The Big Decision - stick with iPhone or go Android?

[penk]

After leaving my last job, my iPhone account with AT&T is going to get transferred back to me, and knowing how AT&T does these things, I betcha dimes for dollars they'll want to re-up the contract.

I checked with AT&T, and I can terminate the contract now for $102, leaving me open to go elsewhere or else-phone.

The pros and cons are high on both sides. My biggest reasons for jumping to another platform (at least for a while) is that I feel that I'm getting too blindsided by the Apple kool-aid. I can't even think of things I can't do on my iPhone, mostly because i've never been exposed to a smartphone platform (excluding PalmOS) that I can use for comparison.

Getting down to brass tacks, here's how I see the pros and cons of switching from iPhone to android...

iPhone pros:
* Solid, stable, well known
* Well supported in the industry
* AppleCare
* "Just plain works" - at least for mail
* Apple Appstore + iTunes store

iPhone cons:
* "Apple Kool-Aid"
* Bluetooth support is abysmal
* Locked in functionality - Can't go beyond what Apple says I can do without Jailbreaking, which has it's own not insubstantial risks
* Calendar syncing is still a nightmare [*]
* I can't write apps for it
* No expansion capability - storage is fixed
* iTunes is a horrible horrible nightmare
* Tethering is very very limited (and costs extra? Huh?)

Android pros (specifically thinking of the HTC Evo 4g or 3d)
* Modern platform that has very high performance hardware available
* Large format screen
* Open development platform
* I can develop for it
* Calendar syncing 'just plain works'
* "Not Apple" - gives me a perspective on the industry I feel I need.
* If switching to Sprint, FINALLY support for tethering and mobile hotspots!
* SD Slot in most phones. User expandability!
* Music management is an exercise for the user - ability to do 'what works'

Android cons
* No end to end support, no matter what happens support, ala Applecare and the Apple store
* Android is not as polished and clean as iOS. Serious yak-shaving potential
* Would likely mean switching carriers to Sprint - fear of the unknown coverage maps
* Limited support for some apps (Netflix comes to mind)

I think in the end, the Sprint change would be a net gain in cost (AT&T and Verizon are much more expensive, from what I've seen).

Lastly - which phone? :) I like the HTC Evo 4G - the kickstand is awesome. But the current model seems to be the 3D - I have no interest in the 3D aspect of the platform, but the dual-core CPU would be awfully nice. I don't want a 'slider' (ala, integrated keyboard). I'm okay typing on the screen.

So, what do folks think?

ETA[*] - qwrrty's link to using CalDAV on a new link seems to have cleared the calendar syncing problem. I'm irritated that I 'sorta' had things working, and it was silently failing, and switching it all up has 'fixed' it. I don't know what the problem was to begin with! But thanks Tim. :)

Comments

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty happy with the Android kool-aid. I'm also a bit of a bottom-feeder in that I'm OK with the middle-of-the-road phones that the Sprint resellers offer, and the price ($25/month for unmetered bandwidth and more minutes than I'll ever use) is right. Coverage of the app space is excellent, and with the stuff I care about also free.

My only real complaint with regard to Sprint's coverage is that they don't do Canada at all. After hearing a lot of FUD about coverage (before signing up) I've actually been surprised and pleased at some of the odd corners of the country where Sprint does fine but the GSM carriers lose.

Despite otherwise finding the Apple kool-aid pretty tasty in general (I've been a mac user for a bunch of years as well as owning an iPod Touch), I find iOS just a bit too limited. You might also enjoy it.