iPhone or Android? That is the question. It’s pretty easy to answer in my opinion. I’ve had an AT&T iPhone since they came out and earlier this year I got a Verizon HTC Thunderbolt (4G). The iPhone wins this comparison hands down. Even the AT&T network seems improved, which was a major complaint I used to have for it. Here’s a photo of each phone displaying the AgWired App (iPhone on right). Maybe when the Motorola Droid Bionic comes out I will change my mind.

So why do I think the iPhone is better? I think it’s much more user friendly. The camera is better. The size if perfect for my hand. The battery lasts much, much longer. There are more and better apps than you will find for Android. But one of the best things I’ve found is that when I tether my computer or iPad to it the connection seems to be rock solid and it’s not on my Thunderbolt. Maybe that’s a problem still with the Thunderbolt but I can’t use it tethered to my computer for more than about 15 minutes before it no longer provides an internet connection. Even when it is providing one it seems to blip in and out. For example, when I’m uploading photos using Flickr tethered to the Thunderbolt I will often get an error in mid upload. That never happens on the iPhone. I love the speed of 4G on the Thunderbolt when I can find it. However, I’ve had several instances of having a good 4G signal and all of the sudden it disappears and I’ve only got 3G. At that point I might as well be using my iPhone.

Apps seem to crash more on the Android. I use the Weather Channel app a lot. On the Android it will not show me maps. It just crashes with an error report. I’ve uninstalled it and started over with the same problem.

The Thunderbolt eats battery. Even if I don’t use it for a day it will be out of battery and that’s with all services like bluetooth, wifi, etc, turned off. It has to be charged constantly. And you can’t use it tethered with 4G unless it’s plugged in. I can sometimes go two days without charging the iPhone depending on use and I’d call myself a power user.

I like to text on my iPhone with one hand. The Thunderbolt is just too big for that. I’m sure there are other Android phones out there that would be slimmer. I just doubt they’d perform any better than the Thunderbolt when it comes to user friendliness. I like being able to put my apps into folder and not have a lot of screen space to scroll through to find what I want.

I thought this would be a good pre-AgChat Agvocacy 2.0 post since I’ll be on a panel talking about using mobile technology to enhance productivity. When it comes to using apps on these phones the ones I use most are for email, Twitter, weather, camera, music, texting, contacts, calendar and oh yeah, the phone. I also do quite a few of my on location interviews with the iPhone too. I’ve also started doing most of my video clips with the iPhone. Then I can just upload them straight to YouTube when I’ve got a good wifi connection. As a road warrior the iPhone seems to help make me more productive than the Thunderbolt. I hope this helps. Let me know if you’ve got questions.