Motorola Droid 3 VS Apple iPhone 4

Homeularis

Gold Member
Hi all!. I have a question for all you iPhone and Droid owners.

I just picked up a Droid 3 eight days ago. Its my first smartphone (lol) and I'm just trying to get some input from the owners of either one (or anything else for that matter) because I have a few days (very few) to return it in order to get an iPhone 4, if needed.

So far, I'm liking it but the battery seems weak. I could get the extended battery for $50 and thats basically how much more I'd have to pay for the iPhone 4.

A couple things that stick out for me are...

The iPhone doesnt support Adobe Flash Player, so how do you run vids from Youtube and the like that require Flash?. That may be ok in the future, but isnt that limiting now?.

The Droid does support Flash and has a killer slideout keyboard that I like very much.
I dont know if they make/sell Android Market gift cards Though. That is my preffered way to pay for music and apps.

Anyone that has opinions and info about these two phones would be greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks much you guys!. :)
 
The Iphone is a fantastic cell but I don't like being locked down to Itunes. I have the Droid X and it has been a fantastic smartphone. The battery life is a good day depending on how much you surf or talk etc. I just think the X or Droid has more flexibilty. I like making my own ringtones and you can do that with Ringdroid. When it comes to music files, Droid rules. It depends on what you want a smartphone for and what you do most. Either phone is great, I just like the flexibility of the Droid OS over the Iphone. You can score a 32 Gb card for cheap on the bay and upgrade to 40Gb also with the Droid, another +.
 
I own an Android phone and if I had the chance, I'd swap for an iPhone.

This could easily turn into the kind of flame war that you see in Engadget; so I'm going to try and keep it objective.

The Droid 3 is a decent phone - no doubt - but I have issues with Android. I'm running Gingerbread (2.3) on my HTC and I think the Droid is still running Froyo (2.2). That's not an issue in itself, but I always find that Android has a number of alterations made to it by the manufacturers and these can severely undermine the basic Android experience with buggy software and increased lag and potentially draining the battery with value-added 'features'. For this reason, my HTC runs Cyanogen Mod.

My Dad and a few of my friends have an iPhone. I'm always impressed with how fluid and fast it feels and Apple have done a lot of optimisation to make the user experience really excellent. My Dad has on older iPhone 3GS and I love it because there is never any lag and it just does what I want it to. The menus are more sensibly laid out and generally more logical. With Android, I get occasional lag (which happens to a lot of Android phones - regardless of spec) and it's often trickier to work out where various menu items are. I also think that the basic 'look' of Android is clunky in comparison to iOS.

Functionality wise - Android can do more. It's easy to tether my connection (with the right third-party mods) and there are all kinds of applications available. Unfortunately, the Android Market is riddled with terrible programs and there is a a general lack of quality control. It doesn't feel like a premium product like the iPhone App Store does - even though there are fewer free applications on the Apple App Store.

There are workarounds for Flash on the iPhone. Personally, I avoid using Flash on my desktop, let alone on my phone.

Do I like my Android phone? Well - it's alright. It does what i want it to do - but I want an iPhone. I think the iPhone offers a better experience than an Android phone. Specifications are irrelevant; it all comes back to the software and I think iOS is generally better written than Android - although Android can do more. I'm a nerd and I can get Android to work for me but some non-nerd users may find Android difficult to get to grips with; especially compared to iOS which really is simple to use and well thought-out.
 
I have an iPhone 4 and watch youtube without problems. My second iPhone and it has become a part of me. I'm able to search the web while on the phone and the Facetime feature is great
 
Thanks for the input guys. I realise now that this thread looks like a flame provoker, but thats DEFINATELY NOT what I intended. :)

I already know that there are good and bad about both and that they are gererally equal.
I'm just trying to figure out which one will ultimately be better for me. I am not a computer nerd, quite the opposite, so maybe the simpler iPhone would be better for me.
I also like the boldness (looks) and heavyness of the Droid.

What are the "workarounds" for Flash?. How hard or expensive are they to get and do they work for all Flash applications?.
How do you watch Youtube on iPhone without it?.
There are alot of discussions about the importance of Flash so If its straight up not needed then why all the fuss?.

I just want my phone to run video off the net without problems and I'm a noob when it comes to smartphones. ;)
 
I'm waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S II. Although I'm a huge fan of Apple products, I love that with Android you can keep track of every little thing that is happening on your phone, like Task Manager (PCs) or Activity Monitor (Macs).
 
http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/08/03/skyfire-videoq-queue-up-flash-videos-for-ipad-iphone/

That's one workaround for Flash on an iPhone. There's also a YouTube app for iPhone, which means you don't have to necessarily watch it in the browser.

If you're happy with the Droid, then keep the Droid. It's completely your call.

Yeah I have skyfire and it works good. Not exactly as convenient as a droid because you can only do videos (not applications, such as a flash design on a website). And the videos take 20 seconds to 5 minutes to load, depending on how long and where they're from, etc. You can also not go back or forwards in the videos.

So it works, but definitely not a flash replacement.

I like droids better, because of the flash and because I've had numerous problems with apple. That's just me though, almost everyone I know loves their iPhone.
 
I am not a computer nerd, quite the opposite, so maybe the simpler iPhone would be better for me.

Stick with the iPhone in that case. I'm a bit of a nerd and I want punch HTC in the face for what they did with their recent 2.3.3 software update on the EVO. And if that second sentence is something you never want to utter, stick with the iPhone.

You can hit the mobile version of Youtube's site via the Safari browser or as MFB stated there's a specific Youtube app, although I'm seeing more and more "not available for mobile" content (on Youtube apps in general; cross platform) and I'm not too sure why that is, but I don't like it one damn bit.

Regarding Flash support, there's a lot of discussion about it because Google's advertising models are built on it. You've got one of the biggest most influential companies in the world, and the majority of their revenue comes from advertising, hence Flash is the lingering conversation topic. To be quite honest, when it comes to mobile phones I'm not a fan of Flash whatsoever. There's just way too much excessive nonsense going around on the borders of browser windows wasting my battery and holding up pages from loading. Fortunately, on Android, you do have the option to load it automatically, or on an as needed basis, or just certain content, or none at all.

On an irrelevant note, they do make a Game-boy case for the iPhone 4. That item alone makes me long for an iPhone. "Nuff said.
 
I'm a bit of a nerd and I want punch HTC in the face...

To be fair to HTC, I think they offer some of the best company customisation out there. HTC Sense is probably the best Android skin I've come across; but this is an issue with Android. To try and differentiate between brands, the companies all like to add the skins and some of them (LG's for instance) can cause real slowdown and crashing.

It's probably worth stripping any Android install you have down to 'basic' Android with a third-party ROM. This also unlocks your phone. It's reasonably simple to do but it's definitely one for the white and nerdy (and beardy, in my case) among us. This may void any warranty you have though! In my case, it's definitely helped because I've been able to overclock my phone and enable Wifi tethering as well as a more fluid UI. It's a shame that Android phones are full of bloatware and that's why I'd say something like the Samsung Galaxy SII is a good idea because it's billed as a 'Google Experience' device - meaning it comes with just stock Android.
 
I've been searching the net trying to figure out what phone to get when my Sprint contract is up later this fall. I first stumbled upon the Samsung Galaxy S II, which I mentioned earlier, and then I've been reading rumors about the iPhone coming to Sprint. Although that would complicate my choice, that rumor also allows for some interesting speculation:

Sprint is now the only big 3 company offering an unlimited data plan. Verizon has turned their offerings into the GB capping made infamous by AT&T. So if the iPhone were to be released to Sprint, would unlimited data plans be a thing of the past? Or would Sprint rack up more customers by having an infinitely better data plan option?

I also read about the Nexus Prime... 1.5 GHz dual core processor... I'm not knowledgeable enough with this kind of stuff to know whether dual core is even desirable on a phone, but it sure sounds good.

Anyway, sorry for rambling about something not entirely relevant here, I just didn't feel it was necessary to start a new thread.
 
I also read about the Nexus Prime... 1.5 GHz dual core processor... I'm not knowledgeable enough with this kind of stuff to know whether dual core is even desirable on a phone, but it sure sounds good.

That is pretty impressive, but specs aren't the be all and end all. The iPhone 4 (with the iPhone 5 due soon) are generally lower-specc'd than top-end Android phones, but it doesn't matter because the software is better integrated and written. In real-World usage, I'd doubt you'd notice that the iPhone had a slower processor.

My main concern with a lot of the top-end phones at the moment is battery life. The faster the processor, the more battery life is reduced (unless there's some VERY efficient scaling). This is becoming a real issue and I've been reading reviews of phones with effective battery lives of fewer than fifteen hours. That's deeply troubling because battery life is (in my view) far more important than having a fast processor. I like not having to put my phone on charge every night! Once you start using WiFi, GPS and even LTE with the latest phones the battery life just goes. Even mine suffers when I'm tethering (which I expect) so with a 1.5 Dual-Core processor added in the mix, you'd either have a huge phone with a bulky battery or (more likely) a very poor battery life.
 
Thanks guys!. Lots of GREAT input here.
Seems there's equal parts good and bad about both. Just trying to figure out which one will work better for me.
There's clearly lots of love for each, which makes my decision even harder...lol, but at least I,m learning some of the pluses and minuses on both units (as well as others), which in the end will help alot. :)

Any more input would also be greatly appreciated. I still have a few days. :O
 
i got a motorola Atrix about a month ago and absolutely love it. I actually went into the store looking for a iphone 4 but as soon as i started talking to the tech guy working there, he immediately steered me away from the iphone and straight to the android section. It took me about a week to completely understand the phone, but after that i was good to go. It runs on dual core and has pretty decent battery power. i could probably use it for about 4 days with regular usage before it's completely drained. You might want to get a task killer from the market to save a bit of battery, generally apps will continue running even after you close them therefor draining battery life. and getting the motorola saved me about $120, so that's a plus too haha hope that helped, good luck with your decision!
 
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