Sorry that this was posted in the Samsung Galaxy S thread accidentally for the first time.

Okay, I am about to buy my first ever smartphone and have been contemplating between iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S 2. I do need one right away and can't really wait longer.

A few things:

I have never owned a smartphone before - but, I have extensively used the iPhone and have had cursory glances over Android.
I will be using the phone for tethering for a lot of the time (like at least 8-12 hours a day). I will be moving around a lot in the next few months which is the reason for me to actually go in for a smartphone.
Other than tethering, I will be using the phone for a lot of other data usage and some light gaming.


Here are my considerations about both the devices:

iPhone
Pros

Solid App Store.
I somehow can trust Apple more with my credit card number.
Solid iPhone 4 as a device - well tested and used by many for quite a few months now.
Delivers great performance/ease of use/overall feel.
Thinking of buying an iPad after about two months - my iOS purchases can be used there as well.
Apple Support.
Jailbreak it to do some of the cooler stuff.


Cons

Dated hardware.
Aware that the next iteration is expected very soon.
Dated Software. But, I expect good announcements on iOS 5 in the WWDC next month.
More expensive App Store (example: Angry Birds!)
Poor notification system. Again, iOS 5 in a couple of months should have an answer for it.



Samsung Galaxy S II
Pros

Great Hardware.
Great Hardware again! It's worth repeating twice.
Android 2.3
Awesome support for Google Apps and Google services. I use these a lot.
NFC - But, I hear that's not there if I buy this thing in the UK! (And, I am in the UK)


Cons

Samsung - have bad experiences with its batteries - especially once the phone is a few months old. They just tend to give up.
Samsung again - I have a feeling that we will never see 2.3 get updated. That's what it will be stuck with as Samsung will be out with another new darling in another few months.
Samsung yet again - Support? How are they when your phone gets bad for some reason or another - screen goes dead, battery goes bad etc. I am new to the UK so I am not sure of the quality of support here.
Much worse build quality than iPhone. Plastic has much less durability than the aluminium buttons on the iPhone 4.
Issues with Android Marketplace regarding spam, rogue applications etc. Apple's App Store is just a little better on quality - both in the UI/experience of the apps and the functionality.


A few more questions:

Since I will be using my phone mostly for tethering, can I charge my phone while it's acting as a 'hotspot'?
How long do you think the battery will last when working as a hotspot?
Can I text/receive calls/make calls even though I have my laptop connected to the phone via WiFi as a hotspot?
Are these the same for both the phones?


Also, I have the option of going in for a much cheaper phone (that allows tethering) for now and then upgrade later. If you think that's what I should do - what phone should I buy?

If gaming isn't on your top 3 priority list then go with the SGS II. Trust me it'll be worth it in the long run.

Since I will be using my phone mostly for tethering, can I charge my phone while it's acting as a 'hotspot'?
Yes.

How long do you think the battery will last when working as a hotspot?
Don't know but you'll be doing this whilst plugged into your laptop right? then its charging as it is. So no worries of battery life. You can USB Tether and the cable charges your phone. Win/win

Can I text/receive calls/make calls even though I have my laptop connected to the phone via WiFi as a hotspot?
Are these the same for both the phones? Yes for both.

It is very hard to say which one is better, although they are all smart phones but they are actually very different. Here are my opinions about your Iphone's pros.


Solid App Store.Rather than "Solid" I would say App Store has longer history, give it a bit more time Android Market will be a winner based on the open source platform and less restrictions for developing apps.


I somehow can trust Apple more with my credit card number.Google has more experience in web sercurity and Android is using google checkout. I think I will trust google more in that sense.


Solid iPhone 4 as a device - well tested and used by many for quite a few months now.Depends on how you see it, I would say it has less features hence it has less problems. Also Androids needs to support many different hardwares, so it is going to be look less stable as IOS only needs to support one device - iphone.


Delivers great performance/ease of use/overall feel.Android phone does take a bit of time to learn but once you master it, you can do that on any Android phones.
If you looking for performance, I would say SGSII is better but hey this is a SGS forum what do you expect? ;)


Thinking of buying an iPad after about two months - my iOS purchases can be used there as well.There are many Android tablets in the market and more are coming, so your future Android purchases is going to be supported by more devices and choices.


Apple Support.Android is a free platform so it will never be as good support as Apple as you don't pay for it. But I do think Android has a better communities so most questions you should be able to answered by community forums (specially this one).


Jailbreak it to do some of the cooler stuff.You can already do lots of cool stuff without jailbreak (rooted) an android phone, but if you do, you can do much more :D

I just owned a Samsung Galaxy S II and have a few questions to ask. Please help me because I, too many times, want to throw my phone away

1. Why my phone always change to flight mode automatically?
2. When I get the call, it did not give me more time to touch or move the touch screen to answer the phone. What will I do?
3. How can I add a ringtone in my phone, if I have a personal ringtone?

So far, I only have three questions, but still more to come.

Thanks ahead

1. It shouldn't do.
2. When someone calls it will ring as long as the caller wants it to ring....unless you set voicemail....unless your phone automatically turns to Flight Mode
3. Numerous ways, the easiest is to go to music player, select the song or music file and then press the menu button > set as > Ringtone