Buying Decisions: Iphone Vs Pandora


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toxtrepla

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Hello to everyone. I'm hoping a few of you can give me your opinions.

Here is my current situation:

Over the course of the last year or so, I have been anxiously watching both the Pandora (obviously, I'm in the forums!) and the increasing amount of apps for the iphone.

Currently, I have Verizon, and my contract is up October 17th. I plan on EITHER buying the iphone 16gig OR pre-ordering the Pandora. And really, who knows, when it's all said and done, I may end up with both EVENTUALLY. :rolleyes:

I am well aware of the technical specifications of BOTH, and price is not so much an issue. For me, its the fact that Pandora has much better gaming controls and expandability VS ONE device that comes close, but due to the fact that it is my primary phone, will be with me 24/7. They both have their pros and cons.

What would you do?

Thanks in advance for your insights and opinions.
-Scott
 
I don't see the conundrum. If you want a phone, get an iPhone. If you want a handheld gaming computer, get a Pandora. If you want both, get both (you said money is not an issue).

Personally, I like a phone being a phone only, so Pandora is perfect for my "one device".
 
Skip the iPhone. Get a good PHONE that you can also easily tether with. Ding, better phone, better internet, more apps, better apps, and way less restrictions.
 
toxtrepla said:
Here is my current situation:

I am well aware of the technical specifications of BOTH, and price is not so much an issue.

Thanks in advance for your insights and opinions.
-Scott
Click to expand...
Hey rich guy, here's some insight. If money isn't a problem, why ask which one to have? Buy both and mail the one you don't like to someone on this board.
 
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As background: I have an iPhone, and intend to buy a Pandora. I have had several Palm devices, but my other phones have mostly been candy bar phones. The iPhone has an intuitive interface and a decent contact manager. The calendar app in 1.x of the OS was crap, but it has been improved in the latest version. There are still odd restrictions though, for instance not being able to make a new calendar group or contact group, except by syncing with a desktop computer that has those new groups. The only way to tether to the iPhone is by hacking it, and tethering the iPhone breaks your terms of service. It has bluetooth, but this only functions with headsets. You can not send nor receive photo messages, only text messages.

That said, I do like my iPhone, but there is a definite feel of being at the whim of Apple. The camera does reasonably well, for being in a phone, as long as your hand is steady in low light. It backs up and restores well (on a Mac, haven't tried under Windows).

I think if you want a very small powerful gaming computer, buy a Pandora. If you want a phone that looks pretty and has very good video and music controls, that happens to have games on it, get an iPhone. The iPhone makes an okay replacement for a PDA (though their rules for software are stifling), but it is not the holy grail of all things gadgety.

You could also wait for more information about Android phones. I have a few friends who have been anxiously awaiting news all day. I think the first phone is called the G1? I haven't been paying attention to that arena.
 
i'm thinking the same thing but i really wouldn't even consider an iphone i'm thinking about an htc hd (if they let you put android on it) and i'm probably going to get the phone first and the pandora later because i don't enough for both (one of the downsides of being a minor :))
 
It has been my "NON-EXPERT" opinion that Macintosh products have significantly declined in quality and craftsmanship over the past 10 years while significantly increasing in price and "chic" popularity. Kudos to the marketing strategy of Mac and the ridiculously overpriced and under performing products they offer. After all, the goal of a business is to turn the maximum profit possible. However, after using the iPhone I experienced nothing but disappointment. It was very difficult to type a message. The available software is nearly 99% proprietary, the iPhone (AT&T) would not maintain connection where my Verizon & Nextel counterparts were enjoying full bars, and it felt like more like a crackerjack prize than it did the rather expensive mobile device that I had come to expect. I loved my iPod but it was very quickly replaced with my Dell Jukebox when I realized I was stuck with iTunes (HORRIBLE resource hog), a screen that was insufficient for my desires, and a hard drive that had to be replaced 3 times when I babied the device I tried to enjoy. The iPhone was quickly replaced with an XV6700 (eventually replaced with an XV6800 after a while) when I realized how much more reliable and useable the Windows Mobile devices were. I realize that I have gone off on a rant here but I feel that I have wasted too much money on Macintosh products over the past few recent years. I realize others might have had a better experience with Macintosh products and my hats off to them. Mac used to be my product of preference. But I personally feel you may be better off investing your hard earned money in a product that was developed BY the consumer and FOR the consumer like the Pandora. Just my 2 cents. Take it for what its worth. Good luck on your decision.
 
Skip the iPhone! GP2X, Wiz, & hands down Pandora handle emulation way better than any attempts on the iPhone. Yeah new iPhone has GPS & 3G, big deal. Get a good phone from one of the company's not giving your information to the Feds and get a Pandora and a 16 gb SdHc card or two, sit back, enjoy the ride!

Peace

Link

Ps. 16gb hacked iPhone 1.1.4 for sale Dec 1st!
 
Wow, thank you everyone for your feedback! It is much appreciated.

As far as the money thing not being an issue, I should have clarified that i had 400 to spend either way (to rule out the 200 dollar iphone vs 330 Pandora argument. Would have made up the iphone price difference with accessories).

I think I will go with the advice given here and preorder my Pandora come Sept 30th. I have a Moto Q now so tethering wont be an issue for the time being, but eventually I will look into a more solid phone (Android?).

Thanks again, and good luck to everybody with their Pandoras!
-Scott
 
Well, now this is a pleasant break; a newcomer posts a respectful "what should I buy" question outlining his concerns in detail, gets a bunch of respectful and informative answers (rather than anger), and Chip doesn't have to come in and close the thread.

Good work all around.

I can't really contribute to this thread because, like half of Canada's population, I don't own a cell phone (service is quite expensive here because of lack of competition and big distances).
 
toxtrepla said:
I think I will go with the advice given here and preorder my Pandora come Sept 30th. I have a Moto Q now so tethering wont be an issue for the time being, but eventually I will look into a more solid phone (Android?).
Click to expand...
Just make sure you consider the bias here. It's not necessarily a bad thing and I hope you knew when you asked that next to nobody was going to be saying "get the iPhone" as there is quite a fervor about the Pandora here these days.

It's not an apples-to-apples comparison, which is what makes it tough. They both cost money, that's probably where the similarities end. I know that if I was looking for PDA functionality, in 2008, I would not want to carry a separate device. Some people would rather have phone + PDA, but consider again that the Pandora is designed around gaming. It's thicker than a PDA, requires two hands, and my guess is most of the software development energy will be going toward games. Having a keyboard does change things, and I'm sure we'll see more general apps & productivity stuff than on the GP2X. But still, consider it to be a gaming device.

I don't completely agree that Apple's product quality has gone down, if only because releasing flaky stuff is not really new for them. Like everyone else, sometimes they hit it out of the park, sometimes they screw up. I'm typing this on an MBP with a burnt-out pixel and one of the USB ports that needs to be jiggled to work. Not a huge deal, but going with a PC laptop would not guarantee me a laptop without those problems. So I guess my point is there's really no difference, just the Reality Distortion Field. It's high tech, and an unfortunate percentage of it fails right the heck after you buy it, or has stupid design oversights. Not maxing excuses, just saying, it's not new for Apple or anyone else. Until 2001, Apple didn't have an OS on the market with protected memory.

I know you said you made up your mind, so I'm mostly rambling here. But what I would do, honestly (I plan to do this myself anyway) is wait a little. Yeah, it's tough, and everybody here is in a mad rush to preorder. But 3000 units is a lot and I'm guessing there will be plenty of units left after the first preorders go out for you to get your fill of reviews and such. Then you can place a regular order, with full confidence. TBH, I never really got the concept of preorders (from a consumer standpoint). But let's say I'm wrong and they all sell out right away, the worst that happens is you have to wait a little while, and you have money in your pocket in case there's some emergency or something.
 
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I'm in a similar dilemma, except I don't really have a lot of money right now so it's a bit easier. The iPhone is useless without a jailkbreak and the pandora is too much gaming-oriented for my needs. I'll be waiting for the HTC Dream or whatever android phone comes out first.
 
this is real easy

do you absolutely need a phone that is your UMPC as well: iPhone
otherwise: pandora
 
More logic would be Openmoko vs Pandora. The development model of Openmoko is more open than Pandoras'. They already have a lot of devs on board and even Debian works on it. Great attitude towards the buyers, open discussions about the roadmap. Sometimes things take more time than they hoped and the phone has issues, but they are always straight forward and open about it. I think that is even more important than the hardware itself.

The development model of the iphone is closed as hell and couldn't be more different.
 
Kinda-UMPC + Phone + Portable Media Player= iPhone
Open UMPC + Mobile Internet Device + Portable Media Player = Pandora.
 
I was in a similar situation, I have always planned on getting a pandora, but in case I don't get one on the 30th I have a list of alternatives, Ipodtouch + icontrolpad,,Wiz,,or maybe a gp2x..We shall see!
 
I guess one way round it would just to get some sort of modem (is there such a thing?) to turn the pandora (or a PC) into a mobile phone. Though how well it would work is another question.

I looked at the openmoko, but I can think of 2 problems. Number one what happens to your existing service, i.e. can I use my old service (e.g. orange, t mobile ,etc ) on my nice new openmoko phone. If you can't how does it work? And number two, the openmoko appears "land locked" so if you buy one in europe it won't work in the USA which kinda kills portability if (say) you went on holiday there!

On the pandora I'm definately going to get one. It's still the closest thing to what I'd like, i.e. linux os, no windows, not banged out by some huge corporation, open development of hardware & software, far more portable than a laptop, decent battery life, etc.

As for the iphone, I'd avoid it like the plague!

ljones
 
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