First a bit of history: I had an iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS but then decided I was fed up with the lack of multi-tasking and poor notification system of iOS, and bought myself an HTC Desire.
I loved this phone and convinced myself that Android was a better phone OS than iOS (because of the real multi-tasking, improved notification system and more relaxed marketplace).
The iPhone 4 release came and I was still convinced I'd made the right decision because of "Antenna-gate", and figured the retina display wouldn't be anything of an improvement over the 800x480 AMOLED on the desire.
I hadn't used iOS 4.x and didn't really have much interest in the iPhone world at this point, having immersed myself in the Android way of life.
Things continued along these lines (and there are posts scattered around here somewhere where I repeat my opinion that Android is a better phone OS than iOS), until a couple of weeks ago when my wife dropped and broke my beloved Desire. Because of this, I dug out my old 3GS and started using it again. I upgraded it to 4.1 and thought "this is actually pretty good".
It may not have "true" multitasking but it works as good as if it had with things that are important to run in the background (like Co-Pilot and Spotify) working flawlessly, and the task switcher and folder support really make the phone easier to use.
On top of that, things are just "smoother" - it's hard to describe but the keyboard is more responsive, the mail works better and the browser just seems better for some reason
Soon, I realised that, whilst it's still not perfect, the iPhone really is the best phone available. I thought that this could have been down to the novelty factor of using iOS 4.1, but the more I used it, the more I liked it.
The end result of all this is that I went to my local O2 store yesterday and bought a 32GB iPhone 4 and am completely blown away by it: The build quality is immense and for all the complaints about the antenna, I find the reception is far better with the iPhone 4 (with or without case) than my 3GS.
The retina display is absolutely amazing and whilst the blacks aren't as good in the dark as the HTC (due to it being a backlit display), the clarity is far better. It's also silky smooth to use and feels like a true quality product. On top of that, the camera is the best I've seen on a phone and could almost replace a P+S camera
I'd still like to see a proper notification system on iOS at some point, but I'm happy to forego that for all the other advantages it brings!
So, that's the story of someone who thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence but found it wasn't really: The HTC desire is a great phone and Android is a great OS, but it's just not quite as good as the iPhone and iOS.
I loved this phone and convinced myself that Android was a better phone OS than iOS (because of the real multi-tasking, improved notification system and more relaxed marketplace).
The iPhone 4 release came and I was still convinced I'd made the right decision because of "Antenna-gate", and figured the retina display wouldn't be anything of an improvement over the 800x480 AMOLED on the desire.
I hadn't used iOS 4.x and didn't really have much interest in the iPhone world at this point, having immersed myself in the Android way of life.
Things continued along these lines (and there are posts scattered around here somewhere where I repeat my opinion that Android is a better phone OS than iOS), until a couple of weeks ago when my wife dropped and broke my beloved Desire. Because of this, I dug out my old 3GS and started using it again. I upgraded it to 4.1 and thought "this is actually pretty good".
It may not have "true" multitasking but it works as good as if it had with things that are important to run in the background (like Co-Pilot and Spotify) working flawlessly, and the task switcher and folder support really make the phone easier to use.
On top of that, things are just "smoother" - it's hard to describe but the keyboard is more responsive, the mail works better and the browser just seems better for some reason
Soon, I realised that, whilst it's still not perfect, the iPhone really is the best phone available. I thought that this could have been down to the novelty factor of using iOS 4.1, but the more I used it, the more I liked it.
The end result of all this is that I went to my local O2 store yesterday and bought a 32GB iPhone 4 and am completely blown away by it: The build quality is immense and for all the complaints about the antenna, I find the reception is far better with the iPhone 4 (with or without case) than my 3GS.
The retina display is absolutely amazing and whilst the blacks aren't as good in the dark as the HTC (due to it being a backlit display), the clarity is far better. It's also silky smooth to use and feels like a true quality product. On top of that, the camera is the best I've seen on a phone and could almost replace a P+S camera
I'd still like to see a proper notification system on iOS at some point, but I'm happy to forego that for all the other advantages it brings!
So, that's the story of someone who thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence but found it wasn't really: The HTC desire is a great phone and Android is a great OS, but it's just not quite as good as the iPhone and iOS.
