Maybe, you are one of the few ones that think the iPhone doesn't provide all that you need on a phone, and want to have a look at the other alternatives out there. Android HTC and other manufacturers responded pretty quick to the launch on the iPhone 4 with great options for those not drinking the Apple kool aid. We've been looking at one specific model that has us wondering if we should be switching teams for the following reasons...
Screen size
For some video and game applications, bigger is better. Toping the size war at 4.3" of pure touch screen and a resolution of 800 x 400. Still not retina display, but if your eyes are not that sharp, you won't notice the difference.
User interface
The upgraded Sense UI from the HTC Desire, shows all kind of widgets on the front screen, like your friends' Facebook status when they ring you; and even let you choose VIP contacts whose emails will be prioritized, and even can download maps to use when you are offline.
The cloud
With a new cloud service provided by htcsense.com, it can locate your phone and even let you lock it remotely. (think Find My Phone, from Apple) Also, let you backup your contact book.
Reading eBooks
Now, you can read, annotate and highlight eBooks on the new Sense interface.
Sound
With the big screen, comes big sound. Dolby Mobile and SRS surround sound is included.
Froyo
Running Android 2.2 for optimized memory and speed with full support for Flash 10.1 (if Adobe Flash is a must for you)
Camera
8 megapixel with dual LED flash and can even record 720p HD video.
Storage
1.5gb storage built in; plus, the lovely microSD card slot is ready for expansion, it can be as big as the card you pop in.
Processor
Clocking at 1GHz, this is a pure breed racer for all your mobile computer needs, like playing video games or watching a movie at full resolution.
Headphones
The universal 3.5mm jack sits at the bottom of the handset on the HTC Desire, which is not the optimal position in our point of view but gets the job done.
NOTE: we've taken note of the feedback below, and wanted to first apologize for the title misnomer; this is indeed more of a post about one model being compared to another rather than the whole Android OS vs iOS comparison implied, thus the title has been altered to reflect this correctly.
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Comments (11)
I had pretty bad experience with the HTC built Nexus One running FroYo. Specs are impressive but specs are not all, you can barely type on the phone - the touch screen is very bad and every 5 mins your touches are 30 pixels off until you put the screen to sleep and wake it up again.
Most apps have very poor usability, nothing is unified or intuitive, even some of the apps that come straight from google. It's great for surfing the web, but very bad for communication.
There are quite literally hundreds of different models of phones running Android and yet you list features and specs as if they are the same all across the range of phones. They are not.
Wow. This is a really horribly written post. Does the writer realize that Android is an operating system and not a handset? For example, the 4.3" screen is a selling point of the HTC EVO, not all Android handsets.
I read Unplggd daily and am a huge fan, but I find it hard to believe that such poorly written articles, both technically and grammatically, are able to make it onto a respectable tech blog.
What charmac said. It's too bad apartment therapy can't find tech people to write their tech articles, are these unpaid high school interns? There are myriads of android phones, and you are only talking about a single phones specs when your article title suggests you are comparing the iphone OS to that of android. I've been using a motorola droid x the last year (monster screen with no keyboard, unlike the droid and droid 2) and absolutely love it, I have yet to not find an app I wanted that was only availabe for iphones. It replaced my blackberry storm which I am fairly certain was one of the worst products ever to make it to the market.
I am not sure I understand the "backup contacts to the cloud" point .. my android phone synchs with my google contacts and google calendar automatically and (mostly) instantly by default.
Best of all, it doesn't cost me a subscription (although, I do hear rumors of Apple making MobileMe free, likely to compete with Google).
And I agree - you are focusing on one phone. There are better processors out there or about to come out, phones with more (and less) internal memory, different cameras, and (maybe most important) different price points.
Oh, and you didn't really even mention widgets...
As someone interested in Android phones I clicked through here to read the full post. However, as others mentioned above it's so ridden with errors that it distracted me from the point of the post at all.
The first paragraph should read like this: "Maybe you are one of the few people who think the iPhone doesn't provide all the features you're looking for in a phone, and would like to know more about non-Apple alternatives on the market. Android HTC and other manufacturers responded quickly to the launch of the iPhone 4 with great options for those not drinking the Apple koolaide. We've been looking at one specific model that has us wondering if we should, in fact, be switching teams for the following reasons:" Also, "toping"? Topping. I love this site but such poorly written posts severely hinder its credibility.
Please! no more "kool-aid" or "fan boy" posts. Those phrases are beyond hackneyed. And why is the iOs/Android comparison even necessary? The iPhone accounts for @ 4% of mobile phones. Surely there are other phones out there that you could compare?
First of all, I apologize for the tittle confusion... I was trying to get the best handset available that has more chance against the iPhone/iOS for a full feature comparison on specs of hardware/software. Maybe that wasn't the best option out there, but I'm learning about non-apple devices, so please bear with me. :)
thanks in advance,
joel
Wow. As an Android fan from day one (my boyfriend's G1 arrived the day before they sold retail and mine came 2 weeks later), I could probably put together a better post than this. Not every Android phone has a 4.3" screen, 8 megapixel camera, 720p recording or a 1GHz processor. It might have been better to say that there are options when it comes to Android phones, including UI (Sense, Motoblur, TouchWiz or stock), screen size, camera, video recording, storage, on-screen & dedicated keyboards, etc. Looks to me like they picked a few phones and took the best (or worst) features of them all.
I have the Desire since Beginning of the year and a phriase which roughly covers all I have to say about it is:
I love it!
To be more accurate: It is fast, 100% reliable, resolution is outstanding, working with my gmail account is absolutely carefree (mails and calender), apps are mostly free and there are thousands.
I have to admit... even if it's a weirdly-written post, I'm seriously happy to see something that's not about the iPhone.