[TriLUG] Android Phone vs iPhone vs other smartphones

[Keith Woodie]

>From my perspective I am not too concerned with "gaming" on a phone.  The
big thing I would like to accomplish is device consolidation.  Currently I
carry both my blackberry and my iPod to work with me.  I realize that I
could be syncing music to my blackberry, but with the 2gig memory card that
I bought with my blackberry I don't really see the point, and if I am
planning on buying a phone at this point I don't want to buy a memory card
if I don't have to.  In the last few months I have became a fan of Pandora
on my blackberry and I realize this is an option on either the iPhone or
Droid.

One thing I am concerned about with the Droid is the "Gmail" functionality.
Today on my blackberry (even with the new Gmail plugin app) I still don't
see two way sync of email.  Basically the way it works today on my
blackberry is that if I read the message on my blackberry the unread status
is updated in web gmail, but if I read the message first in web Gmail my
phone still tells me I have unread mail.  It is extremely annoying to read
the same messages twice and or having to delete them twice.  Does the Droid
handle this scenario the correct way with true two way sync?  I hear that
the iPhone does a good job with Gmail, but still has some annoyances.  Can
anyone comment on the Gmail functionality on the iPhone?

Does anyone use Google Voice on the Droid?  I have a Google Voice account
and hear the integration with Android is supposed to be good.  (iPhone app
store still forbids the Google Voice app I believe)

Keith Woodie


On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Jim <jjtuttle at trilug.org> wrote:

> On 03/17/2010 11:24 AM, Matt Pusateri wrote:
>
>> On Mar 17, 2010, at 11:06 AM, Christopher L Merrill wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> 'm pretty shocked to hear another poster say that the open-source nature
>>> of Android is worthlessif
>>> you are not going to build your own binaries from modified sources. I
>>> don't get that - I've been a
>>> Linux user for a decade now and have never built from sources. IMO, the
>>> open-source advantage of
>>> Android is going to manifest in many ways. We're already seeing a
>>> proliferation of Android on a wide
>>> variety of devices - some in non-phone form factors.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> I think you misunderstood what I was saying.  What I tried to convey, is
>> that if you're not going to download the SDK and build your own apps like
>> one of the other posters decided to do, then the ability to do that is not a
>> deciding factor compared to the to having the more restrictive iphone.  If
>> all your doing is downloading apps from a app store and not developing apps
>> yourself, then it's less of a factor for you that you personally have access
>> to the source code.  I am not saying,  nor did I think I say "that the
>> open-source nature of Android is worthless".  One of the reasons I
>> originally considered an Android based phone is I don't like the restricted
>> nature of the iPhone.  But taking the politics of open vs. closed away, the
>> iPhone works for me, and I am not hindered by the closed source model with
>> regards to my phone.  I want it to work and be stable, my phone is not the
>> place I want to have to spend time tinkering, but that's just me.
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
> Yes, but there is value in others being able to do it.  I don't want my
> choice of applications mediated by a corporation.
>
>
>
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