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. :)