[The Boss]

I've got a Droid, and am often unhappy with it - my deal will be up summer 2012 & I will likely get the I-5 if it's out by then.

[pierced mikey]

I have a Droid Incredible and I love it, it's fast, works really well. My wife has a Samsung Fascinate that also uses Android but hers is slow(mostly because of the bloatware Verizon puts on it). Look at the reviews for whatever phone you like. My next one will probably be another Droid.

[68gtoMN]

This is the classic Mac vs PC argument. Nothing more, nothing less. Macs are less "customizable" and many want to "mess with their PC". If that is your liking, go with any one of the many flavors of Android. App market is not as mature. Performance across phones for various makers/flavors of Android and carriers differ.

Summary

iPhone

• Apple is consistent in hardware/software/performance - known quantity
• All works as designed
• Frequent updates
• Unmatched app choices
• Design/feature leader
• Superior voice recognition
• Slightly smaller form factor (plus or minus depending on user)
• higher initial cost

Android

• More versions, different form factors
• More phone choices
• Less apps
• More frequent updates
• Less homogeneity in performance/features
• Lower cost

If you like messing with your phone or upgrading often or if you need a different size or keyboard, Android. If you want something that just works, has superior customer service and app choices and value, Apple iPhone.

[#1WideTrak]

Originally Posted by 68gtoMN

This is the classic Mac vs PC argument.

If you like messing with your phone or upgrading often or if you need a different size or keyboard, Android. If you want something that just works, has superior customer service and app choices and value, Apple iPhone.

Can't beat that post. Totally sums it up. I don't like iTunes, but I love my 2nd gen iPod Touch. I'd really like to walk away from Apple's iTunes when I upgrade to a smartphone. And I am cleary a "PC" person. But...

If someone held a gun to my head this instant and said, "BUY A SMARTPHONE NOW OR NEVER!" I'd go get an iPhone. There's not enough time in the day to review all the Android phones. And a new one comes out ever other day!!! The older I get, the more simple I want things. Getting an iPhone would be like buying a hi-po car that doesn't dare beg you to mod it. Just turn the key and drive. Never pop the hood. An right Android will be like getting a car I want to mod to make is faster. LOL

[andyg]

I'm not so sure on the more apps for iphone note. I think the apple slogan "there's an app for that" applies more to android these days. I can find a free app to do pretty much anything I need, where some ios users I know would have to buy it. Yes I know the apps are cheap, but after awhile it could add up. Especially for something you only need once or twice.

If you spend similar money to an apple product, you get a better product. I see it all the time when people get entry level stuff for minimal cost then complain it isn't as good as an Apple product which costs 3x more.

[The Champ]

Until the iphone has a 4G offering, it is a second class phone.

Buying a new phone today (3 weeks from 2012) with 2010 technology doesn't make sense. Especially when that phone is more expensive then the 2011/12 technology phones on the market today.

[Colin]

I havent had an iPhone.....bit evrryone I know who has had Android and iPhone both have prefered the Android. In fact a friend of mine got a new iPhone about 3 weeks ago and this week she switched back to her old Android phone.

[David Jones]

I hope I don't get to the point that selecting a phone starts with how fast it downloads "Fargo".

[Sidponcho]

Thanks for all the feedback. never been an apple guy and don't think I want to start now. I'm looking hard at the new Razr (we are with Verizon). Its light and has a huge screen which will help with my old eyes. Battery life is an issue, but I'll just keep a spare battery with me (always had a spare battery for my Bberry). How is the music quality with these things?

[andyg]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

Thanks for all the feedback. never been an apple guy and don't think I want to start now. I'm looking hard at the new Razr (we are with Verizon). Its light and has a huge screen which will help with my old eyes. Battery life is an issue, but I'll just keep a spare battery with me (always had a spare battery for my Bberry). How is the music quality with these things?

The razr is a beast of a phone. One thing to note is, the battery is non removable on it so no carrying a spare. How much do you use your phone though? I can get more than a full day on my HTC, which is not known for its battery life. I text and surf a ton and have no issues. You should be fine on battery life unless you are talking/texting/surfing literally every few minutes. Even an iphone couldn't do that on a single charge in a day.

[The Champ]

Battery boosters...

http://www.cellboost.com/product_smartphones.htm

[mviker]

If you get the I[hone, try your best to get one with as much capacity as possible. My work first gave us Iphones with 8 gigs storage. I quickly filled that up with music. We were upgraded the the new (at the time) Iphone 4's and I asked for a got a 16 gig Iphone. It's almost full of music now also. If we get to upgrade again, I am going to beg for a 32 or even 64 gig Iphone. I like 'em. Get the right car stereo and you can bring along your entire music collection to play in the car with them. I suppose you can do that with Droids or other phones also, but I like the look, feel, and convenience that comes with the Iphone. They take great pics also. Email and Internet are just fine for me too. Honestly, I hardly ever use it as a phone.

[Sidponcho]

Originally Posted by andyg

The razr is a beast of a phone. One thing to note is, the battery is non removable on it so no carrying a spare. How much do you use your phone though? I can get more than a full day on my HTC, which is not known for its battery life. I text and surf a ton and have no issues. You should be fine on battery life unless you are talking/texting/surfing literally every few minutes. Even an iphone couldn't do that on a single charge in a day.

Yikes....I didn' realize that. I listen to Pandora a lot at airports etc which eats the battery. "user non removeable" battery I can see, but I need to find out if it can be replaced when it will no longer hold a charge.

[Gulliver]

We've been on Verizon with Motorola Droid phones for quite a while, and have been quite happy.

There is a lot of proprietary software bundled on them that eats battery life. Lots of other phones, too -and most of it you probably aren't using. The way around it is to 'jailbreak' or 'root' your phone and just eliminate stuff you aren't using. I should probably do this, but haven't yet.

The other alternative, and what we do, it simply go into 'settings'/running apps and turn them all off each morning after taking it off the charger. Takes about 30 seconds, and you'll know it by lunch time of you forget, lol. Otherwise, the battery can easily go all day/night.

[andyg]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

Yikes....I didn' realize that. I listen to Pandora a lot at airports etc which eats the battery. "user non removeable" battery I can see, but I need to find out if it can be replaced when it will no longer hold a charge.

Getting the battery replaced when it wears down in a couple years will be no problem. Just like the iphones with their built in ones.

Check where you are buying it on the insurance. No need to start a best buy hater debate, but if you have a phone with a built in battery and have their insurance on a phone bought through the store, they will get you a fully refurbed phone with good battery in 3 business days. If you have a phone with removable battery, they provide one time battery replacement and ship it right to your house.


I too at first thought I had to manually kill all the apps I wasn't using to save battery life. No longer do it and actually get better life because the phone isn't constantly restarting the apps that I killed. Just let it do its thing

[GRX]

The Droid operating system is notoriously glitchy. Everyone I know says their Android phone has mind of it's own, me included. The Droid based phones do have one advantage however, upgradable memory where the iPhone's is fixed. Only $20 to expand my phone's music storage by 400%.

[quicksilver97ta]

Took the plunge and got an HTC Vivid. Just wanted to share some results as I am very impressed. Not all "4G" is the same.

LTE 4G
25.80 Mbps down
6.37 Mbps up

That is lightening fast compared to my old 3G Iphone which could barely manage 1- 2 Mbps down and sometimes less.

[Sidponcho]

I went for the Droid Razr.......will report back in a few weeks after fully setting it up and using it. I did watch a couple of youtube videos while on 4G and it was amazingly fast.

Do these things slow down after a while like a PC? I hope not because its fast fast fast!!!

[nh68gto]

It may because it is basically a small pc. Treat it like your home pc, scanners and such.

[andyg]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

Do these things slow down after a while like a PC? I hope not because its fast fast fast!!!

Nope. It might get a touch slower (usually unnoticeable) if you load tons of apps onto it is all. My message app (stock one) gets a little slow once threads get over 1500 messages or over 5000 messages total, but clearing the messages fixes that. They are not like a windows based pc in terms of speed over time. I even highly doubt the windows phone will suffer like that.