Choosing a cell phone should be easy: pick the one I like and it’s done. Unfortunately, choosing a smartphone is more difficult than I thought. With the latest iPhone 4, HTC Incredible, and HTC EVO, the choice gets a little bit more tricky.
I’m trying to break down what I need from a Smartphone:
Voice and Data service has to be reliable.
Having a good carrier is crucial, especially in emergencies. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in the middle of the desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas without a cell service! I also don’t want dropped calls. Service has to be consistent and available. AT&T so far has a really bad reputation for dropped calls and poor 3G data coverage. I made calls from my Verizon phone to my friends on the iPhone, and I kept getting dropped calls. Calls between Verizon phones are fine.
Device has to be useful.
One word: Apps! The more apps, the better. Fortunately, Android based phones are getting more and more apps. Competition is good. However, the iPhone has a commanding lead with the sheer number of available apps. There’s an app for everything, it seems. That’s the reassurance that I want for my smartphone.
My top apps are (on the iPhone):
- Camera + Video
- Mail with Exchange connectivity
- Pandora
- Netflix
- Amazon Kindle1
- Yelp
- Bejeweled 2
Interestingly enough, I don’t have a need for Flash apps because I’ll only need it for Hulu – which Hulu currently does not supported on Android devices.
The contract price has to be affordable.
Verizon is notorious for overcharging. They put charges on everything and anything they can. For data service, they want additional $30 for “unlimited” plan2. Family plan starts at $70 and add $10 per new line. Total per month with Verizon: $110.
AT&T, on the other hand, charges a little bit less at $25 for limited data (2 Gb/month) , $60 for family plan and $10 per additional line. Total per month with AT&T: $953.
So all in all, Verizon is more expensive than AT&T.
As a comparison, I’ve looked at Sprint’s offering. Monthly family plan starts at $130 for the HTC EVO 4G, plus $10 for “premium data”. Sprint is obviously not even competitive in this case.
Conclusion
Other than data/voice reliability, it looks like the iPhone 4 and AT&T combination, have the edge. They have 2 (out of 3) of my requirements. I should not have to choose a device based on the carrier, but that’s exactly what I have to do now. It’s too bad my choices are restricted like this. The entire wireless industry needs to be more competitive: more choices and lower prices.
Photo Credit: Mashable
- iBook with PDF support will change this! [↩]
- Verizon will not have unlimited for very long. [↩]
- With the limited data, I can potentially go over, especially if I plan to do video streaming, or using Skype over 3G. [↩]
Tags: android, iphone, mobile phone
Building IT
Jot It Down
Are there any visually compelling programming languages that are cross-smartphone compatible? In a way, the fact that everyone doesn’t seem to be able to use just anything seems to make the whole app-industry more profitable for all parties. So apple may be helping out google without intending to. It seems when there’s a lot of cross platform support, things are free more often.
Hey David,
I doubt manufacturers like Apple would like to make a cross-platform development kit. They’ll argue no one knows their device better than themselves. The same goes with Google, Microsoft, and Nokia.
It’s a radical idea to make phone apps as open source. I really doubt it’ll happen.
Rudy,
I’m not sure where you’re getting your prices for Sprint. That seems excessive and when I had them before AT&T, I was paying about $65 a month for our family plan.
As for “cross platform support”… stick to writing web applications which make it runnable anywhere. If you are gung-ho for a “native iPhone app” then you can create a very simple shell that uses the webkit (I actually slapped one together in 5 minutes) and merely acts as a web browser (in the ‘native app’ you indicate the url).
If your web application needs gps, just use google’s gpsvp project (http://code.google.com/p/gpsvp/) which is an API. Let google worry about supporting new phones.
Fortunately I have another year left on my contract (March 2011) so hopefully by then, 4G will have better support and there’ll be better phones out there. I’m not too keen on keeping AT&T due to their monopolic prices, but only time will tell :).
Hey Baldie (Yeah, I know it’s you Mr. PS 🙂 ),
I got the quote for HTC EVO from Sprint web sales person. Maybe it’s because he/she thinks I’m a new customer, or a non-corporate customer (no discount). So I got quoted a ridiculous price. You may want to try calling them yourself, and see if you get a better price.
Did you read the latest Bloomberg article about iPhone on Verizon this January 2011?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....ivity.html
Based on my research, the iPhone is more like 3/3 than 2/3. Here’s my thinking:
1. BoyGeniusReport, a blog on technology and smartphones, published an article that quoted an engineering firm who tested the older iPhones (3Gs–it was before the release of the iPhone 4) for the reasons for poor phone performance. At the time, AT&T was the clear fall guy for the issues, and the report specifically called out the RF antenna on the iPhone as the culprit. AT&T’s network was not to blame and was quite good–on other handsets.
2. It is clear that AT&T’s data network is far better than Verizon’s, with faster data speeds.
3. Verizon isn’t perfect—there are definite dead spots in NYC where Verizon calls are dropped.
4. During the 3G-4G conversion, AT&T customers will have a better time since the faster 3G data speeds on the AT&T network will be less of a “drop” than Verizon’s 3G data speeds.
5. While the iPhone does not win the “spec” battle with some phones, notably the EVO on Sprint, every time these phones are actually reviewed and compared, the iPhone wins. So, even though the EVO has a 8MP camera, the iPhone’s 5MP camera takes better pictures. Even though the EVO is capable of 4G connectivity, it is not available in many places, leaving the iPhone as the data winner.
Just my two cents….
Hey Maestro, thanks for your insight.
I have heard people are starting to blame the 3GS as a poor device for voice calling – maybe even for data. I’m also aware of the iPhone 4 antenna issues.
Still though, the exclusive evil union between AT&T and iPhone is not helping AT&T’s reputation for having a reliable network. Consumers can’t compare the iPhone on other networks. Perhaps this is the reason why the iPhone is not on Verizon yet. The strict requirements from Verizon may be impeding its introduction.
@rudyamid
thanks….lots to say on this one.
1. The iPhone4 antenna issue is not as straight forward as it seems. I own 3 iPhone4 devices for my company, each with its own case. But to put this one to bed, I pulled them out of the case and started to use them for both data and voice while in a death grip and jamming my finger into the spot where you are not supposed to touch. Guess what? While the bars decreased to 1 bar or even 0 bars, the calls did not drop and the data/web browsing was not effected.
2. Here’s the situation with Verizon. As you know, Apple originally approached Verizon for the iPhone but rejected them. Why? Because Verizon didn’t want to let Apple have an app store outside of Verizon’s crappy “Get it Now” Brew-Based solution. As a result, the iPhone was engineered for GSM technologies and not for CDMA. Later on, Apple strongly considered switching to Verizon, but redesigning the phone for CDMA was too difficult. Since then, Verizon has realized that Brew stinks, and allowed both Blackberry App World and Android’s Marketplace to exist on its network. But that was too late—the current iPhone was and is going to be GSM.
I believe the rumors about a Verizon iPhone coming out in January 2011 are false. Even forgetting about the contract with AT&T which goes to 2012, Verizon is switching to LTE. It does not make sense for Apple to release a CDMA iPhone….Apple’s Verizon iPhone will be an LTE device, and it won’t come out until 2012.
3. I don’t think the union between Apple and AT&T is evil. I think Apple needed a carrier that would be willing and flexible enough to provide the functionality for a revolutionary new device. Verizon was not. Even now, you can still see that the integration between Apple and AT&T goes very deep. Now it may be true that AT&T has been lackluster in maintaining the quality of its network–something it seems to be addressing. But it is not evil.
Hey Maestro,
Thanks for your insights. I’ve been using the old iPhone 3G on China Mobile carrier and it’s crystal clear voice. Full bars in most provinces.
I do believe the iPhone is a great device and it’s understandable Steve Jobs wants it protected. You’re right AT&T has to bend to Jobs’s whim to reap the benefits. It’s just too bad the network is not catching up to the demands as quickly as it should.
I hated trying to choose what Smartphone to get, I ended up getting the LG revolution I love it but mainly made my decision to go with LG cause their products have always done well for me.