Poll: iPhone or Android | Hacker News Reader

Poll: iPhone or Android

28 pointsdanielrm2634 comments

Do you prefer iPhone or Android as your primary mobile phone?

I recently bought a Nexus S and brought it into a hostile environment (http://www.madebysofa.com). I used it for a while now and am building an ongoing review: https://gist.github.com/892043

    PLUS

    - You never have to attach it to the computer, not even for software upgrades
    - Call quality and reception is sometimes better then my iPhone
    - The dashboard or home is really nice with widgets and shortcuts (like wifi settings)
    - Regular mini USB cable, although iPod cables are pretty common now too
    - I don't really feel like I miss any apps, and most standard apps are done very nicely
    - Some stuff is really smart like having a 2 second delay for locking after the screen dims down
    - Most of the time it feels pretty fast
    - I feel like I have more insight in the device (which is good because I'm geeky)
    - I like how I can for each app see what they are allowed to do and disable stuff (like background syncing) in the app manager. Although I never do anything with it.
    - The Firefox browser is actually really nice

    MINUS

    - It feels like an actual computer doing background stuff sometimes
    - Battery life is a lot worse (~50%), especially with syncing turned on
    - It charges reaaally slow, or maybe as fast as an iPhone over normal USB
    - The browser gets really slow with large pages
    - There is no easy way to see what Android version you are exactly running and see a changelog
    - If you're somewhere with speakers, the is a bigger chance on a iPod connector then a jack-jack
    - For running, the earphone jack on the bottom is not handy with an armband
    - Wifi reception seems actually worse then my iPhone
    - Couldn't find a snooze function on the default alarm
    - Taking a call while running (with music) was ridiculous, i ended up having to reboot the phone
    - It seems the browser has a lot of problems when switching networking (wifi to 3g etc.)
    - Phone itself feels a lot cheaper then an iPhone, but still decent
    - The camera is extremely shit and audio with movies is a joke
    - Overall it feels way less polished (unexpected delays, stuttery animations, weird redraws)
    - I feel like I have no control over which app is running until I go into some task manager. I think they only keep running when it makes sense (navigation, mp3)
    - Wifi receptions is worse then an iPhone, and most apps (like the browser) are really bad at dealing with bad network connections.
    - When the phone gets stuck (mostly in maps or the browser with lots of js) the only way to reboot it is to peel out the battery. Eek!
    - Flimsy USB cable/connector are really frustrating when you need to make a call while charging
    - A actually have to travel with a phone charger on me again
    - It feels like app updates are available sooner/more often on iOS

    SUBJECTIVE

    - I like the look of the icons and most Android base screens
    - I hate the Android font, a sort of thin Verdana

There is no easy way to see what Android version you are exactly running

Is Menu|settings|About phone not enough for you?

It's nice to see a detailed comparison from an iPhone user that doesn't hate on Android just because it's not iPhone.

I went from iPhone to Android after 6 months of owning an iPhone 3GS (I went to the original Motorola Droid). For me, it was a big relief, even though it was in many ways a step backward. The entire time I owned the iPhone I felt like I was doing something the benevolent overlord didn't want me to do - I jailbroke to enable some features (some of which are addressed with newer OS since then) and never knew when I'd be stuck between upgrading or losing my jailbreak.

Android isn't without some of the same problem, but at least I can do more with it out of the box without some exploit.

I have the iPad and the Xoom, and I haven't touched the Xoom since the first week (I'm likely returning it). The iPad is everything I love about iOS, and the things it's missing aren't AS important to me on the tablet (although they are important). For the iPad, however, applications are significantly more important for me than on the phone, and most applications I use haven't made it to Android.

The things I absolutely don't want to lose and thus won't switch back to the slightly superior (more refined) experience on the iPhone are:

* Notification bar. iPhone's modal pop-up is just incredibly annoying.

* Native Google Apps. For this I mean everything Google releases. I use a lot of it - Reader, Gmail, Maps, Navigation, Latitude, Google Voice. These are all web apps or backdated or both on iOS. The Maps experience, for example, is significantly better on an Android device than on iOS. You can simply do more useful things with it. And that's ignoring Navigation, which sells Android on its own if you drive a lot.

* Background processes. I haven't used iOS enough to tell if its half-way implementation does enough for me. It very well might, but I know it is more limited. Sometimes this doesn't matter, but every now and then I just want to run multiple things at once without fighting the OS.

* No reliance on iTunes. (I'd repeat that, but that'd be rude)

* I can develop for it without an Apple computer.

* I make my money off of Android right now. :)

All in all, they are fair competitors with different mentalities. If I didn't use Google so much, I might be less inclined to stay with Android. Most of your complaints about Android are pretty fair and accurate.

I didn't vote because I never had an Android phone. I'm on my second iPhone and I really like it. Things that make me want to try some other mobile OS: iTunes and the dated look of the iOS theme (keeping the everything-needs-to-be-grey from OSX, ew).

I have to say that this is nice to see .. normally the Android/Apple discussions are mired in blind fanboy-ism, but people here seem objective and reasonable. Android's lack of polish in areas and Apple lock-in to iTunes, Androids flexibility and Apple's great screen. Myself, I do like the Apple hardware, but can't accept the lock-in and control. Even if iOS it did everything I wanted, I'd probably still go with Android as I think in the long term having Apple get too powerful is bad for the internet and computing in general. I'm probably a statistical outlier though, letting my philosophical beliefs come into play when choosing a smart-phone.

Right now it's at a balance (169/169 points). I'd be interesting to see how this changes over time. We need to do such a poll every 6 months, somebody mark their agenda.

Switched from iPhone 3G to a ZTE Blade and am generally enthusiastic about the weird and wonderful elements of the Android world. I prefer to see the sausage being made than play along with Apple's sprezzatura.

I also don't think the price difference (which allegedly doesn't exist in the U.S.) can be justified for any purpose other than as a public display of wealth/status.

I feel similarly about most car purchases, clothes with visible branding etc. so it's not just an Apple thing. And while I can appreciate nice car designs, and certain fashion items as much as I can appreciate the iPhone, I can't bring myself to pay a large premium, just so that it's obvious to others that I paid a large premium. I would go so far as to pay more for (or put more effort into getting) something less blatantly materialistic in a weird reverse-snobbery kind of way.

Oh, and like Mozilla Firefox vs Google Chrome, I'm glad to see the competition and happy that Microsoft isn't in the running as it's not in their business interests to make good browsers, good phones or good tablets and any control they had would simply be used to stunt the market.

I was Iphone 3G user for last 2-3 years and 4 months migrated to Nexus S. Now I bought iPhone 4 for my wife and it has some positives as well. Its a very close call and still can't decide what is better

My comparison is:

Android:

1. Easy syncing with PC - like attaching USB disc 2. Customization of home screen - I have few icons that switch off wifi, gps, brightness all on home screen - very useful 3. Easier swapping sim cards without need of any needle or pin 4. Adobe Flash support 5. Great multitasking 6. Notifications support way better 7. Portable hotspot - I've heard that iPhone now has it as well? this is a must

iPhone 4:

1. Great screen 2. Great camera - Nexus S camera sux 3. More apps that get released sooner than on Android - e.g. we went to China and there wasn't any usable chinese words scanner to english translation on Android but iPhone version has been out for few months

I switched from a 1st gen iPhone to a G1 then later to a Nexus One. I'm contemplating going back to an iPhone, but haven't made up my mind yet. The attractions of each platform for me:

Android:

    1. Doesn't require iTunes
    2. Very hackable, proper multitasking
    3. I like a lot of the APIs
    4. Doesn't require iTunes

iPhone:

    1. Waaaay cheaper*
    2. Same OS as the iPad, which I want
    3. "Just works" for common use-cases
    4. Family now has iPhones, makes me want to try FaceTime

* Unless you're willing to settle for an AT&T branded phone that'll probably never get upgrades, etc.

While everyone loves bashing "the other platform", whichever it might be, I think its pretty cool that we've gotten to the point where there's a lot to love about both (and other platforms as well).

Is the iPhone really cheaper in the USA? That's so odd, completely the opposite here in the UK

For example, a 16GB iPhone 4 costs (list price from o2) £200 up-front on a 24 month contract, plus £26 per month contract.

For the same deal on a HTC Desire S (the newest HTC phone in the UK, just out), is free on a 24 month contract with the same allowances, but at £33 per month.

Without a contract, the 32GB iPhone 4 costs £609 on o2 pay as you go, and the HTC Desire S costs £330.

It's really odd, isn't it?

I think the iPhone is cheaper on AT&T, because AT&T actively tries to avoid having Android products in the same price range. I don't think iPhone+AT&T is generally cheaper than Android+[other carrier].

That makes some sense, that was a similar situation here while o2 was the only iphone carrier - they sold the HTC desire, but not at a competitive price.

It was only after the iphone went to all the carriers (now even the supermarkets sell it on their virtual networks) that o2 started selling cheaper android phones.

My primary phone is a N900, a Maemo phone. I have also used a Nexus S and a Xoom, primarily for development.

There are a lot of things that I really like about Maemo over Android; here's some off the top of my head:

1. It's much more hackable. It's really a lot like have a miniature Linux system. There's no need to do any special firmware updates to get root access, and it's relatively simple to replace any system component.

2. It has better IPv6 support, albeit with a non-stock kernel.

3. System-level support for proxies—I find it hard to believe Android does not do this.

4. A real keyboard

5. Better SSH/OpenVPN support

There are some things that are nicer on Android, such as Google Maps for navigation. The on-screen keyboard for the Xoom is not too bad to use.

There’s a certain polish the iPhone and iOS have that nothing else does. Whenever I use a friend’s Android, it feels unfinished, like they forgot a round of usability testing or something.

I don't believe in the idea of paying to code for a device I own, and having to buy a different computer to do so, so Android, hands down.

That said, lately I've become less enthusiastic about doing phone apps at all, and think I'll likely stick with the web for the immediate future. iPhones aren't going away, so to really cover a market, you should do at least an iPhone as well as an Android version of any app... no fun.

Oh jeeze anything but Apple lock in.... But don't listen to me. I am writing this reply from an iPad and use a Blackberry. I still say Android.

For me, this is the real point.

If you've chosen to let iTunes be part of your (computing) life, then an iPhone is a no-brainer.

If you're not using iTunes, a lot of iPhone's advantage in the comparison is moot.

I suppose there might be the same sort of platform lockin going the other way too - if you're a fully-bought-in user of Google's entire application cloud, it wouldn't surprise me to find an Android handset integrates so much better than an iPhone that you'd obviously go that way instead.

(In case you haven't worked it out, I'm a happily-trapped-into-iTunes iPhone toting Apple fanboi... But I try to keep it under control...)

I prefer WebOS.

could you elaborate? i've been using my iphone for a few years and this week i've been seriously considering ditching it for a pre just for webOS- but i've hesitated because i haven't been able to find many testimonials.

i think the dev environment alone has me sold.

One things WebOS excels at is multitasking. Cards and stacks in WebOS are a great way to have multiple items open. I used to have an iPad and sometimes I'd use it for web browsing since it has a much larger screen but I'd always miss how easy it was to switch between pages and apps on WebOS.

Having a physical keyboard is a little different, but it's not really a positive or negative for me. I make extensive use of Just Type to quickly launch apps or search and sometimes it's really nice to have the whole screen available while you type. It's also possible to enable a virtual keyboard via third party apps, which leads me to my favorite WebOS feature.

WebOS is easy to hack on. There was a someone at Palm who said something like "WebOS doesn't have the concept of jailbreaking; we call that logging in". It really is that easy. You have root access on your phone so you can do whatever you want. Since the kernel sources are available there are alternative kernels available and there are alternative apps stores available. Since the official app store is not yet available in all countries someone developed a way to activate the phone as if it's in the US so you can buy apps but still have it work on your local carrier. Not all the code is open sourced so some people say that it's not as open as Android, but as far as being able to do what you want with your phone I think WebOS is far ahead of the competition.

I haven't done much development on WebOS but my experiences so far have been positive. I don't really like JavaScript but I still think developing for WebOS is fun. Definitely better than my experience with Android and even though the Eclipse based development toolkit isn't as nice as Xcode I think Ares is better.

Even though it has the features I want it still needs some work. Using WebOS 1.4 for me was kind of like using the early versions of OS X. I could tell that it was a good idea but the performance needed some software and hardware improvements. With WebOS 2.0 my Pre Plus is faster but still not as fast as I'd like. I've used a Pre 2 a little and that seems fast enough, but I'm waiting for WebOS 3, which will have an improved rendering engine, and the Pre 3 before I upgrade. I think HP's decision to put WebOS on every computer they ship could produce a lot of good things, but we'll have to wait and see. I also plan on getting a TouchPad as soon as it's launched and the integration between the two is very appealing.

As a heavy Google services user, I prefer Android overall, but something about the iPhone's keyboard keeps luring me back. Until I spend a couple days with the iOS Google Voice app. Then I put my SIM card back in my Nexus One.

I switched from iPhone 3G to HTC Desire. My conclusion is that Android is more raw, flexible and dynamic, while iPhone is more user friendly and more static.

I have no experience with Android yet, so I won't vote, but I can say that if it ever becomes impossible to jailbreak an iPhone I will ditch it immediately.

I prefer the iPhone, but rooting for Android -- don't know exactly what that says about me :-)

Competition is healthy. It leads to better products and happier consumers. I prefer the iPhone as well, but I wouldn't want Apple to be the only player in the game.

I prefer the iPhone, but am working with an Android application right now and therefore use an Android device.

I'm curious as to how many people have substantial experience with both, such that they can make a reasonable comparison.

(I don't know whether to expect that'd only be a few people or quite a lot of people).

I'd like to see a poll for "Develop for X first" where X is one of iPhone, Android, Web

I have an Android. But voted iPhone. Very much looking forward to my upgrade!

Why no love for other platforms?

I don't have a cell-phone

good poll. no noise about development, app stores, prices...

just select the cancer-giving you carry around most of the time.

even thought missing RIM, Nokia and MS seems bad even for the HN crowd. Not to mention "Other"

Heh, i was wrong.

this became a huge list of pros/cons of each phone.

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