Android

I have been thinking about upgrading my phone recently. Having had the iPhone 3G for over 2 years now i figured it is about time i got something a bit newer. I've never had any major issues at all with the iPhone and ideally i'd like to upgrade to another model. A part of me is thinking i could wait a few months and get the new iPhone 5, i have a feeling it will probably be released by November.

Someone i know showed me her new phone and when i had a look i could have sworn it was an iPhone. The physical appearance looked the same and the way the software runs is very similar to the iPhone. I believe the phone i was looking at is the Samsung Galaxy Ace. It was definitely a Samsung Galaxy, but not sure on the exact model.

What is Android software like? is it buggy or problematic? are there plenty of good "apps" for this phone?

What Smartphone would you choose if you were to upgrade?

I am still using the first generation of the iPhone, its getting pretty beat up, lots of dents and scratches on it I have been ready to upgrade for a few months now as the last time I dropped it some of the pixels on the bottom are dark so its hard for me to read within about 10-15 pixels from the bottom. I plan to get the iPhone 5, feels like a long wait though. I have a feeling its going to be a nice upgrade from the iPhone I have now. I think my biggest complaint with my phone at the moment is the battery life is going downhill pretty fast. I am lucky if I can make it about 12-16 hours before it dies.

I've had several Android powered phones and currently have an iPhone 4. Absolutely love my iPhone. I'm not really a Mac/Apple person, but I do love their iOS products. The biggest thing for me is since everything, hardware and software, is developed and designed around one device, the iPhone is a little more refined. Their touch software works a bit better, their are far fewer hiccups. I would without any shadow of a doubt keep my iPhone over any of the others right now. Now that being said, I have the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as my tablet and love it. Very sleek and refined. One thing I have found with Android is not all Android apps work on all Android devices. Found that to be kind of annoying on my tab.

Personally I run a HTC Sensation, I wanted an Iphone but the price was just.. : o Anyway there are plenty of apps for it that are easy to get by just clicking "market", the android software runs without a flaw for me. But I do know a person who has an older version of the HTC (can't recall the exact version name) where the software lags sometimes.

If this is due to memory being insufficient or bugs is something I don't know. But I do know that phone runs an older version of Android and has a less powerful CPU, less memory etc. So it could be due to either - or both reasons..
= )

I'm no phone expert so I basically do not know what I would get if I were to "upgrade" my phone. I'm kind of okay with my phone.

I tend not to buy phones that often but if I had to pick something else I would probably buy an Iphone 5, just cus they seems cool and powerful.

I think the most frustrating thing about my above question is no matter what kind of replies i get most replies always come back basically saying that the iPhone is worth having. I asked this question a few months ago on Facebook and while there were alot of Blackberry replies most said to stick with the iPhone.

Due to the cost of the iPhone 5 when it comes out it is highly unlikely i will go for that when it is released, however i know when the iPhone 5 is released my network will charge nothing for an upgrade to the iPhone 4, so i may go for that when i can.

I've had my iPhone 3G for over 2 years now and i've had very little problems with it. I have actually got a similar problem to bigwebmaster though in that a few random pixels appear discoloured (and not completely dead) sometimes. It's not a big deal though. Battery life lasts no more than 24 hours though, but that's been the norm ever since i got the phone.

I think Android is fairly comparable to iOS. If you are an exchange user and enjoy having your calendar and email on your phone I would recommend staying with the iPhone as it has MUCH better support for it.

Also the quality of apps on the iPhone market are higher than those on Android. The Android market is littered with useless apps too, but that is getting better over time.

One thing I've noticed about Android phones is they keep getting bigger. I went into ATT not to long ago to get a new phone and I was given the choice between three phones and really only two as the third had poor reviews for battery life and performance. So when it came down to it both the phones I was looking at had 4.3" screens or larger.

The size does help with the battery a little bit as you can fit a bigger one in, but they get annoying to use.

I love my iPhone 4. In particular I love the ease of setting up a hotspot when I don't have an internet connection for my laptop. Not to mention when I sync my phone with my PC it's also charging my battery. I can't figure out my wife's Android. Not nearly as intuitive as my iPhone

Lots of Iphone users here I see, but I am going with the HTC Evo4G. Talk about having a pc on your hip. I don't think there is anything the phone can't do, but I am always trying to find out. I love the speed of the net, email accessibility, gaming, and the HD quality video streaming. I think either way you go you can't really go wrong. I hear the New Iphone 5 will be available on the Sprint network too.

I heard samsung galaxy s2 is very good so i think if you need a change then this can be a good deal . it is the best phone of 2011 and people who use it don't have problems.

Who rated it as the best phone of 2011? And not a single person has had problems with it?

You see, this is why I generally avoid trolling the General forum.

"The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist." -Charles Pierre Baudelaire

The second, to fool the world into thinking something is 'cool' without identifying the qualities which provide that moniker.

So, let's actually look at some facts, shall we? I will pick one phone that is available now, and to be fair I won't even choose one offered by the company I presently have service with.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. iPhone 4S

Both came out recently to varied degrees of fanfare.

Nexus runs Android 4.0 (ICS)
iPhone runs IOS 5

The Nexus is .35 ounces heavier.

The nexus is slightly larger, accounting for the larger screen real estate at 4.65 inches vs the iPhone's 3.5 inches.

The Nexus employs a pixel resolution of 720x1280, while the iPhone is 640x960.

The Nexus uses a SuperAMOLED screen, the iPhone is still using LCD.

Both are dual core, though the Nexus is 1.2GHz while the iPhone is 1 GHz. (The Nexus also has a discrete graphics chip.)

Twice the system memory on the Nexus over the iPhone, and while the base model has less extended memory (32G vs potential 64G on the iPhone) you can change it by purchasing a new transflash -- can't change the memory on the iPhone.

The Nexus only Sports a 5 MP camera, while the iPhone's is 8MP. However the front facing camera o nthe Nexus is 1.2MP, the iPhone is still relegated to VGA at .3 MP.

Nexus (as with the vast majority of Android based phones) uses a standard micro USB port, while the iPhone still clings to it's proprietary mechanism.

The rest of the hardware seems similar, and I won't bother with the similarities.

The iPhone app store contains over 500K apps. The SDK costs $99 a year for standard apps, or $249/yr for Enterprise.

The Android Market contains over 200K apps. The SDK is free.
NOTE: You are not locked into downloading and installing apps via the Market on Android. You can get them from anywhere. Hard to say how many additional apps are available outside of the App Market. However, in my estimation -- and this is merely opinion -- when you crest 100k, it becomes moot.

It should also be noted that you can add third party apps to your iPhone, but you MUST root (or jailbreak) it before that is possible.

Which brings me to the subject of rooting. Both phones may be rooted, quite easily I might add. the difference is, Google is ok with that, while Apple is decidedly not OK with it and takes steps to protect their hardware from root. To be fair, the carriers for Android handsets do not favor personal rooting, but it's a paradigm shift from manufacturer to carrier between the two.

There are distinct versions of Android floating about, and yes some software will not run on older versions. The same could be said for original iphones, and apps make to exist on the iPhone4S. The reason it is so prevalent on Android devices; there's more of them. As in, there's many manufacturers, creating many levels of hardware for various handsets. If more than one manufacturer created a handset than ran IOS, you would see the same fragmentation in that market.

Which leads to another point. The greatest benefit of having many manufacturers of Android hardware is also a detractor -- depending upon perception. New technology is advancing at a greater pace than Apple hardware. Think about it. Within the genus of the species, there is competition to reign supreme. Ergo it makes sense that each is attempting to outshine the others. Some technology is fluff (3d) some is not (flurry of phones in 1st qtr that run tegra 3 - quad processors). The point is, technology is market driven. The iPhone merely competes with itself within the genus; there's only one. It only views outside competition as ancillary to it's own innovation.

What that means to the consumer is that while your phone (should you invest in Android) be behind the power curve within 8 weeks of delivery, it also means that it will be behind the power curve within 8 weeks. When you want to invest in new tech, it will always be available, not relegated to one company's timetable and personal views of innovation.

Which leads me to the inevitable question; why won't Apple take some queues from the purchasing public such as replaceable batteries? Transflash expanded memory?

As for me, I prefer open technology. I like the idea of update once, sync everywhere. I like that I can modify my Android however, whenever I like.


Oh and Mark, I am not sure a technical forum is the best place to absolve your sins of not understanding a certain mobile technology.

Yeah, i've never read you write something similar to this before