The Big Decision - stick with iPhone or go Android?

[penk]

After leaving my last job, my iPhone account with AT&T is going to get transferred back to me, and knowing how AT&T does these things, I betcha dimes for dollars they'll want to re-up the contract.

I checked with AT&T, and I can terminate the contract now for $102, leaving me open to go elsewhere or else-phone.

The pros and cons are high on both sides. My biggest reasons for jumping to another platform (at least for a while) is that I feel that I'm getting too blindsided by the Apple kool-aid. I can't even think of things I can't do on my iPhone, mostly because i've never been exposed to a smartphone platform (excluding PalmOS) that I can use for comparison.

Getting down to brass tacks, here's how I see the pros and cons of switching from iPhone to android...

iPhone pros:
* Solid, stable, well known
* Well supported in the industry
* AppleCare
* "Just plain works" - at least for mail
* Apple Appstore + iTunes store

iPhone cons:
* "Apple Kool-Aid"
* Bluetooth support is abysmal
* Locked in functionality - Can't go beyond what Apple says I can do without Jailbreaking, which has it's own not insubstantial risks
* Calendar syncing is still a nightmare [*]
* I can't write apps for it
* No expansion capability - storage is fixed
* iTunes is a horrible horrible nightmare
* Tethering is very very limited (and costs extra? Huh?)

Android pros (specifically thinking of the HTC Evo 4g or 3d)
* Modern platform that has very high performance hardware available
* Large format screen
* Open development platform
* I can develop for it
* Calendar syncing 'just plain works'
* "Not Apple" - gives me a perspective on the industry I feel I need.
* If switching to Sprint, FINALLY support for tethering and mobile hotspots!
* SD Slot in most phones. User expandability!
* Music management is an exercise for the user - ability to do 'what works'

Android cons
* No end to end support, no matter what happens support, ala Applecare and the Apple store
* Android is not as polished and clean as iOS. Serious yak-shaving potential
* Would likely mean switching carriers to Sprint - fear of the unknown coverage maps
* Limited support for some apps (Netflix comes to mind)

I think in the end, the Sprint change would be a net gain in cost (AT&T and Verizon are much more expensive, from what I've seen).

Lastly - which phone? :) I like the HTC Evo 4G - the kickstand is awesome. But the current model seems to be the 3D - I have no interest in the 3D aspect of the platform, but the dual-core CPU would be awfully nice. I don't want a 'slider' (ala, integrated keyboard). I'm okay typing on the screen.

So, what do folks think?

ETA[*] - qwrrty's link to using CalDAV on a new link seems to have cleared the calendar syncing problem. I'm irritated that I 'sorta' had things working, and it was silently failing, and switching it all up has 'fixed' it. I don't know what the problem was to begin with! But thanks Tim. :)

Comments

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Some other pro-iPhone thoughts:

You've already heard from me on this, but the iPhone/Google calendar sync (http://qwrrty.livejournal.com/295658.html) "just plain works" for me. I don't think that comparison is entirely fair.

I think tethering and mobile hotspot support are already available for the iPhone, but you have to give up unlimited data -- are Sprint's plans just more generous?

* "Not Apple" - gives me a perspective on the industry I feel I need.
* Music management is an exercise for the user - ability to do 'what works'

I don't think I understand what you're getting at with this?

[penk.livejournal.com]

Let me asplain...
* "Not Apple" - gives me a perspective on the industry I feel I need.

Right now I've had experience with only one smartphone platform, and there's a culture in Apple that states "We do things -this way-". I want experience outside that box so I can better determine if what I'm seeing in Apple land makes sense, or if it only make sense because that's "The apple way". Does that help?

* Music management is an exercise for the user - ability to do 'what works'
The only way to manage music on the iPhone is via iTunes. I find iTunes really painful to work with - it has some black-hole functions (another Apple pattern - something that's supposed to do something just... doens't. Because it's not compatable with a corporate deicsion or the like). Android platforms (AFAIK) simply use the phone as a data storage device, putting music in folders. How you manage that is up to you.

[dfjdejulio.livejournal.com]

On the whole "see the non-Apple perspective" thing, that's a big reason why I bought a $250 "Nook Color" and set up a bunch of microSD cards to boot up other versions of Android on it. Now I've *seen* Gingerbread and *seen* Honeycomb, really spent time with them, and the device was cheap and didn't require a contract. Sure, I'm not getting the cellular features or the camera or anything, but I started on iOS via an iPod Touch originally too -- it's still a grounding.

(And a bunch of the "iTunes sucks" and "sync is painful" stuff changes this fall. But, it changes in a way that makes it suck less and be less painful, but *without* giving a ton more direct control to the end-user, so you *might* hate it even more. It'll be an improvement for me. But then, for me, iTunes is better than what Android does -- you *can* manage stuff by hand, so unless you add additional tools, you *have* to.)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Right now I've had experience with only one smartphone platform, and there's a culture in Apple that states "We do things -this way-". I want experience outside that box so I can better determine if what I'm seeing in Apple land makes sense, or if it only make sense because that's "The apple way". Does that help?

Sort of, but I'm going to challenge you on some of those assumptions. In particular, you were a Treo user since back when giants walked the earth, and while the experience may not have been similar to iOS, the Treo was what people meant by "smartphone" for years before Steve Jobs ever dreamed of entering the market. So I don't agree that you've only had experience with only one smartphone platform, just because you haven't played with a Blackberry or a Droid or a Pre.

The music management question could be interesting. My gut says it actually wouldn't be useful for the device to take a completely hands-off attitude to music management. There are too many things that go beyond simple file storage that the playback device should know about: playlists, ratings, number of plays, etc. I'm no fan of the iTunes interface but I do tend to agree that music management does have some implicit structure that should be managed by an application.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I want experience outside that box so I can better determine if what I'm seeing in Apple land makes sense, or if it only make sense because that's "The apple way".

I can understand having an abstract interest in "what's good" in smartphone systems, but I don't think that's particularly a good reason to make a personal product choice.

I also fear Sprint's coverage map, although I hear it is better than a few years back. Asking around the MC list might get you good dish about home, at least?

My droid experience

[drwex]

I'm using Verizon on my droid. They suck about as much as the average cell carrier. I prefer to stay away from AT&T when possible, and Sprint isn't high on my love list either.

I have not found anything that I could not get support for from the Verizon store that sold me my Droid. As in I take the phone to them and say "it doesn't work" or "it stopped doing Foo" and they take it and fix it. Often no questions asked and for no charge.

My experience of the OS is that it is stable (even when I do hinky things on it like bypass certain safety features so I can install a pre-market version of Flash). As for "well-known" the last few rounds of market surveys show droids outselling iPhones and closing on Crackberries.

On the downside, I have found that there are a number of apps that are iPhone only. That number shrinks monthly (see market share above) but Apple's store is a paypaypay model so companies develop there first. Droid apps often have to be better than free competitors so they get developed second. On the other hand if you find a problem with a Droid app you can write to the app developer and he can get you a bugfix directly without having to go through Apple's cumbersome release cycle.

I have had no luck tethering either an iPhone or a droid. That's probably my fault - millions of people manage to make it work but my Droid does not want to talk to any laptop I've tried to tether it to. I really would like to use it as a cellular modem when I'm traveling, but that's more hassle than it ought to be.

All that said, I got the Droid mostly for political reasons, and because I'm heavily invested in the Googleborg cloud already. Having my email and calendar and contacts and shared documents and photos all Just Work the instant I turned on my phone was an unmitigated joy.

[ckd]

I have an iPhone (originally a 3GS, now a 4) but I'm sufficiently hardcore that it's a factory-unlocked iPhone that I'm using on T-Mobile. At least now Apple will sell them unlocked in the US, meaning no trips to Rome (iPhone 3GS) or Toronto (iPhone 4) will be necessary for my next upgrade.

The only real drawback is that I can't get 3G cell speeds, since T-Mobile got the short end of the frequency auction stick. OTOH, that means I can turn off 3G and get better battery life; EDGE is usually fast enough for me when I'm not in Wi-Fi range. I've had no problems with the calendar sync, and I'm currently syncing to it from three sources: work calendar, personal Google Calendar, and personal MobileMe calendar.

(On my grandfathered T-Mobile Internet rate plan tethering/mobile hotspot works fine and costs no extra. Of course it's still EDGE.)

I'll probably try an Android phone at some point; maybe my new employer will hand them out to all the employees again. :-)

[soong.livejournal.com]

Having just been shopping for a 4g android phone on sprint, you should notice that tethering costs extra! ($30/mo)
Yup, that's right, for no upgrade to your device or your bandwidth, you can pay more!
l@me

micro-SD comes at a premium over other SD cards. my phone came with 4GB in micro-SD, and I haven't bothered to upgrade despite it getting a little cramped. I had a 32GB iPhone before it died.

[beah.livejournal.com]

You can get around this. I can't toggle the built-in "tether" option on the phone without paying that fee, but I tether my HTC Evo 4G using a free app I downloaded from the Android Market, easy as pie.

[fraterrisus]

Tethering Just Works on my TMobile G2 (also an HTC phone but I forget what the "generic" model name is). I did have to pay for the unlimited data plan, but that was forced by carrier when I upgraded (TMo doesn't like to sell you phones without data plans).

If you're thinking about switching to Sprint anyway, have you thought about Credo Mobile? They support leftist political causes, they have a handful of Android phones, they resell Sprint service, and they have a contract-buyout plan that will easily cover your current ETF.

[penk.livejournal.com]

Interesting, ben. Credo seems worth indeed, but their highest end phone is an LG Optimus S, which is a sort of medium-end device. Nice, but I think I'd like basically 'the best i can get under Android' right now.

[beah.livejournal.com]

We switched *away* from Credo for exactly that reason. Sad, but true.

[wotw]

FWIW, tethering works extremely well on my (jailbroken)
iPhone using the $20 MyWi app.

Also, I am completely iTunes-free, thanks in part to the
CopyTrans software suite.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty happy with the Android kool-aid. I'm also a bit of a bottom-feeder in that I'm OK with the middle-of-the-road phones that the Sprint resellers offer, and the price ($25/month for unmetered bandwidth and more minutes than I'll ever use) is right. Coverage of the app space is excellent, and with the stuff I care about also free.

My only real complaint with regard to Sprint's coverage is that they don't do Canada at all. After hearing a lot of FUD about coverage (before signing up) I've actually been surprised and pleased at some of the odd corners of the country where Sprint does fine but the GSM carriers lose.

Despite otherwise finding the Apple kool-aid pretty tasty in general (I've been a mac user for a bunch of years as well as owning an iPod Touch), I find iOS just a bit too limited. You might also enjoy it.

I like my Evo

[make-your-move.livejournal.com]

I have the HTC Evo (not 3D)through Sprint and I've had relatively little to no issue with it or with the coverage. The fact that it syncs to my google calendar is wonderful and it's much easier for me to keep track of clients and stuff. I also like that it links to my contact lists FB pages. I'm not a heavy app user, but the ones I have used work well.

[beah.livejournal.com]

I adore my HTC Evo 4G, and have rarely had trouble with it. My only complaint is that it is very uncomfortable to use as an actual PHONE. The sound quality is fine, it's just not at all the size or shape of an object that's comfortable to hold against your face between your ear and your mouth. I have a bluetooth headset that alleviates this problem, though, and was utterly trivial to pair. As for the kickstand, it works great with the phone horizontal, but is far less stable vertically. mrf_arch has one too, if you want to ask what he thinks. I don't know a thing about the 3D for purposes of comparison, though.

[beah.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if you go with a Sprint phone, tell me - I got them to pay ME to buy ours, and can show you the deals I found.

[mr-privacy.livejournal.com]

Android's app store is (reputedly) a mess, and the platform is full of malware, including malware that's built by taking real apps and inserting additional functions inside them.

Apple, for all its faults, has less malware on their system.

An iPhone plus, at least to me

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a Linux geek and a Java head, but I ended up going with the iPhone because AFAIK Android phone has no sync to desktop without third parties getting all your data, which I refuse to permit. I don't want Google to know every person I do and when my next doctor appointment is. I realize that's more important to me than most, but it is a factor.
Having said that, there's a lot about Android that I covet.