alot of people don't understand how the Iphone really is a polished OS. People lately have been going over the "freedom" of android but basically freedom is only good if you have the tools to take advantage of that freedom.
The iphone may be limited in terms of what Apple lets to do, but one thing is for sure, whatever they choose to do, you will guarantee that its seemless, polished and smooth.
As i spend the days contemplating if I will get an Android phone. I'm actually moving a step back, not forward. What's visually getting to me is the sense UI. It doesn't help that the iphone os really hasn't changed in the past 3 years. As far as I can tell it's not going to change anytime soon.
But as much as I like change and something different, Apple shouldn't be changing much. If you compare feature my feature (not threw reading) but physically holding both an android phone and and iphone. It's truly amazing how much polish the OS has. Small details that just seemed to be skipped on the Android and that gives me a level of trust and reliability on the phones part. That Apple has take the time to carefully look at the smallest detail. How can you not be proud of a developer that tries to master it's craft.
I also talked in length about pitch and zoom. Android may have it, but its definitely not working as smoothing. EVEN on snapdragon. Optimization is the key world and for Apple they only have to worry about one CPU or maybe 2. The transitions moving it and how are flawless, smooth. Android, they are not...smooth at times, but i do notice a frame drop (trust me, I turned off ALL background apps and cleared the memory).
Same can be said of internet browsing, I hate the wrapping feature android phones have. It's utterly annoying. I want to double tap...let it zoom and read it just find. I want the double to be only a magnifying glass. I don't need Google's presentation of the same text, just because i over zoomed. That's my problem, not yours google. Or atleast make it an option to turn off. The zooming has the same problem as maps. CPU is not optimized with the android so you do get times of 1 frame stuttering. Also, scrolling is no where as smooth and the iphone has HALF the RAM!!.
One thing I love about android phones is the search and voice to search is awesome. Simply amazing. I love opening maps and casually saying what I want and it comes up. I don't have to type. Because typing, is a pitch laggy at times and is NO WHERE AS ACCURATE as the iphone keyboard. This isn't just an opinion i share. Many reviews agree with this. iphone keyboard is the standard and always will be.
The apps, its not even close. I have a list of every iphone app and tried to find a replacement on android. I can only find half. And of the ones i found, the quality of the app is no where as close. It's kinda ridiculous. There some apps that are awesome on the Android like the dave chappel photo app. but I like productivity and iphone gives me options that android wishes it has. This should change in the future, but the question i have is...do android users even pay for apps? I think more iphone users are inclined to pay for a premium app then android users. then what does that say about the user models. Developers NEED to make money and if a million android users aren't buying as much as 100,000 iphone users. Well...iphone still wins.
Iphone is has one device. One device for all manufacturers to create hardware around. Its not question, iphone owns the accessory space. Docking systems, car systems, you name it. And I like knowing i have options.
Music player. This isn't even a contest. The naming of iphone really is the combination of Ipod + phone. The Ipad makes much a large chunk in why it was given a 8GB flash drive to start. It's a music player at heart. It's the reason why I dumped my creative zen and just carry my phone around to listen to music. and I listen to ALOT of music. It's by far the best music player and its not even close. Everywhere I scroll on the android, i see that 1 second framerate shutter. Coming from an iphone, its basically standout like a sore thumb. And the double tap to have your ipod controls on the locked screen is one of the best features ever. How about the fact that apple actually logs the resistive values of each contact. so you have have different contacts in the headphone socket, the volume adjusts according. That's what I call polish.
*********************************************************
Okay I ranted like a fanboy. I'll say this. 3 years ago, when i first used the iphone, i considered it the greatest consumer device ever purchased or atleast in the past 15 years. And for 3 years i have been loyal is at comes to the iphone. The Android has so much potential because the cloud based systems you can have but the issue is its not like windows. You can't dump a bunch of hardware. Google needs to set standards on hardware so they can start optimizing. More importantly, I told everyone who had a G1 or a droid to wait. Because the OS is too powerful for the hardware and so far, i'm still correct. Soon, the android will get there. They will have a mobile processor that trump any type of optimization because it just pwns. But I don't know when that will be.
Apple has proven to me that on an inferior processor, they can still manage to keep the UI smooth. And everything just works, i haven't really complained much about my iphone.
To each to his/her own. If you want a change from the redundancy of having the same OS for 3 years then gladly change. It's not like you will see much change in the Android in 3 years. They have established that as their base. Yes things might get more colorful but the framework of both phones will still be the same. The question is what do you want. Are you comfortable with your phone? Do you truly hate your carrier? What's making you jump ship?
For me I'm 50-50 jumping ship. and I'm only doing it because I want to see what these Android users are talking about it. I'm trying to bash them until i have been in their shoes. I have spent hours in the verizon store playing with the incredible just to get an idea. I was planning on running a 30 day trial to see how it goes. but what am I going to be impressed with the network or the iphone.
All i know is Android users talk about the OS like its Ice cream. "OMG!!! its so good, OMG maps!!! and apps and like...a toggle to turn off your wifi...oh the ice cream"
Well iphone users been eating that ice cream for 3 years...and its not baskin robbins...it's hagen dazs.
p.s.
I think WEB OS pwns all.....Damn you palm. I had hope!!!!
