Ox ^^ about sums up my take on the whole Android vs Apple thing. I firmly believe that they’re designed to appeal different people. With apologise for mixing my metaphors, arguing that one is better than the other is like arguing that apples are better than oranges.

iphone owners have more sex

Conversely, Android owners have more sex with someone else.

FWIW I have an HTC Desire which is awesome – does everything an Iphone does, is more customisable and cheaper.

How much customising does a smartphone need? Is it because the number of apps available restricts the usability of the phone out of the box?

I’ve just got an iPhone 4 and is excellent, apart from the phone, which I find v poor (echo, crackly, muffled). As the phone bit is key for me, I’m a tad disappointed

Call quality on mine is fine, my old Nokia was virtually unusable as a phone, it buzzed and was muffled and indistinct. I only ever get calls disconnect to one specific number, so my assumption is it’s his end, he’s using my old SE 710i.

One thing I really don’t like about iPhones is, though….
APPS KEEP **** CRASHING – THE BBC ONE AND THE SKY SPORTS ONES ESPECIALLY. CLICK…. HAAA-AANG…. CRASH.

ARGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Occasionally I’ll have an app hang or crash. I have the same thing happen with my computer. iPhones are computers with a telephone app. Checking memory usage and using a memory management app helps. Is it a v3? They have less RAM and do crash, my 4 can hang or crash if I’ve been using a lot of memory hungry apps. Closing down unused apps helps, and often a particular app can suffer crash issues. Deleting and re-installing the app usually cures the problem.

One thing to note if you’re looking at SIM-only contracts is that to get the most out of either iPhone or Android, you’ll need to have a decent data connection. Outside of a phone deal, you normally pay extra for this (eg, on O2 it’s a fiver a month).

If you are looking at PAYG (and you are in a good area for 3 reception) then this is worth taking a look at:

Three launches unlimited PAYG data

Genuinely unlimited data for £15 per 30 days!

I have the same thing happen with my computer. iPhones are computers with a telephone app. Checking memory usage and using a memory management app helps. Is it a v3? They have less RAM and do crash, my 4 can hang or crash if I’ve been using a lot of memory hungry apps. Closing down unused apps helps, and often a particular app can suffer crash issues.

It is an iPhone 4 and I regularly switch it off completely to ensure I don’t have too many apps running. And it is always the same apps that crash so that points the finger at the apps, not the hardware.

And whilst I agree with your statement that it is a computer and stuff crashes, the salient point for me is that it is very much a closed system, apps have to be approved before release and they are built using a pre-existing framework for development. So I don’t see WHY some apps should be unstable.

It is an iPhone 4 and I regularly switch it off completely to ensure I don’t have too many apps running.

Just double-click the Home button and kill them from there.

the salient point for me is that it is very much a closed system, apps have to be approved before release and they are built using a pre-existing framework for development. So I don’t see WHY some apps should be unstable.

It is essentially impossible to prove that any reasonably complex piece of software will not crash. (Trust me, I work on critical medical software – we try!).
There are 400,000 apps on the app store. Some will have some bugs!

On the bright side, Apple’s scrutiny seems to have avoided any malicious malware apps so far – like the 50 recently found on the Android Marketplace:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/02/android_malware/

“you can even download our app”, you can almost guarantee that they’ll support iOS where i

Only if Apple allow it. And this is the problem with Apple.

Iphone home screen / desktop just shows a load of icons or folders. Unless this has changed?

Android let’s you display news headlines, calendar appoinments, facebook updates, weather forecast, etc which seems far better to me.

The downside of all this goodness is bad battery life but I hear iPhone battery ain’t great either,

Time for a less popular option…

But one that will save you some money and work even if you try to destroy it doing sports

Motorola Defy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-Defy-Motoblur-Android-Smartphone/dp/B00485CGHS

*yes its android 2.1 but it will be upgraded to 2.2 soon

I had a 3G (not3Gs) for 2.5 years, upgraded to the 4 In December & sold my 3G for £220, having that kind of second hand value makes it pretty damned good, I have never sold an old phone before, they just get thrown in a drawer coz no one wants them.
Battery life is no big deal, I have always put my phone on charge every night, that way you never get caught out.
I love the iphone, it impressed me so much I bought an imac & I am a total convert to apple products now.

I have a mate who had a iphone 3, sold it when his contract was up, moved to an android phone, kept it less than a month & moved to an iphone 4.

Which battery app do you use Flying Ox?

After trying a few, I’ve settled on Juice Defender Ultimate. Apparently it has increased my battery life by x2.72. No idea how that’s calculated though, or even how the program works. Certainly miles and miles better than it was. For example, I can do a 6-hour GPS-tracked bike ride and only use about 40% of the battery. This would have killed it before.

I think some of my better battery life is down to having rooted the phone and installed a bog standard non-bloated version of Android 2.2, so there are no crappy Sony-Ericsson or O2 apps constantly running in the background. Android 2.2 automagically closes non-useful programs and processes as well, so no need for a Process Killer app.

On the bright side, Apple’s scrutiny seems to have avoided any malicious malware apps so far – like the 50 recently found on the Android Marketplace:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/02/android_malware/

I wouldn’t want to bet on it, maybe not “malware” but I’d be very surprised if some didn’t show up sooner or later…

http://www.pskl.us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/iPhone-Applications-Privacy-Issues.pdf

Is Big Brother listening in on many iPhone Apps?

I’m a ‘smart phone’ sceptic but my ancient ‘dumb phone’ gave up the ghost and I saw a very good deal on a Motorola defy (18 months @ £17/600 mins/600 texts/no limit data) so thought yeah, I’ll join the club.

I was mainly interested in the durability factor (waterproof, gorilla glass, torx bolted case) than the techspec but have so far been ‘awsomefied’ by the performance. Battery last well over a day even running gps/wifi/music for 4-6 hours/day, screen is (as much as I dare test) scrtachproof and phone is totally waterproof.

Don’t give a hoot about games so am only running BikeHub route planner, My Tracks, Google earth & sky plus the usual Youtoob, Facebarf, webmail stuff.

Phone geeks at work are genuinely impressed and iPhone users mostly seem to go a bit quiet and shuffle their feet.

But heyho, it’s a phone with a few toys, it is pretty much unbreakable, half decent camara & music player all for less than the cost of a cup of tea/day 😀

i’ve got an iphone4 but i was impressed with a friends Desire HD. think i’d have got that if it was available.

The thing that most annoys me about the iphone is copying stuff onto it. It MUST go through itunes. On HTC you can use it as a flash drive and copy your CV on/off their from any computer for instance. That would have been quite useful when i was job hunting. Had to do it via gmail in the end.

In the end it comes down to minor details like that as to which one is best.

All the apps i use are available on both phones i think.

Iphone home screen / desktop just shows a load of icons or folders. Unless this has changed?

no, but its part of the appeal to a lot of people. Remember its being sold to “non techies” who don’t want to spend ages customising their phone and fiddling with options to make sure the battery life doesn’t drain.

None of my friends have gone from an Iphone to an Android. Several have gone from Android to iphone, and never looked back.
Everyone I know who still has an Android phone wants an Iphone. No-one with an Iphone wants an Android phone.

Just to add to those who have indeed gone from an iphone to Android and liked it, my son did exactly that after having 3 iphones over the years. He got fed up with poor call quality, Apple’s One True Way of doing everything, and, with the last one, wifi issues. He now has an HTC Desire HD, and he’s delighted with it.
I have a Desire and my wife has just got a Samsung Galaxy S – the newer version. IMO the Galaxy S is the nicest of them all.

Colin

3 of my mates got their iPhones nicked at a gig we went to. They have since replaced them with Blackberries or HTCs and don’t miss the iPhones at all..

The HTC HD7 is a really nice phone and has xbox live on it so the games are great. It’s the only touch screen I’ve used that compares to the iPhone’s sensitivity.

This could go on and on. Again. As always. Ad nauseum.

At the end of the day, there are those that like X, those that like Y and even some that like Z (but they ARE daft).

And everyone sits there furiously typing away, trying to argue why their choice of handset is the bestestest. Surely we all have more interesting and important things to do?

And everyone sits there furiously typing away, trying to argue why their choice of handset is the bestestest. Surely we all have more interesting and important things to do?

This is moderately interesting in comparison to most of the stuff on here. Its all relative of course, and only matters if you care.

Colin

Surely we all have more interesting and important things to do?

Hopefully, that is just a rhetorical question.

My point being is that it has been done to death on here and every time people dive in saying my ‘Brand X’ handset is best because…

To be fair, despite my comments earlier I am tempted to stray from the iphone path… I have an old iphone 3g, in need of an upgrade and am curious to try something different. Trouble is I’d have to buy all my apps again, and my missus has the iphone4, and it is really lovely.

That and my friends experiences of going from android to iphone mean I’ll proabably end up with another iphone.

Trouble is I’d have to buy all my apps again