If tablets are "giant phone things that don't even make calls", the next step was clearly to check out ordinary-sized phone things with full functionality. And the first step there was to deal with the iElephant in the room.
I wanted to get an iPhone, I really did. I wanted all my gadgets to synergise. I wanted to be a dick about ostentatiously using it on the train. I wanted to fall in love with a phone. I wanted to be brainwashed.
But when it came down to it, I just couldn't bend over far enough to be shafted that hard on price.
It would have had to be an unlocked iPhone. There's no plan available that satisfies me (I love that you abuse your highest-paying customers by offering them the same paltry data allowance as the lowest entry-level newbies). But the pricing for unlocked iPhones is frankly ridiculous. Why would anyone pay twice the price of a parallel-imported comparable Android handset? Especially when most of the droids have noticeably superior hardware? That's my holiday savings being wasted right there. No way.
Personally it's because an Android device as capable as an iPhone, including the high resolution display, costs almost as much but has an inferior user experience - in both software and hardware.
ReplyDeleteYou can give me the most capable hardware in the world, but if the user experience is bad I'm still going to hate it. This is, of course, a hugely subjective measure, so you may find the Android UX sufficient.
Despite being an Android user, I am inclined to agree with sitharus here: the iPhone hardware is good, and a truly comparable Android device will not be much cheaper. They also seem to have better battery life from my (limited) experience. iPhone accessories (at least official ones) are way overpriced though.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I prefer Android is the openness of the platform in general, so you can do more of what you want how you want. And there is of course a much wider range of low-end phones, so if you cannot afford an iPhone / high-end Android you can still get a pretty decent smartphone. I got a cheap and nasty Android for £20 (no contract) which I keep as a spare to lend to visitors. It is not very nice to use, but still has 3G and GPS and does email and maps and all the other apps, which is enough for using for a short time.