Wikiglobal

In my 5 year experience with dual SIM phones from North America thru Africa, Europe and Asia I have particularly found them useful for me as a traveler to avoid roaming surcharges. Basically I have my home SIM card in my Android dual SIM phone so I can see who is trying to reach me while abroad (I don’t answer the call, I text them, Skype them or email the caller my local #). And get a local SIM card, insert in second SIM slot to use locally at my destination.

The Android platform was a welcome addition. Locally, I use 1 SIM on my Android dual SIM for my T-Mobile USA plan (Can’t miss Pandora while driving) and the other SIM on an AT&T prepaid plan pretty much to filter my calls.

My observation in South Africa is, dual SIM phone users use these phones for the most part to toggle between networks and dodge interconnect premiums, I remember one time I was in a cab in Johannesburg and the driver had 2 cell phones… 1 single SIM phone and a dual SIM phone, essentially he had 3 SIM cards from 3 different networks, I asked why 3 SIM cards? And he proceeded to tell me he calls his contacts with the SIM card of the network they’re on “it’s cheaper” he said, “didn’t I know?” he added. He also said some networks offer free calls from midnight to morning so he enjoys that to call his daughter at the university and mom at his home town in Galashewe. “Eish… it’s better” he gibed.

Sent via my Android from wikiglobal.net 

1. *Text wrapping when zooming in the browser.* The text of web pages remains much more readable with android browsers because it wraps and stays within the boundaries of the screen, whereas with iPhones the text goes off screen if it is wide and you have to scroll right and left to read the text, or you have to turn the phone sideways.

2. *The number of things that you can attach to phone messages* - You can’t attach more to messages than a photo or a video on an iPhone, whereas with android you can sent contact information, music, appointment information and more. This has frustrated me when I need to send contact info quickly to someone.

3. *Expandable storage* - While not all android-based smartphones have a micro SD memory card slot, many do. Samsung, HTC and many other manufacturers are making it possible for you to have up to 32 Gb or more of added storage to put your applications, songs or videos. It is economical as the price of 32 Gb cards is relatively inexpensive. With an iPhone, the amount of memory that you have is fixed when you buy the phone.

4. *Changing batteries* - Apple wants to keep you tethered to their stores, so you can’t open the device and change out spent batteries. Some android phones are like this as well, but with many you can pop off the back cover and switch for a new one easily. Perhaps Apple doesn’t want you to keep the phone long enough to replace - just buy another one every time they announce a new model.

5. *Flexibility of the user interface* - With android phones you have applications pages and widgets, but with iPhones you just have the applications. Widgets put applications that you use often in a convenient location and they are ready to operate without going through another step of opening them up. So they are more or less like shortcuts, but they can also show current status information as well. You also have a selection of browsers to use, you aren’t stuck with Safari as a default application for downloading.

6. *Detailed status bar information.* An iPhone application shows a red dot with a number inside of it to indicate if you have a new status for an application like phone messages and emails. The top bar of an android phone can be pulled down to get an array of information of recent downloads, messages, etc. Much more information is accessible from this top bar.

7. *Multitasking* - The Android system is a true multitasking system. For instance, you can have several applications downloading at one time. You can’t do that with an iPhone generally. More on that can be seen in the video below.

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