ingress
The backstory makes it out to be a more or less life-defining decision which faction, Enlightened or Resistance, you select.
As far as I can see though, there doesn't seem to be any real difference, except for color, between the teams. Is there any difference at all, and if not, do we have any kind of hints, or maybe educated speculation, on whether that might be planned in the future?
Or can I just flip a coin?
When you select a shield to deploy in the Upgrade-menu, it actually shows you their different parameters (just like for resonators it shows how much the range would increase iff deployed).
The values for the shields are:
Of course it's a different matter to figure out how those values relate to burst-absorption.
Yes you can pick dropped items from the enemy faction.
Here is a Resistant player seeing Enlightened items
source : reddit.com/r/ingress : ProTip: Don't drop your loot at your house if you live near the road.
Best Answer
There isn't any difference, and there isn't any indication of this choice ever having an effect, gameplay-wise.
The only difference between the two teams is that The Resistance seems to be more popular, and will probably remain so in the foreseeable future. So if you desire a more challenging gameplay, pick the Enlightened.