iPhone vs Droid

I don't know about that $1 difference, have you checked all of verizon's prices? I have verizon but it's time to renew and i am in the same boat as you. But Verizon's required data plan on the Droid is an extra $30/month, and overall i think they are more expensive than at&t... i'm not even sure if at&t requires a data plan, but it can't be more than $15-$20 with them

With that being said, i am going to check out the Droid and the Eris today... i'm not ready to switch carriers :-\

 

Not to get nosy, but does 'separation' mean divorce? Or, is divorce potentially down the road (like 3+ months, when the new phones are going to be hitting the market)? Another thing to consider is the Google Nexus One phone. It is the priciest of all the phones currently on the market, but you have ultimate flexibility - you can keep your discount position with AT&T, and if you want to switch to one of the new phones in June/July/August, there is no contract cancellation penalty.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.... Personally, I am waiting for the Sprint HTC 4G phone. If it is priced the same as Sprint's current 3G Simply Everything service, it will be compelling for me - in addition to the 4G/3G speed, it can be used as a wireless router, so I could use the wireless iPad with the phone and avoid the $30/month cost (plus the added upfront cost) of the 3G iPad. Decisions, decisions, decisions....

 

iPhone is for, as you put it, sheep. There is nothing new or revolutionary about it. The same tech has been around for ages, and since I got my first smartphone in 2001/2002 I have been doing everything the iphone can do and much much more. And I have had all touch smartphones before the iphone came out, and there really isnt a replacement for a full qwerty keyboard.

Since you are able to stay with AT&T, do so. They are a GSM carrier which means you get access to all the goodies not available in the states but is available in Europe and the best market of all, East Asia!

I bought my HTC Touch Pro (Similar to AT&T Fuze) direct from Japan. 4G capable, 2 video cameras, full qwerty keyboard with number keys (no function + key for '1'/'2'/etc, just an actual '1' key and so on), more RAM, and full quad band support. The crippled version they released in the states under the "Fuze" name is an embarrassment.

I would suggest getting an HTC HD2. It looks somewhat like an iphone, but will wipe any gimpified iphone out of the water. Remember it took Apple 3 generations of the phone before they even had a copy/paste "FEATURE"! I have yet to find an app that I cannot get on my windows mobile HTC phone. And I can write my own programs (and do) in .NET or C++ and run them directly on my phone no problems. Windows Mobile supports multithreading so I can do multiple things at once, which you cannot do on an iphone unless you jailbreak it, and once you do that it just gets slower and slower and slower since it wasn't designed for that abuse.

The list goes on, but stay away from the sheep! Feed your geeky need to be superior and get a proper phone. The HD2 looks to be an awesome phone, and if you order it direct from HTC in Taiwan it will be unlocked and generally have the most feature sets.

Also you do not need the $30+/mo plan. You can get the $15/mo data plan and then modify the registry setting to disable "force cell connection" which will make your windows mobile phone hop on the isp.cingular data connection versus the wap connection which prohibits tethering and has a lower priority on the cell tower. Only reason you need the expensive plan with the iphone is because they make you with that phone, and blackberries I believe. Technically there is no reason. Since you have a sim card, they dont care what phone you have.

 

I own both a G1 (1st gen) and iPhone (3Gs).

Each has its strengths and weaknesses. I think the answer should boil down to which features are more important to your everyday use. For me the iPhone has an edge in music, photo and game capabilities. It's also easy to get useful apps to keep my little one busy in the car (e.g. Super Why, Rockband, etc.)

Apple products are beautifully designed and intuitive to use, but their tyrannical ecosystem is a pain in the nice person. There's no perfect device/world. Pick your poison and go with it.

 

I've had the iPhone for nearly two years and I haven't found a single phone that I would choose over the iPhone. Many people would disagree with me but the iPhone did not achieve its success merely because it is made by Apple. It is successful because its a GREAT phone. Now imagine if that phone was available on other networks? True the ATT network leaves little to be desired but most of the time I don't have a problem. I think it is the folks that live in highly congested urban areas that are experiencing connectivity issues (think Manhattan).

If you are brave you can jailbreak your iPhone (very easy) and it opens up the operating system to a vast array of third party programs which will further fine tune the phone to your likings. I am able to tether my phone to a laptop (free with jailbreak) and the APP store has over 140,000 APPs and counting. No other phone has access to that amount of applications.

I never had to even read a manual for the iPhone because it is so intuitive. Every other smartphone I've played around with (Droid too) has a bit of a learning curve. Heck, the Blackberry still is not user friendly to me.

There will always be Apple haters just like there are Prius haters. Trust me when I tell you that you're not being a sheep because you're getting an iPhone it's just a marvelous piece of tech that will blow everything else out of the water when the new version is released this summer.

I really hope a version will be available on Verizon but that is all speculation at this point. I haven't read anything to convince me that they will be getting a CDMA version this summer. If they do, I'll be the first to convert.

 

The iPhone excels in many ways except for the "phone" part. I'd say it's only average in that department. I find call quality not as good as the G1, and ATTM is not the best of networks either. Since I don't talk on the phone a lot, mediocre call quality doesn't bother me.

The iPod function, which I use much more, is very good. I just don't like being forced to use iTunes, although I must say its Smart Playlist feature is great.

BTW, you really can't jailbreak a 3GS (not permanently, anyway). If the phone is turned off you have to re-jailbreak the thing again.

 

Have you tried using WinAmp? That's what I use with my G1, works flawlessly.

 

Mine is 3.1.3, that's why.

 

Winamp is a media player you install on the PC. It recognizes my G1 when I plug it into the PC, then I can "Send" audio files to the phone via a menu option. Pretty straightforward.

http://www.winamp.com/

 

I have a business acquaintance who calls on his Iphone in San Fran and I can only understand half of what he says.
Once he called and dropped the signal 3 times in a few minutes.
The third time I still had my phone to my ear as he rang back.I have an extremely LOUD ringer go off in my ear.
I have a Palm Pre and its pretty good.
Sound and signal quality are excellent.
Rumor is that on Verizon they are offering free mobile hotspot tethering up to 5mbs per month .