i don’t care about any of the usual guff techie/style/disciples of fruit questions.

i’d rather say what i need a phone for and then let you goons advise me.

i travel overseas on business
i take photos and videos with the phone
i listen to music
i use a sat nav – currently nokia
i want to mark where i am at the start of a ride and then be able to get back if i get lost
i don’t want to fart around navigation stuff – just want to see where I am as i move along (sometimes)
i don’t need angry birds or such like – not interested in games or fart machines
i’d like good web access via wifi or 3g
i have 5 email accounts
i don’t watch movies on the phone
i don’t want to have to do any techie fixie stuff to make the phone work
i want to synch the phone with a mac
i want to charge the phone battery from the mac

gut feeling says Desire would suit me more – I can use different sim cards, upgrade memory easily etc, but need to rule out iPhone as i’m a closet creative industry dandy

also feel free to say what apps i need to do the above most effectively

Ta

i don’t want to have to do any techie fixie stuff to make the phone work

That rules out the Android then.

i want to synch the phone with a mac
i want to charge the phone battery from the mac

iPhone it is then.

sorry to say iphone4, with motion x app does all of the above and with hd video and you can tag the photo to what point on the ride it was taken

photo to what point on the ride it was taken

geotag?

At home, we run macs exclusively. We both have Desire handsets. It will change off a mac. It wont sync. Moving music/video is just drag and drop into the phone though. Calander sync and address sync just needed diverting through a gmail account but other than that it works well. The phone makes better calls than the 3gs I tried at the start of the year and returned and it’s much cheaper on the call packages than the iphone.

Would it have said it was pretty 50:50 till you said:

i don’t want to have to do any techie fixie stuff to make the phone

iPhone is definitely the choice if you want less faffing about and want things to “just work” (at the sacrifice of complete customisablity)

I’d say the iPhone has it, but TBH you’ll not go far wrong with either handset. Have a play with a couple in a store and see if one ‘feels’ better than the other?

obviously i’ll need to factor in the cost of a fixie and man bag if i go for the iPhone. which seems to be edging it

I think you need a PA.

are you applying for the job?

I can’t compare but for the iPhone

i travel overseas on business – ok
i take photos and videos with the phone – ok
i listen to music – ok
i use a sat nav – currently nokia – you can pay for various satnav apps or there are some free ones (Skobbler) but many (the free ones certainly) need a web connection to download the maps.

i want to mark where i am at the start of a ride and then be able to get back if i get lost – Plenty of apps that will do this. I use EveryTrail

i don’t want to fart around navigation stuff – just want to see where I am as i move along (sometimes) – Everytrail again. Plus allows you to download maps to the phone so you don’t need a signal.

i don’t need angry birds or such like – not interested in games or fart machines – Great 😉

i’d like good web access via wifi or 3g – ok

i have 5 email accounts – ok

i don’t watch movies on the phone

i don’t want to have to do any techie fixie stuff to make the phone work – definitely good for that as it’s locked down (assuming no jailbreak)

i want to synch the phone with a mac – that’s obviously going to be easy

i want to charge the phone battery from the mac – charges from USB so that’s fine.

Job-me ha? I’m too busy.

you coming to the Lakes at Xmas? We promise to eat and drink sensibly…

You don’t need a phone, you need the moon on a stick!
You’re a clever lad, either would work, so choose the one you like best.

on the overseas travel bit, can I pop another sim card into an iphone (4)?

i already have the moon on a stick

> coming to lakes if i can find my granny ring and front mech

Depends whether it’s locked or not – Depends on which network you get it from I believe.

Incidentally..

i don’t need angry birds or such like – not interested in games

Have you played “games” recently? They really are rather good.
I’m sure even the most ardent anti-gamer could find something to amuse themselves.

the new iphone takes a micro sim card i believe, so a non-micro sim won’t fit.

But, if you get a micro SIM, you can get an adapter to turn it back into a regular sized one (the local O2 shop gave me one for free when I asked).

Depends whether it’s locked or not – Depends on which network you get it from I believe.

The only place you can get an unlocked iPhone4 from is direct from Apple, I believe.

U2 unlock iPhones. You just fill in the form on their website.

Edit: O2 I mean. Sadly Bono hasn’t started running a phone unlocking store. Pesky iphone automatic spell checker.

Is their no end to their talents – first Joshua Tree, now giving people freedom of network provider!

wow, Saint Bono sorts my phone out?

the new iphone takes a micro sim card i believe, so a non-micro sim won’t fit.

It will if you take a Stanley to it.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUpkX4P6FWA[/video]

http://lifehacker.com/5532554/trim-a-sim-card-into-a-microsim-for-ipads-and-other-devices

There’s Motion-X GPS for the iPhone which is very good, there’s also UK Map which you pay £4.99 for which gives you 1:1million and 1:250k basic maps that you can then add as much1:25k and 1:10k OS mapping as you want for free. Viewranger is now available, and if you have a DVD with all the maps on for a Nokia you can copy them to the iPhone via wifi, which is what I do, currently I have 1:50k for the whole of Southern England from Birmingham down, and Wales as well. Viewranger also have maps for lots of other countries as well. The camera is superb, and video is excellent as well, and will upload straight to Facebook if you want. I’ve got tide tables on mine as well, which proved invaluable on the coast in South Devon last week, as did the various mapping apps.
[edit] Here’s a pic I took of Prospect House in Hallsands last Monday, stitched together from two separate photos using Autostitch:

[/edit]

CountZero: check out “Pano”, it’s quite good for on-the-fly panoramic stitching.

thanks, I sense an iPhone calling me

Thanks Graham, I had Pano on my 3G, but Autostitch seems to give better, more consistent results with less colour differences. You still get significant colour shifts with very wide panos, but generally I get on better with Autostich. Possibly subsequent updates to Pano have made it better, I might reinstall it and give it another try.
You can see an amount of colour shift at the joins on this one using Autostitch:

U2 unlock iPhones.

Yeah but then you can’t get 3G, they only work on Edge.

(I’ll get my coat)

To all the people who say

i don’t want to have to do any techie fixie stuff to make the phone work

rules out Android….

What is it that you are supposed to need to do to an Android phone to get it to work? I really am quite intrigued…

iDave… both phones will do everything that you have asked for…

What is it that you are supposed to need to do to an Android phone to get it to work?

To be honest, this is a bit of an exaggeration. You do find occasionally though that some apps don’t work 100% on some handsets due to differences between them (as opposed to the iPhone which only has to cater for one platform (well, ok, two or three)). It’s not a huge issue though.

If you want to get firmware updates ahead of your operator making ‘approved’ versions available, there can be a bit of hacking about involed here too.

In the case of my phone, there were issues with it out of the box (the supplied PC software doesn’t work) so it was a fiddle to get it working with the PC. Though, that said there’s not a huge amount of need to do that as pretty much everything is done over the air.

Day to day, it’s a non-issue. It’s just that you don’t get the tightly controlled, pre-vetted and targeted support that you would on an iPhone.

What is it that you are supposed to need to do to an Android phone to get it to work?

Off the top of my head, and as I understand it:

• How do you transfer music/video?
Android: mount as a drive and drag stuff on into the right folders or use the File Explorer app which might be pre-installed when you mount it or might need downloaded from the app Market.
iPhone: use iTunes.

• How do backup/restore the phone?
Android: find a suitable app on the Market.
iPhone: use iTunes.

• How do you upgrade the OS?
Android: wait for an OTA upgrade to arrive from your provider then step through it.
iPhone: use iTunes.

That kind of thing. Android offers multiple ways to do things, which is nice and flexible/open. iPhone generally has one way to do the basic things meaning it is more closed, but the upshot is that it is less faff.

Right, so you need to install some apps… that’s hardly tinkering with ‘techie fixie stuff’ is it? I was expecting some drastic hacking by the sounds of things!

So lets see… Cougar…

I’ve got a Desire running 2.2… not sure there are any apps I have come across which don’t work. But then, I only install stuff I need.

Hacking ROM’s? Please… you only need to do that if you want to play… and there is absolutely no need for the OP to do that. A bit like jailbreaking iPhones…

Well, the PC software has always been a little hit and miss with lots of phones, but that’s hardly a fault of Android… more to do with the handset manufacturer.

So no real techie issues there… now onto Graham’s post…

I believe if someone wants to use iTunes there is at least one app that lets you do that. Granted, it’s not installed, but then neither are the apps for a lot of the things the OP wants to do… so I figure he’ll be learning how to do that anyway…

Backing up? You are right, but hey, there is an app for that… hold on, wasn’t that the tag line on an iPhone advert? ;o) But hardly a techie nightmare that only sys-admins would be able to find their way out of!

As for the OS upgrade… am not sure what’s techie about this. It’s all done over the air with Android and no need to even plug it into a computer to upgrade it. I’m not sure what your problem is there.

Both phones are good… they do slightly different things, and have slightly different strengths and weaknesses… but most people, they’ll get on just fine with both.

I guess the OP could always go for a new shiny new Windows 7 phone though… ;o)

I guess the OP could always go for a new shiny new Windows 7 phone though… ;o)

It’ll work as well as Vista did on release. Oh, no c’n’p with Win7. That’s useful.

But then, neither did the iPhone for some time… I think it was until Android turned up with it.. ;o)

@funkynick: all valid.

I’m not saying that Android is a “techie nightmare” – but while I have no particular problem say mounting a phone as a drive to copy files onto it, there are plenty of folk (my mum, dad, sister, in-laws) who wouldn’t know where to start.
I’ve seen posts on here that show other people struggling with Android on the same basics.

iPhone makes it simpler by the standard Apple technique of removing choice, which is a pretty double-edged sword.

iPhone is definitely simpler for non-techies (my old mum has an iPhone and happily installs apps) and is also good for folk like me, who are techies but have enough faff to deal with without messing about with phone.

Which phone does your new mum have, Graham? 😉

Why do so many people spend so long looking for the best iPhone clone? I’m not into macs, doubt I’d buy one, but the fact my 4 year old can wake, slide the lock off and find talking Carl on my iPhone proves how easy they are to use.

the new iphone takes a micro sim card i believe, so a non-micro sim won’t fit.

The proportion of SIM cards that are punched for the 3FF/micro SIM format is increasing very quickly (globally). Expect to see an increasing number of devices with the smaller slot only in the next few years. Availability of cards is unlikely to be a problem in 12-18 months. In the short term you can trim an existing card if you’re careful.

If you travel a lot I’m sure you’re aware of the potential roaming costs of a data-enabled device – make sure you know how to disable it 😯

people talk about “rooting” android phones – what does it mean/achieve?

Technically, it gives you ‘admin’ access rather than ‘user’ access.

Some parts of the system are locked by default. A third party app can’t change the clock time, for instance. Root allows this. It’s necessary sometimes for low-level stuff, usually patching the OS or some such.