Stuck between iPhone and Android

[tech3475]

Also how good are the emulators, I find the iPhone ones in particular suffer from poor sound and now are being charged for.

 

[holyblood]

I would say about 30/35% of the phone is for games.

Can anyone give a list of good games for Android?

other than what was previously mentioned, here are the games that i have right now:

Abduction
Doodle Jump
Paper Toss
Unblock Me
Radiant
Caligo Chaser
NFS Shift
Heavy Gunner

you can try to check the games thread as well to know more..

no idea on the the wiimote or the emulators since i have not tried them..

 

[tech3475]

Ok thanks.

After speaking with my preferred provider (Tmobile UK) I think android will definitely be my preferred option unless something sudden comes up.

 

[qwertyaas]

I'm also stuck between them. I'm heavily favoring picking up a Captivate (and if by chance I'm not liking it, I can exchange it for an iPhone before the 30 days). My huge gripe with the iPhone is the customization or lack thereof - but there are some really great themes over at modmyi that give you [...the illusion of Android type] customization in terms of themes.

The only thing that is really lacking on the Android side for me are the higher end games which isn't the biggest deal but it's still something to consider.

 

[tech3475]

/\ You would need to JB the iPhone to be able to customise it.

 

[qwertyaas]

/\ You would need to JB the iPhone to be able to customise it.

That's a given. No chance I would get an iPhone if I weren't to JB it

Sadly it's not true customization (in terms of UI). Someone needs to create a theme in order to throw a simple widget in the middle of the screen.

 

[tech3475]

What exactly are widgets like on Android? Are they like the dashboard on OSX.

 

[grainysand]

What exactly are widgets like on Android? Are they like the dashboard on OSX.

Dunno what the dashboard is like, but Android widgets are, er... like Windows 7 widgets. They're blocks of things that give you information or let you access things without actually having to launch an app. Instead of opening up your calendar to look at your schedule, you just glance at the widget. Instead of going through Menu -> Settings -> Wireless network to toggle wifi on, you just locate your power control widget and tap your wifi icon. Instead of launching the music app to pause/play/forward, you tap the pause/play/forward icons on your music widget. Etc.

 

[tech3475]

ahh thanks. Just wondering, is there a good guide/wiki for learning about all this stuff?

 

[grainysand]

Not sure, but anyway, here are what widgets look like:

Music, facebook and Engadget widgets respectively.

This guy's got a clock/weather widget, one that lets him see the most recent call in his call log, and a small calendar/agenda.

 

[tech3475]

ok thanks.

 

[egordon42]

OK I just came from an iphone 3G to a Droid2, so I'm pretty current with your questions. My experience so far is that the iphone runs smoother, and everything is more intuitive. You want this to work, it works, and with no hassle. Exactly how a mac runs. I was very, very frustrated with Android when I first got my phone. After literally taking 3 days to get it set up, I've learned to live with some of the quirks. After only 5 days with an android, I couldn't think about going back to an iphone. And I loved that thing to death. Having live widgets is amazing. It just makes sense. Being able to tweak literally everything is fantastic. The iphone is a piece of art, and that new screen is outrageously gorgeous. The graphics capabilities of an android phone are definitely beat by the iphone, hands down. But to be able to do what I want with my phone makes me a happy camper. I'll miss the ease itunes offers, but I'll find a way around that.

 

[MikeSeventeen]

You might want to avoid the iPhone if you plan on jailbreaking it, as Apple are on the verge of banning every jailbroken phone from the app store and itunes.

Android of course does not need jailbreaking, it comes pre-jailbroken, just one click in the settings to confirm you understand the implications of being to load apps from other marketplaces and SD Card.

 

[exwifeusesiphone]

Well, you know, Android is customizable, but the drawback is that it can be confusing at first. Also, on occasion, things will lag, a screen won't slide for a sec or whatever. Home screen replacements help this a lot. The iPhone provides one, very good way of using your phone. It, as Apple intends, is an appliance. Android phones, however, are real smartphones, infinitely customizable, and have greater capabilities (like the GPS!), but are hampered by manufacturer's stupid UIs and can act like Windows PCs at times. They can do things like slow down for reasons that aren't apparent and not provide the perfect, always smooth user experience everyone craves. Once you get into adding apps, customizing, playing with widgets and such though, it's really hard to go back, as a lot of people have noted. It's not like your phone is ever going to crash!

As an example of those capabilities, I was sitting in a cafe doing work today and the cafe Internet went out. I have a rooted Droid X, and turned on my WiFi tethering. I was back on the net in 5 seconds. Someone with a Mac laptop tried to connect to my phone (which said AndroidTether) and I disallowed him access. The satisfaction from that...well, no words can quite describe it!

 

[tech3475]

You might want to avoid the iPhone if you plan on jailbreaking it, as Apple are on the verge of banning every jailbroken phone from the app store and itunes.

Android of course does not need jailbreaking, it comes pre-jailbroken, just one click in the settings to confirm you understand the implications of being to load apps from other marketplaces and SD Card.

You mean that stupid patent? I don't think they will ban everyone since that would remove a large part of the owners and is now legal. Unless you have a source?

BTW, when you say pre-JBd/rooted do you mean that unofficial hack or an official built in rooting capability?

Also I thought the iPhone had GPS as well since the 3G model?

Can the Galaxy S/Desire be easily rooted?

 

[grainysand]

The graphics capabilities of an android phone are definitely beat by the iphone, hands down.

Wrong. The graphics chips in the Droid X (not Droid 2, sorry) and the Galaxy S line equal the iPhone 4's easily. In fact, the one that powers the Galaxy S is more or less identical to Apple's A4 chip, courtesy of Samsung.

 

[egordon42]

Wrong. The graphics chips in the Droid X (not Droid 2, sorry) and the Galaxy S line equal the iPhone 4's easily. In fact, the one that powers the Galaxy S is more or less identical to Apple's A4 chip, courtesy of Samsung.

I can't debate that as I have a Droid2, and the few games I've downloaded look awful, so I'll take your word for it. I don't play many games though (where is Angry Birds already??), so this is pretty much a non-factor for me.

 

[A.Nonymous]

You mean that stupid patent? I don't think they will ban everyone since that would remove a large part of the owners and is now legal. Unless you have a source?

BTW, when you say pre-JBd/rooted do you mean that unofficial hack or an official built in rooting capability?

Also I thought the iPhone had GPS as well since the 3G model?

Can the Galaxy S/Desire be easily rooted?

I've heard that it's actually a small portion of iOS users who are jailbroken. In any case, I've not heard that they're going to ban JB users from the app store. They could legally do it though and it would be a huge deterrent for jailbreaking until someone figured out a way around it like they always do.

By pre-JB I think he means that out of the box you can run any app you want from any source you want. You run just Marketplace apps if you want or you can run 3rd party apps if you want right out of the box.

I think you're correct about the GPS thing on the iPhone.

 

[tech3475]

I think the current quote is around 10%. But I thought recently the patent simply erased the data on the device? Nothing about banning.

Anyway. I think I'll have a good look around at the games/apps, if they are good enough I think I have more or less made my mind up.

 

[Thefoodman52]

I'm not even going to bother reading all the hate mail posted here, and am going to give my prognosis.

If you want something simple that has a limited level of personalized use in exchange for almost one button use on EVERYTHING, get an iPhone.

If you want something that's more complex, has a deep level of customization, and requires being of average intelligence to operate at full capacity, get Android.

From using my friend's iphone and my Evo, that's about the best way I can summarize it all with average bias thrown in (I can't do 0% bias, I've been hardwired for Android now, lol).

-edit-
After reading the question about the emulators on here...no they aren't free, but they really don't suffer from sound issues. You have to remember as well, the games only going to play as well as the person that hacked it ripped it. My five games for the genesis emulator have flawless sound, but then again, I've tried five sources for each one trying to get the best. I'd recommend doing that, but it is tedious. Perfection is never easy...sadly.

 

[tech3475]

How complicated is it compared to iPhone OS? I have some linux experience so am I going to encounter issues like missing dependencies and are say themes going to be a pain to install or lots of time spent in a terminal.

I am quite good at computers and I have Linux experience (although not without hassle e.g. missing dependencies, compiling issues, etc.).

For the record, I know iOS is *nix based but my time spent low level is rare (usually just to fix Cydia glitches and occasionally mobile terminal).

 

[effluent]

As far as games go, the only one I play often is HomeRunBattle3D..Addictive.

As far as performance/sluggishness. My EVO was sluggish on 2.1. Now rooted and OC'd on Froyo it's as slick as can be. Drag the finger around and there's no lag at all. Just as good as an iPhone 4 now in that regard.

 

[tech3475]

Is peggle on/coming to Android?

 

[tech3475]

Another thing, does Android prevent you from downgrading? Similar to how you need the SHSH blob on iOS.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either device. The iPhone features one button use for anything. It's ridiculously easy to use. However, you can't customize it as much. Android you can customize the hell out of, but it's got more of a learning curve. Both are fine devices though.