Bottom line it. Is the Motorola Droid better than the Iphone 3gs?

[AlphaDroid]

In the end, comparing these two phones is like comparing a Formula 1 race car to a Top Fuel Dragster.... it all depends on what kind of racing you like.

Good comparison. They are both highly refined speed machines. The Formula 1 car will blast around a track with curves and straight sections, accelerating and braking and the Top Fuel Dragster will blast you down a straight track at blinding speeds with no turns. Neither are better than the other. They are built for different purposes.

But is this a good comparison for the Motorola Droid compared to the iphone 3gs? They are both phones, internet searchers, camera and video. So they are more similar than different.

 

[jjprusk]

Droid v iPhone

I have owned iPhone(s) since they first came out and currently carry a 3Gs. I picked up a Droid last week and figured I'd try it out for 30 days. So far:

iPhone Pros
- Ease of use, without a doubt easiest to use smart phone. I can do nearly everything 1 handed. Typing on the Droid is more difficult and general navigation around the interface is much easier on the iPhone. Google needs to do more work in this area.

- Concurrent talk / data is a good thing. CDMA is limited here.

- Works flawlessly with ActiveSync and CalDav/WebDav calendars. I don't understand why Android doesn't support CalDAV / WebDAV - I use this with several calendars.

- Browser, which include multi-touch, is the best on any phone by far.

Droid Pros

- Verizon definitely has much better 3G coverage.

- Background application execution is great - really miss this on my iPhone

- Very nice to have apps for most everything, not just the stuff Apple says you can have

- Screen is great, although they could have left off the keyboard

- Really miss multi-touch for browser, email, etc. Way too slow to use the +/- navigation (and it uses part of my screen as well...)

Bottom line is that it will be difficult for me to return the Droid. Given everything, I will probably keep the iPhone - the ease of use tips it for me. I still have to use my phone on a daily basis for work, etc. and efficiency of use is very important. I just find myself taking much longer to do things on the Droid that are very quick on the iPhone.

 

[pete1230]

WE ALL HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:
TO EACH THEIR OWN - different strokes for different folks. People who want power heavy intense usage will choose Droid (like myself). People who want multimedia and entertainment will get the iPhone. REGARDLESS, iPhone is coming to Verizon next summer. With that said, enjoy the BEST coverage no matter what phone you have!

I saw a response where some fool actually thinks AT&T has better coverage than Verizon - psht, ask how many AT&T customers complain about dropped calls and poor customer service!

Lastly, next year all the networks will use LTE, blaaaaazing fast 4G, but you will want the best coverage with the highest bandwidth. Ask any New Yorker about the sluggish service AT&T has during M-F lunch hours when everybody and their mother is trying to access the network, but AT&T forgot to make sure they are able handle such a load.

 

[RosarioM]

There is no strict approval process for Android in terms of apps so you can pretty much load any app on it without needing to root. There's a setting to allow 'unknown sources' to load apps which pretty much means anyone.

.

I completely agree. With Android, I don't need to root it to write an app and publish it for others to use if it "replaces built in functionality". With the iPhone, you want a different dialer? opps, you have to Jailbreak.

BTW, Apple is trying to make jailbreaking your iphone illegal by coming up with some BS about terrorists being able to hack cell towers with jailbroken iphones: iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims | Threat Level | Wired.com

Saying we live in Motorola's walled garden is ridiculous when you can install any app, even those that may be offensive to some. You may not make it to the Marketplace, but people who want your app can still install it without jailbreaking, root or any other hack. It's a simple setting.

 

[jettie1767]

It really depends on what you're looking for. I've had all 3 iPhones but what made me move to the Droid was the network. I tried it for a couple of days last week and got convinced that Verizon had better coverage in my area. On ATT, I used to have so many dropped calls inside my house. Now, on Verizon, that's not a problem. So, for me, no matter how much I loved my iPhone, I just couldn't justify paying for service that was kinda spotty inside my house.

 

[Erron]

As far as the anti jailbreak statements, I don't get those. Android tweakers are awaiting rooting their Droid. Same thing. I don't care what you call it. You want more options.

Yea but if it is up to apple, you will be liable to jail time/fine for jailbreaking just so you can turn wifi on/off without pressing four times. They consider you as a jailbreaker a hacker, and prefer you not be part of their community. So I am not sure if coming on here and touting the fact you need to perform illegal actions to equal a driod is a good argument. Some people do prefer legal abilities to do things important.


That being said I agree with your opinion. It depends on what you're after. If you are a mainstream end user who wants simple functionality and integration with things an iphone sure does work for you. A 60 year old or 11 year old could pick up an iphone and have the idea of how to use most of its features within a few minutes. Thats a good thing from a sales standpoint.

Neither is better at this point. Just like most things its a personal preference. I prefer a stick shift car because I can get better gas mileage and can control snow driving better. Bit it makes dirving uphill harder.

 

[TheBobarazzi]

I'm making love to my DROID now.

 

[darreno1]

Apparently Apple has already started the war against jailbreaking. Supposedly if the 3rd, 4th and 5th numbers in the 3gs serial number is over 940, you can't jailbreak without having to tether it every time it has to restart. It seems the newer roms can reset themselves to some degree after every reboot.

It sucks because it means if it crashes or requires a restart and the user is away from a computer, they may not be able to user their iPhone till they run Blackra1n again (at least that's the way I understood it). People are still jailbreaking anyway it seems, but it's just not seemless anymore and is obvious more of a pita. In fact, I'd go as far as to say Apple will probably try to completely disable the ability in the next iPhone.

 

[Johnly]

iPhone vs droid.....ah man, is there nothing more interesting? Dude likes modding a 4 by 4=droid......dude likes a Honda civic the same color as everyone else's=apple. Wow.....yawn....

 

[Corinacakes]

Iphone games trump Android. with the iphone, i feel like i have the PSP or DS, there are games of this quality, and for cheap too. and this won't change until the Android OS can install apps onto the SD card.

besides the games, droid is better overall for all the reasons stated previously.

jailbroken iphone + cydia = moto droid IMO... but ATT coverage is the dealbreaker

What do you mean until they can install games to the sd card?:| i have a game called cash cow (silly but great fun) that they put on my sd card. I do miss the tower defense games on my itouch but that's it.

 

[Laurence5905]

To me, the iPhone is currently better with Multimedia stuff than the Droid is. Yes, iTunes has many drawbacks, including DRM on some of their content, but it's the best integrated Multimedia store-plus-organizer available right now. The iPhone is truly a Multimedia phone, whereas the Droid is a great phone that has a few passable, utilitarian Multimedia apps added-on.

In every area *other* than Multimedia capabilites, the Droid is clearly the better phone. It's far more customizeable than the iPhone is (or ever will be, imho). It's CPU is faster, and it can multitask. Call quality is FAR superior to the iPhone -- yes, some of that is due to AT&T's truly crappy GSM network compared to Verizon's superior CDMA network. But the hardware is just plain better on the Droid, and that has nothing to do with the network the phone is attached to. I'd bet that if you could compare a Verizon iPhone to a Verizon Droid (if the VZW iPhone existed) the Droid would still come out on top as far as call-quality is concerned.

The Droid also has a FAR better screen than any other phone on the market, Google Navigation is awesome (and FREE). There are so many things that the Droid does better/faster/cheaper... Just not most of the multimedia stuff (yet).

So basically it boils down to this: The Droid has far more potential for improvement than the iPhone does. Assuming Google/Motorola/Verizon will actually listen to their customers, we will gain on (and eventually surpass) the iPhone in every way, as new software is released. The Droid's limitations are based solely upon the software, which can easily be improved. The iPhone 3GS will be unable to match the Droid's capabilites, once the Droid's software has been perfected. They'd have to release a new iPhone with better hardware to match the Droid's potential.

Oh, and Verizon's new 4G network will (from what I hear) handle Voice and Data at the same time -- so once that rolls out, there goes another advantage the iPhone currently has over the Droid. (No clue how far into the future that will be, however.)

Just my $0.02 worth, I suppose. And despite any drawbacks the Droid may have today, I'm quite confident they will be fixed as time goes on -- the Droid will only get better in the future!

(Still lovin' my Droid!)

 

[New2u]

Apparently Apple has already started the war against jailbreaking. Supposedly if the 3rd, 4th and 5th numbers in the 3gs serial number is over 940, you can't jailbreak without having to tether it every time it has to restart. It seems the newer roms can reset themselves to some degree after every reboot.

It sucks because it means if it crashes or requires a restart and the user is away from a computer, they may not be able to user their iPhone till they run Blackra1n again (at least that's the way I understood it). People are still jailbreaking anyway it seems, but it's just not seemless anymore and is obvious more of a pita. In fact, I'd go as far as to say Apple will probably try to completely disable the ability in the next iPhone.

This was inevitable. Apple wants their phones locked, and the users want them unlocked. It is a war that will make apple the enemy in the eyes of the consumer. Doing so will not only mean less income to apple, because people don't want to deal with it, but it looks bad all together. Watch soon, they will come out with a unit that has to be hooked up with itunes before it will let you reboot, then it will scan your entire unit, if it finds something out of place it will send an email to apple and they will somehow make you pay some fee. Apple wants to change the world by force, and so far it's not working in their favor.

 

[Twoo]

Search my username for my created threads- I wrote a big article comparing the two since I've owned both the 3gs and the Droid.

My overall summary was the Iphone is more "refined" and pushes towards the multimedia aspect of the Smartphone market. The Droid is brand new, still being refined and has little nuances that takes some getting used to. It's not as easy to navigate as the Iphone and the apps/games available for the Droid are absolutely horrendous in comparison to what's available for the Iphone.

BUT... the Verizon network sold me on the Droid over renewing my AT&T contract. It doesn't matter how amazing a phone is, IT'S A PHONE. The Iphone can be the most amazing piece of machinery ever made, but if I'm dropping calls and never have a signal at my home like I did on the Iphone then it's pretty much as useful as a PSP to me.

If the Droid and Iphone were both offered at Verizon I'd choose the Iphone- but the network coverage, support and possibilities of the Droid sold me. Give the Droid a year or so and it will trump the Iphone. I guarantee it.

 

[Shel]

I've had an Android phone for over a year now.

In that time, Google has:
Added virtual keyboards
Added Free turn by turn Navigation with voice
Updated Market interface
Added Multi Touch (code is in OS 1.6, native apps not yet using it,but add on apps do)
Added Quick Search with Voice Command
Multi-Lingual Text to Speech
Better search capabilities for users in the Market
Updated Blue-tooth capabilities
Added video recording
Microsoft Exchange support
Improvements in speed and camera quality
(This is only a partial list, and has taken place in just over a year since the 1st Android phone came out)

As far as I know, the major differences between iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS are:
3MP camera
Video capabilities
Faster
New Global Search feature

(I could be way off about iPhone, if so, please let me know. I don't really keep up that much with it)

 

[LordKastle]

The battle we are undertaking now is a simple appetizer or a small taste test.

The real war will be fought when 4g and LTE are released. To those who keep waiting and waiting for something like a Passion or something else, I suggest you hurry up and choose your sides now. You don't want to get a phone too late in 2010 so your upgrades will not be accessible until much later after the 4g battles begin.

So enjoy your Droids for now...and take pleasure in knowing you have a better phone - for now.