cellio | Verizon iPhone?

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Verizon iPhone?

We've been holding off on replacing our phones (contract is up) because of the iPhone rumors. We are committed to Verizon.

I'm largely agnostic between iPhone and Droid. I suspect that either would meet my needs nicely; I have a slightly better gut feeling about the Droid but it's probably not significant. My needs are largely about having the internet in my pocket -- easy, legible web browsing and email primarily, only passing interest in video, and I don't wear earbuds so music capabilities don't matter all that much. (I have an iPod Nano for driving.) One thing I do want, though, is a digital recorder, which I think both can do. I've never had a smartphone before, though I've used others' from time to time, so this is largely new territory for me.

It sure sounds like -- specifically on Verizon -- the Droid beats the iPhone on speed and future-proofing. The iPhone is locked into the 3G (CDMA) network and the Droid uses LTE, which I understand to mean 4G or at least faster 3G. Do I have that right? Any plan/phones we buy now will have to hold us for two years. (I know that "4G" is something of a misnomer currently.)

As I said, I don't have strong opinions favoring one over the other. I invite those of you who do to evangelize. :-) (Also, if you're evangelizing about the Droid, I'd like to hear comments on specific phones, since there are choices there.)

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I am quite happy with my 1 year old Droid - but in retrospect I did not need the keyboard. (I am not sure how the soft keyboard for either of these phones will work with your vision issues.)

I think it's basically a tie between the iPhone and Droid. iPhone is tightly tied to iTunes and such: if you are big in that ecosystem, that can be an advantage. I informally feel that the app system on Android is cheaper: more free apps, but with embedded ads. (I'm waiting for an ad-blocker on Android...)

I agree that the network speeds are likely better on Droid. The iPhone CDMA on Verizon cannot handle simultaneous voice and data, which the Droid can. The iPhone has local wifi hot-spot, which has been crippled out of Verizon Droids - but you can rootkit your Droid and get it back. (I have not, yet...)

I think the iPhone is likely more expensive overall, and I am concerned that the Verizon situation will not keep up with the annual June-release of new iPhones.

I think the iPhone is "sexier", but as it is I would not get it without simultaneous voice and data.

Thanks for the comment.

I'm not sure, of course, but I suspect that my vision won't make a big difference on physical versus software keyboard. I've noticed with my Kindle that I type using, essentially, fingernails and/or tips because the keys are so small and close together. That keyboard is no smaller than what I would get on a phone. I sure can't do anything like touch-typing on it, so if I'm not getting useful tactile feedback anyway, I may as well just try to screen. But this is something I can try out in the store, I presume.

Yes.

It should be noted that the touch screen on my Motorola Droid requires contact with flesh: a stylus or fingernails won't do.

the iPhone has some problems. it cannot be unlocked at this time, making international use problematic.
the battery cannot easily be changed.
the phone "helps" spelling so much that it can become nonsensical.
there are other things, this is just a note, not a list.

my next phone will likely be a droid, but it won't be for a while. I am very happy with how long my iPhone has held up so far, as much as I dread a dead battery.

ah yes, just remembered the other thing I hate about this phone. It has no memory card slot.
I am sticking with AT&T for the SIM cards, and this phone is being very reliable two and a half years in, but boy would I love an SD slot.

Thanks for the comments. I hadn't thought to ask about battery replacement; that's a good point.

it cannot be unlocked at this time, making international use problematic.

A CDMA phone will never be usable overseas, since their networks are GSM, and since

cellio is a Verizon user, any phone she purchases now will be CDMA.

Yeah, I'm used to my phone not being useful in Canada [1], and any other international travel is rare enough that I can either go without or rent a phone.

[1] I can make calls in Toronto, but it's roaming and if I keep the phone on the battery drains in just a few hours, presumably from all the pinging. I cannot pick up voicemail there, which I didn't realize until I came home from our first trip after starting to use a cat-sitter. :-(

I cannot pick up voicemail there, which I didn't realize until I came home from our first trip after starting to use a cat-sitter. :-(

OUCH. You can setup google voice to pick up voicemail from your cell phone (and only use it when you're in Canada) if you don't mind google. Then you can pickup your voicemail from the internet (if you have a connection). They can also try to transcribe it (and you can get an email and/or text) but that has varying degrees of success.

Now that we know this, I just give the cat-sitter the land line in Toronto. (If we're there we're staying with relatives.) We don't go that often. It's actually been a couple years for me, so things might have changed -- we'll find out in the spring, probably.

I resisted getting a cell phone of any sort until just a couple months ago. At that point, Lis showed me the Dell Streak, and said that, as it is a smartphone, the only way I could get one would be getting a phone, since the Streak is a phone.

The Dell Streak is a six-inch-by-three-inch rectangle, almost all of which is screen. So, if you're reading a book on it, your reading area is close to, um, 80% of the area of a paperback book page. Or thereabouts. It's actually large enough to be able to read books on. Not as good as a book, of course, but way better than no book.

It does web browsing wonderfully.

Input? Well, its basic keyboard is fine. But, since it's a Droid, you can download alternative keyboards. I've got Graffiti (remember PalmOS?), a keyboard called ThickButtons which dynamically resizes the keyboard to increase the size of the most probable next keystrokes, and, the one I am actually using, a keyboard called Thumb Keys which splits the keyboard down the middle similar to the way that an ergonomic keyboard might, which allows you to reach all the keys with your thumbs without stretching too far.

I'm a fan. The Streak is pretty much at the absolute upper end of what's to conveniently carry as a phone -- they're coming out with an even larger one, and I don't think it will be as useful as this one. But, because it's so large, it works great as an ebook reader and as a web browser/email client. How is it as a phone? Well . . . it's fine. Being a phone is the thing that this phone does least well. Using headphones with a microphone is a lot easier than holding it up to your head, but even that works acceptably.

Oh -- but a caveat.

It's a Dell product. That means that it MIGHT be bulletproof-brilliantly reliable, like mine is, or it might every once in a while completely brick itself and need to be hard-reset losing all your user information completely -- like Lis's has, three times so far.

Dell products are quirky that way. The same thing off the same assembly line may be top-notch, or utter crap.

Thanks for the information. I hadn't heard of the Streak before. Do you carry it in a pocket? (Which?)

Mostly, it goes in my bag, since I, in effect, carry a purse. But it fits in my front pockets, because I have pretty big front pockets, or in the cargo pockets on my trousers, since I tend to have cargo pockets. Or my jacket pocket. I tend to have a lot of very large pockets on me at any time. Which is why these things work for me.

Well, I'm an Android developer these days, so I can't promise that I'm totally unbiased, but I think I can take a stab at impartially listing pros and cons.

The pros for iPhone: (1) by all reports the screen on the newest iPhone is really nice and crisp, and if you like Apple's font rendering, it's all there; (2) it's reportedly easier for new users to get up to speed; (3) you either love or hate Apple's design aesthetic. If you love it, iPhone's got it in spades.

The cons for iPhone: (1) it's a closed system, and if you don't want to do things Uncle Steve's way, you're out of luck; (2) they got complacent, and Android surpassed them on features and functionality, and now they're playing catchup -- and not doing it very well.

The pros for Android: (1) it's designed to be customizable even before you start rooting it, and if that's not good enough you've got the full sources to the OS; (2) new features and capabilities are coming along at an amazing pace, guaranteeing a pretty much permanent lead in the race against iPhone; (3) there's no gatekeepers for Apps, which means you can have Flash, multiple App stores, etc.; (4) there are lots of different models, so you can choose the price/power/ergonomics/features you want.

The cons for Android: (1) new features and capabilities are coming along at an amazing pace. Sometimes it seems that they're rushing them out before it's established that they are actually an improvement. (IMHO the "gallery" and "clock" apps have gotten steadily worse with successive releases.)

For my money, Android is a no-brainer, but many people will look at the same arguments and choose the iPhone, and I wish them well.

If you are choosing a Verizon Android phone, I personally believe that the "Droid X" is the best phone around. Its LCD display is crisper than the AmoLED displays on other models -- the pixel layout on those show distinct pixelation if you get in close, which you'll probably end up doing frequently. The display is also quite large, and physical size is often more important than resolution on phone displays. Once you get used to the soft keyboard (and, in particular, the Swype keyboard) you are unlikely to lament the lack of a hardware keyboard -- when I had them on the original Droid and G1 I never used them. Motorola has customized the OS a bit, but not as drastically as HTC and Samsung, and their changes don't get in the way for the most part.

I *don't* necessarily recommend other Motorola phones. I thought the original Droid was atrocious in every respect, and haven't thoroughly evaluated other recent models. I've liked most HTC models, especially the Incredible, but I put it just below the X. The Samsung Galaxy (Verizon's is call "Fascinate") is decent, but loses some points to the X on display crispness and OS customization.

Thanks for all the good info and recommendations.

I have an iPod touch - a phoneless iPhone, basically. Apps I have on it include a complete Babylonian Talmud in Aramaic and English, a Hebrew/English/Onkelos Tanach, A modern Hebrew dictionary, and an app that includes all of BDB and Gesenius, as well as Davka's Talmud Keys - an index to talmudic abbreviations. It also has native Hebrew support. The predictive spell check another commenter warned about can be disabled. I would say consider what you want on your phone, check availability and choose accordingly.

Thanks for the app info -- hadn't considered differences there!

Both AT&T and VZ are switching to LTE as they deploy their next generation networks.

AT&T is absolutely pathetic on its willingness to invest in network upgrades. VZ is fanatical about upgrading. I wrote about this divergence in strategy back in 2006. AT&T decided to make its strategy around size. VZ is a gold-plated uber expensive high end network.

Sadly, the best thing for pure internet in your pocket at this point would be a Sprint EVO or Clearwire EVO. Pure WiMAX connection and no capacity cap. Not sure how long that will remain true. Alas, Sprint got shafted because of a production problem with the EVO that was Samsung's fault (they make the touch screen).

But getting back to iPhone v. Droid on VZ. There should not be a lot of difference in speed in the short term (why is iPhone available only in CDMA for VZ? That makes no sense. Oh wait, I bet I know. It is the stupid standards problem in the 700 MHz band. Never mind.)

Actually, this is kind of intriguing. I should dig into that.

Back. Looks like Apple opted not to do LTE because the technology is still nascent. Probably a smart move on their part.

Yeah, Verizon decided not to wait for Apple, who decided they weren't in a hurry. I can understand that. Some of the (popular-press) articles I read yesterday quoted VZ people saying that time to market was more important to them, which means many of the usual concerns about a version 1 are probably in play. (Not all of them, of course, because the iPhone and iTouch have been out there for a while and are doing well. If the Touch had a mic I probably would have bought one a couple years ago.)

VZ absolutely had to ditch CDMA for 4G. CDMA, like all 3G protocols, is not optimized for data and requires paired spectrum.

I meant I understand Apple not wanting to invest the effort. VZ has to fix their network; fortunately they appear to know this.

I'm speaking purely for myself here, as a Verizon consumer:

There are several different Verizon phones that are called "Droid", and I believe that none of the ones that are currently available can use the 4G/LTE network. I think the "Droid Bionic" from HTC is supposed to be the first Android phone that will support Verizon's 4G network, and it's not supposed to launch until Q2 2011. It will probably be my next phone if the reviews are good. FWIW, the display is supposed to be very crisp.

Before you choose between the iPhone or any particular Android phone, I strongly recommend trying them hands-on to see how you like the display and the onscreen keyboard. You'll wind up using the onscreen keyboard more than you think.

I agree with this. I will also note that it's going to be rather longer than 3-6 months before VZ has an iPhone that can support 4G. The CDMA limitations would discourage me from going with the iPhone on VZ, were I on VZ (I'm not) and really wanted a smartphone (not right now).

The CDMA limitation discourages droids too, at the moment. Apparently Verizon doesn't have HTE smartphones yet; try again in six months. I'll wait.

Thanks for the information. I had been under the mistaken impression that they had LTE phones now, but you're right. It seems like the wisest course of action is to wait six months; this is the wrong time to get locked into 3G.

I definitely want to try the candidates hands-on. I hope the phones in the store are sufficiently enabled to allow testing with web sites I actually use. If not I'll have to hunt for friends with particular phones, which is more of a hassle.

I looked at Verizon's site yesterday and couldn't find an easy way to get it to spit out "Droids with LTE". I suspect if they had any it would be easy to find.

If you're looking at upgrading now, any phone may be CDMA. If you're willing to wait a few months, they announced some LTE phones at CES to come out Q1 2011. The earliest an LTE iPhone is expected is June, but that's not a definite (just speculation) in anything that I've read.

Thanks. I had thought they had LTE phones now, but I don't see any evidence either. I can wait a few months.

This article (http://pocketnow.com/tech-news/first-verizon-lte-phones-coming-in-february-new-data-limits-to-follow) suggests Feb for the first LTE phones. Verizon's press release (http://news.vzw.com/news/2011/01/pr2011-01-06n.html) suggests March. I'm sure there will be a lot of noise about it either way.

Thanks for the links. We're going to wait; no sense signing up now for obsolete technology when the next version is coming soon!

Between Robert (who posted as Anonymous up above) and myself we have three Android phones. But (currently) our main phones are T-Mobile Nexus Ones which can't be bought any more. The new Nexus-S phone for T-Mobile looks good.

Robert has an older Droid if you want to play, it's not a phone, no service, but you could test it out. :-)

I HAD an iPhone and left AT&T (yeah, I paid to break that contract) for the Nexus One and couldn't be happier. Having an android programmer in me pocket doesn't hurt either. >:)

If you HAVE to stay with Verizon, make certain you test live phones. Every manufacturer and cell service puts their own... twist.. to the stock Android and in many cases I have found the look and feel to be worse than the iPhone. I believe that the Nexus line are pretty much "pure" Android with very little dropped in from the manufacturer or the cell provider. Which I very much like because it means _I_ can customize it the way _I_ want rather than the way the phone maker or the cell provider _thinks_ it should look.

Thanks for the advice, particularly about live phones (and for cluing me in about the anonymous comment; I wondered who that was).

We're with Verizon because Sprint gave us neither good coverage nor good customer service, everybody hates AT&T, everybody else had crappy phones when last we shopped, and we get DSL from Verizon too so there's some small pricing benefit. (If they ever deign to bring FIOS to Squirrel Hill we'll jump on that right away.) But we shouldn't write off the (non-Sprint) other providers based on old data; if they've got Droids too, we should look. (Both of us have an absolute requirement that a phone fit in a pants pocket, and the cheaper carriers last time around were all doing candy bars.) We can walk a couple blocks and check out T-Mobile, so we should do that!

Important note:

Droid is a Trademark used by Verizon for only SOME of its Android based phones.

All others are android phones, not Droids.

(Droid is apparently used with permission from Lucas films who holds the trademark on that word....)

As for customer service AND actual cell service. Having had T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T then back to T-Mobile here in the PGH area, I found the best service was T-mobile hands down.

BTW, I typically "carry" my Nexus One in my bra (I rarely have pockets) and it fits nicely. When I DO have pockets it fits nicely in them.

Oh, I had assumed that Droid was Google's trademark, not Verizon's. Thanks for the tip.

We'll check out T-mobile -- thanks!

I like your carrying method. I think I probably wear necklines that are too high for that, but I had fun experimenting. :-)

I suggest checking out the Palm Pre Plus (and the Palm Pre 2, if it's available yet, which I'm not sure it is). Now that HP has purchased Palm, they should be around for a while. I'm a lot happier with the polish that WebOS has over a very Linux-y feeling Android, and I'm not a fan of Apple's business practices in general, let alone the Iphone OS. WebOS 2.0, which comes standard on the Palm Pre and Pixi 2, will be released for the Pre Plus very soon. You also may like the raised bumpy tactile keyboard of the Palm over the smooth Android ones. I can't touch-type on an Android the way I can on a Palm.

Is that a phone too, or just a pocket computer? Granted, I was ready to get a phone-less pocket computer (iTouch) at one point, but now that I can get a single device to cover both needs, it's awfully tempting to not carry the extra thing around.

I like the Pre too (it's what I own) for the keyboard and hackability. If you hack it right there are a fair number of apps out there. Battery life feels bad to me, but I moved from a semi-sentient phone with a two week life to this one that lasts about two days (no doubt because of all the work email that slams it).

At work we do a lot of mobile development. Most of the people are iPhone users.. but they drool over the Droids (some people have over five on their desk) and constantly point out cool things you can do with them. I'd tend towards the Droid side based on that.

And whatever you buy, whenever you buy it, will be "obsolete" within a month.

It's a smartphone.

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