Taking an app
Apple’s App Store got a head start on the market and is still way out in front in terms of sheer numbers. Then again, a great many of those apps are either a) rubbish, or b) the kind you’ll only use once. Most of the apps you’ll come back to for business or practical purposes, including social networking, are well catered for on Android.
HTC's HD 7
Blackberry’s App World tends to focus on the business side though there’s also a growing number of fun apps there too. The latest Symbian phones are catching up thanks to Nokia’s Ovi Store and while the newly launched Windows Phone 7 is lagging well behind at the moment, it’s likely to grow very quickly if WinPho 7 catches on, which it really should do.
There’s really very little wrong with the iPhone’s 3.5in capacitive LCD touchscreen. It’s clear and sharp - especially with its as-yet-unmatched 960 x 640 resolution "retina display" - and nicely sensitive in use. There are a few with bigger screens - much bigger in the case of Dell’s Android-powered Streak: five (count em!) inches - or indeed the Samsung Galaxy Tab, though at 7in, the jury’s still out as to whether this is really a giant iPhone rival, or a midget iPad botherer.
Nokia N8
Some have slightly sharper screens too, notably Samsung’s Galaxy S and Wave, or Nokia’s N8 with their AMOLED displays. For functionality though, no one has yet really improved on it, though the better ones are equalling it for sensitivity and multi-touch usability.
Next page: Social divide
COMMENTS
Re: "just want it to work without any pratting about"
There is one massive flaw in your argument: iTunes.
iTunes
The writer needs to emphasize the iPhones main problem - its constant desire to make love to iTunes.
A 'smart' phone isnt that clever when it needs a PC/Mac to operate every 5mins.
Going from an iPhone to an android it was great plugging my phone into ANY computer to copy files over. Updates done over the air and no stupid stupid locked to a single iTunes install. At least the app store for iPhone works over the air. Oh and bluetooth file transfer - very poor to omit. But as you know its Steves way or the highway.
Grid of icons
"The iPhone’s menu grid of icons has the double advantage of being both attractive and practical. It’s been largely copied by Rim's BlackBerry OS and Google's Android"
My 2002 Nokia used a grid of icons (like all S60 devices) as well my wife´s LG Viewty (which is pre iPhone era ) So I would not say that BB and Android copied it from Apple
Er...
So, you're complaining because you actually had the opportunity to replace the SMS or Email apps on the Android device, as opposed to the iPhone where any app which replicates the functionality of an official Apple one is banned?
HTC Desire
I can't speak to the Desire HD...but I do have the original Desire. I have used it, an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS extensively. I was not a huge fan of the iPhone 4...but I did rather like the 3GS. The original HTC Desire on the other hand, I have very little to complain about.
If I were to break the phones down, this is how:
iPhone 3GS:
Reliable. Well thought out and mature product that doesn’t have any obvious flaws. The newer iOS versions are a little laggy on this older hardware. It is the standard against which I judge all smart phones: to date it still may be the best overall smartphone in existence.
iPhone 4:
Mostly reliable. I have had reception issues in areas where the Desire or the 3GS work just fine. On the other hand it’s screamingly fast with fantastic battery life for the performance level. I have seen a few with broken back glass: take care of it! The huge con is the locked-down nature of iOS. It became infinitely more useful once jailbroken – and no, I didn’t jailbreak in order to pirate apps.
HTC Desire:
A tank. Whilst the screen is slightly more vulnerable to scratches than an iPhone 4, it is otherwise capable taking an unbelievable amount of abuse. It is rock solid: it gets a signal where no other phone seems capable. The downside is that Android is not well optimised for this CPU: while the Desire is screamingly fast, simple things such as menu transitions can end up with 4-5 FPS. Great with optimised applications, however HTC Sense is not optimised.
In all, I think the HTC Desire (non HD) is a perfectly credible contender for the iPhone 4. It is certainly a more worthy opponent to the iPhone 4 than the HTC Hero was to the 3GS. In some ways, I honestly believe the iPhone 4 was a step backwards from the 3GS…in others (such as the front-facing camera) it’s a leap into the future. I fully expect that the next generation iPhone will solve all the little niggles.
In the meantime, HTC keeps going from strength to strength. I have my issues with Samsung (mostly over poor support for the original Samsung Galaxy) and Motorola (mostly over poor support for, well...everything.) HTC, meanwhile, is showing the world what Android phones truly can do.
iPhone versus Android really comes down to a philosophical choice. Android is more open: generally, it’s YOUR phone. You have a lot of freedom under Android that you just don’t under iOS. The flip side to that is Android fragmentation: like it or not, the lack of device fragmentation on the Apple side of the house leads to an operating system that is far more tightly optimised for the hardware it is running on.
With the HTC Desire and the iPhone 4 being so close to each other in terms of capability, speed and app loadout, choosing between them is a simple question:
What matters more; the (non-jailbroken) openness of your handheld, or the smoothness of the “experience?”
