[JohnR]

With two new phones needed in the household recently, I've been doing some research into them. We've so far bought a Galaxy Nexus, which is getting "mixed reviews" from the new owner - the downside being some apparent shortcomings with regard to reception in marginal signal areas (rural), to counter the undoubtedly very nice and fast UI. After some research into options for the second phone with better reception in out-of-city areas (*), I've come to wonder whether it's almost as though you need to be an IT person to manage a phone these days.

For example, if you buy an "Android" phone, does it have the Google version of Android, or a version customized by the phone vendor? Will updates to Android be available for your phone soon after release, or will you have to wait for your carrier and/or phone maker to release it, and how long will that take? Are the "apps" that you want available for this phone? The online gizmo freaks would have you believe that a Nokia N9 is a bad buy because the OS is a "dead end" - but hang on, isn't this just a phone we are talking about here, how many years of updates are we expecting to get on it???

Hopefully you might understand what I am trying to say. I do say, though, that while an iPhone is not on the shortlist for the next phone (battery and reception issues), I think the iPhone UI has set the bar pretty high, and it has cut off at least the lower tier of Android phones from consideration.

(*) This refers to Australia which has a distinct.. um distinction between city and rural areas, and this issue may be completely non -existent in your country

[MaxCast]

Don't know if I will answer your question or not but I think a phone purchase should be based on first the carriers signal strength in the areas you will be using it then the phones reception capability.  Hopefully you can find a carrier that will meet your needs.  With that determined you should be able to find a phone to suit your needs.
As far as the phone goes the android phones are pretty slick and offer many choices.  What I don't like is the fact that they have so many models and new models they can't possibly keep everything up to date, or care to.  I don't like getting aps from several sources.  Some of which may be shady.  I didn't like the fact that I had to "sign off" on my sons android tablet which basically said download at your own risk (personal and hardware related).  The world of Google does offer many services and amenities.
I like the fact that apple still supports the iphone 3gs.  (4 years old now???)  Although there are some limitations based on the older processing power of an older pone.  I love my iphone 4 and will get a 5 when the time is right.

[wilsynet]

As far as I know, signal and reception issues have largely been fixed on the iPhone 4S, and battery issues are rare (but have existed).

On the whole, if you want as seamless and as high quality experience as possible, that's gotta be on the iPhone versus the Android.  On Android, as you said, you worry about things like what version of firmware, when do you get the firmware update, etc.

As for apps, well, there are still more apps on the iPhone than there are for Android.

[skunark]

There's been a lot of press about the lack of SW updates for Android phones. Just looking at the wikipedia you can see the fragmentation.   Here's a pretty eye-chart that details the issue even further.     Bottom line, don't expect to get a major software update, which will could lock you out of updates or new apps.

I would agree with MaxCast it's really the carrier and location not the phone for reception.

As for battery life or reception issues when comparing an iPhone to Android... it's really a mixed bag.    I know more folks that complain about battery life on an DROID than an iPhone, but I also know of at least one that has to charge it at work.    And at least where I live, ATT has the fastest data rate, Verizon has the best coverage and Sprint has the slowest data rate but best monthly rate, no matter which phone.  I don't know anyone with t-mobile... or the local carriers either.

[JohnR]

Actually, there is a difference between phones on a given network - "For the last few years CHOICE has teamed up with Farming Ahead magazine, taking the latest Next G mobiles to the NSW outback where there is minimal interference, no buildings and one Next G tower to determine the models with the clearest signal. The worst performer could make a call up to 30km from the Next G tower and the best reached 43km."

The choice of network is a given in this case, Telstra does have the best rural coverage.

[JohnR]

This is the one that put us off the iPhone.

[cujobob]

Most phones are updated rather quickly to address call quality and reception issues. While some phones and services are simply better in certain areas, the more popular phones in a fairly populous area should work rather well. I'd stick with one of the flagship models because they are more certain to get updates and work well. For example, Sprint pushed the Evo when 4G was first coming out and that phone was still a very nice phone a year later. I jumped on the Evo 3D when it was released because I assumed it would have the same support and I was right, the issues have been worked out and I like my phone very much.

iPhones are fantastic devices that are perfect for someone who doesn't want to think about their phone ever. If you don't want to tweak settings, close apps manually, or fudge around with alternative music players, an iPhone could be up your alley.

[wilsynet]

This is the one that put us off the iPhone.

Batteries catching on fire is not limited to iPhones.  I think we can be fairly certain that this is a pretty rare event.

If you do a search for "battery recall" in Google, we'll see that many companies have had to issue recalls for batteries over the years.

Apple sold 37 million iPhones last quarter.  Of the hundreds of millions sold so far, it seems somewhat of an overreaction to declare the whole lot bad because of a few pretty isolated incidents.

In general, I think we would find that the quality of construction on Apple hardware to be above industry averages.

Here's a link to a Samsung related battery recall from 2007:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/133130/gateway_recalls_thousands_of_laptop_batteries.html

[JohnR]

Batteries catching on fire is not limited to iPhones.

Fair enough, Samsungs do it too 

Anyway, I think I'm warming up (hah) to the N9 at this point. It lets you just open up a root shell, apparently.

[skunark]

Fair enough, Samsungs do it too 

Anyway, I think I'm warming up (hah) to the N9 at this point. It lets you just open up a root shell, apparently.

Nice if you can open up a root shell, so can the apps, clever way for a virus..   As long as you don't store credit card information and have a hard cap on your plan, seems killer.   

I would be more concerned about that "feature" than an incomplete report about a battery exploding which might turn out to be a counterfit battery.

[JohnR]

I'm not sure that makes sense. Any Unix computer can have a root shell opened on it, yet they're pretty secure and run a gazillion web and email servers. So how is a phone different exactly? 

[skunark]

Hrm.. how about a rootkit?   There's plenty of linux web and email servers that get hacked, wordpress is the latest issue and don't forget the Sony's PS3 issue last year with unpatched apache servers.

The phone will be "pretty secure" sure.. but not totally, iOS and Android handle it differently and each have their advantages and weaknesses.  Allowing the user root access, you now toss the burden of security to the end-user, it's now your fault if you get hacked.   You now need to understand your actions and the actions of the apps that you install.  With anything the risk will always be there but the risk will change, migrate more towards the end-user.      If you install/compile apps from a trusted source, run with SElinux and control the firewall you can make the argument that it can be more secure.

Of course that same logic extends to your windows, mac and even linux desktops.   Ubuntu, Mac and even Windows (those annoying popups) now encourages you to use "sudo" over a root shell.

http://tabtimes.com/feature/ittech-security-privacy/2011/12/13/virus-watch-8-worst-android-infections-2011

[JohnR]

I love my iphone 4 and will get a 5 when the time is right.

I was planning on waiting for a 5 too, but my 3gs appears to be terminally ill. Shouldna dropped it off the roof... however, I did, so it's time to break out of the Apple comfort zone. So far, I'm enjoying it

I know more folks that complain about battery life on an DROID than an iPhone

Doesn't this also depend on the hardware? Android is just the OS, unlike the "iPhone" which means both the hardware and the software.

As for apps, well, there are still more apps on the iPhone than there are for Android.

I was thinking about this comment. I've decided that the number of apps available is irrelevant - what's important is whether you can get the apps that you need. I installed a bunch of apps when I got my current 3Gs, and 2+ years later, I barely use any of them. The phone is for ultimate portability, because it's always in your pocket. If I actually need to do anything serious, I have a laptop. Here's my list of what I actually need/want in a phone, roughly in decreasing priority:

Calls
Contacts
SMS

Email
Maps/Navigation
Web
Weather

Camera
Clock/Alarm
Music Player

The first group is of course in any phone. Second group needs to be a smartphone with a decent screen. Third group I use a fair bit it wouldn't kill me not to have any of them.

Oddly enough, now that I write it down, that's pretty much it. I have some other apps on the 3Gs that I use occasionally, but I'm starting to think (see above thoughts about security) that having these on the phone is probably not such a great idea anyway:

Paypal
Bank accounts
eBay

Is there a "killer app" that you simply couldn't live without, that would make you buy one phone over another just to get that app?
 

[skunark]

Hardware, software and usage model all impacts the battery life... larger screen, better processor/gpu and 4G LTE all consume more power... and all have very little gain to the end user.  I haven't looked at the benchmarks recently, but the last one the iPhone 4s had a hefty margin, of course it's now a leapfrog style race..


For the apps you listed, Android or the iOS would be fine.      You might list an SSH client, audio meter , calculator/units conversion as well, but again no real difference between the phones.

When I travel I do like to watch/listen to movies or top gear, so my biggest question for Android is how do you upload or purchase a movie.     I'm sure there's an answer, but that seem to stump any android owner that i've talked with and even half don't know how to add music to their android.

For me the iPhone/Android needed to replace the MP3 player, point-and-shoot camera and the Phone to "justify" the cost.  Or at least that was my reasoning to buy my first one.  I believe I even lumped in "GPS"..   Which is really a bad justification since any smart phone will end up costing you about 3 grand here in the US once the two year contract is up.   Now I'm hooked and I also own every top gear season in iTunes, so now i'm locked into the iPhone.. so for me it's not about the apps, it's about the content.

[JohnR]

I have a partial answer to the movie question. I'm not sure about how you purchase a movie, but getting video onto an Android is simply a matter of connecting the USB cable and dragging files into the Android filesystem. They show up in... I forget which app exactly, it might have been the gallery app. Music files are the same - just drop them in the file system, and they show up in the music player app.

That's from trying it quickly on the Nexus. Not "my" phone so I didn't use it to set up a proper music library, but it seemed to work great.

See, now that's an example of something that you just can't do with an iPhone - well, not out of the box as far as I've ever seen. Raw access to the filesystem. Frankly, it was something of a revelation that I could just do that. It "just worked."

Here's one thing I love about Android. In ICS on the Nexus, anyway. There is always a "back" button. Always. With the iPhone, you are reading an email, it has a URL in it. Press on it, the page opens up. How do you get back to the email you were in?? You have to press the home button, then tap on the email app. In Android? Just press the back button and there you are. On the Nexus it's a soft button, so none of the discontinuity between the physical button and the soft buttons like you have with the iPhone.

[JohnR]

Hrm.. how about a rootkit?   There's plenty of linux web and email servers that get hacked, wordpress is the latest issue and don't forget the Sony's PS3 issue last year with unpatched apache servers.

The phone will be "pretty secure" sure.. but not totally, iOS and Android handle it differently and each have their advantages and weaknesses.  Allowing the user root access, you now toss the burden of security to the end-user, it's now your fault if you get hacked.   You now need to understand your actions and the actions of the apps that you install.  With anything the risk will always be there but the risk will change, migrate more towards the end-user.      If you install/compile apps from a trusted source, run with SElinux and control the firewall you can make the argument that it can be more secure.

Of course that same logic extends to your windows, mac and even linux desktops.   Ubuntu, Mac and even Windows (those annoying popups) now encourages you to use "sudo" over a root shell.

http://tabtimes.com/feature/ittech-security-privacy/2011/12/13/virus-watch-8-worst-android-infections-2011

Point taken with Android infections. That is one reason why the Nexus hasn't had any 3rd-party apps installed on it... yet. It is paradoxical that you can install any apps from anywhere, but to get an update of the OS itself you have to wait for a sanctioned release from the carrier.

As far as the root access question, I'm not sure that I understand/agree with some of your comments. Just because you install an app as root, doesn't mean that it runs as root. With regard to the Meego phone (N9), my understanding is that you do have to turn on "developer" mode to even get started with this. However, at least the phone allows you to do that, you don't have to "jailbreak" it. It seems to me in either case it's the same - if you just want to "use" the phone, don't do that stuff.

I thought sudo and disabling remote root logins was standard practice. I'm not sure what the Meego phone does/allows as I don't have one in my hot little hands yet - but as it's a Linux derivative it should probably all be fairly familiar stuff.

[MaxCast]

Given your list above where do you rank root/jailbreak -ability?
I think the answer is yes to your thread question.  Yes, you need to be a wiz if you are going to root it. 
Screen size, imo, would be important in this area.

Interesting web site that Choice is.

I agree with the back button.  I have come to realize reducing the number of taps to navigate a phone/tab is an important factor in UI .  On the iphone you tap home twice to get direct access to a list of recent apps.  Still three taps to one.

[JohnR]

Given your list above where do you rank root/jailbreak -ability?

Heh, good question  In all honesty, as far as a phone goes, pretty low. From my pov, it realistlicaly means that I can get into any of my servers from the phone, if I wanted to. But typing more than a few characters would I am sure get painful quickly. I suppose it's like "I can get 6 million apps if I buy this phone" - it sound good but in reality it's just a justification for what you are going to do anyway.

[JohnR]

I'm struggling with one thing though, which is this. The reason I have Macs for my desktop and laptop is because they are Unix underneath. When I'm actually working, I spend most of my time in a terminal and emacs. I like the UI and all that, but if that were all there were to it, it wouldn't be such an easy decision. So I struggle to understand the straightjacket iPhone system at times.

[skunark]

Heh, good question  In all honesty, as far as a phone goes, pretty low. From my pov, it realistlicaly means that I can get into any of my servers from the phone, if I wanted to. But typing more than a few characters would I am sure get painful quickly. I suppose it's like "I can get 6 million apps if I buy this phone" - it sound good but in reality it's just a justification for what you are going to do anyway.

There are client ssh apps that allow you to connect to your servers. Even if you had a root shell it doesn't mean ssh would be there.    So your really don't have a need to have a root shell