Verizon Users: iPhone or Android?
Filed under: Cell Phones, Phone Software | By: Peter Chubb
Posted on: October 11, 2009 | 23 Comments
We learned during the week that Verizon had made a deal with Google to start to provide Google Android powered handsets, the first is to be in partnership with Motorola. This is great news for fans who like the Android OS, but where does this leave Verizon Wireless users who long for the Apple iPhone?
Both companies announced that two Android based phones will be launched before the end of the year, with many more planned for 2010. Although the deal was only announced last week, they have both been in talks about a possible coming together for more than a year-and-half.
Verizon customers hope that this latest announcement will not affect Verizon’s desire to try to make a deal with Apple over the iPhone. We mentioned in a recent post that this would not happen in 2010, as Apple does not like the restrictions that Verizon have made.
The Google Verizon phone will come with Google’s standard app market preloaded, not Verizon’s VCast Store, which is what will happen if we have a Verizon iPhone.
The Google OS is becoming very popular and there is even talk that the mobile operating system will become even more popular than the iPhone OS. Apple has had a good run with its Apple OS, but it is limited to just one handset, not great for growth potential. Google Android is on a range of handsets on a range of networks in most countries.
Which of the two cell phone operating systems do you prefer?
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iphone please no rip-offs
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.
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.
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.
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.
here here!! what he said.
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.
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.
Android!
I want the phone that is USEFUL - not the one that’s just an expensive gimmick with 70000 FART apps.
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).
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 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.
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’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