On the fence Evo3d or new iPhone

[heavychevy]

IPhone 4 battery is not all that great. The screen is high resolution, but tiny, simple, non multi tasking UI, no flash.

When and iPhone can do all of the things Android can do, then it will be a legit comparison. But the iPhone is doing less work every minute of the day, especially if you really customize your Android handset.

IOS is lame.

 

[apinkel]

I had the iPhone 3GS, and then then iP4 for a while. The phone is great and *I* didn't have any RF issues with it. However, the UI, as friendly and smooth as it may be, gets stale and all you're left with is a bunch of icons to press!

The apps are great, but most if not all, are available on Android devices now! But, if you're okay with iPhone's existing UI, then yes you will be happy with an iPhone.

I've been using the EVO for a few months and absolutely love it! The thing with this phone, and probably moreso with the 3D, is how you can 'have it your way'

I've occasionally run into people with EVOs who have custom ROMs and it's like a breadth of fresh air! You cannot have that wih an iPhone! They're all the same. Now, whenever I see an iPhone I can't help but think of 'Resistence is futile. You will be assimilated!!'

I really like Android, and WebOS as my phone's OS over iOS!

Having said all that, I have an iPad 2 and it works great with my EVO!

This is my take on the iphone vs. android as well. The iphone just works and it works well. Android is more fun, flexible and, on occasion, frustrating.

Battery life does depend on usage obviously but comparing the same usage on the iphone 4 to most androids, the iphone usually wins. It should. It has a tightly controlled playground for apps to run in coupled with a fairly stringent app review process. In addition the OS can be more easily optimized for the couple of hardware versions the OS runs on. Anandtech does some pretty good battery benchmarking and the iphone4 is usually at or near the top of all the charts... but android is catching up quickly.

With android, you just throw hardware at it and trust the user to figure things out (within reason).

I'm a tech guy so I prefer android because it's a fun challenge.

 

[EarlyMon]

I think the OP's question has been answered.

Things are a bit quiet around here, so if this is still fun discussing, I'm for leaving this up a day or two more before locking.

I'm not of the mind to move this to the Lounge because every aspect of iPhone vs. Us has been discussed to death until turning into a flame war.



So. How does this stringent app approval process of which you speak provide better battery life? That's a new one for me.

 

[jerofld]

A good comparison I heard of iOS/iPhone vs Android platforms is a comparison between gaming consoles and PC gaming.

A console and a gaming PC serve the same (basic) function: To play video games. Grated, both can do more. Play movies, stream Netflix, play music, et cetera. But this is where they differ. Every console has the same hardware (within a certain limit) as the same console of it's class. Games have to be programmed to work with them, specifically. While PCs, on the other hand, have a wide variety of hardware, software versions, and capabilities. While consoles can use keyboards, PCs can use the best keyboards. PCs can load practically anything that is programmed in their OS language. And you can change, virtually, everything. But, in order to run the port of a console game, your PC needs more hardware to run. The OS is bulkier. But, overall, you can do more with it if you want to do something other than games. Like browse the internet, play flash, run programs that are not games, et cetera.

Now, replace games with apps, replace consoles with iPhone, and replace PC with Android. Use that in making your decision with iPhone vs Android. Both are good, just one is really tailored down and effectively uses the resources it has. The other needs more power under the hood to do the same thing, but so much more is available to be done. Wii/Xbox/PS do really well. So does iPhone. But I like my PC. I like my Android. I rather have a box that is bigger, but does more overall, than a small box that is limited. But you may have different needs.

Edit: Also, that stuff about Androids having bad battery life and iPhones having great battery life is crap. It's all how you maintain your phone's battery. Leave your phone in a heated car for a while, let it discharge all the way, bump charge it too often, etc. You're going to kill it. I don't care if it's an iPhone or what. Androids just get the bad rap because all the features that kill the battery are on by default. Google assumes you can manage your battery instead of assuming you're an idiot. Apple assumes you're an idiot and makes it so you have to find out how to enable features, or just doesn't include them. Also, the smaller screens help a bit to their battery consumption. As well as other factors. But again, I'll gladly charge my phone more often, because I can actually see stuff on my display.

 

[novox77]

I'm sorry but if her iP4's battery life is that bad, especially wth light usage, something is wrong with that iPhone's battery!

How is the signal strength where the phone is mostly used ?

If you suspected the battery, why would your next question be about signal strength?

And in fact, the battery is fine. The culprit here was a somewhat weak 3G signal. At home, I got her on wifi, which really helped during those hours, but at work, the phone would be in 3G, and that's where it really drains. This is an issue with ANY cell phone, not just an iPhone or an Android-based phone.

My point wasn't to bash iPhone for having poor battery life but to point out that all devices can suffer from the same problems. Therefore, general statements like "iPhones have incredible battery life" are not valid because the battery nor the phone is inherently different when it comes to power consumption. 3G requires a lot of power. GPS uses a lot of power. Live view with the camera app uses a lot of power. With any of these examples, I could see how a user could report "light" usage but have incredible drain.

Here are some examples of iPhone 4 users complaining about battery life. Again, I'm not bashing iPhones; just pointing out that there's no reason to think it's all battery bliss in the iPhone world.

Why Is The Battery Life On My iPhone 4 So Bad? - Techland - TIME.com
How-to troubleshoot iOS 4 battery life problems | TiPb
iPhone 4 SHORT battery life? Or anomaly?
Anybody else have bad battery life after | Page 2 | iPhone and iPad Forums

countless more sites just like these.

 

[PyroJing]

Could never go back to an iPhone now that I've had my EVO 3D. The screen is just too small on the iPhone, and you have to wait for the jailbreaks to get the customization you actually want. Sure I miss a few of the apps on iOS, but the overall OS of Android is so much better than iOS.

 

[apinkel]

So. How does this stringent app approval process of which you speak provide better battery life? That's a new one for me.

It allows apple to deny an app that is designed in such a way that it uses more than it's fair share of battery.

 

[cgardner]

Coming from WebOS to Android and I am very happy!

I still miss WebOS but the E3D is just amazing. I'd say give the E3D ago. If you dont like it then return it. In the end its the users choice and they need to figure it out for them self!

 

[EarlyMon]

It allows apple to deny an app that is designed in such a way that it uses more than it's fair share of battery.

Inside the iPhone App Store acceptance process | Niall Kennedy

Avoiding iPhone App Rejection From Apple | Mobile Orchard

Avoiding iPhone App Rejection From Apple, Part 2 | Mobile Orchard

Apple's iPhone App Policy Revisions: The Good and The Bad | PCWorld

Apple's App Store Review Guidelines: 'we don't need any more fart apps' -- Engadget

Perhaps you're right, but without being an iOS developer (or violating the NDA if I were one), that's all I can find on the subject.

If Apple does deep performance profiling, then kudos for that, but I am skeptical. I'd question the idea you presented as "fair share" of battery life.

Am I wrong, or doesn't that sound mythy to you?

 

[apinkel]

Nore am I an iphone dev. I am a developer but I don't do mobile apps. I do know how inefficient poorly designed apps can be.

From what I've seen there are various reasons why apps get rejected in the apple app store. Some of which impact battery life. To be able to reject apps for these reasons apple does appear to have some type of profiling process in place.
-Limiting the use of vibration mode (Unofficial App Store Rejection Criteria | 10base-t interactive)
-Bandwidth limiting while on cellular networks (I believe this was referenced in the mobile orchard link you provided above).
-Not allowing duplicate apps for native OS functionality. Podcaster is a common example... if both itunes and podcaster are syncing data, it's going to use more battery life than if only one service is syncing.

EDIT: I should add that I don't think apple has specific battery based restrictions. The point I was trying to make is that some of their policies do help to limit battery usage by apps.