iPhone versus Android (HTC Hero edition)
After MAX I went backpacking and fell in a river with my iPhone in my pocket. The iPhone is not a fan of water so it was totally dead. I have to get a new one through the Adobe system but this week everyone at Adobe has been on vacation so I wasn’t going to be able to pick up a replacement. That left me with the HTC Hero that I’ve got for demoing Flash mobile content. I swapped the sim card and I’ve been using it all vacation. I hadn’t used any phone but the iPhone for a prolonged period of time in a while so I figured I’d write up my thoughts on the iPhone versus Android now that I’ve actually had to learn the Android quirks.
Overall User Experience
I really, really want Android to succeed. But the iPhone is still the king when it comes to user experience. I find the HTC Hero with Android to be much, much less snappy than the iPhone. When I click something on the iPhone, I get an immediate reaction. On the HTC Hero, there’s a noticeable delay which becomes very annoying. However I like the UI for the Hero a lot better. Android has a nice, polished UI that is mostly intuitive and a bit more interesting than the iPhone’s boring button UI. The responsiveness is what got me though. On a faster phone, I could see Android being king here, but right now: Winner: iPhone
Battery Life
I found the battery life between the iPhone and the HTC Hero to be pretty equal, they both last me less than a day with heavy use. But one thing that I found extremely annoying is that the HTC Hero takes forever to charge via USB while the charging the iPhone over USB works really well. As a result: Winner: iPhone
Software
I love the Android software. I know Apple has the “There’s an App for That” crap, but out of the box, Android rules. Being able to install applications with a barcode scan is also really slick. I found the Android software to be more full featured, have many more hooks into the social networking services I’m a junkie for, and generally just more fun to use. If it wasn’t for the sluggishness, it would be perfect. The exception to this is the mapping. It’s abysmal. No gesture support for zooming, you can’t click on markers and interact with them in the same way you do on the iPhone. It’s just terrible to use. But in general, even with that and all of Apple’s apps, Winner: Android/HTC Hero
Typing
I type a lot on my mobile devices because I use them pretty heavily for email. I found it took a while to get used to the Hero’s keyboard. I like the fact that Android offers you a set of words based on what you’ve typed so you can auto-correct. That feature also makes it easy to add things to the dictionary because you can just click the word you typed and it will be added (no more ‘shot’ and ‘duck’). But even with that enhancement the iPhone’s keyboard is just better at detecting which letter I want to type next. Maybe I just need to spend more time with the Hero, but Winner: iPhone
Annoying Things About Android/HTC Hero
No sensor that detects when the phone isn’t near your face any more. This is just a limitation of the phone but it is annoying as hell. I also think the phone is too “buttony”. While I like the rollerball, it seems like any time I want to do something I have to click a button. With the iPhone they did a great job of making it as gesture-based as possible. The browser is a good example. On the iPhone, to type a URL, just move to the top of the page, and type it. With Android, you have to push the “menu” button. Takes some getting used to and the iPhone feels more natural.
Annoying Things About the iPhone
No Flash Player for one 
. But I also loved the GPS indicators on the Android. The little status icon at the top tells you whether you actually have GPS signal, and the camera lets you know when you’re locked on so it can geotag your photos accordingly. I really wish the iPhone had that.
Summary
In the end, the iPhone is just too damn good. I have high hopes for the Droid, but I’m on AT&T so I won’t be seeing it any time soon. But if the new processor is as good as people say it is, then hopefully we’ll get a snappy Android phone on AT&T soon. When that happens, I’ll ditch the iPhone in a heartbeat.
Posted in Personal
October 20th, 2009 at 12:55 am
I would agree the iPhone is snappier but that will change, with the community bringing out hacked ROM’s that are far faster than the stock standard ROM youre probablyim presuming you are using on the Hero. This should work its way back into the official builds. Plus the fact that the newer android phones will feature faster processors will definitely increase the speed which seems to be your biggest complaint.
I’m sure you guys will all be using Android in the future at Adobe after 10.1 is released. Maybe next year MAX won’t look like a iPhone convention
I would like to get a iPhone full time, and I have high hopes for it, but i Just cant trade true multitasking for the way iPhones operate
October 20th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Boy Genius Report talks about the new Motorola Droid and how its finally fast:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/10/16/android-2-0-screenshot-walkthrough/
October 20th, 2009 at 7:07 am
How long have you had that particular Hero, Ryan? I ask because the more recent release of the Hero (the official US Sprint version) contains a ROM upgrade that makes the UI much snappier and a slightly more powerful battery. So a user with a brand-new Hero might have a better experience.
I was going to pick up a Hero but then came the news that the Samsung Moment Android (with its 800Mhz processor and physical keyboard) was coming out in November. So I’m waiting until that comes out and then I’ll decided between the Hero and the Moment (Sense UI vs. better hardware, essentiallY).
October 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
@Bradley, I hope we’ll all be using Android phones. I really am ready to ditch my iPhone.
@Todd, I saw that. If I were on Verizon I’d jump at that thing.
@Brian, Yeah, I have the UK version, not the new Sprint one. I’ve heard the Sprint is faster, which would be great, and that could help tilt the balance. Unfortunately all I had was the first gen.
=Ryan
October 20th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Thanks! I’ve been looking at videos of the Hero’s UI, and love how some of the apps seem to remain open, and can be placed on the sliding home screens. I’m not a fan of the ‘app to home to app icon to app’ flow that we have on the iPhone. I’d much prefer to toss a few of the main apps I use on the home screens, and slide between them. The only thing holding me back is that many of the comparative reviews are similar to yours in that it’s a little slower, and a little clunkier, or less refined.
October 21st, 2009 at 6:37 pm
i am really interested in seeing what andriod 2.0 + fast hardware is able to deliver. I am Flash developer and the idea of building apps in CS5 for both andriod and iphone (or any other mobile platform that implements Flash Player 10.1) is thrilling!
Here is a question for everyone:
If when Flash Player 10.1 hits all of the mobile platforms we then hear that it will also land in the iphone technology stack, how likely would everyone convert over to an android device? Said another way, is it more about the lack of Flash or more about the overall experience/ multitasking?
October 21st, 2009 at 10:03 pm
im not sure what hero u were using, but its as snappy as the iphone hands down. the only lag is flipping the keyboard with the accelerometer…but for games the accelerometer is super responsive so a future update should solve that. Overall a great i phone alternative thats &50.00 less a month to use with same features minus iphones lack streaming of tv
October 21st, 2009 at 10:06 pm
apple disciples….never liked them.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 am
@steve I think because of Flash Player 10.1 the particular OS your smartphone runs will become less important, similiar to the way PC’s are becoming. What will make a real difference is speed of advancement(open source), price(low costing smartphones) and choice(range of Android running phones). Thats something Apple apparently havent learnt yet, but its not that they cant in the future.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
well guys..right now i’m using the first gen hero..with the official new rom upgrade it is snappier than before… im a heavy user and i charge my hero once a day… (just like phonedog’s review and others)…i heard rumor that hero coming to verizon but in different shell..
November 9th, 2009 at 5:01 am
Get the new ROM buddy, it runs like a dream with it.
Ironically the powers that be here in the UK have shuffled us onto iPhone contracts, so my Hero is now gathering dust.
My greatest problem? Corporate email SSL certificates, it just wasn’t ready for business.
Mark
Adobe