RyuKent on Life

With the excitement growing over this Monday’s announcement of the new iPhone (yes it still hasn’t been confirmed) the important question is now growing – do we actually care? More importantly, will this be the moment I finaly make the switch to Android. I’m pretty sure now it’s a matter of time rather than if.

There’s an interesting article called 10 things Androd does better than the iPhone and so for convenience sake, I will set out my reasons below according to this list.

1 – Multitasking: This is indeed a big problem for me in my iPhone usage. I frequently read the news in MobileRSS on the train home, only to find a text message from my wife skips out of the application and I have to load the whole thing again. Why can’t twitter update itself without needing 101 push alerts bugging me every 5 seconds. Apple to promise to fix this in the upcoming OS4 though, so I will for now not use this as a reason to switch. Battery life is important here too. I don’t want all my apps running all the time, but I do want at least a choice.

2 – Homescreens and Widgets: The iPhone was clearly not designed to have hundreds of apps as in the beginning there were only a few. Apple never really solved this problem properly and although fanbois claim style superiority, most will agree the iPhone homescreen is badly in need of an overhaul. For me though it’s widgets that are key. I used to think the whole idea of widgets was crap. But increasingly there is information such as the weather, my tweets etc. that I would like to have displayed. I shouldn’t have to stop all the other apps and open a slow loading specific app just to get this. Further more, apple has even banned a legitimate widget like app just because it looked like a home screen. Is this a hint at what is to come. Better hope so or I will be disappointed.

3 – Apple has a better app market: This is true at the moment, but hardly a long term argument. The iPhone launched its app store long before Android did and also there are still many more iPhones out there. This will change as there are many more Android handsets being sold. Plus it is easier to develop for Android. Interestingly, Android phones used to be limited in the apps they can store by the internal memory. With FroYo Android 2.2 though, you can install onto the SD card. Because of this, expect to see much larger applications becoming available, especially games which were limited before. Finally… isn’t it nice that Android phones don’t have to use the google store. So Steve can’t stop you from installing things h doesn’t like. I jailbreak because I need extra functionality, so this is an important issue.

4 – Android gives you better notifications: Yes, as I mentioned above widgets and the lack of the huge iPhone popup that dominates everything and steals focus are definitely luring me in Androids direction. Again, apple has suggested this will change. We shall see.

5 – Android lets you choose your hardware: So does the iPhone, but then again there’s not much choice. I guess this is less of an issue for me as the iPhone format is quite similar to what I want in a phone. If I wanted something smaller then it would be a problem. Actually I’d like something a bit bigger and with a better camera and an FM or DAB radio please. Android can do that. Steve’s gonna have to pull something out of the hat on Monday to sell me over the HTC Desire.

6 – Availability on different networks: I think this is no longer relevant in the UK. Crap O2 performance will probably mean I leave for a better network though.

7 – ROMS: There is so much potential here. iPhone users can jailbreak, but Android users can run whole different version of the OS on their phone. Like SenseUI on a Nexus One or custom patched Androids that remove vendor customisation crap.  I think we’re going to see a lot of development here.

8 – Android lets you change settings faster: One thing that I completely rely on with my iPhone is the SBSettings by BigBoss. This allows you to quickly turn WiFi and 3G on and off. By default I keep everything off to save battery life and only turn on when I need it. This can be done quickly in Android but the iPhone requires you to go into settings and is very long winded. I think this could be solved quickly in the new OS4, but I somehow doubt Steve will bother. If I couldn’t jailbreak my iPhone to do this, I would probably have to bin it.

9 – Android does integration: This is a killer that might well clinch the deal for me. Apple are never going to allow other applications to integrate into their locked down systems. But sometimes integration is a really good idea. Why not have facebook and twitter integrated into the address book. Why not have the option to automatically upload pictures to flickr without having to run a whole new app and close everything else down. To me this is common sense. Unless Apple seriously rethink their entire paradigm on control, Android will keep biting them in the ass on this, over and over again.

10 – Price: The simple fact is Apple stuff is overpriced. Some people don’t care, but eventually it will matter. As Android phones are cheaper, more people will have them. When more people have them, the services on offer will be better. This is the current argument for buying an iPhone. Give it 12 months though and the tables will be reversed. I’m happy to be ahead of the game and spend my saved cash on a nice SD card that iPhones don’t support.

Beyond these key points I’d like to raise the general point of customisation and freedom. A friend said to me recently “I don’t care about open source. It doesn’t help me. I just like my phone to be easy to use and look good.” He had a fair point, but ultimately an open system that you can change and improve will look better and be easier for you to use. Why should I put up with what Apple have designed when a 3rd party can do better?

All this said, I’ll probably go out and buy an iPhone HD or whatever it’s called after Monday. But I will have high expectations. The slightest disappointment and HTC is already there for me. Go on Steve, impress me.