HD2 is all about and what carrier it'll be on. I am starving for something new. These Droids are getting my attention. Let be real, out of the box, the iPhone is not as good as these...cool appeal wise. I realize they are newer, but I like em.
 
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