iPhone Vs. Droid

Recently, I switched from the Motorola Droid to the iPhone 4. One of the main reasons I switched was because, as a long time Mac User, my address book, music, and videos are already on my Mac, and directly accessible via iTunes. Also, since the rest of my family has iPods, we already have a pretty large library of Apps.

Business insider offered up their reasons why they think the droid is better so I thought I would share my experiences with the two platforms.

iPhone Pros:

• Facetime: There’s something inherently cool about using video chat from your phone.
• iTunes integration: Some people see this as a downside, but as I mentioned, with multiple iPods in the house, we already had a pretty extensive library. With the droid, I copied over about 5-10 songs manually, but never bothered after that.
• Camera: Both cameras offer the same resolution, and the droid camera app offers more control, but I love the built in HDR and one touch simplicity of the iPhone. Plus, I love that I can edit my movies via iMovie right from the phone, which leads me to my next point…
• Apps: The apps for the iPhone look better. Perhaps it’s the retina display, but the apps on the iPhone look and feel more professional than the same apps on the droid. Even Google places offers a few features the android version doesn’t have. (Now if only Google would release My Tracks for the iPhone.)
• User Interface: I love the little switch on the side that puts the iPhone on silent mode. You could do the same thing with a gesture on the android phones, but I like the physical feel of the switch. Also, on the android I experienced several times where a low battery situation would turn off sounds. (Really, they just diverted them to the internal speaker used when talking on the phone rather than making them audible via the hands free speaker.)
• Speed: The droid is supposed to win this one, but the iPhone feels more responsive.

Droid Pros:

• Contact synching: Oddly enough, I thought this would be pretty straight forward on both platforms. My Apple contacts are synched with both my Google, and Mobile Me accounts so I expected all my contacts to come across smoothly. A couple of days after the switch over I noticed that several of my contacts were missing, and in one case, displayed a 6 year old address, in my phone’s contact list. I opened iTunes, and clicked the “Synch contacts with this computer” option. Now everyone in my phone’s contact list is duplicated.
• Customizability: Being able to put shortcuts to direct dial numbers on the home screen was great. Unlock the phone and have calling right at your fingertips. On the iPhone, I have to open the “phone” app first to make a call. Which brings me to my next point…
• Voice control: The iPhone is supposed to be able to operate via voice commands, but nearly every time I try to use them, I get something other than what I intended. Plus, voice recognition is not built into many apps such as messaging. On the droid I loved being able to “text” via voice.
• Navigation: I miss the spoken turn by turn directions from the Droid. You get directions on the iPhone, but have to download a separate app for the spoken directions. Also, the directions don’t automatically update as you navigate so you could be on step 5 on the map, but still reading step 3. Also, I’ll assume it’s the same on the android since Google provides the directions, but trying to find the Red Lobster in Pocatello, ID via the iPhone directions will lead you in the complete opposite direction of where you want to go. Ironically, if you choose view on map instead, it shows you the correct location.
• Sharing: On the iPhone, I take a picture and want to share it on Facebook, I have to return to the home screen, open the facebook client, and upload it manually. On the droid, you tap share and have immediate access to a list of places to share your photo: Flickr, Facebook, Orkut, etc. On the iPhone, your only option is Mobile Me.
• Expandability: There’s a memory card slot to allow for expansion on the droid. Although I never upgraded from the one I got with my phone, it was nice to know that I could if I needed to.