iPhone 4 vs. HTC Desire

[Jabso]

Can't decide. Can get same plans for both but iPhone 4 will cost $179 outright on the $49 plan.

iPhone seems to have the apps but HTC has the customisation. The apps is not really swaying me that much, the ones I would use seem to be on HTC in some form or I can access in some way through a browser. The rest are mainly promotional novelty apps. I have a PSP and DS so I don't care about games on my phone.

Any reason for me to go for iphone 4 over Desire or even vice versa?

 

[Nardz]

Can't decide. Can get same plans for both but iPhone 4 will cost $179 outright on the $49 plan.

iPhone seems to have the apps but HTC has the customisation. The apps is not really swaying me that much, the ones I would use seem to be on HTC in some form or I can access in some way through a browser. The rest are mainly promotional novelty apps. I have a PSP and DS so I don't care about games on my phone.

Any reason for me to go for iphone 4 over Desire or even vice versa?

i made this decision about 6 weeks ago.
went for the iphone

iphone has the retina display going for it, as well as better performance.


what i didnt like about the desire was that it only has 100mb of on board memory, and at the time you couldnt install apps on memory cards (though i think the update has probably come out by now so you can)

i think the telstra one comes with a 2gb card, so bare in mind the extra cost if u decide to upgrade to at least 8/16 gb

apparently the video recording was crap on the desire, which again would have been fixed by now

htc doesnt have many good syncing options (especially for a mac user like myself), which the iphone obviously has through itunes.

i'm a fan of the ipod functionality of the iphone, and in this regard the desire simply doesnt compare.

the customisability of the desire would be good, but from what i hear by speaking to a few people, android still hasnt matured enough as an OS.

pretty happy with my decision so far, though im sure you'll get people with differing opinions..

 

[Plumah]

Can't decide. Can get same plans for both but iPhone 4 will cost $179 outright on the $49 plan.

iPhone seems to have the apps but HTC has the customisation. The apps is not really swaying me that much, the ones I would use seem to be on HTC in some form or I can access in some way through a browser. The rest are mainly promotional novelty apps. I have a PSP and DS so I don't care about games on my phone.

Any reason for me to go for iphone 4 over Desire or even vice versa?

Hey mate, I have an HTC Desire and my brother has the Iphone4. They are both great phones, either way you'll be very happy.

It really depends what you want out of the phone. If you want full customisation and freedom to do what you want, get the Desire.

If you want simplicity and countless apps, then the Iphone is best for you.

Personally I think the Iphone is heavily over-rated and lagging behind the Android phones at the moment. The step up from 3GS to 4 was a pathetic effort from Apple and they need to start taking a leaf out of the Androids book now. If apple released a brick and called it an Iphone people would still buy it....

However the Desire is currently exclusive to Telstra, but I'm certain in the coming month the Desire will be picked up by other Telcos as the agreement ends with Telstra.

 

[Nardz]

Personally I think the Iphone is heavily over-rated and lagging behind the Android phones at the moment. The step up from 3GS to 4 was a pathetic effort from Apple and they need to start taking a leaf out of the Androids book now. If apple released a brick and called it an Iphone people would still buy it....

not to turn this into a fanboy vs fanboy debate, how do you think the iphone is lagging behind?

 

[spitlizard]

Pity we can't get the htc evo4.
Can't see why not though since we now have vivid wireless which is 4g..

 

[Jabso]

iPod functionality is not really an issue for me until iPhone come out with larger capacity models. I already have an 80GB ipod that's about half full.

 

[Nardz]

iPod functionality is not really an issue for me until iPhone come out with larger capacity models. I already have an 80GB ipod that's about half full.

You can play it smart with iPod functionality and iTunes.

I organize all of my music with star ratings (easy to do, just rate it on the phone as you're listening) and I use this information, along with play counts, last played dates, etc, to generate smart playlists that automatically decide what goes onto my phone.

Not so much of an issue now that I've got the 32gb iPhone, but before i was managing with about 20+GB on my 16GB iPhone 3G

This is one of the main things that made it hard for me to turn away from iPhone, i understand theres an app that imports from iTunes for android syncing, but who knows how well that works.

My opinion, when somethings not broke don't fi it. Iphone 3G was working well for me apart from then shocking performance after ios4, so I figured I'd go with what I know works, rather than the unknown

 

[wce_all_da_way]

It works quite fine... I have the Samsung Galaxy S and used my brothers iPhone 4 for a few days whilst he went away before I got the Galaxy. Absolutely no way I'd stick with an iPhone over Android.

 

[red+black]

Depends on your own needs. I made my decision based on the fact that developers are developing apps for Apple iOS at like a million times the rate of any other mobile operating system. If in time developers start paying more attention to Android, then I'll move across. One thing I'd never do though is go back to Windows Mobile .

One thing Apple still had not done well is develop the core PIM apps, namely Calendar and Contacts. They are pretty shit. Palm OS was doing a better job 12 years ago.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

Depends on your own needs. I made my decision based on the fact that developers are developing apps for Apple iOS at like a million times the rate of any other mobile operating system. If in time developers start paying more attention to Android, then I'll move across. One thing I'd never do though is go back to Windows Mobile .

One thing Apple still had not done well is develop the core PIM apps, namely Calendar and Contacts. They are pretty shit. Palm OS was doing a better job 12 years ago.

75,000+ apps, and rate of growth is increasing by the month.

Android is the place to be. Pretty much any half decent app that anyone would use is either already out on both platforms or coming soon. The scope for Android apps is much larger though, as it supports functionality that users have to jailbreak their iPhone to achieve.

 

[red+black]

You list the Android apps relevant to Australia and Melbourne and I'll list the same for iPhone. I think we know who wins (as of today anyway).

 

[Rod Stroker]

You list the Android apps relevant to Australia and Melbourne and I'll list the same for iPhone. I think we know who wins (as of today anyway).

Dude, there's more to life than Melbourne. Whole new world out there

 

[Rod Stroker]

I was in the same dilemma about 6 weeks ago, tossing up between i4, HTC and Galaxy. In the end I went with the i4 as I'd never had an apple device before so was curious to experience it. While it's been OK, in hindsight I should have gone with one of the others, probably the Galaxy. Android is the future, with droves of apple developers moving towards the open-source Android platform.

 

[Rod Stroker]

75,000+ apps, and rate of growth is increasing by the month.

Android is the place to be. Pretty much any half decent app that anyone would use is either already out on both platforms or coming soon. The scope for Android apps is much larger though, as it supports functionality that users have to jailbreak their iPhone to achieve.

Interesting chart. "Others" would have to be the likes of WinMobile and Symbian, the significant dip there probably attributed to the horrible platform that is Symbian.
Windows will be making a re-birth again though in a big way with WinPhone7. The ecosystem that they have setup for the phone to work with other MS platforms (inc XBox) looks pretty awesome. They will be looking to exploit the MS brand to the max when they release it, in their quest to rule the smartphone world.
http://www.windowsphone7.com/

 

[red+black]

Dude, there's more to life than Melbourne. Whole new world out there

Of course there is, but I went looking for apps that would assist me where I live, which is Melbourne. It's of little relevance to me if there are 1000 Android apps for New Yorkers. I agree that Android is probably a better platform, and in years to come Apple will have its work cut out to keep market share

 

[Rod Stroker]

Depends on your own needs. I made my decision based on the fact that developers are developing apps for Apple iOS at like a million times the rate of any other mobile operating system. If in time developers start paying more attention to Android, then I'll move across. One thing I'd never do though is go back to Windows Mobile .

Wait till WinPhone 7 is out. I'm not an MS fanboy but credit where it's due, I was impressed.

One thing Apple still had not done well is develop the core PIM apps, namely Calendar and Contacts. They are pretty shit. Palm OS was doing a better job 12 years ago.

True that! Ah, my old Palm m500, why did you have to die and go to PDA heaven?

 

[red+black]

Wait till WinPhone 7 is out. I'm not an MS fanboy but credit where it's due, I was impressed.

I'll give it a look for lulz but I'd never ever ever ever go back to Windows Mobile. I am fairly sure I'll get the iPhone 5 and then probably head over to Android.

It will take a lot for Windows Phone 7 to drag Microsoft from the scrapheap. As Ballmer himself said last year, they screwed up. I guess things didn't improve with the Microsoft Kin phone either. I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Rod Stroker]

I know I know. Zune has also been less than successful for them. But you have to say they've restored some market cred with Win7 since last year, after the Vista balls up. I'm willing to cut them some slack with their upcoming mobile platform. These guys haven't become the IT giants that they are due to sustained screw ups, right?

I also accept there are people who will never consider MS because, well, they're Microsoft, right? (tall poppy syndrome). Which has been a big factor in Apple's success in recent times, users opting for Apple as a big FU! to MS. What's interesting though is a trend emerging where Apple has become too successful and people are looking at alternatives to stand out from the crowd due to how "mainstream" apple has become.

 

[Nardz]

Android is the future,

maybe so

i dont know about you

but when shopping for a phone, i shop for one today, not for the future.

i only plan on keeping my phone for anywhere between 12-24 months.

apple is the phone of today so might as well enjoy it while today is here.

 

[Nardz]

75,000+ apps, and rate of growth is increasing by the month.

Android is the place to be. Pretty much any half decent app that anyone would use is either already out on both platforms or coming soon. The scope for Android apps is much larger though, as it supports functionality that users have to jailbreak their iPhone to achieve.

btw that chart is vastly different depending on who you get the information from. such a stat can't really be accurately depicted.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/04/android-accounts-for-one-quarter-of-mobile-web-traffic-says-qua/

 

[red+black]

If Apple ever release iPhone for Verizon/Sprint etc, that would really change things in North America. I think the AT&T exclusivity agreement is coming to an end (January?).

I considered Android 15 months ago and thought it was still a bit raw at the time. Android definitely excites me like Palm OS did in the late '90s and early '00s. I give props to MS for Win XP and Win 7, Vista was a joke, and Win Mobile has been a joke. I will never consider Windows on a Mobile device again, MS dropped the ball and the competition has moved on. Windows on a desktop, sure, but Win Mobile is dead to me.

 

[Plumah]

not to turn this into a fanboy vs fanboy debate, how do you think the iphone is lagging behind?

I'm by no means a fanboy of either phone. Like i said both phones are excellent, yet both have their downsides aswell.

I just think Apple haven't taken any steps forward to improve the user experience (particulary customization such as the UI) unlike the Android which excels in this area and ultimately the factor that won me over. (i was orignally definetly getting a Iphone4 until i actually played around with the Desire.

But i completely agree that the storage capacity of the Iphone is a reason to buy one. But i comes down to what you want out of the phone, i for one don't use my phone for music, hence why i dont have a problem with the Desire.

 

[Rod Stroker]

maybe so

i dont know about you

but when shopping for a phone, i shop for one today, not for the future.

i only plan on keeping my phone for anywhere between 12-24 months.

apple is the phone of today so might as well enjoy it while today is here.

Technology moves so fast though, so what is today's phone quickly becomes yesterdays.

 

[Sir CJ]

This is an interesting topic, I'm about to come out of my contract with Optus and I must say I'm a bit over my iPhone 3G, and I'm not 100% sure if I want to go for the iPhone 4, sure it has a few upgrades on the 3G but those upgrades aren't really that appealing, I really don't care about a 5MP camera or video calling, and I don't care too much about the fact that the Apple store has so many more apps, because the only Apps which I really use are obviously the social networking ones and a couple of AFL ones, I don't play games on my phone

I understand if I go for the HTC desire I'd have to go with Telstra as they are the only suppliers of it atm, but I was considering giving Telstra a go as I've been a bit annoyed with the Optus coverage on my iPhone, and after hearing some opinions about the Next G network it sounds like that network is quicker and has more coverage, etc

Has anyone experienced both phones and if so which is the way to go? Does any1 think there is a distinct advantage of the HTC over the Iphone 4? Vice versa?

 

[Nardz]

I'm by no means a fanboy of either phone. Like i said both phones are excellent, yet both have their downsides aswell.

I just think Apple haven't taken any steps forward to improve the user experience (particulary customization such as the UI) unlike the Android which excels in this area and ultimately the factor that won me over. (i was orignally definetly getting a Iphone4 until i actually played around with the Desire.

But i completely agree that the storage capacity of the Iphone is a reason to buy one. But i comes down to what you want out of the phone, i for one don't use my phone for music, hence why i dont have a problem with the Desire.

granted android is much more customisable than the iphone, but the average punter doesnt want to "customise" their phone, they just wanna use it. it is in this regard i think apple holds an advantage as it is more simple to use...

personally id like the extra customisability, as well as the home screens etc that are capable on the android, but it isn't the be all and end all (if i really want customisability i'd jailbreak my iphone, which i'm yet to do)

Technology moves so fast though, so what is today's phone quickly becomes yesterdays.

yes that's true, but it's not going to help you if you buy a phone today.

buy an android today, and yes android OS will evolve over the next year or two, but you might find yourself in a position where to take full advantage of technological advancement, you'll need new hardware (ie. iphone 3g and ios4). hence i shop for today when it comes to phones.

my main issue when i decided to buy the iPhone was not so much with the android OS, but the handsets themselves.

the Galaxy was way too big, the desire is a nice size and a nice looking phone, but for reasons i've already mentioned above I couldnt really go for it.

the other deal breaker for me was that the desire available with telstra is for the NextG network (HSDPA 850 / 1900), whereas optus uses 900/2100 (or it could be the other way around?). Point being that the phone's not designed for use on the network that optus provides (i'm with optus). you can alternatveily get the 900/2100 verson, but then it's not designed for use on telstra. it's one or the other.

granted this would only impact 3g coverage in rural areas, it is a factor nevertheless.

iphone 4 supports 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100

if there was an android phone available that was similar to the desire, but had better network coverage support, more onboard ram, and a faster processor, better display, and probably better touch interface (multitouch on iphone is better than any other phone out there), then i would go for it. maybe by the time i'm next shopping for a phone..