Want to switch to the iPhone, but need to verify some things first...

[Matth3w]

I have Verizon (and yes I know there is a Verizon section but I figured I need to talk to people who have it already and it's not really a network related question anyhow)...have the Droid X, but sick of it freezing, crashing, having to restart, etc. Thinking about buying the iPhone at full price in February and selling my DX. But there are some things that I love on my Droid that I need to make sure are at least similar on the iPhone.

1. Google Navigation...is this possible? Currently I put my DX into a car holder and it IS my GPS. Is there some sort of landscape mount for the iPhone to do this exact thing?

2. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but the iPhone comes with absolutely no voice recognition for text messaging etc, right?

3. Can we safely assume that the iPhone with CDMA will come out of the box WITHOUT any of the antenna issues?

4. Can the iPhone sync all of my Google contacts through iTunes? How about my Google Calendar?

5. Will my GMail be threaded emails like on the Droid/web app, or will they be separate?

6. Is there a way to crank up the vibrate intensity either by jailbreaking or otherwise? I remember having the first iPhone when it first came out and the vibrate function was absolutely terrible. I missed calls and texts constantly.

That's all I can think about for now...

 

[big.daddy]

I may be able to help you with a few of your question since I too have previously had the DX.

Unfortunately, there is no Google turn by turn directions but there are other apps that will achieve the same results, some are free and some are not..MapQuest 4 Mobile offers free turn by turn directions.

I have not found any voice to text apps that work like Google's voice commands

I have an ATT iPhone that does NOT have the antenna issue so I think it would be safe to assume that the vzw iPhone will not have an issue.

The iPhone (itunes) will allow you to import your contacts from Google's GMail and also will use the GMail calendar.

As far as I know, there is no way to turn up the intensity of the vibration. The phone cannot be jailbroken (untethered) as of yet either. I can say that the vibration on the iPhone 4 is no worse than the DX (maybe a little better due to the heft of the device).

Hope this points you in the right direction

 

[Matth3w]

Thanks for the response. All great help. How was the transition from 4.3 to smaller screen?

 

[big.daddy]

it really wasn't a deal breaker for me. The bigger screen is nice but it wasn't too big of a difference for me to miss.

 

[craigfoot]

2. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but the iPhone comes with absolutely no voice recognition for text messaging etc, right?

It doesn't come with it but Dragon Dictate is free from the app store. I find it works pretty well. It ties in with email, sms, facebook and twitter.

 

[big.daddy]

2. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but the iPhone comes with absolutely no voice recognition for text messaging etc, right?

It doesn't come with it but Dragon Dictate is free from the app store. I find it works pretty well. It ties in with email, sms, facebook and twitter.

this is good to know, I will give it a try myself. Thanks!

 

[craigfoot]

2. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but the iPhone comes with absolutely no voice recognition for text messaging etc, right?

It doesn't come with it but Dragon Dictate is free from the app store. I find it works pretty well. It ties in with email, sms, facebook and twitter.

this is good to know, I will give it a try myself. Thanks!

i love it. especially when driving. it is pretty accurate as well. it is fairly quick too. hope it is good for you.

 

[Matth3w]

It doesn't come with it but Dragon Dictate is free from the app store. I find it works pretty well. It ties in with email, sms, facebook and twitter.

I downloaded that for my dad, I thought it was garbage. It may dictate well, but integrating with apps is worthless to me. Basically I use it for responding to a text or something while driving so I don't get into an accident. Using one of those third party programs has so many extra steps involved (for example, you have to click stop instead of like with the Android devices that stop when your speech stops) it doesn't make it any safer while driving. You're clicking the text to read it, then clicking out to the dragon app, then you're starting the speech, then stopping it, then picking what program you want to import it to, then picking a recipient, etc. Too much clicking. I could have just typed the text by that point.

it really wasn't a deal breaker for me. The bigger screen is nice but it wasn't too big of a difference for me to miss.

How about the emails through your GMail account? How well do they work? Threaded emails? Does the GMail push work or do you have to set it to check every 10 minutes etc?

 

[big.daddy]

Yes, you will have to set up check intervals for your email to fetch data. There is no push.

 

[Matth3w]

That's probably going to be a huge disappointment. How is the battery life on the phone? Enough for me to have it check every ten minutes?

 

[big.daddy]

The battery is very good compared to my Droid incredible and Droid x. I'm not exactly sure how this will translate to vzw because CDMA usually consumes more power than GSM. On a heavy use day I can get by till the end of the night (off charger at 7:30 till about 9) before I get a low battery warning. Normal days will go still have 30 or 40 percent before bed. I guess it all depends on your use.

 

[DDustiNN]

Yes, you will have to set up check intervals for your email to fetch data. There is no push.

My iPad has push for my Gmail, so why wouldn't the iPhone? Same OS...

I set it up as an Exchange account, by the way. So it syncs with my calendar, contacts, mail...

 

[big.daddy]

That's the way it has to be done on iOS. Google and apple don't like each other.

 

[George Knighton]

Yes, you will have to set up check intervals for your email to fetch data. There is no push.

My iPad has push for my Gmail, so why wouldn't the iPhone? Same OS...

I set it up as an Exchange account, by the way. So it syncs with my calendar, contacts, mail...

You're absolutely correct. Google provide its users with the settings for a free Exchange server, and the iPhone user just has to set up his account as an MS Exchange account instead of a Google Mail account.

It works perfectly.

It does not work as perfectly as Apple's own proprietary MobileMe accounts, but Google works great provided you set it up as an MS Exchange account.

Even US Government Exchange accounts do not work as well as Apple's MobileMe accounts. The problem is that MobileMe is proprietary. It's not the same as an Exchange server, and it only works perfectly with automatic pushing of contacts, calendars, mail and remote disk information if you are using it on another Apple device.

So...if you feel like paying extra for a great service, I'd recommend MobileMe 100%. It retails for $99.00/year but it's easy to buy it for less than half of that if you look for it on eBay and Amazon.

If you do not feel like paying extra for a service that pushes, and if you do not need remote disk synchronisation on your iPhone, then the free Google MS Exchange server works just great.

 

[George Knighton]

That's the way it has to be done on iOS. Google and apple don't like each other.

Although you are correct that Apple and Google are in competition with each other in several venue, this has nothing to do with how Google Mail works on the iPhone.

Google Mail is only going to operate with complete synchronisation and push if you set up the MS Exchange server. It might work natively on a recent Android device, or through extra steps on a Nokia Symbian, Maemo, Meego, SELinux, Windows Mobile, or any other device that will support Exchange.

A device has to support Exchange to push anything, whether or not it's Android.