How I Learned To Quit Apple And Love Android
I’m a very loyal person in most aspects of my life – to my friends, my sports teams (despite a dalliance with the Tampa Bay Rays this season. Hey, the Mariners really sucked!), and also with what I buy. I’ve owned two cars in my life: a 1988 Volkswagen Golf and a 1998 Volkswagen GTI; I only buy Adidas sneakers; I’ve used a Mac my whole life; and I’ve had T-Mobile since I got my first cell phone 10 years ago.
Those last two were the cause of a great amount of conflict over the summer when I was deciding which smart phone to buy. Being an Apple enthusiast and fan of all things cool, the iPhone was the natural choice … but, my contract with T-Mobile that doesn’t end until mid-2010 said otherwise. So, I decided to go with the G1, Google Android-powered phone from T-Mobile.
This was no small task, mind you. We’re huge Apple advocates here at the Squad, and I also have been one my whole computer using life. There’s really nothing I don’t like about Apple, so leaving the flock for another farm was mildly unsettling. And there were problems – I had a major software meltdown and weird battery issue within one week that made me want to throw my shiny, new Android (which I’ve named Marvin) against the wall.
But aside from some usability issues that stemmed mostly from my predilection toward how Macs work, I actually think Google’s Android outclasses the Apple’s iPhone. While there are few differences in the phone’s performance with features users have come to expect – Internet, e-mail, GPS, mapping functions – where Google pulls ahead is the open operating system and basically unlimited possibilities for app development. The iPhone has a lot of really cool apps, but the operating system is basically a take-it-or-leave it proposition. Annoying bugs in the system, or a core application that makes your iPhone tough to use? Well, until Apple decides to deal with it, too bad. On Android, somebody simply has to develop a patch or new piece of software that can replace the core application. With Apple, that’s a big no-no.
A lot of people feel that Apple has been getting too big for its britches lately and acting in increasingly Microsoftian fashion. While I don’t know that I’d go that far, Android is a huge leap forward from the iPhone in promoting the open, collective approach to software and device development that is clearly the future of technology. Make a cool platform, open it up and let everyone else do the work to perfect it.
Smart phones are in their absolute infancy, and the fully-capable phone of two years from now will be light years ahead of the G1s and iPhones we know now, but Google clearly has their eye on that future, while Apple – innovators that they are – might be a bit too concerned with promoting their brand. Prove me wrong, Apple – I’d absolutely love it.
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Hari Seldon
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Doug Petrosky
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James Bond