Indulge me on this please. I'm interested in what sort of phone you have and whether you use it for things other than calls (maps, apps, etc). The future, we are told is 'mobile, local and social' and this site is only two of them at the moment.
I have an iphone and use it for maps and apps and twitter and browsing. Everything except making telephone calls, which it seems reasonably incapable of doing in a way that both parties can hear what is going on.
There are lots of non-HTC Android 'phones, though as it happens mine is both. I don't tend to read this site on it, just Facebook and email. Also maps, quick info look-ups, ebooks...
I have an iPhone (on O2 contract) which I love and use for calls, text, emails, facebook, googling everything, maps, camera and it's also my alarm clock. I read this site on it and post from it too. Don't have many apps on it but I do like the fingerdrums app. I also now use it as my iPod, and am amazed that even a relative Luddite like me has taken to this new fangled technology like a duck to water.
Just got an HTC Desire HD and now that I'm used to it, I lurve it. Facebook and general internet broswing is great. It also has a good camera (8mp), 720p video and it also makes and receives phone calls.
I have the 3Gs iphone and use the phone for calls, as an ipod, maps, internet, football score apps, alarm and radio tuner etc. Also use whatsapp to IM friends abroad at no cost.
Is there anyone who doesn't have an iPhone? I think they're a great bit of kit, but at £35 a month (maybe that's come down?) i've never been able to convince myself it's anything like worth it. My normal very simple phone costs me around £10 and in truth I just can't claim that Internet and emails while out and about is worth the extra (texts being better for urgent communications than emails anyway). I do have an iPod touch though, so as long as I'm near a wireless signal I can live the life of an iPhone-ist, and that's what I mostly use to read sg.org.
Surprised to see so many iPhones. I'm a Blackberry user, but with an ipod touch, like Shaun. David has an HTC (and built the arseblog app for it) because he has an irrational hatred of Apple. I like BBM, but keep deleting my contacts from it.
I have a bog-standard Nokia that has elementary functionality. Mostly because of my plans to move country later this year, I don't want to be tied into a pricey contract. I also have an ipod touch nano thingy, however I have a very rational hatred of Apple. We use Macs at work and frankly, they are shit.
The missus has a Blackberry and loves BBM, which I also use. Its a good bit of kit, but I'm not a huge fan of Blackberry so would probably go for HTC type thing, given the choice.
I use the HTC Desire. Apple’s devices and software are pretty, but it’s essentially one level up from Fisher Price.
I used to rail against smart phone dullards, but to my shame immediately became an enormous fan as soon as I had one. No more printing out Google Maps. No more having to let bullshitters get away with it in the pub – now I can wave Wikipedia at their blank, clueless faces. And having the option to check my email on the go is nice too. It has definitely changed my life for the better.
I use to have a touch but at the time found wi fi less accessible than it is now. However, more importantly, I dropped it in a glass of water next to my bed one night.
I recall orange gave me my touch for free as a promotion they ran because they hadn't got the iPhone.
I use a Blackberry (my 3rd) and like it, with they Qwerty keyboard and the way it makes me look senior in public transport and all. Originally I liked that it came with a USB cable, which I had to purchase extra for my previous phones. But now the desktop software has stopped supporting the pictures archive and pretends I have no media card installed, prompting me to buy my first camera for ages.
I like being able to read my private emails at work, where everything that requires a login is blocked (except this site). I also use Facebook, have SG.org favourited in the browser (although that is a bit crappy) and Foursquare (but only when in the Park Tavern), and I had a phase where I played Brick Breaker until excess.
All in all I think it's an enhancement although it would benefit from a better internet setup. I would consider buying an Android phone, but I share other people's aversion to anything Apple (they want your credit card details just to be able to access their glorious itunes!). I don't even think their products look pretty, just generic Japanese. Iphones for me are the mobility equivalent to Ugg boots, chicken in boxes on buses, X factor winners, the Royal Wedding, and whathaveyou. Although I quite like the idea of that snore recorder app.
There's nothing irrational about hating Apple. They're bludgeoning monopolists who act like hip outsiders (and do it embarrassingly badly, cf identifying themselves with Jez from <i>Peep Show</i> like a kid who hasn't understood the show) while imposing inconsistent and at times outright nasty censorship on apps.
I've just made the switch from iphone to android. I liked my iphone, but it was hopeless for actually making phone calls. Took an age to connect, often went straight to voicemail when people tried to call, and used to drop calls halfway through quite a lot of the time. I don't really like talking on the phone so this wasn't always a problem.
I now have an HTC Desire Z - the one with a keyboard so that I can actually reply to emails rather than just reading them and ignoring them because typing on a screen is too difficult. I quite like Android apps - much more variety than on the iphone (e.g. lots of different calendars rather than just one) but it is a time investment to get it set up nicely.
As mentioned, plenty of other Androids out there than HTC. My contract is about to expire and I'm nervously glancing at the Nexus S but not sure. iPhone's will probably always have the lion share, but Android has shown Windows Mobile up as the failure it is. Despite finally not actually being that bad. Blackberry I just don't like but get why people do.
I'll stick with Android for now, merely because I can tweak and code around on it but I feel all the smart phones are approaching doing a similar job now - its just little preferences.
Am about to get a new handset. Currently on a weak early-type blackberry. Wondering about Android, better BBerry, etc. Probably gonna avoid iPhone, cos I'm just not alternative enough for one. Any thoughts / tips anyone?
Hmm. My contract is £5.11 per month with my old brick, largely for the same reasons as Sincers. My partner has an iphone, and my understanding is that typically they cost £35 a month? I could never concvnice myself that it is worth nearly £360 a year to have an iphone, as lovely as they are. Do the iphone suers, or even htcers, think they are worth this much?
I email and text a lot, so the blackberry suits me. It also links up nicely to google calendars and mail, so I'm all sync'd up. The Twitter and Facebook apps are good. Google Maps is good. Every other app invariably crashes the thing.
The web browsing experience is a bit crap, but I already spend too much time online.
In truth, the major thing in its favour is the real buttons. Whatever you do, don't get one with a 'pearl' mouse thing in the middle. It's also a lot cheaper than an iphone, even though i have quite a top-end Blackberry.
I have an HTC Desire Z (also sold under other names including as the T-Mobile G2). It's one of very few current smartphones that has a physical keyboard.
Though I'm not running the OS (HTC Touch) that it ships with but have reinstalled it as Cyanogenmod (which I think is much closer to standard Android as found on Google's Nexus-branded phones).
The Google sync stuff is supposed to be very good (although not really being a user of Google mail, etc I don't really know). Google Maps is also really good, and I'm pretty sure Android gets the best newest versions of Maps before other platforms.
I do like the fact that your phone book on your phone is constantly sync'd with your Google account, so you have a real-time backup of your phone book (and conversely if you're sitting in front of your PC and want to add someone to your phone book you can do it using your web browser and it's on your phone within seconds of clicking OK)
-roy
Comments
I like being able to read my private emails at work, where everything that requires a login is blocked (except this site). I also use Facebook, have SG.org favourited in the browser (although that is a bit crappy) and Foursquare (but only when in the Park Tavern), and I had a phase where I played Brick Breaker until excess.
All in all I think it's an enhancement although it would benefit from a better internet setup. I would consider buying an Android phone, but I share other people's aversion to anything Apple (they want your credit card details just to be able to access their glorious itunes!). I don't even think their products look pretty, just generic Japanese. Iphones for me are the mobility equivalent to Ugg boots, chicken in boxes on buses, X factor winners, the Royal Wedding, and whathaveyou. Although I quite like the idea of that snore recorder app.
I'll stick with Android for now, merely because I can tweak and code around on it but I feel all the smart phones are approaching doing a similar job now - its just little preferences.
I'm mostly technology agnostic but Apple just wind me up. Just like any two-faced preening twat would. Why did <a href="http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/840/this-charming-man/"><em>TFTM<sup>TM</sup></em></a> just come into my head?
Magical my arse.