smart phones

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Riograndeelectric

Senior Member
I am looking into buying my first smart phone. I have been to the Verizon store to look over the different smart phones and get a idea on how they work.I believe it would take me a while to learn how to use the smart phone.

the Question: there is the I phone and the Droid both very similar but both are the same price. wondering if the members would chime in on what phone they use and which is better the Iphone or the Droid.


thank you all for your continued support
Cameron
 

buzzbar

Senior Member
Location
Olympia, WA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I have used the iPhone since it's inception four years ago, and have been very pleased. The number of apps available for the iPhone dwarf the amount (at least right now) for a droid phone.
I also really like Apple's customer service. I recently dropped my phone and cracked the screen. I took it into the Apple store expecting to pay the $200 replacement cost (since it was out of warranty), but they replaced it for free! :)

Good luck!
 

TxShocker

Member
Location
Texas
Ok I am an old timer and never have used a smart phone. What do you use it for beside making calls? What kind of apps can you put on one that helps you in work?Someone enlighten me on what is so important about these so called smart phones?
 

satcom

Senior Member
The reason they call it the smart phone is because they were smart enough to figured how get $60 or more dollars a month from people for a product and service that costs them 1/10 of that to provide, buy the stock in the company and not the phone and you may not be in the tech Mob but you will be in the money.
 

nhfire77

Senior Member
Location
NH
The reason they call it the smart phone is because they were smart enough to figured how get $60 or more dollars a month from people for a product and service that costs them 1/10 of that to provide, buy the stock in the company and not the phone and you may not be in the tech Mob but you will be in the money.



Why use a smart phone (besides posting here as I am right now)?

It makes you more efficient if you do not have office staff. A very well paying client of mine expects answers to emails fast, and they properly compensate me to do so.

Conduit fill calculators, voltage drop, etc all at your finger tip.


Spec sheets available to you instantly.

Online pricing, availalibilty and ordering with suppliers.

For alarms: I can control central stations accounts, watch live signals when testing.

Oh, and it makes me money. I was at the eye doctor, he asked me how business was. I showed him Internet access to a DVR at anothe medical client of mine. He demanded that I install systems in all 6 of his locations, immediately. It's like a $15000 job, just because I could show him you can see all your sites within seconds.
 

raider1

Senior Member
Staff member
Location
Logan, Utah
I agree with nhfire77.

My local supply houses are now set up to take orders via smart phones, I can also check old invoices do price checks etc..

You also have access to E-mail and other internet sites.

Chris
 

TxShocker

Member
Location
Texas
I am guessing all these apps (Conduit fill calculators, voltage drop,Online pricing, availalibilty and ordering with suppliers etc) have a cost for the download? How do you know where to find these apps?
 

nhfire77

Senior Member
Location
NH
I am guessing all these apps (Conduit fill calculators, voltage drop,Online pricing, availalibilty and ordering with suppliers etc) have a cost for the download? How do you know where to find these apps?

$1-5 most less than $2.

When you get the phone there will be a button directly to the store. You can then charge it to your account.

It's easy and there are only a few you will buy. A lot of apps are free.

Online pricing is just using a website, no app.
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
I am looking into buying my first smart phone. I have been to the Verizon store to look over the different smart phones and get a idea on how they work.I believe it would take me a while to learn how to use the smart phone.

the Question: there is the I phone and the Droid both very similar but both are the same price. wondering if the members would chime in on what phone they use and which is better the Iphone or the Droid.


thank you all for your continued support
Cameron

One of my offices uses Droids, the other iphones. Both office love thier phones. I prefer the EVO 4G, the biggest difference I have noticed between the 2 is coverage area, lots of drops on AT&T. You will find this article useful.

http://www.iphone-droid.com/iphone-4-vs-htc-evo-4g.aspx
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
you can also add photo and video to the list.
You are never without a device to photo or video.
I have used my phone to video inside a wall, tight area of a drop ceiling and such spaces to see where I can fish or ....

Don't really know how to do without. I think the Iphone is better as there are more choices for apps.

The droid is a nice product. I would stay away from a windows type.
 

~Shado~

Senior Member
Location
Aurora, Colorado
I think it is a matter of preference....I am not an Apple man by no means (again personal preference, like Ford, Chevy, etc).

I have been slowly moving everything over from MS to Google (cloud)....so I have a Moto Droid2 (on Verizon since better coverage here in Denver), really enjoy it, even got one for my wife. Nice to be able to just add an event and it automatically syncs to my Calendar for later reference on my laptop, and vice versa.
I have several calendars that need to be on my phone and my wifes (her business schedule, our personal appts, kids school activities, etc)....so all these are shared and synced through the cloud and the laptop.....makes things very nice and handy.:cool:

Apple does have more apps, but that is simply because the iPhone has been around longer, yep, you create something, jump in the market...lock it down for a few years from others (think iTunes)....and you do get some dominance, but once open to others, competetion will bust to catch up.
Android has been exploding in the market quickly....and some recent poles have shown that it is poised to overtake Apple...yep, because there are many more smartphones on the market utilising Android as opposed to Apple software.

I have only paid for one app so far...and it was maybe $1.50...cant remember, but it just cleans up the screen and links some apps i prefer...the rest have all been free.

In short....I vote Android..:grin:...but YMMV:cool:
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
I have both an iPhone 3G (wife has iPhone4) and a Droid X. With the Droid you get more customization which can be a bad thing if you're buying your first smart phone because the open source nature of the OS can get complicated. The iPhone puts you directly in the Apple universe which means you get what Apple gives you. In the world of smart phones this means simplification. As far as applications go everyday Android is getting closer, in fact it won't be long when number of Android apps surpass those of Apple.

Two of the great things about the iPhone4 is the camera and the retina display, IMO both being the best of any smart phone. But the Android phones with the 4.3" screens give you much more real estate in terms of viewable area. Another nice thing about the new Android phones is that they'll be 4G compatible which is the next big standard in wireless connectivity.

Personally I love the Droid X. It's more user customizable, the apps are great and the larger screen is great too, but for a first time smart phone user I would go with the iPhone4 because of it's great display, camera and user friendly interface.
 

George Stolz

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
Occupation
Service Manager
wondering if the members would chime in on what phone they use and which is better the Iphone or the Droid.

I use an iPhone and love it. The biggest thing is easy access to your email from anywhere, most of the internet is visible (looking up spec sheets that weren't provided, etc), watching radar to see if we're about to get pummeled, the list is endless. :)

Here is how I have mine set up:

2be606d2.jpg


This is the screen I see when I unlock my screen. If I want to jot down a note, it's right there, and instantly gets sent to my laptop.

65ea7c71.jpg


I have all my work-related apps stored in one folder, so they're easy to get to.
 

unytko

Member
Location
NYC
Iphone

Iphone

Reason I stick to Mac is simplicity - since I switched from PC (about 6 years ) I don't know what a anti virus is. Cause you don't need one. I believe same goes for smart phones. It is just matter of time when windows based SP will need one.
Lastly, if my 3yo dautgter cay use it an 90yo can also - just need someone with lots of patience to walk you through.
 

tkb

Senior Member
Location
MA
I have an iPhone and find it very useful to look up references and to communicate with greater ease than just a cell phone.

I like having a real keyboard instead of just the number pad on a cell phone.

The only reason I went with an iPhone instead of a Droid was the iPod function.
I had an iPod and it was the best way to get all of my music to one device.

Otherwise I think they both are good devices and very comparable.

It would be nice to see the fourm on Tapatalk or Fourmrunner in the future.
It is cumbersome to always zoom in and out using the web browser on the phone.
I think Fourmrunner works better. (same app that ET uses.)
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
I use my phone to make calls and send text messages and that's it, oh and I started using the music player feature recently. I even forget that it has a camera most of the time.

What I get a kick out of is that they worked so hard to make the phones smaller and here they are almost the size of an iPad again.
 

Riograndeelectric

Senior Member
I have an iPhone and find it very useful to look up references and to communicate with greater ease than just a cell phone.

I like having a real keyboard instead of just the number pad on a cell phone.


I thought the Iphone only had a tap type of keyboard and not a real key board from information and demos i have seen .
Am I missing something?

]
 

tkb

Senior Member
Location
MA
I have an iPhone and find it very useful to look up references and to communicate with greater ease than just a cell phone.

I like having a real keyboard instead of just the number pad on a cell phone.


I thought the Iphone only had a tap type of keyboard and not a real key board from information and demos i have seen .
Am I missing something?

]

It is a touch screen keyboard.
It is still a keyboard and not number keys.
 
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