Thinking of switching from the Iphone

[glock115]

I'm basically a phone whore, since June I have gone from an Iphone 3g to a palm pre then to a hero and in Nov back to a 3gs.
I'm becoming a little bored of the Iphone and have been reading these forums for about a week in order to do some research on the Droid.

However, there are several apps that I need which the iphone has but dont believe Android has yet, Slingplayer and Pockettunes which I use to listen to Stern.
Are there any plans for those apps to come to Android in the near future?
Also, for anyone who has used both the Droid and Iphone, can the Droid's virtual keyboard compare to the Iphone's?
Lastly, I'm used to use Itunes for all of my music. Is it a pain in the ass to convert all the music files over to play on Androids media player?

 

[tktouch12]

i'm not going to lie to you
the app selection for android isnt as good as iphone, but its getting better
the vertical on screen keyboard is terrible compared to iphone, but the landscape is almost better (not to mention droid has a physical keyboard)
there are several programs that move your music over very easily. that was no big deal.
if you dont like the physical keyboard, you might want to give the nexus a look, or the htc (one of their many android phones) the newest is the incredible, but they come out with a new one every month.

 

[glock115]

Are there any alternative keyboards that you can download which are any better? I mainly text one handed with the phone vertical.
Thx

 

[Abe21599]

Are there any alternative keyboards that you can download which are any better? I mainly text one handed with the phone vertical.
Thx

yes - try out swype when you get it

 

[Sam]

I was going to suggest swype. I hate touchscreen keyboards, but now I almost exclusively use the vertical on screen one. there are a few others that do similar things (like shapewriter), but personally i feel like if you aren't using swype, you are doing it wrong.

as for music, I have read of a few programs like doubletwist that should work for you.

 

[bizfox]

Are there any alternative keyboards that you can download which are any better? I mainly text one handed with the phone vertical.
Thx

A good alternative keyboard for one-handed typing in portrait mode is the recently ported HTC one (it also gives you t9 and compact QWERTY styles with voice). The only con to that is it doesn't work in landscape mode yet. You can also try SlideIt or Swype.

HTC-ported keyboard can be found on droid-life.com. Swype is on droidmuff.info and SlideIt can be found in Dasur's site or on the Market.

Hope that helps... By the way, my brother, who currently owns the iPhone 3GS, played with my Droid the other day and liked typing on the HTC keyboard a lot.

 

[glock115]

Thanks for the input, any chance of slingplayer and any kind of app which will play Sirius coming out in the near future?

 

[scoder]

I'm basically a phone whore, since June I have gone from an Iphone 3g to a palm pre then to a hero and in Nov back to a 3gs.
I'm becoming a little bored of the Iphone and have been reading these forums for about a week in order to do some research on the Droid.

However, there are several apps that I need which the iphone has but dont believe Android has yet, Slingplayer and Pockettunes which I use to listen to Stern.
Are there any plans for those apps to come to Android in the near future?
Also, for anyone who has used both the Droid and Iphone, can the Droid's virtual keyboard compare to the Iphone's?
Lastly, I'm used to use Itunes for all of my music. Is it a pain in the ass to convert all the music files over to play on Androids media player?

DroidLive for Stern. Slingplayer is coming. Use DoubleTwist to transfer your iTunes library (or playlists) to the Droid, it's a desktop program that reads your iTunes library and gives you the same options as iTunes with syncing.
Ex-iPhone user, never happier than with my Droid. Open-source rules. Oh, and widgets do too.

 

[superglen99]

I agree about the HTC keyboard, much better for virtual portrait than stock. AS stated above you can get stern and all your itunes on droid easily. A couple other things to consider -Verizon>ATT Over-clocking up to 1.3Ghz now=amazing. Customize EVERYTHING! and widgets! wif tether is pretty nifty too

 

[rjm5151]

i really wish there was a keyboard with better spacing in between letters in standard view.

 

[pc747]

Coming from the iphone 3gs myself I am impressed with the droid, and I am glad I switched. But I will warn you that it will not be what you may think. The iphone comes preloaded and every thing you can do with the phone involves app at the app store. It is a simple smart phone. It does what it do very well. When you switch to the droid give it a couple of weeks to get the apple os out of your system and get use to the android os. The droid out of the box has a small guide that will get you started, but forums like this will help you take advantage of the device. I was bored with the iphone after having it for a day. You master the iphone in a day unless you jailbreak it. The droid I am still customizing and adding new features to it. I just added the Nexus sense ui on my device and I am playing around with live wall papers that I can now interact with.

 

[slinky]

I'm basically a phone whore, since June I have gone from an Iphone 3g to a palm pre then to a hero and in Nov back to a 3gs.
I'm becoming a little bored of the Iphone and have been reading these forums for about a week in order to do some research on the Droid.

However, there are several apps that I need which the iphone has but dont believe Android has yet, Slingplayer and Pockettunes which I use to listen to Stern.
Are there any plans for those apps to come to Android in the near future?
Also, for anyone who has used both the Droid and Iphone, can the Droid's virtual keyboard compare to the Iphone's?
Lastly, I'm used to use Itunes for all of my music. Is it a pain in the ass to convert all the music files over to play on Androids media player?

I had an iphone for a while. It sucks. The drag and drop capability to play all kinds of media made me just never miss the iPhone.

Regarding Slingbox... I don't know if it is a MUST have, lol, perhaps it is for some. I'm sure SP is going to be there. PocketTunes is a great app. Media playing is weak on the droid but there are plenty of decent internet radio players, streamers, etc.

The Droid's virtual keyboard is not comparable to the iPHone's IMHO, but then again, I can't really use any virtual keyboard. I like the fact it doesn't just correct words so automatically and it does learn pretty well and you can add words. I was incredibly impressed. Having the hardware keyboard, which you get used to, is worth 10 times over not having one and relying on the iPHone. Everyone knows who types using an iphone, unfortunately...

 

[Martin030908]

If you want your phone to be personalized for you, get the Droid... If you're ok with having a heavily regulated experience, keep the iPhone.

 

[gatorbait]

However, there are several apps that I need which the iphone has but dont believe Android has yet, Slingplayer and Pockettunes which I use to listen to Stern.
Are there any plans for those apps to come to Android in the near future?
Also, for anyone who has used both the Droid and Iphone, can the Droid's virtual keyboard compare to the Iphone's?
Lastly, I'm used to use Itunes for all of my music. Is it a pain in the ass to convert all the music files over to play on Androids media player?

I'll try to address each of your points instead of just blurting out "OMG Android > iPhone!!!" without any concern for your preferences like so many other posters do.

I believe you can listen to Stern on DroidLive. As for Slingplayer and Pockettunes specifically, you may want to look at their websites or email the developers directly to see if an Android app is in development.

The iPhone's virtual keyboard is definitely better than the Droid's, but since you said you type one-handed, I would look into Swype. I mainly text one-handed in portrait view too, and I could never go back to a regular keyboard after using Swype. It really is the definitive way to type one-handed.

You don't need to convert any of your music files. The Droid will play all the usual music file types. You won't be able to use the iTunes interface for transferring your music though. You can use DoubleTwist which basically mimics iTunes transferring for the Droid, or you can just drag-and-drop your music files straight to the Droid as if it were a USB drive.

If I were you, I'd take advantage of the 30-day return policy that is available with the Droid. Try one out and see if you like it. It is definitely a different experience compared to an iPhone. Better in some ways, worse in others, and you really can't appreciate those differences by just casually browsing around the Android OS in a store or on a friend's phone.

Overall, I think Android is an awesome OS with a lot of promise, but honestly, it does still feel very much like it is in beta in a lot of respects.

 

[zenman77]

Also, as far as Stern goes, he can be found on droid live.......