The Apple iPhone/ Is There A "Smarter" Smart Phone

[RBFC]

ATT, as of right now, has the network that allows you to talk on the phone and websurf simultaneously, etc. Supposedly, Verizon will have completed the updates to their network this fall and will have the same capability for multi-tasking. Verizon is the only carrier who provides good connectivity here in Albuquerque. Geographically, we are in a "topographic bowl" surrounded by mountains and mesas. We also have a large Air Force base here which has been implicated in bad reception (though I don't know why).

Waiting until fall seems like the logical plan. I toyed with the idea of the Droid phone, but may as well hold off for a few months for the Apple. We have used Apple computers here exclusively for a decade and think they're #1.

Lee

 

[Steve Williams]

OS4 allows multitasking.

My son is an Apple developer and has it. He doesn't feel all the bugs will be out before planned release in a few months

 

[RBFC]

OS4 allows multitasking.

My son is an Apple developer and has it. He doesn't feel all the bugs will be out before planned release in a few months

Maybe for Xmas time, then. Let others debug it first. Perhaps the multitasking thing is overrated anyway, as I am admittedly a dinosaur with respect to smartphone tech.

Lee

 

[Ron Party]

I, like Amir, also use the Motorola Droid. It definitely has its share of bugs, as do all CE devices, including smartphones. It is easy to come up with a wish list for the Droid.2. Having stated that, there is one thing that separates this phone from the iPhone (well, 2, if you include the added *benefit* that, at least here in the Bay Area, it is nice to actually get service, something one gets with Verizon and one gets only sometimes with AT&T): an actual qwerty keyboard. For some of us adults, particularly those with fat fingers, a virtual or touchscreen keyboard doesn't cut it. For my kids, they would not be caught dead without real keys - it would slow down their texting, AIM, etc., which these days is the very lifeline of their social networking.

 

[amirm]

I wasn't aware of that. I thought that this unlocks a phone so that it can be used by different carriers

The AT&T phones work on GSM network, same as what is used in all of Europe and by T-Mobile and Sprint. Once you unlock the phone, you can pop another SIM card in there and you are good to go. BTW, this is why AT& advertises that you can get more reception overseas due to compatibility with GSM.

Verizon went with competing CDMA technology from Qualcomm. It does not use SIM cards for provisioning so even if it were compatible otherwise, you couldn't authorize it.

All of Europe could decide to use one system, we had to have a war with multiple formats.

Even as we go to 4G, there are completing solutions with LTE, WiMax (Clear), etc.

Fortunately the age of "soft radios" are upon us so technically it is feasible to build multi-standard radios without a lot of grief.

 

[Steve Williams]

The AT&T phones work on GSM network, same as what is used in all of Europe and by T-Mobile and Sprint. Once you unlock the phone, you can pop another SIM card in there and you are good to go. BTW, this is why AT& advertises that you can get more reception overseas due to compatibility with GSM.

This is what I was aware of

 

[RBFC]

an actual qwerty keyboard. For some of us adults, particularly those with fat fingers, a virtual or touchscreen keyboard doesn't cut it.

This may be the feature that seals the deal. I'm going to go and mess around with one at the local Verizon store, and let the staff talk down to me as I fumble.

I still may wait as I figure this all out.

Lee

 

[amirm]

One note on Motorola Droid keyboard. It is the worst one I have every used! With the latest release it has been improved but it is still easy to touch more than one key. For a company who has been making cell phones for 30 years, it is incredible that Motorola didn't know how to make a simple keyboard work. It is a huge step back from my old Samsung phone.

It has been so bad that I prefer the touchscreen version. That said, I recently tried it after the upgrade to 2.1 and it *appears* to function better. There are rumors of a new unit coming out sometime this year to fix this issue. So if you are disappointed with this design, wait for the next one.

I personally am going to go and look at the HTC Incredible. It doesn't have a keyboard but given the above, I don't think I am missing much.

 

[RBFC]

One note on Motorola Droid keyboard. It is the worst one I have every used! With the latest release it has been improved but it is still easy to touch more than one key. For a company who has been making cell phones for 30 years, it is incredible that Motorola didn't know how to make a simple keyboard work. It is a huge step back from my old Samsung phone.

It has been so bad that I prefer the touchscreen version. That said, I recently tried it after the upgrade to 2.1 and it *appears* to function better. There are rumors of a new unit coming out sometime this year to fix this issue. So if you are disappointed with this design, wait for the next one.

I personally am going to go and look at the HTC Incredible. It doesn't have a keyboard but given the above, I don't think I am missing much.

Dang. Figures. Looks like we wait til fall regardless. I have an old LG ENV2 phone, and it keeps double tapping the send/select button. The result is empty messages constantly sent to the recipient. The keyboard isn't too bad, but not optimal either.

Lee

 

[vinylphilemag]

why Steve Jobs went with ATT as the sole carrier of the iphone is beyond me. The service is appalling with constant dropped calls in and around where I live. Sometimes I get no reception if I am in my kitchen but if I turn around and walk 3 feet the reception is fine.

To be fair, AT&T is the only *US* carrier. Up here in Canada the iPhone is available with Rogers (the initial carrier), Telus, Bell, and Virgin Mobile.

Perhaps this is because the iPhone is a GSM-only device and (this bit is a guess) AT&T is the US' only GSM carrier. The others presumably use CDMA, which is essentially a North Amercian only service. The rest of the world uses GSM, so in that sense Apple made the right decision.

 

[Ron Party]

One note on Motorola Droid keyboard. It is the worst one I have every used! With the latest release it has been improved but it is still easy to touch more than one key. For a company who has been making cell phones for 30 years, it is incredible that Motorola didn't know how to make a simple keyboard work. It is a huge step back from my old Samsung phone.

It has been so bad that I prefer the touchscreen version. That said, I recently tried it after the upgrade to 2.1 and it *appears* to function better. There are rumors of a new unit coming out sometime this year to fix this issue. So if you are disappointed with this design, wait for the next one.

I personally am going to go and look at the HTC Incredible. It doesn't have a keyboard but given the above, I don't think I am missing much.

Yeah, the keyboard could and should be a lot better. I have no doubt the keyboard on the Droid.2 will be better.

The Droid Incredible received high praise from the cell phone review websites. If you can live with touchscreen only, this might be the smartphone to use at this time.

 

[Steve Williams]

The only half decent keyboard is on the ipad

 

[amirm]

Perhaps this is because the iPhone is a GSM-only device and (this bit is a guess) AT&T is the US' only GSM carrier. The others presumably use CDMA, which is essentially a North Amercian only service. The rest of the world uses GSM, so in that sense Apple made the right decision.

In US only Verizon uses CDMA. All the other carriers use GSM.

Apple went with AT&T because they gave them the best deal as at the time, AT&T was doing really poorly and was desperate enough to give Apple a very sweet deal.

 

[ggendel]

In US only Verizon uses CDMA. All the other carriers use GSM.

Apple went with AT&T because they gave them the best deal as at the time, AT&T was doing really poorly and was desperate enough to give Apple a very sweet deal.

Actually, Sprint and Verizon both use CDMA. AT&T used to use a similar technology (HSPA?) until they bought Cingular.

I shunned the iPhone on principal. Apple's closed products don't sit well with a habitual tinkerer as me. I ended up with the Palm Pre Plus, and find it incredibly well suited as a smart phone. Besides, most of the framework is written in JavaScript which means it's incredibly flexible. Want to see the battery level as a percentage instead of an icon, change the script. Want more than three pages of applications, change the script. You don't have to jail-break WebOS, Palm gives everyone the keys to the back door. In the 4 months I've had it, it's never needed a reboot because of a crash once, even with my hacks.

An Android based phone was my second choice, but the OS is too fractured across the product line. It makes writing portable apps a royal pain.

 

[DaveyF]

I too use the iphone. Before I had the Droid and the Blackberry 9700. IMHO, the iphone is FAR FAR superior to the others. Many people told me that the Os was a problem ( NOT so), that the keyboard was a problem compared to the Blackberry ( Not for me it's not) and that the apps weren't that good.( BS).
ggendel, on the iphone, there is an app for basically everything! If you want to see what battery level there is as a percentage, there's an app for that. ( works great). While I don't like AT&T as a company, I haven't had too many problems with dropped calls in my area, where Qualcomm is HQ'ed BTW.
Again IMHO, the problem with AT&T is they want to get back to being Ma Bell asap.