iPhone 3GS vs. HTC Desire

[Dos_Box]

That's a pretty good reason for me to get an iPhone too actually, but with the battery life not being great as it is (not when compared to my current phone, 3 days of solid use on one charge!) I reckon I'll stick with the iPod for my music whichever phone I go for

 

But with iSyncr for Android, I can sync my iTunes palylists anyway, and I just dump my music on the SD card. Simples.

[LosOjos]

My final question, the answer to which will ultimately decide which phone I go for: is the Android market anywhere near as good as iPhone?

[Jamo]

By that do you mean, can you waste a lot of time looking for useless apps on both phones?

 

Answer yes

 

Last time I checked the Android market had 20000 apps avaiable and that was at the last part of last year so it may have gone up since. Crapple Store has 100,000 although I would expect that to slow as Apple have recently introduced some tough lines on how they want the app store to be. Android seems to be the Free-er choice imho.

[LosOjos]

OK then let me re-phrase it:

Between the Android and Apple markets, which has the most useful/usable apps freely available, or are they roughly on a par with each other? I'm not really interested in daftness like the Carling drinking game (clever advertising though) or the 'Spank the Monkey' app (where, of course, you repeatedly slap a monkey), although it never hurts to have a choice of a few games to play when on the train or something. What I'd really find useful I suppose would be:

• Good mapping software that makes intuitive use of the GPS function (an offline version would be nice for when I go camping too)
  
• Fairly basic photo editing utility for red eye removal, brightness, contrast, hue etc.
  
• A selection of 'quick fix' games for the train
  
• Any suggestions anybody has of anything they find incredibly useful, an app you couldn't live without now you have it
  

 

Taking all that in to consideration, would I be better off with the iPhone or HTC for apps?

[chris_uk]

I'm looking at getting the Desire as well, for anybody that has an Android phone, do you know if you can get a ssh application that will allow you to do port forwarding? And also an RDP application?

 

Chris

[Theblacksheep]

Between the chavClone and HTC desire i'd go for the HTC.

 

My ipod touch I have is almost useless without being rooted. Don't see the fuss.

 

BTW: I have a hero now. Awaiting android 2.1

[tech_guy]

I've got a VNC variant on my G1 called android-vnc-viewer which works okay & is free. The best RDP stuff is paid for, like RDP by Xtralogic Inc, although there are free ones available.

[tech_guy]

I haven't used it but a friend has who reckons it works satisfactorily; Wooden SSH Downloader - it's free.

[Rydra]

I'm due an upgrade from my Iphone 3g about now, and frankly I find it hard to find one that matches it beats it.

 

It's horrible because it's made by apple; It's email client is buggy and doesn't work with NTL/Virgin, or Hotmail, It crashed every time i've ever run an update on it, the sync almost always crashes, taking 3-4 hours typically with all the reboots I have to do to get it work.

Plus no flash support, no java support, no bluetooth that's actually useable, no file storage, bad battery life... I could go on a bit, but it'd come out like a random ranting.

 

The one thing I have to big up, is the app store.

For Free, I have facebook, Calculators, unit conversions, game related apps (I play eve-online, so use one of their mini apps for ingame tracking), irc client, a vnc client, Mobile version of Photoshop, traffic advisory sponsored by the Highways authority, Skype, shazam.... Never paid for a single app.

 

It's got a lot of rubbish on there, most of which is related to age-restricted-to-death app-games, or pointless drivel that lasts about 9 minutes before your bored or frustrated with it. But those few priceless apps, I want to see and be sure they are all available for any other phone I buy.

 

I've been eying up the Blackberry storm 2 and the HTC's for a while, I just haven't seen that their app store has everything I want on it, yet.

[webman]

@JoshJohnson: Obviously with Android having a close tie with Google, if you use Google stuff (this includes Maps), then it's all seamless. Google Maps does work great on Android phones, as long as you have a data connection.

[Jamo]

You can get useful apps on Android like Google Maps, Facebook etc I have to say compared to WinMo versions they are so much nicer. I ahve never used the iPhone versions though. I am glad to see someone porting SCUMMvm to Android using the native code SDK

[tech_guy]

Ohhh, just got hatetweets on Twitter because I dared to say horrible things about the chavphone.

[webman]

Ohhh, just got hatetweets on Twitter because I dared to say horrible things about the chavphone.

 

The truth hurts?

[tmcd35]

I am sooooo tied to iTunes now it's unbelievable. I have approaching £900 worth of songs from the iTunes store and it'd cost me around £115 to convert the DRM tracks to DRM-Free tracks (around 520 DRM tracks). So, atleast for now, I'm stuck with Apple and the iPhone.

 

But to be honest I don't mind. The iPhone is the single best phone I've ever owned, I've not used any Palm Pre, Android or WinMo phones so I can't compare. My contracts up in July so I'll soon be looking for an upgrade. Unfortunately I doubt the iPhone 4G will be released in time so I'll be looking at a 32Gb iPhone 3GS as my next phone. Shame really as I need nearer 64Gb for all the songs, music videos and apps that I have.

 

I got the iPhone as a phone first, ipod seconf, e-mail client and basic web browser third and sat nav fourth. Everything else is just a bonus. I've never had any problems syncing on either Windows or Mac and the iPhone as never crashed on me.

 

Say what you will about Apple I still maintain they make the best OS's available even if some of their hardware is a bit shoody (MacBook Pro?).

[Rydra]

Their OS's are useable, and probably a little more userfriendly, but Horribly restrictive, and most of their products are, frankly, overpriced. Fix that, and remove the miscelaneous object that I believe they have stuck where the sun does not infact shine in regards to allowing access to pretty much anything, and I would struggle to beat apple in a lot of ways.

 

Until then, * > Apple.

[SYNACK]

I am sooooo tied to iTunes now it's unbelievable. I have approaching £900 worth of songs from the iTunes store and it'd cost me around £115 to convert the DRM tracks to DRM-Free tracks (around 520 DRM tracks). So, atleast for now, I'm stuck with Apple and the iPhone.

 

Ouch, Apple must love you. In Jobs's ecosystem your possessions own you. Its very direct interpretation of Buddhist viewpoints in a way. No surprises I voted for the HTC for the shear expandability and adaptability of it, the actual hardware of it blows the iPhone out of the water too.

[webman]

I am sooooo tied to iTunes now it's unbelievable. I have approaching £900 worth of songs from the iTunes store and it'd cost me around £115 to convert the DRM tracks to DRM-Free tracks (around 520 DRM tracks). So, atleast for now, I'm stuck with Apple and the iPhone.

 

If there were ever a reason for not a) buying DRM media and b) buying into a vendor lock-in system; this is it. Ridiculous.

[LosOjos]

OK, my mind is made up, and the clear winner in my view (and the vast majority of your views going by the poll) is the HTC Desire.

 

Can't wait to get hold of one now!

[tmcd35]

If there were ever a reason for not a) buying DRM media and b) buying into a vendor lock-in system; this is it. Ridiculous.

 

100% agree - 20/20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's actually stopping me from using a ubuntu desktop 24/7, crazy. I'm sure there are ways of converting the DRM tracks to non-DRM for free, I'm just worrid that doing so will wreck the associated metatag data

[DrCheese]

Unfortunately I doubt the iPhone 4G will be released in time so I'll be looking at a 32Gb iPhone 3GS as my next phone

Release date of new hardware is usually June/July so it's worth waiting. Remember just because your contract expires doesn't mean you have to upgrade instantly.

 

It remains to be seen if this leak This Is Apple's Next iPhone - Iphone 4 - Gizmodo makes Apple delay the product. I wouldn't put it past Steve Jobs to act like a spoilt child.

[Jamo]

Good choice with the desire! I really wanna get the desire im stuck with my TouchHD for a while! Android has been booted quite a few times though through Haret All it does though is make me want Android more though! It even runs faster than WinMo

 

As for iTunes to non DRM the only way I have seen is CD-rw and re-ripped! So tedious! I have seen a program which makes a virtual burner and copies the tracks and re-rips them automatically. I will search for it as I can't remember the name!

[fafster]

How about trying this to remove DRM?

 

Browse myFairTunes Files on SourceForge.net

[LosOjos]

Just ordered the HTC Desire: 900 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited internet, £30 a month and the phone was free, can't wait to get my mits on it

[webman]

I'm going to change my mind and get an iPhone. Official: Apple iPhone is a chick magnet

[LosOjos]

I'm going to change my mind and get an iPhone. Official: Apple iPhone is a chick magnet

 

LOL I've just been emailed that link, you've got to give HTC time to hit the mainstream more that's all