
Why I Turned In My iPhone and Went Android - niyazpk
http://blog.louisgray.com/2010/07/why-i-turned-in-my-iphone-and-went.html
======
nnutter
Something along the lines of, "Choice only matters if _your_ choice is one of
the choices," applies. Apple wasn't offering him his choice so he bought an
Android. Yet he still acknowledges that the iPhone 4 may be a better phone.

His four main points are: openness, momentum, cloud, and capability. Android
is definitely more open than iOS but Android's power depends on non-open
software/services (Google). Android definitely has momentum but at their
current rate it will still take years to match the iPhone's share of the
market. Also, the Android app economy appears to be much weaker due to a
cultural issue (rather than critical-mass issue). Cloud is a bit misleading as
you can integrate Google's services with an iPhone almost as well as Android
and iOS/MobileMe probably matches Android/Google albeit with a increase in
cost and perhaps privacy. Capability is balanced by lack of usability.

I still think people are excusing flaws in Android due to frustration with
Apple, hoping for "open" to win, etc.

I recently tried to switch to the Nokia N900 (Maemo OS, soon MeeGo OS) but
found its capability did not balance its lack of usability.

~~~
QE2
>His four main points are: openness...

Actually, openness is not one of his points. He mentions it in passing only.

>Android definitely has momentum but at their current rate it will still take
years to match the iPhone's share of the market.

From February to May of this year, Android went from 9% to 13% of the market.
In that same time, the iPhone went from 25.4% to 24.4%. At that rate, it will
take about six months for Android to match the iPhone. Google is seeing almost
5 million activations a month, and growing exponentially.

~~~
ErrantX
This is why statistics are always dangerous in the hands of, well, anyone :)

Don't forget that Feb-May is the maximum time from a new iPhone release. This
quarter saw an actual release so I wouldn't be surprised to see them snatch
back the 1%. More importantly you can't extrapolate from just the one quarters
figures :) Android sales could trail off or people could end up sending them
back in high numbers after a few months etc.

Also, Android is offered on a wider array of phones; so it is reasonable that
as it gains popularity it will enroach into the smartphone market. It will be
interesting to see this quarters figures; I suspect Android will grow but so
will Apple.

As pointed out, the more important metric is profitability; and currently
Apple have that in bucket loads.

(not that Android is doing badly, but it is a bit further behind, say 18
months, than people tend to suggest)

~~~
QE2
There are also a lot of high-end Android phones that have come out in the last
two months, and coming out soon. In the end, this discussion doesn't really
matter. Obviously, nobody knows the future.

I also realize that these numbers only represent one quarter, but if you look
at the previous quarters, you'll see that Android is experiencing steady
growth. I have no doubt that the iPhone 4 will be a boon to Apple's numbers.
We only have to wait another three months to find out! :)

------
ErrantX
The one thing that still keeps me from Android is that the iPhone, in my
experience (and I have used both extensively), is a better phone. As in for
actual calls and texts :)

I predominately use my phone for that (calls, texts, email, internet) and apps
are only a minor benefit (I use them infrequently).

At some time in the next 2 or 3 years I will change to an Android handset -
the OS is improving no end and once the phone functionality is better it will
be a no brainer.

EDIT: just to reiterate (for the downvoter...) _I_ think the iPhone is a
better phone functionality. I know others prefer Android - it's a personal
thing.

~~~
cageface
I'd say just for the network alone the Android is a better _phone_. Texting
capabilities seem about the same with my old iPhone and my Droid. I haven't
tried iOS4.

~~~
ErrantX
Ah, yeh; one advantage to living in the UK is that the iPhone is on
alternative networks.

If I were in the states I expect I would be on Android already!

------
mikecane
The big problem Android has is leaving people behind. It turns out v1.6 is
required just to use Kobo's eBook reading software. What of all those v1.5
devices still out there? SOL! Some people can say, eh, this is the early
adopter problem, except these are phones being sold to everyday people, not
techies.

~~~
eli
There are still 1.5 devices out there? Like what?

~~~
mikecane
I don't keep track of Android, so I can only cite the two I've come across in
my own experience. First, the Archos 7 Home Tablet. Second -- and this is a
major hurt -- the Motorola i1 phone, which is on Sprint and prepay Boost
Mobile. That's a phone being pushed hard to everyday people and can disappoint
them if they want Kobo, for example.

------
ifesdjeen
Wow, same stuff here: [http://ifesdjeen.tumblr.com/post/393020309/why-i-
prefer-andr...](http://ifesdjeen.tumblr.com/post/393020309/why-i-prefer-
android-over-iphone-updated-froyo)

------
ThomPete
I know a few people who did that primarily on principle. They all regret it
today, android just isn't anywhere close in the long run( their words not
mine)

I have both iPhone and android before you go all fanboy on me.

~~~
barrkel
Count me in the opposite camp, then. I don't regret my Nexus One at all - it's
far superior to iPhone for my use case.

~~~
ThomPete
In what perspective is it superior? I have a nexus one too I really fail to
see what is better about it.

~~~
trjordan
Disclaimer: This is for my experience only:

\- Tethering. I fly frequently, so sitting in the airport with a free wifi
connection is nice.

\- Navigation. Nav is just that much nicer than directions.

\- GVoice integration. I'm a big fan free texts and transcribed voicemails.

\- Cost. My total bill, including insurance, is $75/month, with 5 numbers of
unlimited calls. I probably make 600-800 minutes worth of calls/month. I only
call 4 people with any regularity, so T-Mobile's plan really works well for
me.

\- Webserver. I found a built-in webserver, so I can pull photos/etc. off my
phone even if I don't have my USB. There are other ways to do this, but it
suits me particularly well.

\- Locale. Changes my call, wifi, ringer, and 10 other things based on my
location, time of day, and other pieces of context.

\- Swype. Best smartphone keyboard I've seen (admittedly beta, so not freely
available)

Again, these are all things I enjoy, not objective arguments for the
superiority of Android. But, I can't get them on iPhone, and the list of
things that would be relevant to me on iPhone is somewhat smaller.

~~~
adbge
> Webserver. I found a built-in webserver, so I can pull photos/etc. off my
> phone even if I don't have my USB. There are other ways to do this, but it
> suits me particularly well.

I had no idea this kind of functionality existed. As an iPhone owner, I'm
envious.

I'm curious about your experience with Swype. I've read a little about it and
I'm wondering: do you think Swype obsoletes the traditional advantage hardware
keyboards have over software ones?

~~~
trjordan
I love Swype. It's unclear to me that I'm actually faster at this point, but I
downloaded a speed test app -- I clocked myself at 47 wpm in one run, 100%
accuracy. Cherry-picking the best number, to be sure, but still.

More importantly, it felt like the switch from button-mashing to T9. Swype is
the way typing on a touchscreen should work: gestures that know what you want.
So many of the brilliant idioms popularized by the iPhone (pinch zoom,
left/right swipe to get between screens) are, in my opinion, why touch screens
work at all for a phone. Buttons are unsatisfying due to the lack of tactile
feedback; gestures feel natural and expressive. Given all that, making
gestures the way you enter text makes me that much happier using the phone for
typing at all.

To answer your question: Swype is in no way a replacement for a traditional
keyboard. It's a language entry tool, and it's as useless as the stock
iPhone/Android keyboard for things like keyboard shortcuts and arbitrary
strings. As far as I can tell, I'll never move to a touchscreen keyboard for
regular work because it's such an efficient interaction tool (if you live in
tools like emacs/vim/command line like me). Swype actually limits the overall
universe of your input[1], but it makes the common mode of language very easy.

Short answer: no, Swype doesn't try or succeed in replacing hardware
keyboards.

Now that you've got me thinking about it, though, a full-sized Swype keyboard
set up with better modified key support and a dictionary that included
keyboard shortcuts in the app you were working in would be pretty great. Take
vim: all those 2-4 letter combinations you type all the time would be
available to you, and you could apply heuristics based on your document to
help fill in more free-form keys like find-replace strings. You could even
find ways to structure the shortcuts around easy directions, essentially re-
inventing keyboard shortcuts as well-placed single swipes of a finger.
Somebody with more time than I have now could work that into a neat proof of
concept.

[1]I mean, you can still use it like the stock keyboard, but that's not the
kind of interaction I'm talking about.

~~~
Qupolle
Also thought I would mention SlideIT, which is a replacement keyboard similar
to Swype and is available already for Windows Mobile Symbian and Android as a
free trial and a paid app. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRkRaoIw8Io>

------
lleger
His fundamental argument is logically flawed on a very basic level. It's
simply insane to think that an ecosystem that has been operating in a certain
manner for its entire existence will suddenly change directions and begin
operating in a massively different manner. It's not going to happen. Betting
on a platform that may in the future become awesome instead of voting on a
phone that you admittedly think might be the best phone on the market is as
crazy as betting on a horse that looks like it has the potential to win
instead of the horse that is winning. It just doesn't make any sense.

There are many legitimate reasons to switch from iPhone to Android. He hasn't
convinced me this is one of them.

~~~
adbge
> It's simply insane to think that an ecosystem that has been operating in a
> certain manner for its entire existence will suddenly change directions and
> begin operating in a massively different manner.

Are you talking about the future of the Android market?Continued growth is
hardly operating in a "massively different manner." Expecting something as
fluid as a marketplace not to change is far more unreasonable than expecting
change.

> Betting on a platform that may in the future become awesome instead of
> voting on a phone that you admittedly think might be the best phone on the
> market is as crazy as betting on a horse that looks like it has the
> potential to win instead of the horse that is winning.

The author thinks that the iPhone might be the best "overall", but that
Android is a better fit for him personally. Your horse analogy doesn't make a
whole lot of sense, either.

Consider the next two years (typical smartphone lifespan) a horse race. Right
now, Apple's horse is ahead, but Google's horse, while taking longer to
accelerate, is now moving faster than Apple's horse. Which horse do you bet
on?

------
starkfist
tl;dr the same story as all the other iphone -> android stories.

------
eli
Maybe this is unfair, but it reminds me of the people who boycott buying gas
from local BP stations to protest the oil spill.

~~~
barrkel
I think you really need to explain that. There is simultaneously nothing wrong
with boycotting BP (even though it should lead to lower gas prices for those
who don't boycott, those who do boycott may sleep better at night) - and
similarly nothing wrong with believing that Android has more momentum than
Apple presently, so that it's worth betting on.

And even with nothing wrong with either actions, I don't see the connection.
The man isn't boycotting Apple because he thinks Apple is hurting the planet.

~~~
antidaily
Apparently BP sold the rights to their name to local gas stations, thus
boycotting them really does nothing to hurt BP.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
They also have a contract to buy their gasoline, which is part of the reason
they are currently bailing out those local gas stations.

[http://www.cnbc.com/id/38000963/BP_to_Bail_Out_Own_Brand_Nam...](http://www.cnbc.com/id/38000963/BP_to_Bail_Out_Own_Brand_Name_Gas_Stations)

