Nokia N900 or iPhone 3GS

[scorpiongal]

which one is better?
they say feature wise N900 (minus the application store) is better than iPhone but everyone is crazy about iPhone!
i m confused as to which one should i buy once my exams get over!

[Magnus]

There is no answer to which is "better". The only answer is "it depends". To start with, what are you going to use it for? If you've read my review in Shufflegazine, you know I think N900 is a great device but my view is that it's more of a mobile computer than a smartphone.

[fangpyre]

Feature wise, the iPhone loses to pretty much EVERY phone.
But what it does do, it does so much better than everything out there, that people are willing to drop those shortcomings.

Like Magnus said, know what you want from the phone.
And go test both out, you may find that neither is what you want.

[kynddaze]

@Fang

Do you really think the iPhone falls short of other phones in terms of features? I may agree in terms of feature list, but the overall functionality is quite high, primarily because of the application store.

@Scorpiongal

I love my iphone but I can't convince my wife that it's of any value. She's very happy with her candy-bar Nokia.
But if you're comparing the N900 to the iPhone my guess (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that you're looking for a bit more from a phone than basic calls and SMS. If that's the case, the iPhone offers significantly more flexibility. As you said, the N900 (minus the app store) is better, but the app store is such a large part of the iPhone I don't think you can exclude it.

Ultimately Fang and Magnus are right: the right phone depends on what you want, and you should go and check them both out before deciding. But I know what my vote is!

kynddaze

[fangpyre]

@kynddaze. What I meant that on paper, the iPhone comes off as a very poor phone.
But when you get to use it you realize that the iPhone is more than the sum of its parts.

For example, the iPhone has a 3MP (2MP on the older ones) camera while others start at 5MP.
However, the picture on the iPhone's 3MP is actually better than most other phones.
The iPhone doesn't support many Bluetooth functions.
The list goes on.
I have an iPhone, and can't see myself using any other phone that is on the market today.

When you throw in the App Store, then things really fall in the iPhone's failure.

But can you imagine what would happen if the iPhone truly supported BT and background apps?

[michl]

But can you imagine what would happen if the iPhone truly supported BT and background apps?

That might be for iPhone OS 4.0 next year. Lots of features, rumors, predictions...