About 5 weeks ago, I renewed my contract with AT&T after finding the Motorola Atrix on sale at Best Buy for $99. I carried an iPhone for just under two years. The iPhone was the first full-on smart phone with data plan phone I carried. Prior to that, I had Palm phones, but no data plans. So they were just phones to play games on.
Anyway, after carrying the iphone for two years, I did like it, but it had it's bad points. Wanting more control over things like email and calendaring, I wanted to look at the Android phones. I settled on the Atrix for it's higher resolution screen and dual core processor.
So far, the Android beats the shit out of the iphone.
GPS iphone: I use my phone as my GPS. iphone has the built in google map that tracks you on the map, but has no guidance at all. So, you have to keep it handy and look at in as you get closer to your turns so you don't miss them.
GPS Android: Navagation. This is standard with the Android OS (I believe. All three of our phones have it.) HUGE step up from the iphone. Pick alternate routes, alerts for upcoming turns WITH street names. Etc. Many of the features of a full GPS. I like it better than my old Tom Tom. Also, it's WAY more accurate as far as tracking position than the iphone. Iphone always lagged way behind. I would pass a street that the iphone would show is still up ahead of me.
iphone email: I used the built in one. It wasn't bad. It got the job done. I didn't like how it handled folders because it expanded them and it made for a really long list of folders to scroll through. But, I gave me my email.
Android email: I couldn't get the Android calendar to work. After googling the issues, I saw that many people couldn't get it to work. I downloaded K-9 email and it works well. However, it's folder management is worse than iphone. It also expands all folders. But instead of creating an indented tree of folders, it lists them with their full path name. It's very klunky and cumbersome. I'm used to it now and can find what I'm looking for easily enough. But, it's a horrible implementation. Seems all other email apps handle it the same way because they piggy back off the built in Android email API stuff. So, they all suck.
Calendar iphone: Was weak. I use Google calendar, and I created a total of 6 calendars with my account. I have my main, and five sub. I use it for keeping track of which tech is doing what. iphone would only look at my main calendar. It wouldn't show any of the sub calendars. So, it was only good for telling me what I was doing. It didn't work for when I'd get a call to schedule something new because I didn't have all the info I needed. Any app that I could download that might have helped, cost money. Blah.
Calendar Android: MUCH better. Naturally, it lets me see all of my subcalendars. So, all info is available. However, much like the email, the Android app didn't work very well. It wouldn't synch reliably and tended to jack things all up. I found Business Calendar for free and tried that. Other than the ads, which I can pay to make go away, it's awesome. I see all my info, it synchs well, it's color coded for each calendar, etc.
Customization iphone: I can put shortcuts on different pages.
Customization Android: I can put shortcuts on different pages. Then there's the widgets. Those are awesome. The calendar app has a widget that shows the next 3, 5, 7 or 9 events. My messaging widgets shows recent messages, the weather widget, etc. They are like, small windows into the info that I need at any given time. Makes my phone a MUCH more helpful tool.
Games iphone: There are some really good games. I have 90% free games and have enjoyed MANY hours of entertainment. I really like the game app support with the iphone.
Games Android: I have found some good games on the Android, but I like my games on my iphone better. However, when I first got games on the iphone, they weren't all that great. But as I learned better ways to search for games and stuff, I found much better games. The games on my Atrix are as good as my early iphone games. So, I'm hoping that as I learn the Market, I'll find better games on the Android as well.
Camera iphone: Meh. It takes pictures and video. Have used it when I didn't have my cheap digital camera, but always preferred the digital camera.
Camera Atrix: This isn't really an Android thing, but, all of our Android phones have similar cameras that are MUCH better than the iphone's. Granted, our current Android phones have a 2 year newer advantage, but even looking at the iphone 4G, our new cameras are better. Full on digital camera. I don't remember the pixel count, but there's a flash and it records video in 720p. Now I don't have to buy the flip I was looking at. Used it recently while the dogs were swimming. It was awesome. Just the camera/recording capabilities of this phone were worth the $99 I paid for it.
That's all I've got for now. When I first bought the Atrix, I wasn't sure I was going to like the Android. Apple has such a huge app developer base, etc. I just figured it was going to have a better chance of having the stuff I wanted/needed. Definitely not the case. My intention was to buy the Atrix, try it, then dump one of my phones (they both sell really well on ebay). Right now, I'm charging my iphone back up so can wipe it's memory and I'm getting it ready for sale on ebay. I will miss the games on the iphone, but everything else was replaced by something better on the Android. Somethings, only slightly better, but most of them are MUCH better. Oh, and if I didn't mention it, it's probably the same on both phones. Music - same. Both play, play lists, etc. OH!! But I don't have to have itunes on my PC any more. YAY!! Phone calls - same. Etc.
OH, the Android's support for files is WAY better than iphone as well. Iphone, well, it doesn't support file storage, unless you buy an app. Android is just a big USB drive. I like being having a 'same' option for all of my email attachments instead just a 'view'. That way, I don't have to keep hunting down the email with that attachment. I have it right on my phone. Which is also handy for when you are in a building where you don't have service.
So, in summary Android >>>>>> (much greater than) iphone.
Edited By Cakedaddy on 1305904768
Android vs iPhone
Navigation alone makes the Android series better than the iPhone. It's awesome. It's sooo much better than any GPS in existence. (The constantly updated maps, free traffic updates, etc are completely full of win).
I've a similar experience for calendars, love the integration of the GCal and Android phone, and I also use an Outlook synch tool (from Google) to synch my outlook (I dont use Exchange, since it's my personal stuff) to GCal, so my phone and desktop are on the same page.
Email is good, but I mostly use it on my phone to read, I don't organize or send much more than short emails, so it's sufficient. I also synch it to my dayjob (Outlook OWA) and it works fine.
My camera is worse than iPhone camera, but I have (nearly) 2 year old Droid phone. The cameras on my friends' newer Android phones are much more iPhone competitive.
Oh, and now that Google Music is out, and the updated player for Android is out (although, still haven't used it), it just did that last thing I really wanted my phone to do.
Honestly, I know a lot of people give Google grief for whatever reason, but I love me some Google. Everything they do for me (Browser, Music, Search, Navigation/Maps, Email, Android OS, etc) is all FREE to me, yet very valuable.
I've a similar experience for calendars, love the integration of the GCal and Android phone, and I also use an Outlook synch tool (from Google) to synch my outlook (I dont use Exchange, since it's my personal stuff) to GCal, so my phone and desktop are on the same page.
Email is good, but I mostly use it on my phone to read, I don't organize or send much more than short emails, so it's sufficient. I also synch it to my dayjob (Outlook OWA) and it works fine.
My camera is worse than iPhone camera, but I have (nearly) 2 year old Droid phone. The cameras on my friends' newer Android phones are much more iPhone competitive.
Oh, and now that Google Music is out, and the updated player for Android is out (although, still haven't used it), it just did that last thing I really wanted my phone to do.
Honestly, I know a lot of people give Google grief for whatever reason, but I love me some Google. Everything they do for me (Browser, Music, Search, Navigation/Maps, Email, Android OS, etc) is all FREE to me, yet very valuable.
It's not me, it's someone else.