Travel Technology - iPhone vs. Android for Italy & Greece trip

My husband and I are going to Italy & Greece for two weeks and are wondering if there are any benefits to taking one of our phones over the other. We only want to turn on the international plan on one phone to use it for navigation, messaging with other family who will be there, and calling home to talk to our boys. Any thoughts on benefits for either phone platform for the below features:

- Navigation - Generally I like the built in Googlemaps navigation on the Android since it does turn by turn which teh iPhone doesn't. I know we could download an app for the iPhone as well. Related question though, if we use the googlemaps navigation I'm assuming that uses data, right?

-Messaging - Does it matter at all between the two? I wouldn't think so.

-Calling home - We'd like to video chat with them and so we loaded Skype on both of our phones. We coudl do facetime with the iPhone, but honestly I'm not sure how well that would go over with the boys who are very young and honestly would probably close the app on teh iPad and not realize what they're doing.

Any other thoughts/reasons on doing one versus the other? Oh, and we have Verizon if that matters at all. Currently our Droid is in the grandfathered unlimited data group, but I don't think that matters for international since it's an add-on plan.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

Do you already have an iPhone sounds like you just have a droid and are wondering if there is a benefit to getting one for travel?

I have an iPhone used it in airplane mode most of my trip through Spain and Greece last year. No problems there. There is a cool offline map I paid for called city maps 2 go. Uses internal gps (not 3g assisted gps) so it's a little less accurate in some spots but I didn't have to pay for an international plan. I also had unlocked my iPhone last year but never needed to throw another sim in there, but kept the option open.

Really there's no point in going out to buy an iphone for travel if you don't have one. The benefit is if you have one you probably already have paid apps that can be of us, but droid maybe the same. You could look into getting a cheaper unlocked droid for use overseas and buy a simcard out there for use, since your current one is verizon and doesn't take a sim card.

- Navigation - Generally I like the built in Googlemaps navigation on the Android since it does turn by turn which teh iPhone doesn't. I know we could download an app for the iPhone as well. Related question though, if we use the googlemaps navigation I'm assuming that uses data, right?


Google navigation uses data, yes but if you let it calculate the route while on, say hotel wifi, it can actually download all the maps and route data while on wifi, thus minimizing data useage while abroad (note that if you take a wrong turn, it will need to recalculate the route and some features google navigation has in the US may be unavailable in mainland Europe)


-Messaging - Does it matter at all between the two? I wouldn't think so.


No difference at all, just personal preference.


-Calling home - We'd like to video chat with them and so we loaded Skype on both of our phones. We coudl do facetime with the iPhone, but honestly I'm not sure how well that would go over with the boys who are very young and honestly would probably close the app on teh iPad and not realize what they're doing.

In that case, skype would probably be your best bet indeed, which also makes no difference wether on android or iPhone.


Any other thoughts/reasons on doing one versus the other? Oh, and we have Verizon if that matters at all. Currently our Droid is in the grandfathered unlimited data group, but I don't think that matters for international since it's an add-on plan.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

Verizon eh? From what I recall Verizon uses CDMA phones (correct me if I'm wrong here guys, I've never been to the US so I'm nowhere near sure) which do not work (or work quite limited) with European cellular frequencies. The easiest way to verify wether your phone is a CDMA phone or not is to check wether it has a SIM card slot.

Verizon eh? From what I recall Verizon uses CDMA phones (correct me if I'm wrong here guys, I've never been to the US so I'm nowhere near sure) which do not work (or work quite limited) with European cellular frequencies. The easiest way to verify wether your phone is a CDMA phone or not is to check wether it has a SIM card slot.

Verizon's network is CDMA; however, Verizon offers several "Global ready" phones that can be used on both CDMA and GSM networks.

We already have both phones. My husband has the iPhone 4s and I have the Droid Razzr Maxx. I believe the Droid is definitely global ready. It's more of just trying to see if one is better for the trip. Based on your comments it sounds like it doesn't really matter much. Kind of what I figured. I didn't realize you could still use google maps without using data...assuming we plan our route while we have wifi. Good to know.
Thanks!

For navigation, just pay a couple of bucks and get the pre-loaded GPS programs for the countries you want to visit. You definitely don't want to start using a ton of data if you like to wander around and start using your GPS.

Or, do what I did. Buy a GPS off Craigslist and re-sell it when you return. Total outlay for me was $0.

the most recent version of Google maps also allows you to download the map data for a set area (which you can determine yourself, though it is limited size-wise). So you could for instance just download all the map data for the area you're going to in Italy and Greece and then just use it as a digital map when you're there.
If on the other hand you plan on taking teh iPhone, I can recommend Citymaps2Go, it has maps from all over the world and is an excellent replacement for a normal map (especially when used on an iPad).

Not sure what the international plan you mentioned covers. However, it sounds like you will be using a lot of data based on what you mentioned. Just make sure you watch your data usage.

Yeah, I just did some math, and if I did my calculations right, it looks like it would cost us $43.75 for a 5 minute video call using Skype. Skype lists the data usage at 600 kbps for a video call (600kbps * 60= 36000 kbpm *5 = 180000 kb = 175 MB for a 5 min call). Verizon allows you to buy 100 MB for $25. So, that is sounding pretty steep.

Anyone have experience with how much data an iPhone uses for Facetime? They don't seem to post the same info as Skype, but some articles list it at 3MB/minute...much better if that is true. I plan to run a test over the next week or so to confirm. If so, the iPhone wins. If not, then it looks like we may need to lug a laptop with us and attempt to use the hotels' networks and just do Skype video calls that way. Most of the ones we're staying at have free wifi in common areas, and even if we have to pay, it's only 15 Euro ($18) for 24 hours, which is much better than the $43 for a 5 minute call.

Why would you need a laptop? Can't you do Skype or Facetime calls from you iPhone over wifi?

Why would you need a laptop? Can't you do Skype or Facetime calls from you iPhone over wifi?

LOL..yes, I think I forgot that if we're on the hotel's wifi that it won't use our data plan. I just have never really worried about data because I have unlimited, so I forgot that it doesn't count if you're on wifi. :-)

Don't forget you can also use wifi off your Droid.

One thing to consider with hotel wifi is that the speed is (most often) super slow. This becomes more factual if you stay at hotels that aren't part of major chains. I find a wired connection makes (non-video) Skype usable and, yes, I carry my netbook for that (and many more) reasons.

I think that you are confusing bytes and bits, or at least I hope so because that does indeed sound expensive. Transfer speeds, broadband speeds etc. are often in bits but storage space, (hard drive, cd, download limits etc) are in bytes.

180 000 kilobits (kb) = 180 megabits (Mb) should be the total transmitted amount. This would then equal 180/8 = 22,5 megabyte (MB) (actually, a little less as kilo often is 1024).

When I searched for the bandwidth information for Skype, I found (https://support.skype.com/en-us/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need) that it is more in the range of 300-500 kb/s, so it could possibly be even cheaper!

Yeah, I just did some math, and if I did my calculations right, it looks like it would cost us $43.75 for a 5 minute video call using Skype. Skype lists the data usage at 600 kbps for a video call (600kbps * 60= 36000 kbpm *5 = 180000 kb = 175 MB for a 5 min call). Verizon allows you to buy 100 MB for $25. So, that is sounding pretty steep.

Anyone have experience with how much data an iPhone uses for Facetime? They don't seem to post the same info as Skype, but some articles list it at 3MB/minute...much better if that is true. I plan to run a test over the next week or so to confirm. If so, the iPhone wins. If not, then it looks like we may need to lug a laptop with us and attempt to use the hotels' networks and just do Skype video calls that way. Most of the ones we're staying at have free wifi in common areas, and even if we have to pay, it's only 15 Euro ($18) for 24 hours, which is much better than the $43 for a 5 minute call.

You can always get a local SIM. In Greece at the moment you can get a 3g Data only SIM from Cosmote for 15 days with 4Gb of data for 17 euros. Speeds vary. 1Mbps up/down is typical, though i am getting 3/6 in the area I am in currently.

I think that you are confusing bytes and bits, or at least I hope so because that does indeed sound expensive. Transfer speeds, broadband speeds etc. are often in bits but storage space, (hard drive, cd, download limits etc) are in bytes.

180 000 kilobits (kb) = 180 megabits (Mb) should be the total transmitted amount. This would then equal 180/8 = 22,5 megabyte (MB) (actually, a little less as kilo often is 1024).

When I searched for the bandwidth information for Skype, I found (https://support.skype.com/en-us/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need) that it is more in the range of 300-500 kb/s, so it could possibly be even cheaper!

If that's the case, then it is much more reasonable

You already have the devices, so you're set. With your Maxx, call Verizon ahead of time and turn on international roaming and data. I think it's $25 or $30 for 100 MB of data. If you don't use the device for heavy use on the network, it should be sufficient (for example, set your email downloads to headers and/or small emails). On WiFi at your hotel or elsewhere, you'll be fine.

I regularly get local SIM cards. I have a 3G MiFi that I use regularly, and since I make fairly regular trips to Italy, I have an active prepaid SIM card on the TIM network. I don't recall the specific numbers, but I think 2-3 GB of data for a 30 day period is on the order of 20 Euro. I've used it quite well with a US-only android in a bunch of places, including the high-speed trains from Rome to Milan. Never came close to the data cap over a week's stay. There's good info on prepaidgsm.net . Local SIMs are far cheaper than roaming, though for a one-two day trip, it's more convenient and not too much more expensive to do the Verizon roaming data plan. For a week, I want a local SIM.

If you bring your 4s, you can call verizon to do an international unlock; this'll allow you to use a non-US sim card. With this, you can insert a local sim and pay a lot less for data than you would for verizon's exorbitant roaming plan.
SIM cutters are very cheap and can be had from amazon, ebay or some other similar store.

I just learned about this SIM from prepaidgsm.net. I'm passing it on with the disclaimer that I haven't tested it and am relying on hearsay. It looked like a good fit for this project:

http://www.europasim.com/epages/63355149.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectID=38780738