Tablet and smart phone discussion thread

[Prdator]

Or... wait for iPhone5?

Rumored to have a physical keyboard and better antenna. I could ditch my AT&T iPhone4 for a Verizon iPhone5.

I so hope this works out!!! I like my Iphone as long as im not trying to use the phone part...

[TCinVA]

OK, sounds like I'm sold on Android. A few more questions:

• Push email: with the iPhone, I need to jump through six kinds of hoops to get it to "push" my personal email on my own domain. Everything literally has to pass through MobileMe on the way in, and Google on the way out. Does Android do better? I really miss Blackberry's email compatibility.

I get emails pushed from MS Exchange, from Gmail, and from a throwaway Yahoo account I send spam to. The default mail tools work well, and there are aftermarket mail programs that can expand and let you further tweak functionality. I have my phone set to notify me whenever I get a mail from one of my Gmail accounts. NitroDesk is set to retreive mail without notifying me.

You shouldn't have to jump through as many hoops to make mail work the way you want it to on Android.

• syncing: Will I now be forced to use Google for my calendar, etc.? The one great thing about the iPhone is that my contacts and calendar auto-update whether I make changes in my phone, my iPad, or on my computer.

There are a number of pages out there with instructions on syncing your iPad through Google's tools...but I've never done it myself. Enough people pull it off that it shouldn't be all that bad.

[NGCSUGrad09]

Not to be the paranoid guy or anything, but as an iPhone user this has me concerned...

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/1374...ata-on-you.htm

What do you guys say about the tracking done by Apple? I know we sign agreements to it, etc, etc. However, I don't know how cool I am with the fact that they believe they must have a directory of everywhere I have been. Reading about it has had me considering switching away now that my contract is about up.

[LittleLebowski]

I find it very disturbing that law enforcement has known about this for so long.

[ToddG]

Rumors of a physical keyboard in the iPhone5 seem to be dying away.

It looks like a Droid 2 is in my immediate future unless one of you guys tells me, "Wait, there is the even better android phone coming out next month..."

[MTechnik]

Rumors of a physical keyboard in the iPhone5 seem to be dying away.

It looks like a Droid 2 is in my immediate future unless one of you guys tells me, "Wait, there is the even better android phone coming out next month..."

If it matters to you, make sure Verizon leaves in Tethering, or check the custom rom options for enabling it...

[LittleLebowski]

If Todd gets a Droid, we'll make sure he gets tethering, rooted, etc...

[NickA]

It looks like a Droid 2 is in my immediate future unless one of you guys tells me, "Wait, there is the even better android phone coming out next month..."

There's ALWAYS a better Android coming out next month, something you don't have to consider as often with the iphone. That said, the Droid or any of the HTC offerings should serve you just fine.

[jslaker]

There's ALWAYS a better Android coming out next month

This.

I tend to be partial to HTC phones since they tend to be the most hack-friendly. But I also like to tinker, so that's not for everybody. The Droids are nice and Samsung's phones are incredibly popular (though I don't care for the AMOLED screens, personally). Lots of good options either way.

[ToddG]

OK, I should have asked a more specific question.

Is anyone aware of an upcoming android phone with physical keyboard worthy of serious consideration to rival the Droid 2?