Vincent Mecca
Lifestyles Editor

This holiday season you pass by your wireless phone carrier and decide it is time for an upgrade. Do you want an Android phone or an iPhone? What’s the difference? As a college student, having a Smartphone can be beneficial.

A smart phone differs from a regular phone, in that, it has quick and easy access to services you may use such as email, internet, Facebook, and more. There are new smart phones coming out all the time, but how do you know which one to choose, or which one will best suit your needs?

For a while, there was no other competitors to the iPhone, however, with the introduction of the android phone, sometimes referred to as the “iPhone” killer, the decision is now a bit more difficult as both kinds of phones offer high quality services.
In terms of ease of access, the iPhone wins hands down. Its app market (downloadable program market) is easy to access and use. The Android’s market is also easy, but moving apps around can be a bit more challenging to someone who isn’t quite as technologically literate.

Android phones are open source, which means that anyone can submit an application for use on the mobile devices. It is this factor that is allowing the android market to quickly catch up to the amount of apps available for the iPhone.
If having Adobe Flash is important to you, as of now, using an android device is your only option for optimal web experience. There are web browsing apps for the iPhone that try and emulate this compatibility, but aren’t fully flash capable.

An iPhone is an iPhone, with one new version coming out each year which runs apple’s iOS (Operating system). Android phones are developed by many different companies, most notably HTC, Motorola, and Samsung. Each android phone differs, and doing research on the phone will benefit you before you buy it.

“I love my iPhone,” said junior, Kristin Devries. “It‘s like carrying around a pocket-sized computer with me everywhere I go.” DeVries also stated that she is able to communicate to her professors quickly and reliably since her emails are sent straight to her phone and she is notified promptly.

“I prefer the freedom of making my phone my own.” said graduate student, Michael Malesky. “Through androids open platform I can change anything that isn‘t me and make it mine.” Malesky says that his phone does so much more than a regular phone, and once you get one you can never go back to a plain old flip phone again.