iPhone vs. Android
It is t-minus about three months before I finally have to decide: should I get an iPhone or an Android phone?
More people I know use a Blackberry rather than an iPhone or an Android phone, but I’ve figured it’s time to switch. Having owned a Blackberry for the past three and a half years, I’ve actually been pretty happy with it. The functionality I needed most was fast access to my e-mail, and the very basic email client combined with a physical keyboard let me compose emails on the go. But this functionality was only really important because I was constantly juggling classes and my work, having to type e-mails to and from class or while at dinner.
Now that I’m going to be working full-time in an office, with a much lesser need to be composing emails on my phone all day, email functionality isn’t all that important. I mean, it is, but now I think it’s time to broaden my horizons and weigh in the next-generation features and tens (or hundreds) of thousands of apps available for the iOS and Android platforms.
So, the question again remains: iPhone or Android?
Up until today, I was pretty set on getting the new iPhone 4 once my contract expires at the end of the summer. Like many others, I was pretty wowed by all of the new features announced by Steve Jobs during his keynote at Apple’s WWDC conference. It seems like much of the rest of the U.S. was, too, as Apple sold out of more than 600,000 units in less than 24 hours despite many problems with its ordering system (in true AT&T style, though, they’ve started canceling what they’re calling “orders made in error.”)
Of course, you can read all of the specs and features for yourself on the Apple website, but just to highlight a few: dual, front- and rear-facing cameras for Apple’s new FaceTime; a supposedly amazing new screen that you have to see to believe; a host of other multimedia features, like HD video recording; and of course, access to the AppStore’s 200K+ apps for the iPhone. The new iOS platform also finally allows multitasking, which has long been bemoaned as one of the iPhone’s disadvantages compared to Android phones.
Today, however, came an announcement that has got me thinking again about getting an Android. Looks like Verizon’s next iteration of its popular and highly acclaimed Droid series is launching soon: the Droid X. No details are available yet, but no doubt it is being announced now to compete with iPhone fever. The reason this announcement has caught my attention despite the lack of any useful information is that it reminded me of the differing models of each platform. The iPhone 4 is the first major “upgrade” to the iPhone since its release (2007); in the same time period, dozens of Android phones have been released with several upgrades to the Android platform. Although these upgrades to the platform are expected to slow to about once a year, as with the iPhone/iOS, the rapid iteration process that Android phones go through makes me think that Android might outstrip iOS in other features fairly quickly – even if iOS has a (slight) advantage now.
For me, then, the questions is: do I go with the iPhone for its apps and gorgeous UI/UX, or with an Android for the future innovations sure to come from the Google team? Which do I care about more?
I have three months to figure it out… better get my hands on some phones and start test driving some of these! If you own either an iPhone or an Android phone and feel strongly either way, please comment below – especially if you have a Droid Incredible, I’m really curious to know what owners/users think.
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