What is more important in your smartphone purchase?

When purchasing or switching phones what do you find to me more important.

Form Factor

The hardware design of the phone, its daily function and how you the user interact with them.

or

Applications

Appendages to the phones current OS ie: Android marketplace, Apple App store, whatever blackberry calls their app store.

Just wondered since we've already had the debate between whats more important in selecting a carrier phone or service.

OS.

That is all.

Android FTMFW.

I'd participate but, the poll's choices are just too limiting. I'd agree with criccio that the OS is what makes or breaks a device for me overall, but let's not turn this into a mobile device OS war/bashing thread...

Applications. I don't care how good the hardware is; how good, flexible, and powerful an OS might be if it can't do basic functions, and entertain me. Thats why I returned my Evo, market place was so damn barren of quality apps, after being spoiled by apple's plethora of polished apps and games I just couldn't stand the lack of polished apps. Though I am returning to android sadly because I moved and reception here for AT&T sucks . Hope the marketplace grew some. If I can't find a decent game I will go nuts..

I would add Network availability to the list also. I just switched to Sprint and a 4G phone. If you live in 4G coverage than it is well worth it.

F/FF FTW...almost every phone (apple/android) has apps out the ass...thats a non-issue anymore.

I think you need to separate form from function or the poll is going to be skewed towards that composite answer (those two features are normally regarded as two distinct, and sometimes opposing, things).

Ummm...

0. Price of the device and the service
1. Service is available, works fast, least limitations, etc

If all else is equal, I'm going with the hardware/OS capability.

Well, the form factor is most important to me, but that's because, if it isn't Android, I won't buy it

criccio said:

OS.

That is all.

Android FTMFW.

Click to expand...

This ^

criccio said:

OS.

That is all.

Android FTMFW.

Click to expand...

Bloodgod42 said:

F/FF FTW...almost every phone (apple/android) has apps out the ass...thats a non-issue anymore.

Click to expand...

+1 even though a lot of people refuse to believe it.


Function is always my main concern when buying anything and the reason why I switched to Android.

It's all about the OS and if it can do what I need it to do. So far Android can't (I hope 3.0 fixes some things) and neither can Apple. I am praying Palm/HP actually come out with hardware equivalent to the top-tier android devices since their OS can do what I need.

criccio said:

OS.

That is all.

Android FTMFW.

Click to expand...

This

SoulCreatr said:

It's all about the OS and if it can do what I need it to do. So far Android can't (I hope 3.0 fixes some things) and neither can Apple. I am praying Palm/HP actually come out with hardware equivalent to the top-tier android devices since their OS can do what I need.

Click to expand...

I'm interested to know what iOS and Android can't do that WebOS does so well.

Vermillion said:

I'm interested to know what iOS and Android can't do that WebOS does so well.

Click to expand...

Android has the limitation that you cannot sync calendars from more than 1 gmail account. Also the gmail push on the Evo I had, and my friend's Captivate was slower than my Pre by a noticeable margin (like 30 minutes+ after it hit my desktop inbox). I used the stock gmail app which was on push settings, and I tried a couple apps from the market place but got the same behavior. I have not tried this on a phone with 2.2 so maybe that was changed (?). The multitasking is still pretty clunky, but it's better than nothing. If Andoird 3.0 has better multitasking, calendar, and gmail syncing I would have an Android phone the next day because everything else about the OS is wonderful.

I ruled out iOS because I need to be able to make custom apps to do common calculations/routines in the lab or to look up physiologic values quickly. Without jailbreaking, running homebrew code on an iphone/itouch is not really an option. Now yes I could use web calculators and set bookmarks but that will take longer than a hard coded app. The multitasking integration on iOS is a hair better than nothing, but that is about all it is.

WebOS can handle all these tasks that I need it to perform and does it well. Now the hardware on my Pre is god awful, and is the main thing I have against the pre....but function before form.

You had something else wrong... emails hit my phone at almost the same time they hit the gmail web interface for me.. This an Evo running CyanogenMod 6.

criccio said:

You had something else wrong... emails hit my phone at almost the same time they hit the gmail web interface for me.. This an Evo running CyanogenMod 6.

Click to expand...

Same my mail hits my phone instantly, no delays whatsoever. Android ftw yes, I enjoy having an actual file system, mass storage support, wireless tethering, non-market apps, etc etc. Having different hardware configurations and hardware manufacturers putting out low spec crippled phones is hurting the platform though... Then again if the fastest Android phone you could get right now was something like the G1 or Backflip you can bet your ass I would have a Pre or iPhone.

aesthetics and apps it can run, and how often the software is updated

apps for me, well mostly one app keeps me on an iphone and thats glucose buddy. Havent found anything like it on any other OS and the developer has no (current) plans to make it for other OS

criccio said:

You had something else wrong... emails hit my phone at almost the same time they hit the gmail web interface for me.. This an Evo running CyanogenMod 6.

Click to expand...

Yep. I've never had an issue with e-mail hitting my phone almost as quickly as they hit my inbox. I've been across 5-6 different ROM's and have never had an issue. Moved to CyanogenMod 6.0 yesterday and no issues. (CM6 btw is fucking awesome).

Calendar I don't know if that syncs with multiple yet.

SoulCreatr said:

Android has the limitation that you cannot sync calendars from more than 1 gmail account..

Click to expand...

Really? Mine is synced with three.

SoulCreatr said:

Android has the limitation that you cannot sync calendars from more than 1 gmail account. Also the gmail push on the Evo I had, and my friend's Captivate was slower than my Pre by a noticeable margin (like 30 minutes+ after it hit my desktop inbox). I used the stock gmail app which was on push settings, and I tried a couple apps from the market place but got the same behavior. I have not tried this on a phone with 2.2 so maybe that was changed (?). The multitasking is still pretty clunky, but it's better than nothing. If Andoird 3.0 has better multitasking, calendar, and gmail syncing I would have an Android phone the next day because everything else about the OS is wonderful..

Click to expand...

For a), I've just been sharing multiple calendars with my primary account.. it lets me view/edit all of the calendars from my phone, and enable/disable them individually. Not sure if there's native support for multiple calendars or not, though - simply never tried.

For b), I'm agreeing with everybody else that something else is wrong. Push e-mail w/ gmail is Activesync, and it should be.. pretty much instant, measured in seconds if not a minute tops. If it's not, something else is very wrong - likely disabling constant push sync itself on a phone-wide setting and leaving the phone to fire it up to check every X minutes.

There will always be apps for smartphones regardless of the platform. New apps and polished apps are coming out all the time. If you don't like an app, you can get rid of it, or find a better one. So it is function and form factor for me. What good is a smartphone if it can't move at the speed of one? that's what really annoys me with my Moto Q9c.

Its easier to move from one app to another than it is to just jump to a new phone. You could in theory buy every new phone that comes out when it does until you find one that fits your needs, but that typically means you're paying full price for the thing, instead of waiting for your rebate, on top of having to re-learn the new phone again, only to toss it for whatever catches your fancy then. I'm assuming most folks don't have that kind of cash to just upgrade their phones at will.

Settings -> Accounts and Sync -> Add Account -> press Google.

You can add as many google accounts to sync as you want, this includes calendars, contacts, etc.

Also push seems to be just as fast (most of the time the notification sounds are even in sync) as Outlook 2007 on my PC when both my PC and phone are on my wifi. If you're doing it over 3G, it could just be a network issue. Me, being on A&T, know no [lower] bounds to how poorly my network performs.

Could have been the Evo I had during launch month that was having gmail push issues. I had another friend in a different state (central FL area) that said his phone was slow on emails, but again that was during the launch month so it could have changed. Depending on what the phone market looks like in November I may go grab another EVO or Epic (when samsung rolls out 2.2 and gets this gps thing solved), unless I can get a dual core beast...lol.

When I had Android 2.1 on the Evo it was an OS limitation that lets you sync 1 gmail account with your calendar. You can have as many calendars as you like on that gmail account but you cannot sync a second gmail account calendar to it unless you shared it through your primary gmail account. Try it, add a second gmail account to your phone, then go into the settings for it and it does not give you the option to sync its calendar (on the Evo the option was completely absent). I have 3 gmail accounts that all have separate calendars that have to remain separate (no, I do not want to combine them under 1 account). Now this may have been addressed in 2.2, because I did not have an android device with that OS and wasn't going to root my phone during the 30 day trial. Are any of you doing setups like this with 2.2?
These were all limitations I had with my Evo back in its launch month, so if these things were changed then that is great. Like I said before, other than those gripes I thought Android was a wonderful OS.

I do thank you all for letting me know that it wasn't bad gmail push in Android, but either HTC's software or the particular phone. Now have Google get a kickass multitask system and it will be perfect!

SoulCreatr said:

I do thank you all for letting me know that it wasn't bad gmail push in Android, but either HTC's software or the particular phone. Now have Google get a kickass multitask system and it will be perfect!

Click to expand...

Not even that, really... it's just Activesync. Exact same protocol a WinMo phone or an iPhone uses to sync with Gmail (or Exchange, at that). It'd pretty much have to be either Google's servers having problem, or your phone's entire Internet connection having a problem.

Phone-wise, maybe if something is killing the keep-alive ping those phones do to keep the push connection open..

Apps. I'm also unpopular as I have an iPhone. Still the simplicity of it keeps me there. Yes i've jailbroken it.