Call all HTC Droid owners

Question

This guy the other day I was talking to said that the Iphone is way better and faster then the HTC droid incredible. So I am asking people who own the HTC incredible if it can:
1. Do everything the Iphone can do
2. Run apps better then the Iphone
In 12 months I will be able to get a new phone with Verizon and I was wondering if the Droid phones are any good then I'll stay but if not I may switch. I am happy with Verizon, If I am paying 30 bucks a month for unlimited data then I expect the internet to be really fast.

Answer 1

Let me put it like this.  The iPhone 4G is coming out this month.  I haven't heard what the processor is like but it will be an A4 processor possibly as high as 1Ghz.  Front facing camera for video calls to other iphone 4G users only.  It will be sporting the same 3.5" display it always had but with the highest resolution of any phone currently on the market.  Tiny but high resolution.  The new OS now features its own special version of multitasking, which is nice since you can use data and make calls at the same time over the air (meaning without wifi which you need active to do the same thing on CDMA phones on Verizon).  It sports a 5MP camera.  According to preliminary reviews from people with the first few of these the call quality is much improved both with the software and the antennae placement.  All in all iPhone users will be greatly pleased with this current iteration of their beloved icon. However, Non iPhone fanboys are a little disappointed because all iPhone OS4 really did was catch the technical specs up to Android phones that are currently out.  Sure cutting edge like the EVO but that's only impressive for a month or 2 until it is upstaged.
The Droid Incredible boasts a 1GhZ Qualcom Snapdragon processor.  It's fast like a marsupial (vague Bob and Tom reference for fun because I like the impression of Christopher Walken one of their guests did), Android has always done multitasking so big check mark on that one.  The screen is a 3.7" 800 X 480 which looks outstanding.  The Amoled screen uses less battery than tft and in the Incredible the touch sensors are incredible best on a phone at least up until it came out in late April early May.  Android is far more customizable than iPhone OS unless that has been changed as well (it hasn't).  The Droid incredible does not capture HD movies nor does it have a front facing camera.  The EVO was the first to sport one of those in the Android world (at least in the available on a network Android world the Saygus had it way before but has yet to be released) there will be more coming.  However, the Incredible does have FM radio receiver which is nice to have an 8MP camera.  The incredible does have some weaknesses a few other Android phones do not have one of which is antennae placement does impede signal strength and for some this has proven to be a significant issue for others it hasn't been an issue at all.  It doesn't capture HD movies which is kind of one of those big question marks considering it is basically standard on most phones now however considering the cameras capabilities I imagine that can be boosted with software if I am not mistaken.  Though it may never be.
The difference in platform is a significant topic.  iPhone OS has the advantage of the larger app store.  Currently somewhere around 200,000 apps.  The Android market houses somewhere around 70, 000 neither number is official.   The iPhone store is the only place where you can get apps for your iPhone and it is closely guarded and regulated and periodically apps are removed often for no apparent reason.  The Android market has some kind of regulation but it is considerably looser.  Apps aren't turned down because Google doesn't like them or agree with them there are very few reasons apps would be removed mostly for being malicious.  The Android market isn't the only resource for Android apps either.  There are other app stores out there some solely for phones that have been R'ed (the evil R word which must not be named) and app stores just for special interests or some just because it isn't a violation of anything about Android.  Currently the Android market is growing at a rate of around 15,000 apps a month and that number grows every month it is pheasible that by the end of the year size of market will be a moot point especially with the coming of new features, new more advanced phones, the ability to install apps on sd cards and larger portions of built in memory, JIT support which is being added to Froyo, and Flash support which is already supported by Froyo so all we wait for is the rollout of Froyo.  iPhone developers and Steve Jobs himself has stated under no uncertain terms that Flash WILL NEVER be on the iPhone.  Adobe has approached them with it and have been refused multiple times.  It has caused friction between Adobe and Apple which had never existed before.  Steve Jobs believes HTML5 will be the new standard and will do everything Flash does so there is no need for Flash.  You know except that HTML 5 is still in development and it is still unknown when it will be released and official.  Also missing the point that there is an entire world of Flash content on the web that is currently unavailable but soon to be available to Android, Winmo, and possibly Blackberry users that will never see the light of day on an iPhone.  I don't know about you but for me that is a big deal.  I am a photographer of sorts but more importantly to the topic I have a lot of friends who are photographers many of whom use Flash content heavily on their websites.  I like playing quick games on the web Flash is the bulk of the quick little games available as well as a lot of the heavier games.  Video services such as netflix and Hulu rely on Flash to operate.  Some of Microsofts cloud programs are avaiable on the web in the form of flash content.  The list goes on.  It is arguable that some of those will be tough to use or impossible on a mobile phone ok granted but some things especially the video content would be amazingly fun to have especially if you take a lot of public transport (the electric busses in Chattanooga provide free WiFi as do some busses in other cities). 
I don't think Android will Kill the iPhone but I think that currently they stand on arguably equal footing with slight advantages going either way.  Android stands to have an advantage though from the standpoint of popularity it will never kill the iPhone because iPhone supporters are so dedicated to iWhatever that it will never die completely.  Many of these people started with iPods when they first came out and were tied to them during the heavy DRM days and would hate to lose their collection of DRM'ed material.  Though for much of the content and hopefully eventually the rest of it that will be removed or universalized as well so that iWhatever users will be able to choose what best serves them and Apple will be forced to more effeciently keep up. .
Oh and with 12 months to go before you can upgrade think about this by then you will be choosing between a still GSM version of iPhone 5 catching up to whatever minicomputer is passing as an Android phone, and an LTE Android phone on Verizon.  By then we will be complaining about not getting Android version 3.5 yet and looking at rumors of a multicore processing Android phone with no less than a gig of Ram and a built in solid state harddrive with 120Gigs on it. Possibly with built in projection (already available on some models not as theoretical as it sounds).  We could also pheasibly have an option to get a truely Google phone with data only and make and receive calls using our Google Voice numbers or Google Skype (can't you just see Google eating Skype and offering a better alternative for mobile Skype calling possibly or more to the point probably integrated into Google Voice).  Ah what dreams may come. 
If that sounds like a pipe dream I can honestly say only 3 things in that paragraph seem like they may be a little bit of a stretch.  First iPhone5 coming out (they haven't been on a 12 month schedule before the only reason I say that is that they will have to speed up development to stay competitive because Android moves so dang quickly and is grabbing a lot of the new smartphone users because they are always coming out with something better).  Second solid state harddrives on phones, it isn't completely unreasonable but could add bulk or too much raw material costs to be realistic within a year.  I will just say it could happen but I don't really expect it.  Third Google eating Skype they have bought up other VOIP provider giants and are working on somethings around that but I expect it being longer than a year before that is realistically an option and even then I imagine it being a new service in Beta the way Google Voice has been for so long.  Of the three I think the solid state harddrives are the least far fetched closely followed by iPhone 5.  Apple is going to have to adapt and I think they are about to start seeing that more clearly especially in the next few months when 200,000 apps just isn't something you can rest on to impress people.  Yeah 200,000 apps most of which are games that I can get on Android because they have Flash anyway and besides they have 200,000 apps as well with fewer than a third being games.  Yeah definitely that in a year.  Definitely.