This is not an easy thing to write about as the iPhone is a standalone product and Android phones are released by a variety of manufacturers. It is also specific on the carrier as to which deal is the best. However, Android phones are designed to work on a variety of networks where the iPhone (unless jail broken and hence voiding the warranty) is specific to a single carrier. In this regard, Android phones do trump the iPhone. However, there is a variety of other things to consider in regards to the iPhone versus an Android phone. I have disregarded the carriers in order to come up with an impartial comparison based upon factors such as price and functionality.
Price
This is probably one of the most important aspects considered when shopping for a smart phone. There are other smart phones out there that are not specific to the Android or iPhone niche that are likely to be cheaper. However, they do not for the basis of this article. To start with, the iPhone 4 retails for around $199 USD (or $299 for the 32 GB model). The Droid incredible retails for the same price. The Evo 4G follows suit at the same price (after rebate) and the Nexus One is right at the end of the price spectrum retailing for a whopping $529 USD (if you are not on a contract. So you are getting a fairly comparable price range if you don’t take into the account the Nexus One.
Apps
The iTunes App Store has over 215,000 apps available for download. Many of these you need to pay for (well, most of the decent apps you need to pay for). Apps developed for the Android platform are not all free but many of them are. At present there are around 70,000 apps available on the Android app Market. So the iPhone wins in sheer number of apps. However, a lot of these apps are pretty useless and are not going to be used by any self-respecting user. Many of the apps are games as well and cost money – although Apple have pretty stringent quality control measures in regards to what is released on their App Store. The Android market place varies as well in terms of the quality of the apps. The Android Market offers a lot of free apps as well. It is really up to the consumer as to who is the winner in regards to apps. I dare say (in my humble opinion) that Apple probably wins this round.
Functionality
This is where it gets interesting. All phones have comparable functionality. It is also up to the manufacturer in regards to what type of camera and how the functions work in regards to the Android phones. The iPhone 4 has a 5 megapixel camera. The Nexus One also has a 5 megapixel camera. The Droid and the Evo both have 8 megapixel cameras. The iPhone 4 has a higher screen resolution than all of these cameras. However, it also has the smallest screen. All phones have video recording functionality.
I have barely scratched the surface with this article. There is likely to be more factors than those discussed when making your decision. At a brief glance I prefer the Droid Incredible out of all of these phones. Again, this is a personal preference.