I had the iPhone 4 for over a year but wanted to upgrade to 4G internet. I liked the phone but wanted faster data transfer capability for work. I thought the 4S had to have it, but no. Then I compared it to the Driod Razr 4G. It was no contest and blew away iPhone in every single category.
I got the Razr. It is thinner, much much faster, longest battery life in the industry, feels more solid and has a much bigger screen. I thought it was just as easy to use and was ready to go as soon as I charged it. If you can read, you can use it. I never asked for help or opened a manual. Yes, it came with a few apps that I would never use but I uninstalled them in less than one minute.
Also, it is far easier to develop your own software for Android and you don’t have to submit it to apple for approval.
Apple's Achilles' heel has always been the way they act as gatekeepers, which discourages developers. As a developer myself, why would I purchase an SDK when the Windows SDK is free and covers >90% of users? I'm now getting into mobile development and I'm not bothering with iOS because everything needed to develop an Android app (Java IDE, Android kit and virtual machine for testing) is free and a developer account on Android Market is also free, with Google handling all sales transactions on a commission-only basis.
Initially most thought it would be a failure. It succeeded by being better, not just in the hardware, but the entire ecosystem.
but if they don’t stay ahead with actual performance, the brand will die.
As I noted, the brand-new fastest Tegra 3 runs from about equal to to maybe twice as fast as the iPhone in CPU, but actually lags behind in GPU. And it's 4-core at a much higher clock, so don't believe numbers. I'd say Apple is staying competitive on performance, and nobody else yet has such a high-resolution screen, which is great for my eyes.
I thought the 4S had to have it, but no.
Apple won't go LTE untill the battery suckage has been worked out, and there's a small-enough chip to fit in the iPhone.
Then I compared it to the Driod Razr 4G. It was no contest and blew away iPhone in every single category.
I was recently ready to upgrade my Android and looked at the Razr seriously. No chance once I held one, way too big to be a phone, and same low-res screen (the iPhone actually has more display pixels at its smaller size). I did like the backing material though, wish the iPhone had that instead of glass on the back. And I have no need for LTE right now, so that's not a killer feature for me.
It is thinner, much much faster, longest battery life in the industry, feels more solid and has a much bigger screen.
Thinner at thinnest point, thicker at thickest point. It is slightly faster in CPU tasks than the iPhone, and the GPU is far slower (and the iPhone offloads a lot of tasks to the GPU to make things faster). Battery life depends on your use.
With the iPhone I also get automatic syncing of contacts and other info with my computer (clicked on a signature block in Mail on the Mac to make a contact out of it, and there it was on my phone). I am also loving iTunes match, now no matter where I am 40 GB of music is there at 256 Kbps AAC.
Also, it is far easier to develop your own software for Android and you don’t have to submit it to apple for approval.
Having worked on both, I'd say iOS is easier. I'm not really a fan of Objective C or Java, but the APIs on iOS just rock, especially for making dual-use programs for iPhone and iPad. Also, Apple provides a very high-speed, pro-level development environment for free, you only need to pay to actually put stuff on the store. The approval aspect has its pluses and minuses for everybody, and can be argued either way.