I'm trying to decide on a new phone, between an iPhone 4 and a Blackberry Torch. I've found most reviews comparing the two tend to have beef with one of the two companies clouting any kind of objectivity so I figured I'd put this to the masses. I don't actually call people that often but I text a lot, I surf and use twitter (through the iPhone twitter app currently) even more. TORCH: Pros: BBM - everyone I work with uses BBM. Tactile keyboard - I've had an iPhone 3g for a year now and I still cant text for shit on it Cons: Horrible app support. thicker, less nice in the pocket Might need to change my cell phone plan. This likely won't be an issue but I still remember when sliders were new and the connection between each half tended to die a lot. IPHONE 4: Pros: Been using an iPhone for a year now, so it's what I'm used to have spent like $20 on apps for it which would carry over Currently on Rogers' iPhone plan so I don't need to worry about any tweaks/plan changes Cons: had problems wtih the sim card in my iPhone 3g, worried of more problems $50 more I'm clumsy as fuck, I see this thing shattering in my near future.
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have a hard time logging into websites on my Blackberry Tour. Anyone figured out how to fix that?
Question for you ladies and gents. I am getting a new cell phone tomorrow and I am stuck between the 3 phones I want. The HTC EVO, Droid X and Droid Incredible. In your opinion which would be the best of the 3?
Um, well, first of all, you should decide what network you want to be on. Phones don't do you very much good without coverage. I switched from ATT to Verizon and couldn't be happier - my home was always fine but everywhere I traveled with ATT was constantly hit-or-miss. VZW is solid everywhere that I've gone. So, if you've got good Sprint coverage and maybe you like the cheaper plans, the Evo is an option. But make sure Sprint is good in your area or where you usually travel. Second, you need to decide if you have the pocket space for a phone with a 4.3" screen. Frankly, I think the Droid X is as good as anything out right now. It's got a great screen, better build quality than anything else around, better CPU and GPU than the Evo or the Incredible, and Motorola always has great radios in their phone so reception and GPS are extremely good, much better than the HTC phones. You also get noise cancelling mics in the phone which are surprisingly good, I spent the week talking to people in noisy airport terminals and nobody I talked to heard the background noise. Both HTC phones suffer from mediocre battery life, which is a deal-breaker for me. HTC Sense is great, though. About the single biggest concern I have with portable electronics is battery life. The Droid X has great battery life stock, and the extended battery seems to last forever and adds virtually no size to the phone.
For my birthday, I've been debating getting a new iphone over my current Droid. I've had Verizon for years now, but I've had some problems and the phones (from a shitty ENV touch to the now glitchy Droid) have been less stellar. I was wondering if you more informed folk would suggest getting the phone now on AT&T or waiting until the iphone comes out on Verizon. I'm leaning toward just going to AT&T, but I'm not sure if my experience with Verizon is still better than AT&T.
I used to have an iPhone and ATT. If I never left the (very large) city I live in, I probably would have been pretty happy with ATT. Alas, such is not the case. ATT got craptacular service more often than not when I was traveling, got no service whatsoever at the houses of some family (who live in very rural areas), and I spent so much time on Edge data service when traveling that it became less of a smartphone and more of a phone that eats paste during arts and crafts period. That's slowly improving over time and if you are mostly in major metro areas, you might be fine with ATT. That's completely aside from my numerous complaints about the closed ecosystem and support of the iPhone. I'm a very happy Verizon customer. I get service in places where I couldn't even hope to get service with my iPhone. Part of that is Verizon, part of that is the great radios in my Droid X (Motorola has some pretty damn nice radios in their phones). In the middle of my concrete-and-steel office building, where my iPhone had no service at all, I get 3 bars of 3G. When I travel, I have 3G everywhere and great reception. The upshot is, nobody is going to be able to tell you if it's a good idea. It's going to depend on where you live and where you travel. But it's certainly possible that you could end up very unhappy with ATT.
Do you find that the Samsung screen looks grainy? I didn't realize it would bother me so much. The AMOLED screens use a Pentile matrix which means there are only two subpixels making up every actual pixel, unlike traditional LCD screens that use 3 subpixels. I presumed that I would not even be able to see it, but a coworker got a Galaxy S phone (the Captivate) and it really bugged me. I read a lot of text on my phone and I didn't like how jagged everything looked. Also, after using a good LCD for a long time, I really find that the colors on the SAMOLED only look good for icons and stuff. When viewing photos or video it's pretty over-saturated. Definitely a LOT nicer blacks, though. Wish I could have those black levels on my Droid X.
Someone sent me a PM asking for feedback on my Droid X because they were looking to buy one. Rather than have typed the small novel for a single person, maybe someone else will find it useful: It's big. No lie. But it's not too big. I'm not a big dude, and I have pretty normal sized hands, and wear fitted (though not tight) clothes. I have no trouble carrying the DX on a daily basis. It's probably as big a phone as I would carry, but it's comfortable. It definitely feels like carrying a larger device than an iPhone. In terms of glitchy software... Well, okay, let's phrase it this way: Android is nowhere near as polished as iOS. There are things and times where I have "WTF" moments where I wonder why something is the way it is. That said, I had reboots and freeze-ups and crashed applications on my iPhones, I occasionally had to restore them from a backup because they died for whatever reason, and my most recent debacle was losing all of my cellular data capabilities. There are problems with iOS, just like there are problems with Android. You own a small computer, and it acts like a small computer. I would say Android is not generally for people who want to forget about the fact that they own a small computer. You have to take more care in selecting applications because the app market is open and poorly written or potentially malicious apps can get in. You may end up with something that destroys your battery because it offers true multi-tasking, so a misbehaving app can eat your battery up. Know what I mean? You have to think about owning an Android phone because its open architecture and app store mean that you can actually do things that have negative consequences for your phone's performance or stability. The tradeoff of course is virtually unlimited flexibility, an app selection that covers a pretty wide array of functionality, and a truly appalling level of customization. I get an unexpected reboot about every 10 days or so. I used to get an unexpected reboot with my iPhones about every 20 days. It's definitely more buggy than iOS, but for me, not by a concerning or frustrating amount. The tradeoff of a few more bugs for vastly more functionality and customization is one I am willing to make. Of course, the caveat is that everyone ends up with a different experience... so no guarantees. The one thing I can say without caveat, though, is that the DX is the best phone I've ever owned. Voice quality is great, reception is second-to-none, and the noise cancelling mics work very well. My DX stomps all over my iPhones as a way to make and receive phone calls.
I left my Droid (original Droid) at home yesterday. It was only at about half battery the night before, and I rolled to work and just forgot it. About halfway through the day, I remembered that the battery was running low and asked the wife to plug it in. When I got home the phone was at the Please Activate this Droid screen and I had to go through the activation process. Could this happen from the battery running completely out? I never had that happen so I don't know. If not, what might cause this? It's not a huge deal, because I use Exchange with it so all my contacts were synced to my Exchange account, it's just a pain in the ass to have to load apps and whatnot back. Just wondering if it was a Verizon fuckup or a me fuckup. Thanks.
I ordered a Droid X when Amazon had them for $50 two weekends ago, and it is arriving tonight. This will be my first non-Blackberry phone in almost eight years. Are there any things in particular that I should do to it immediately? I'm so out of the loop on these new phones that it is embarrassing, especially since I'm a network engineer/computer nerd. Tips and advice much appreciated.
Your files are stored on solid state memory. It will not lose config/information just because the battery died. Could be some bizarre phone issue, or if you're using a corporate Exchange account, the administrator can implement a remote wipe policy which would have this effect if it were triggered.
Clear off the stock desktop completely. Just long-press and drag everything to the trash can that appears when you long-press. Download and install Appbrain from the market. This will let you keep a running list of apps that are installed, and will let you manage/install apps from your computer instead of the phone if you want. Once you have done both of those things, I really like Launcher Pro: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/launcherpro/com.fede.launcher" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.appbrain.com/app/launcherpro ... e.launcher</a> I prefer it to the stock launcher. Much more flexible, much faster. The reason you clear off the stock desktop is because this launcher runs over the top of it, so you don't want all that crap running behind it. The paid version of Launcher Pro, available at the Launcher Pro website, gives you some widgets and resizing abilities that are well worth the couple bucks. The developer is extremely active and is worth supporting. I also like the browser xScope. I prefer it to the stock browser. There's a trial version to see if you like it: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/xscope-browser-trial/sui.m" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.appbrain.com/app/xscope-browser-trial/sui.m</a> If you like it, the paid version is here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.appbrain.com/app/xscope-browser-web-file/sui.mRelease" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.appbrain.com/app/xscope-brow ... i.mRelease</a> There are lots of other apps I like. If you want to see my list, go here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.appbrain.com/user/binaryvisions/apps-on-the-motorola-droid-x" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.appbrain.com/user/binaryvisi ... la-droid-x</a>
Just got a new HTC Desire today. Anyone have some App suggestions? I'm finding the Android Market is alot more difficult to find those diamonds in the rough then the App Store. So far I just have kik, Skype, Facebook, Advanced Task Killer, Lookout Mobile Security, and ESPN scorecenter. They really need to get the Market to a point of respectability before they have a chance to be truly better than iOS versus just being capable of garnering more marketshare by having 100 devices instead of one.
I'm on Virgin Mobile service and thinking about upgrading to the Samsung Intercept. Does anyone have an opinion on this phone? Currently I'm using a crappy Loft and previously I moved over from AT&T and was using a Blackberry 8310.
I am thinking of getting a new phone soon. My PA program requires a PDA/smart phone that can handle medical software (stuff like antibiotics, shit like that). We are stuck with T-mobile for 2 more years, so I need a T-mobile phone. I currently have a T-mobile Dash 3G which is OK, but I don't know if it can do what I want, and more importantly, I hate the fucking buttons on it. They are two small, and I don't want to have to fuck around with those dinky buttons when I'm trying to type doxycycline or some such shit. I'm debating between Android and Iphones. From what I've seen, I'd have to get an unlocked Iphone to work with T-mobile, but I was just wondering if you guys would recommend one way or the other. I don't want a Blackberry like my Dash because of the small buttons, but if they have one with a bigger keyboard or touch screen, that would be ok, I guess. Other requirements: The phone must be able to do e-mail and GPS. I have to drive to various hospitals, clinics and doctors offices in areas I'm not familiar with, so I'd like to be able to use the phone for GPS like I do with my Dash. I don't want to have a separate GPS, I just want to use the phone. The bigger/clearer the screen, the better.
I believe using the iphone on t mobile does not support 3g, which makes it half useless. I'd get the MyTouch 4g or whatever Galaxy S variant is on t mobile. Android will have the most app support outside of the iPhone.
Actually, I think the Nexus S is on t mobile. That's a great phone and will have guaranteed support for future Android releases.
Verizon's holding a media event regarding "this" on Jan. 11th. Supposedly due out Feb. 3rd. It's going to happen. And It's about fucking time.
So I'm probably switching to Verizon next month assuming they are keeping the unlimited data plans. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Droid X or the Droid Incredible. Past that they seem really similiar. I'm not a huge fan of the form factor on the X, but the screen size is nice. The buttons look a lot nicer on the Incredible too. Has anyone tried one or both of these? If so what's recommended?