[Osiris]

I think it's great that Apple puts so much effort into usability and aesthetics. They put a lot of polish onto their devices and apps that put almost everyone else to shame.

It's true that the iPhone was a game changer. It's not surprising to see other companies stepping up to the challenge.

As an Android user (myTouch, 128MB RAM sucks), I often wish for the polish of the iPhone and for access to some much better apps, but in the end I can do things that the iPhone could never do.

I can tether via USB or WiFi, install apps from websites without using the Market and use free turn-by-turn navigation all while while taking a phone call. With Android I feel like I have freedom to do what I want with my pocket-sided computer without being treated like a baby and told what I can and cannot do with my own personal computing device. I have the freedom to choose phones with keyboards or without, with more RAM or less, from any carrier that I want. For me, that freedom is worth a lot.

I think the iPhone 4 is a great device from what I can see and certainly outshines most Android phones, but not by as much as the iPhone outshined BlackBerry at the time. If Google can take time for the next OS to work on the polish, I think they have a chance to really be a solid competitor. Heck, the Droid outsold the iPhone 3G in the first 30 days of sales. That says something.

[masklinn]

> I can tether via USB or WiFi

USB and Bluetooth tethering available on the iPhone

> install apps from websites without using the Market

True.

> and use free turn-by-turn navigation all while while taking a phone call

Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more.

> With Android I feel like I have freedom to do what I want

Yeah especially when you don't know what you can do on an iPhone, I find that interesting.

[vetinari]

> Always been available on the iPhone, you can do whatever you want while taking a call. With iOS 4, users will be able to do even more.

"Taking a call" is an example, an placeholder for X. You can say "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while chatting through Talk" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while tracking my progress using My Tracks" or "use free turn-by-turn navigation all while staring at Google Sky". The X is anything, not just specific vendor supplied apps (or in OS4, vendor approved activities).

[masklinn]

> "Taking a call" is an example, an placeholder for X.

Then it's a stupid example, because it's not a placeholder. It's a very specific action and one important for a phone. Important enough that it's always been possible to take a call while doing something else on an iphone.

[Osiris]

Those were just some examples. My biggest point was the freedom of phone hardware and carrier.

Also, from everything I've read, AT&T has never supported tethering, and Google Maps doesn't have Navigation on the iPhone.

[masklinn]

> Those were just some examples. My biggest point was the freedom of phone hardware and carrier.

I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control.

> Also, from everything I've read, AT&T has never supported tethering

I'm not in the US and not on AT&T, so in my world I have tethering, Android handsets are 6+ months later and most countries can't even buy apps on the Android market, let alone make them.

> Google Maps doesn't have Navigation on the iPhone.

Erm... yeah? It's a google soft...

[vetinari]

> I'm happy to report my iphone is entirely free from carriers control.

Then you are mistaken. All settings under "carrier profile" (for example, enable tethering is there) cannot be set by you, the owner. They can be only imported using settings file signed by the carrier.

> Erm... yeah? It's a google soft...

If you were paying attention, exclusive features for own products is Apple tactics, not Googles. Actually, there were people asking why Google bothers with Maps and Voice for iPhone (i.e. why it is helping iPhone at expense of Android). If you know the answer why, you already know why Google doesn't play platform favorites.

[masklinn]

> If you were paying attention, exclusive features for own products is Apple tactics, not Googles.

Yet Navigation is s a piece of software by google for google's platform.

> Actually, there were people asking why Google bothers with Maps and Voice for iPhone (i.e. why it is helping iPhone at expense of Android).

You seem unaware that Maps for iPhone is written entirely by Apple using Google's public APIs. As for voice, it's obviously because getting more people to use Voice plays to Google's advantage.

> If you know the answer why, you already know why Google doesn't play platform favorites.

because their platform (services) stand on top of other platforms.

[michaelcampbell]

> > I can tether via USB or WiFi

> USB and Bluetooth tethering available on the iPhone

Neither of which are wifi.

[jonah]

I'd like to see an Android phone with the materials and build quality of the iPhone 4.

They're at a point now where the electronics are powerful enough (for the time being). Additionally with the hiring of the Palm UX team the 2.3+ user experience is sure to receive some much needed polish.

Now can someone build a phone with the materials and production refinement shown in the iPhone which is a BMW to the Android's Honda.

[Tichy]

You fell for the marketing. Apple shows all these amazing robots and processes assembling the iPhone. What do you think the competition uses, do they carve their phones out of stones with toothpicks? They have advanced production tools, too.

The N1 is a really nice phone - I prefer it to the iPhone 3G. The phone makers will continue to better each other, from keynote to keynote. Now Apple has the lead again (in some aspects), in a couple of months, there will be a cooler Android device, and so on.

Notice how a lot of the Apple marketing dwells on the production processes, which are completely irrelevant. It doesn't matter if the phone's body was hand carved by dwarves from middle earth out of Mithril, self-assembled by nano robots or cut out of aluminium in a single piece. What matters is that the end result works and looks nice.

[vidarh]

GP didn't mention production processes anywhere, but materials and build quality. Why are you going on about production processes?

[Tichy]

Because Apple displays the processes to signal the build quality. And some build processes that enable them to use special materials - which doesn't imply that the materials are superior.

[vetinari]

Apple's material and build quality are the same, as any other vendor in the same price category.

I have yet to own an Apple product, that does not need to be serviced during warranty.

[jonah]

I'm only talking about the physical exterior.

It's well known that Apple's laptop LCDs are average at best. I can only assume their PCBs are produced on the same equipment their foxconn et all use for their other customers.

[Tichy]

Still, the aluminium bodies are nice, but maybe other materials would be better (Magnesium)? The MacBooks are quite heavy, for example.

Granted, there is a lot of trash computers out there, atm I don't even know which ones would be nicer than Apple's (since Samsung has screwed up the design lately). But I haven't done the research, either.

[jonah]

>> You fell for the marketing.

I'm only going from my own experience.

Before my current MBP I had a T series ThinkPad - arguably one of the best built laptops. Awesome machine, loved it. There is no comparison in materials or build quality though.

Right now I'm using a borrowed iPhone 2G. Before that a high-end Symbian Nokia. The Nokia worked far better as a "phone". The fit-and-finish of the iPhone is far above.

[Tichy]

Not saying the iPhone is ugly. However, you are comparing old non-Apple hardware to new Apple hardware. Technology progresses fast, so after one year, the next generation of phones tends to be much better than the ones before.

Not sure about notebooks - theoretically there should be nice ones, but a lot of vendors seem to screw it up completely.

[BitStopper]

"I'd like to see an Android phone with the materials and build quality of the iPhone 4."

Well, the HTC Evo, HTC Desire (like Droid Incredible), HTC Legend and something like the Samsung Galaxy S all meet these needs...

[hackoder]

I recently got the Canadian version of the myTouch (aka HTC Magic, double the RAM) from a G1 and installed a 2.1 ROM and I was very impressed with how well it all worked. I used to find myself torn between the iPhone and Android, but myTouch with the new OS is very smooth.

The multi-tasking is excellent- I was reading a book in FBReader last week and when I opened it yesterday it opened from RAM. With the Dolphin Browser, background tabs actually stay loaded in the background, and sites with auto-refresh actually keep content refreshed. For me, the browsing experience with Dolphin and the multi tasking are hard to beat. Also, the open market has some great advantages (along with disadvantages such as crappy apps), for e.g. MortPlayer (which was a great mp3/audiobook player for windows mobile) was recently released for Android without any fear of replicating functionality.

Like a lot of others, I'm glad for the iPhone vs Android war. It gives me lots of great, feature-rich phones to choose from, so why pick a side?

[louismg]

I think Apple does a fantastic job on nearly all fronts. There are many aspects to the iPhone which the Android should get. I am a hardcore Mac user. I just expect that we are at a tipping point for the market, and that the new iPhone didn't get enough done today to change that momentum.