Why I Use Android

I recently had a job interview with Apple and listened to the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. This got me thinking, why don't I move into the Apple ecosystem and buy their entire product line, from Mac Pro to iPod Shuffle?

I also often enjoy playing with my wife's iPhone, and am amazed by the speed and fluidity with which the device functions. Steve Jobs' philosophy on product design was that you fully integrate the hardware and software to ensure a great user experience. Steve focused on creating beautiful hardware, and I have to admit that my Android phone have been less pretty than any of the iPhone generations. The hardware also has great features and functionality, like high pixel density and really good mobile and wifi radios.

In addition to the beautiful function of the product (I've only ever found one bug), the app ecosystem for the iPhone rocks. There were many more iPhone apps than Android apps back in 2009 when I got my first Android phone, the Google Dev Phone (T-mobile G1). Now, there are roughly the same number of apps on both stores, and Android actually has more free apps. Some apps that I really wanted (Flickr, Instagram) are now available on the Android market, but many apps still have more functionality on the iPhone. For example, the Gospel Library app is available on both platforms, but on the iPhone you can listen to the scriptures or conference talks.

That brings me back to the original question: if I like iPhone hardware and iPhone apps better, why don't I make the switch?

1. Google Talk - it's not facetime, but it has video chat and even google+ hangouts, and I am always logged into gchat, so I am more accessible.

2. Google Voice - it's now available on iPhone, but it wasn't for a while, and it allows me to make free calls over wifi and get voicemails transcribed in an email.

3. Google Maps - turn by turn directions on the Android version of Google Maps is amazing. It uses a lot of power, but it gets you exactly where you want to go.

4. Tethering - while moving cross-country, it took a while to setup internet at our new apartment. Thanks to AT&T, I was able to gobble lots of unlimited data on my Android phone tethered to my laptop. Tethering and WiFi hotspot is built into Android 2.3 and up.

5. Google Voice Search - This was around years before Siri, and it is actually just as good as Siri at actually answering questions because Siri has to google most information anyways.

6. Adobe Flash - I don't use it much, but it is nice to view videos and flash-based websites on my phone. iPhone doesn't have it because Steve Jobs had a grudge against Adobe for not producing video editing software for the Mac. Sure, HTML5 will make flash obsolete, but for now it's nice.