Netbook Replacer - Android or iPhone?
- Thread starter anish_sha
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Pat
Galvanizer
Multi-tasking --> Yes
Flash --> No (though there is a beta hack which enables flash-based games/ads)
If you don't need phone functionalities, then go for iPad. It would be a perfect netbook replacement. You can even connect your external/flash drives to it once you buy the camera connection kit.
Flash --> No (though there is a beta hack which enables flash-based games/ads)
If you don't need phone functionalities, then go for iPad. It would be a perfect netbook replacement. You can even connect your external/flash drives to it once you buy the camera connection kit.
iPhone Multitasking is not multitasking in the true sense. Its restrictive in many ways as you would expect from Apple. I don't know if the multi tasking enabled after jail breaking is any different. In any case read more about it here.
Ars reviews iOS 4: what's new, notable, and what needs work
While on it Android Multi-tasking experience is not currently flawless either. With each process gobbling up a insane 20~40Mb of RAM, Multi-tasking is not practical unless you have a fairly powerful phone loaded with RAM. I am not all impressed with the Multi-tasking experience in Android 2.1 (Eclair) on my Galaxy S. Hoping Froyo would improve this with HIMEM enabled. I guess the only major mobile Platform with optimized multi-tasking is Symbian and even that has its limits due to the minimalistic CPU's used by Nokia.
As for Flash, iDevices are not going to get flash support officially and hacks are the only way around it.
On the Android front, Android 2.2 (Froyo) is slated to have full flash experience, but even some 2.1 devices currently have the flash lite support. I guess HTC Sense enables Flash support on HTC Android devices (Not sure whether all HTC Android devices have flash support). Samsung Galaxy S has it too in its browser, but it comes disabled by default. I have it enabled in my Galaxy S and it works well.
A phone is no replacement for a net book even for browsing, but if you want a phone for that purpose, you would be better off going for an Android Phone like Galaxy S. If you are willing to sacrifice Flash support just to get an iPhone, then better go for the iPhone 4. Trading Flash support for browsing on a 480 x 320 screen would be really sad.
An iPad may make a better choice, but I guess the reason you want to ditch a Netbook is because you don't want a second device around. Sacrificing the functionality of a Netbook and then spending about twice as much for an iPad and then carrying it around just for the compromised browsing experience without flash does not make much sense. However if you want a compact tablet just for browsing, then wait a bit and you have a number Android tablets all shapes and sizes flooding the market soon. You might find a cheapo 5~7" tablet suitable for your purpose.
Ars reviews iOS 4: what's new, notable, and what needs work
While on it Android Multi-tasking experience is not currently flawless either. With each process gobbling up a insane 20~40Mb of RAM, Multi-tasking is not practical unless you have a fairly powerful phone loaded with RAM. I am not all impressed with the Multi-tasking experience in Android 2.1 (Eclair) on my Galaxy S. Hoping Froyo would improve this with HIMEM enabled. I guess the only major mobile Platform with optimized multi-tasking is Symbian and even that has its limits due to the minimalistic CPU's used by Nokia.
As for Flash, iDevices are not going to get flash support officially and hacks are the only way around it.
On the Android front, Android 2.2 (Froyo) is slated to have full flash experience, but even some 2.1 devices currently have the flash lite support. I guess HTC Sense enables Flash support on HTC Android devices (Not sure whether all HTC Android devices have flash support). Samsung Galaxy S has it too in its browser, but it comes disabled by default. I have it enabled in my Galaxy S and it works well.
A phone is no replacement for a net book even for browsing, but if you want a phone for that purpose, you would be better off going for an Android Phone like Galaxy S. If you are willing to sacrifice Flash support just to get an iPhone, then better go for the iPhone 4. Trading Flash support for browsing on a 480 x 320 screen would be really sad.
An iPad may make a better choice, but I guess the reason you want to ditch a Netbook is because you don't want a second device around. Sacrificing the functionality of a Netbook and then spending about twice as much for an iPad and then carrying it around just for the compromised browsing experience without flash does not make much sense. However if you want a compact tablet just for browsing, then wait a bit and you have a number Android tablets all shapes and sizes flooding the market soon. You might find a cheapo 5~7" tablet suitable for your purpose.
egobrain.exe
Discoverer
as Ive used an Iphone i would suggest the same ..! but i have no such idea about an Android based phone as i haven't got a chance to use it to really know what its really capable of ..! Ipad would certainly be the best bet !
viditkalra
Contributor
definitely android..
i was sceptical about it before buying my xperia x10..but after using it for a while, i can say, its AWESOME.
for chats and browsing, its great since u get a notification, just like u wud get wen u get a message if u receive a new text on the chat.
the UI is amazing and the over all experience is great.
so, ANDROID ftw.
just my 2 cents
i was sceptical about it before buying my xperia x10..but after using it for a while, i can say, its AWESOME.
for chats and browsing, its great since u get a notification, just like u wud get wen u get a message if u receive a new text on the chat.
the UI is amazing and the over all experience is great.
so, ANDROID ftw.
just my 2 cents
^^ Why would you need to root or install custom rom's if your basic needs are mainly browsing and chatting. Why is that even a factor? In any case, rooting seems to be pretty easy on Galaxy S. All you need to do is download a file and flash it.
If you are going for android make sure you get one with a physical keyboard for chatting.Iphone predictive text is a whole lot better than android . Typing on android based phones is hardly fun.
if you are going for iphone you are better off with iphone 4 since 3gs and below do suffer from lag(not often but there are times while scrolling or using pinch to zoom ,etc,etc.....wouldn't recommend a 3gs running iOS4...after all a lag free clean UI is the reason people go for iphone over android)while running iOS4.Also iOS doesn't allow multi-tasking like the way other devices do.Usually that's a good thing since it won't slow down your device or make your device hot.besides you don't have to keep closing all the open apps using task manager which is a PITA.But do make sure a) whether itunes stores has the chat apps that you use and b) whether those apps are updated for multi-tasking and allow cont. real time updates when you re using some other apps. iOS does lag in one major area that will be important to you....notifications. Myself not a major fan of android but love the obstructive manner in which notifications are displayed on an android phone.Apple is working on this but the fix won't arrive until the next major OS revision.Flash is not an issue since most people don't miss it much.There are only a handful of flash based sites that makes it worthwhile like hulu plus and unfortunately those sites don't work here(someone correct me if i am wrong)The chances are, these sites will come up with html 5 versions long before they come to india(if they come to india).Also safari browser is still better than other similar mobile browsers on android. So while the iphone is a great device it may not be ideally suited to your needs.
Would have suggested a blackberry or a nokia E72 if chatting is far more important to you than web surfing.Else like i said you are better off with an android touchscreen device with a physical qwerty keyboard like the motorola droid .
if you are going for iphone you are better off with iphone 4 since 3gs and below do suffer from lag(not often but there are times while scrolling or using pinch to zoom ,etc,etc.....wouldn't recommend a 3gs running iOS4...after all a lag free clean UI is the reason people go for iphone over android)while running iOS4.Also iOS doesn't allow multi-tasking like the way other devices do.Usually that's a good thing since it won't slow down your device or make your device hot.besides you don't have to keep closing all the open apps using task manager which is a PITA.But do make sure a) whether itunes stores has the chat apps that you use and b) whether those apps are updated for multi-tasking and allow cont. real time updates when you re using some other apps. iOS does lag in one major area that will be important to you....notifications. Myself not a major fan of android but love the obstructive manner in which notifications are displayed on an android phone.Apple is working on this but the fix won't arrive until the next major OS revision.Flash is not an issue since most people don't miss it much.There are only a handful of flash based sites that makes it worthwhile like hulu plus and unfortunately those sites don't work here(someone correct me if i am wrong)The chances are, these sites will come up with html 5 versions long before they come to india(if they come to india).Also safari browser is still better than other similar mobile browsers on android. So while the iphone is a great device it may not be ideally suited to your needs.
Would have suggested a blackberry or a nokia E72 if chatting is far more important to you than web surfing.Else like i said you are better off with an android touchscreen device with a physical qwerty keyboard like the motorola droid .
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