Nexus One or iPhone?

[speedyink]

i cant speak about bluetooth, as i dont use it. but, in 2 months, apple is giving us themes. so everyone needs to be patient...

It doesn't get themes, you'll just be able to set a background on your main screen.

Not sure what you are talking about really, my iPhone 3G needed to be charged 1-2 times per day, after all who buys an iPhone to just keep in their pocket all day? It will only last a few hours if you use it for music/videos and using apps

+1 My best friend who had an iphone 3g always had to carry around his charger. It was strange to me, as my charger stays put, since I only have charge every 2-3 days. And I've owned this phone for just over 2 years now.

 

[bkribbs]

It doesn't get themes, you'll just be able to set a background on your main screen.

it definitely gets themes. this is a basic one below, and more complex ones will follow:

 

[speedyink]

A) That's a wallpaper

B) I've searched and searched...background ability is all I come up with.

Would love to see a link or something mentioning themes. Unless our definition of theme differs.

 

[Geoff]

A) That's a wallpaper

B) I've searched and searched...background ability is all I come up with.

Would love to see a link or something mentioning themes. Unless our definition of theme differs.

I didn't hear anything about themes either, just being able to set a home screen background. On the Droid you can have live wallpapers, which is pretty cool.

 

[tlarkin]

Not sure what you are talking about really, my iPhone 3G needed to be charged 1-2 times per day, after all who buys an iPhone to just keep in their pocket all day? It will only last a few hours if you use it for music/videos and using apps.

I gave you two things that the Droid can do, one was wardriving, the second was tethering. On the flip side, tell me something that the iPhone has that the Droid doesn't?

And what happens if the issue is you can't restore back to the original software? I've never had that happen, but it's always possible.


+1 Before OS 4.0 there was nothing you could customize, no background, no custom themes, no folders, and very little system settings that you can customize.

Not all droids support true multitouch, but in the end there is nothing really one can do over the other, which was my point. I am not sure how the droid synchronizes calendars, contacts, and other data to multiple computers, but the iPhone does all of that rather seamlessly.

I think people try to pull out ridiculous statements preferring one phone over the other, when they both pretty much do the same thing. It is the application of the features is what I am talking about. Also, jailbreaking your phone doesn't mess with any of the server side (AT&T ) settings. The other thing I find more common with the Droid, is that their apps you pay for are all subscription based, where as on the ITMS it is usually flat rate.

Everything that gets mentioned both phones can do. You can war drive with the iPhone, but to be honest, I am not interested in such things. I use maybe a few apps on my phone and not much else, voice, text, email, and some web surfing.

I was looking for specific things each phone can and cannot do. And as far as themes goes, I have several themes for my iPhone. I mean a simple GIS will display to you all the themes out there

http://www.google.com/images?client...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCwQsAQwAw

 

[tlarkin]

Actually, there is one thing the Android phones will have over iPhones, and that is porno apps. Jobs already said the ITMS will not support any pornographic applications.

So if you want that app that allows you to see lots of porn on your phone, get an Android.

Beyond that, it is personal preferences because there is nothing either phone can't do.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/19/steve-jobs-android-porn/

 

[Geoff]

Not all droids support true multitouch, but in the end there is nothing really one can do over the other, which was my point. I am not sure how the droid synchronizes calendars, contacts, and other data to multiple computers, but the iPhone does all of that rather seamlessly.

As you said both phones have pros and cons. The Droid syncs everything with Google, so if you use Google calendar then anything you change on the phone or on a computer gets synced almost instantly over the air without needing to sync. One thing I found pretty cool was that it syncs with the facebook app, so if you want to call or text someone that isn't in your contact list but is on facebook, when you start typing in that persons name it will pull it from facebook, if available. You can also backup and restore texts in the event you accidentally delete something.

It was a bit of a pain switching from the iPhone to the Droid, since I used to use Outlook for everything, but after migrating to Google Calendar I prefer it since everything is synced between all my computers, and my phone.

I don't know much about paid apps on the Droid, but I believe they are just one time purchases just like the App Store. Everything I want I've found for free so I haven't needed to find out.

 

[tlarkin]

As you said both phones have pros and cons. The Droid syncs everything with Google, so if you use Google calendar then anything you change on the phone or on a computer gets synced almost instantly over the air without needing to sync. One thing I found pretty cool was that it syncs with the facebook app, so if you want to call or text someone that isn't in your contact list but is on facebook, when you start typing in that persons name it will pull it from facebook, if available. You can also backup and restore texts in the event you accidentally delete something.

It was a bit of a pain switching from the iPhone to the Droid, since I used to use Outlook for everything, but after migrating to Google Calendar I prefer it since everything is synced between all my computers, and my phone.

I don't know much about paid apps on the Droid, but I believe they are just one time purchases just like the App Store. Everything I want I've found for free so I haven't needed to find out.

See I sort of have a personal problem with that. I avoid all the social networking sites as long as I can, but ultimately get sucked in at some point or another. Either to keep in touch with friends who live out of the country or far away in another state from me.

So, I signed up for FB, and facebook says oh hey, you got a gmail account do you want us to scan for anyone on FB you may know? That is all it said. I click sure, why not. Next thing I know it sends out friend requests to every damn person that was ever in my gmail account. The people I sold stuff to on Craig's list, the ebay buyers, it even sent out requests to customer service email addresses, which obviously have no FB account.

I like to control my data, and I like to control where it goes and how it is managed. I am not sure how I feel about the auto synchronization and Google apps. I already have reservations about how Google handles data, and with a third party involved, say a phone carrier, how are they not abusing such things as well?

How exactly does the data sync and how can you manage it? At least with my iPhone I can control what syncs and what doesn't, and I can make sure only certain things are automatic and others aren't. For example, my work calendar is automatic, so it syncs with every Mac I own, but my personal calendar, only syncs on my personal Macs at home.

 

[Geoff]

See I sort of have a personal problem with that. I avoid all the social networking sites as long as I can, but ultimately get sucked in at some point or another. Either to keep in touch with friends who live out of the country or far away in another state from me.

So, I signed up for FB, and facebook says oh hey, you got a gmail account do you want us to scan for anyone on FB you may know? That is all it said. I click sure, why not. Next thing I know it sends out friend requests to every damn person that was ever in my gmail account. The people I sold stuff to on Craig's list, the ebay buyers, it even sent out requests to customer service email addresses, which obviously have no FB account.

I like to control my data, and I like to control where it goes and how it is managed. I am not sure how I feel about the auto synchronization and Google apps. I already have reservations about how Google handles data, and with a third party involved, say a phone carrier, how are they not abusing such things as well?

How exactly does the data sync and how can you manage it? At least with my iPhone I can control what syncs and what doesn't, and I can make sure only certain things are automatic and others aren't. For example, my work calendar is automatic, so it syncs with every Mac I own, but my personal calendar, only syncs on my personal Macs at home.

Pretty much everything you stated has an on/off feature. With facebook, when you first launch facebook it will ask if you want it to sync with your contacts, then it will also ask if you want to add people who aren't already in your contacts (yes for the first, no for the second).

I can understand what you are saying about Google, there is quite a lot of info that is stored on their servers. I have the option to sync with Google calendar, Gmail, and other Google apps. I can select it to only sync my personal calendar and not my work calendars, I just have to say again I really love that feature. Sure some may not want Google to know everything about them and their schedules, but for me it's just personal stuff, and I really love being able to make a change on my phone and have it automatically sync with the online calendars. There have been many times where I make a change on my iPhone, but because I haven't synced it when I look at Outlook on my PC I still think I am free that day.

I don't see how a phone carrier is really involved here though, it's just a data connection between the apps on your phone and Google's servers, it's just like saying that Microsoft is a third party on PC's.

 

[tlarkin]

You know enough about networking to know what I am talking about. The provider can view everything that goes on their network, and now it is tied into google.

I know I am stretching the paranoia here, but I mean it doesn't sit right with me. I am just waiting for the super huge class action lawsuit to hit, that forces legislators to either endorse or deny our rights to privacy, and I think the latter will be the case considering they passed the Patriot Act in this country no problem.

What I like about the services for the iPhone is that you can anonymize your sync'd data by just subscribing to an aggregated hyper link over a third party service. So basically, since everything is hashed out to random numbers, you'd have to send an invite to someone to subscribe to your calendar.

I get cloud computing, but there is a lack of being able to control your services. When you do it yourself and in house, the total cost of ownership goes up because you own it, you are responsible for it. When you use third party the total cost of ownership goes down because you don't own it, but that also means you can no say in how it's done.

Facebook options suck, and when you are first signing up you don't, or at least I did not get those options. I got a check box that said do you want to search for people in your gmail contacts, yes or no? That is all it said. I skimmed through the privacy statement and EULA, and no where did it say it gives FB the right to use your contacts, nor was that ever mentioned.

Eric Schmidt from google is starting to make me feel at a bit unease too with all the shit he is saying in interviews and in TV, and he always uses the Patriot Act as the catalyst and justification for his actions, yet I somehow feel he is using that as an excuse to do something else.

 

[speedyink]

I was looking for specific things each phone can and cannot do. And as far as themes goes, I have several themes for my iPhone. I mean a simple GIS will display to you all the themes out there

http://www.google.com/images?client...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCwQsAQwAw

That's like saying the xbox can play backup games because you can soft mod it. You have to hack the iphone to do it, which is A) a pain in the ass and B) Makes your phone less stable.

 

[tlarkin]

That's like saying the xbox can play backup games because you can soft mod it. You have to hack the iphone to do it, which is A) a pain in the ass and B) Makes your phone less stable.

Jailbreaking is not a pain in the ass and it doesn't make it all that less stable, but if you want to talk about quality control, Apple has way more of it.

 

[speedyink]

Jailbreaking is not a pain in the ass and it doesn't make it all that less stable, but if you want to talk about quality control, Apple has way more of it.

Yes but jailbreaking effectively cancels out the quality control. And the phone isn't the most stable phone in the world to begin with.

It's been a while since I've had to jailbreak, but i remember it becoming a big pain in the ass when new OS updates came out. Kinda like how it's a pain in the ass to use illegal copies of windows, it isn't all the time, but it sure can be.

 

[tlarkin]

Yes but jailbreaking effectively cancels out the quality control. And the phone isn't the most stable phone in the world to begin with.

It's been a while since I've had to jailbreak, but i remember it becoming a big pain in the ass when new OS updates came out. Kinda like how it's a pain in the ass to use illegal copies of windows, it isn't all the time, but it sure can be.

No, not entirely. All the apps on the ITMS are still available and held to the same standards regardless if jailbroken or not. The only major down side is updating your jailbroken phone can disable 'jailbroken' features, but in my experience every iPhone update was hacked and pretty stable with in a week. I have only had my phone crash once in over 2 years.

They don't use any DRM like MS does, but they do overwrite certain system files in place with new ones that can undo certain things.

I think no matter what you say, it comes down to personal preference on what phone you want as they can both do pretty much the same things. Android phones do give you more choice of carriers, but I find the touch screens to be not as good as the iPhones.

 

[speedyink]

No, not entirely. All the apps on the ITMS are still available and held to the same standards regardless if jailbroken or not. The only major down side is updating your jailbroken phone can disable 'jailbroken' features, but in my experience every iPhone update was hacked and pretty stable with in a week. I have only had my phone crash once in over 2 years.

What about all the extra apps you specifically jailbreak for? They are out of Apple's control. So basically, if you were to be as careful as you would be on a windows computer your jailbroken iphone will be stable. Needless to say my best friend who is decent at f-ing up his computers got his jailbroken iphone to be completely useless because it crashed so frequently and was way too slow. He ended up reverted to the original OS.

But yes, I do agree, it all boils down to personal preference, or whichever is labeled as 'cooler', depending on the person buying it.

 

[Geoff]

I personally believe you are being too paranoid about this tlarkin. Sure it's on Verizon's network, but what about when you use public WiFi hotspots, or even your internet at home? The ISP is in the middle and could see what you were doing as well. Also, I could care less if Verizon knew that I was going to my parents for dinner next Wednesday, now if I had extremely sensitive data I would be more concerned.

I jailbroke my iPhone and it was much less stable, but I couldn't stand reverting back to the factory OS. My phone crashed several times per week.

 

[bkribbs]

I personally believe you are being too paranoid about this tlarkin. Sure it's on Verizon's network, but what about when you use public WiFi hotspots, or even your internet at home? The ISP is in the middle and could see what you were doing as well. Also, I could care less if Verizon knew that I was going to my parents for dinner next Wednesday, now if I had extremely sensitive data I would be more concerned.

I jailbroke my iPhone and it was much less stable, but I couldn't stand reverting back to the factory OS. My phone crashed several times per week.

there are different methods of jailbreaking. if you use redsn0w, it is really stable. blackra1n is slightly easier, but does cause crashes. which did you use?

 

[tlarkin]

I personally believe you are being too paranoid about this tlarkin. Sure it's on Verizon's network, but what about when you use public WiFi hotspots, or even your internet at home? The ISP is in the middle and could see what you were doing as well. Also, I could care less if Verizon knew that I was going to my parents for dinner next Wednesday, now if I had extremely sensitive data I would be more concerned.

I jailbroke my iPhone and it was much less stable, but I couldn't stand reverting back to the factory OS. My phone crashed several times per week.

I use best practices, so no I am not afraid of using my cell phone or public wifi, but what I am afraid of, is someone I know not using best practices. There have already been documented cases of people following other people on twitter to see their location, and when they noticed they were out of town, they robbed the other people.

I can't possibly know every person any of my friends associate with. I have a core of close friends and I know what they do, but the friends I just see out and about or grab a beer with, I don't know all their other friends.

Let me give you an example of how I don't like certain things. I've been to a few house parties where girls bring cameras and I have had my pic taken, and something "not so legal," was being done in the background. Then I get tagged on social networking sites with this pic, where I am not doing anything illegal or amoral in the pick, but the background things are probably not appropriate for certain things. Then it hits google and google associates my name with my website, my linked in profile, and so forth. You think potential future employers don't check you out on Google, social networking, and professional networking like Linked IN? They do, and even though you can set your privacy to the max, that doesn't stop someone else from sharing it and tagging your name to it.

I don't fear it, but I think there are people that don't really respect your privacy, and that feeling extends to the corporations and the people that run those corporations. Schmidt already admitted he would give up any info google had on anyone to authorities. Doesn't that violate the 4th amendment?

Then you have the bored employees of said communication companies. You don't think they dip into private conversations? There are plenty of documented cases that have gone to court over this. So, you may not care if someone reads your text message to your parents, but I do. Do I care that they know I text my parents, or what I said? Nope, not really, I just don't like the fact that they can, and in some cases some people do.

It is like the first time you work on someone else's computer and they have a folder labeled "porn," you are curious enough you take a quick look at what is in there. I used to work with guys who loved looking at people's personal data on their computers. I don't do that crap, but I know it happens.


**Edit**

All jailbreaking does, is that it takes the full image of the iPhone, the factory image, and wraps it up and modifies a few certain things to load the Cydia package manager on the phone. Then once that is installed, Cydia can install "non approved" Apple apps. I ued iPwn or something like that, never really had any problems people reported, but I never ran alpha or beta releases of apps on my phone, and I read all the read me files. Maybe that is the difference, I dunno...

 

[speedyink]

All jailbreaking does, is that it takes the full image of the iPhone, the factory image, and wraps it up and modifies a few certain things to load the Cydia package manager on the phone. Then once that is installed, Cydia can install "non approved" Apple apps. I ued iPwn or something like that, never really had any problems people reported, but I never ran alpha or beta releases of apps on my phone, and I read all the read me files. Maybe that is the difference, I dunno...

Maybe the difference is you're very meticulous.

It could be cause I don't live in the States..but I don't even think about stuff I text or say on the internet being used against me.

 

[Geoff]

there are different methods of jailbreaking. if you use redsn0w, it is really stable. blackra1n is slightly easier, but does cause crashes. which did you use?

I've used them all. redsn0w was only for a few versions of the OS, and likewise was blackra1n. I used whatever was available to jailbreak the latest OS.

And tlarkin, I know what you mean, people brought cameras to some of my parties and I specifically tell them NOT to upload any photos of me, I then check their facebook to make sure that I am not in any, because I don't want my co-workers, employer, or future employers to see any of that. You just need to use common sense. If you call out of work sick, don't post on facebook that you are out partying. I typically do not post my location online anyways, and although I am signed up for Google Latitude, I've never had any issues.