So i'm up for an upgrad and I can't decide if I should go ahead and get the iPhone or wait for the thunderbolt or the bionic? Which phone do you think is better?
The iPhone is available now. Go to the store and play around with one. See if you like it. No one here can tell you what you like. Keep in mind, that the iPhone has certain requirements for syncing to a computer. Activation and syncing requires iTunes. The latest version of iTunes has to be installed. Also, iTunes has its own set of requirements as far as computer operating system versions are concerned. The iPhone is a great phone but it isn't for everybody.
Im going to give you MY opinion. I received the iPhone and returned it after 10 days. It was exciting to get my hands on it but the excitement weared off and i started to get bored of it. There are many issues with iOS and the iPhone, not realy issues rather things that some people find inconvenient. For example the terrible notification system apple built....the lack of LED light, the terrible email....its great at the extras like apps and browser, but the things that a phone must do, apple makes those things secondary which is not smart. The iPhone is a cool device but is not reliable when you need to use it as a phone.
If you like android i would definetly go for the droid bionic, i wouldnt go for the thunderbolt because we dont know how much the rates are so you dont want to be surprised with an enormous data charge monthly, wait until verizon releases their 3rd 4g device (bionic) and then jump on it....Bionic is also from motorola and they have very reliable hardware and software. The bionic is the next generation of the droid, droid 2, and droid X.
I dont suggest the iPhone, its old and i made a mistake by buying into the hype. Go for the bionic thats what im probably gonna do.
I have to manage close to 100 cell phones in the IT department where I work and so far I prefer the Iphone out of all of them. The main thing is it just works and does not crash. Once and a great while I will have to show someone how to reboot but unlike some of the windows mobile and android phones that seem to need rebooting every day. We have no Win 7 phones so I can not compare them yet though. If you like to customize your phone with different themes and interfaces than go android but if you want a phone that looks nice and works like advertised than go Iphone. If you are on a corporate E-Mail I would also go Iphone. I have had nothing but issues with users trying to figure out their E-mail with newer droid phones and it does not pull in AD address list like the Iphone does and the corporate calendar works a lot better with the Iphone.
The app market with android is so fragmented right now and there are so many garbage apps to sift through. People complain they can not find what they are looking for and word is it even hard to find google own apps in it right now. There are still some bad apps in the IOS market but you will not find apps in it that will crash your phone.
i'm not posting this to bash the iphone or anything, because i really do think it's a great device. however, i hear many people say "it just works," yet when i scroll through this forum it looks just like the android forums. many suggestions to reboot the phone, issues with syncing, etc, etc. i think what it comes down to is that if you're willing to learn how to properly use a device, then you likely wont have issues. i've had a droid for 9 months and never had to reset it. there are bad apps in the market, but if you only download the higher rated ones, then you're fine. i've also never had problems finding what i need. you can use the market app that comes on the phone.....but you can use appbrain, or go directly to the developers' sites to get what you need. i find appbrain more useful than the market app. this is what i like about android.....options. i would say that if you're familiar with itunes and enjoy it, then that would be a big reason to go with the iphone. another thing to consider is that if you're not in a 4g market, then the fact that the tbolt and bionic are 4g, really doesn't matter, and even though the iphone is much older, it will still be relevant for a long time if you can't get 4g anyway.
I personally think the HTC Thunderbolt is older technology than the Iphone. For all those who had a Incredible should know what kind of technology in battery life HTC has. Now imagine that battery on a 4G battery hogging phone. I personally will not get a 4G phone till more than 32 spots in the whole US has it and is worked all bugs out. I have the 4G modem with numerous 4G connectivity issues and its same thing as the EVO with limited 4G coverage that came out the same time as the Iphone 4 did June of 2010. Im not trying to defend the Iphone, I just think that people will be disappointed. As for the Motorola Bionic...Well Its Motoblur and Motorola, nuff said on that.
You forgot to mention 2 hours of battery life.
iPhone all the way! Best iOS ever
The Thunderbolt is terrible. I made the mistake of trading my Droid X in for the Thunderbolt after I had the X for a week. I have a laundry list of issues including lack of technical and software support for the Thunderbolt. I loved the Droid X, but Verizon told me to pound sand when I tried to get it back.
Thunderbolt battery only last 2-4 hrs
Iphone last 6-8 hrs
I had both and both got returned well the tb is on its way.
I Preordered 3 phones for my wife,son and myself and recieved on the 7th. We have not had any problems at all with our phone. All 3 Activated, synced, set up email and transferred contacts with ease. I also ordered from Verizon. I was reading some older posts that a lot of the phones with problems were purchased from apple. I wonder if certain batches of phones may have had issues.
I don't really understand your comment about an Android being out of date when you buy it. The iPhone isn't some great technology that doesn't make it outdated just as fast. The iPhone 4 is downclocked at 800mhz compared to 1Ghz with most of the Android phones. Has 512MB of ram like other phones. No HDMI port. There is nothing about an Android that makes it outdated. It actually can to more for less than iOS. Apple made made sure of that. The iPhone is a good device, but there is nothing magical about it. The iPhone 4 is just as outdated as any Android device made at the same time. I can still watch movies throught the HDMI port on my X on my bigscreen though.
Generally only one iPhone is released per year (this year being the exception) so there's really nothing to compare a new one to than the one that was released a year ago. Multiple Android phones are released ever year so in a matter of months, there will always be better hardware and software especially with google is on a 6 month OS cycle. The dual core Binoic is rumored for a late April launch while a quad core device is expected as early as Christmas. Both of those are a bit overkill imo for the average consumer though.
Ultimately, it depends on how you use your device, therefore I 2nd the suggestion of going to the VZW store to play with the representavie models (ie. you can't play with a TB or Bionic yet, but you can try the Incredible and Droid X and mentally extrapolate on Apps speed), although a forum thread such as this is good for preparing you for the store visit.
User Interface:
For example, I really like Android widgets -- In iOS, I don't like having to drill several levels down into an app every time I want to change a device/app setting (I have an iTouch). Furthermore, I personally really like HTC Sense and HTC custom widgets too which add enough value in my case to make me choose HTC over Moto. On the other hand, some people like Moto Blur.
Camera:
There are pros/cons with respect to cameras on all the phones, so if that's important to you then you have to dig deeper there. HTC Eris/Incredible suck in low light, which is difficult to evaluate in the store. If that's important, then to know if there's much of an improvement, I'd do some research. A good place for this research is http://www.phonearena.com/phones.
Flash Video:
The iOS show-stopper for me is lack support of Flash. For example, if you want to go check out a surf report, http://www.surfshot.com/ the video reports are important (a couple photos is difficult to characterize surf conditions). Websites such as these use Flash which aren't directly supported in iOS (although I've heard there's some kind of workaround app).
I would stay away from Motorola until they decide to scrap MotoBlur. It's complete garbage.
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