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iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

blog.louisgray.com

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Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#61

Post by hackoder »

Osiris wrote: post #11

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame. It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge. As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better app…

I recently got the Canadian version of the myTouch (aka HTC Magic, double the RAM) from a G1 and installed a 2.1 ROM and I was very impressed with how well it all worked. I used to find myself torn between the iPhone and Android, but myTouch with the new OS is very smooth.

The multi-tasking is excellent- I was reading a book in FBReader last week and when I opened it yesterday it opened from RAM. With the Dolphin Browser, background tabs actually stay loaded in the background, and sites with auto-refresh actually keep content refreshed. For me, the browsing experience with Dolphin and the multi tasking are hard to beat. Also, the open market has some great advantages (along with disadvantages such as crappy apps), for e.g. MortPlayer (which was a great mp3/audiobook player for windows mobile) was recently released for Android without any fear of replicating functionality.

Like a lot of others, I'm glad for the iPhone vs Android war. It gives me lots of great, feature-rich phones to choose from, so why pick a side?

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#62

Post by BitStopper »

jonah wrote: post #24
Osiris wrote: post #11

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame. It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge. As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better app…

I'd like to see an Android phone with the materials and build quality of the iPhone 4. They're at a point now where the electronics are powerful enough (for the time being). Additionally with the hiring of the Palm UX team the 2.3+ user experience is sure to receive some much needed polish. Now can someone build a phone with the materials and production refinement shown in the iPhone which is a BMW to the Android's H…

"I'd like to see an Android phone with the materials and build quality of the iPhone 4."

Well, the HTC Evo, HTC Desire (like Droid Incredible), HTC Legend and something like the Samsung Galaxy S all meet these needs...

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#63

Post by vetinari »

masklinn wrote: post #58
Osiris wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those were just some examples. My biggest point was the freedom of phone hardware and carrier. Also, from everything I've read, AT&T has never supported tethering, and Google Maps doesn't have Navigation on the iPhone.

> Those were just some examples. My biggest point was the freedom of phone hardware and carrier. I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control. > Also, from everything I've read, AT&T has never supported tethering I'm not in the US and not on AT&T, so in my world I have tethering, Android handsets are 6+ months later and most countries can't even buy apps on the Android market, let alone make t…

> I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control.

Then you are mistaken. All settings under "carrier profile" (for example, enable tethering is there) cannot be set by you, the owner. They can be only imported using settings file signed by the carrier.

> Erm... yeah? It's a google soft...

If you were paying attention, exclusive features for own products is Apple tactics, not Googles. Actually, there were people asking why Google bothers with Maps and Voice for iPhone (i.e. why it is helping iPhone at expense of Android). If you know the answer why, you already know why Google doesn't play platform favorites.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#64

Post by vetinari »

masklinn wrote: post #47
Osiris wrote: post #11

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame. It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge. As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better app…

> I can tether via USB or WiFi USB and Bluetooth tethering available on the iPhone > install apps from websites without using the Market True. > and use free turn-by-turn navigation all while while taking a phone call Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more. > With Android I feel like I have freedom to do what I want Yeah es…

> Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more.

"Taking a call" is an example, an placeholder for X. You can say "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while chatting through Talk" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while tracking my progress using My Tracks" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while staring at Google Sky". The X is anything, not just specific vendor supplied apps (or in OS4, vendor approved activities).

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#65

Post by vetinari »

vidarh wrote: post #54
Tichy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You fell for the marketing. Apple shows all these amazing robots and processes assembling the iPhone. What do you think the competition uses, do they carve their phones out of stones with toothpicks? They have advanced production tools, too. The N1 is a really nice phone - I prefer it to the iPhone 3G. The phone makers will continue to better each other, from keynote to keynote. Now Apple has the lead again (in some…

GP didn't mention production processes anywhere, but materials and build quality. Why are you going on about production processes?

Apple's material and build quality are the same, as any other vendor in the same price category.

I have yet to own an Apple product, that does not need to be serviced during warranty.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#67

Post by masklinn »

vetinari wrote: post #64
masklinn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can tether via USB or WiFi USB and Bluetooth tethering available on the iPhone > install apps from websites without using the Market True. > and use free turn-by-turn navigation all while while taking a phone call Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more. > With Android I feel like I have freedom to do what I want Yeah es…

> Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more. "Taking a call" is an example, an placeholder for X. You can say "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while chatting through Talk" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while tracking my progress using My Tracks" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while staring at Google S…

> "Taking a call" is an example, an placeholder for X.

Then it's a stupid example, because it's not a placeholder. It's a very specific action and one important for a phone. Important enough that it's always been possible to take a call while doing something else on an iphone.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#68

Post by masklinn »

vetinari wrote: post #63
masklinn wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those were just some examples. My biggest point was the freedom of phone hardware and carrier. I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control. > Also, from everything I've read, AT&T has never supported tethering I'm not in the US and not on AT&T, so in my world I have tethering, Android handsets are 6+ months later and most countries can't even buy apps on the Android market, let alone make t…

> I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control. Then you are mistaken. All settings under "carrier profile" (for example, enable tethering is there) cannot be set by you, the owner. They can be only imported using settings file signed by the carrier. > Erm... yeah? It's a google soft... If you were paying attention, exclusive features for own products is Apple tactics, not Googles. Actually, t…

> If you were paying attention, exclusive features for own products is Apple tactics, not Googles.

Yet Navigation is s a piece of software by google for google's platform.

> Actually, there were people asking why Google bothers with Maps and Voice for iPhone (i.e. why it is helping iPhone at expense of Android).

You seem unaware that Maps for iPhone is written entirely by Apple using Google's public APIs. As for voice, it's obviously because getting more people to use Voice plays to Google's advantage.

> If you know the answer why, you already know why Google doesn't play platform favorites.

because their platform (services) stand on top of other platforms.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#69

Post by dagw »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #60
pyre wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an example, when Twitter released their official Android Twitter app, only 27.3% of Android owners could even consider downloading it. The app wouldn't run on 82.7 of devices because of the fragmentation problem. Hopefully Twitter will get motivated enough to support Android 110%!

Hopefully Google and the Android kit makers will get motivated enough to standardize Android a bit more, enough to at least provide platform consistency across brand implementations. Also, hopefully they do it in collaboration with the hardware manufacturers, instead of in spite of them.

I doubt it will happen. One of Android's big selling points for phone manufacturers was that they could use Android as a free and solid base to add their own unique additions to. There really is little interest from them to make Android phones generic and interchangeable. If the platforms are too consistent then there is no reason people won't replace their Samsung Android phone with an HTC Android phone next time they upgrade, and Samsung certainly doesn't want that.

Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android

#70

Post by alttab »

vijaydev wrote: post #66

Liked the finishing touch: "A smartphone can't be smart if it's married to a company as dumb as AT&T."

Things like "making phone calls" and "sending text messages" is nearly impossible in the Austin area.

AT&T tells me its the phone. I go to New York City, it works fine. I guess they actually have a good network there. Go figure.

Apple tells me its the network, and I actually believe them. AT&T - if you are reading this - I'm not going to give you my money after you've hiked up your early cancellation fees, but you bet your ass me and everyone in my family will be on a different carrier in less than 2 years.

You guys must forget that families listen to their "computer guy" family members. Losing votes like mine is more akin to losing 10. Remember that.

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