OT: iPhone or Droid in Chicago?

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about AT&T’s service around the city. There are some dead spots, but if you’re getting service the speeds are usually pretty good. You could also give her an iTunes store gift certificate with the phone so she could get a bunch of apps. I think that would be a nice touch that wouldn’t cost you too much additional money.

If you decide to go the iPhone route, do NOT buy one now. Wait for Apple to announce the next iPhone in June (which will go on sale shortly after). It’s going to be one amazing devise.

I’ll let a Droid user comment on that experience, as I would just be guessing based on stuff I’ve read online.

You may want to consider the HTC Incredible. It is being released on 4/29 and appears to be a step up from the Droid.

and I absolutely love it! I’ve owned it since it came out and I can’t imagine switching to a different phone (except for maybe the Incredible as Ozzzy pointed out above me). Actually, I take that back because I’ll be switching to Sprint for the Evo 4G in June.

I don’t even know how anyone can make any other recommendation. She’s going to SAIC. She’s creative. Creative types love Apple stuff.

So basically, either you buy the iPhone, or she trades in whatever else she gets for an iPhone.

But wait until June! Get the new iPhone.

Just ask yourself this question, what means more to her, the phone or the service? If phone, go iPhone. If service, go Verizon. Although I will give AT&T credit. They have improved their service by leaps and bounds since I got my iPhone. Service at wrigley and on the El is much better than it used to be.

I switched to T-Mobile FlexPay a year ago because of cost. The service quality is not nearly as good, especially not when out walking on the street.

My friends with Droids are happy with Verizon. My friends with iPhones are happy with AT&T.

I say give her a little hand-made gift card and let her select once she gets to Chicago. That way she can test out the phone in her apartment and her classroom buildings within the typical 14-day period.

… but why don’t you ask her which one she wants? I know it may be nice to give her the actual present nicely wrapped as a surprise, but it would probably be more important to give her the phone she wants. I have an iPhone and I love it. I assume many users of android phones love theirs. I feel like you don’t want a situation where you fork over the money for the iPhone and your daughter is thinking “man, wish they would have gotten me an android phone”.

Love it.

Everything’s customizable on it. Voice searching is awesome. The app store has everything. It’s so fast and powerful. My wife was a diehard iphone person. Then she went and played with the droid in the store. We both now own droids.

As somebody else mentioned, in a week, the HTC incredible is coming and looks pretty awesome at the moment. SO you may want to check that out.

I hadn’t considered Sprint before. We used to have AT&T, but switched to Verizon because AT&T reception was terrible at our house. Three months after we switched, AT&T turned on a new cell repeater four blocks away, in front of our middle school. So I know that both of these services will work fine for us. I’ll have to do some research on Sprint in our area.

You guys have pointed out a couple of trends:
1. Android-based phones from a number of companies, especially HTC, are quickly getting much better.
2. The iPhone is also getting better, and the only complaint that I hear about it is related to AT&T service.

Right now, I am leaning towards keeping Verizon and getting the best Android-based phone that they have in mid-summer, probably the HTC Incredible. The early reviews on it are very good, including Consumer Reports.

The point about asking my daughter which she would prefer is a good one, and I might do that. She makes good decisions. However, she agonized over the decision of which school to go to, and I know that she is not eager to do a bunch of research to make a smart phone decision any time soon – and I want to keep the rest of the family on a cell phone plan that is a good deal. She got an iPod for Christmas a few years back, but when it ran out of space, she did a bunch of research on MP3 players and bought a Creative ZEN player. She can see that Apple is great at design, but she found another company that is very good at design and a better value.

Thanks for all of your inputs. The BCB community always comes through.

I have a Droid, my wife has an iPhone.

We have found that Verizon has much better coverage, has a more reliable 3G network, and has cheaper rates than AT&T. As a rational human being, my wife would certainly drop her iPhone and get a Droid, right? Wrong, she is in love with her iPhone and absolutely will not switch.

My advice, slyly ask your daughter what her preferences are and go with that. I suspect the artist in her would want an iPhone, but you never know until you ask.

Its not even close.

Sprint is currently the ONLY carrier that allows DATA SHARING. A Family EVERYTHING plan covers every line under your contract and you get to use your phone as much as you want however you want.

This was the single biggest factor in my decision on which carrier to choose. Paying for 5 lines is expensive but with AT&T and Verizon you get to enjoy a DATA PLAN CHARGE for each line…which (when you add it all up) is more $ than the entire phone bill. It’s like buying a car and having to pay a separate charge per month if you want to drive on the freeway. DUMB.

….
http://communications.wireless.att.com/ILWI_Network_Newsletter/news_release.pdf

BTW, we are a bunch of tech-geeks, huh?

I should have known that I would set off the iPhone-Android Wars here, but I guess that I had my own evil purpose.

I probably will let my daughter make the final decision, but I will have collected all of the relevant information first. We will also wait until all of the phones that are to be introduced through mid-summer are here.

It is clear that the iPhone has the head start on everything. They changed the design point and expectation for smart phones, just like they did for MP3 players a few years back, and just like they did for personal computers a few years before that. They have always been the strongest industrial design house around. Their products just look and feel solid and aesthetically pleasing. That requires a lot of small decisions to be made well.

Having said that, I think that if Google is patient with Android, they can win the battle long-term. There are so many stronger Android phones coming up that it reminds me of the PC vs. Mac wars. Apple lost because they loved those high profits they got from their closed hardware platform. They kept the profit margin, but lost the market. The hardware innovation happened on PCs because the platform was open.

I am still leaning towards keeping Verizon, and going with the best phone that they have available in mid-summer. I will be curious to see if this year’s iPhone manages to keep pace with the Android phones that have already been announced. My daughter is creative with a camera, and the review of the 8M camera in the HTC Incredible makes it sound like a huge improvement from the camera in the current iPhone. That is something tangible. Also, Consumer Reports likes the voice quality of the Motorola Droid better than the iPhone. I know that this is an incredibly pedestrian thing to rate a smart phone on (voice call quality!), but she’s my first born, I’m gonna miss her.

My faith in BCB was fully supported by this article.

I think that you guys compiled the data about as well as this staffer at Yahoo, since I read all of the relevant stuff in this FanPost first. The Yahoo article:
iPhone vs. Android