Smartphones

[OakLeaf]

Double Twist is free and it allows you to sync your iTunes library to your Android phone.

Really sync? Like, update the play count correctly, and allow me to add a rating on my phone, that will both transfer back to my iTunes library? I can't see from their website whether it will do that, but none of the other apps I've tried would. AFAIK Apple buries that stuff pretty deep in their proprietary software, as well they should to protect their product.

I can live without the rating and try to remember to remove songs from a playlist manually, later, if I don't like them. But not having the play count updated is a deal breaker. My mobile playlists are based on when a song was last played, so I don't constantly hear the same songs.


/drift

[carlotta]

I can't offer any input on either the iphone 5 or galaxy offerings, but I wanted to throw windows phones into the mix....

I had an android phone for a few years, and had some issues with the software/os updates as the phone got older and the hardware wasn't so happy with the newer software. This might be better now, but it was a bummer. I also never "needed" to customize my phone that much, so that aspect of android wasn't that appealing.

When it was new phone time last spring, I ruled out the iphones right away (too much $$ and didn't want to change carriers) and wasn't thrilled at the prospect of android again (the old phone was REALLY laggy at that point, would miss calls, etc) so I played with a windows phone for a bit. It's fast, integrates fairly well with google (maps are via bing, but the physical maps seem ok and I'd rather look at a map than follow directions, so it works for me), and I'm really happy with it. If you can hold out until November, the windows 8 phones are coming out, but I'm perfectly happy with the current generation (which may also go on sale with the arrival of wp8). You do have to use microsoft's zune software to transfer files, so no itunes, but I have an ipod for music anyway and itunes/zune seem to play fairly well with the same music library, so no big deal.

[OakLeaf]

I should note that DH's iPhone 3GS is noticeably quicker since the iOS 6 update. FWIW, at least some of the new-found speed is the OS and browser. Normally a major firmware update would not be a good thing for a piece of antiquated hardware, but this is another thing Apple seems to have got right.


I should probably also note that I don't like to be shopping for a new phone when the one I have is only 28 months old, but that seems to be the way of technology these days. A phone is inevitably going to get dropped and wet, and you either get an iPhone with a sealed case and you're stuck with the battery and memory it comes with ... or you take the risk with something else. My phone is still working, but there are some dead pixels in the screen, sometimes it just acts weird, the aftermarket battery is getting long in the tooth and would need replacing anyway, and I don't want to wait until the phone dies completely and possibly be stuck without a working phone for however long it would take me to get a new one.

I've never considered a Blackberry - even when they first came out, I was already in my late 30s or early 40s and there was no way I could see that little screen.

I'm pretty much settled on the HTC Incredible 4G. I need 1X coverage since I don't spend all my time in coastal cities (although I should probably find out whether the Motorola Razr M will roam on domestic AT&T GSM networks ... that might still give me coverage where I use 1X now). It's one of the smallest phones out there, and I'm used to the HTC Android skin already. Now I just have to get past my reluctance to replace a device that's barely two years old. At least there are decent, easily accessible phone recycling programs.