But I hear so many people saying things like, "I finally got an iPhone," and I always wonder, did they even consider the alternatives? I'm a techie. I like to do my own research and find the best product for me. I'm not saying the iPhone isn't the best product for a lot of people. I just think that sometimes it's not, and they just get it by default. So, this is just my personal view after using a LOT of smartphones and a lot of technology and consumer electronics products in general.
And, before you dismiss me as an Apple-hater, you should know that I have an iPad and mostly love it (I'll tell you the one feature it's missing later), my kids each have an iPod Touch, and I'd probably have a Macbook if it weren't so much more expensive than other laptops.
It also surprises me that folks talk about the iPhone as if it were the first ever smartphone. I agree that it is the product that made smartphones mainstream, but Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and yes, even Blackberries introduced us to the smartphone space, not iPhones. I loved my two Windows Mobile phones. I could install apps on those as well. I could sync e-mail and files between my phone and computer. I could check e-mail on the go and play games on my phone. Was it as seamless and smooth as it is today? No. But that's what happens with technology - it gets better over time. And what about the Palm Pilots and Pocket PC's that came before? You can't tell me that my Dell Axiom wasn't cool to carry along with my tiny cell phone back in the day.
Do you know the difference between capacitive and resistive touchscreens? Today, most of us would just say that resistive touchscreens are the old kind that doesn't work well, but five years ago I would have told you I liked that better. You almost had to use a stylus to get resistive touchscreens to respond, but I have long fingernails that basically give me built-in styli. And I absolutely hated typing in our iTunes password constantly for my daughter on her tiny iPod Touch capacitive touchscreen - I had to use my fingertips, and no matter how hard I tried, I'd hit incorrect keys. So frustrating! With my long nails or stylus, I could much more easily tap out letters and numbers on the resistive touchscreen on my Windows Mobile phone.
Fast-forward to 2010. I was running a small business, with consumer electronics clients as a major focus, and definitely needed to upgrade to one of the newer generation of smartphones. What were the choices? Windows Mobile was very out of date, they were waiting too long to launch the new Windows Phone OS. The iPhone was already entrenched as "the smartphone". But the Android OS really intrigued me. And capacitive touchscreens were really the only choice by then. I decided on a Samsung Galaxy S (the Epic 4G from Sprint) over the HTC EVO for one very simple reason - I thought that if I had to go with a capacitive touchscreen, I would need the slide-out keyboard for any heavy text entry. I was wrong.
What, in my opinion, is the single biggest thing that Apple mobile products are missing? Keyboard options, especially Swype! Instead of having to peck at individual letters and numbers, I can start my finger or thumb at the first letter of a word and slide along each letter, briefly raise my finger and start on the next word. Not everyone likes Swype, but I love it. It has honestly revolutionized mobile text entry in my opinion. And it comes on every Android phone. I wish I had it on my iPad (yes, that's the missing feature I'd love to have). And if you don't like Swype, there are several other awesome free keyboards to choose from.
Well, ok, you say. That's just one little thing (although it's actually huge to me). My iPhone is better than your phone in every other way. I mean, I have Siri for goodness sake! I've tried Siri. It's ok. I have S Voice in my Samsung Galaxy S3. It's also just ok. I really don't like talking to my phone much, but when I do, I tend to use Vlingo (a voice recognition app you can get for just about any smartphone OS) or Dragon Dictation by Nuance (built into my Swype Beta keyboard). I like my phone talking back to me even less. It may be a smartphone, but I still believe I'm a lot smarter than it is, and I'd rather talk to another person than my phone. But that's just me. Some people might love it.
What about the screen? You tell me:
Swype and phone screen size are the two biggies, the things I just wouldn't trade. But, yes, my Samsung Galaxy S3 has some other cool features that I've grown to like, a lot. I can add memory and replace my battery. When my iPhone toting friends need to get to a charger, I pop in my spare battery (yes, I always carry an extra in my very small purse just in case). While you spend at least $100 on more built-in storage, I can spend less than $20 on a 32gb micro SD card. My new phone has NFC (near field communication) in that removable battery as well. I can buy these fairly inexpensive ($15 for five of them) little stickers that I touch my phone to, and easily program with neat settings. For instance, when I climb into bed at night, I have one that tells my phone to silence the ringer, set my alarm, and text my hubby goodnight. And I can use NFC to pay for things with my phone while out and about, although I admit that I haven't tried that yet, and sometimes it worries me that my phone may be starting to be able to do a little TOO MUCH for me.
"But, I have more apps!" you say. Apple didn't invent apps, but they shortened the name from "applications" and made us all need them. And yes, you have a bigger selection that I do. But I'm not just tied to Apple's Appstore. I've got Google Play, the Amazon Appstore (that offers a different free app every day), Samsung Apps, several others, and if all else fails, I can easily side-load other apps that I find. There have been a few times that my friends are playing a neat new game on their iPhone sooner than it's available for Android, but I've never had to wait long before it was available somewhere for Android as well.
"But, my iPhone plays music!" Um, yeah, my phone does, too. And, yes, I can sync it to my iTunes account wirelessly and easily, too. And I can copy mp3 files directly to my micro SD card.
"But my iPhone takes awesome pictures!" Yes, my smartphone, beginning with that Galaxy S Epic 4G, has also replaced my point and shoot camera. I'd happily compare my pictures to yours. I know people who take better pictures because they are more skillful than I am, but other than that I don't see iPhone pictures that are just better quality.
"But my iPhone has 4G!" No, it doesn't. Not yet, and that's not what your "4" or "4S" stand for. At least not LTE. Hopefully with the iPhone 5. And no, I'm not really any better off. My phone has 4G LTE, but only Verizon offers LTE in my market, and I'm not with Verizon. But, 4G LTE is pretty awesome, and I hope it comes to my market soon.
"But I don't have to worry about my iPhone getting updated to the latest OS!" Yes, the Android OS is fragmented. There are a lot of manufacturers making Android phones. To me, that means a lot of choices. And yes, not everyone gets the latest Android version at the same time. But it's never hurt me personally, because I tend to update my phone every year when I can, every two years if I absolutely have to wait for the contract to come up. And I buy a recent release phone, so it gets the next OS update.
"But, my iPhone, iPad, and computer all have my synced calendar and e-mails!" Yes, so do Gmail and Google Calendar. Even many corporations are switching over to it. And even while I was using Outlook on my computer because I liked the user interface better, I found a little program that would sync it to Google Calendar for me. When there is something I want to do or sync between my phone and computer, I have yet to not be able to find a way to do it online or in an Android forum. I honestly have more trouble getting my iPad to behave and do some of the weird things that I want. Android is just a more open system. People find work-arounds for me. Sure, I could jailbreak Apple products, but I don't want to. Remember, I'm also a rule-follower who doesn't want to void her warranty.
So, there you go. There's some other cool things, too, but I don't want to beat you to death with the greatness of my phone. And I honestly believe the iPhone is pretty great, too. Just do your own research first, that's all I ask.
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