iPhone or Android phone? (1 Viewer)

Hi every one,

I have a six year old mobile phone so it is definitely time to upgrade. Staff in phone shops laugh when they see the phone I am using They think my wife's three year old phone is a collectors piece so mine is worthy of Time Team, it seems.

As I haven't kept up with the huge technological leaps that phones have taken, I am looking for advice on which phone(s) are better for birding-

iPhone or Android?

If Android is good, then are there any particular phone makes/models that are especially good for birding apps?

One thing I noticed with phones I have tried in shops is that you get a lot of glare on the screen. Are there any particular models that have less glare?

Can anyone enlighten me, please?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Best wishes

Boogieshrew

I've just bought an Android phone, a Motorola Defy which is "water resistant" a useful feature when birding. All of the apertures for connections etc. are covered and the glass is "rhino glass" It seems to be very good so far but the battery life is not great, that probably applies to most smart phones as they are battery intensive. you will find a far better range of birding apps on the iphone at present although more will hopefully appear for Android phones. i'm thinking of buying the Sibley North American guide but it's £18 and I already have paper versions of 3 of his guides so I'm reluctant. The release of the Iphone 5 might drive down iphone 4 prices which would make it more attractive, cost was my biggest deciding factor in going for Android.

check the android market. there is no useful ( or otherwise ) birdgudes at all, or butterfly id apps . iphone has the advantage here

I got shot down last time I mentioned that Billy

Android needs to mature before I could recommend the market over the apps store. I own an Android smartphone, and an iPod touch, so use both portals. I've 3 guides on the iPod, 1 recorder software on the phone. If I wanted one device to do it all, I'd go iPhone at present.

I use an iPhone and really like it. The Birdguides app is fantastic, and it is so easy to set up and use. I am told that the Android phones are very good too, but I have no experience of them.

Users of both types of handset have their fans and the decision really comes down to whether there is an app that you really need, price, and which feels right to use. I suggest that you have a go on both types of handset in a store and see which feels better to you.

Thanks folks for your advice.

Looks like iPhone is ahead at the moment but I don't suppose it will be long before everything is available on android.

I have tried a Samsung Galaxy S which, judging by reviews on the net, is the nearest thing to an iPhone that you can get. I have nothing to compare it to but it seemed impressive. The battery level seemed to visibly drop as you used it online though. I think it would be flat in a day quite easily. Definitely need a car charger with it.
Is this the same for an iPhone or is the battery life on them considered to be the best?

I think the final decision will be down to price. If the Samsung and the iPhone are more or less the same price as an upgrade with my provider, then iPhone it will be. If the Samsung is quite a bit cheaper, then that will be the one and I'll have to wait a bit for the apps to become available.

Best wishes
Boogieshrew

iPhone accessories are numerous - try 7dayshop.com, or play.com they've a plug in battery extender for about £15 that gives a few extra hours puff!

if you get and you should get an iphone, take out the applecare warranty (available on eBay at a reduced price), true story only this week. My Iphone was performing a bit weird, apps would shut down and very occasionally making a call would cause the phone to restart, can honestly say in just under 2 years never really had a problem. Any how, did a reload from a back up which is very easy to do to see if it would work and unfortunately still seemed not to be fully working as expected, called apple as the phone is still covered under applecare, after a few tests the agent said they would arrange a new phone to be sent out to replace mine, the very next day UPS arrived and did a door step swap, all I needed to do was plug the sim back into the new phone connect to itunes and after a short while the new phone was a replica of the old one, I recieved updates from apple at every step of the way and confirmation today that the old phone has been returned okay.
I'd really like to see any other manufacturer care for there customers like apple does, there was no hesitation or bother, the process was very slick and I was only without a phone for a few hours (I returned the old phone to factory default before shipping to protect my data)
Apple gets 10 out of 10 from me.

As my eldest wants an Iphone for his birthday I did a bit of research and the best deals and packages are currently from tesco mobile, me I'm with 02 and my daughter has hers with orange all work fine. I did note that tesco's still had a few of the older 3GS's in stock so you may get a bargain, avoid 3 and carphone warehouse like the plague, thats a story for another thread

If anyone has an Iphone, then hopefully you have enjoyed the stories about the Iphone logging its location (or as Apple put it, only "logging the location of cellular towers and WiFi networks near your location")

Niels

njlarsen said:

If anyone has an Iphone, then hopefully you have enjoyed the stories about the Iphone logging its location (or as Apple put it, only "logging the location of cellular towers and WiFi networks near your location")

Niels

Click to expand...

Are Apple really the only ones doing this?

S Smith said:

Are Apple really the only ones doing this?

Click to expand...

What are they doing? It sounds a bit 'big brother is tracking you.' Is that what you mean?

Don't all mobile phones do this? Or, at least, are capable of doing this.

S Smith said:

Are Apple really the only ones doing this?

Click to expand...

No.Google and Microsoft do it too. It really is necessary to know location to provide location-specific services. It really isn't necessary to keep the data for a year.

Alan

When the story broke I downloaded the app the whistleblower had published via the BBC website, it couldn't read the file on my iPhone so couldn't produce the map so it appears not all versions of the iPhone software appear to allow it.

Ok, this was my solution to there not being a good bird guide on the Android.
Using Opera browser, I went to rspb site, and used their bird search eg, brown birds, or birds with white, etc, and saved the resulting search page to my phone. Only gives you a basic picture, and name, but uses little space, and you dont need to download data in the field, it can all be done on wifi at home.
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