Upgrade my family's phones
July 30, 2010 8:19 AM   Subscribe

My family is all up for new phones and planning to move smartphones and data plans. We are using Bell Canada, and for various reasons cannot change carriers. I am not willing to play around with unlocking phones etc, so the Motorola Milestone is a no. The options: iPhone 4; Samsung Galaxy S; Motorola Dext; HTC Legend; Blackberry Bold/Pearl/Curve.

Other information:

Everyone currently uses Windows, though my mother is vaguely considering changing to a Mac at one point eventually. We do not all need to get the same phone, although obviously if we can share apps this is better, so unless there is some specific reason we shouldn’t, we’ll all likely get the same phone. There are no Blackberry servers. No one wants social media integration. Battery life is a major consideration.

Specific needs:

F: doesn’t like to just test things out to see what happens, so either needs something foolproof or something that I can teach him about easily. He needs it to be very, very loud and have a speakerphone. He has large hands, and wants something easy to type on, but doesn’t have a preference about touchscreen versus physical keyboard. He likes for his phone to tell him who is calling when it rings, as his current phone does (instead of a ringtone, it says ‘call from name-in-phonebook’ or ‘call from 555-987-6543’. Keeps his phone in a pocket.

M: wants something that requires no effort or fixing or fiddling. Keeps her phone in a purse. Wants a reasonably nice camera. Has no specific knowledeg of what she wants.


J: I have an iPod Touch, which I am very happy with. On the one hand, I’d like to be able to reuse my apps and try jailbreaking, on the other hand, I’d sort of like a google phone. I usually keep my phone in a purse. The only phones I have ever loved are Samsungs. I also want a reasonably nice camera. I like the divx/xvid ability of the Samsung, but then if I end up jailbreaking the touch I can get VLC.

I assume that the real trick is getting the ringtone caller id. (A cheap app is acceptable for this as well.)

I am pretty much deciding between the iPhone and Galaxy. Assume I won’t be able to test either of them out, especially as the Galaxy has yet to be released. I have used and hated Blackberries, and don't see any real reason any of us would want them.
posted by jeather to Technology (15 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
If the only phones you have ever loved are Samsungs and you like Android, go for the HTC Legend. However, in terms of power and sheer usability, go for iPhone 4. The Legend's processor is slower, and has fewer apps than iPhone. Blackberry does nowhere near what you seem to want a phone to do. As you probably know, Canada does not have a 4G network for iPhone4 - you'll be "stuck" at 3G speeds.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:13 AM on July 30, 2010


Sorry, I was unaware that Samsung's Galaxy is Android... Still, HTC makes the best Android phones.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:14 AM on July 30, 2010


Response by poster: I have, fwiw, never owned or used an iPhone, so I cannot compare it to other phones I have tried. The only smartphones I have used are blackberries, which I have no interest in, really, but I was being complete. I do not know anyone near me who has an Android-based phone that I can play with to see the OS.

Given that I will be tech support for people who do not want to need tech support, an iPhone seems less fiddly and more likely to continue to work than an Android based phone?
posted by jeather at 9:22 AM on July 30, 2010


iPhone seems less fiddly and more likely to continue to work than an Android based phone?

Why do you think that? Android allows for more customization, but it's just an option, not something you will have to do.
posted by halogen at 9:42 AM on July 30, 2010


Response by poster: Does an Android need any initial customization at all, other than setting up email accounts and ring tones? I'm looking for idiot-proof.
posted by jeather at 9:49 AM on July 30, 2010


For people who don't want to care about there phone, and just want one that does a bunch of cool stuff, get an iPhone.

For people who want to play with, modify, change, and experiment with a phone, get Android.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:54 AM on July 30, 2010


I think your family will be the happiest with the iPhone, either the new 4 or the 3GS:

Windows usage: there are some neat features that the iPhone integrates well with on the Mac but you won't really miss them.

Social media integration: iPhones don't have this to the same extent all the newer phones do; it doesn't have to link to a Google or Facebook account.

Battery life: I continually hear that multitasking on Android sucks the battery life out of these phones and has to be actively managed. The iPhone doesn't have it.

Camera: The camera on the iPhone 4 is much better than the previous iPhones.

Idiot-proof: You can't install apps that cause the phone to stop working unless you jailbreak it.
posted by meowzilla at 10:04 AM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Why do your parents want smart phones? From what you described, it doesn't seem like they would use them.

Also, I don't know if any of the phones you listed can read out the phone number / name of the caller. There might be an Android software that can do that, but I haven't come across one.

I would recommend iPhones for your family, if they really truly need smartphones.

Have your parents tried your touch? Have them play around with it for a few hours at least. It'll give them a sense of whether they will like it. If you can, take them to the store and have them play around with the alternatives.

Also, with iTunes Home Sharing (or Network or whatever it's called), all of the phones will be able to share apps with each other. You can search and learn more about how this works.

I've owned an iPhone since summer 2009. Prior to that, I owned Treos. A friend of mine, who doesn't live in the same city as I do loves gadgets but doesn't want to deal with the problems. So I help him out with tech support. He decided to get an Android last summer b/c he wants to stay on Verizon. It was tough for me to assist him over the phone w/o having really used an Android phone much before. But I could do it. So, I imagine that you would be able to do it a lot more easily being there in person with your parents.

While Android's experience is less polished (I now also have a DROID (v1) that I rooted and put Froyo on), it's a perfectly acceptable phone. Not having to deal with itunes on Windows is nice. There are some cool customizations that you can do, like Local (to adjust your phone's settings based on location and other factors, or SlideScreen (which replaces the standard app launcher with something useful), or Swype (an alternative keyboard where you slide your finger from one key to another to spell out the word instead of typing).

However, given that, and the "closed" nature of the iPhone and it's app store, I would still choose the iPhone. But, I would expose your parents to both and see if they have strong preferences.

Also, in terms of videos and the iPhone, it's easy and fast enough to put videos in the right format with Handbrake.
posted by reddot at 10:55 AM on July 30, 2010


The HTC Desire and Legend have social media integration and, quite frankly, it's a bit of a half assed job. You really don't need 4 different ways to see your friends Facebook updates for example.

I have the Desire and the only nice thing is that it'll update the profile pictures automatically. The iPhone version of Facebook can do that too but you need to manually run it. Which isn't a big deal when you see how much better the iPhone Facebook app is.

The keyboard on the Desire is raved about by the techies. Compared to the iPhone one it blows - often gets the word wrong, misreads your taps, suggests stupid words and sometimes you fight with the autocorrect.

I can type about three times as fast with the iPhone than I can the Desire.
posted by mr_silver at 11:04 AM on July 30, 2010


I have the HTC Aria, and it's great. HTC Sense is better than, for instance, the interface of the Nexus One (if you poke around tech blogs, you'll see I'm not the only one who thinks so). When I first booted it, I was asked to select a language, and enter my email and Facebook credentials. That's it. It also comes with a number of preset "scenes", i.e. different layouts for apps and widgets, like "Social", "Work", "Travel", etc. I'm pretty sure they've got the needs of most people covered. Installing apps is a breeze, if that's a concern.

There is no syncing with Macs, however - I can still transfer files to and from the phone, but there is no integration with any software. Things like contacts, on the other hand, get saved to your Google account, and the SMS Backup app saves messages to my Gmail account (where they are indexed and searchable along with all email I send and receive). That about covers my backup needs, but if it's important to you, that's something to consider.
posted by halogen at 11:16 AM on July 30, 2010


For people who want to play with, modify, change, and experiment with a phone, get Android.

I can get to a command line and write scripts for both. You're going to be rooting an Android phone if you care about modifying it anyway, so I don't see what the real difference is. You can do more tweaking to the interface in Android, but, uh, you probably will *need* to tweak it more, too.

People love whatever they've got. Asking an iPhone/Android owner if they like their phone is like asking a fox if it likes chicken.
posted by pjaust at 11:38 AM on July 30, 2010


Well, bearing in mind that I did suggest iPhone 4 earlier upthread, an HTC Android Phone with Sense UI is actually idiot-proof. You can change the wallpaper and the appearance of icons, etc. In terms of IT support, all you need to do is enter your Google account password, and it does the rest. Something that I find kind of cool is that the contacts manager integrates your Facebook profile with your Google contacts, so you can associate FB friends and their status updates, posts, etc with your Google contacts manager information such as email and telephone.

If you don't use Gmail, it's not quite as compelling to buy Android. The native Android MP3 player sucks (although it recognizes virtually every codec out there), and the cameras on HTC devices can also be quite lousy.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:26 PM on July 30, 2010


Response by poster: I actually found a place that set up the Samsung for me, which was great, except when I accidentally hit the touch-sensitive buttons. I also tried the HTC, which I disliked (I didn't like the button setup at the bottom -- I did like the layouts better than the Samsung, and the phone felt more solid).

I use facebook about 5 minutes every 3 days. OTOH, I use twitter all the time. We all use gmail, and I'd love to use flickr more, which seems to be easier with Android. I enjoyed Swype. My parents will fiddle with them this weekend, if I can convince them to do so.

Most of the needs my parents have for smartphones -- well, wants, none of us need it in any normal sense of need -- are well-covered by any phone. Except for the stupid voice caller id thing, which is the epitome of irritating, but which my father, perversely, loves.

Can you share app purchases among multiple Android phones?
posted by jeather at 12:36 PM on July 30, 2010


KokuRyu: "As you probably know, Canada does not have a 4G network for iPhone4 - you'll be "stuck" at 3G speeds."

Probably not a major concern since the iPhone 4 isn't a 4G phone.
posted by markr at 5:39 AM on July 31, 2010


Response by poster: Update: significant preference for the Galaxy S all round.
posted by jeather at 1:34 PM on August 7, 2010


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