iPhone 4 or Droid X for business?

I know this is going to be one of those horrible threads, but I have to ask.

I currently have a Samsung ACE on Sprint. Cutting to the chase, it's a Windows Mobile 6 phone.

Recently, my company has changed policy and is now allowing us to get our own phones/providers. The only stipulation is that it must be able to sync with our Microsoft Exchange server, and "provide us with the necessary capabilities to fulfill our jobs".

My highest priorities are
-microsoft exchange email, contacts, and calendar interaction
-coverage
-dealing with attachments (pictures, pdf, word docs, excel)

I'm stuck between the Droid X/Verizon or iPhone/AT&T. I keep flip-flopping based on the articles I'm reading, but I haven't heard from many actual users.

Which should I choose, and why? I don't care about the politics of open sourcing or whatever, I just want to drop kick my current phone as quick as possible without getting pissed that the next thing I get isn't going to gimp me.

 

I was able to use both phone. I have the iphone 4 and a buddy of mine have the droid x. Both are great phone except the iphone like to fool you with the signal. One minute you'll have good signal but as soon as you blink it's nearly gone. Lots of drop call for me compared to my wife 3GS who is smart to keep her phone. Droid x is fast and if you like to use it to look at mails, PDF, then bigger screen would be better. Honestly I would go with the droid x. Iphone 4 is not much better than 3GS.

 

I use droid X with something similar to exchange (Zimbra) and it works pretty good. Not perfect. A guy i know uses droid X with exchange and he says he has no issues.

Is your truck 2WD or 4WD? If 4WD than go with the droid X

 

The droid is going to be more microsoft windows compatable. Comes with a PDF viewer and the next OS update is going to include flash. But the screen on the droid is incredibly huge. The guy at verizon compared it to carrying a gun in your pocket. That's why I went with the Incredible.

 

lol what??


other questions came to mind:

the droids in the store are EXTREMELY cluttered. Is that normal or did those models get abused? I'm liking the clean organization of iPhones so far, but the notification area on androids sounds nice, along with widgets (not sure what I'd use other than weather and maybe something for calendar events).

Is there anything annoying that droids do? I had a hard time with the space key and there's this bar at the top I tried dragging open that kept disappearing, but I'm chalking that up to me not being used to tap screens. Anything like that for you? Crashing, slowness, clutter, etc?

i thought the antenna issues on iphones were solved with a case. Mom got a Speck Candyshell case for her 3g, I'm really digging it. Does the problem persist even with the case?


Any converts from one phone to the other? What made you switch?

 

What about MS Office docs? I keep thinking it would be sweet to be able to edit docs, but it also sounds impractical due to screen size. If it could just view stuff nicely, that would be ideal. So, can you view stuff like Word docs with embedded excel charts? If so, does it screw up formatting at all?

I'm asking about both phones on this.

 

i've got the EVO, and can open word/excel/pdf files without issue. however, i couldn't edit them, not that i would want to work in excel on a phone.

as for the cluttered screen on the instore demo, you can set up your screens to whatever you like. the android system is a very user friendly system.

just curious, why isn't the evo on your list of phones to look at? it really is the baddest phone on the market, and if you live in a 4g market, it only is badder

 

The iphone will view PDF files also. My vote is for the iphone. I had the 3G and now the iphone 4. I love it. As far as the signal issue, many brands of phones lose signal strength when held around the edges. Many videos on youtube about that showing it on blackberrys, etc... Yes my iphone 4 will lose signal bars if held all around the edges without the bumper. With the bumper (which is now free if you buy the iphone) there is no signal loss if held that way. Not saying the Droid isn't a good phone, never used one. I'm a mac guy and love the way my iphone, imac, macbook, iphoto, contacts, emails, itunes, and home videos all live in harmony.

 

I have a droid X and love it. The email is nice. Reading emails on the 4.3" screen is a wonderful experience compared to smaller screens. About the clutter on the screen, The great thing about android is you can change just about everything. You can setup the homescreen any way you like it with widgets, and apps. You can even replace the whole homescreen. I use Launcher Pro.

 

I like the Evo4 much more than the Droid X, but if I'm going Android, why would I want to give up Verizon for Sprint?

Having signal > having 4g

I've been thinking it through and am leaning more towards the iPhone. It's a well established predictable product, if there's an app out there, you can guarantee it's going to be on the iphone... in other words, it's the safe choice. I also get the benefit of compatibility with Cisco VPN, and soon enough, SonicWALL.
Android is making huge strides, but I'm thinking it's still a little early, and I can re-evaluate in 2 years.

 

Sprint here is good. At least for me it has been. Your market may not be as strong, which in case Verizon might be the better choice. I assumed since you were on sprint, sprint service was working for you.

Either way, i would go android. it is the market leader for a reason.

the only advantage apple currently has in the app world is games. android phones will soon be catching up, and with flash, you can play alot of online games.

 

I'm seeing it more as "the new hotness", and not everyone wants AT&T.


Sprint works fine where I'm at, but I need to consider where I will be travelling. It's not bad, but I've seen better luck on AT&T/Verizon

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg&feature=related not droid x but pretty much the same thing.

 

My company uses iphones. Doesn't matter to me since I'm not high enough on the food chain to get or need one.

 

Yes, i've seen the vid. It fails to consider that there is a vast infrastructure riding behind the iPhone, and the software is more mature. My approach is also quite different.
This is kind of the "what if" scenario where macs are the first computers and become the corporate machine of choice, and PCs come later as the challenge. It's funny how none of the mac users complain about their computers being too locked down or controlled by Steve.

My main concern is illustrated here, along with the idea that the standard apps are typically trashy from what I hear. WinMo was a freaking nightmare, trying to find any addon that would make the phone usable, along with 'apps' that would destroy the phone for basic things. I'm also OCD over technology, so I'd become a slave to comparing all the different apps just to get the calendar going, for instance. After all, look at me and all this craziness over just selecting a phone to begin with!

I'm currently so pissed at what I have that I just want the damn thing to work. I have yet to see where the iPhone defies me in this, so still thinking that I should take this path for the 2 years, then re-evaluate.

 

how is apples OS more mature? iphone's "new" OS just barely got features that android has already had for 2 years.

 

Sounds like you are set on an iphone. Enjoy

 

Palm

 

I have an i-phone. The IT guy hooked it up to the server at work. It really works great. I can access my e-mails, calendar, and contacts. If i put something in my phone, it syncs with work and vice versa. All trainings, meetings, etc. available. The only down sides are: (1) I had to put the lock on the key pad because of sensative material (2) Anything on my phone is now considered public information per Florida State Statute. I don't keep a bunch of crap on it, so it's not an issue for me.

 

Alright, so yes I've decided on the iPhone. Here's why.

Mature as in Apple's been at it since '07 (well, actually before that if you want to get technical), and it's held a 'monopoly' for such a long time, so they have had more time to bug fix and stabilize. Unfortunately, that also makes you more monolithic, and you have to make sure you don't break your own rules as you reinvent yourself. Apple's either going to keep going , or they are going to come out with something completely different.



To me, I'm worried Android is anarchy/chaos. You have 3 app stores, you are open source, no standardization, and limitless customization and features. I went to 3 different stores this week, and each Droid X looked vastly different - and I'm not even considering other android phones.

It's cool to have that much control and possibility, but sometimes, when you are on the opposite side of the USA, you want one app store, knowledge that just about every IT person has dealt with your phone, and a huge support base. I like the cutting edge of technology, but I have to depend on this at any given time of the day - if it stops, my productivity at a client site has just taken a hit. I know that AT&T isn't as good of a network, but I haven't had a problem in the past, so yes there is a risk factor there.

The final deciding factor?

I have a HELL of a time using the Droid X's touchscreen. I can never get the damn spacebar to work, and today I couldn't swipe through the screens to save my life. I had to ask the rep for help - and I still couldn't do it. It made me feel embarrassed, I knew more about the phone than the rep, I built computers for a living, I have a software major, I do enterprise software consulting, I work with barcode scanner deployment... and I can't operate a damn phone.
I went back to the iPhone to try to see if I was screwed up. I had perfect spelling, all my screen taps and swipes were well recognized. Enough of this, decision made.



Overall, there's still a part of me that wants android. I've seen beautiful things, positive ideas, and there's some nice features I'm missing (mobile hotspot, verizon were the big ones)

My plan is to re-evaluate after the 2 years - it's not 'til death do us part. iPhone has got to get their butt in gear to maintain, and Android phones have to continue getting better hardware, and build in a few standardizations.