Apple's iPhone has been renowned for the past two years as being the best phone on the market, largely in part to its widely popular "App Store," which to date has accumulated over 100,000 both free and pay applications that serve a large variety of purposes. It was also, up until recently, the fastest smart phone in the market. Google's first jump into the smart phone market, the aptly named "Droid," Has taken what apple has been known for and quite possibly made it better. It is still in its first operating system version, so there are a few minor glitches and bugs to be dealt with, but it is seemingly overwhelming the competition. With an app store similar to the iPhone, with an open source to all developers, not just approved ones, and a processor roughly twice as fast as that of the iPhone, the Droid is truly shaping up to be an iPhone killer. The iPhone is a more closed system than that of the Droid, Apple can approve and disapprove apps, and can clear the apps off of anyone's phone they feel is using it for less than honorable purposes. The Droid's "Android" software is much more open to the programmers, allowing them to develop as they wish without regard to approval, unless it violates a law of course. The apps are not always as polished as those on the iPhone, due in part to its relatively young life so far, but the ones that are greatly outperform those on the iPhone, especially those for mobile networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
Both phones use a system of high speed connection known as 3G, but the difference in the way they use them and the effectiveness in which they operate is astounding. The Droid uses 3G in a situational way, whereas the iPhone's 3G is always on, greatly diminishing battery life. The networks on which the phones operate are also completely different. The Droid uses Verizon, which to date has the largest 3G network in the country, roughly tripling the area coverage of AT&T, the iPhone's sole carrier. The speedy network prevents calls from being dropped in almost any area, which is a common occurrence with AT&T's comparably miniscule network. This also enables the Droid to both surf the internet at a greater speed and run the astoundingly popular Google Maps application that it is bundled with, offering you turn by turn directions to your destination instantly. This is far superior to the clunky "Maps" application for the iPhone, which is neither as fast nor as easy to use.
Set-up on the Droid also takes barely 5 minutes. One simply logs into their Google account, and all of their contacts are immediately place in the phone and set appropriately. The Gmail integration is super clean as well. It's the most intuitive, full-featured e-mail solution yet seen on a smart phone. It also possesses a tangible keyboard that slides out, as opposed to the bumbling touch screen keyboard on the iPhone, and a 5 megapixel camera, roughly doubling the power of the one located on the iPhone. With features like these and the native GPS navigation and Verizon's powerful wireless network, it is sure to attract many customers looking for a phone that can do it all.
Aaron Smith
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