this summer i was not sure what phone to buy. I either have the choice of the iPhone 5 coming out for version, or the Droid X (unless they make a new droid soon). I've done a lot of research and im stilling crossed between which one is actually "better" or if its just all preference. care to speculate?
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Posted: 2011-04-21 19:39:31
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SPEND A DECENT AMOUNT OF MONEY ON IT. My brother bought a Sony Ericsson X8 for about £100 ($150ish), and it is a load of crap. It runs slow, has needed a repair, doesn't charge well etc.
However, looking at the more expensive HTC's and Motorola's etc, they seem much faster and more reliable.
Also, if you like to customise, use android. The limits of iOS mean there is little customisation you can do without jailbreaking, but you soon get used to this. Apple put tons of money into aesthetic design for a reason. Although it seems boring, it is simple and doesn't wear out.
All in all, I think the iPhone is better for everyday. It has the quality touch screen, which is very reactive but not overreactive. The simple design and operation makes it great to use all the time. The consistent design through all apps is great (the navigation at the top/bottom etc). Safari is pretty good too. For example, android supports pinch-zoom but its not always that smooth or precise. Also, its an iPhone. I don't wanna sound like the adverts, but there is the App Store, which is unique in its own way.
Also, even though the sync can be tedious, it works great. Theres no drag'n'drop file transfer, so files cant go in the wrong place etc. You pick what you want in iTunes and press sync. Job done. That is plainly awesome :) and with iOS 5 coming soon, there will be things like WiFi sync, which syncs automatically when it goes on charge over wifi, so it doesn't even need plugging in.
As for the battery life, it will go a good few days if you hardly touch it. If you use it a lot, it will last about a day (playing games all the time, Facebook, 3G internet etc).
I cant say much more for android, but theres my view on the iPhone.
Also, you get GREAT after-sale support with the iPhone. Yes, a broken screen repair is NOT cheap, but the service I got was great. I took it to an Apple store (you can also send it off if you like), and they REPLACED THE PHONE rather than repair it and have to collect it later. Of course, with the iPhone syncing, when I plugged the new one in, all files, settings etc were transferred, and you would never know it was a new phone (except the screen wasn't broken anymore :)
When my brother's X8 stopped receiving texts and calls, he had to send it to O2 (Telofonica UK) for repair. They gave him a courtesy phone which he had to pay a £25 refundable deposit on. It then took about 4 days for the phone to come back, to find it now doesn't always charge properly.
Honestly the only thing I think the iPhone has going for it is its awesome music player.
-----The Droid X camera is marked as 8 megapixels but that does not mean all of your photos will come out beautiful; Motorola'stock camera app isn't great for photos (but video is fine). There's an app called Camera 360 which takes much clearer pictures, especially when zoomed in. It also has a ton of filters, effects, etc. for any kind of picture you want to take.
-----Another pic related app is called PicSay. There's the free and paid version but in my opinion, the paid version is worth it. It's basically a toned down photoshop for your phone.
-----Some of the main things I like about the Droid that the iPhone can't do are removable battery, removable SD card, and Wifi tethering (if I remember correctly, the iPhone doesn't have this one but I could be wrong). The removable battery is nice because smartphone battery life is notoriously short (Droid X usually lasts 12-15 hours on moderate/heavy usage) so you can keep an extra battery charged and in your wallet in case you need it. They're only $8 on Amazon and its awesome to basically never worry about battery life. Removable storage is a plus because you can always upgrade to more space if you are ever running low, not to mention most apps can be backed up to the SD card in case you want to save phone storage space. Wifi tethering is also awesome - if you are ever on the go or are in a place where there's no accessible wifi, just create a hotspot using your phone and you can access it from your laptop, home computer, etc. I actually used it while in the car visiting colleges last summer so I could write papers for school and look stuff up on the Internet.
-----One last thing, Adobe Flash is supported on the Droid X. If you go with the X I can give you the names of other apps to download that I use a lot.
--AndroidVNC - this is an awesome app if you download the program to your home computer, it's basically a remote desktop to get on your home computer from anywhere.
--Astro File Manager - almost a must have app, it's one of the best apps out there that lets you browse your phone's files. Extremely useful for installing apps that you download from the computer and transfer to your phone, or if somebody emails you an app.
--Backgrounds - has a ton of awesome high quality pictures that you can set as your phone's background. I change mine every couple of days :D
--Beautiful Widgets - this is a paid app but it gives you an awesome amount of clock and weather widgets you can put on your homescreens. They have tons of skins you can download straight from the app as well.
--Camera 360 Ultimate - this is the paid version of Camera 360. It takes great pictures and is way better than the stock camera app.
--DroidLight - flashlight app for the Droid that uses the camera flash instead of most apps which just use the screen. This app always finds a way to come in handy when you least expect it, especially since the Droid X has one of the brightest flashes of any phone out there.
--DropBox - If you don't have a DropBox account I would suggest you get one. Free accounts are given a 2GB storage box so you can upload files online and access them anywhere. This app gives you easy access to your DropBox folder.
--Facebook - don't need to explain much about this one, but I put it up because I use it every day.
--gStringsFree - only useful if you play guitar (or any other instrument) but this app allows you to use your phone as a tuner. It's extremely accurate and really useful if you ever need to tun an instrument.
--N64oid - the developer of this app temporarily took it off the market so he could improve it but this app is allows you to play N64 games on your phone. I downloaded it from ThePirateBay and it's a pretty beta version right now because it's not too fast, but it can still play games like Ocarina of Time and MarioKart at a reasonable frame rate. Waiting for it to be improved though.
--Pandora - free version of the Pandora app, I use it every time I'm in the car. Just make sure to go to preferences and increase the music quality, makes it sound much better.
--PicSay Pro - paid app, basically a toned down version of Photoshop.
--PTDLock - Pokemon Tower Defense for your phone! The developer of the app was able to sneak it back onto the market, it was previously removed by Google. The password is PTD or PTDLock if I remember correctly, you can Google that though.
--SwitchPro Widget - I think this is a paid app but I can't remember, its a useful app that lets you add widgets to your homescreens to toggles things such as WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, Backlight, etc.
--tTorrent - not an app that I use often but a lot of people do, it's a torrent client for your phone.
--TV Shows Stream - there is a free and paid version but this app allows you to stream a variety of shows to your phone. It's really worth it to at least check out the free version because it's amazing how many episodes of each show they have, I'm considering buying the full version.
--Google Voice - cool voicemail replacement app, it can convert some of your voicemails to text so you can read it if the person spoke clearly enough.
--GameBoid - paid app for Game Boy Advanced emulator. You can get a free one but they usually don't allow you to save unless you pay.
Rooted Only Apps
These apps will only work if you root your phone.
--Absolute System - allows you to change the font on your phone, the bootscreen, block apps, edit the build.prop file, etc.
--Cache Cleaner - clears the phones cache on a daily basis and/or with the press of a button on the homescreen. Some settings should be changed for best usage but with regular use it prevents your phone from slowing down.
--drocap2 - screen shot application.
--Droid X Bootstrapper - allows you to bootstrap the phone's recovery in order to reboot into Clockwork recovery to flash themes or ROMs, back up your files, etc.
--Root Explorer - better version of Astro, allows more control over files. I still keep both applications on my phone though
--Wireless Tether - better version of stock 3G Mobile Hotspot
-----You're right about it being able to customize a Droid much more than an Apple device, but you're not gonna fuck up a Droid doing day to day things. If you end up rooting your phone, there's tons of guides on how to do it and nowadays its extremely easy, you won't ruin your phone if you mess up rooting it. Sign up for an account on some kind of Android forum or just look around at one (my favorite is droidforums.com). The people at these sites will always be there to help you if you have any questions.
-----I think this analogy sums it up - Android devices are like free roam RPG's, you can do almost anything you want and you're not constrained to a single path unless you want to be. iPhones are like first person shooters, they're fun but there's generally only one path you can take.
and a curious question, what is "rooting" is that the same thing as jailbreaking an ipod?
2. also, why would you want a separate bootloader? to upload programs that weren't ment to be uploaded using the original bootloader? is my guess.
3. overclocking?
4. and do you know of another droid coming out soon? i like the Droid X because its the biggest droid ive seen, but i feel like thats an older model and i dont want to buy it if a new one is suppose to come out soon.
2. I'm not an expert on bootloaders but from what I know, a separate bootloader allows developers to have more control over the ROM's that they make. I'll have to look into that one a little bit.
3. Overclocking is making the CPU run faster. For example, the Droid X processor runs at 1GHz stock, but if you overclock it you can make it run at maybe 1.3GHz. Sometimes this requires an increase voltage that reduces battery life, but some people will actually keep the phone at 1Ghz and undervolt it to increase battery life.
4. The HTC Thunderbolt was released last month, the screen is the same size as the Droid X, runs on 4G, and HTC is an awesome company. I'd recommend that phone.
2. let me know if you find out anything interesting
3. oh i see, thats pretty interesting. i might look into that
4. i love how the Droid X looks, but if it comes down to getting an overall better phone i agree going with the thunderbolt would be good. i just wish theyd make like a Droid 2X lol
Cover Art Downloader - Scans your music collection and downloads any cover art that you may be missing. Not perfect but does a pretty good job.
doubleTwist - Great alternative to the default music player. Feels cleaner and much more intuitive in my opinion. There is also a program for the computer by the same name for easy music syncining and organizing.
Hoccer - Easily allows you to send and receive files to other Android users. Good alternative to emailing as it allows you to more quickly send files such as apps (so if your friend has a paid app that you really want for free, have him send it over to your phone).
Lyrics App - One of my favorite apps now. Whenever you play a song from you're phone, this app will automatically get the lyrics to the song and show it in the notification bar so you can switch back and forth to the lyrics quickly.
onTour Free - This app scans you're music collection for artists and lets you know about any gigs they're playing. You can scan by area or artist, awesome for getting quick information on shows. Also let's you buy tickets.
SMS Backup - One of those apps that comes in handy every now and then. Lets you backup your text inbox in case you plan on resetting your phone for any reason (like installing a new ROM).
Galaxy S - It's both
I'm actually a huge Android fan , had the Droid 1 - now the HTC Thunderbolt - I love the phone however I wished 4g + Tegra 2 would have been a choice.
HTC Thunderbolt and Samsung Charge have some of the worst battery lives I've ever seen , considering though a huge screen and battery hungry 4G , they are amazing phones. Currently HTC Thunderbolt rooted on Das Bamf 1.6.3 overclocked to 1.5Ghz - suggested a backup battery (usb battery backup) or get the 2200mah battery option for HTC.I love the customizations ... period ... however Apple has a lot of neat cloud based features that will be replicated soon enough.
Guess it depends on the person really, if your technically minded I would say Android, if your someone that likes the features without the hassle Apple (still suggested rooting it)