The SO's phone died yesterday so we've decided to ditch our ancient flip phones and get smart phones. Given that we keep our phones for years, we want to get something high end. Also, we are looking at Android phones. While Google is creepy and BigBrothery in its own way, I don't think it's as controlling as Apple. I don't want the ghost of Steve Jobs having any say over what happens with my phone. So what's good? What sucks? My main problem is that I don't have the slightest idea how much data I'll use. I'm almost certainly not going to watch Netflix movies but I will probably check email and do basic web browsing and play stupid games. Not to mention GPS and mapping and the like. So do I need an unlimited plan? How much data is a reasonable amount? I don't want to sign up for a pricy unlimited plan and discover that a less pricey plan would have been adequate. Thanks in advance, Barb
As far as data goes, I have a 200 MB/month plan through AT&T for my iPhone. I've gone over it once and that was a month where I was doing a particularly large amount of browsing and email checking away from a WiFi connection. I don't know what carrier you have (for your sake, hopefully not AT&T), but if you are around wireless networks a lot, something comparable to my plan would probably suffice. If unlimited isn't that much more though, it might be worth it to have that piece of mind that you'll never go over. You can always downgrade (I think...check with your provider).
I think people tend to overstate the restrictedness of Apple's iOS. Plus, Apple's "control" means the carriers don't dump a bunch of crap on an in-house Android variation, and most people aren't going to find it restrictive. What would you want to do that Apple wouldn't let you? Also, with an iPhone, you're going to get excellent support - the Genius Bar is your friend. As for data, I'm happy with my 200 MB/month plan, and when I get close to my limit, AT&T lets me know. I do most of my browsing at home and at work, where I have Wifi. Also, since most people I know have iPhones, I can bypass the carrier's texting charges. My wife and I basically use text messages as IM. As for carriers, they all have their downsides. AT&T is AT&T, Verizon's customer service sucks and Sprint's data plan is all or nothing. I tolerate AT&T.
As far as providers, it all depends where you live. AT&T can have great service in one area and crap service in another. I have a 4gig 4G LTE plan with Verizon and only broke 1 gig in the past 4-5 months. I do use WiFi as much as possible though. If you want a 4G phone (faster speeds than 3G), keep in mind that the iPhone is NOT 4G...yet. Their on-screen meters mention 4G, but in order to be LTE, you need a 4G antenna in the phone, which the iPhone doesn't have -- it's not just a matter of flipping a switch in the phone. My brother got something like 22Mbps download speed on his 4G Android, FWIW. Apple does seem to have a bad reputation tho... Everything that is submitted to their AppStore needs to be approved. IMO, it's an anti-moron thing. (Hmmm, am I going to download Safari as developed by Apple, or am I going to download Safari-lite from M&M Developers?) Obviously, only one of those is going to be approved, as the other *could* schmuck up your phone. Another crappy thing is the auto-correct. Iphone's autocorrect is the ultimate in suck. It's driven many people to tge point of insanity. Many sites exist cursing it. Google's is much more open to developers, which is both good and bad. The great thing with Android is that it's fully integrated with Google (obviously), so if you already have a gmail, gcal, or whatever, you're good to go. 50.1% of all smartphones are Android. Apple only has 30.2% of smartphones: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/comscore-android-ios-us-mobile-report/ My advice though? Look up "GSM Buzz" before you get a new phone. Sprint and Verizon don't have GSM technology. AT&T and T-Mobile do. When I was on Cingular (now AT&T), I would be driving around and get a phone call. The speakers in my car would go absolutely nutso in the seconds before the phone call came in. IMO, it's so nice NOT to have GSM. Here's another thread with some good info: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/your-phone.1355783/
I think this is one of those things that get talked about on tech blogs, but don't affect the majority of users. Is there any killer Android app that doesn't have an iOS version (not including apps that are for specific Android functions)? Probably not? But there are killer iOS apps without Android versions. The approval process hasn't affected developer adoption of iOS in an appreciable way. That comScore finding has been questioned at a couple of places: http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-us-smartphone-marketshare-versus-android-for-q1-2012-5 and http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/02/winning-in-neither-name-nor-spirit/ Looking at the carrier-reported numbers, rather than the survey numbers, it's likely that Apple's share is closer to 50%, and over 60% if you just count the Big 3 carriers. Not that I have any intention of starting an iOS vs Android fanboy flame war, but I think it's important to separate geek blog chatter and stuff that ends up mattering to people who don't have a stake in the war. Speaking of such matters, I know AT&T was doing a god awful ad campaign a couple of years ago about how you can surf while you talk on GSM. Is this something that actually affects people? I don't think it matters *that* much, but I could see it bugging some people.
Yup, I have the AT&T 200 MB plan too. My experience has been that there is nothing to lose by starting with the minimum plan (ie 200 MB data and pay-as-you-go text messaging). You can always upgrade later if you find it's not enough and, as you point out, AT&T warns you when you get close to your limit. 20 cents per text message sounds like a lot, but it still takes 100 texts to reach $20 which is the cost for unlimited texting. Personally I like the "Whatsapp" application for texting. Good user-interface and you don't have to pay for texts. Works around the world too, unlike your phone service. The draw-back of course is that the people you are texting must also have that application installed, but that can be arranged with the people you text most often. With the help of Whatsapp, I get nowhere near 100 texts per month.
Thanks, folks. I think we're gravitating towards T-Mobile, only because that's who we're using now and they haven't pissed us off. When you think about it, that's high praise indeed for a cell phone company. My main reservation about Google is that they will share all of my information over all of their platforms (gmail, docs, etc) on which I have accounts. I didn't much care when it was just email but now that they will know where I am at all times and they will know more details about who I am, well it just kind of ishes me out. All I can do is hope that they eventually let people opt out of the cross-platform sharing. Or I could get someone to host email for me somewhere independent of Google, which is what I did for a few years before they company hosting it went tits-up and I never bothered getting a new host. I believe that's when I switched to gmail. Anyway, I'm going to actually look at phones in the flesh in a little while.
If you're going T-Mobile and trying to avoid Google, then I'd give the new Windows phones from Nokia a look. The Windows Phone ecosystem isn't quite as fleshed out as iOS or Android, but the interface is nice: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/nokia-lumia-710-for-t-mobile-review/
Regarding apps, it's really no secret that Apple doesn't allow Flash. My thought is that if Apple allowed Flash, you'd probably see an entirely different number of apps, since you wouldn't need to re-write things in "app form" as a workaround. True. It probably depends how the study is done. I see a TON of iPhones and white earphones around. Funny. I can "talk and surf" just fine on my Android. That *could* matter, if you needed to look up a number, directions, or whatever. Honestly, the "GSM Buzz" bothered me, but that's specific to carrier, not phone.
I'd believe this if other platforms managed to make Flash (and not just "Mobile Flash") workable in a consistent, universally reliable way. But for all their chest beating, neither Android nor RIM did. Apple didn't allow Flash because Flash is a processor-hogging albatross on desktop, and the experience would've been even worse on mobile. Adobe gave up on Flash for mobile for a good reason. Plus, if the number of apps were somehow in any way affected by availability of Flash, why would, say, YouTube have an app when YouTube has delivered HTML5 video for mobile from the very start? It's a bizarre argument. For very specific experiences, apps are generally more user friendly than web apps/mobile sites. You don't need a study or a survey. You just look at the sales figures. I trust sales figures over surveys.
We ended in a split decision in the Barbara-Dignan23 household. I've got a Samsung Galaxy II S and he's got an HTC One S. So far I love mine, though the teeny tiny keyboard is hard to type on (I can't imagine what people with giant fingers have to go through.) I had a couple of glitches getting it to connect to my Gmail account, but that turned out to be a result of having 2-step verification on Gmail. It was a little bit of a process to turn it off, do what I had to do to get the phone connected (including getting a whole separate password for the phone to access Gmail and trying to figure out where to put the new password in the new phone) and it's still not quite right. I tried to access Gmail from my work computer this morning and, because of all the password kookiness over the weekend, it tried to do its verification thing. It said that it texted the new code to my phone but I didn't receive a text. So I read my mail on my phone and I'll figure out what's going on when I get home tonight.
I had a N900 (Linux ftw) but when it broke Nokia offered me an E7 (well, they said take that or take the broken N900 back). Now obviously Symbian is not too hot (though it masiively improved in the last incarnation) but the ergonomy and hardware is better than any non-i-phone smartphone I have seen, especially the physical keyboard. I will probably still get an iphone as my next phone, just because I use a mac for my computing, and windows 8 is unlikely to work well with that, but I would keep an eye out for the new nokia phones.
I learned the hard way (kid got his IPhone pickpocketed at a concert, one of about 25 victims) that there's a massive market in stolen-and-fenced smartphones. So if you want a deal and care to put your conscience on hold, buy a bargain on eBay.
How do they know where you are at all times? That's only with certain pieces of software where it's appropriate, isn't it? Stuff like this one... http://www.androidzoom.com/android_applications/social/i-am-safe_bkkzi.html I've only loaded one app on my phone and that's my endomondo exercise one which I use to track and then upload the data onto their website after exercise. If you do that, (don't load stuff on it), it's a pretty good way to avoid the sorts of problems I've seen people, (PARTICULARLY my daughter), have with these things where they load them up with all kinds of crap and then the phones start 'falling over' on a regular basis. I also have my home broadband from BT so use their BT-Fon system where I get free wifi when out and about. If I haven't got free wifi available I just won't use an app that needs it but then I've got an LG Olympus ME P350 which I bought for about £70, ($110 or thereabouts), and I only spend about £20 a year, (yes, you read that right ), on a pay as you go tariff. Basically, I'm incredibly mean...