iPhone 4 vs Android Captivate
An iPhone 4 user's experience with the Android 2.1 powered Samsung Captivate on AT&T
I’ll preface this by saying before this review, I’ve hardly laid hands on an Android device, let alone considered throwing my iPhone aside to completely delve into the OS and see if I could actually survive without my iPhone. In my time with an Android device, the short answer would be that Android would be a perfectly passable everyday phone. But would I make the switch and ditch my iPhone 4? Hit the jump to find out as well as see tons of videos and a gallery chock full of comparison pics!
Coming to the decision to give Android a try was the easy part. Then came the tricky part, picking an actual Android device. With the iPhone it’s simple, the best model is typically the newest model, and with Apple’s current product cycle, there’s only 1 a year to choose from. Along with that, in the US you have one carrier choice, AT&T. (Unless of course you want to unlock and use an iPhone on T-Mobile sans 3G.) I decided the easiest solution would be to stick to AT&T and check out their Android selection. This proved to be an easier decision on AT&T opposed to other carriers such as Verizon, which carries an abundance of Android powered devices. My choices were between the HTC Aria and the Samsung Captivate. Both of which run Android OS version 2.1. I’ve never been a huge fan of HTC hardware, so I went with the Captivate, and I’m glad I did.
Hardware
YouTube LinkThe most obvious thing about a phone, and the first thing you notice is the physical design. Both of these phones are built extremely well. When comparing specifically the iPhone 4 and the Captivate, both feel solid in your hand. The back of the Captivate is a brushed metal with glossy bands on the top and the bottom while the iPhone 4 is a solid slab of glass on the back. To me, the back of the iPhone 4 may look better, but in everyday use, I somehow feel more comfortable setting the Captivate down on a bare surface naked and not worrying whether or not it’s going to scratch. One of my only peeves with Apple products are hairline scratches. The plastic backs of the iPhone 3G and 3GS held up well as far as the white version went. The black version was a fingerprint magnet and you could see any tiny imperfection. The iPhone 4 in black holds up better in my experience than the previous models as far as blemishes, but the fingerprints still madden me. As far as feel, the iPhone 4 still feels more solid in my hand than the Captivate.
The Camera
Both phones sport a 5MP camera. Neither have too many options. I’m making this short because in all honesty, I didn’t see too much of a difference. The iPhone 4 pictures appear to be a tiny bit warmer than the Captivate’s, but besides that and the lack of a flash on the Captivate, they were about even. I find myself not using the flash on the iPhone 4 unless it’s extremely dark and I’m forced to. It seems to make everything look washed out in my opinion, so I avoid it whenever I can.Compatibility
When you use a smartphone, you really have to choose a phone that suits your needs. What do you do everyday? What are you going to use the device for? For me, I look for a solid e-mail app, an awesome calendar app, social networking support (and more importantly, the choices you have when it comes to networking applications). After that comes entertainment value. And before anything else comes system compatibility.I remember back before the iPhone when I used Blackberrys and we had to keep a PC laying around solely so I could back up my Berrys and be able to upgrade to the latest leaked OS, as well as sync my content. Eventually 3rd parties picked up the slack for RIM, but it still wasn’t the most ideal solution. Eventually RIM came out with a Mac client, but it was too little too late in my opinion.
I was hoping this wouldn’t be the case with Android. But alas, I could not find an easy way to get my contacts and media on the Captivate. I eventually asked some trusty folks on Twitter. Instead of taking several hard routes, I created a new Gmail address and imported my contacts to that address for wireless sync. Workable but not the most convenient method. For media, several people recommended DoubleTwist. It got the job done, but it was somewhat maddening that I had to go through a few different processes just to get content onto the device. There are also programs like Missing Sync that work well, but a $40 price tag just to have better sync with Mac is somewhat ridiculous. I understand that several years ago Mac users were a niche group and less than 2% market share. This is by no means the case anymore, so software manufacturers need to stop leaving out Mac users. By now, we should have compatibility right out of the gate.
With my iPhone 4, I sync to iTunes and I’m done. I’m also a MobileMe user so I’ve never had to worry about that content being lost when switching from iPhone to iPhone. I also found no easy way to get my iCal events onto my Android device. To me, if I wanted to use the phone in the way I intend, it almost forces you to use not only Gmail but GCal as well. Since I am a Mac user, the iPhone 4 obviously wins hands down as far as compatibility goes.
Battery Life
We all know iPhones don’t have the best battery life in the world, and I’m not sure about other Android devices, but the Captivate battery life was a little disappointing to me. I’m a pretty heavy user and receive a lot of e-mails (Rene is an e-mailing machine) and I found it hard to make it through a whole day. My iPhone 3GS typically stayed on the charger while I was at work just for simplicity’s sake and so I didn’t have to worry about a dead battery, but my iPhone 4 seems to get much better battery life and I don’t worry about it quite as much. With the Captivate, I found myself wishing I invested in a second charger to take to work and ended up carrying the cable back and forth after 2 days of it being dead by the time I left work for the day. I’m sure part of that is thanks to the screen. It’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make if you want 4” of AMOLED goodness I suppose.Applications
This is one area I enjoyed exploring. The Android Marketplace really DOES have tons of apps. No, they don’t have the same ridiculous number Apple has, but I disagree with Apple’s representation of apps. When I look at the number of apps a platform has, I want to know how many “quality” apps that platform has. Leave out all the junk and apps that should have never been approved in the first place, and I’d say the iTunes app store has less than 40,000 quality apps.
I was pleasantly surprised with the selection Android users have. Any type of app I could possibly want, I have at least 3 choices or more, which in most situations are more than sufficient. The only area I saw a pretty poor selection in was Twitter clients. This is probably just me though. I have more Twitter clients on my iPhone than you can shake a stick at. And I switch between them - frequently. I’m flaky when it comes to Twitter clients and I get bored. For any normal person, Android’s growing selection would accommodate most non-mutants just fine.
Now let’s talk native applications. Google put a lot of thought into basic everyday apps like the phone and texting app. I absolutely love how you can swipe left and right in your contacts to call or message someone. That’s ingenious and a really quick way to interact with your contacts. I’m not sure if these features are unique to Android OS 2.1 or not, but they’re pretty frak’n sweet. Clicking on someone’s picture within their contact card also gives you additional ways you can interact with that person. The message app is also very easy to use and overall, I really enjoyed the interface of all the core apps. The only thing I really did not care for was all the trial and bloatware that comes pre-installed on the device. I spent 30 minutes clearing out junk before I actually dug into the marketplace and loaded the phone up with things I actually wanted. This reminds me of the shiver that runs down my spine when you boot up a new PC and see a desktop loaded with nothing but crap. Hey, maybe Best Buy can start offering Android optimization services as another form of highway robbery. (You can thank me later for the idea Best Buy, just know I’ll be expecting my royalty check every month.)
Once all the bloatware was thrown into a fiery hole of despair, you are left with a 4” canvas of AMOLED goodness to tweak and customize until your heart’s content. And that leads me to my main focus of this article.....
Android OS vs iOS
YouTube LinkThe OS is probably the single most important factor when choosing a phone. In my experience, I’ve found things about Android that I really like, and then things that I really don’t like.
The main screen on Android OS is pretty much a blank canvas for you to do what you will with. You can drop icons and reorder them just like you would on the iPhone, but you can also create widgets and customize until your heart’s content. This is one area Apple really has fallen behind. My biggest gripe with iOS is the lack of a decent notification system. In that area, Android wins by a landslide.
The Android OS also gives you a few choices when it comes to keyboards. I was pretty excited to get to try out Swype. While it seems to be pretty quick, it still has its quirks. No matter what keyboard I chose, I found myself lagging behind how quickly I can type on my iPhone. But to be fair, I have been typing on an iPhone keyboard for over 3 years now.
Android offers a lot of cool gestures and shortcuts in general I wish Apple would take a closer look at. But there’s also certain things that seem to be overdone. It seemed I spent a good amount of time figuring out alerts and sounds, as well as configuring general settings. It seemed a little overwhelming that I could pick alerts for every little thing. The option is nice but the settings panel is a little confusing. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t really know what settings I was changing, I had to experiment. It reminded me somewhat of the 80 billion alerts Blackberry users are presented with. To me, it was a little overkill.
Conclusion
All in all, I’m glad I decided to give Android a try. My honest opinion is that it’s a platform that’s got a ridiculous amount of potential. I think the ideas are all there, but the implementation isn’t quite there yet. My iPhone does what I want it to do seamlessly (and I know being a Mac user gives me a leg up on PC users in some cases), but either way - the iPhone is so dead easy to use. I’m basing my conclusions off of iOS 4. If I were comparing previous releases of iOS to Android, that would be a much tougher decision. Even though I’m sticking with my iPhone, Android is definitely a platform to keep a close eye on. And here’s to hoping Apple will step up their game too when it comes to iOS 5 and beyond. Even though I may be staying on the iPhone side of the fence, I now have a new respect for the platform as well as its users. Just as I prefer my platform, I can see why tons of power users would choose Android as well.Thanks to my boss who took tons of excellent hi-res pics for me since I'm too cheap to break down and finally get a DSLR. And a special thanks to @kasperapd as well for lending us some iPhone 4/Evo4G comparison shots (apparently that phone IS rarer than a unicorn!) And as always, we encourage you guys to chime with your comments and thoughts!
Jailbreak, Mod, and DIY editor at iMore, Founder of PXLFIX, Potter pundit, the ninja in your iOS.
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Great job on the article ally! it looks really good. Hopefully people will find this very useful
Allyson, thanks for the great article. Why someone needs a batch of better focused pix for this piece is beyond me. Content is great, and you seemed fair. THANK YOU DEAR.
According the samsung the screen on the captivate uses 30% less power then the iphone screen so you will have to look elsewhere for the battery problems.
Great review Allyson. May I suggest an investment in a tripod for your next videos though. The shaky cam and focus issues (aside from the privacy blur) were kind of frustrating.
Kudos on a very even handed review though.
thanks for the great write up, but I still don't know whether or not to trade in my iPhone 4 for the captivate!
I recently took my iPhone back and switched to the captivate I couldn't agree more I think android is a cool platform I love the notifications. The main thing that frustrated me was the ability to sync it took me hours and i had to download double twist. Overall I started missing my front facing camera and the simplicity of the ios so I switched back the next day. The iPhone is a investment it's a phone a iPod and so much more until a phone has the full package I'm sticking with the iPhone
Thought the article was very good, also sticking with iPhone 4.
It was a very nice article.
About the sync program stuff, it makes sense. Last report I saw had Mac market share at 3.6% worldwide and if we looked at those Mac owners the odds are pretty strong that they'd be iPhone owners mostly because of brand loyalty over any other reason. It would seem that from the Android manufactures' point of view, Mac users are still a niche group and on top of that tend to be extremely loyal to the Apple brand. I can't speak for them but that seems like a reasonable conclusion based on what I've seen.
Funny I feel the exact opposite about contacts with Android/iPhone. You say what if I don't have a Gmail account I say what if I don't have a computer nearby? Can't sync contacts without iTunes or MobileMe. One requires a computer the other requires 99 bucks and I've never found MobileMe to be worth that. A Gmail account is free and frankly it is the best free mail platform, hell the best free or not and you never have to worry about contacts as most phones have some form of a way to import Google contacts or worse case you use the website, best case you're moving to another Android phone and it's a seamless sync. The fault that you're coming up with in my opinion is more iTunes related that Android.
How do the screens compare? Are colors better rendered on the AMOLED than the Retina display. How about screen resolution or visibility in direct sunlight?
AMOLED is nice but nothing holds a candle to the Retina display. No matter how nice AMOLED is nobody is pushing the resolution that Apple is. It's the only thing I truly envy being an Android user.
So.. pretty much what your saying is if Apple made the notifications better (YES YES YES), visual tweaks to contacts, a fully customized home screen, and some widgets... Iphone would win by a HUGE landslide instead of just "winning". I have to say, after watching your videos, I'm not impressed by the Samsung. Or Android. Its just not polished at all. Its not simple yet full of depth. And the graphics are kinda old school looking. As far as potential, we have not even seen a sliver of what Apple is capable of... and unless they get more people that can think outside "the box", we never will. I've kind of had an epiphany... Apple is like a child in this world, with so many dreams and aspirations... yet the company is not "Mature" enough to FULLY accomplish what it can. (Makes me want to storm that campus and set them straight). On the other hand, all the "others" seem to be cold and calculating and without "dreams and visions", kinda like the Matrix. Or the sinister step uncle. All I know is google is not the future. I can just feel it. "There will be another"
Well done. Very even handed. I have to admit, I don't know much about other phones on the market. I really only understand two, BlackBerry and iPhone. Now that I have an iPhone, I really can't see myself with any other phone.
Honestly I think that there is a big problem with this article, it is supposed to be an article about the iphone 4 vs the samsung captivate, not a comparison between iOS4 and the android operating system in general. The Samsung Captivate uses a variation of the android OS, if you are going to compare the operating systems, you need to compare a nexus one running android 2.2 vs an iphone 4 running ios4. In my own experience, I have used a Motorola droid with android 2.2, a Droid X running Motoblur with android 2.1, and finally an iPhone 4. In my own experience, I have found that iOS was an extremely broken experience, especially with multitasking. Every time I am in an app, I can't multitask because I don't know if that app supports it, at least with android I can be sure. My Droid X gets me much better battery life than my iPhone 4, I can't even seem to drain the thing. Camera on iPhone is better quality no question, but it doesn't have some of the effects that standard android has, a wash. Syncing on android is dead simple, you drag and drop, or get software to handle it for you, I use sailing media sync which automatically syncs to itunes without even being seen. You can put more than 12 items in a folder (come on apple, why limit us). I can use other keyboards such as swype. You can choose your device, you can have a 4.3 inch screen or a 3.2 inch screen, qwerty keyboards, etc. I'm not saying android is better for everyone, if you want a phone with a dead simple operating system, even though that simplicity may get in the way, get the iphone. If you want a customizable phone where you can tweak every aspect and use any app that you can find, approved or not, buy an android.
@Ally I think the swype feature for contacts is Touchwiz 3.0 (Samsung) rather than Google. Also, I've been using Swype for some time now...it takes some getting used to, but after a while I've found it much faster than any other phone keyboard I've ever used.
@P4trickh Having seen the new Super AMOLED screen, I was really impressed. The Retina display wins by pixels, but the Galaxy S screens are really incredible.
you really need to check out Samsung Kies syncing/backup program http://www.samsung.com/ae/consumer/mobile-phones/mobile-phones/infotainment/GT-I9000HKDXSG/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&tab=support From Pocketnow.com While I've been using the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant Galaxy S series smartphone, I've been thinking... I wish there was a better way to sync music & videos to this device. Manual USB copy/pasting is really annoying. And also... I wish I could archive text messages off of this device. Well, guess what Samsung made for their Galaxy S phones, but didn't tell anyone about? It's called Kies and it's a desktop program that syncs your phone's contacts and calendars with Outlook, lets you download media and text messages off your phone, lets you tether the Captivate/Vibrant as a modem, and it reformats videos on your computer for your phone.
Is it me or doesn't anyone see the obvious here with Android?
It's obvious to me that Google copied the iPhone. After watching these videos that's all that came to my mind. COPY COPY COPY... Didn't Steve Jobs brag about all the patents back when the iPhone was released? So this was Google game plan to take Apple down in the phone arena: 1) Blatant copy of the iPhone UI. Imagine if Microsoft had done Android what the response would've been? 2) Capitalize on Apple's boneheaded decision to get hitched to AT&T for five years by giving Android away for free. 3) Now everyone is making an iPhone. It called the Android OS but it's a copy. No doubt.
You can mark this down, but the iPhone will be a dead or dying product for Apple by 2012. There are just too many Android choices out there that replicate the iPhone experience and it will only get tougher for Apple...
Oh and one more thing I wanted to mention...Since I had to return the iPhone 4 due to living and working in a low signal area and having reception problems...I now will be happy to go pick up the Captivate since it appears to me that for the most part I will still have to iPhone like experience on my new Android phone.
"It’s obvious to me that Google copied the iPhone."
Why?
@Oletros and to others; one of the things a love about google, its that they are like Romans, they copy every positive feature from different sources and modify it to make it their own, sadly for us, apple fans, its our company who they are copying. I don't know why you guys hates it, because competition is only going to give to the user experience more features.
I showed my old parents how to use an iPhone for 10 minutes and they got the hang of it. They played with it for a few hours and wanted one.
I showed my old parents how to use an Android for 15 minutes and they seemed puzzled. They played with it for about an hour before asking me to return their iPhone.
I know it seems trivial, especially to geek like myself, but what Apple does is how easy they make iPhone work for everyone: both my 65-year-old parents and 5-year-old nephew know how to use it.
Good review that doesn't stink of the normal bias and partiality typically shown here. To truly appreciate android you have to fully invest in the Google ecosystem. For instance, all my contacts, calendar events and now apps sync seamlessly as soon advice associate my phone with my Google account. That's Android 2.2 of course. I couldn't imagine having to plug my phone in to sync. Everything is just there. The good thing about all the available customization options is that they are options. You can leave it stock and be just fine or you can tweak the options till your heart is content. Notifications are extremely important to me. Acer having used webos and android, I could never be content with IOS lack of a good notification system. Its inconceivable that Apple has left that issue unfixed for so long.
I have to disagree about the marketplace. The apps there are the lowest quality I have ever seen. It made me feel like I was using 8 bit graphics again while looking at the games. Android on the other hand is excellent but until the market gets A LOT better, the iphone will rule.
Finally an article with minimal fanboy comments. I disagree that went to android and never looked back. I also disagree on the comments that android copied the iphones OS. If anything samsung copied the menu look and feel for there skinning of android. The underlying premise on how it syncs with all the google apps etc.. is something you only find on android. Its also open source something the ios is not.
One person said that the iphone os was easier to explain my honest opinion you either have not used the latest android or just saying that out of a fanboy stance. Android has become very clean, and easy to use.
Android has emerged to be a very solid competitor.
i cannot understand how apple/iphone supporters keep saying everyone else is copying apple.
i have not seen anything, that has not been on the market already, has been programmed and used elsewhere already, just not in the amount of masses, as simple example: anytime an apple fan sees a smartphone that is unlocked by a swipe - they say : ahh copied from iphone - well the swipe to unlock existed long before apple even had plans for an iphone, just not as a default lockscreen, and not used by the majority of people at that time... so who invented that ??? definitely not apple, so who copies whom then ?
apple (like anyone else also) takes good stuff (from other programmers) and embeds it into their systems - yes, they usually give it a different name then also, but what i do not support is that apple (as well as their fans) afterwards then claim to have invented it, they probably claim also to have invented the wheel... (and i know every apple fan will support this claim wihtout any doubts to it)
i haven't seen a single new item in OSX or iPhone/iPad yet, nothing that has not been on the market for a long time (under different names on different devices) - apple pickes the good stuff, puts it together into one device, but calling it 'made by apple' is just wrong... they 'copy' from the rest of the world (just like anyone else does and will always do - what is good, will be taken into the own systems, simpley because it is good)
Totally agree with Freak Nasty. I have a Nexus One and iPhone 4. Love both. But why, Apple, still no notification system?? You know we all want it? Froyo is great on the N1. My big gripe is the screen, impossible to see in sunlight. Apart from this, both devices are a joy to use!
@Username - the main premise was just my experience with Android. Sorry if it was a little confusing. I looked at all aspects of the phone and OS as impartially as I could.
As a side note, calling people fanboys and flaming people will get your comment edited or deleted altogether. come on guys, we can all play nice
I used the samsung captivate for a week along with my iPhone 4 a little while ago before returning the captivate and the iPhone 4 and going droid x with verizon. Comparing the samsung with touch wiz is t the best comparison between android and ios I'd had gone with the nexus 1 running froyo but oh well. Comparing the two screens was really hard bu the iPhones text was just so crisp on the iPhone compared to the captivate even though the screen was brighter. I noticed a bluish tint on the captivate at full brightness in the browser which I didn't like. The captivate I used was the best android phone I've ever used as far as battery life goes I easily made it through a day and a half with very high usage. Att service is just so awful in my house and the iPhones upload speeds are so messed up even with full service in my area I just couldn't take it anymore and purchased a vzw android device.
I traded in the iPhone 4 at the end of my 30 days in order to give the Captivate a try...I'll be going back to the iPhone.
The Samsung hardware is not bad. The metal back is nice, but the plastic on top and bottom looks cheap. The front looks nice and the display is beautiful, being far more usable outside than previous AMOLEDs I've used. Since Android makes you use the four buttons at the bottom I would have preferred physical buttons instead of touchscreen. I found myself forever having to tap on the screen to activate the backlighting so I could see where they were at.
Compared to the iPhone 4, battery life was unimpressive. I spent a long weekend camping at a fly-in, with minimal access to facilities to charge my devices. I had to disable window animations, haptic feedback, active wallpapers, my work Exchange account, and basically strip the phone to a bare-bones feel in an attempt to wring every last electron out of the battery, and it still did not match up to the iPhone.
Using the Android 2.1/TouchWiz combo versus an iPhone brings back memories of the Mac/PC argument that a Mac just works, and a PC requires more tinkering (thinking older OS versions here). iOS pretty well just works. It is intuitive to use, and in my experience is a very stable OS that require minimal tinkering "under the hood" to perform as advertised. Android/TouchWiz on the other hand feels more like an old PC, in that I have had to troubleshoot issues and dig into the settings in an arcane fashion to make the phone work, or to customize it to my liking. There are also inconsistencies in the UI that become more glaring as you use the phone.
For example, the Android market stopped downloading apps. I had to go in to the application management setting, change how I was viewing apps, find a particular app and delete it's cache in order to restore functionality.
Another example: rearranging the four permanent dock icons on the bottom of the display. I wanted to put the Gmail icon where the Samsung email icon resided. For any other icon you press and hold in order to draq it to a different location. Those four do not respond to that action. I Googled around and eventually discovered that you have to go through about a 6 step process in order to be able to move those icons. A little frustrating.
I like the concept of Android, and the open source movement, but I think what it boils down to for me is usability. I want my phone to just work with a minimal amount of tinkering from me. I am comfortable doing so, and I feel I have the knowledge and ability to do so, but I do not want to have to do it on the phone. Part of the reason I go to the phone to do things is that I don't have the time go to the "big computer", or I don't want to take the time to do so. I just want to grab the phone and take care of the task. The more the phone gets in my way the less likely I will be to even bother picking it up. At least for now, Android/Touchwiz spends far too much time getting in my way.
Thank you for a very interesting article! It was a breath of fresh air, to read an objective review from someone who is not an Apple or Android fanboy (or a fangirl)
Seriously? you don't have a gmail account? There are people out there these days that don't have gmail accounts? That would make your experience much nicer. Also, there are apps to sync your music with you itunes library...but why would you sync it when you can stream the music directly to your device? Also, you may not know this but Android devices have removable storage unlike the iphone...which means you can just plop your sd card in your computer and copy anything you want on to it. You should have tried out Google maps navigation and the speech recognition feature. Also just so you know, the UI on this phone is called Touchwiz and its made by Samsung.
I have the Samsung Vibrant and it blows my brothers iPhone 4 out of the water. The thing about Android is that it's unique as its user. If you have an iPhone it's the exact same boring layout as everyone else's iPhone. I have a calendar on one of my screens, a picture frame of my wife on another, RSS feeds, a games screen, twitter client screen, etc.
An addition, the retina display ain't (excuse my French) all that. Sure, the text might look "clearer", but for watching movies and gaming, the SAMOLED looks way better. Deep contrast and theater like colors - Avatar looks stunning and sounds amazing with the 5.1 sound the headphones produce.
All in all, I'm a tech guy and it's obvious which OS is superior. Multi-tasking is better, notifications is better, customization is better, availability is better.
So the feature with the swiping to the left or the right to sms or call a contact is limited to Touch wiz that is an UI (iphone like) that samsung build in. for some people that wrote here that android copied only apple... android is in development since 2003 or 2004 and thats a long time and dont say such things about copying and things everyone does it, even apple.
kies is only for windows and it sucks... i like to keep my samsung galaxy s in touch with my music and pictures through dropbox and picasa, that does the job.
wonderfull article.
And the samsung super amoled screen is very great... it can display real black and if you compare it to other phones (such as the iphone 4) the other displays look all a little bit greyish.
I have no problem with the iphone but i like open source and i want to try everything with my phone, so my choice is and will be android.
Its just a decision if you like the other one or not.
On the inside both of the phones are doing a great job.
The flash sucks??? Clearly you dont know how to use it or havent had to take a picture in a dark room.. WTF?
With video you don't need to use any application. Just connect the phone to the pc then drag and drop more or less anything and it plays. From mkv to mp4 its all good. As for music any music program that syncs you pc to any storage or device just drag and drop.
@trampster - as far as the screen using 30% less power, i'd doubt it. when i turned the brightness down, it saved significant battery life, with it over half way up (the way i prefer my phone) it dies pretty quick
It seems a little silly to pick up a GOOGLE device and then complain that it doesn't sync with APPLE products.
For one, they're competitors, so of course they won't support each other out of the box. Apple also ACTIVELY blocks other companies from syncing to iTunes.. don't you remember them going back and forth with Palm last year? So even if Android did do it, they'd be in a constant struggle with Apple.
Second.. who needs to be tied down to one software package for their music? There's no advantage to using Android on a PC because it doesn't require software. You plug it in to your computer, mount it as a drive, and drag your music onto it. It works exactly the same on PC and Mac. I think the issue here is that Apple has coddled their users into not understanding how files really work. To most Mac users, music is just something that's "in" iTunes and photos are things in iPhoto, etc. PC users tend to not be turned off by the lack of an out-of-the-box sync because we don't put our applications between us and our files nearly as much.
just my .02
@kayno yes, the flash sucks. it washes out pictures. in dark rooms, it suffices but it isn't a high quality flash. like i said, in dark areas, it's passable, but take a pic using the flash on an iPhone 4 and take the same pic on even a point and shoot or a nokia n82 which carries a xenon flash, you'll see a BIG difference
@Eric actually the captivate would not even mount on my Mac (google it, it's a known issue) so i couldn't drag and drop files, that's what i would have assumed. i don't think it's an issue with android in general, but at least with the captivate. and as far as compatibility, blackberry supports mac, does it not? apple allows pc users to sync, does it not? so yes, apple supports pc users. iTunes is available on pc and you can also organize photos and sync with exchange etc, so to say there is no PC support from apple is blatantly false.
..also, a quick market search shows several apps that sync your calendar to iCal. problem solved.
@Eric please send me a link to an app in the marketplace that is not paid that will sync iCal flawlessly from a mac to an android device. i highly doubt that.
VERY GOOD REVIEW!!!! I'm going to exchange my Captivate for an Iphone 4 today... I have everything Apple at home, but wanted to try the Android after all the bad reviews on the IphoneOS4.
@Patrick I have had a few issues with my iPhone 4, the main one being the prox sensor. i know this doesn't plague everyone, but apple REALLY needs to come out w/ a fix for it quick. i'm tired of muting people with my face
Great review! I think the Samsung Captivate and all of its cousins in the Galaxy S family are excellent choices for anyone wanting a touch screen smartphone.
I really don't think you can give a point to the iPhone 4 for contacts. All contacts on an Android phone are automatically synced to the Google cloud. No software required. You don't NEED to download any software. You also don't need a computer, unlike an iPhone.
And MobileMe is 99 dollars, but 40 for syncing is too much? MobileMe's Android equivalents are better and cheaper.
I first want to say that I didn't fully read everyones comments, so hopefully I don't repeat to much. I thought the overall post was great and pretty well informational. I think its obvious that this is a biased story though (MAC and iPhone lovers). Copying the contacts over should have been a breeze since you went from AT&T to AT&T, just use the sim card. Since iPhone now supports 'Bump' you could have used it as well to move them from 1 phone to the other. Media is where you really showed biased remarks, as if you plugged your Captivate into a Windows machine and ran WMP you would see its a snap to sync your music, movies, even pictures (if you use WMP for pictures). Was good to learn more about the battery comparison and being a Captivate owner I was dissapointed to find out the iPhone 4 is doing a little better. The last thing I wanted to share or coment was that you mentioned several times about the AMOLED screen and greatness, lets not lose anything there, its a Super AMOLED screen!!
@Allyson Kazmucha
You've completely missed Eric's point about Apple blocking out the competitors. Yes Apple makes itunes for the PC but you CAN'T use another device with it except an Apple device. So the Captivate won't sync with itunes on a PC or Mac. Luckily there are other programs to accomplish this.
Thank you for an unbiased review. I recently switched from an iPhone 3g to the Captivate and love it (I would consider myself more of a power user for both computers and phones). I too have a Mac (and am not switching!), so I can relate a bit to the initial frustration of synching contacts, calendar, music, etc, but a little searching did turn up the answers I needed. That is definitely far from the simplicity of the iPhone, and something that Google should really look into addressing.
I have had a gmail account for years and managed to set up my work calendar (iCal) to synch with Google and my phone easily, but it sounds like yours is set up differently. As you pointed out it relies on Google's infrastructure much like the iPhone works better with Apple's infrastructure.
My personal battery life has been ok. It's better than my 3g was, but not amazing either. It makes it all day for me whereas my 3g wouldn't. I do think the AMOLED screen is part of the culprit for sucking the battery...as well as the live walpapers which are fun but do add drain to the battery.
I've set up a couple iPhone 4's for use on our corporate email system and they feel very solid...and while the Retina display is very nice I prefer the S-AMOLED on my Captivate (personal preference). I don't miss a front-facing camera - no carrier outside of Sprint in the US is currently allowing that service over their cellular network at this point in time anyway. Facetime requires a wi-fi connection, so it's a moot point to me. We use iChat for video chat at work so I don't really need it on a phone at this time but it is nice to see Apple help push it in the US market (this has been around for quite a while in Asia and Europe).
Nice review. Although there are a few more things I would have mentioned. The Captivate 3.5mm output gives video/audio output. When using a video cable with 3.5mm jack hooked up to the tv you see a one for one on the tv in stereo. Everything you see on your phone you see on your flat screen or tube tv. Great for games, websurfing, music, pictures and video play back. Pretty cool feature on the Samsung phone.
Here is my current battery usage with my Captivate:
Cell Standby: 34% Phone idle: 25% Display: 17% Android OS: 7% Android Core Apps: 5% Android System: 4% Bluetooth: 4% Email: 2% Twitter: 2%
As a new Android user, I'd like to see the breakdown of what "cell standby" and "phone idle" actually means. In my viewpoint, the two highest battery usage items should use the least amount of battery. I expect to see the Display as a top user of battery.
Both OS are great at what they do. I have been using an iPhone for 3 years now and about to jump to Android. iOS is a simple way doing things. Apple has made doing things simple and just a touch away. Android is much more intuitive. It has the flexibility to do what ever you want it to do. You can ultimately have free run to do anything. iOS is much more locked down aside from jailbreaking. Both make great OS's. It really comes down to how big of a geek are you? Do you like it to "just work"? Or do you want the freedom to do what you want? Me I am getting bored with the iPhone. It is just getting to blah for me. I want something that I can customize and tinker with. My answer is Android. Yeah there may be some time to get it to do what I want but it to me is worth the time and I am happy. I have said alot of times "I wish the iPhone could do that". All in all iPhone and Android are great at what they do it is really just what do you want.
"I understand that several years ago Mac users were a niche group and less than 2% market share. This is by no means the case anymore, so software manufacturers need to stop leaving out Mac users."
You need to look up, "by no means" and, "niche."
Mac users still are a niche market. The Internet has a funny way of making the world seem smaller (i.e. all Mac users can communicate, making it seem like there are a lot more of you than there really are), but current estimates put the Mac market share at well under 4%. To add insult to injury, those estimates are based on units sold, not units in use. Broken/dead Macs, multiple Macs owned by individuals and Macs that are otherwise not being used are included in that market share.
As if the number of Mac users wasn't already astonishingly low, factor in how few Mac users would actually want a BlackBerry or Android phone instead of an iPhone. Your niche market just got even more niche...but we're not done yet.
Now take all the Mac users who actually wanted a real smartphone and remove everyone who has no interest in sync'ing with their computer. Suddenly you're looking at a group of people that would probably fit into Fenway Park. This group of people is so niche that someone needs to invent a word stronger than niche to describe them.
At the end of the day it would cost more to develop Mac solutions that the revenue the solutions would bring in. It's a numbers game, not prejudice or stupidity on behalf of the hardware (not software, as you wrote) makers.
Mac users need to suck it up. You bought a coach ticket; stop whining that you're not getting first-class treatment.
Reasons why I want the captivate more than an iPhone 4: 1. Customizable, with all the stuff you can do with widgets and live wallpapers, ios4 doesn't compete. I've had to jailbreak my phone to even get close to what android os can do... And it's still not the same.
Hi, Allyson. This is actually a fair review, which is a rare treat on an iPhone blog. Good for you.
I'd just like to comment that your complaint about a lack of tools to sync with the Mac is not a reflection on Android. Android (Google) does not provide "desktop" counterpart programs, because they want to encourage wireless syncing to Gmail (including Google Calendar) or Exchange. If any user (PC or Mac) prefers to sync contacts and calendar with, say, Outlook or Entourage or Mac Mail or iCal, etc, then that user has to find a third-party vendor -- PC or Mac, makes no difference. HTC provides a rudimentary program called HTC Sync with their phones and I believe it supports PC and Mac (don't quote me there), but Samsung does not.
As far as syncing for music, there are several good choices out there. DoubleTwist is aimed at Mac users as it apes the iTunes layout, but it is not the most robust tool. Try out Salling Media Sync, iSyncr, TuneSync, and Songbird. iSyncr and TuneSync even let you do two-way sync (move new material from phone to desktop and vice-versa) over WiFi.
Again, thanks for the fair article! But if you want "one stop shopping" (sync contacts, calendar, notes, music, videos) then the only game in town is Missing Sync. I'm not a fan of the product interface, but it gets the job done (and it also has a wifi option, though I recommend you do your first sync over USB).
I appreciate the author's attempts to be unbiased, but as she is a three year iPhone user, she simply can't be unbiased. Had she tried the Captivate for a few months and then written the review, perhaps that would have put a dent in her bias, but as a 9 month Android user, I know that I can't switch paradigms to the iPhone and not miss the experience I'm used to. She's plugged into the Apple ecosystem, I'm plugged into the Google ecosystem. Contact syncing was painless for me because it's all done through a Google account and that happens to be where I store my contacts. I sync iTunes through a cloud based service called mSpot. The beauty of these syncing methods is that they are cloud-based, no wires needed. But of course the reviewer probably isn't aware of these because she hasn't had time to familiarize herself with what Android's apps and offerings before writing the review.
Oh, and if you REALLY think Google is just "copying" the iPhone, I suggest you take another look. Google and the Android app developers are further along with the cloud concept than Apple, and that makes the experience very different. Widgets are also a different paradigm; information delivered directly to your screen without having to open an app. That doesn't exist in Apple's ecosystem. There's also a great deal of customization you can do with the GUI on Android phones. Home replacement apps are ubiquitous, and a lot of them can deliver a UI experience as good as, if not better than, the iPhone. Again, these are things you discover over time, though, so if you're the type of person who isn't interested in tinkering with your phone to get the best possible experience, you should probably stick with the iPhone. It's out of the box, non-customized experience is generally better than what Android delivers right now.
Erratum: glitch on my last post. Sentence "Again, thanks for the fair article" was supposed to be at the bottom as the last sentence. Oops. Cursor fail.
Great cross/review, Ally. It seems like the car dealership that I work for is almost equally divided between iPhone and Android users...with the majority of Android devices being HTC Evos since we have a Sprint corporate plan here from General Motors.
I actually got to briefly play with a Samsung Captivate last week that a Best Buy mobile salesperson had just gotten on an upgrade...and the two things that turned me off were the more plasticky and hollow feel of the Samsung, and the lag and choppy performance of the Android OS compared to the iOS on my iP4. The choppiness and lag is subtle...but it's noticeable for sure. I am a stickler for solid build quality, and quick performance speeds...and the Captivate just is a fail in both areas for me. The Sprint EVO, even though it's an HTC product...is amazingly solid and feels great in the hand. It's HUGE though, and still has the lag of the Android 2.1 OS to hinder it's attraction to me.
Maybe the Android OS will be better with the Froyo update coming soon...but until then (and probably even after) I'll stick with the seamless performance of the iPhone.
You spoke about native apps but left out the app that all iphone users are green with jealousy over, google maps with navigation
Another thing I should have noted about Google Calendar -- to sync it with iCal, you just need to run Google Calendar sync (google.com/sync/mac). This keeps iCal, the web Google Calendar, and the calendar on your Android phone in perfect sync.
self fulfilling prophecy. If they don't make Mac solutions, MAc users won't purchase their product, forcing them to stick with iPhone. Same thing happened with ipod when many makers began restricting USB and signing on with Windows.
Especially in terms of smart phones almost all mac users would sync.
Not to mention most Mac owners also owned PCs (due to the once necessity that is dropping like a rock)
In terms of % of users it seems to range based on units and year & quarter. For example (NPD reasearch for 2008 has the # at 14%, but you are right most estimates have 4-6%. Either way it IS a much smaller market than the cheap PC market).
But truth is Mac users buy the first class ticket, where the best service, product, and fewer people are--but because of the # of people in the back there are going to be more people serving in coach (just less quality per capa).
Apparently you people haven't looked at an Evo from HTC. That would be a better comparison. That phone is every bit as good as an iphone. I had an iphone so I know what that phone is like. Will never own another one based on the way Steve Jobs handled the whole antenna issue. Arrogant bastard.
After almost a year with my 3GS, I ditched it for an Android (EVO). There is simply NO comparison. Notifications rock! Wireless syncing rocks! Google's cloud services rock! I honestly don't miss those Windows 3.1 LIKE notification popups on the iPhone that grind your system to a halt, not to mention how happy I am to have a phone that can, you know, actually GET calls... Kudos to Apple for driving the market forward though...
Ally,
I just saw your listing of the Captivate for sale. I was amused because I had JUST read your article and I recognized the photo in the listing.
I wont say where I saw it to respect your privacy though =p
I too was one of the Apple followers... I still love my macbook though, it does what I need it to when I open it, without all the waiting. My wife and I are iPhone deserters, and proud to say it. My wife and I both own Nexus 1's... And I have to say, except for front facing camera and hdmi output... I'm completely happy. We left AT&T's high prices, almost $300 a month for 2 iPhones, and went to Tmo with a $160 a month ulmtd everything for two phones... When it all boils down, I want a phone that I have control over... Changing my wallpaper, check. Flash, check. Widgets/Live Wallpapers, check. I'm willing to risk a little tap accuracy, for an overall better experience and more change in my pocket. Android FTW!
great review, the only thing i can say is that you were still some what limited on your android choice, just because you choose the att one, the captivate is a really nice phone but is some what lock down from it full potential, if you try the samsung vibrant i can tell you right now that you would have a different opinion on android.
Comparing the two Browsers using two different Websites and then making assumptions on how it would have been, had they loaded the Same instead of just trying one without a mobile version isn't that smart
What wallpaper is that on the iphone?
I think a comparison to vanilla(unskinned for the apple users here)Android would have been a lot better, as skins slow th OS down and the Captivate has TouchWiz GUI laid over the Android OS. One more thing, this article is biased and is more of a comparison of the IOS VS Android/Touchwiz OS than the actual Captivate and iPhone hardware.
@Sherif LOL! I have motives behind selling the captivate. :p my macbook is slowing down a bit and doesn't do what i want it to do quick enough so i'm selling that and the captivate and have almost enough for a new pro. i need that more than i need more phones laying around
@J a p please bear in mind that i don't have unlimited time and resources. i also work a 40 hour work week and i have a substantial commute time. i do what i can, with the time i have. i did not have time to record another video and edit it. i did my best in the time i had.
It seems many of your negatives about Android go both ways. As a non-Mac user, I would be forced to use iTunes, Apple software, or 3rd party apps to ease compatibility.
The other difference is I never have to "sync" my phone. It does it daily, hourly, by the minute, or whenever I want. I never have to sync it to a specific computer with my specific proprietary "Google" software (bare in mind, I'm completely unfamiliar with MobileMe).
I think a much more interesting review would be for you to not sell your Captiviate, and instead keep it for 6 months and intentially use it and take the time to customize it. One of the BEST features of Android is the ability to make it unique to you. If you want to leave everything stock (like an iPhone), you can. But you have the opportunity and freedom to customize, should you decide to dive in to that pool.
I liked the review, it seemed honest and well-balanced and that sort of journalism will get people to take it seriously. I see plenty of the pro-this and anti-that on both sides of the proverbial fence.
I have used the iPhone, didn't own one, and it is slick. It runs smoothly for the most part and no real complaints. But the Android is the one I chose in the end, as a person involved in IT, and very much in favor of open-source development, it made sense to have something geared toward me and what I would use it for.
Thanks again for your review, I disagree with a couple of parts, but it's what suits you and as long as you're happy with it, that's your solution.
Hey, I really liked your review. I wanted to point out one thing:
The problem here is using MobileMe -- an Apple-only service. You can keep your iPhone and your Android device in sync if you use Google or any ActiveSync-compatible service. So it's really MobileMe's issue that you cannot connect to it with ActiveSync from devices other than the iPhone.
@brendanefro i believe the one i have now is the TiPb one rene made, he has it posted in the wallpaper contest thread in the forums
@JJ MobileMe wasn't really my issue. I don't like Gmail at all, but it seems if I want to sync contacts, I'm forced to use it unless I want to key all mine in manually. Not necessarily mobileme, but the fact i can't sync iCal without going through a pretty heinous process. then it doesn't like to sync the mac address book (had to import in gmail then sync over). if there was a sync for contacts and calendars NOT tied to google sync and just from the computer i'd be fine.
@Dean - you are asking me to keep a phone for 6 whole months that i don't really prefer and doesn't sync with my platform just to see your side of the fence? that's a little extreme. and they call us fanboys/girls around here? i shouldn't have to take 6 months to LEARN or be FORCED to like a device. i used it for a week, it had its pros and cons. i still prefer the iPhone better. that's my preference, and i am more than entitled to that.
Thank you for the thorough review. I appreciate the semi-unbiased opinion. Only reason I say semi is one can't help but compare and be slightly biased to what they are accustomed to.
I am currently an iPhone user. I tried the iPhone 4 for a day and returned it due to signal issues. I have also tried the HTC EVO, and the Droid X. Each phone lasted approximately 1 day. Now I am to the point of waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G to release. I am quite optimistic about the device but not enough that I will immediately get rid of my 3Gs.
Nevertheless, thank you again for your thorough review.
@Greg My intention was not to be a "convert user" or decide I wanted Android instead of iPhone. I had some extra money to play around with and wanted to try Android. I've experimented with every other platform, I just decided to share my thoughts on the platform on TiPb. I had no intention of switching platforms. I wanted to learn Android and know "something" about the platform. I didn't want to be talked into switching. That was not the intention from the very beginning. This was supposed to be very basic, not extensive and mind blowing.
Its funny how she chose a galaxy s android phone to compare it to an iphone, if she simply grabbed a droid X or evo she would have been sucked into androids world so incredibly fast. With the droid x's huge screen, and 8 megapixel dual flash camera... or the evos, front facing camera, with larger screen, and oh yeah, video calls not on wifi?! even on 3g!;)
Great review! Just a couple of things:
Mac users are not alone in the desktop sync category. Even Windows users can't sync their Android phones. The software simply doesn't exist the way it does for iPhone/iTunes, although the Missing Sync does go a long way to fill that gap. As for content, however, by the end of the year, all content will be delivered to Android 2.2-powered phones over the cloud... contacts, calendar, photos all come that way now and soon music will as well. Plus there are already apps available that back up your phone to the SD card inside it. No need to plug a sync cable to your phone ever again.
Your Battery drain may have been mostly due to the apps you've installed updating their content. Facebook, Twitter, SportsTap, news apps and lots of other apps will keep an almost constant connection open to the Internet to update their data unless you throttle back their update frequencies (found in the settings for each app... It's annoying, I know). You can still refresh the content from each app manually. I found that once I did that, my battery would last from the time I woke up until the time I go to bed.
The Samsung Galaxy S phones, like the Captivate, include a user interface overlay called TouchWiz that gives your Contacts app some of the functionality that you enjoyed. Not all Android phones have this, unfortunately.
Thanks again!
@Alec - actually, i wouldn't have. i have played with those devices, but i chose the galaxy because it is on the network i prefer (and the one i had a contract with), i had no desire to go through the hassle of opening another account, on another carrier, and then canceling said account or paying another bill. it wasn't worth it to me. as i said, i was not looking to convert to android, that was not my intention at all. i wanted to spend a little time with android to see what the fuss is all about. millions of people choose iPhones over Android. And there are people who prefer android. i fall on the iPhone side. Android is a very decent platform, but I'll stick with what works for me. Not to mention investing over $500 into the App store over more than a 2 year period is a big investment to just let go down the drain. Yes I could get a touch but that's a pain. One device is easier than multiple.
"Implementation not quite there yet"
This would be a common statement from one who is used to the iPhone OS and has not felt the need to truly expand on usability and customization.
The iPhone OS and iPhone combo is excellent for the average user who doesn't mind being confined in a rosey / flowery greenhouse. No offense to anyone as that is a perfect scenario for many.
In my world these two devices are worlds apart as are both OS's.
@JS Sigh - I jailbreak my iPhone TO get functionality. I was more referring to the menus and settings. They're confusing. The layout could be better as far as how to configure the phone. The interface isn't completely there yet. My opinion.
It's funny, The HTC Aria can do what the iPhone 4 can (minus video chat) and yet its a low end Android device lol
I rooted my droid, only to come with a phone better than the android os, or even what the iphone os could stand up to. over clocked at 1.3 gigs, with a cooler kernal. i mean nothing beats my wifi mobile hotspot, and 2.2 JIT compiler....... if that phone was running 2.2 there wouldnt be a comparison. speeds are so much quicker. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3U2GXhz44 skip to 17 minutes, thats how the whole phone runs.
Allyson,
As a lover of mobile technology, I just wanted to say WELL DONE! It is difficult to write an article as fairly as you did. You avoided getting caught up in comparing every spec of the devices (very similar) and based your article on user experience. I believe you hit the nail on the head. Both OSs are great. It all comes down to personal preference. I am one of those who prefers the android experience. Good job!
One more thing regarding data synchronization (of course, you need a google account): Apple Calendar can be synchronized with google GCal, and Apple Address Book can be linked with Google contacts. So it's pretty easy and straightforward to have its events and contacts synchronized on Mac, Web and Android, no need plug the phone on the computer. To listen to music, I keep my iPod, so i don't need to bother myself with iTunes and Android.
A few things: The first is that I would rather NOT give Google all of my contact's info (But that's just me). Second, how do I sync notes and tasks with Android? (I currently sync with Outlook via iTunes on a PC)
Being a Blackberry user and never using an iPhone or an Android device for more than a few passing minutes, I can say that this review is extremely biased. Being a first-time user on either of these phones, I can't understand how Crapple is considered to have a better UI. The Android looks better and there is MORE THAN ONE BUTTON to navigate. All I experienced when trying an iPhone was a headache with not having both a BACK button and a MENU button. I'm still sticking with my BB because the right Android hasn't come out yet, IMO. I will never get an iPhone for several reasons... even if it claims to have better battery life, you can't have an extra battery to swap in when it dies! Also, companies come out with higher capacity batteries for BB/Android, so battery life isn't as big a concern for them. No SD expansion, no customization, no removable battery, FUGLY overall design that hasn't changed since it came out (other than getting even uglier with iPhone4)... Never EVER buying an iPhone!
I am a former iPhone user on an Evo that can't even consider going back to iPhone until at least the next OS upgrade.
Notification bar - This is just such a more elegant and efficient way of handling things that the thought of going back to iOS makes me shudder.
Widgets - These devices are more than just phones; they are information devices. Now that I have lived with the ability to get information just by glancing at the home screen, I can't even consider giving it up. In particular, being able to see my next five appointments is a 'must have' now that I have lived with it for a while.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51088741@N07/4699683348/sizes/l/
Mountable - I understand some people like that iTunes handles syncing but I always hated it. I wanted to be able to just hook up my phone to my computer as a USB drive and manage things myself (something even my dumbphones have been able to do but my iPhone couldn't). I certainly don't miss clunky, frustrating iTunes one bit.
Home screen customization - iOS4 finally allows changing wallpaper but you still need to hook up to the computer and organize icons. Even then it forces them to always be autoarranged to the upper left whether I want that or not.
The contacts and calendar syncing does work best if you use google's apps. I bit the bullet and switched over for my personal stuff.
I do not sync my work Outlook (I want them separate) and instead use a separate app that connects up the Exchange server. That might not work for some but that is actually how I prefer things.
The only thing I miss from my iPhone is games. Every other app I used on my iPhone (and from back in my non-phone Palm days for that matter) I have been able to find the same or an equivilant app.
Except for games. iPhone kicks Androids butt up and down the street as far as number of quality games goes. I still occasionally pull out my iPhone to play some games when I get the itch.
As for the Evo being huge, that is mostly a trick of the eyes. When you are used to iPhone's little 5.65 sq in screen, the 8.17 sq in screen looks huge (it is 44% bigger) but the phone itself is not much bigger than a 3GS (less than 1 mm thicker and less than 4 mm wider). In fact, in one of those silicone/rubber cases, my 3GS actually measures wider and thicker than my Evo and I hardly consider that to be huge.
And speaking of that screen, I could never read books on my iPhone. By the time the font was set to a comfortable reading size, I could only see about a paragraph and a half and quickly gave up. I know crank through books so fast on my Kindle app, I have to set a strict quota so I don't buy too many.
And the screen size makes going to non-mobile versions of website actually doable. There was too much zooming and scrolling on the iPhone so I rarely did it but on this phone in landscape mode, I find myself going to the full version sites much more often.
Add to that the fact that dropped calls are a thing of the past (unless I am talking to someone using an iPhone) and I don't miss my iPhone at all.
In two years I will reconsider all this. I've always liked Apple's hardware even if I find their OS to be frustratingly crippled. Maybe at that by that time, the OS will have caught up.
But right now, having lived in the Android world for a while, there are too many features that are missing from iOS for me to even consider going back.
Allyson, I hear ya and I get your position. The Android interface is more powerful that is what makes it seem less simple to use to you. If you were able to spend more time with this or any other Android device you would start to understand. With power come complexity. The iPhone is clearly the appropriate device for your needs at this time. Pls keep in mind that I too have had an iPhone since day 1 and this is being written on a 3GS.
Also as a reviewer if you open the Jailbreak argument with the iPhone lookout because once you really start "playing" with the openess of Android the possibilities are endless. That sheer possibility of Android is it's single greatest attribute.
Bottom line as it's been stated above many times. The Android OS coupled with decent hardware will always be the "stronger" device but not necessarily the "better" device for the user.
Good review. Over the past year, I've used a Palm Pre (webOS) for 4 months and an HTC Hero (Android 1.5, 2.1) for 8 months, long enough to get a thorough feel for both OS. As a serious phone geek, I had a lot of fun "rooting" both phones and installing custom kernels and ROMs. But a user that values a fluid, consistent UI experience, I didn't really like either webOS or Android as much as my inner geek did. I'm now just over 10 days into using iOS and an iPhone 4. The biggest surprise for me? The amount of time I used to spend scouring precentral, webosinternals, androidcentral, phandroid, and xda for info on the latest tweaks and patches was a lot higher than I thought. Call me a practical geek, but I much prefer the iPhone 4.
@ JoBlow: even if every Mac-owning smartphone user suddenly decided to switch to one non-iPhone platform AND wanted to sync with their computer, it probably still wouldn't pay off.
I realize the average Apple fanatic is anti-corporate (ironic, as Apple is becoming the quintessential big corporation), and that can lead to a lack of understanding, but you have to realize that companies do research stuff like this before the act (or don't act, as the case may be). Believe that if they don't support Macs, it's because it doesn't make financial sense to do so. This is the point I was trying to make earlier. Mac users are not the majority they like to pretend they are. Far from it.
You can't say almost all Mac users would sync in fact, if I had to guess, I'd say it was quite the opposite. It's my experience that most people can't be bothered to sync. Only the tech types are interested in going through the trouble. It's also safe to say that most Mac users aren't tech types (as is evidenced by their getting swindled into yesterday's tech for tomorrow's prices). Ergo: Mac users are far less likely to sync.
Finally, class is determined by service. The PC world is full service. Anything you want you can get. You never hear a PC user complaining that the Mac has something the PC doesn't. Just because you overpaid for your coach ticket doesn't mean it's a first class ticket...it just means you're bad at math.
SteveC, I have no reason to trust giving Apple all my contacts any more than I trust Google. Half a dozen of one, six of another. As far as syncing notes, I can do it with Evernote. I understand that that there are various ways to sync with outlook, but since I don't, I haven't bothered to figure it out.
Generally speaking it's like anything else, people bend to the ecosystem that they are accustomed to and find it difficult to even imagine the other ecosystem and how it might work. It took me a bit to unlearn the habits I developed when I used to use the iphone OS.
As far as the review is concerned. I think it is a great review. More than anyone could reasonably expect with someone who has only shifted to Android for a short period of time. I agree that the Android menu structure is more complicated, at the same time I think it is more powerful. Android is more customizable, iphone's default is better setup. It's a trade-off.
Well done, Allyson. I feel you covered most of the areas in order to project as accurate a picture as possible. I think this will give pause to those considering getting an iPhone 4 and who actually want to be able to customize their device the way they want to. That's one of the strengths about Android--customization. And, the notification system of Android is second only to WebOS.
Nice review...but it does fall short in the way that every short 1 or 2 day review does.
I have been a 3GS user, up until June when I picked up the SGS( Samsung Galaxy S) which I have been using for a month now.Here are the highlights of my user experience with the SGS..
Advantages: 1. Homescreen customization options. 2. Live Widgets on homescreen. 3. Quality free Apps in the marketplace. 4. Standalone usability (No need of PC to manage device) 5. Brilliant Notification system in place. 6. "Comfy" build and feels good in hand despite being plastic. 7. Good gaming performance with the latest power VR chip. 8. Brilliant SAMOLED screen. 9. Good battery life. 10. Think Free office is simply brilliant
Disadvantages: 1. Very poor RAM management. 2. Almost unusable out of the box due to lagging. 3. Bearably slow after rooting, and flashing 3 firmwares.(On XWJG5 now) 4. No cut and paste in email(shocking!) 5. Only 3rd party email client K9 is very buggy and handles attachments poorly) 6. Loading time of all core apps (phone/messages/contacts/browser) is high. 7. Poor keyboard.( lags when typing fast including 3rd party keyboards) 8. Almost non existant multi-tasking. 9. Live wallpapers appreciable slow the phone. 10. Live widgets consume a lot of RAM and hence are simply unusable. 11. Number of customization options.(overkill) 12. Though there good free apps, paid apps and games are a good generation or two behind iphone apps. 13. Systemwide cut&paste implementation is poor.(None in email). 14. Cannot store apps on external memory card.
Overall, I would say the SGS is a decent handset for somebody who is not heavy on emailing and multi-tasking.
Me....I am getting myself the iPhone 4 as on July 30'th, when its launched in S'pore:-)
Well you could have just Trier again during the Video like "oops the iPhone loaded mobile Version. Let's try engadget." Would have been like 45 seconds of your Life.
But despite of that I liked the comparison so i'll stop complaining
@JS
"Bottom line as it’s been stated above many times. The Android OS coupled with decent hardware will always be the “stronger” device but not necessarily the “better” device for the user."
you hit the nail on the head. it all comes down to how you interact w/ the device, etc. for me, i have a better experience with my iPhone for what i want it to do, but some users (who want more powerful controls and need to do more), android will win hands down. i don't need the "openness", at least not at this point in my tech career.
@ Ja p actually i did, most tech sites i tried, it loaded mobile so i gave up :\
@justeric: I actually agree about that part it is a smaller market--As I specified, and know, from my experience in the corp world that is how it works. However I'm just saying that is not always the best plan. Its not a costly addition to make a USB show up as a drive on a mac and while syncing would take more it is cheap in the large scale. Even for incremental sales and not conceding a valuable market (may be small, but they by far spend more money)
Maybe but as a designer I know a ton of mac users and all sync. We are not tech in terms of wanting to screw with code. But efficiency and ease plays a large part.
'Applications' do not dictate service alone. Mac users pay for ease of use, efficiency, power, design, kin-aesthetics, etc. I can pay more to fly the Bombardier Global Express XRS ultra long-range business jet and get there sooner even if I have to pour my own champagne, while you can have your cheap ass jet blue that is crowded--but hey you have more stewardess to pour your little cup of diet coke and try to eat your half bag of nuts over the screaming child. And of course you can spend more time in maintenance, drivers, and every other issue--I'll just get my work done and be on the beach. Feel free to join us.