iPhone vs. DROID: Which One Should You Buy?
Verizon's Motorola DROID, launched November 6, 2009, wasted no time taking it to Apple's iPhone 3GS, starting with a pre-emptive iDon't TV commercial that mixed unflattering fact and fiction to appeal to geeks and general consumers alike. Many have now hailed it as the best competition to the iPhone to date, and the first flagship device to match it. Are they right?
If you're interested in either an iPhone 3GS or DROID, here are some points to consider:
Network: AT&T vs. Verizon
Many would say pick your network before you pick your device, but sometimes we love a device so much we'll put up with limited or even lousy networks. However, it's important to remember that Verizon has better 3G coverage than AT&T. CDMA/EVDO (the technology Verizon uses) simply has greater range, and there are so many millions of data-hungry iPhones on AT&T that their GSM/HSPA towers can get overwhelmed (especially New York and San Francisco). So, yes, you will get more bars in more places with Verizon.
On the flip side, AT&T's GSM/HSPA network is the same standard used in almost all of the rest of the world. This means that you can use your iPhone when you travel (though you'll pay a premium for the privilege) on carriers from the US to Canada to Europe to Australia to... you get the idea. Verizon's CDMA/EVDO network, on the other hand, might roam in Canada, but that's it. If you go DROID, you're not taking it with you.
Lastly, AT&T's GSM/HSPA can handle simultaneous voice and data, so you can talk on the phone while surfing the web, emailing, or using apps over 3G. Verizon's CDMA/EVDO can't do that. If you're on the phone, you're off the 3G internet. Wi-Fi can make up for this if available, but if you're on the road you're out of luck -- and yes, that includes Google Maps Navigation for anything but cached data. (That is, if you have an AT&T 3G connection to work with, remember our first point above).
So if network matters to you -- and it should! -- figure out the best carrier for where you live, work, and travel, and that will help you figure out the device, be it iPhone or DROID.
Hardware: Slab vs. Slider
The iPhone 3GS is all about the singular slab, black and silver and glass, with rounded corners and ultra-slim profile, and only the Apple logo by way of branding. The DROID is in two "licorice and brown-sugar" parts, screen and sliding keyboard, with sharper angles, and Verizon, Motorola, and Google proudly etched all over it. Both are solid; both are well built.
Inside those bodies, the DROID boasts a 3.7-inch WVGA (480×854), 16:9 capacitive touchscreen with a 550 MHz processor, microUSB slot (comes with 16gb microSDHC card), user-changeable 1400 mAh battery (rated at nearly 6 and a half hours of usage time), and 5 megapixel camera with image stabilization, 4x zoom, dual-led Flash, and auto-focus. Oh, and a physical keyboard.
The iPhone is 3.5-inch (320x480) capacitive touchscreen with an undisclosed but snappy processor (600MHz Cortex A8 when investigated), no removable storage but 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, built-in battery with 5-hours of talk time, a 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus, and no physical keyboard.
So, DROID wins the spec battle, but there are a few caveats. Though capacitive and touchscreen, the Verizon DROID doesn't support multi-touch gestures. Yes, Android 2.0 supports them, yes the DROID's Euro-counterpart, the Milestone, includes them, yes developers can make apps that implement them, but for some reason, the DROID's built-in apps don't let you do things like pinch-to-zoom or multi-touch typing. The iPhone, on the other hand, is a multitouch monster. It's fully and uniformly supported on every iPhone, in every app.
Though it can use up to a 32GB microUSB card, unless you "root" (hack) the DROID, you can't store apps on that card. Supposedly due to piracy concerns, Android 2.0 only allows you to install apps on 256MB of internal memory (some developers work around this by installing a small host app, then downloading extra data to the card). Depending on your usage pattern, that may not affect you, of course. But for gamers who want lengthy adventures with tons of textures, or offline navigation with all the localized maps, it could be an annoyance. The iPhone, by contrast, lets you use almost all available space for apps -- up to just shy of 32GB on the high-end model.
While the DROID has a 5 megapixel camera, we've learned via the megapixel wars on point-and-shoots that size doesn't matter. Quite often small sensors are cut up far to much, sacrificing quality for quantity. When it comes to the DROID camera, while it's far from terrible, it's pictures aren't as pretty as the iPhone 3GS'. At least not yet. iPhone 3GS is currently auto-focusing better and its software is processing better looking stills.
Lastly, the DROID has a physical keyboard and a virtual keyboard. The iPhone only has a virtual keyboard. Early reviews suggest the DROID physical keyboard is a little flat, a little hard to differentiate one key from another, and a little off-center to accommodate the 5-way control. In other words, it's no BlackBerry. Likewise, the virtual keyboard is good but not iPhone great. If you care about physical keyboard, however, DROID has one and iPhone doesn't.
Both have top-of-the-line hardware, with the DROID raising the stakes to tip-top. It's not what you have, however, but what you do with what you have, and in that regard the scales look pretty well balanced.
Software: iPhone 3.0 vs. Android 2.0
Android is an open-source, Apache-licensed operating system that Google makes available free of charge to device manufacturers who can add their own proprietary "secret sauce" to the mix. So, there's no single, unified Android platform like there is for iPhone. On the plus side, you get a much greater amount of diversity, hardware and software, then the iPhone. On the minus side, it means what you see on one Android device may not be what you see on another. In terms of the DROID, this means you won't see HTC's Sense UI or even Mototola's own Blur social networking interface. What you do get is Android 2.0 Eclair with Google's proprietary Push Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Voice, YouTube, and Google Maps (now including the incredible looking Google Maps Navigation) rolled in. If you're heavily invested in the Google experience, that alone is compelling.
The iPhone doesn't offer as much Google goodness -- certainly and controversially not Google Voice for example, and not Navigation (yet?) either. It does offer some, however, including push Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts via GoogleSync, and built-in Google Maps and YouTube. By contrast, the iPhone has tons of Apple's very best software, and Android/DROID has absolutely none of that. For prime example, no awesome iPod app and everything that goes with it. The iPhone also supports MobileMe, which might be meaningless unless you're a multiple Mac user who lives on iDisk, Mac Sync, and Back-to-my-Mac.
Apps: iPhone App Store vs. Android Market
Apps are the current killer-app. Sounds funny, but from "app for that" commercials down to blogs keeping running tally of which platform has how many (100,000+ for iPhone vs. 10,000-ish for Android if you're curious), arguably nothing is supposed to matter more to consumers right now.
To be fair, not all those iPhone apps are what we'd call high quality. Apple's mature, well polished Xcode and Cocoa touch development environment and iPhone SDK makes it easier to build iPhone apps -- maybe too easy at times. By the same token, not all the Android apps are exactly golden either.
DROID's advantage is that Google offers a more open development environment, meaning they don't moderate their marketplace the way Apple does the App Store. Developers are free to make and upload pretty much anything they want, and only if there is a complaint will Google investigate and potentially remove it. Also, developers can provide "side loading", or apps that can be installed outside the market. This may appeal more to pro-level or geekier users, but it should be a consideration for everybody.
Apple only allows apps that Apple approves into the App Store (and limits side-loading to 100 "ad-hoc" seats, or custom Enterprise deployment). While this should theoretically make for a "safer" environment, the capricious nature of what's accepted and what's rejected really just makes it more frustrating. Again, for geeks. Most users, however, will never notice this. With 100,000 apps, chance are you'll find what you want and never notice what makes all the bloggers crazy. It's just not a consumer issue.
What's more noticeable is that DROID allows you to multitask all of its apps, built-in and 3rd party alike. You can keep apps open and running in the background, and with the press of a button, bring a 6-way app selector up for easy switching. If you want to run Pandora Radio while surfing the web or navigating a trip (as long as you don't take a phone call), or keep your Instant Message app open all the time, this may be a big deal to you.
Apple's iPhone only lets the built-in apps like Mail, SMS, Phone, iPod, etc. run in the background. So, you can listen to music on your iPhone, or streaming via Safari or iTunes, while you use most other apps (even the phone), but you can't do likewise with a 3rd party app such as Pandora. The iPhone does implement "push notification" to alert you to activity in Instant Message clients and other apps. It works in most cases, but lacks Android's more sophisticated notification management as well.
So -- and it's a theme that will come up over and over again -- Android offers the potential for more kinds of apps and more ways to get them, but the iPhone's controlled environment currently offers a greater quantity of apps, and among them many higher quality, highly polished 3rd party apps.
Ecosystem: Cloud vs. Cloud+
Google has virtually become the internet and their range of services from search to Gmail to Google Calendar to Google Voice... we're not going to list them all again but suffice it to say if there's a web-based service Google isn't currently offering they're planning it -- or planning to buy it. And all of those will, as mentioned above, work first and best on Android and DROID.
On the other hand, as mentioned, the iPhone supports most of those services and supports them good enough for many users. In addition, it plugs into Apple's cloud and client based iTunes ecosystem. It can't match Google on pure cloud, but it offers local sync many users still want and need. And just like Google works best on Android, iTunes and Apple works -- and just works -- best on the iPhone, that includes all the music and media, the Mac and Apple TV, and all the accessories that years of iPod dominance have made so popular.
If you love the freedom of a wireless world filled with free Google services, you can go all in with DROID. If you want most of that, and are heavily invested in iTunes and Apple, then iPhone might be a better fit.
Media: iPod vs. ??
The iPhone is, according to Apple, the best iPod they've ever made, and if you're interested in a media-equipped phone, that's hard to ignore. As we just discussed, the iPhone enjoys incredibly easy and increasingly robust sync with iTunes, and the massive music, movie, TV, podcast, and other content the iTunes store provides. And that's not even counting your existing iTunes content, if you've already ripped your CDs, DVDs, and other media into iTunes-supported format.
That last part is just as important, however. Not all media is supported by iTunes, and so it's not all supported by the iPhone. If you've built up a collection of Xvid, DivX, MKV, OGG Vorbis, etc. content (all from legitimate sources, of course), the iPhone won't play them unless and until you convert them to MP3/AAC or H.264 MP4. And that can be a hassle.
Now, Android's built in music player is... anemic, and its movie player even more so, but given their open environment if there's a format they don't play, there's a good chance you can find an app that will play it (or that one will be developed). It might not be as slick or elegant as the iPhone's iPod player, but if you need to play those formats, does it really matter?
User-Experience: Design vs. Engineering
There's no simpler way to put it, Google is an engineering company while Apple is a design company. The DROID was constructed to meet a set of features. The iPhone was crafted to meet the exacting tastes and incredible demands of one Steve Jobs. That might sound funny, but it's the difference between something that sounded usable in the schematics, and something that just works in the real world.
Android 2.0 is no doubt leaps and bounds ahead of Android 1.x (which famously presented users with a Google Search box and flashing cursor when no keyboard was present with which to enter any input), as DROID hardware is ahead of the original T-Mobile G1. It will even recognize desk and driving docks and become "finger friendlier" on contact.
Notwithstanding the lack of multitouch mentioned above, however, there's a reason why even the original iPhone revolutionized the smartphone space long before the App Store showed up -- it's interface is pure usability. From 2 year old to octogenarian, it's intuitive and consistent, and you can never underestimate the importance of -- or difficulty in achieving -- both of those.
Again, many consumers may not care. Good enough is often good enough.
Conclusion: Which One Should You Buy?
If you have to have Verizon, don't need to travel internationally, love you a physical keyboard, want everything Google has to offer, are a spec-fiend, chronic multi-tasker, and want a device that's arguably more complex but also arguably more flexible, this -- cliche warning -- might just be the DROID you're looking for.
If AT&T and international GSM compatibility is your priority, you consider virtual keyboards to be the future, are invested in the Apple/iTunes ecosystem, want those 100,000 apps unlimited by storage concerns, are a multitouch fanatic, want to talk while you surf 3G, and want a device that arguably is controlled and compromised but is also arguably the most usable on the planet, the iPhone 3GS could be what you want.
Try both. Try the Palm Pre as well while you're at it. Take them home if you can and use each for a while. Return the one(s) that doesn't suit you and enjoy the one that does. And just remember -- the smartphone space is evolving rapidly again. You can bet both Google and Apple are both hard at work on the next, even better version(s) of their devices.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Dude, I know you are trying to ride the Droid wave to get some hits for your site but c'mon. I come here to read the IPhone news not droid and yes I own both droid and IPhone , they are both good devices
IM STAYING WITH AT&T FCK VERIZON. AND FOR THIS STUPID ASS VERIZON DROID PHONE YOUR GOING DOWN IS 2010. IPHONE IS ORIGINAL. EXP THE IPHONE IS LIKE COKE SODA!!! AND THE OTHER TOUCH SCREEN PHONES AND DROID ARE LIKE A 99CENTS SODA BRAND. IPHONE WILL BE BACK ON TOP IN 2010!!!! OH YHE ISN'T THIS WEBSITE FOR IPHONE ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH AND AT&T WILL BE NUMBER ONE SOON!!!
I LOVE MY IPHONE 2G 3G & 3GS AND WILL SOON BE LOVING THE 4TH GENERATION IPHONE.
@li
WTF why do u own both?
Was there a question in there? There is no phone but the iPhone. The droid fails
As a life-long Mac user tired of jumping through flaming hoops waiting for a compatible phone to come along, I'm sticking with the iPhone. No more McGuyver nonsense for me, thank you.
IPHONE IS ORIGINAL. AND APPLE IS LIKE THE BEST.OH AND ITUNES IS NUMBER 1. AND IPHONE GPS IS THE SH*T. ALL THE OTHER TOUCH SCREEN PHONE'S ARE JUNK!!!
JOSEPH YOUR ALL RIGHT..LOL
Get a life JO.
THE IPHONE BLOG. STOP BEING LIKE PHONEDOG.COM
Wow when they say hard core they mean it...
@Joseph
Dude stay off the roids its starting to effect you Lol.. I love your passion for the iphone but DAMN!!! and I really have to say but Iphone is a great phone and it has made a name for its self but Android is coming up. But i like both, Im just hoping Apple will make the phone Interface a little more fun.
Why are we yelling guys? And iPhone for me thank you.
@jersagfast
Very true like we are going to hear anything....:)
iphone
I love my iPhone, but let's face it - there's always room from improvement. Like layered calendar, multi-tasking, multiple exchange accounts, themes (without JB) to name a few.
iTunes is the best? Not really, but then we don't have a choice to try something else, do we? The music that we paid for is there, only to be used on Apple devices (unless you pay extra to get the DRM removed from the songs you already purchased).
Apple is selling a lot of phones without having to add additional features; there's no business reasons to offer them. Just look at MMS and copy & paste, how long did that take? Android is becoming a strong competitor and I hope Apple is paying attention.
go with the droid verizon has a better network so my droid will work in more places then the iphone and just 4 the omnia 2 to come out it is 2 rock.
Don't understand how this is even a contest. The Droid is a nice phone, but it's no different from all the other "iPhone killers" that came before it. The iPhone is the Michael Jordan of phones, you can have your Kobe's, Lebron's and Wade's but MJ always stays on top. iPhone all day.
Holy shite! An actal far and balanced (for the most part) cmatison. Wow! Didn't thnk you apple fanboys were capable!
Impressive article Rene, congratulations.
I own an iPhone 3G and an HTC Hero so I have seen the advantages and the weaknesses of both systems.
I you want a multimedia station, a powerful game system and easy sync options, stay with the iPhone.
I you want a lot of productivity for working, easy switching between email, todo apps, etc, go for Android.
The network here in Europe it's not so important because all of them are GSM.
Both phones have great features.
The main thing I see is Droid compairs itself to the iPhone. The iPhone on the other hand compairs itself to nothing.
When a great phone comes out it should be able to stand on it's own. If it has to say it's better at somthing, it's just playing catch up.
Good wright up. I look forward to the future of these 2 phones.
Seriously Rene?
You're going to ask THIS question on an iPHONE blog? What the frack were you expecting!? Oh wait, this was a rhetorical question, wasn't it?
Equally stupid analogy: lets go to a BMW blog and ask which car is the car to buy.......Mercedes or BMW? Hmmmmmmm......I wonder what the consensus will say?
rolls eyes
C'mon man. You can do better than this. I'm disappointed.
I just don't understand. The man can't give a simple article explaining the finer points of the iPhone's competition. The behavior in here is exactly why a lot of folks dislike Apple/iPhone fans.
@Rene
I'm actually surprised this article was fair, lol. Only gripe I have is the claim of usability. People make Android out to be so overly complicated. But it's as easy as the user makes it. Sure you can clutter your home screens to the point where it'd make WinMo's Today screen look positively simple, lol. But you can also leave it bare (out the box clock, search, and four icons) and just pull up a drawer to get your whole app view. If that's not simple and usable, I don't know what is.
Yet everything else I can agree. As has been stated, currently iPhone is leading the pack in app count. If you're heavily invested in Apple and iTunes...then of course, the BEST phone for you would be the iPhone. And of course, if you're just a fashionista...there is no comparison.
Since I'm a true geek, loyal to no specific brand or whatever, I could never go to iPhone until 3rd party multitask was added...and of course better notification. When I used an iPhone before numerous times, I couldn't get over the fact that every time someone messaged me during a game...I had to quit that game (I know it's not like that with every game, some saves) just to respond to a text, and if you're coming from Android/Pre notifications to iPhone...you will be HIGHLY upset.
There's just a few things that would make me get an iPhone (and ultimately go back to that hell spot known as AT&T). Theme inclusion, or at least just an ability to put wallpaper on more than the lock screen. Third party access to multitask (with option to cut off of course). Sideloading options for apps. And a lil more Google support (almost my entire computer runs on Google, lol).
Of course...I know I want see any of that...so I can assuredly say I'll never choose an iPhone over an Android set.
Just wait for the iPhone 4G. Something really special is up apples sleeve.
This is a great read. I would say that Google is going to push Apple to be at the top of its game. And that is a good thing for consumers. I have an iPhone 3G and a Mac so my syncing between mail, calendar, contacts and the like is just as fluid as it would be with Goolle and I used Google sync for everything. My wife owns a G1 and I think Android is going to be great.
I can't wait for June so that apple can slap a big cat floppy cyock onto the foreheads of all these failphones.
Everytime tipb mentions the Droid, Steve Jobs kills a kitten...
So I went to try out the droid yesterday at the verizon store. When I picked it up it was slow to open apps and the slider was not smooth at all. The verizon guy took it and said, oh...well... It's got 6 apps open so let me just close......hold on....(where is it?)..........ah there we go, it should work much better now. I never have to go through that with my 3gs. Ever.
Added media section
As another person said, the iPhone is the MJ of phones.
Think of how many dock accessories are comoatible with our phones? I have a Bose dock in my bedroom and leave it playing Internet radio while it's charging... So are you telling me that I should expect to see such compatibility with this motorola in the near future? These things are what important to me. Not that it has a processor chip that's 50mhz faster than a 3gs.
The main knock on the google G1 was the battery life. So sometimes all that open development and multitasking of different apps in the backround can have a big drawback.
The DROID sounds like a great phone. In my eyes, though, the iPhone remains the greatest smartphone ever created.
We at Motorola Android think the Motorola Droid is great!
The biggest fail with the Driod is locking yourself into a 2 year contract with a non backwards comparable phone when LTE is right around the corner. Now Thaaat! Is stupid.
@motorola android We at the iphone blog think the android is ok. But it doesn't stack up to the 3gs. Yet another failed "iphone killer".
I love my iPhone. I have the whole Apple ecosystem. IPhone(3g&3gs), MacBook Pro, AppleTv, Airport Extreme, Airport Express and MobileMe.
For me the Iphone is a no brainer. However I am extremely excited about the Droid and 2.0. Not because I am going to get one, but because it means stiff competition for Apple. In my opinion Apple needs a little kick in the a$$.
I have no doubt they will up the anti for gen 4 iPhone and offer us some of the things we have been asking for. Sounds crazy, but for me, themes is more important than multitasking. There is just something about personalizing your Iphone.
@Gregg- your argument doesn't really hold any water. So every person going out and purchasing an iPhone right now on a 2yr contract is wasting their money as well. (FAIL) LTE is not going to roll out nationwide near as fast as everybody thinks it is going to. You will likely see a slight slow down in 3g phones coming out (or 3g/4g hybrid radio handsets being introduced) and it doesn't appear in any way like that's happening any time soon. It's all hearsay. Buying any new 3g smartphone on 2yr contract is not a dumb idea. If you constantly worry about the latest and greatest then you will never buy a phone or you will never enjoy the one you have.
/rant.
I love the iPhone even though I don't own one. I am shocked that phones chasing it still can't match it let alone beat it. Check out speed tests between the Droid and 3GS and the iPhone wins. It is a wonderful device. Too bad it is on such a crappy and often useless network. I honestly believe if the iPhone was on Sprint then it would easily dominate the market. I think the article was fair and interesting. Bottom line if you can tolerate the crappy network the iPhone is great.
That was a nice article. I did think the example of Google Navigator was a little misplaced. A call interrupting data usage is certainly a major difference between the carriers, but I don't think Google Navigator would be where it would be most felt. Although the usefulness of any OTA GPS navigator will be limited by network coverage, so pairing Google Navigator with Verizon makes more sense than pairing it with AT&T in the U.S. The app can accommodate the brief unavailability of data once the route is downloaded better than a slow or unavailable network.
One point missing from the article, IMO, is the Droid dock, especially the car dock. It shows the close cooperation between Motorola and Google on this particular phone, since it's clearly related to the 'release' of Google Navigator -- something that was unexpected.
It also highlights differences in the relationships between each of the phone OS's and 3rd party developers. 3rd party navigator developers were in communication with Apple since the iPhone 3G was released, and one or two companies announced they had software ready but were in talks with Apple about it. And only now are we seeing navigation apps and car docks. Furthermore, iPhone navigator car docks are much more expensive than Droid's dock, because of the extra hardware. It seems like the extensive delay (it's been well over a year) created a big hole which Google was able to exploit with Droid and Navigator.
Of course, it's a different scenario, but it's still pretty significant, if you look at the impact on the value of the stock of GPS navigator companies.
Lastly, I'm surprised you didn't highlight the limitation in application size on Android. Even though software development will certainly be related to the size of the market for each OS, it inhibits the development of games on Android, leaving the dominance of that huge market to Apple. (Who would have thought Apple would be associated with games?)
Anyway, that was an enjoyable article. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the release of the N900 and the HTC HD2 as well.
Well one thing I can say positive about VZW is that 10 months into a contract you can upgrade your phone at the price everyone else pays. Not like AT&T that wants iPhone 3G owners looking to upgrade to a 3GS an extra $200 to upgrade. For now I'll get the droid but if VZW gets the iPhone I'll be able to get it in 10 months not two yrs.
What about the advantage of the iPhone being built by apple - hardware and software? Like mentioned earlier, communication breakdowns between Motorolla and Google can cause some problems. When a device is created by one company (apple) instead of two or three (google, motorolla) then you can expect a smoother experience and a better phone. Can someone think of disadvantages this might have?
How can the iphone be the king of phones when it can't multi task? You are locked in Apples grip, You have a screen full of tiny boxes. The Android phones let you customize the look of your phones home screen. Android had video before the iphone and it took 3 years to get MMS. Again tell me how is the iphone superior? You can't replace the battery, if your phone is having problems and your warrenty runs out you have to A) buy a new phone or B) spend a hundred dollars to repair it, if it's at all possible. Also to pay a hundred dollars for Mobile me? LOL You can back up all your contacts thanks to google.
Uughh...
I'll stick with the Iphone
Check out my blog btw
All iphone fans should be glad the DROID is out. This will only bring some fire to apple engineers ass to start designing a kick ass 4G model which Im sure is already in the works.
Im with Verizon after having a terrible experience with AT&T Customer support and billing. I told myself I would never go back to AT&T. I have been very happy with Verizon.
That said, I admit the iphone is awesome, guys at work have it and I have played with it very tempting. But I think that in the long haul (3 years from now) the DROID's will take over. Reason being is that the cell phone market is a very profitable market. Big companies like Motorola, Samsung/LG, DELL, ACER and many others will get in and support ANDROID. Even though Apples interface and software works great, just like it does on the MAC. History will repeat itself just like it did with Apple vs Microsoft. The winner in the end is the one with the most useful apps. Believe me that will be the DROID market in 3 years. Apple has a lot of apps but a lot of them are games and useless stuff.
The one with business apps and in bed with powerhouse google will win I have no doubt.
I leave in Los Angeles so coverage outside of work is not an issue with me. But we don't get Verizon coverage inside my building at Boeing. The only reason we now get coverage with AT&T is that Boeing placed a repeater inside the building for managers to be in contact with the blackberrys (AT&T)
So I think I will go with the iphone for 2 years and sit back and watch the DROID market mature. My contract is up in Dec. with Verizon. If we had coverage with Verizon inside my building I think I would consider the DROID.
2nd day of DROID ownership after 2 yrs of Iphone, Treo and Crackberry...Mo other phone for me again! The DROID wins hands down. All you idiots are griping about apple vs. DROID, tell you what, put your hands on one then see for yourself. Till then, quit basing everything in life off what you read, and start making some real life decisions of your own!
Spent a couple hours with a droid yesterday. Not interested in switching from my 3Gs. The droid's screen is beautiful though!
^^So after two days you're an expert are ya? Hey tell you what, I'll give you a call while you're surfing the webz and we can chat, ugh what's that you say, you can't do that? Mmmkay STFU then.
Look, we all know the iphone is the best...the best...the best..BUT unfortunately ATT network sucks! So knowing ATT sucks, you have to go with the best phone available on verizon...unfortunatley. and its the motorola droid or htc with windows.
i love my iphone- but it really does not work anywhere =(
I'll Stick with My Palm Pre. It's just better all around. I was happy to ditch my iphone3G. Droid is another good upgrade from the iphone. It's more user friendly and does not try to squze you into the iron maiden that is Itunes.
Thanks #47 for summarizing a typical Verizon dilemma. I'll be sticking with my Blackberry now that they have upgraded the software to an OS that works. I'll wait till April or so and see what comes out. I'm hoping for a 4GS.
LTE Droid=world domination! THAT'S what's coming in 2010! !phone is a LONG way from 4g (unless apple comes crawling back to VZW for a spot on the hottest smartphone line up ever) muahahaha...
Im very pleased with the review, very unbiased like some of you fanboys on here..I switched to VZW for the Droid and ebayed my 3gs to get away from ATT's overloaded awful network..Too be honest the iphone is bigger than anyone carrier..att overload is just proof of that..The iphone has become so mainstream now like when everyone had to have the Razr..Its a very basic user friendly design and works well, thats why i see old folks,little kids and every one else using one these days..its a what you see what you get phone, no customization at all just page after page of app boxs..very boring..unless you hack your iphone of course...but back to the Droid i chose, its not about which phone is better even thought many on here want to wage war over that topic, its not a iphone killer either, its just a competitive alternative to those who want something different than iphone offers..heres a few reasons i dumped mine and went to vzw with the droid..first the plan will cost me 20.00 more amonth but the service difference is well worth it no more drop calls or no data even with full 3g..example 2 buddies and my self were at falcons game last night..i had droid and they both had 3gs models..they looked at me and said dude do you have data in here?(there phones displayed full 3g coverage) my droid was rolling along no problem, i just snickered at them ehile they rolled there eyes..also i love the superior actual PHONE part which crushes the iphones phonein my experience..Multitasking is a welcome return! nothing worse than being on a treadmill streaming slacker radio and it cuts off when a text comes in and i have to close it in order to reply to the text or view it in another screen..100 apps maybe 60% are worth anything so id say the app store atill goes to apple but android has so many apps that improve customization and improve the os experience..of course the safari browser is amazing but droids browser works very well too just cant pinch for now but the double tap method is fine for me, theres alot of other reasons i made my decision but ill leave it at that..
Hi Rene, One of the things reviewers often miss WRT a disadvantage of the iPhone, is what for me is THE REASON I will never buy one.
MUSIC! With the iPhone, you have to use quicktime, itunes, a proprietory cable. You cannot drag and drop folders of music to and from your phone.
I detest all of that (and I own two mac computers of my own). I like being able to plug in to a generic USB, on ANY computer anywhere, and just add or remove or copy music to and from the device as much as I want, no interference from a freak controlling Apple.
This would make iPhone (or an iPod for that matter) completely unacceptable to me.
Mark UK.
There are trade-offs in all these devices. I have a Palm Pre, my roommate has a Droid, and my boss has an iPhone. If I primarily listened to music on the device, I would probably prefer the iPhone. Personally I almost exclusively listen to Pandora and like to have Pandora playing while I'm on the web. The Pre multitasking interface feels way ahead of the Droid. The Droid and the iPhone both have apps that are not yet possible with the Palm SDK, in particular anything that uses the microphone or camera (including Shazam). The Palm currently lacks video recording. Sprint turned on Google Voice integration with their voicemail system over the weekend or I would have slammed the Pre for lacking VVM as well.
In short, it's about priorities. Many people will choose the network first and look for the best phone on that network (although Sprint offers free roaming on Verizon for less money, so I don't quite understand that one). Some people want the best iPod and will be best served by the iPhone. Some people want the Droid's giant screen and large physical keyboard.
Most people are rational and choose the best phone for them and for most that have decent AT&T coverage that is probably the iPhone, which is why it will likely continue to outsell the others.
wow quite a few fan boys in here. This is an excellent article on the virtues of which to buy.
joseph your a dumb blind apple and ATT fanboy
im still waiting for the iphone to come to other carriers and then it will be the best phone out there
I love reading all the at&t fanboys "iphone is the greatest and how it craps on every other phone" in ALL CAPS writings while offering NO evidence to back it up other than the equivalent of yelling loudly over the internet. fredphoesh, tino72 and JS all had excellent points over why I would not buy an iphone ever again. I want a phone that shows who I am as an individual, and not just the same cookie cutter layout that every iphone user has. if I want to have a picture of a chick spread-eagle on my desktop, I can. if I want to listen to the supreme beings of leisure while typing an email, I can. hell, if I want to put pictures of my wife naked as my background WHILE I am typing a text message to my girlfriend I can haha. the iphone offers NO customization whatsoever other than picking out the color of the case u are going to put on it. and that's not for me. I may sound queer for android, but I've had the chance to try out both an iphone and an android set. give me that little green robot anyday of the week. we throw apples into the trash after we eat them.
I love all the people saying that the Droid commercials are a sign of how weak the phone is. That it has to compare itself to something better and that it's playing catch-up. If comparing yourself to something else that is currently dominating is a sign of weakness then I only have one thing to say... Hello I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC.
iphone = overrated
Wow calm down, all of you APPLE fanboys. Ill admit Iphone is cool but AT&T sucks, when it comes to a phone COVERAGE is what REALLY matters. So you can have all your "cool"(worthless)apps they won't help you make a phone call or have faster internet speeds. Android is coming up and believe me AT&T is shaking in their boots.
Drop the iphone once and thats a wrap for all you fools. You cannot even remove your battery even if you wanted to. Iphone is a POS. Learn to appreciate the new technology that comes out dont hate learn to get criticized biatches....lol
This review is slanted in favor of the iPhone the way it's worded (if you have to travel internationally, if you have to have Verizon, if you have to have all of Google's services, if you have to have background processing, if you have to have a better screen, etc). But not a bad attempt to be balanced from a iPhone blogger.
Yes ur iphone is cool? Yes it can do all the same shit it has been doing for like over 2 years, don't you faggots get tired of having the same boring phone all the time the iphone hype died yrs ago everyone has a homo iphone its like you'll are one big gay colt. The iphone "was" cool in 2007 pretty much any smart phone can do now so grow the fuck up masterbate to ur same boring OLD phone that is slowling turning into the motorola razor with everyone and there mom having ur gay phone. Stupid faggots noone cares about the weak same old iphone nemore except iphone lovers who get just as old and lame as there boring phone lol
Droid is in fact multi-touch capable. The "out of the box" apps are not.
If you have an international plan with Verizon - you are set - service with them internationally (in Europe and Asia anyway) is even better than it is here in the states.
iPhone most certainly is/was the ground breaker and nothing will take that away. However it is my personal and professional ( as an "IT guy") opinion that the Droi is a far superior (technical) device and far better fits the professional world far better than the iPhone. I have heard peopl esay DROID is the iPhone for grown ups" - now I don't knwo about that. But the Open Source makes it a better fit to the professional world in my opinion.
There may be 100K+ apps for the iPhone vs 10K+ for Android devices. . . but you should expect that number to grow exponentially since there are far les restrictions than with iPhone apps. Are there risks involved with Open Source applications? Sure there are. But the responsibility is ALWAYS on the owner of the device/computer/whatever to do proper research before just blindly installing something. Regardless of the fact that of whether or not Apple has approves it.
Bottom line is – choices are everywhere. For me – the Droid (technically, the network it runs on and the possibilities) is a far better choice.
joesph shut up iphone sucks dick ur just sorry ur iphone isnt the best anymore n at&t will remain in last FOREVER
What's up with all you iphone freaks with your comments crying about the droid comparing itself to the iphone to stand out, its called marketing. Before you go bashing verizon and motorola for their marketing comparing the 2, don't forget all the bash adds apple run on about macs being so much greater than microsoft windows! So that whole silly complaint doesn't make much sense, when the only mac comercials I've ever seen are bashing their closest competitors product!........ P.S. I just typed this post from my sweet a$$ DROID! P.S.S. if the Iphone is such a great phone who cares about the droid or any phones advertisement, competition in the end will only result in a better product for everybody!
Good comparison/writeup...on two completely different devices. I'm glad iTunes, and the perks of having a phone that works so well with it, were brought up.
Everyones talking about the droid possibly taking over but I think most fail to consider the outlying markets apple has tapped. Not only is the iPhone compatable with iTunes but it has a great number of accessories: cases, workout cases, ihome, itrip, etc. Quite simply...not only is iPhone the most convenient and user friendly, it also can be put to many more uses than the droid thanks to apples brilliant line of supplemental products.
lol at the fanboys....quality article. open source ftw
I just purchased the droid and really love it! It is fast and does everyting I need except clean my house for me. I was waiting for the iphone to come to verizon but my old phone played out unexpectedly. I am happy with my purchase!Would highly recommend!
Why is everyone so MAD. I would love to get an iPhone...that is if it were with a reliable carrier. I used my husband's iPhone for a day because I lost my phone (which is on the Verizon network), and I couldn't get a signal ANYWHERE!!! I was home, no signal. I was at my daughter's school, no signal. I was 15 miles south on the highway, no signal. Lame, lame, lame. Unless the iPhone goes to a better network, I will be buying a DROID or maybe the Palm Pre. Sorry Apple...
True @Li that this article is a traffic catcher
, but anyway, iPhone is a very nice object but Droid is based on powerful and agile technologies offering easy access for R&D compared to Apple. After a period of crappy apps, the best is coming on Droid for users. Another point is that in some countries you can buy an iPhone but have no access to paying apps on Itunes if you don't live in Europe or United-States. Hallucinating when you know that the fastest growing markets on phones are in India, China and Africa ... Won’t take long for Droid to eat the Apple!
BTW I’m an android fanatic but I also have an iPhone.
After a few weeks of use here's what I feel ae the short comings of the Droid and Verizon. I'm not a fan of anyone. I have an iPod that I enjoy and I have thr Droid phone now. I may have wanted a iPhone, but I'm already on a family plan with Verizon and I wouldn't spend as much as the iPhone retail at because I don't like carrying a cell phone to begin with. This is just for folks who may want to know what they are or aren't missing with a Droid.
No FLAC support for music is a huge oversite. No Genre for music selection is flat out...well, dumb. If this phone is supposed to compete with the iPhone then it needs to have a player that at least comes close to iPod in fucntionality (and no, I'm not a iPod fan-a-tic). I still have to carry my iPod. The buttons on the outside are poorly placed and styled. Very hard to hit power button and too easy to hit camera shutter button. Menu buttons should stay lit as long as the screen is active. Almost zero coverage in Western Maryland. Took a trip up there this weekend and couldn't do anything on this phone (oddly enough even satellite) NW of Hagerstown. I have to keep removing the battery because email locks up. This is a business killer because you don't realize you're not getting email for quite a while. When you realize it, it may be too late if you're involved in sales or management. The keyboard should have been left off. It would have been lighter and the I found it less accurate and harder to use than the on screen on. I would have preferred the screen stay active during phone calls. Many times I find when I'm done with a call I almost have to smack the phone to get the screen back so I can hang up and make another call. Very hard to get it in to 360 street view and zero documentation on the feature. Actually very hard to get it in to street view where it shows you an image of the road at all. Documentation is porr, poor, poor and I don't appreciate having to wade through forums for answers to use questions. The full manual is very incomplete. GPS is the perfect example. No help there for learning how to use navigation. Google Calendar is nice, but if you enter your contacts in there be prepared to go back in to your phone and ut the city, state and zip in there respective fields especially if you use contacts to pull to your navigation. If you enter it in Google Contacts and try to use a contact on the Droid to find a location, it won't because you have no city, state or zip in their corresponding or correct fields. Free Motorola sync software is not "free" for the full version. It's not good enought to charge for.
Just to complete yesterday's demonstration on fast growing markets Microsoft eyes Indian smartphone market http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5257136.cms
HELLO have any of you read through all of this, your arguing about a blog come on its his oppinion. BTW droid rules
I LOVE CAPS AND SWEARING! Wow Joseph. The iPhone is an amazing device. A true pioneer. The Droid (Milestone when it comes out as a GSM alternative up here, multitouch too) is indeed a remarkable device as well. I'll have access to both on Telus. I prefer the openness of the Android platform to that of Apple's and for that simple reason alone (well the slide out QWERTY as well actually) I'm getting the Milestone. I think they're both commendable performers. Definitely a hard decision for anyone in the market for a new smartphone.
Overall though, a great problem to have!
I have had the 2g and 3g oh and i just got the 3gs and i love everything about. Especially when i travel to Europe 3 times a year for business and My IPHONE still works amazing. I had a Verizon for the past 6 years as a company phone and it doesnt work in Europe i use my personal phone. Iphone 1 and Droid 0
has anyone out there bought droid from the internet fom chinese whole salers who claim that they have original droids for 260$/? is that possible r they are tryin to sell replicas?
The iPhone's most important selling point is also its biggest failure. That would be AT&T. When it comes to a cellphone: network > bells n whistles
Since when did Apple become good at building phones? I had 4. they have overheating batteries. Bad coverage (currently). No way to get insurance. A bunch of freaky sales folks who look like they are in a cult. You have to reboot the Iphone at least once per week for no reason that is clear. They have proprietary ear bud connectors. They have a non democratic or unfair review on their app store pushing anti trust and market segmentation. They denied the Flash plugin and really Pissed off Adobe. They denied Google voice and got the feds involved to understand why the app was denied. No flash on the camera. Cant change the battery.
The Moto Droid is better in all categories. Many more reasons, but I just dont want to waste the time, because the people that are die hard apple freaks (not that i dont appreciate technology), but i dont appreciate technologists who love technology that isnt all the way baked, and then claim others are no good. Thats a typical APPLE USER (not in touch with reality).
I am thankful Iphone pushed the envelope, but they are pretty much done now.
Droid: Open Source iPhone: What does open source mean?
Must write programs for the iPhone on a mac. wtf really? apple will eventually be in their pre-ipod situation unless they take notes.
Droid: 1, iPhone: 0
There isnt going to be a 4g iphone. Apple Iphone can be used by anyone in about a year, and then apple will launch 4g because they will have millions of customers to offer to, and AT&T will go out of buissness. You cant have both.
this is why the top app for the iphone is the Pay phone finder
I was just going to say this was one of the best reviews I have ever written between the iphone and droid. It is very accurate and I have a lot of respect for the writer at giving us a fairly un-biased articled. I own a droid and I also own an ipod touch. I like the droid for communication. I routinely hang out with a friend who has an iphone and wherever we go his signal is getting dropped, his internet slow, and I am surfing 3G next to him. That being said, the droid is a phone, not a true multi-media experience and I like having the ipod touch for everything else where I have wifi, and need some tunes. Lastly the droid does Google stuff really well and I am always on Google Docs, Gmail, Sketch, Notepad, Maps, etc all day long, (long before droid) and droid was a personal connection to my Google addiction. So far it has done very well in that area... After a few short days owning the phone I was able to add all the apps I could ever dream. My favorite being Google Sky.
P.S. When android gets to 3.0 I think we will revisit this article and it will be scary all the things happening on the droid system. Maybe I am wrong but it seems when Apple is updating iphones they are selling you a new phone, when Android is updating its system, in most cases it should work fine on your existing phone.
Hi everyone.
Isn't the big problem with the iPhone the fact that it rarely, if ever, works as a phone?
I would love to have an iPhone but iLike to have a phone that works as a phone, so I am all but forced to use Verizon and its (relatively crappy) phones.
From everything I've read, it seems that the Droid is pretty good but not quite an iPhone, as long as actual usability as a phone isn't heavily weighted in a review.
Maybe I'm just getting old -- instead of making calls I should just tweet everything?
Droid Nears Its Million-Device Target, http://gigaom.com/2009/11/30/droid-q4-sales/?
2 weeks
Someone stole my iPhone. So it was cheaper for me to switch to Verizon and get a Droid than replace my iPhone. I am very happy with the switch.
Verizon >> At&T Droid > iPhone
As far as speed...droid vs iphone. I recently had a "phoneoff" with a friend who has the idontphone. No competition. My droid destroyed the idontphone. Just to let you know the terms of battle, the first battle took place in a basement in which my droid on Verizon's network was receiving a great signal...my friends phone wasnt even getting 3G so he had to go WiFi. I still won the "phoneoff." We then battled both on the WiFi and ofc i killed him again. The last battle took place at a local club where his 3g signal finally equaled mine. It was another phone bash. I used to have the idontphone and I couldnt stand the fact I paid for music that i could only have on my dang phone. IMO I would say the Droid is hands down better. How can anybody say that the iphone's next move is going to blow the droid out of the water? Do you not realize that google may also have a next move as well? Now im going to google idont and im sure ill be reading it faster than you can finish reading this.
i have both iphone and droid and here are my feedback:
droid is very capable phone because of google's OS but iphone still is better in overall experiance
AT&T is the only thing really holding the iPhone back (as much as it is being held back). Coverage---yes crappy lots of places. Ihave no signal to speak of at my wife's folks' house BUT turn in the wifi and I'm talking on skype through the phone la-di-da problem solved. Yes, I pay extra for landline / cell calls on skype but it is worth the cost when you are 7000 miles away in a country-sized litterbox and you can talk to your 2 yr old daughter from your room.
My bro in law has a htc hero. Looks like a great phone, I didn't spend hours with it, and didnt feel blown away to the point that I looked down at my iPhone and said "poo on this."
I like my nine pages of apps, tiny boxes? They are the perfect size to me. Also.... Oh wait here is one good selling point. The usability in action. Right now that 2 yr old girl I mentioned? She has my wife's iPhone and is comprehensively scrolling through the pics and switching over to "pay" her games. Usability, my friends. Ease of function followed by form. This Bauhausian theory for the win. This aspect is woven into the iPhone, this much I know. That is the reason it continues to be a dominating force. If the iPhone was just a fashion statement (as an earlier post alluded) alone it would have died out before the 3gs had a chance to hit the market.
I just dumped my iPhone 3G for the Droid. The iPhone was good, but the Droid is GREAT. No more lousy AT&T service for me. It doesn't matter what the iPhone can do if AT&T doesn't have the network capability to handle it. No problems with the Droid and I absolutely LOVE it.
DROID-its features and solid cell coverage put it way ahead of the iphone. You can get the Droid accessories (battery, battery cords ect.) for FREE at freecellstuff.net. Check it out!
Thank you for the nice comparrison and not so much opion as i have found on all the other websites.
Coming from att and iphohe, to verizon and droid i love the droid, i have signal everywhere i go. Droids OS system is faster and user friendly than the iphone was, and i loved the iphone alot, i will choose droid over any new iphone.
Ok, so I had the Iphone and I switched over to Verizon for the Droid. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! While I was happy with the Iphone, I wanted to test the waters and see if the Droid was worth the switch. First off, the Droid is NOT end user friendly at all. It is not easy to type on th touch screen or the pull out keyboard. The phone kept freezing up on me and I had to reboot it constantly, the back of the battery plate kept falling off, the apps sucked, I couldnt load (haha load) songs on the phone... it was just a nightmare.
I decieded to give it 20 days.... So on day # 19, I cancelled my Verizon service and went back to AT&T and the Iphone. Im so much happier. The Iphone is much more that just a phone, its a lifestyle. (at least for me)
The Iphone is more user friendly, stable and just awesome.. The ONLY complaint I have for the Iphone is that if you use an app for a long period of time, it heats up. But other than that, the whole phone is killer.
Long live the 3gs!
Peas...
WOW...Droid is a sad device, the iPhone is an all-around more sleek device with better options and easy to use interface. Devices that have removable batteries stink because if you drop them on the ground the battery pops out. If the battery goes out on iPhone, apple will replace it free under an extremely cheap warranty. They will give you a brand new iPhone with all of your information already synced to it. The droid, you always have that same damn phone. Sometimes they get scratched, and there are neat freaks in this world. When the battery goes, you can buy a new battery but you are stuck with the same phone. iPhone, brand new, sleek interface, WIN.
The iPhone is really nice, but AT&T really sucks. I live in St. Louis, my drop call rate is 30-40%, AT&T says that's normal. Again the iPhone is great - ur, um when it works on AT&T. That alone buy the network - Verizon! Imagine the iPhone on a good network, ah that would be a perfect blend and harmony.
Currently i'm using both phones for my personal and work. I have to say both phones are good in their own unique way.
For me this is how it goes
Iphone = general mass market, very easy to use touch screen Droid/ Android = For those how love their gadgets, very fun phone. I dare say a bit geeky.
In all honesty the Andrid os is so good! My heart belongs to the Htc hero, but the iphone's simplicity and it isn't so geeky will make it more lucrative.
i go with the droid $90 a month and gps, not no $130 a month for an iphone u got to have 1500 mins. bull $hit! All the good apps from the iphone are going to the droid. and iphone service sux next to verizon and thay got an free app to make the droid multi touch so this phone is the iphone killer