This short video from CNET’s Brian Cooley discussing his top 5 reasons why he thinks Droid phones are flat out better than iPhones. Frankly, while he does make some valid points, he may have missed on some others… I’ll let you be the judge:


After you check out the video above, vote in this quick poll to see if the mainstream media is reporting the right smartphone numbers to us!

The once believed rumor of the new iPhone5 release date being slated for September appear to be more than just that. On June 22, Bloomberg is hinting that this may be fact. The next generation iPhone (iPhone5) will be getting the new A5 chip which is currently powering the iPad2. This new chip is a dual-core processor which will make the new iPhone very speedy indeed (not that the iPhone4 was any slouch!)!!.

Also new to the iPhone5 will be a new 8 megapixel rear facing camera. The current 5 megapixel camera in the iPhone4 is actually a very good performer compared to the camera in the Droid phones we’ve seen so a further upgrade should make it a clear, (pardun the pun) winner. So it looks like, (besides the new A5 processor and 8 megapixel camera) the new iPhone5 will be a complete version upgrade rather than a minor enhancement (like the iPad2 release). Not only on the inside , but the outside appearance as well. It is rumored that the new look may resemble the look of the Macbook Air.

Mobile Payment Technology Coming To iPhone?

Mobile payment technology seems to be all the rage these days and there is little doubt that the iPhone5 will contain this latest technology. This is the technology that would allow a person to “wave” their device near a reader at checkout counters in order to pay for products or services. Since Apple Stores are currently being outfitted with specially wired tables, it seems that this feature will indeed be a reality.

Could iOS5 be the reason for a September iPhone5 release?

We’ve known for a while now that Apple has been planning a new operating system (iOS) for the iPhone and iPad (iOS5). Apple has been planning the release of the new OS for September so it would seem logical that they would want to ship the new iPhone5 with a sparkling new operating system. This would also explain why for the first time Apple missed their yearly upgrade (re)launch of a device. It normally happened so regularly that you could set your watch to it!

There is also a less expensive iPhone model in the works. It is a bit unclear whether this would simply be the iPhone4 or possibly an entirely new cheaper model aimed for the developing countries market.

The New iPad3 on The Horizon

The next iPad is currently undergoing testing. The iPad2 seemed to be a bit of a let down as reported by most users. While it does sport the new A5 dual-core chip, there was little else that changed. Even the screen of the iPad2 was the same as the original iPad. I think it will be safe to say that the iPad3 will have an upgraded screen to match the quality of their heavily touted iPhone4 Retina display. The new screen will also be more responsive which may lead to additional new features. I think we can expect to see the new iPad3 make a debut appearance just before Christmas this year.

Apps will no doubt be all the rage this year. Do you have a great idea for an app and want to make it into the Appstore but don’t know how? Check this out.

After Bloomberg released their report, Apple’s stock rose to close above $330 US a share showing that Apple is still a much loved darling of Wall Street.

Motorola’s newest entry into the smartphone market has been delayed, which is not exactly new news. The Droid Bionic was originally slated for a Q2 release but has been rescheduled until sometime in August or September. In either case, I’m sure that Motorola will aim to have this phone released before the serious competition hits the market – the iPhone5. Can the Droid Bionic beat out the iPhone5?

Droid Bionic leaked

This image is reported to be a leaked image of the soon to be released Droid Bionic. If it is, I would have to say that Motorola has to do better than this!

Smartphones are more than just phones these days. In fact, being a phone is probably their least talked about functionality – it’s simply a given. We look at our cell phones dozens (maybe even hundreds) of times per day. They should be designed as beautiful objects to look at and to hold. I would have to say that Apple has long understood this and is ahead of the game on this respect. Get it together Motorola!

As of this writing we know that the Bionic will have or be capable of:

• •4G LTE
• •WiFi
• •HDMI output (TV out)
• •a 4.3 inch display (quite large)
• •3G wireless hotspot connectivity
• •GPS
• •8 MP camera that will work in low light (yeah!!)
• •720p HD video capture and a front-facing camera capable of Video Chat
• •a 1Ghz Tegra Dual core processor

The processor may be switched over to a dual core Texas Instruments OMAP processor rumor has it.  The Droid, Droid X and Droid 2 all use the OMAP processor but obviously if the Bionic were to be released with one it would be the most recent version.

Skype will be able to run in video chat mode with the Bionic. The Droid Bionic will also support the Android Netflix app. It will be one of only a few select phones to have this capability. This makes sense seeing as how this phone will have an HDMI output so that you could watch movies on your large screen television. Also important will be the support of Adobe Flash and HTML 5 out of the box. It will also have built in support for Facebook, Picasa, Twitter and the Android Marketplace.

It’s difficult to say at this point if the Bionic will be released with Android 2.2 or 2.3 as the latter is slated for release in Q3 2011 which would coincide with the launch date of the Bionic.

As far as the new iPhone5 release date, Katy Huberty (from Morgan Stanley) has claimed that “Apple’s next iPhone will begin production in mid-to-late August and ramp aggressively”. I think it’s safe to say that September will be a very interesting month!

Basic History and features of the iPhone

iPhone4

First off, the very popular iPhone is now plugging their most recent incarnation of phone which is the iPhone4. The first iPhone was released in 2007, only about 4 years ago. The basic features of the iPhone:

• •voice calls
• •text message
• •still camera
• •video camera
• •media player
• •email
• •web browser
• •multi-touch navigation screen
• •Wi-fi and 3G connectivity
• •2 (front and rear facing) cameras

There are presently close to 90 million iPhones sold (all versions included)!! That is quite an accomplishment!

The iPhone does not natively support the transferring of files (pictures, video etc.) by Bluetooth (OBEX file transfer protocol). For some strange reason (just like the ipod), the iPhone does NOT allow the user to replace the rechargeable battery. This has always been an odd “feature” oversight for Apple.

Droid Vs iPhone Battery Comparison

battery	iPhone original	iPhone 3G	iPhone 3Gs	iPhone 4
Talk time	8 hrs	10 hrs using 2G 5 hrs using 3G	12 hrs using 2G 5 hrs using 3G	14 hrs using 2G 7 hrs using 3G
Standby time	250 hrs	300 hrs	300 hrs	300 hrs
Music time	24 hrs	24 hrs	30 hrs	40 hrs
Video time	7 hrs	7 hrs	10 hrs	10 hrs
Web time	6 hrs	6 hrs	9 hrs (5hrs on 3G)	6 hrs using 3G 10 hrs using Wi-fi

Bear in mind that in the past it was believed that Apple greatly exaggerated these numbers. So take them with a grain of salt!

The iPhone has a built in 5 megapixel camera (2592×1936 pixels) with LED flash. The LED flash is also capable of staying on for dimly lit video recording situations. Video recording resolution can be up to 720p which Apple is billing as HD, but seriously now! This is clearly a marketing ploy when we know that “real” HD video cameras alone go for thousands. They are simply playing with numbers and not looking at quality when it comes to the HD label.

Other Important Info

Memory on the iPhone is not expandable. They are sold in either the 16gig or 32gig models. RAM or live memory is 512MB in size. Processor speed of the cpu in the iPhone4 has not been revealed but is believed to be in the 800Mhz to 1Ghz range using a single core. Like the ipod, all media file management must be  done by the iTunes software available for free.

For text input, the iPhone4 uses a virtual keyboard that is represented on it’s touchscreen.

There are over 350,000 apps for the iPhone in existence with prices in the average range of $3.50-4.00 but can be priced anywhere from free to $1000.00 (the maximum limit set by Apple).

Currently AT&T and Verizon are the only authorized iPhone carriers in the U.S.

Size and weight of the iPhone4

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)

Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)

Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)

Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)

It may be that for now, but possibly not for long, as the release of the new iPhone5 is just around the corner. The Atrix was released late february/early march of this year (2011) only several weeks ago…

The Atrix implement’s a mighty dual-core processor.

The push towards dual-core is to give Android (the operating system on the Atrix and Droid series phones) a huge boost in multitasking power. We now know that the new iPhone5, that will be coming out later this year, will also be sporting a dual-core cpu and Motorola’s Droid Bionic coming out this summer will have the same. Dual-core is definitely the next wave of tech improvements to hit smartphones, and your phone won’t be worth squat if doesn’t have it, because you can bet that soon all the latest apps will require it.

The Atrix

The Atrix has a big first for smartphones – fingerprint recognition technoology.

This would certainly make it more secure than a smartphone using traditional passwords to gain access and possibily faster for the legitimate owner too. This may be a recurring trend in cellphone technology, hopefully so.

As with the other Droid series phones, the Atrix incorporates expandable memory in it’s design. Out of the box the Atrix comes with 16GB but you can upgrade that easily with a micro SD card to 48GB. That’s plenty for all kinds of stuff, including movies and loads of music.

A small reminder that the iPhone memory is not expandable. What you get when you unbox your iPhone is what you are stuck with. Apple needs to address this issue, but I don’t think it will be addressed in the iPhone5.

The screen size of the Atrix (again a first) was the world’s first qHD 960×540 display, which is the same resolution as the Droid Bionic and less than the iPhone4 which has a 960×640 display. Remember that there are 2 aspects to the perceived quality of your smartphone’s screen:

1. The physical screen size
2. The amount of pixels

The iPhone4 has a screen size of 3.5 inches measured diagonally. The Atrix has a 4 inch diagonal screen while the Droid Bionic has a 4.3 inch diagonal span. So while the physical size of the Atrix and Bionic’s screens are larger, the resolution is actually less than that of the Apple iPhone4′s Retina display.

The Atrix has a front and rear facing camera and with the Qik app you have face-to-face chat equivalent to Apple’s Facetime.

An HDMI output is standard on the Atrix. This allows a user to output video from the Atrix to a HDTV.

The Best Droid in the Droid vs iPhone Shootout?

The best Droid will undoubtedly be the Droid Bionic soon to be released and the best iPhone will most certainly be the iPhone5 which will be released later this year as well. Now whether Apple’s next offering will win out over Motorola’s, is yet to be seen…

While it doesn’t directly address the Droid Vs iPhone debate, this is pretty significant news. Amazon has just launched their Appstore for Android. As a part of their launch promotion, they will be giving away one FREE Android App per day!! Check it out and pick up a FREE app today! They are also giving away the ridiculously popular Angry Birds game for limited time. Get them while you can, at Amazon.

Fun fact: the brand name “Droid” is a trademark owned by Lucasfilm and licensed out by them.

We will be looking specifically at the Droid smartphones from Motorola which are marketed as the Droid series.

To date, Motorola now offers the:

• •Droid  - Motorola Milestone outside the U.S.
• •Droid 2
• •Droid X
• •Droid Pro
• •Droid 2 Global
• •Droid Bionic -  release date June 2011

Basic Features of the Droid

This is a tricky one to answer to directly as there are several different Droid versions. This is perhaps the biggest single difference between apple products in general and most other manufacturers. Apple usually offers a single version of their product (with minor memory upgrades) while other manufacturers typically have many models. Whether having multiple models and ultimately more consumer choice is a good thing or a bad thing, I’ll leave you to decide. However, too much choice can be confusing to the customer. I’ll try and clarify some things here in this blog post.

Not unlike the iPhone the basic features of the Droid series contains:

Droid Bionic

• •voice calls
• •text message
• •still camera
• •video camera
• •media player
• •email
• •web browser
• •multi-touch navigation screen
• •Wi-fi and 3G connectivity
• •2 (front and rear facing) cameras (Droid Bionic)

One of the features that all of the Motorola Droid phones have that the iPhone doesn’t, is a physical keyboard as well as an onscreen touch keyboard. The Droid Bionic will be the first of the Droid series to not include a physical keyboard.

140 million Android powered devices are projected to be in use by the end of 2011. That is huge!! It may even outnumber the iPhones on the market. Time will tell. More is definitely better in this regard as the larger the customer base, the more apps will be made available for Android powered phones and the more likely the Android OS will be updated to contain user feedbacked requests.

Here are some other features compared in table format:

	Droid	Droid 2	Droid 2 Global	Droid Pro	Droid X
	•5MP Camera w/flash •DVD quality video rec & play	•5MP Camera w/flash •DVD quality video rec & play	•5MP Camera w/flash •DVD quality video rec & play	•5MP Camera w/flash •DVD quality video rec & play	•8MP Camera w/flash •DVD quality video rec & play
	•Standby up to 270 hrs •Talk time up to 385 min	•Standby up to 315 hrs •Talk time up to 575 min	•Standby up to 320 hrs •Talk time up to 500 min	•Standby up to 330 hrs •Talk time up to 480 min	•Standby up to 220 hrs •Talk time up to 480 min
	•mini usb connector GPS, WiFi, Speakerphone •QWERTY keyboard •Touch screen	•mini usb connector GPS, WiFi, Speakerphone •QWERTY keyboard •Touch screen	•mini usb connector GPS, WiFi, Speakerphone •QWERTY keyboard •Touch screen	•mini usb connector GPS, WiFi, Speakerphone •QWERTY keyboard •Touch screen	•mini usb connector GPS, WiFi, Speakerphone •QWERTY keyboard •Touch screen •HDMI (connect to t.v.)
	16GB pre-installed expandable + 32GB	16GB pre-installed expandable + 32GB	16GB pre-installed expandable + 32GB	4GB pre-installed expandable + 32GB	10GB pre-installed expandable + 32GB

You might have noticed that the Droid Bionic wasn’t included in the chart. This smartphone, which is due to be released this June, will be quite different from the previous Droid models and we should look at it separately.

The Droid Bionic will have:

• •screen size of 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches
• •Swype input method
• •16 GB storage (expandable to 48GB), 512 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM
• •8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
• •DVD quality video
• •Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, ULP GeForce GPU, Tegra 2 chipset
• •GPS
• •4G

Like most of the other Droid models, the Bionic will allow for Swype input. If you don’t know what Swype is, here is a video that can explain it much better than words:
 


The features of note on the Droid Bionic are the dual core processor, 4G network access, 8MP resolution camera, and huge amount of memory. More on each of these later…

Multitasking should be smooth and effortless on this phone as already the Android OS is quite good at this. With a dualcore processor to help it along, the Bionic should really excel in this area. At this point there is no information available as to how long the battery will last between recharges. With a dualcore processor and a large touchscreen to power, it better have a substantial capacity or users will find themselves recharging every few minutes!
 

Size and weight of the Droid Bionic

Height: 4.96 inches (125.9 mm)

Width: 2.63 inches (66.9 mm)

Depth: 0.52 inches (13.3 mm)

Weight: 5.5 ounces (158 grams)

 

You can check out this hands on video of the Droid Bionic in action: 




 

]]> http://droidvsiphone.org/what-about-the-droid/feed/ 0 http://droidvsiphone.org/cloud-player-for-android-powered-phones/ http://droidvsiphone.org/cloud-player-for-android-powered-phones/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:19:50 +0000 Chris Bishop http://droidvsiphone.org/?p=256 Are you worried that you might loose your entire music library if your hard drive crashes or your smartphone gets stolen? How about tired of transferring music from one computer to another to another device…

To address this concern, Amazon has just released their Android supported Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. I believe this could influence the Droid Vs iPhone debate as this means that Amazon is seriously getting behind Android powered phones.

amazon cloud drive

Cloud Drive is free online storage for your music library.

Everyone starts with 5GB free. If you purchase an MP3 album through the Amazon MP3 store, you will be upgraded to 20GB of storage! Not bad at all…

The Cloud Drive allows you to store copies of all your mp3′s whether you purchased them from Amazon or not. You can listen to the music directly from the Cloud Player (streaming straight from the Cloud). You are able to buy from Amazon and save the MP3 directly to your Cloud Drive and then download to your phone from there.

There is also a free app for your Android device that allows you to stream music from your Cloud directly to your phone or download and save the MP3 to your phone. A Nice option if available space on your Android powered Tablet or smartphone is getting a bit low. Of course you can access your Cloud Drive from any internet accessible desktop or laptop computer as well.

This could be pretty useful when integrating a new device or upgrading your phone or tablet….Time will tell whether the Cloud approach will take off with music lovers but one thing is for sure, Amazon is getting behind Android ina BIG way!

Check it out right here…

]]> http://droidvsiphone.org/cloud-player-for-android-powered-phones/feed/ 1 http://droidvsiphone.org/comparing-droidx-and-the-iphone-4/ http://droidvsiphone.org/comparing-droidx-and-the-iphone-4/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:33:11 +0000 Chris Bishop http://droidvsiphone.org/?p=104 Comparing smartphones is a notoriously difficult thing to do as there are several different Motorola Droid and Apple iPhone models. This makes the Droid Vs iPhone debate a particularly tricky one to navigate.

Apple likes to keep things simple in every respect, including model names.

Apple started with the original iPhone:

iPhone original

Then came the iPhone 3G:

iPhone 3G

Then the iPhone 3Gs:

iPhone 3Gs

And finally, the iPhone 4:

iPhone 4

Lets compare the most important features of the iPhone 4 against the Droid X right here on Droid vs iPhone. Some results are subjective (like video quality), some aren’t (like memory) but the results should give anyone who is sitting on the fence and hesitating on purchasing either of these phones something to think about.

In chart form here are the best performers in several categories:

	Droid X	iPhone 4
Display
Processor
Storage
Text Entry
Speech to Text
Browser
Still Pictures
Video (recorded) Quality
Operating System
Overall Speed

Some other features to consider are that the iPhone4 has 2 cameras (front and back facing). Apple’s FaceTime takes advantage of this. For those of you who don’t know, FaceTime is iPhone’s realtime video chat feature very similar to Skype. The quality is quite good, even from country to country.

While the iPhone4 has 2 microphones to help with voice clarity and quality, the DroidX has 3! Is more better? In subjective tests, the iPhone beat out the DroidX in this respect, even though the DroidX had more physical microphones.

In order to get data (ie. videos, apps, music etc.) on and off of your iPhone, the user must use iTunes, whereas the DroidX (using Android OS) can simply be connected to your computer and appear as an external storage device (not unlike a usb key). From there you just have to drag and drop. Dead simple! I prefer this system much better.

And this brings us to the physical method that each phone uses to connect. The Droid series uses a simple mini usb cable that you can find and replace anywhere (should you loose it). Most people have spares kicking around from other devices. Apple unfortunately insists on uses their proprietary cable. Loose it, and prepare to pay dearly for a replacement.

Flash has been a big issue on mobile phones. I don’t mean for your picture taking, I mean Adobe Flash which appears on many internet sites that you visit everyday. The latest version of Android now supports Flash. We’re still waiting for Apple to jump on board. Maybe we’ll see this for the iPhone5.

Historically, Apple likes to have tight control over every aspect of their products. Apple maintains very rigid control over many aspects of the apps in their Appstore as well. They approve all apps and control limits on pricing too. You may have heard of the $999.99 “I Am Rich” app which apparently only displayed a red ruby on the screen and gave the owner a secret “mantra” to say in order to keep healthy and stay wealthy. Apple pulled the app a short while after it was released, as they considered it to be a tad of a scam. It did make several sales however.

This is not the case for the Android phones. While there is a store for Android apps, you can find and download these apps just about anywhere. Is this good or bad? Well, some major security issues have been brought to light by the media. In March 2011, Google announced that they had to pull over 50 apps from the Android app market because they contained malicious code.  Google initiated a system that could remove these apps remotely so damage was minimized. Apple may get the advantage on this point of the Droid vs iPhone challenge, but time will tell if Android’s open door policy dominates the market.

In a recent survey done by Nielson, they found that 71 percent of smartphone users would buy an Android phone again. That sounds like a high loyalty rating, but it falls noticeably short when asking iPhone owners about their next handset — 89 percent are happy with iOS4 and plan to buy a future Apple handset. One thing is for sure, it’s looking like it will be a close race in the Droid Vs iPhone debate.

I can say that the iPhone4 does offer a very smooth user experience although highly lacking in customized features and convenience. The DroidX has power and offers a lot of tweak factor which ensures you’ll never get bored with it.

But it ain’t over yet…

Motorola will be releasing the Droid Bionic this summer, and this should really stir up the pot…

 

 

]]> http://droidvsiphone.org/comparing-droidx-and-the-iphone-4/feed/ 0 http://droidvsiphone.org/droid-vs-iphone-which-is-preferred/ http://droidvsiphone.org/droid-vs-iphone-which-is-preferred/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:16:26 +0000 Chris Bishop http://droidvsiphone.org/?p=303

Droid vs iPhone – WhereWill You Spend Your Hard Earned Money?

The Motorola Droid has emerged as the only real competitor to Apple’s iPhone. Droid vs iPhone – maybe the trickiest showdown ever as sometimes it’s difficult to compare Apples to Oranges (pun intended!).

For simplicity’s sake, these 2 phones are the only ones you need to look at.

With the iPhone’s sleek look and huge number of available apps, Droid will have to do some serious work to compete, and they have already shown they are willing to do so with a HUGE advertising campaign, and great apps coming out daily.

With a 5 mega-pixel camera with LED flash, bigger and expandable memory and stylish design, should Apple be worried?

Apple probably feels safe, with the iPhone’s awesomely sleek design, light, slim, and easy to hold body. One button design and user-friendliness make it a hard to beat alternative.

At the end of the day, Apple has a lot of naysayers and people sometimes refuse to get iPhones simply because they are a fad. While this is a strange way of looking at things, trends are driven by opinions and not always by the facts. Now that a security tracking feature in iPhones could be used against a users permission, will people think twice?

It would be difficult for me to give away my smartphone but someone just venturing into the smartphone market and are stuck in the Droid Vs iPhone debate, may have a real difficult time deciding which one to get, and I am seriously thinking about switching.

I don’t think you’d be happy as an iPhone user going to anything else, unless Apple suddenly did something horribly wrong. Like put iPhone on the backburner for newer products or changed its design so it’s not quite as comfortable to hold.

Time will tell, but whichever way you vote or spend, one thing is for sure…

If you like your hand-held technology as much as I do, competition like this is fantastic news!

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