After being tired of the sluggish crashiness of my 3G iPhone running iOS4, I downgraded to 3.1.2 today. Thanks, Apple, for finally adding so many basic features to your latest phone, but making the OS so bloaty it won’t run smoothly on the 3G iPhone :\
At least under my Jailbroken iPhone running OS 3.1.2, it’ll run reasonably well with all the features it should have come with in the first place. Too bad some (paid!) apps have been updated to the point they won’t run on 3.1.2. Luckily, there are sites like Hackulo.us that keep old versions around (a site I feel I am perfectly justified in using so long as I’m just trying out apps or finding old versions of apps that have been updated beyond my current phone’s ability—I’m lookin’ at YOU Joby Gorillacam!).
The next thing I’m pondering is what to do for my next cell phone. Sure, I want to upgrade to something with more storage, but the question now has become, do I go with the iPhone 4 (the predictable route) or the Dell Streak, which seems to give me almost the exact form factor I’m looking for.
The pros of the Dell Streak:
1) It’s a tablet—5 inches is perfect for e-books and watching videos.
2) It’s still a phone, which means I wouldn’t have to carry this and a cell phone, like I used to do when I still hand my Kindle 2. (I don’t worry about the ludicrous suggestion of looking like a dork with a giant handset, since there’s this little device called a “Bluetooth headset” that’s been around for a while.)
3) Logitech makes a Bluetooth keyboard that would almost perfectly fits the Streak, making it an almost perfect replacement for my eee pc 4g netbook, which would then be another thing I wouldn’t have to carry around with me.
4) expandable/swapable storage: unlike the iPhone, the Streak has a miniSDHC card I can dump stuff on at my whim (no iTunes required!!)
5) It’s an Android device which means I can drag-and-drop and enjoy all of the other benefits of a mostly open system
Pros of the iPhone 4:
1) THAT GORGEOUS DISPLAY. I am pretty much mad about this display—it’s so impressive that it looks amazing even in photos and videos.
2) I’m a Mac guy and until I read about the Streak, I had pretty much given myself over to the mercy of iTunes (as much as I resisted for years), ready to sacrifice freedom for an easier life (much like a Christian critical of the Bible). When you use Apple products the way His Steveness wants you to, they’re actually pretty awesome. Of course, when you use them the way *I* actually want to, you ended up with all sorts of hell (how DARE I what to use my gadgets the way I want to! Really! Free will? AS IF!)
3) The World of Apple backing up the damn thing. This is pretty important to me—when I have trouble with the Dell Streak, where do I go? I’m sure there’s someplace I can go for help (aside from the ‘net, I mean) but with the iPhone I can just go to one of four Apple stores within a 30 minute subway ride from me.
4) the iPhone finally has all the features it should have had all along, great battery life (Engadget claimed their i4 lasted 38 hours of regular use on one charge), HD video, cut-n-paste, front facing cam, video conferencing, camera flash and—well, no 4G connectivity. But hey, Apple’s got to give us a reason to buy the NEXT iPhone, too, right? You don’t think they didn’t call it the “iPhone 4G” by accident, did you?
Cons of the Dell Streak:
1) Display is big, but not as gorgeous as the iPhone 4’s.
2) When/if I have trouble with it, no easy place to go for help/repair.
3) battery life is not as impressive as the iPhone 4—and when I’ll be using it for as much stuff as I’m planning (phone, e-reader, email, light browsing, word processor), it needs to have a good battery. Granted, I can always bring an external charger or an actual replacement battery, but not having to shut down and swap out is nice.*
Cons of the iPhone 4:
1) Small screen—too small for browsing, really, or word processing, or reading.
2) iTunes. I’ve always hated it and always will. Fine, Apple, don’t let us DnD OFF of the device, but just integrate access to dump things onto the device into Finder/Explorer. Why do we need a whole separate app just for throwing a couple of extra tracks onto our Phone/iPods? But no DnD is actually a big deal to me—dragging and dropping may seem like something that isn’t that big of a deal, but while you’re waiting for your iPhone to sync (even though you’re adding one album or one video) is annoying as hell, when you’re already running late.
3) Closed system. Even after jailbreaking the iPhone won’t do *everything* I want it to. Close, but there will always be things that are just impossible to run in any practical way—like Flash or Android. ;)
So, it’s a pretty even fight, huh?
I’m not sure what to do since they’re the same cost. I may choose neither since neither is exactly what I need (the Streak would be if the screen was higher rez and had a real “big boy” keyboard).
Which would you choose?
*UPDATE 20100822: I found a review of the Dell Streak that describes the battery life as being superb—apparently it will go a full day with regular use and could even last a weekend if you use it a little less. Engadget had the iPhone 4 at 38 hours—but really, I’d just need the Streak to go 24 since it’s convenient to charge it every night. Buy an extra battery for $40 from the Dell website and I’ll never worry again. In short: that’s one less “con” for the Streak.
