iphone impressions ? i might jump in

[shanecgriffo]

my phone plan has run out and i can get a new iphone with the same company for $20 extra a month ($55 which gives me a $350 call/sms cap limit +250mb data) so i'm tempted.. on top of phone duties i'll be looking at killing a bit of time for the 2hrs a day i'm on the bus to work 3 days a week, with a bit of music app fun and light internet browsing and also will no doubt buy the amplitube gizmo/amp software when it's released.(i take my laptop at the moment to the music workshops i run, to run amplitube-, so i may be able to do away with that in the future)
So just wondering what are peoples experiences.. worthwhile? pitfalls
joys, disapointments?

[spaceman]

I know quite a few people who moved to Android phones. Some of them are real Apple guys (fanboys to some extend I guess). So far their verdict is that not all Android apps actually work, which is to do with there being too many versions of Android. But otherwise they are all quite happy with their move.

I've got 9 months left on my iPhone contract and will definitely check out an Android phone when renewal is due.

I really like my iPhone myself but the restricted file system access is starting to bug me now. There's some really great apps for the iPhone and integration is generally very good, especially things like going from webpages to contacts to maps etc. it's a great phone to have when you want to get around in a city.

If I were you, go and try out both an iPhone and an Android-based phone like the HTC Desire and see what you like best.

[Dave Bourke]

I went from a POS Nokia brick to an iPhone and I absolutely love it. Apple's tight control over the platform means that when you buy an app, it just works (to coin a phrase). Many of the music apps available are absolutely superb (I can create a fully-fledged MIDI/audio sequence on the bus, then import it into my DAW). I also use it to control any or all of the computers (Macs) in my network.

I couldn't do any of this with an Android phone.

And I make the odd phone call on it as well.

@spaceman - you can get at the file system using a free Mac app called iPhone Explorer (http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/). Also, iPhone Apps like Air Sharing Pro (paid), Discover (free) and Good Reader (can't remember) are useful for Bonjour, http/s, ftp access and so on. Worth a look-see.

Kind regards.

[TristezaOrange]

I am the proud owner of an HTC Hero (the European version, not the crappy Sprint one) and I'm really happy with it. However, you probably want to get an iPhone at this stage, if the restrictions don't bother you. There are more apps, they look more professional (the apps, not the phones) and since you're asking on KvR, you probably want a mini-DAW on you. You can't get a decent DAW-lite on Android, or if you can, I don't know of any. Also, some awesome synths on iPhone.

In short, I wouldn't change my Hero for anything (I love the Sense interface and it really feels like a full OS on a phone instead of a mobile OS) but I still wish it had the app selection the iPhone has. To be fair, all of the apps I downloaded worked perfectly on my Hero. Also, most Android phones are getting upgraded to Android 2.1 soon. So fragmentation is not problem. But app selection still is.

[spaceman]

@dave

Thanks for the tip. Didn't know about that on. I wish we had control over where to save files in the first place, but this software definitely sorts out a few issues.

[Stupid American Pig]

iPhone 4 is imminent(though I dont know what the wait is for Australia) so maybe wait for that?

[BERFAB]

I got iPhones for everyone in my family for the holidays. They love 'em and my exposure has been positive. I'm one of those that has always said "I just want my phone to make phone calls" but I think I'm going to be switching soon myself.

Two things alone are worth the price of admission for me:
1) the ability to stream jazz and downtempo from Pandora when/wherever I want
2) I was in Montreal (i.e. far from home) this weekend and got very lost because the car's GPS was screwing up the local addresses. My wife pulls out her iPhone and gets a clear map right to our destination, which I was able to follow in real time--better than the car's own GPS.

SAP is correct about iPhone4. Here in the US it's due out in June. So I'm waiting.

-B

[shanecgriffo]

thanks for the replies.. re iphone 4 . it will probably be on a lot more expensive phone plans when released than v3 i imagine so it might be a year or so til it comes down to my price range. and accordingly, the price on iphone3 plans could drop a little.

[spaceman]

thanks for the replies.. re iphone 4 . it will probably be on a lot more expensive phone plans when released than v3 i imagine

Why would that be? It's still just a phone and it's still just using 3G

[soulmelt]

iphones are great, don't like having to use itunes to sync mp3's. (wish you could just drop them on).

Great apps for music,

Be aware dont buy 'angry birds' as your time will be lost with this game, hours of addiction

[blaster78]

250mb data

that's going to absolutely kill you. even with "ligh"t usage you're going to smash that weekly, never mind monthly. that's horribly low, you'll find yourself constantly watching your uasage and second guessing whether you can do something online, kind of killing the point of a smartphone.

steve.

[spaceman]

250mb data

that's going to absolutely kill you. even with "ligh"t usage you're going to smash that weekly, never mind monthly. that's horribly low, you'll find yourself constantly watching your uasage and second guessing whether you can do something online, kind of killing the point of a smartphone.

He's right. I was in Japan a while ago and had to use roaming (which is bloody expensive) The megabytes just keep ticking by even if you're just checking email from time to time and do a little bit of twittering.

250mb is a complete no-no with phones like the iPhone and similar Android phones.

[blaster78]

HTC Desire

i love my desire, it's a fantastic phone and can do everything i need far better/easier/faster than my bosses iphone...

that said, the battery is fecking awful, 3-5 hrs of full on usage at best, i can need to charge it 3 times a day sometimes !!

a bigger capacity battery will help (it's 1400mah as standard and you can get up to 3600mah 3rd party batteries) i also have a car charger, a cable on my computer and a mobile battery that charges from usb and then gives me an emergency 50% charge. so i get by but tbh, the phone is just so powerful/screen so pretty, it destroys the charge in all but casual use.

there are almost no good audio applications. i never intended my phone to be used for this, i need a keyboard and big screen. fiddly does not work for me. but if this is what you are after android does not fulfill. there are (at best) 3 or 4 music apps that could (if you squint) be classed as more than games and really none of them are interesting yet, however, this may change as market share increases and potential ££'s profit get larger.

so beware, although i do love it, you might find the iphone is a better option.

steve.

[blaster78]

250mb data

that's going to absolutely kill you. even with "ligh"t usage you're going to smash that weekly, never mind monthly. that's horribly low, you'll find yourself constantly watching your uasage and second guessing whether you can do something online, kind of killing the point of a smartphone.

He's right. I was in Japan a while ago and had to use roaming (which is bloody expensive) The megabytes just keep ticking by even if you're just checking email from time to time and do a little bit of twittering.

250mb is a complete no-no with phones like the iPhone and similar Android phones.

indeed, i was out of the office yesterday and did 560mb...

google maps navigation, podcasts/spotify, email and rdp... it starts to look like a fruit machine on my usage monitor

if you start to watch video you it can get terryfying.

cheers,

steve.

[TristezaOrange]

there are almost no good audio applications. i never intended my phone to be used for this, i need a keyboard and big screen. fiddly does not work for me. but if this is what you are after android does not fulfill. there are (at best) 3 or 4 music apps that could (if you squint) be classed as more than games and really none of them are interesting yet, however, this may change as market share increases and potential ££'s profit get larger.

so beware, although i do love it, you might find the iphone is a better option.

Exactly. Android is far behind on audio applications. I found a chord sketcher called ChordBot just to assist me on songwriting on the go, but the iPhone has hundreds of real, capable audio applications.

I still feel special being the only one of my smartphone-owning friends that hasn't got an iPhone though. It's also adorable when they see the Sense UI and start playing around with it, green with envy. Yeah, I'm that shallow.