my more complete thoughts on iphone vs android phones. for now i choose android #phoneWARS

In catching up on thousands of emails, I found one from a friend looking for my advice on her phone choices: iphone vs. android. at&t vs t-mobile. Here's most of what I wrote.

As for T-Mobile. They're fine. Best network in the U.S. is probably Verizon, but their network is US-only, and so are most of their phones. AT&T for iPhone is notoriously horrible to the point that many high profile iphone fans have dropped the device because they can't use it to make phone calls reliably. Sprint is... well, Sprint.

I've found T-Mobile's network to be ok. Nothing spectacular, but ok overall and great in most cities. The customer service has been good especially compared with my previous experience with Sprint.

I'm still in the midst of my iPhone/Android dance but lean strongly toward staying with Android at least until the iPhone leaves AT&T. I used an unlocked/jailbroken iphone 2G from Feb 2008 - November 2008. From November until yesterday, I used a G1. From November 2008 - June 2009, I used an iPod touch for my media and gaming (ipod touch broke in mid july, and i haven't yet fixed/replaced). I just switched to the MyTouch 3G, and am very happy so far.

here are iPhone advantages
- way better apps (especially twitter and facebook)
- way more apps
- one device to sync media via iTunes
- can play purchased content from iTunes like TV & movies
- very pretty
- everyone has one (making the apps even more useful cause there's a community)
- better design and smoother user interface in general
- 2.5mm headphone jack

here are Android advantages (in G1/MyTouch 3G)
- no authoritarian control over the app store with nonsensical reasons to block certain apps
- google voice works great
- t-mobile and not at&t (tmobile refused to spy on americans for the unlawful nsa wiretapping program. at&t did it with glee)
- superior over the air syncing of gmail, google contacts, and google calendar (probably the only android apps that beat iphone apps)
- easily replaceable battery

For me it comes down to a handful of key issues

1) politics. i find it hard to give money to at&t after they sold out our civil liberties when I know t-mobile faced the same choice and chose to defend the constitution. i find it hard to support apple when it arbitrarily blocks applications that it deems too competitive with itself or at&t. i really think apple has no idea what its doing with its app store

2) my media syncing is important to me, especially having my podcasts. the G1/MyTouch doesn't have a 2.5mm headphone jack and force me to use a dongle. however, there's some software called Sailing Media Sync which lets me do a decent job of syncing media from iTunes to MyTouch (except for purchased video content and some ipod-specific formatted podcasts)

3) my communications apps are way more important to me in a phone than media. i have and can always use an ipod touch for apple media. as such android's superior handling of gmail, contacts, gcal and google voice outweigh iphone's superior handling of media and even its superior handline of facebook/twitter. I'm hoping for a truly robust twitter app for android a la TwitterFon, Tweetie or Tweetdeck (the current android top apps, Twidroid and TwitterRide just don't cut it). I also want Facebook to stop messing around and make a native Android FB app (on Android I have to deal with outsider apps called Bloo and Babbler). A native FourSquare app would be great as well.

4) competition. i love the iphone, but i love a competitive market that will lead to improved iphones and other smartphones more. right now, i choose to support the competition. my decision is subject to change at any moment.

hope this helps

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
www.baratunde.com
www.twitter.com/baratunde
www.linkedin.com/in/baratunde

conscious comic & vigilante pundit
Co-Founder, Jack & Jill Politics
Web Editor, The Onion
Host, Popular Science's Future Of (Aug 10, 9p, Science Channel) http://bit.ly/thefutureof

Posted via email from baratunde's posterous

Comments

[nonie3234]

Wow! Thank you so much - these were all excellent points. I eventually decided (almost impulsively) to go a completely different direction. I have a BlackBerry Storm and - really - I am enjoying it. So far. It's been about two months.

I couldn't get behind the iPhone, for a lot of the reasons you mention (AT&T sucks, can't replace your own battery), I decided against the Android because I didn't like the phone itself (I didn't know they had a new one - oops, my bad).

I had been with Alltel for two years, it was time to either renew or choose another company. The place I work started laying people off, so I didn't feel confident getting into any contract with a data plan. You know - lay low, stay frugal. Now that my company is doing better, I feel able to shell out an extra 30 bucks a month.

Since Verizon bought Alltel, shortly after my birthday I walked into the Verizon store to see if they had any "iPhone Killers". The guy working there had a Storm he won in a sales contest that he wanted to sell - and voila! Here we are.

BB has not NEARLY enough apps, and most of those are not free, which sucks. Also - the syncing to and from my Google calendar is awful. That said - the rest of it is delightful! The phone is beautiful, the features it does have work beautifully and I love Verizon (so far).

Thanks again for this information. When it's time for me to renew again next year - hopefully Android will have another new device - I'll make the switch. It's all about the apps, Lebowski. The apps and the syncing and the battery.

[joe73072]

thanks for the comments Baratunde, my t-mo contract is up in January and i have been thinking of android and staying with t-mo.
can't stand at&t for the reasons you mentioned and others as well.
i have apple computers, and an ipod touch, which is great for media, but i don't use the media that much, and i use google and gmail for everything, so android makes sense, plus it is open source. besides, my touch has actually crashed on me 4 x in a year.
everyone i know who has a my touch or even a g1 is happy with them.
there may be an android on verizon soon, which i may check out before January, but i am happy with t-mo.