Verizon Users: iPhone or Android?

iphone please no rip-offs

The andriod os is too similar in navigation to window mobile, no real innovation but it does have huge advantages with it google apps integration. The closest thing to the iPhone would be the Palm Pre’s OS. Bottomline the andriod phone won’t be enough for me to switch.

Ripoff?Android is its own operating system outright. If you think it’s a ripoff from the iphone because it has a touchscreen, than every modern computer is a ripoff of UNIX. Android is open, free to use and develop for, supports physical keyboard and runs linux. Doesn’t seem like much of a ripoff to me.

Its simple, really: If Apple insists upon maintaining their heavy-handed, “walled garden” approach to the iPhone platform (little customization, slow response to user demands, few updates, App Store barriers and hassles for devs, etc.), then they are going to lose, long-term. Not to suggest iPhone will wither and die, but its market share will end up a distant second to Android phones.

The power of Android is not merely due to the FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) model, but in its being specifically designed for platform-independence. Phone makers no longer have to spend time & money on in-house OS development. That frees them to think up cool, new GUIs and hardware and to offer these innovations at a price attractive to both cell providers and their customers.

That’s why – now, in the wake of the G1′s success – Android is now seeing a flurry of rapid adoption. But its no surprise, really. So long as it has the sincere, dedicated support of a powerful player, a platform-independent OS will _always_ win against a proprietary one. And the weird part of this scenario is that Apple should have learned exactly this lesson, back in the 1990s.

Why not buy the phone and OS that *YOU* like… instead of “what’s most popular” with *OTHER* people?

I pay the bills. I use the phone. I decide for myself.

Android!

I want the phone that is USEFUL – not the one that’s just an expensive gimmick with 70000 FART apps.

Patty, besides the fact that this article never tried to dissuade you from making your own choices, popularity can be a useful time-saving measurement. I don’t have time to try every operating system on every device on every network, but if I try the few that are most popular, I’m probably going to find the best one for me.

you really have no idea about android.
seems you are just an average user who only looks at the interface but got no idea about the architecture.

I haven’t had my hands on an Android phone, so can’t comment on the comparison. As a longtime Apple/Mac user, I can’t wait to get my hands on an iPhone again ( I got mad at Verizon last year and bought an iPhone… It was great, but NO service, so I returned it and went crawling back to Verizon). In the mean time, I’ll keep on using my POS Blackberry. I tried a number of new phones (Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry Storm, Blackberry World phone), and couldn’t find one as good as the iPhone I had for one day. I’ll have to look at the Android phones when they become available, but in my heart, what I REALLY want is an iPhone (on Verizon).

Fanboys like Patty and John already made up their mind. For those with open minds, Android has several cool advantages over iPhone. You can run 3rd party apps like Pandora *AND* do other things like email and browsing at the *same* time. You can customize your desktop for easier access to apps and create views like having your social networking widgets in one view and work stuff in another. You can have a keyboard. etc

I have to agree with David. I have a BlackBerry Tour and I like except for the fact that it’s slower than the iPhone. Most of my friends have the iPhone and I always get jealous that I don’t have one when I’m around them but the only reason I don’t switch from Verizon to AT&T is the poor service AT&T has so I stick with Verizon and the BlackBerry. It would be a great day if Verizon started carrying the iPhone. Maybe I’ll try one of the Android’s. The G1 always looked great to me with touchscreen and a slide out keyboard.

I’ll get an Android based phone the day they release an OS that provides basic functions such as Bluetooth enabled Voice Dialing!! I can’t believe, after spending hours looking at the mytouch 3G yesterday, that I came home and researched the phone, only to find complaints that there is no Android 1.6 ability to do something my 3 year old phone does–voice dial handsfree from BT. Amazing oversight, but true. 1.6 just came out so I suspect it will be quite a while before Android provides this very BASIC functionality. Buyer beware!!

I understand that it is very tempting to see this as an Android vs. iPhone battle, but I’m just not sure that is reasonable. The iPhone is a physical product sold as-is (very strictly). The Android operating system is more of a standard than a product. Saying one is better than the other is a little like comparing apples and all fruit collectively. If the iPhone platform was expanded to multiple offerings, the debate might make a little more sense. In that case, I don’t doubt that the iPhone would see a resurgence, with trigger happy analysts immediately predicting its long term dominance. And I don’t see this success happening because of any specific quality of their product. Rather, I see this success being a product of Apple’s incredible marketing. Apple could sell sand to desert wanderers.

My opinion: I think everyone would be a little better served if Apple, Verizon, and the other networks continue to buck each other in negotiations. Google has long proven a better steward of my trust than Apple–even considering the most recent CyanogenMod mishap.

I personally choose Android. The biggest draw for the iPhone to me is the media experience, and the integration with the iTMS. The biggest drawback of the iPhone is also one of it’s biggest benefits; the interface – it’s just too simple. You get screen after screen of installed apps, and you can only run one at a time.

Android is quite different, the interface is much more of a desktop metaphor. You can install widgets onto the desktop, so that information is available without opening an app. Apps and widgets also run in the background, so that when you check your phone, everything is up to date. Moto-Blur and HTC Sense are both examples of what a carrier can do to differentiate it’s phones with Android. Both are very information rich and useful “desktops”.

For me, the media capabilities of my phone are quite secondary to the utility of the available applications. Being able to use a GPS tracker app to track a walk, and being able to shoot pictures and videos during the walk is just great.

Don’t knock Android simply because it isn’t the iPhone. It’s something quite different, and it stands on its own very well indeed. Bottom line is that if you want music, movies, and games, then the iPhone is the only real choice. Android’s best benefits are its apps, and it’s ability to run more than one at a time.

One last speculative note; I also believe that Android will evolve much more quickly than the iPhone’s OS will. Apple has some great developers, but a single company simply can’t keep up with all the other developers in the world. I can’t wait to see what the landscape will look like near the end of 2010!

SKL

I agree completely! Everyone I know with the AT&T network has very limited service, I would love to have an iPhone, but I refuse to switch to AT&T for it. Verizon and Apple need to just give up and compromise.

No matter what people say I’ve got to stick with my decision with wanting to get the iPhone on Verizon I won’t switch to att because their coverage sucks in my area but I won’t buy any other phone I love mac and mac products BRING THE iPHONE!~!!

I PHONE BECAUSE I WANT THE IPOD TOUCH BUT IF THE IPHONE COMES OUT ILL GET THAT INSTEAD

i love the android better then the iphone any day from the applications to everything!!! way better!!!!

As a long time user of Apple products (currently typing this on a 24″ iMac) I have been an iPhone fan from day one and even told friends of mine that nothing would ever come out for a very long time that held a candle to iPhone….well… my opinion has changed, and it has changed dramatically. When I first saw Android running on my buddies T-MOB phone a few months ago I wasn’t “overly” impressed with the UI. I then started reading, and I mean reading A LOT. Once I saw the Motorola Sholes (rumored to be coming to Verizon in a matter of weeks) my opinion changed…quickly. I WILL be purchasing the Motorola phone the day it hits verizons shelves.

One thing is sure, I will never buy an iPhone that has me locked into verizons den of thieves, aka the VCAST store. I want my .99 itunes and app store. Problem is, verizon knows that as soon as the itunes store is in our hands, we will ignore their overpriced sound bytes and shop in itunes. Maybe they should just forget about money and do what is right for the customer, before they lose their excellent reputation.

leaving aside the Pi$$ing contest about OS’s, proprietary and limited has been Apple’s business model since day 1. It has allowed them to carve out a small but intensely loyal user base for their very expensive computers; the iPod became the world standard but is none-the-less proprietary; they went the same way with the iPhone. iPhone users love to rub their fancy phones in our faces, but if you live where I live the carrier limitations, even with an unlocked iPhone, mean you can have it but you can’t talk on it. If Apple wants to sell more of them I guess they’ll have to go where the customers are, but it’s not been their historic path.

For me Android looks more attractive as compare to iPhone, specially right after when iTune rejected Google Voice app. Google Voice and few other VoIP apps like Vopium or Truphone is providing cheap calling options with enrich features.

here here!! what he said.

I am another MAC + Verizon user, frustrated because both are great and won’t talk. Other than Blackberries, nothing Verizon offers will sync with our MAC computers. The Android and Eris are very sleek (albeit with modest learning curves, not as friendly as the iPhone) – but they won’t sync with MAC computers either. Being able to transfer Mail and Contacts (and iTunes – not likely) is critical. As much as I love the Apple computers and software, I might bend to at least a one-year trial of a Verizon Android if it would be compatible with our MAC computers at work and home.

I must be one of the few out there that has excellent service with AT&T.