• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help iPhone... (sorry)

M

mfw

Lurker
Hi

:confused::confused:

I'm currently on a Windows Mobile PoJ. I'm gonna move to either the i7500 or the 16GB 3GS. The cost in the UK on contract works out as close as dammit to being the same. I'm trying to work out which one to get. Seems to me that at the moment (bearing mind the contract would be 18 months) the iPhone apps market is way ahead of the Android. Here's what I really want:

1) True hands free voice-dialling, including with a bluetooth headset (I can't get a clear read as to whether either the iPhone or the Galaxy do this).
2) GPS with off-line mapping (available on iPhone with RouteBuddy).
3) The ability to store user certificates on the handset to allow me to authenticate to corporate email. (I believe this is a known functionality issue on Android, but no date as to when this might be available).

The Galaxy has the better camera, and the better screen. But reading reports on this forum, I get the impression that the flash isn't actually that good/useful, and that the battery life means you have to turn down the Amoled screen to the point where the slightly larger iPhone screen might be better for you. :(

I'm an opensource fan, but this won't be a toy for me, it's a proper business tool as well as the other stuff. Really torn. :confused: Any balanced advice or insight would be gratefully received.

:D

Cheers in advance
 
1) bluetooth handset is about the only bluetooth thing Android DOES support (stereo too). voice-dialing i believe will be available in donut (2.0)
2) i think that is possible with TomTom which is coming out soon or is already out for the android. it's not free, however
3) i don't know about that, but it seems it's only a matter of someone writing the software for it

i disagree about the flash on the galaxy, it's great, as is the camera (compared to iPhone or other android phones). also, the AMOLED screen doesn't impose a problem on the battery at all - that's the point of OLED screens - they don't consume much power. And it's turned off most of the time anyway. The battery drainer is 3g. Other than that the battery life is totally comparable to the iPhone.

But due to samsung's terrible firmware (buggy), you should still think about the iPhone. It basically comes down to what mentality you have in the end i guess, Android is open-source and has many free apps, while iPhone is the opposite. However in terms of maturity I think iPhone is ahead.
If you don't need the camera/flash and don't care for the AMOLED screen much, I'd actually recommend HTC Hero to you. The only other upside to Galaxy is that it has 8GB of internal memory (much more than Hero).
 
Hi Mr.Brdo :D

Thanks for the reply. The Hero is interesting due to cost (free on the same contract terms), but the limitations of storage space and the cost of the micro-sd card almost eliminate that benefit. Oh yes, and I live in a place where Orange reception is, well, %^&$...

I guess one question hidden in this is how far and how fast will Android apps mature? I don't mind paying for high quality apps.

Regards

Mike
 
mfw: I think android is advancing fairly quick and will continue to do so... However at the moment the iPhone OS is just a bit (but not much) more mature. I think Android will soon overtake iPhone as far as the OS is concerned. Also, Android is more "hackable" (esp. HTCs atm), which means you can get some features that will probably never be available on iPhone or at least unless Apple is convinced to do it.
Again, if you don't care about the camera or the screen, try asking about the HTC Hero because HTC IS much more mature in the Android area. I've had numerous problems with Samsung's firmware (Samsung specific, not Android). Besides that Android is pretty great imo, esp. if you use any of the Google services.
If you want the better camera&screen(&space) you can take a chance with Samsung and hope they'll fix their problems soon. Namely my worst problem is the phone sometimes turns off during the night.
Also, the SD cards really aren't that expensive... And the Hero is much more mature in the software sense aswell with HTC putting a lot effort into the Sense UI, which seems to have a lot of cool features. However, I haven't tried the Hero yet, so don't take my word for it. I just think Samsung's firmware could use a lot of improvements (or actually bug fixing).

Btw congrats on moving away from Windows Mobile, it's terrible (don't get me wrong I love Windows on the PC).
 
mrbrdo said:
mfw: I think android is advancing fairly quick and will continue to do so... However at the moment the iPhone OS is just a bit (but not much) more mature. I think Android will soon overtake iPhone as far as the OS is concerned. Also, Android is more "hackable" (esp. HTCs atm), which means you can get some features that will probably never be available on iPhone or at least unless Apple is convinced to do it.
Again, if you don't care about the camera or the screen, try asking about the HTC Hero because HTC IS much more mature in the Android area. I've had numerous problems with Samsung's firmware (Samsung specific, not Android). Besides that Android is pretty great imo, esp. if you use any of the Google services.
If you want the better camera&screen(&space) you can take a chance with Samsung and hope they'll fix their problems soon. Namely my worst problem is the phone sometimes turns off during the night.
Also, the SD cards really aren't that expensive... And the Hero is much more mature in the software sense aswell with HTC putting a lot effort into the Sense UI, which seems to have a lot of cool features. However, I haven't tried the Hero yet, so don't take my word for it. I just think Samsung's firmware could use a lot of improvements (or actually bug fixing).

Btw congrats on moving away from Windows Mobile, it's terrible (don't get me wrong I love Windows on the PC).
Click to expand...

i do moved from windows mobile to an android on samsung and i say, DO IT! the phone is great and android is very very good!!!
 
1) Camera and flash are great
2) Andnav2 gives brilliant offline GPS
3) Battery life is OK, iPhones have this problem too
4) Bluetooth handset profile works fine with my Parrot car kit

I used to have HTC winmo phones and although the Galaxy isn't perfect it's work in progress and already kicks them into touch.
 
The android platform requires an investment on your part: time.

It's a very young system but is improving every day. Take a look at engadget.com - there are so many new devices coming out on the android platform - it's really cool.

I have to say though - the iphone is a very very sweet bit of kit. If you happen to get bored easily though, there's not much to keep you interested. Android is constantly evolving, and it's the people that are making that happen.
 
Both are good. Face it iPhone is amazing. I migrated from the iPhone 3G to the HTC Magic, and the magic is really great, very fun to use and I love it. But the keyboard leaves a lot to be desired. Its my single greatest grudge against the phone. Without auto-correct I have quite a lot of mistakes, and with auto correct there is around a 1 second delay when i hit the key and it registers.

Also voice dialing is available in many custom ROMs now, such as hero and I believe cyangoenMod
 
UnderWhat? said:
But the keyboard leaves a lot to be desired. Its my single greatest grudge against the phone. Without auto-correct I have quite a lot of mistakes, and with auto correct there is around a 1 second delay when i hit the key and it registers.
Click to expand...
Try TouchPal keyboard with T+ layout, it has two letters per key and dictionary. Much better for smaller screen then qwerty layout.

2) There are also CoPilot, NDrive and other GPS software available.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom