iPhone or Droid Incredible? In other words, is AT&T really so bad? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

If "things" can easily get lost in the system, then that's the point: Apple's review system has problems in that it loses reviews in process. And if things stay lost despite the developer inquiring about it, then it's am even worse problem.

 

It seems to be a small, even very small, percentage of the reviews of that have serious problems. As a user, it doesn't impact me in any appreciable way. But this sort of thing has the potential to get worse, especially if as you say it's a systemic problem, and turn away developers, which would be detrimental to Apple.

 

Right now it's a gravy train. But if Apple looks difficult to work with and Android gets its act together and looks easy to work with, a shift could happen.

 

[Sam Posten]

Look, I can agree that the review process sucks and non-responsiveness is TERRIBLE business but the app is clearly bordering on what is expressly forbidden by the agreement you sign when you start development.

 

IF YOU WANT TO FLIRT WITH THAT EDGE DON'T BE SURPRISED IF IT CUTS YOU! =)

 

[merreborn]

Just wanted to provide a little more anecdotal evidence, in reply to the reception question:

 

AT&T worked fine for me in most of the bay area, but in San Francisco proper, I don't think I ever had a call go more than a minute without dropping, when I got reception at all. Verizon's been far better.

 

As to the question of Droid versus iPhone -- reception issues notwithstanding, I'm a heavy email user, so I require a physical keyboard. Went with the Droid 2 as a result.

 

[Sam Posten]

I've heard that about the physuical keyboard from many people.... until they actually live with the software keyboard for a day or two. I am a MUCH faster typist on iPhone than I ever would be on a blackberry.

 

[DaveF]

As a modest emailer, I use normal (portrait) mode a lot and don't like that the physical keyboards are locked to landscape.

 

The only keyboard phone that would interest me right now would be a dual-keyboard that did both portrait (e.g. Palm Pre) and Landscape (e.g. Droid II) orientations.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

 

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

I've heard that about the physuical keyboard from many people.... until they actually live with the software keyboard for a day or two. I am a MUCH faster typist on iPhone than I ever would be on a blackberry.

Well, I never got used to it on my iPod Touch. The missing tactile feedback (especially on these small-ish touchscreens) makes a huge diff, IMHO -- and I was basically forced to type w/ my pinky (and stare at the keyboard) to get any kind of accuracy. Not saying the physical keyboard on my BB Tour is all that great either, but for me, the diff is really make-or-break.

 

_Man_

 

[Hanson]

I could never manage the iTouch keyboard, even in landscape. But then again, I guess I'm just a bad thumb typist -- the only reason I'm okay with the boatload of errors I make on my Evo keyboard is that I made the same amount of mistakes on the Touch Pro 2 slider keyboard. And the only reason I'm even mildly competent with the Evo keyboard is because it's so big.

 

But I know there are lots of BB users who can touch type on that thing, so good luck doing that with a soft keyboard.

 

[DaveF]

I certainly can't touchtype on my iPhone But I prefer it to Grafiti 2, that abomination Palm replaced original Grafiti with, after some patent squabble. And it's far sight better than the Droid keyboard, a mean joke played on Android users. Haven't tried newer Android keyboards.

 

I do wish the iPhone could get Swype: that sounds handy. And looking forward to integrated voice recognition in some future iOS. That is useful once in a while.

 

[DaveF]

Android will soon be acceptable in modern society: Angry Birds is being released for it.

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/08/31/angry-birds-for-android-coming-this-friday-sign-up-now/

 

Really, any phone on which I can play Angry Birds is OK in my book

 

[Sam Posten]

I think Geodefense is getting an Android release too.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Dang! I haven't touched iTunes to do any synching in a long while (not since v8.0.x and not for a whole year at least), but updating my old iPod Touch 2G to iOS4 and then loading it w/ a revamped media library (partly because the old iTunes 8.0.x setup got hosed and partly because the iPod Touch is going to my kid now) is taking forever, especially the latter part.

 

How is it possible that iTunes only managed to load ~12GB of music files (w/ another ~15GB of music + DC movie files to go) after some 2 hours of "synching" from scratch??? Is this a problem w/ iTunes 9.x? Problem w/ running iOS4 on the old iPod Touch 2G?

 

I checked Win XP's task manager, and I see CPU usage time of ~1hr22min eaten by iTunes all between the iOS4 update (that didn't go thru a big backup) and the ~12GB of media files loading (and whatever other weirdness might be going on behind the scenes). That's just nuts.

 

Seriously, I do not recall iTunes ever being *THAT* sluggish for loading/synching stuff before -- couldn't even imagine it getting this bad.

 

And running Firefox w/ iTunes doing its evil business in the background on my aging PC definitely is no picnic. Actually, maybe Firefox is partially to blame here -- it does seem much more sluggish that IE6 and also quite a bit more sluggish than IE8. OTOH, I wonder if my most recent update of McAfee is to blame as well (for sluggish file transfers).

 

Wow! Still can't believe iTunes is taking sooooo long to load our music library onto the iPod Touch...

 

_Man_

 

[DaveF]

The last time I had such a slow sync was on a USB 1.0 system.

Are you only syncing what you think you're syncing? Do you have movies or books or photos that's taking lots of space?

Can't be of much help otherwise. I've heard that iTunes in windows just doesn't perform very well at times.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

No, my system is not normally *THAT* slow copying files over USB -- usually takes ~4min to copy ~2GB of photo files off moderate speed flash cards using my USB flash reader when the PC is not busy.

 

I suspect Firefox was partly to blame -- maybe Firefox was using up enough I/O to slow iTunes' file transfers down to a crawl. Using a web browser does tend to slow down file copies in general although I would've thought it shouldn't be quite so bad for one-way transfers from my 2nd (data-only) drive out to the USB connection (to the iPod Touch).

 

I do wonder though what iTunes is so busy doing -- it's not very responsive in general and especially bad when it's doing something like importing media or synching.

 

Still, it also reportedly takes ~10min to "download" a ~1GB movie digital copy file (from my BD collection's DC discs). I guess if 1GB takes 10min, then 12GB would take 2 hours, so that's not so far off.

 

Pretty nutty though for a complete ~27-28GB media library reload to take so long -- I didn't keep further time (as I walked away from the computer for a while at some point), but it probably ended up taking 5-6 hours total.

 

_Man_

 

[DaveF]

That seems quite slow. Is there anything else on the USB hub that might be taking bandwidth? Check your Activity Monitor to make sure CPU isn't being hogged by something else.

 

[DaveF]

Open: awesome for carriers. Mixed value for consumers.

 

[Hanson]

Mixed value? Don't buy it! Android users have that choice, you know. Hard to understand how someone stuck on AT&T and allowed to pick between exactly one form factor likes throwing rocks at another glass house. I think the worst part of the entire enterprise is the way Fascinate owners are denied Google maps and Navigation. It's one of the true killer apps on the Android platform

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

All,

 

Regardless of your enthusiasm (or disdain) for either the iPhone or your favorite Android phone, to me the educated consumer, they all look like crappy net/overall offerings and are not worth the $$$, IMHO. AT&T sucks in the NYC metro area, period, so I'd be much better off just getting another reasonably priced iPod Touch and rely on wifi instead, if I want another small iOS device, and not get locked up to a crappy contract for 2 years that also requires paying for a data package (that offers spotty 3G access here). That plus I just don't trust the iPhone's battery to last long enough over time since I have no desire to upgrade/switch phones every 1.5 year or so. And oh yeah, I'd still need a physical keyboard anyway, if I want to type anything on the thing anyway -- I'd probably settle for a good, improved version of Graffiti or similar (w/ a smart dictionary as aid perhaps), but I guess there's no chance of that for the forseeable future.

 

To me, Verizon's the only real option for cell phone service here in the NYC metro area, and none of their offerings are compelling enough to also get locked up for 2 years paying their higher priced data package, especially since my job is paying for my Blackberry Tour on Verizon anyway. And to be honest, I'm rarely far from a desktop or laptop w/ either hard-line or wifi access anyway, if I need something better. They keep begging me to re-up my main phone (on our family share plan), and I just keep telling them I can wait (and pick up a cheap, used, replacement, non-smart phone or a battery whenever), steer clear of their data plans, and stay month-to-month indefinitely. Maybe if they got it right and offered one w/ a keyboard like Sprint's Epic 4G perhaps -- that plus more reasonable pricing on their data plans.

 

And in my case anyway, what probably makes more sense would be to wait for the iPad 2G and whatever Android tablet competition next spring or so and see where things stand then -- I could hope for Verizon to wise up soon enough, but I get that feeling it could be the ice age again by then. Right now, looks like I won't even need to get a laptop replacement anyway since I just inherited a laptop from work as well.

 

_Man_

 

[Hanson]

Actually Man, the Droid 2 on Verizon has a slide out keyboard like the Epic 4G.  Not that you're interested 

 

And actually. I've been with Sprint for 6 years in the Metro NY/NJ area ad commute to the city twice a week.  I don't have any issues with service anywhere I go, and in areas where there is no Sprint service, I roam on the Verizon network gratis (this is actually rare for me anyway).  All this for practically half the price of Verizon.

 

 

[Sam Posten]

Sorry Man-Fai but you are completely wrong IMO on both the battery and keyboard issues. My iPhone4 goes for days without charging most of the time with casual use and all day with continuous use. If you need more than that get a Mophie. And I have zero desire for a physical keyboard any more, I can type 80% as fast with two thumbs on the iPhone than I can with a full 104 key keyboard.

 

You are probably mostly right about AT&T in parts of NYC, but it's gotten a lot better, and has been absolutely fine on the west side to midtown every time I've been there for the last year.

 

Can't help you on answers for iTunes on a PC. Gave that up years ago.

 

[DaveF]

 

Originally Posted by Man-Fai Wong

All,

 

Regardless of your enthusiasm (or disdain) for either the iPhone or your favorite Android phone, to me the educated consumer, they all look like crappy net/overall offerings and are not worth the $$$, IMHO.
 

[...]

 

since my job is paying for my Blackberry Tour on Verizon anyway. And to be honest, I'm rarely far from a desktop or laptop w/ either hard-line or wifi access anyway, if I need something better.
 

_Man_

 

 

Previously, I had a 6-yr old flip-phone, an iPod nano, and a Palm PDA, and a point-and-shoot camera. Four gadgets and chargers and juggling pockets to carry the right ones for the right needs when I left the house. Multiple disconnected calendars. Multiple, disconnected address books and email lists.

 

Now: one iPhone. Everything is unified. Single calendar, address book, email list. Always have music and podcasts with me. Always have a quality snapshot camera. Always have some games to idle with, and web access, and maps. Can even do some "business" for my Toastmasters club or work if I need. It's amazing. And better.

 

So, you have that with a work-provided BB. Imagine life without your work phone. Would you still not want a smartphone, be it BB, iPhone, or Android? (Maybe not. Many people don't value this stuff like I do