Biting the bullet on a smart phone....any advice? Woodworking/Carpentry apps?

[Victor Robinson]

iPhone.*

Apps:
Units (free) unit conversions
The Woodshop Widget (free or maybe a few bucks, don't remember) - board foot calculator, hardness scale, wood movement calculator, and a few other handy functions.
SPL Meter ($1 or $2) - great for assessing relative noise levels around the shop

[Bob Reda]

Think about this. I went to get one and the person talked me out of an I phone and into a samsung tablet (fits into back pocket) (maybe he saw the little gray hair I have left and that I can't see that well) Says it does everything the Iphone does except the phone part. I love it, best decision I made. Its a bigger screen than the phhone, can get all the apps, do email and messaging, has a camera and video, easy to operate.

Bob

[Homer Faucett]

I've had a Droid X for about 18 months, which replaced an iPhone 3gs before that. Personally, I like the Droid with the Android system much better than the proprietary iPhone operating system that precludes you from using Flash, and makes it much more difficult to setup your e-mail accounts, especially if you use Google systems for business. I've found that most accessories and apps that were available for the iPhone are now available on the Androids.

[Ken Deckelman]

IPhone. Try inchcalc+ a calculator that adds feet, inches and fractions of inches. Also IDWood has a large database of wood pictures-- nice when planning projects.

+1 there, the inchcalc app is well worth it.

[Rick Lizek]

Buy the last version IPhone, cheaper and you can Vlingo, Dragongo and dragon dictation.
Look at the Lifeproof case...more expensive but better than Otter.
Droid or Apple... Neither is perfect.
Lots of good apps...buildcalc better const calc. Measureit, camscanner, and more

[Rob Holcomb]

I have the Droid X2 and love it. Nice big screen and it has a dual core processor. With that being said, any smart phone, whether it be android based or an Iphone will do what you want done. It's more the look and feel of the phone that you will be deciding on. Screen size, ruggedness etc.

[Dave Aronson]

The atrix for the docking station only. That way you can use it as a phone on the road with android apps and then in the docking station in the shop to view pdf files of plans and use the pulse app to read the news forums.

[Dale Coons]

I'm with Bob-- have a Droid, which does everthing, but my eyes 'have aged along with the rest of me' and Bob has done what I intend to do next go--get a plain old cell phone for calls and a tablet for everything else. Having said that, I really like the Droid and would probably stick with something similar if I had younger eyes. Practically speaking, there's only what I'd call marginal differences between iOS and Android for most people. iOS has Siri, Android has more flexibility and is an open system. Both marketplaces have 99.99 percent junk and relatively few really good apps. Really good apps wind up on both systems. While I really don't use my phone for woodworking there are a few apps you might be interested in. RealCalc is a great calculator, RoadSync is a complete mobile Microsoft Outlook system, Documents To Go is a mobile Microsoft office clone, Bubble is a level that you can calibrate, Expense IT is a nice expense app that lets you take pictures of reciepts and attach them to a report, and gStrings is a really cool tuning app for instruments. These are android apps, but many of them I know are available for iOS and those that aren't probably have an excellent competitor.

Good Luck with a difficult choice!

[Harry Hagan]

I have the first version of the Blackberry Storm and won’t be getting another Blackberry product.

Invariably, when I find a newly developed application for a smart phone, Blackberry phones can’t use the app. Also, the Blackberry Storm is pretty much useless for accessing the internet.

Note: I read the other day that most people now access the internet via their phones rather than PCs or laptops.

I’m still waiting for the iPhone 5.

[Dale Coons]

As an example of 'equivalence'--I just checked the android marketplace for 'inchcalc' and found 'Dimensional Calculator' which 'works in and converts between fractional inches, millimeters etc'. 4.5 star app based on 25 reviews. RealCalc will also do conversions, but isn't designed to work primarily with fractional inches.

[Mark Ashmeade]

One other thought - if you have a Mac as your computer, the iPhone will sync wirelessly with it, and iPad. No idea about Windows machines with either iPhones or other phones.

Oh - and stick with AT&T. T-Mobile at worst. Keep away from the the other networks. Their networks are N America and a few other places only, useless if you do any traveling. AT&T or T-Mobile will work anywhere on the planet.

[Steve knight]

the iphone has been the only phone that has held up to sawdust. I used have phones go bad in a few months sometimes because of sawdust. Iphone has the best resale value of any phone ever. I cloud is pretty good I like photo stream better on a windows compute. the photo's are streamed right to a shortcut on the desktop where I can drop them in a email or look at them easier then having to email from the phone.

[Forrest Bonner]

Check out the iPhone 3GS from an AT&T store since that is your current provider. I just got two 3GS 'free' from AT&T - had to pay $31 each for the tax. Maybe that is only in CA. For $50 I put a router in the DSL line to the iMac and have Wi-Fi all over the house (and garage/shop). Very handy for downloads and really saves on data since over Wi-Fi AT&T does not charge that use to my Data Plan. And with AT&T iPhone (of any kind) you must have a Data Plan but do not need the Text Plan. Good hunting!
Forrest

[Steve knight]

not sure of I would get a 3gs. I mean it depends on what apps you want to use. by next year there won't be any os updates for it. any smart phone now needs a data plan so no getting away from that.

[Michael Peet]

[...] id recommend iPhone for the simple reason of market share.

Not sure I understand this; Android has way higher market share than iPhone. http://articles.businessinsider.com/...rtphone-market. Or is it an underdog thing?

I also like both products. When I have had the chance to play around with other people's iPhones I thought they were pretty slick. I had a handful of Blackberrys in the past and hated every one without exception. When the last one kicked the bucket I got a Droid X, rooted it, installed a third party ROM without all the Verizon / Motorola bloatware, and the result is a very fast and stable phone with a battery that lasts a couple days. That said I don't think people should have to go through that just to get a good phone. YMMV.

Mike