Advantages of Android over iPhone4

main source: Smartphone Essentials, issue 103 & other sources (see links)

On June 24th 2010 iPhone4 went on sale. What are the advantages of Android over iPhone 4?

"It is Google's Android OS (not that of Nokia, Blackberry or Palm) that is shaping up to be iPhone's biggest rival when it comes to setting the agenda in smartphones"  Smartphone Essentials, issue 103.

Screen Resolution

http://theiphonefever.blogspot.com/2010/05/iphone-4g-screen-multimedia-flop.html

Since 2004 the French company Archos have developed portable multimedia players. Now on their 6th Generation, Archos 5 Internet Tablet player has 800 x 480 pixels screen (~16:10 ratio) in a 4.8'' diagonal (L x H: 4.07" x 2.54") TFT LCD. This display has (by my calculations) ~192 pixels per inch (ppi).

The Acer Liquid (3.5" diagonal screen) and Stream (3.7" diagonal) smartphones have WVGA (wide VGA) screens at 800 x 480 pixels. They have the same ~16:10 ratio as Archos 5 but because the screens are smaller they pack in more pixels. The Acer Liquid has 266 ppi in the L x H 3" x 1.8" screen whilst the Acer Stream has 252 ppi (3.17" x 1.9" screen).

The iPhone 3 screen has a 480 x 320 pixels (3:2 ratio) in a 3.5" diagonal (L x H: 2.913"x1.942") display which has 165 ppi.

The iPhone4 screen has 960 x 460 pixels (~17:8 ratio by my calcs) in a 3.5" diagonal (L x H: ~3"x1.4" by my calcs) display which has 326 ppi (Apple's spec)

So the iPhone4 (326 ppi) has double the pixels per inch of iPhone3 (165ppi), 70% more than the Archos 5 display, 29% more than Acer Stream and 22% more than Acer Liquid.

In excess of the 'Retina Display' 300ppi, the retina ceases to make out individual pixels on the screen, claims Apple. Samsung says (Smartphone Essentials issue 103) that the increase from 250ppi to 300+ppi gives a 3 to 5% improvement in readability but at the cost of a 30% greater power consumption. The picture (from Apple's website) shown above, comparing iPhone3 v iPhone4 screen suggests that it would have been nigh-on impossible to read text on the iPhone3. But how many iPhone3 or Archos 5 users have said screen resolution was a problem?

Is iPhone4 stuffed with unnecessary pixels (hence reducing battery power without a noticeable benefit to readability or has Apple stolen a march over Archos 5 and the Acer Smartphones?

Update 7th August 2010: The Register 'Bryan Jones a retinal neuroscientist says that Apple's claim that the "Retina display's pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels" is true.

Processor
The iPhone4 has a faster Apple A4 processor (the one used in the iPad) but Apple don't say in their technical specs page whether it will actually run at 1 Gigahertz (1Gz) as on the iPad. Which probably means that it doesn't.

Camera
The iPhone4 camera has been upgraded from iPhone3 three megapixels (MP) to 5 megapixels which will allow good quality A4 prints (at 300ppi) rather than just A5 prints from a 3MP camera. That is an improvement but many Android Smartphones already have a 5MP camera eg Acer Stream. The iPhone has a x5 digital (not optical zoom as in SLR cameras). Used at maximum zoom this will give pictures that cannot be printed to A5 size due to noticeable pixelation. The built in LED flash is useful under certain lighting conditions - but I prefer using natural lighting whenever possible. The iPhone4 has a VGA quality front camera (800 x 600 pixels) or 0.5 megapixels adequate only to print 3"x2" passport size quality (at 300ppi) prints.

HD Video Recording

The iPhone4 now supports HD video recording which means 1,280 × 720 pixels (720p) up to 30 frames per second (fps) with audio. This compares with SD (Standard Definition) 704 pixels × 480 (480p) which is the usual 16:9 aspect ratio of SD television in the UK. The iPhone3 had VGA video recording.

External Antennae issues
The iPhone 4 has a steel casing which doubles up as an external antennae with cellular on one half of the phone and WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS on the other. Unfortunately complaints about the iPhone 4's reception surfaced within hours of its debut, as buyers complained that touching the external antenna -- embedded in a steel band that encircles the case - often resulted in dropped calls or caused the signal strength indicator to plummet. Apple acknowledged that holding the iPhone 4 a certain way could weaken the signal, but told consumers to hold their phones differently or buy a case. Later Apple offered iPhone4 customes a free bumper case. The public relations black eye caused by the reception problems was compared, by a Microsoft executive, to the launch of Windows Vista (says Smartphone Essentials, issue 103).

'The iPhone hardware is still among the best, but the software still lags behind' Smartphone Essentials, issue 103.

More about the hardware features iPhone4 doesn't have at iphonefever.

More about the software soon in my next blog....