The Android

[Tony]

The time has come for me to look for another phone. I have used the iPhone since it's release 4 years ago. I am so effing sick of AT&T...

Anyway, I am looking to get into an android phone, and hoped that some of you would be able to help me out with picking the right one. I'm not really into apps all the much, but I guess I would if I had a bigger selection of where to get those apps. I gotta have music, and even though its an apple product, I have and only use iTunes.

I have been looking at Verizon as the carrier, as they are the oldest and most dominant in the West Michigan area for coverage, Sprint being second.  That limits my choices to the DROID series of phones. The original, the Incredible, and the new "X". Price really doesn't matter, everything is going to be new contract. I see that the Incredible has the Snapdragon processor, which is a little faster than the original Droid. It's obviously a better phone, but you are limited to not having a physical keyboard. Since I use the iPhone and a Blackberry every day, I prefer the iPhone touch screen keyboard to the physical on the BB. However, it seems that the DROID keyboard would be much more efficient.

So here are my questions.

1. Have any of you purchased any of the DROID phones from Verizon and not liked them?
2. Does the Android OS interface with iTunes, if not, what music system does?
3. If you have the original DROID by Verizon with a physical keyboard, do you find yourself using it at all? <---my biggest issue
4. Has anyone upgraded from the DROID to the Incredible and noticed much difference in performance?
6. Will the DROID be upgradable to Android OS 2.1?
5. Lastly is pure speculation, but since the X is coming out in a few weeks, anyone else think that the price of the DROID will be lowered?

I would totally stay with the iPhone if it was on a different carrier. I am 11 miles from the closest tower at my house, and about 7 when I am at work. Totally sick of that crap. I know there are other options to the Android phones, such as the EVO and the 1, I'd take those into consideration as well.

[Kothnok]

1. Have any of you purchased any of the DROID phones from Verizon and not liked them?
Nope

2. Does the Android OS interface with iTunes, if not, what music system does?
Depends on what you mean by interface with iTunes.  There are a lot of apps in the Android Market for iTunes related work (I don't use iTunes, so don't know what's best).  One in particular that stood out from my search: Remote for iTunes

3. If you have the original DROID by Verizon with a physical keyboard, do you find yourself using it at all? <---my biggest issue
I used the T-Mobile G1 for the past 8 months and have recently gotten a Nexus One.  I prefer the physical slide out keyboard to the onscreen one any day.  But the fact that the Nexus One is so much lighter without it I'm learning to live with the onscreen keyboard.  Plus, there's a new feature that will let you use speech recognition to type and it works pretty well.

4. Has anyone upgraded from the DROID to the Incredible and noticed much difference in performance?
Can't help you with that one.

6. Will the DROID be upgradable to Android OS 2.1?
Yes, as well as Android 2.2 which is rolling out across the nation as we speak.

5. Lastly is pure speculation, but since the X is coming out in a few weeks, anyone else think that the price of the DROID will be lowered?
If the older phones with other carriers is any indication... no, not from the cell companies at least.  I purchases my G1 after their next phone was released and T-Mobile did not drop their prices at all.  Walmart on the other hand, did and I purchased my G1 through them. Not exactly my first choice of where to buy it, but I wasn't about to pay full price for an older gen phone.

Another possibility you have is to purchase the Nexus One from Google.  They still sell them from Google's website for the time being (it's being phased out) and they will work with any carrier since they are unlocked phones.  The only issue for many people is the up front price of just over $500 since it is unlocked and doesn't come with any plan to help bury that cost over two years (which frequently means you pay more, but that's ok for most people, it's like a little insta-loan).
I unplugged the SIM card out of my old G1 and plugged it into the Nexus One and it worked without having to call anyone or tweak anything.  I can move it back and forth between the phones too (essential for testing my apps).

[Shadowwolf]

You can usually keep up on latest phones from all manufacturers here:

http://www.gsmarena.com/

There are a ton of Android phones on the market now, even some from companies like Dell and Asus which are unlocked but not available from a carrier in the US. My suggestion is to take a look at them there, because honestly from my experience you'll find a better level of technology overseas than if you get a phone through a carrier in the US. For some strange reason, US carriers dont keep a good update on technology for the phones they offer on their networks. A good example is my Sony K750i which I bought overseas and kept for almost 5 years. I just replaced it with an Android phone a little over a year ago because thats how long it took to fall even with the technology of the US phone market.

As a general suggestion for people on deciding between Android or Apple, I list the following for people.

1) Are you looking for an MP3 player primarily that doubles as a phone? If "yes", you want an iPhone.

2) Are you looking for a phone that works more like an organizer and connection point for your daily life? If "yes" you want an Android phone.

Both will do all those things, however each one excels in a different area because thats where the development focus has been. An iPhone was designed with being a music player in mind first and everything else secondary. Because of this, its probably the best phone out there to be a portable MP3 player in addition to doing other things. An Android phone while it can do the same and operate as an MP3 player, its primary design function was to be a mobile organization platform, so it excels at those things more than an iPhone.

As for iTunes syncing, most new Android phones offer a way to sync up with it, but since Apple is being a bunch of jackasses in trying to stifle competition, itll never be as smooth as it is with an iPhone or iPod. There are however alternatives.

http://www.doubletwist.com/

I actually hate iTunes and use this now. I do still use iTunes to sync my iPod, but thats it. It aggravates me as a player and I just dont like it.