iPhone
The latest iPhone is lackluster, and not very revolutionary.
The phone’s specs are actually not quite on par with today’s top of the line smart phones (think Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumina 920).
The processor is getting near where other are. The screen size is similar to, but smaller than other phones. Apple just introduced LTE networking where others have had it for a while.
When the iPhone was released in 2007 it was very revolutionary. Apple took and cut out the hardware manufacturers and did the design themselves. They cut out the software that phone makers created and created their own iOS software. Apple also took the carriers to town by giving them the specific hardware, software, pricing, and limiting them to just being the phone carrier.
Apple also controlled the software updates to the phone, eliminating the phone manufacturer’s and carrier’s ability to dictate what software and how much is updated on the phone.
The software, hardware, experience were all put together into a seamless package that worked very well.
Apple did have problems with their initial release.
iTunes sucked then, and pretty much sucks now, but has been getting better. Apple has also made their devices work over the air, so iTunes is no longer required for updates and backing up of the phones.
The original iPhone had horrible reception issues on AT&T. Most likely due to the chipset that Apple picked to power the original iPhone.
The iPhone 4 had antenna issues due to hardware design that put the antenna on the outside of the phone were certain people could perform a “death grip” and lose signal strength.
iPhone software is now based on software that is over 5 years old. Grids of applications that only work with each other in on the edge. There is not a way to show all your pictures in one place. There are separate applications that are each walled off from one another. Facebook, Picassa, Phone, twitpic, etc. All are walled gardens.
Notifications are finally getting to where they are useful.
Android
Android has more problems than Apple has with the iPhone.
Multiple manufactures with different phone specs, all with different software and different experiences.
Each manufacturer creates their own phone design with full ranges of differing spec.
Each manufacturer then creates their own overlay (Motorola Blur, HTC Sense, etc.) changing the experience for everyone who uses their phone.
Each carrier then installs garbage software on their phones that cannot be removed. Some even run as root in hidden processes (Carrier IQ anyone).
The Android software updates are controlled by the hardware manufactures and carriers.
About 75% of the phones run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or earlier.
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is at about 20%, but was released in October of 2011.
The current version 4.1 (Jelly Bean) was released in July 2012.
Android OS is also looking dated. Grid of walled applications like the iPhone. Limited of sharing of data, photo’s, etc. between applications.
Notifications are finally getting better (like the iPhones).
Google also has all of their “free” software and services that it uses to monetize your tracking and history data.
Windows Phone 7/7.5/8
Everyone I have talked to or read about that has used it loves the software.
They also love the sharing of photos, emails, notification, etc.
Microsoft doesn’t have much market share, and carrier’s don’t carry their phones and don’t promote them.
Microsoft messed up by letting the carriers control the updates to the phone OS. Carriers have pretty much refused to update the phone’s software even when they were just bug fixes.
We will have to see if this one gets better or not.
Palm WebOS
The WebOS software was great. Ahead of its time.
Notifications are what other iPhone and Android are currently trying to achieve.
Palm made horrible hardware. Small screens, lackluster performance, poor quality hardware, and generally second rate hardware.
HP bought Palm WebOS and pretty much ran it into the ground killing it off.
Palm also had their contact charging “touchstone” for wireless charging.
Blackberry
Once king of the corporation, fell behind in software and hardware.
Not sure what else to say about this one.
After all that ranting what else do I have to say?
My current phone is an HTC EVO 4G from Sprint. I have to pay extra for the 4G even though I have never seen or used it where my phone has been.
I am stuck on version 2.3 of Android.
HTC Sense crashes at least weekly.
I have 2-4 contacts for each of my contacts that I regularly delete. Not quite sure where they came from.
Sprint usually only has a small selection of phones available.
Battery life is horrible.
Horrible software also shortens the battery life.
Sprints last upgrade now causes the Wi-Fi to turn on when I can’t connect to a network, further killing the battery life.
I am not quite in my cycle where I can upgrade yet.
New phone prices suck - $600-800 for phones not on contract. Yes this include Android and iPhones.
I have written mobile web sites where each device lies about their screen size and capabilities making it a pain to actually have a good experience.
I have written and published software for iPhone and Android devices.
Even though the applications were essentially the same, the experience on each device is vastly different.
If you are mostly non-technical and just want a phone the works seamlessly, the iPhone is probably your best bet.
If you are very technical and like to change your phone operating system, then and Android phone is probably your best bet.
Looking for a change? Maybe Windows Phone 8 on a Nokia Lumina 920 (releasing soon).
Pick what you like.
