IOS vs Android (vs Whatever else)

[SwissJon]

My contract on my iPhone is coming to an end fairly soon. I've seen the rumours about IOS 5 coming out, and I have to say, I quite like the idea of another iPhone. My only complaint about Apple is that they don't maintain older Operating Systems, so I couldn't easily have IOS 3 on my iPhone for example. The problem with this is that my iPhone 3GS that used to be the dogs doodahs is now looking old and tired and very slow to respond.. This is a comparison to how it waas on IOS 3, rather than in comparison to the iPhone 4.. I find it a bit depressing that in order to have your iPhone looking shiny and responding well, you have to have the very latest hardware. I don't particularly want to spend hundreds on a phone every year, even though I use it for email, and listening to music, us the camera regularly and play games on it, and still be tied into an expensive contract, and spend even more on calls and data while I'm abroad.

So I'm considering a change.. I'm wondering what the Android OS is like, and whether it's now competative with the iPhone in all the aspects I need to use. I know there's other phones out there, and (god forbid) I'll consider Blackberry and (Oh... My... God...) Windows phone 7.

What are your opinions on your phone??

[Blitzkrieg]

Well,from my experience Windows Phones are really slow in everyday situations.
My gf has one and I wouldnt even touch it cos it lags like hell.
My own phone is a small cheap Sony Ericsson with a custom 2.3.3 Android on it.
Even though it has only a 600MHz CPU its really responsive.
So,to recap,if I wanted to spend on a phone I d get a 1GHz Android phone 1000%!
They re fast,the OS is FULLY customisable and the 90% are cheaper than an iPhone.
Good luck! Hope I helped a bit...
N.

[High_Speed]

Bottom line, I wouldn't buy anything but a new Android phone. Presently I'm using a newer Blackberry (which sucks) only because a few months back I switched to a "pre-paid" carrier, and at the time they didn't have Android phones in their lineup. Now they do...and I'm thinking of switching back. Before that I had an HTC Aria running Android 2.1, and it was very nice.

I guess I'd take a brand new iPhone if my "company" was supplying it, but otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to use a nice Android phone, hands down. You'd be surprised at how much the interface looks like iOS, actually. But it is different, and you can actually customize it.

As for Windows phones, I gave up on those years ago. Microsoft has a hard enough time designing a Desktop Operating System that works and flows right, let alone designing an OS that has to run efficiently on a little phone.

[Sime]

I wanted to try everything before I 'fell into line' Blackberry / Win / Brew / Android / etc etc....

iPhone 4 - I will never, ever, go back... unless Steve Jobs comes and personally punches me in the face - I won't use another phone.

I manage social media for companies, I'm heavy on Photo apps, I'm on email 27 hours a day, I use news services, music all the time... the iPhone 4 is really very good...

I don't care about older OS versions for it - I'll update to the latest (when I know it's less buggy than first release)

iPhone 3 was awesome when it was launched - and the 3Gs, and the 4... but as apps get heavier, data usage increases monthly - they all get old.

if you only ever use email, guess you'll be ok, but with fifty zillion apps in the app store, how can you not download and yell at Angry Birds?

;-)

[Ambrosia76]

I have a low end Android Phone(sprint network) and Hubby has the Iphone4 (ATT), My phone does just about everything his phone does, gets as coverage as good as his, and I pay a lot less.

[kcoppock]

Okay, for all the Windows Phone bashing, are your concerns based on Windows Mobile 6 and previous, or have you actually used Windows Phone 7? Personally, from what I've seen, I'm waiting on Verizon to get a high-end WP7 phone before I upgrade mine. Before you knock it just because it's Microsoft, go to a store and give the OS a try, you may be pleasantly surprised. The Mango update in the Fall should get it pretty close to on par with iOS, feature wise (and above in some aspects).

Right now, I'm using Android -- I have the Droid 2. If you're really technically inclined, it's a great OS for tinkering. You can customize your own OS, install a different version, hell, even get down into the Linux terminal and do whatever you want once you have root. With that said, however, I feel it's a very unstable operating system. Mine's running on the stock Android 2.1 OS, and it's buggy as hell. Sometimes I'll be using it, and it will just randomly reboot itself. Any music applications, sometimes if you start another app, will sometimes just quit themselves in the middle of it. I just don't think it's up to par yet.

[Ambrosia76]

I am running android 2.2 and don't have those issues but hubby has that issue with his iphone no matter how many times he updates it,he even went i and they replaced the entire phone and the new one does the same thing.

[Blitzkrieg]

Originally Posted by kcoppock

Okay, for all the Windows Phone bashing, are your concerns based on Windows Mobile 6 and previous, or have you actually used Windows Phone 7?

You re right,I m talking about a Windows 6 Samsung above...
N.

[Sloseph]

im running andoid 2.2 on the HTC Desire and i absolutly love it, very smooth, does everything i want it to and with HTC Sense it looks fantastic

i havea friend who has always been an Iphone man but he lost it and the insurance company wouldn't cough up for a new one so he decided to give android a try and has said he's never going back, he loves it

id definatly recomend giving Android a go, it will be cheaper for you than getting a new iphone and you get to experiance something differnt

id also highly recomend going with a HTC even if its just for the sense interface

plus on another note, who doesn't love google

[kcoppock]

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg

You re right,I m talking about a Windows 6 Samsung above...
N.

Basically, between Windows Mobile 6 (which I heartily agree was one of the worst operating systems to ever grace a phone) and Windows Phone 7, there are nearly no commonalities. Microsoft more or less scrapped the entire Windows Mobile OS and built WP7 from the ground up. It's definitely worth looking in to; especially if you're involved with a lot of Microsoft services (SkyDrive, Zune, Office, Live Mail, etc.) since it has built-in support. The Zune player alone is one of the main reasons that I want it -- it's leaps and bounds above Android's music player.