In my life, I’ve been asked to explain why I left many things: relationships, popular cities, the Catholic Church (and soon after, the very notion that supernatural creatures exist).
But I think I’m struggling most with understanding, and then explaining, my inclination to leave the iPhone religion.
In short, I’ve simply grown tired of it. I didn’t leave San Francisco because it was a boring, ugly town. I didn’t end (most) relationships because I stopped caring for the person. I simply felt that it was time to move on, have new experiences and adventures.
And so it is with the iPhone. My iPhone 3G was very good to me — well, at least until the new software updated turned it into the gadget equivalent of a child dropped on it’s head too many times. (Love this spoof commercial!)
To gain some perspective, my previous “smart”phone was a Palm Treo 750. Yep, it has a stylus! My first iPhone was a big step forward.)
I loved the dead-simple interface, the bright and cheerful icons, and the overwhelming slew of cheap and free apps – everything from the practical (like iTrans) to the wonderfully silly (Plants vs. Zombies).
The new iPhone is especially beautiful, too. (Everyone, stop freaking out about the miniscule antenna problem, already.) But it’s not that different from the phones that proceeded it. I just dom’t want more of the same — even though “the same” was pretty darn good.
So I think I’m ready to take up with Android for the next year or two. No doubt, it will be a trying experience. Even the Droid X is a homely device next to the iPhone. And while Android has about 100,000 apps, it’s still deficient in some that are mission-critical to me — like a version of Facebook that shows events I’m on my way to, a New York Times reader, or a half-decent way to access photos on Flickr. And the touch-sensing software is so inaccurate I might was well just “tap” the screen with a hammer (lord knows I’ve been tempted to).
But Android also offers many wonderful experiences you can’t get in the iPhone playpen – like the task killer programs that you you decide exactly what apps run, and when, so you can maximize battery life. Or the Locale app that reconfigures your phone based on you location — for example, stop bugging me to join Wi-Fi networks after I leave my apartment. The seamless integration of Google Voice calling is a convenient money saver. In fact, integrating all the Google services – calendar, Gmail, FREE data backup — makes it remarkably easy to link my gadget and online worlds.
If Android were just trying to exactly copy the iPhone (as Windows pathetically tried with MacOS), there would be no appeal. The original is always better. But Google does have a different philosophy with Android – one that is more open to hackers and tinkerers. It’s more prone to screwups, but it also offers the potential for more fun and discovery.
(Image from Product Reviews News.)
