I've had an HTC Eris, Incredible, Rezound & just got upgraded to a Motorola Razr Maxx this week. I like the Android OS. I've never been a big Apple person and other than this iPad I'm using, no other apple products in the house, including iPods. I loathe iTunes and think the hype around all things Apple is bloated.

I would be lying if I said I never had problems with my phone. I was bumped to the Incredible because after the Gingerbread upgrade, the Eris processor couldn't handle it. After contract was up, I bumped to the Rezound. That was a great phone, amazing camera, but I had issues with configuration of Exchange and weird ass security policies that forced encryption. Last week I had my fill and raised hell because i never had this issue on the Incredible. They eventually gave me a mid contract upgrade for the Razr Maxx, which has amazing battery life.

I'm on Verizon, the 4g coverage is much better than AT&T. I can easily get download speeds of 15-20 with an upload of 5 or so, depending on strength of signal. Google maps is awesome. I like the variety of apps in the Play store, including many, MANY free apps. the data plans are comparable.

If you're ok with iTunes, an iPhone will be fine. Just remember You can't expand memory so if you have a ton of music/books/etc that aren't in the cloud, that's a consideration. With an Android, just get a bigger SD card. Android offers more overall flexibility, which I prefer.

Anonymous wrote:If you want a phone that reboots when you slide out the keyboard, crashes during updates, and will not power off during flights cross country thus using all battery life searching for networks while high in the air, even though you "turned it off"; then the Andriod is your phone! Linux is a great language but not for phones. Total POS. I am counting the days until Santa brings me a new phone.

Not all Androids are created equal. My shitty Boost Mobile Android works great. Thing is you have to be mildly hands on about your tech to get the most bang for your buck out of a droid. If you all you want is to open the box and go, and if shit goes wrong you want someone else to handle it, get an iPhone. If you like to tinker with, customize, and have full control of your devices, get an Android. Then head over to the appropriate XDA forums for pointers on getting the most out of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In what why do you feel controlled? I like that they have a closed architecture. I posted about the Droid above. You are free to use their POS. They control you by giving you a crappy phone that doesn't work when say you land at an airport and need to phone the person picking you up. (My husband and my Droid will not power down on airplanes!) All technology controls, just in different ways.

There are tons of different phones that run Android, some are better than others. I guess you bought lemons, but that doesn't mean they all are. Droid is made by Motorola, that's all you need to know right there. I don't know why you can't power down your husband, but that's a separate issue.

I don't think Apple's control of the market and technology is a good thing at all, and the biggest loser is the consumer. You might not see why right now, but you will if this continues. Their control of access to apps and technology is very unhealthy, and a drag on competition and product development.

LOL! Ok, forgot to add the 's to "my husband's phone." Google sucks that is all I am saying. Their phone software sucks. OP asked for opinions on Android. Based on my use of the Droid, I am saying it is sh*t. Google should stick to search engines.

As for Apple controlling the apps market, I think your opinion is based in what we have learned in PCs. Nevertheless, cell phones (like Andriod) cannot provide a platform for developing STABLE apps. When you have a closed architecture/software like Apple you provide consumers with stable products. Android is crap and most of the apps are unstable due to the open source.

I'm not a techie. I probably use mostly (1) GPS (2) opentable/yelp and (3) reading newspapers. That's it. But Apple have better customer service than any other provider. Full stop. Charger broke on holiday in London. Found the nearest apple store and they just looked at my serial number and replaced it immediately. No fuss, no muss.

My wife has had several iPhones, and I've had several Android phones. We're both happy with what we have. Coming from a Blackberry, either will be a major improvement for you. I suggest going into a store and playing with some of them yourself. Ultimately, the deciding factors are going to come down to a matter of personal preference more than any other factor.

I also love my iPhone 5. Seem to be having a quick draining battery, but hope I can recalibrate it and fix it. Great phone- and strangely, I have broken just about every phone before, but my 2 year old iPhone was in perfect condition (so I sold it to pay for a new one).

The PP's experience with the Droid has no bearing on the Galaxy S III that you were asking about. Both the IP5 and the GS3 are great phones. Which one you will like depends on you and your phone usage. Regardless, most phone companies will let you keep it for a a few weeks to test out so you have nothing to lose by just picking one and giving it a try.

I forgot to add in my initial post that I have had an iPhone 5 since Friday. It is a terrific phone. I can't compare to Android phones because I've never owned one. But, all aspects of the phone are improved over the iPhone 4 I had previously. As I have shown it to other people, I think everyone of them has commented on how light it is. I can highly recommend the iPhone 5.

Anonymous wrote:In what why do you feel controlled? I like that they have a closed architecture. I posted about the Droid above. You are free to use their POS. They control you by giving you a crappy phone that doesn't work when say you land at an airport and need to phone the person picking you up. (My husband and my Droid will not power down on airplanes!) All technology controls, just in different ways.

There are tons of different phones that run Android, some are better than others. I guess you bought lemons, but that doesn't mean they all are. Droid is made by Motorola, that's all you need to know right there. I don't know why you can't power down your husband, but that's a separate issue.

I don't think Apple's control of the market and technology is a good thing at all, and the biggest loser is the consumer. You might not see why right now, but you will if this continues. Their control of access to apps and technology is very unhealthy, and a drag on competition and product development.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not buying any more of Apple's shit, I'm tired of their controlling ways. Once I'm done with this iPhone I'm getting something else. I suggest you do too, don't support those assholes.

In what why do you feel controlled? I like that they have a closed architecture. I posted about the Droid above. You are free to use their POS. They control you by giving you a crappy phone that doesn't work when say you land at an airport and need to phone the person picking you up. (My husband and my Droid will not power down on airplanes!) All technology controls, just in different ways.

I'm not buying any more of Apple's shit, I'm tired of their controlling ways. Once I'm done with this iPhone I'm getting something else. I suggest you do too, don't support those assholes.

Try them both yourself. If you ask people for opinions, you will simply have the Apple iOS zealots and the Android Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean zealots.

I have both. I have found flaws with both. I'm not wed to either of them.

If you want a phone that reboots when you slide out the keyboard, crashes during updates, and will not power off during flights cross country thus using all battery life searching for networks while high in the air, even though you "turned it off"; then the Andriod is your phone! Linux is a great language but not for phones. Total POS. I am counting the days until Santa brings me a new phone.

Just about every time a new iPhone comes out, there is one issue that everyone jumps on to highlight as a flaw. In the iPhone 4, it was the antenna. In reality, that wasn't much of a problem, but you would have thought the entire phone was junk given the publicity. This time, it is the maps. The same maps are in IOS 6 which you can install on earlier iPhones. I've been using the maps since the day IOS 6 was released. I have not found a flaw in them. In a side-by-side comparison with someone using IOS 5, I was able to locate a restaurant that she couldn't. In a discussion with a friend today, he also said that in day-to-day use, he is finding the new maps to be better.

On the down side, there is no street view. So, if you used that, you will miss it. The 3d maps has not been impressive in my experience. The turn-by-turn directions are nothing to brag about, but the earlier maps program didn't have them at all. Transit directions are handed off to a 3rd party app that you have to install. So, again, if you rely on the maps program for transit directions, you may be disappointed.

So, while the maps program is not as full featured as Google Maps on Android, I think it is a vast over statement to call it "terrible". Moreover, maps get better with usage. There are well over 5 million people using the new maps already. There will be rapid improvement.

have a blackberry, DH's phone is even more ancient and have been considering upgrading. Need to after the crowds die down, but should we get the iphone 5 or the Android/Samsung Galaxy 3? i've heard the maps in the iphone 5 are terrible.

also, what's the best data plan? AT&T or Verizon?