October 18, 2010 Why I Stuck With iPhone.

A few months ago I posted an entry, and from my hectic schedule it was my last post (blog negligence), about how I was torn between iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7. Since then I have had many opportunities to play around with many different models of Android to get a deeper sense on what it is. You can read all day long, but I am a guy who gets the real review by getting my hands on it and driving it myself. I can say that the Android itself is a great phone for what it is. Not comparing it to anything, the Android phones I have used are physically sleek, screens look great, easy to use, moderate performances on the OS functionality, and if I was not an iPhone owner prior I probably would have one. Now that being said I will lay out why I chose to stick with the iPhone and upgrade my two phones from an iPhone 3G and a 3GS both to a iPhone 4.

First I'll talk about Windows Phone 7. When Microsoft had their big release party on the11th, like a good techie, I watched the live stream. You can get it online, but here is Steve Ballmer's opening remarks and him giving a short demo with the OS.

I have been watching and reading about the Windows 7 Phone or Windows Phone 7 whatever you want to tag it, since it was announced about a year ago. I was very interested in the bridge of the PC and the phone. But as I worked throughout the year I noticed myself going through a transition on how I use my computer tools and the Internet. I migrated more and more of my local activities to cloud services. My personal email accounts and calendar sharing are Gmail, most of my family I have converted to gmail only a few straggles still on Hotmail. I use Evernote for document storage, note keeping, and collaboration, my music devices are iPods which I manage through iTunes (sometimes WinAmp or MediaMonkey), flickr, facebook, etc... I am not anchored to a local PC other than for mass storage of several terrabytes of photos, music, home videos, projects and such. That's it. So the Windows Phone tying that altogether was not a selling point for me. Second, the OS and unique way they do things, after I watched the 2 hours of demos, I am not blown away. Lots of scrolling. Now there are some great ideas on tying social network activity directly into the contact list, but if you are a veteran of moving in and out of those social networks, so what?

Without making this post into a novel I will break it down

Windows Phone 7

Pros: Locked and tight development process, great looking handsets, It's Microsoft so it will work, if you are a hardcore Microsoft business user, Office, Live, etc... no question this over a blackberry, great camera

Cons: Late to the game, nothing revolutionary to get me to switch, you have to use Zune to manage music and video

Next up, the Droid phones. The more I played with different types of phones the more I got disappointed by it. The more I read about the business plans of what Google is doing with the Android OS, the more I feared for it's original purpose being destroyed. Google touted Android as the Open Source God platform. Allow anything and everything to get developed for Android. That is great, but once the carriers and phone makers got a hold of it, the dirty side to that approach is starting to come out. 

Unlike Microsoft and Apple, Google/Droid has no development process in place, meaning that Google has no insight or say on how an application is built for the Droid. Apple gets a bad rap in the media for their Iron Fist approach, but I'll discuss that later. Microsoft is taking on a similar approach, even forcing phone makers to make the phones a very specific way or they can't have the Windows 7 OS to install. Google and Droid, whatever goes. This is ok for selling the OS to anyone and everyone, but it's also a very bad thing. It starting now and will get worse as time goes on, Droid phones are coming with bloatware. Software that is installed by the carriers and phone makers that users cannot uninstall. Ads for more services from the carriers, a trial application you cant get rid of, and so one. Things that take up space and resources on the phones. Much like when you buy a Laptop or PC from Best Buy and it comes with all the pre-trial Anti Virus, games, and other crap you didn't ask for or don't want. It's all marketing BS. 

More dangerous in this model is around the application development. There is no checking or set of rules the applications have to follow. So every Droid I used, I noticed the applications all looked and behaved different. Menus were different each app, buttons worked differently, cosmetically there was no uniformity. At first I didnt think it would be a big deal to me, but it was a pain in the butt and the users I know that have them said the same thing. In addition, there is no real way to say what the applications are doing on the back end or what information it getting sent to where about you and your phone. This is more of a security risk for people who install any game and cute app they see. Good rule, stick with the applications from trusted makers and you'll be fine.

So just for where Android is going as a business model, out of spite I am not supporting it. The reports say that Android will be the #1 mobile OS in the world by 2012... who is #1 now??? Symbian. Who!? Nokia's OS for their phones. iPhone is tiny in comparison, 5% I think... But when you allow the OS to be twisted and morphed to be on anything under the sun, then can you still call it a great open Mobile platform or a market share grabbing hog?

Android

Pros: Great smartphone capabilities, do everything you want and more, great cameras

Cons: Every device different, no uniformity, performance problems across phones, business model cares more about market share than quality of product.

After several months of patience, study, and review I stuck with iPhone and upgraded my two phones to iPhone 4. Quite simply, it's the best for what it is hands down. Now, Apple haters, technical "writers" will throw out individual specification battles, performance tests (less than a second differences), and anything else about it to slam iPhones. But I stand by my decision on usability, style, ease of use, quality of the product and company, and the direction of the concepts. Technology moves so fast, tomorrow something will out perform the iPhone in horsepower, but so for nothing out performs it in usability.

At first I was on the side of the developers around Apple's development processes for building applications for the iPhone. But after the last two years and looking at it from Apple's point of view, this is how it should be. From the Mac OS to the iPhone, Apple has always known how to make software extremely well. Above and beyond anyone else. Their checks and balances of their App Store keeps that quality in check as non-Apple, non-software makers, build apps for their OS and devices. Apple approves every application wanting to get into the App Store and checks them all out. This ensures uniformity across apps, quality control as best as they can provide, and an easier sense of security that malware apps are far and few between and when they are found, Apple has the sole control to pull the app out of the App Store world. They are not holding back development and innovation, they are not evil, they created a development world that has not been done before and set the rules. If you don't like it, go develop elsewhere. For the user, this is a great way to do things. Android took the other approach in a hard stance against that method and I think it will slowly backfire on them, but they won't care.

iPhone 4

Pros: sleek, familiar, it just works for everything it does, development processes ensure uniformity across the App Store

Cons: proprietary accessories investment, AT&T service provider (not a show stopper as it will get better)

End of Line. 

Posted in: Apple Inc,iPhone,Technology