From E6 to iPhone: Comparison Review

[Chefanim]

As a few of you know, I've recently purchased an Apple iPhone, and I thought I would share my opinions and compare it to my old E6.

First things first: Design

The E6 is a sleek phone, I cant remember how many times people tried to 'open' it looking for the buttons, only to be amazed it was touchscreen. Its not too thick (Nokia), and just right about palm size. The screen itself is bright and clear, and I feel that its sturdy enough. (Ive dropped it a few times with no problems).

BUT

The iPhone is SEXY, no matter what angle you look at it. The screen is huge, crystal clear, and super bright. The perfectly smooth front and back feel really nice in my hands, although it does feel like it could slip out of my hands pretty easily if im not careful. Fingerprints are an issue since I cant keep my hands off it.

Usability:

Ill start with the iPhone. The user interface is simple to figure out, as would be expected from any Apple product. Typing was something I was worried about, because it was always a problem on the E6 having to use the stylus. The iPhone of course has no stylus (and the one for the E6 doesnt work on it). It took a few days to get used to the on screen keyboard, and a few more days to trust the auto-corrector, but now I can type circles around what I could do on the E6. The iPhone's mulitouch screen seems to know when you are wanting to select something (i.e. a Contact) or simply just flip through the list, Its immediately responsive with just the slightest touch, but not over-sensitive. Making calls is simple, not really much different than the E6, just bigger buttons. Where the iPhone really shines is in the Text Messaging and Web Browsing. Text Messages are grouped like iChat chat sessions, kept as conversations that are simple to navigate. The Safari web browser is simply the best browser on a mobile phone. (all the opera mini fans are gonna hate me). Browsing over wifi with safari is fast and simple, with the multitouch, zooming in and out is quick and easy, and switching from portrait to landscape with the accelerometer is nice.

Web browsing was never nice on the E6, The included browser was ok for wap sites, and opera mini isnt bad, but its just too slow, even on EDGE it wasnt really practical to browse the web on the E6, not to mention the screen is quite small, so fitting large amounts of text is impossible. Messaging on the E6 was a big problem, Its just not safe to try to type with the stylus while driving, I did use the fingerpad app, but it has bugs that make it not worth keeping.
I dont mind having no physical buttons on the iPhone, but it did make it easier to play the Emulator games with the E6.
The Biggest problem I have now with the E6 is the sensitivity of the touchscreen, Its very hard now to get the E6 to respond to my touch, I feel like I have to really press it. It just can't compare to the iPhone.

Customization:
This was something else I was worried about. As Many of you know, I like skins and Themes, and Ive made a few to share with the community. It was one of my major draws to the E6. But again, the iPhone didnt fail me. Tons of custom themes and boot images and 'slide to unlock' bars and icons and so on and so on... Very simple to download and install directly from the phone. So I have nothing bad to say about the iPhone in that department.

Media:
This is where the iPhone really falls short, and also Really shines. I will take the good with the bad on this one. With the E6, I could simply put my phone in mass storage mode, and stick my music wherever I wanted it. Not so for the iPhone. There is no Mass storage mode, connecting it via USB doesnt give any access to the file system at all, this is my main problem with the iPhone. I had to use SFTP to manually add any files that iTunes doesnt recognize. But, at the same time, it is an iPod, The best selling MP3 Player ever, once you get the hang of iTunes, its really nice. The interface is great, and sound quality is as good as you would expect from an iPod. Also, with 8gigs of storage, there is plenty of room for my music. Video playback on the iphone is perfect, its crystal clear, and perfectly smooth. (im loving the youtube app).

One of the nice little things on the iphone is a proximity sensor on the front of the phone, it shuts the screen off when you put the phone to your head while in a call. No worrys about accidentally hanging up on someone with my ear.

All in all,
I love my iPhone, and I think anyone who gets a chance to play with one would feel the same. Its truly the best mobile device Ive ever gotten my hands on, it works just as good as it does in the commercials.

So what happens to my E6 now? Ill keep it around as a backup, probably use it keep playing my ROMs. but to be completely honest, I cant foresee myself going back the the E6 as my primary phone. Ive been spoiled by the shiny iPhone, and Im lovin every minute of it.

I've had a great time here in the Motorolafans forums, and Ill continue to visit and give my opinions and insight. Very special thanks to all the Developers, Programers, Moderators, Theme Makers, and everyone else who made my experience with the E6 much more than just a cell phone. I only hope the people at modmyifone.com are as great a community as we have here.

Thanks Again to everyone

[Wizegui]

Congratulations on your new phone mate With better phones coming out and Motorola neglecting their Linux smartphones, I am tempted everyday to move on to a Symbian phone. The E6 is really sleek and eye-catching, but the EZX is just too old and dated compared to the sleeker Symbian interface. My next phone will likely be an N95 (or it's successor) or the Sony Ericsson G900. Sorry Motorola, you broke my hear. Now, you're going to pay the price.

[Chefanim]

wow, someone actually read all that

[jaydee24]

man where did you get your roms and emulator, and does the e6 do youtube at all or slingbowx or orb, i bought the phone and im lookin for one that is a music player and media player, i want to watch you tube videos and watch tv on it.

[princejk]

Good Comparision dude

Even I am tempted to go for Iphone now, as u said thats because of lack of themes, skins, application & games for linux(E6).

[Chefanim]

man where did you get your roms and emulator, and does the e6 do youtube at all or slingbowx or orb, i bought the phone and im lookin for one that is a music player and media player, i want to watch you tube videos and watch tv on it.

Roms are available all over the internet. I use 3roms.com
I was never able to get youtube to work on the E6, I think some people have had luck with m.youtube.com
The iPhone has a built in youtube app that is really great

[subha]

chefanim we will miss u..

[BruceLee]

damn... i wouldn't change my e6 for an iphone.
does it have a stylus for better accuracy? NO (the screen gets fingerprints all over)
can you play doom, quake, warcraft2 on that phone? NO
can you interpret php, perl, tclsh, ruby... on the iphone? NO
does it have a more flexible firmware than e6? NO
can i make my own native apps for it? NO
can i have internet from my computer with no charge? NO
can i have real winamp (in linux version: xmms)? NO (not a big ipod/itunes fan)
can i easily connect to the iphones internal/mmc memory? NO
..and many others..
so why should i?

no offense Chefanim, good for you having an iphone, just that I consider (so it might be only my opinion) that an iphone costs too much compared to e6 and doesn't do much better. personally i wouldn't buy it just for some better browsing, movement sensor, much sensitive touchscreen or better messaging.

[puppetshow]

BruceLee, actually, there is only native SDK, there is no java, at least officialy. And you can code your apps in something called Obj C.
I even saw ported apache, mysql, php and all other stuff. But I still prefer motorola, because apple's politics sucks, and says that you can't do stuff with phone you bought, heh.

Btw, iphone has wifi, so it's free internet.

[BruceLee]

ok so i missunderstood and didn't know some things but still i wouldn't change my motorola for iphone. i can have free internet through my computer anyway and the apache, mysql, php and all other stuff get's to be in the end illegal because of their (apple) policy. Not like e6 which only looses the guarantee without getting illegal.