An Android User’s Take On Yesterday’s iPhone News

<p><pre><code> But I expected to walk out of San Francisco’s Moscone Center yesterday longing for the next iPhone despite my current allegiance to Android. That didn’t happen. </code></pre> It did not happen, because it simply couldn't. After reading the article I cannot imagine <i>what</i> could Apple offer to satisfy him it apart from shipping iPhone 4 with Android OS.<p>Really, if you dismiss all the good points as not so important, what's left? Rainbows and ponies?<p>He prefers Android, that's OK but Apple just cannot satisfy him then, no matter what they do. That's OK too, that's why we have a choice.

I think a big advantage that the iPhone has over Android is that Apple is able to synchronize hardware and software development since it exists within the same company. I imagine Google works with handset vendors but there must be inherent inefficiencies in communicating across multiple companies. Apple can maintain a yearly drumbeat of putting out a polished product where the software and hardware dovetail nicely.

I have to say that I'll be very disappointed if the iPhone 4 comes with only 256MB of RAM. You would think the iPad experience would have taught them that 256MB is not enough RAM to accommodate the significantly increased amount of RAM needed to back the higher resolution display. It's a world of difference between my 3GS and the iPad, where the iPad can't seem to keep more than one page in memory at a time. It's really annoying.<p>I think the author is quite wrong in thinking that Android will have hardware parity in 4 months. For one, Apple has probably consumed all available supply for the display hardware. Not to mention the disconnect the author himself pointed out between software and hardware. Vendors are finalizing now the hardware that will be shipping in 4 months. It will be months before comparable hardware is spec'ed out, and 8-12 before it starts shipping. the 900 pixel OLED screens most Android handsets have is nowhere near comparable to the 900 pixel IPS LCD display.

This about sums up my opinion of iPhone 4. My N1 is still a wonderful phone and for the features I use, I still don't think I'd want to trade it (back) in for an iPhone just yet.<p>I think the key phrase there is "for the features I use," however. If I were younger and cared more about video chat, I might be wanting to seriously hop on this phone.<p>I still think that since Android 2.1 was released the momentum in terms of software development is still in Android's favor, while Apple's last development cycle seems to be all about making a seriously slick looking piece of hardware.

One pretty disappointing thing from my perspective was no-iTunes related announcements. Using iTunes as your generalized device sync hub is terrible and Apple hasn't given any hints on what it plans to do about it.<p>The cloud sync stuff Google showed off was impressive and that's their strength. Apple has a lot of catching up to do and they need to get to it pretty soon.

Good article.<p>I do wish that my Droid had a video camera on the same side of the phone as the screen for video Skype, but that will probably be in a later release.

A balanced read.<p>One surprising thing about the iPhone (and about the iPad) is that it still only comes with 256MB of RAM. They seem to accomplish a heck of a lot with that, yet still that is very constricted once you start talking about multitasking and the like.<p>It is a pretty major update, but really the Giz leaks among others did take some steam out of it. It isn't as big of news simply because it isn't news - we long knew about it.

It's beautiful hardware and beautiful software. I'll take functionality any day though.<p>This is the divide. I have two geeky friends. One is OCD and well dressed. He likes things to work smoothly and look good. He is <i>very</i> happy with his iPhone and is excited to upgrade. My other friend is like me, he loves to hack and is a fan of Google's services.<p>Google needs to put Matias Duarte to work. Gallery3D is beautiful, there's no reason those GUI elements couldn't be more standard/accessible to the avg dev.

Just wait until the Creative Labs Zii EGG device gets released and updated a revision or two .. this thing kicks ass and has had all the key features of iPhone 4 already - HD video, front-facing camera, etc. Okay, its not a phone (yet) but it sure does have the chance to steal a bit of thunder .. c'mon Creative, release it already!