While I don't think it's a major reason not buy an iPhone, it is actually a fairly big problem. I know of at least 3 high profile apps that have been rejected due to "objectionable content" which was nothing more than a few swear words on content loaded from the web.
My problem, aside from the censorship in the first place, is that they don't follow the same standards in their own apps. Search the YouTube app for any swear word and it will happily give you all the swearing you can handle.
There has been quite a few reports on this (even a patent?). But can this be legal? Wouldnt this be similar to car manufacturers outlawing fixing your own cd/mp3/casette players in your cars?
You think the Pre is going to be all right? I'm waiting on it, but I've never seen it. What do you suggest as an alternative, I'm about to get a new device.
The g1 running android is pretty great. I've been using it for four months and have very few complaints, plus it's a completely open-source system. The new software update provides an onscreen keyboard if you don't like to type on real keys, but I think having the choice to use a tactile keyboard is really nice. I'll also never own an iphone.
It claims to be a completely open-source system. Wasn't there a case where a tethering app was pulled out by Google from Market due to telco pressure?
Of course being Android, with a few more steps, you can add an alternative "market place". But that's besides the point, it is not completely open even though it claims to be.
At the moment, no, experience-wise for the consumer, it is almost always worse than the iPhone.
> Wasn't there a case where a tethering app was pulled out by Google from Market due to telco pressure?
I own neither an iPhone or a G1, so can someone clarify this for me: On the iPhone, you can't get an app on there, except through the App store or jail-breaking? On Andriod, you can do both? So even if your app isn't in the market, you can distribute it separately, which you can't for the iPhone?
That's right. And jail-breaking is not officially supported (that's an understatement) but it works pretty well. So it's a minus for the iPhone.
But then, that's why I said for most consumers, the iPhone is much better. Because for them, the official distribution mechanism is what matters.
The reason why I mentioned the tethering app is that it is not totally open as advertised, although there's more than 1 valid way to work around it.
(You can still distribute apps to the iPhone via ad-hoc or enterprise distribution, but those don't matter here since we are talking about the mass market).
Yes, the Android Market is not open. But the Android OS nonetheless is. If you buy the Android Dev Phone 1, you can modify and compile the source as you wish and flash it onto that phone. No "hacking" necessary.
If you buy a locked-in version from t-mobile you kinda have to "hack" it to flash what you want.
But either way you can install apps without the Android Market.
For what it's worth, if NIN submitted the same thing to the Android Market and someone complained, Google could pull it just like Apple did. While I don't think there's anyone actively reviewing the Android apps, there is a wonderfully vague clause in the Android market agreement that says you can't display (or link to!) content unsuitable for people under 18. (Anyone under 18? Everyone under 18? Is Alien Bloodbath really suitable for 3-year-olds? etc.)