The three main smartphone’s out there at the moment are Android, Apple and Windows Phone 7, of course there is a lot of makers of these phones (apart from the iPhone, only Apple make them). It just so happens that I have to hand three phones to compare, this been the HTC Hero (Running Android 2.1), a slow and small phone by today’s standards but it does give me a chance to compare. The wife has the iPhone 4S and I got a new work phone, the HTC Trophy, A Windows 7.5 phone. Is there a clear winner here? Will the iPhone wipe the floor with the rest? Onward to battle.

HTC Hero

Before we continue, this phone is well below the specs of the other two. The screen size of 320×480 and the fact it is only running from a 528 MHz ARM 11 means it is slow. One of the great beauty in my eyes of the Android OS is the fact you can find pretty much any type of program you need and normally for free. You can side load any program just by putting in a memory card and installing it that way.

While not relevant on this phone, you can get Skype and many streaming type applications to broadcast anywhere. The other fact is you do not need to sync this phone (you can if you want) to a computer, just put what you need on a memory card and you are good to go. It can do all the major function such as Sat Nav, Mapping, act as a camera, a music player and a whole lot more besides. My main gripe though was how fragmented Android got and for this I see this platform as a failure for now.

iPhone 4S

There must be very little I can write that people do not already know but my first and foremost thought on this phone is the fact that while many applications are free, most cost money. You have to Sync the phone initially with a computer running iTunes and if you own a Mac and a Windows Box, you cannot just plug into any, you have to sync with the computer you choose at the start.

While not important to me, the things that mattered on this phone was the ability to be easy to use (it is – it has one main button to press), notifications (just added with ios5) and be easy to type on. Siri to me (and my wife) seems to be a fun gadget to use but once the 5 minute of playing has been done, it is back to the keyboard.

HTC Trophy 

Recently I swapped my Windows Mobile 6.5 phone (HTC mini) for this model and it came running version 7. It seems you need Zune software to do anything with the phone and updating to latest (7.5) took many hours indeed. It reminded me of Windows actually, doing one update, rebooting then finding another update.

The speed of the phone is very fast indeed, the Metro OS is easy to use and has live updating tiles. There is no dedicated phone button so calling someone means you have to press one of the tiles, I made sure this was placed right at the top. I like the fact I can see if I have any emails, messages and upcoming appointments. The App Store (Market place) has quite a lot of programs, I was surprised as to how many there was.

What was missing though was the programs I might need such as Skype, any sort of Streaming type application and others. It has voice input (rather like Siri) and on my testing it worked better than I expected and I guess it has to do with accents. Siri for example got some things wrong as did this phone but at least when I search for Pizza, this phone actually brings the goods (Not working on Apple in the UK as of yet).

Thoughts?

The iPhone and the Windows Phone both have fixed storage which means I have to micro manage what I put on there. They also both need a program to sync things which means I have to use the one fixed computer. I much prefer the flexibility of have a SD Card to shove on what I want, increase the storage and so forth. I actually find the Windows 7.5 phone very functional indeed and much better than I thought it would be, it sort of does multitasking but only in the fact it suspends applications. It has no Front facing Camera on the HTC Trophy and the quality is not as good as the iPhone.

If I had to choose one phone out of them all from this list then? The answer of course would be the Apple iPhone but the windows phone comes a very close runner up for now.

My wife was in need of a new phone, her last phone she put in the washing machine by mistake which killed it dead, the only problem was the contract does not run out till march 2012. She uses the iPad all the time (the one I won from GFI) and she is not really technical minded at all. The phone she was using was my HTC Hero which runs Android 2.1 and she could not for the life of her get used to that, it was in fact too complicated. There was a few options, one of these would have been a blackberry device for example, plenty of them on offer for £10 a month and it has a keyboard. Why did we go with the iPhone 4S over any other phone? Read on to find out.

Blackberry

I had at work a similar phone to the blackberry as it goes (same type keyboard) and let her have a go of this phone to type some messages out and straight away using the middle button to go through the menu’s was too hard to work out and so was trying to type any sort of message.

iPhone 4S

Here was my thoughts, the iPhone is the same way of working as the ipad, just smaller right, so if she already knows how to work that, then jumping to an iPhone should be second nature. I priced up both the iphone 4 and the 4S and the difference in price was not much at all, same monthly contract, cost of phone was either £20 or £50.

Now the 4S has Siri and we tested this out “Send message to Tom” at which point it got the right name from the address book. We spoke the message and then said Send – it did this without touching the keyboard. We tested typing a message and it got the words right every single time – easy right.

As an added bonus, I added all the music she likes, the Next application and many others. Now she could check her facebook any place she likes, play the music and phone people with here 500 minutes a month. I have not bothered myself to get an iPhone – maybe I am more of an Android man, larger screen and so forth.

On the 4th April 2011 (or shortly afterwards) I shall be calling T-Mobile and saying with great Joy “I wish to give you my one month’s notice” and that will be the last payment from them. I have one month to use the phone and then it will stop. Originally I was going to just use my work phone until the iPhone 5 comes out but I have been hearing there is no such thing this year, this means I have to think about which platform I need to buy into, for how long and who with.

Going the Apple way

The choice here is the buy into the iPhone 4 even though it is now getting to be one year old. As I already have an iPad, I know to a degree what I am buying into. My Experience of the IOS devices is that most of the stuff that is of any use seems to cost money. Now I agree that people writing software need to be paid but I got so used to just looking int he Android Market and finding perfectly good software for free most of the time. I do like the camera on the iPhone and the size is quite good. I suppose my main area is that I would not only have to lock myself into a 2 year contract but also pay for the phone.

Andoid for the win?

The way I look at this is simple, there is quite powerful phones out there now with the Dual Core 1.5Ghz CPU as well as the ability to slot in a memory card when needed and hdmi out for example. I think there is adobe flash coming for the devices and it seems most of the paid apps on the iphone are free on the android devices. I have the ability to install whatever software I want from whatever source I want. If I want to change my tunes, I simply put some new music on the Mini SD card – its that simple.

Wait it out?

The other option is a rather simple one – I use my work phone for now to get calls and such and see what new devices come in the coming months, maybe wait until June / July time. For interest, here is a benchmark I found on the net:

Notice how the iPhone is sitting right at the bottom? Interesting times ahead but speed is not everything. Screen size, graphical power (for games), the camera and how good it is at night and so many other things.

What is everybody else thought? Is it worth only buying into a 12 month contract and paying the extra for the phone? Even at 18 Months contract I found my phone to be dropped for better models shortly after and now 600mhz seems very slow indeed.

The HTC Hero (my current contract phone) comes with a 5 megapixel camera – what a large number that sounds, much better then say the 3 megapixel that the iPhone 3 comes with right? The problem comes when you want to take some pictures with it, if you have a lot of light, then this works great but the second it gets even a little dark, you might as well forget using it.

Daylight

This was taken out of a window during the day while I was on-site sorting out some air-conditioning unit, quality is not too bad but the colours look rather washed out.

Room Lighting

This is a bit better, blurry as you can tell as the HTC Hero seems to have a problem with re-focusing whilst trying to take the shot.

Night time

Whilst at my christmas party, inside a pub with ‘normal’ lighting in that I personally could see everyone just fine and the camera add’s a nice red pigment to the picture. I tried messing with the settings and still bad. The person next to me had an iPhone 3G and without even using the flash – it looked like it was in daylight.

Conclusion

The megapixel alone can not tell you how good something is and if your phone does not have a flash (a lot do not) then you can forget about pictures at night. The whole point of these smart phones I thought was to be out and about, take some picture, upload to facebook and so forth – with pictures like this I think you might as well carry a camera out with you.

No way am I buying on contract or otherwise a Android phone again, not only was I stuck at 1.6 for what seems like an age (now running 2.1) but too many issues. Maybe I might wait until the next iPhone comes out.

We all know December is the longest and most unfair month of the year: why wait until the 25th to receive your Christmas presents? We at Gameloft have decided to put an end to this mean practice by offering a surprise gift every day in December until Christmas to all our fans and anyone who is in the festive spirit.

And the best part is how simple it is! Every day Gameloft announce our surprise on our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/gameloft). All you have to do is click on the link in the tweet to enjoy your present. What can you get? A free game to play on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android device, or on Facebook? Exclusive sneak peeks or cool goodies for our hottest upcoming Christmas games? Crazy game discounts? Special, free in-game content? Rest assured you’ll get all this and a little bit more in the end… that is, if you don’t miss a day! So follow @Gameloft on Twitter and, starting December 1, check your timeline every day to discover your gift.

Enjoy Gameloft Twitter Advent Calendar and have a great holiday season!

For today (the 1st Dec 2010) they are offering Driver for the ipod, iphone, ipad and rememebr this only lasts 24 hours – so be very quick if you want this free game.

It is a well worn subject of the Mac vs. The PC (They mean windows right), we have Xbox360 vs. PS3, iPhone vs. Android and the list goes on. While there is a need to think what you have or what choice you make on buying something matters, the reality is the people who are making the stuff are lining there pockets with the money the Fan boys spend on this gear they think is so wonderful. I aim to discuss what I think the reason this all comes about and to dispel some myth’s along the way if I can.

XBOX360 vs. PS3

I shall attack this one first as I own neither and can only go on what I have heard. I asked a guy at work which is better and without any hesitation he said Xbox 360. He went on to say that he is now on his 5th XBOX360 due to them having the Red Ring of Death or just plain breaking – why would someone having been through 5 of these things sit there and tell me I should buy an XBOX? There was a few reasons I could think of why he went with XBOX rather then PS3:

• He had spent a chunk of money on the console already
• He had built up a collection of games (they cost a lot of money)
• Live service already paid for – so he could play on-line.
• He was blinded into think the XBOX360 was the better system.

iPhone vs. Android

I am afraid I do not own an iPhone, I have seen them, played around with them and know a lot of people who own them but the simple answer here is that once you lock yourself into a 18 / 24 month deal, no matter how good the ‘other’ phone is – you are going to sing the praises of what you have. I find it very funny that people will ignore and not talk about the things they cannot do and suddenly one day they update the software and fix the thing that did not work and they treat it like the second coming – very odd indeed.

I like comparing devices on what you can do and the question is “Can the other device do something outstanding compared to it’s rival” – normally the answer is no. The Android can:

• Play Music (easier to put music on too)
• Call People
• Save a lot of contact information (Pictures, address, emails, various phone numbers and much much more)
• Display Maps
• Be Used as a SatNav
• Browse the Web
• Cope with office emails
• Download Apps
• Has Multi Touch

The list goes on and on – sounds like an iPhone right? If I had bought an iPhone, I would sit here and tell you it was the best thing since sliced bread but I saved my money and went for Android – was I wrong, was I been cheap or was I been sensible and not blinded by “must be iPhone” brigade?

Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux

I have owned them all, I have used them all and what makes any computer more then just a fancy door stop is software. I can take this Dell with it’s Intel Core i7, 9 GIG Ram and so forth and make it run OSX with ease. But it is not about just running the software right? What about the bragging rights to saying “I Own a Mac Pro”. I want to be honest here, ANY Operating system of late can do most of the basic tasks out there such as writing a letter, checking email, browsing the web. they can also edit videos, make music and plan projects. What about the argument of “It Just works” – a valid one right? What if My Machines running Windows 7 “Just work” ??

Bottom line

When people go on and on about Apple and sing it praises no matter how much is not there, missing and so forth – then I tend to switch off. If I state I do not need or have no need for an iPad then no matter how much they shove the facts into my face, I am not going to buy one – it’s that simple. They can tell me the iPhone can print money, as long as I’m locked into a contract with my Android – then I live and work with that.

If you splash $$$$$$ on a PS3 and buy 20 games – you are not going to sit there and say it is crap, same goes for Apple good and whatever else. I always see this type of thing as “Preaching to the converted” – Can we have an AMEN !!

No Matter were you look these days there is no end of choice of touch screen, full blown wireless and always on connectivity along with touch screens putting you online and far exceeding the basic idea of a mobile phone (that is to call people) but has anyone stopped and thought “What do I really need out of this device?”

The rise of the mobile phone

I actually remember when they first were on the scene and they were large as shown by this picture

As you can see, quite something to carry around but it gave people the chance to be able to ring or take calls anywhere. Used by more the business people (who stored them in there brief case), there were big, expensive and battery life was very bad indeed. Screens were limited to displaying numbers (much like the house phone) and coverage was pretty bad.

Strapping on the kitchen sink

As phone’s got smaller and more people made them, companies started to look at what they could add on to the phone to make it look better then the next one. This started the rise of camera’s, bigger screens, music players, keyboards and so forth. We saw mobiles there were very small but lacked features versus the PDA Like version that bulked out your pocket.

Were are we today?

The phones feature pretty fast CPU’s these days (In relation to mobile phones), high resolution screens (some do 800×600), camera’s that range from 3.2megapixels all the way up to 12 megapixels, they feature storage in the terms of gigabytes and can store many albums of music along with videos. The all seem to have 3G Network for that always on fairly fast connections to browse the web and can connect via wireless for added speed. The final thing is now they feature application you can add, this alone has changed the face of phones – no longer are you limited to what came with the phone but you can add a different facebook program, a soundboard of Family Guy and even better – they feature GPS to allow you to find your way home.   

Looking at what people really use there phones for.

In the morning, I check my various sites (Twitter, Facebook, email) and maybe even have a quick look around the web while listening to music from iTunes – I could do this on the phone of course easy enough but I cannot see me writing a blog post such as this on a touch screen for sure.

Work is around the corner, so no time to listen to music from the phone – this is provided by the car in fact. At work I have a full blown computer to go on the internet should I need to, the phone provide more of a way for instant knowledge that I have a new twitter, email or facebook post. The issue here lies in that while the phone provide a way of informing me of information and with the likes of Twitter or facebook were typing is limited to a few lines of text – this is not a replacement for a computer in any form just yet.

Is there way it has changed what you can do?

I can now twitter/facebook on the move, informing people what I am doing and along with this I can use the camera to take a picture of relevance and have it online in seconds. Compare this to other methods – I would carry around a camera, take various pictures and upon getting home boot the computer up, place the memory card in the computer and copy the files across then get to upload them to the various sites.

Thoughts

My point I think I am trying to say is that with a “normal” phone you can take picture, call people, take calls, play music and listen to radio as required and probably the battery life will be 10 fold to any of the latest phones. People survived before but now they want there phone to do everything for them, from telling them how to get to work, providing the music while getting there and keeping in touch in more ways possible with every human on the planet. People have even become emotionally attached to there phones, defending them at any xost saying how much better phone X is then phone Y – I find this pretty amazing to say the least. Maybe people do this because they have not only splashed down a big chunk of money to get the phone but are now locked into paying money per month for the next 2 years of there life?   

What about you?

I own an Android, it cost me nothing to buy and I am only locked in for 18 months and does most things well, I know people who own iPhones who swear by them – what are your thoughts on all of this?

For most of my life I have always made do with buying a “Pay as you go” mobile phone and top it up as required and for most part this meant that mobile phones were older models and never did much more then calls, listening to music and taking the odd picture. Recently I thought it would be a good idea to step into the modern world and get myself on a contract and get an updated all singing and dancing mobile phone – but what to choose? Read on to find out how I came to the choice I did.

What started me thinking?

Well it was a new article that I read that Google were giving away free Maps on the Android phones and this would replace a standalone GPS based item such as TomTom and the like and the article went on to say that TomTom stock fell by 40%. Now the idea of having a device that does everything and saves me from buying a GPS, MP3 player and so forth is a good thing indeed and on top of this all the talk of the HPC Hero giving the iPhone a run for it’s money.

What about the iPhone?

Many things are important to me and I need to be paying the lowest monthly cost possible while getting the most free minutes, text and internet along with the most functional and easy to carry phone. Whiel some may disagree, I still say the iphone is too big and heavy compared to a lot of phone apart from let us say the Microsoft offerings. What about the price? Well let us say I wanted to only be locked into the phone for 18 months and that I wanted let us say the 16GIG model? I would have to lay down £184.98 for the phone and then pay a further £34.26 a month for a duration of 18 Months and for this I get 600 Minutes and 500 text with unlimited internet. I need to say now that this is a BIG Chunk of money, do I have £184 lying around? Of course I don’t and no matter how good the phone people say it is and how many apps it has (they are not all free) – this is just a step too far, if it had been free plus the fee per month then yes – Apple need to take this into account.

Android G2

After playing with the mobile in the store, reading various reviews and watching countless video’s – I finally was happy to get this phone – the T-Mobile Hero (G2 Touch), how much? Well for £29 a month for 18 months I get 800 Minutes, unlimited Text & Internet, not too bad at all and no Buying the phone either.

I need to add this for you all iphone lovers – I am a strong Google user in that I use the mail, calendar, contacts, documents and just about everything else on there, so all my information was already in place and on top of this I use Twitter and Facebook.

My Initial verdict

One of the first things that I did was to go through my google contacts and fully update them with all the information possible such as address, all numbers, picture and so on. The phone automatically got all the changes into the address book and I could go through and link people on facebook also for birthdays and the like. I could now keep up with all my facebook, twitter and emails no matter were I was and there is a lot of application to choose from, most are free but there is paid apps also.

I found the wireless kept dropping, the indicator was shown me as connected but the phone kept saying no connection and through the night as emails and such came in, there was a lot of beeping and lights flashing (scroll ball) – now worked out how to silent the entire thing via an app which does this automatically at 11:30pm and goes back to normal at 6am. It has multitouch, can take various size Micro SD Cards – so not limited to 16gigs as per the iphone and multitask (again the iphone does not do this).

I am more then happy with this phone and do not feel like I just bought a lemon, I do not feel the urge to rush out and get the iPhone and this phone is quite small and very light.