A Droid v. iPhone Throwdown
There’s no denying the competition in smartphones is hot. With new phones, operating systems and a slew of task-specific apps, it’s hard not to be tempted—and confused.
So the ABA Journal asked two tech-savvy lawyers, Finis R. Price III and Ryan C. McKeen, to state the case for two of the hottest brands: Price extols the virtues of Apple’s iPhone and McKeen talks up the Droid, one of the phones using Google’s Android OS. Neither is forgetting about the legal practice leader, RIM’s ubiquitous BlackBerry. But their goal is to convince a jury of their peers that their choice of smartphone is the best of the bunch.
OPENING STATEMENTS
McKeen: The Droid is a you phone. The Android platform is a you platform. If you don’t like your phone’s background, that’s easy to change. If you don’t like the browser it comes with, you can find one you do like.
I focus on the Motorola Droid, but the Android platform is where it’s at for attorneys. If a Sprint plan works for you or your firm, there’s the HTC Hero. Don’t like a physical keyboard and want to stay with T-Mobile? There’s Goo gle’s Nexus One. Like the iPhone but want a physical keyboard and Verizon works for you? There’s the Droid. Android is about you. It’s about your practice. It’s about running multiple apps at the same time. It’s about freedom from limitation.
For some reason, my “CrackBerry” friends love their keyboards. I don’t get it. I’m total? ly cool with typing on a screen. If you’re a BlackBerry user and like some of the features of the iPhone, then the Droid is right up your alley. It’s sort of like an iPhone because it has a touch screen, in addition to its slide-out keyboard.
The Droid does everything the iPhone can do and more.
Price: Here’s the iPhone: You can use all of its features while you’re on the phone. Here’s the Droid: You can use the phone, but you must end your call if you would like to use one of those cool browsers it has. Does the Droid do everything the iPhone can do and more? There are more than 70,000 apps the iPhone has that the Droid doesn’t. That amounts to 70,000 more ways you can use your iPhone.
And there is a reason every new smartphone on the market looks and feels like the iPhone, including Nexus One and the Droid—they all aspire to be the best.
Allow me to introduce the iPhone, Time magazine’s 2007 invention and gadget of the year, and the best smartphone on the market for lawyers.
Continue reading “Droid v. iPhone” online in the April ABA Journal.
