Hi all

Recently I've become sold on the Iphone or rather mobile internet and the apps on the Iphone. I guess out of principal I'd prefere something different than the Iphone which everyone has. From looking around there seems to be plenty of phone alternatives.

My major concerns with the alternatives are the operating systems. From what I gather the two alternative OS are windows mobile and android.

I've read mixed reports about both of them. How reliable and useful are the apps available for the OS and how big is the app choice?

Is it maybe better to go with the crowd and get the Iphone after all?

I am faced with the same dilema. Basically it comes down to the criticality and functionality (IMHO) of email on the phone. If you need email for work go for a Blackbury (or Nokia eqv. E or N series) if it is for more social functionality IPhone is better. A friend gave me a good artical comparing the two and the conclusion was you "need" both!! Blackbury for work/daytime and IPhone for evenings??

I am waiting for the Nokia N900 release (15 Jan) which is meant to be the best combination of both.

Does anyone have one or more feedback on it?

I have my iphone for work and work emails and have no problem at all receiving emails? I can't see why the blackberry would be better at receiving emails than the iphone?

I think the main thing regards the iphone is the apps. I am not sure any other device will have as many apps available for it? I may be wrong though/

My husband has a blackberry he was given for work and an iphone. His blackberry he purely uses as a business phone and email. His iphone he uses for phone, personal email and EVERYTHING else. He doesn't have anything on his blackberry that tempts him to use it over the iphone

I read good reviews of the HTC hero, which is running Android 2.0 which is minimum release you want to go for as I understand it.

Read more about Andriod here..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

Dont forget that Apple are rumored to be launching some sort laptop/iphone crossover thing this month... ok not a phone, but who knows what it will be able to do...

I'd say wait and see what the Nexus One from Google will offer. It's not on the market at the moment, but a member of this forum, who shall remain nameless, works for google and kindly allowed me to play with one for a bit. I must say that during the limited time I had with it I was impressed with what I saw, and I can see it being competition for the iPhone when it's finally released.

I believe HTC is currently considered the best. I have an Nokia N97, running Symbian 60 v 5. I've downloaded all the apps I need and use, plus a few free "toys" like spirit level, seisometer. Some from the OKI store (equivalent of the iPhone appstore), and others from various places. The N97 also will run applications written in Java ME, which opens up another rich source of apps.

The browser on the N97 (based on Safari, I believe) works for the vast majority of sites. For the few that don't, I use Opera Mini. Firefox will soon have a mobile version out, which I'm looking forward to trying out. The keyboard on the N97 works nicely - but I tend to use predictive text, which works ok, but not brilliantlly. ( There are a few points on the N97 where I'd like to shoot the programmer - the UI isn't as good as the iPhone ).

Email works fine. The camera is good, and video has produced some great results. Mine came with 64GB of flash memory. One day I expect the PC Suite will work properly... but I'm still pretty happy with the phone.

HTC and the N97 are both multitasking. The iPhone isn't. The iPhone won't run Java apps. Firefox mobile won't work on the iPhone. HTC and N97 aren't locked to a service provider.

Motorola Driod/MileStone

Firefox mobile won't run on symbian.

The iPhone is multitasking but only with some of the inbuilt apps - how else could you be listening to music, browsing the web and receiving email all at the same time. True Apple doesn't allow 3rd party apps to be multitasking capable, but you can always jailbreak the iPhone and install unofficial apps that do support multitasking.

Anyway what it is it with the lack of multitasking on the iPhone that always seems to get to people - especially IT people. Outside of the standard phone, SMS, email, iPod apps I have never needed the iPhone to multitask. Given that the iPhone handles task switching so well I really can't see a need for several apps to be running at once and chewing up the battery.

Please somebody give me an example of why you would need multitasking on a phone outside of those apps that I've already mentioned.

PS agree about the Java apps and firefox though. But that said the Safari browser on the iPhone is way way above what I would expect for a mobile browser anyway - it even passes the acid 3 test (not that that means much)

I messed around briefly with the Palm Pre, which supports multitasking. It was nice enough, but I found it to be quite similar to the iPhone's easy switching mechanism. The rest of the phone was sort of "eh".

When I was looking for my current smartphone (I have an iPhone), I looked at the stack of HTC phones. The newer ones aren't bad. I actually found their battery life to be somewhat lacking. It just doesn't have the following that the iPhone has, which may be what you're looking for, but for me that meant less support, less development, less cracks/hacks.

Regarding jailbreaking iPhones, there are pros and cons of courseIt really dpends on who much you want to customize your phone. If you are ok w/ the apple approved look and apps, don't bother. If you intend to use programs that Apple doesn't like, or if you are what I call a command line user, it might be worth it to jail break.

Like Slaphead said, wait till the google phone comes out. Give that one a test run. It might be the droid you are looking for.

Thanks for the review on the N97. I've been toying with the idea of getting that or the Google Nexus one. I worked with Nokia and always loved Nokias (despite certain shortcomings) but the Google Nexus sounds too good. For some reason, me and the iPhone just dont click.

I'd select your device based on how well the functionality meets your specific needs, rather than a process of elimination based on popularity.

You might be interested in this link http://www.heise.de/ix/meldung/Berater-iPhone-Fans-leiden-unter-dem-Stockholm-Syndrom-882497.html
It is in German though but quite interesting.
I have just ordered HTC Touch Pro2 http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchpro2/overview.html for myself. I have not evaluated all of them but have had a look at HTC Touch Pro and at Samsung Omnia and I prefer the HTC.

I use my phone for: translation (language dictionary), ebook, gps, internet, messaging and camera. I don't want to have to close down to switch between apps.

The reason why IT peeps (how did you guess ) go on about it, is that it isn't such a big deal to allow multitasking. But if the iPhone did allow it, you'd notice a significant lack of performance.The reason why I'm anti iPhone is simple. It doesn't accept vCard via SMS (or it didn't when I first encountered it). That really annoys me, because it's a basic standard that's been around for years. However, it's about the same level of annoyance that I'm given by the N97 predictive text not understanding that between two two figure numbers, there's a colon. E.g. 23:12

I went off Apple when my xGB iPod died a few months after warranty, and I discovered they'd used one of the few 1.5" harddrives that you can't buy retail, and so can't replace yourself.

So when Orange only offers, say, the HTC Touch2 with German, Italian, or French, is it possible for you to take the phone to one of their stores and have them flash the ROM so that everything is in English?

coincidentially the price of the nexus one has apparently been leaked. $530 unlocked and $180 with t-mobile.

Apparently the phone will be introduced next week so I'll be interested on the detailed reviews of it.

I only use my mobile in my free time. Basically all the smartphones can do the same things. The iphone's major draw for me at least are the numerous apps that can be used with it.

Those many applications came through the iphone being so popular so that it became attractive for developers as well. If any phone wants to rival it, it also needs to rival the amount of programs available for it which means Motorola,Nokia, HTC and Google agreeing on a common standardised operating system so developers don't have to modify all their programs for every phone.

I hope with Googles heavy presence on the android and Nexus one some one has finally taken the lead and will unite apples rivals on a common OS.

I am in the technology business, in no way an Apple fanboi and have tried HTCs, Blackberrys, Palms etc. etc. etc.

Get an iPhone.

The Google insider thing is kind of cool however can you remind me what the big deal is with the Nexus? It seems to be another generic HTC handset which runs Android same as all the others. Perhaps it runs a later version of the OS, but aren't most Android handset fw upgradeable?

For me to cross the iPhone rubicon I really need something significantly different and better. Losing iTunes, podcasts, TomTom and all those apps ain't going to be easy

Well, there are a couple of things that make the Nexus One different from the Android-crowd:

- It's sold through google and there seem to be some major accessories-deals already in place. Google is positioning this thing as a direct competitor to the iPhone not only as a phone, but also a system

- It has a snapdragon processor combined with lots of eye-candy enhancement to the OS. In other words: it's not just pretty, it's also fast. And it retains the customizablility of Android. After having used an Android phone, one thing you'll immediately notice with the iPhone is the total and utter lack of customizability. The app arrangement looks messy, it's hard to find apps sometimes when lots of them are installed, there are no widgets, no calendar items on the home-screen etc.

However, the jury's still out on whether the Nexus One is capable of providing 3G in Europe - looks like it'll only be EDGE here because it lacks the 1900mhz frequency for UMTS.

Anyway, if a decent choice of apps is important to you (and that's the case for most people), Android's the only choice apart from the iPhone. I've had a couple of HD2s at work over Christmas (we're evaluating new phones, trying to get rid of the Blackberrys because of the costs) and was shocked to see that there are only a handful of (decent working and looking) apps for Windows Mobile. In Microsoft's Swiss Marketspace, there are perhaps around 70 apps. Most of them are demo versions. There are no paid apps in the Swiss store. The HD2 is a semi-decent device. It's build quality isn't better than the Milestone's (with keys having too much play etc.). Also, it's fast, but only as long as you don't run more than 1-2 apps at a time.
The battery life isn't great. As long as you don't run too many background apps, it'll last a day. As soon as you run something that pulls data in the background (like an IM client), the battery's dead within hours. That's because Windows Mobile doesn't do any kind of background task-management. While Android very efficiently halts unused apps in the background, WinMo just leaves them running at full throttle, killing the battery. On Android phones, running an IM client won't have any serious impact on battery life whatsoever.

For Andoid, there's a gigantic number of apps with dozens being added every day. On WinMo, during the last 14 days, not a single app was added to the Swiss Marketplace. There's the usual mix of crappy low-quality apps and high-quality, professionally looking ones. I think iPhone apps generally look better but have less functionality (a fact that goes for the whole phone...). Google doesn't censor or limit apps so you can unleash the full potential of your Android device with additional apps.

All in all I have to say: I'll never go back to Apple when it comes to phones. Android is a massively more intriguing platform, with tens of thousands of apps, much more freedom and a greater choice of devices.

Peter

Well dawiz (post directly above) has gone into the technical detail far better than I could, and I have to agree with you it that will take something very special indeed for me to part with my iPhone - I can't imagine life without a quick game of "Flight Control" to while away a boring 5 minutes