I've learned a few things experimenting with other platforms -
- iPhone 4 is still the best all-around phone out there right now. iOS has the best ecosystem and app support, and Apple is great at GUI for decades now and are amazing at design. Apple treats technology like an art and it has been in their DNA well before iGeneration who are only familiar with iPods and after.
- I realized I am not much of a gamer like I used to. And if I was, I would prefer what a real dedicated handheld can provide. While iPhone has the best games for a mobile phones, it still doesn't intrigue me. Give me a PS Vita with actual buttons, wider range of genres, and games with better production values. So while I don't game as much, if I did, I still prefer ones for the "core gamers" and not the 5-min diversions that casual gamers want.
- I do like webOS more than iOS and this is why QNX intrigues me being that they are guilty of copying the UI.
- I have 82 apps downloaded from the App Store and 100+ apps total on my iPhone if you include the original apps that came with it, but only use 10%-20% of them daily.
- From all the smartphones I have used, I only use it mostly for Wi-Fi browsing, YouTube, and music. So while some will say they can't live without their iPhone, I can actually do it. But living without a smartphone and no internet connection would be much harder. This is why "downgrading" to a BlackBerry intrigues me. I don't need all that stuff I might consider overkill.
- I find myself buying Apple hardware to use Google services. I am not using Bing or Yahoo Search anytime soon. I use Google Search, YouTube, GMaps, GMail, Google Voice, Chrome, Music Beta, etc. To check even iPhone 5 rumors, I use Google News. So even if Android is not my cup of tea, you still see me using stuff owned from Google than Apple. Only actual Apple software I use is iOS, its first party apps on my iPhone, and iTunes. If iPhone is that "vehicle" coming out of its gated community (Apple's walled garden), the roads in that Information Super Highway is owned by Google.
Right now, I am not changing anytime soon to another platform. Android doesn't intrigue me and the Xperia Play is a flop. WP7 is still barren and you can't customize it much. MeeGo is DOA, so no thanks paying over $500 for a Nokia N9 that won't be software supported for long. I like webOS, but look what HP did to it and those TouchPads were gone fast. So the only other alternative is QNX even though there is all this doom and gloom talk about RIM. I change my mind alot. So I can see a QNX phone next year and then just end up getting the iPhone 6 instead. Just two months ago, I wanted an Xperia Play or Pre 3. Now I don't want either one anymore. That's how quickly the tides can change.