Losing My Apple Fanboy Status

by Taylor Brooks on October 19, 2009

I turned in my 2nd iPhone after a week of usage.  Why?

Couple reasons, the phone isn’t THAT great and the carrier is subpar.  Chris Dixon took the words out of my mouth – you never buy a phone, you buy a phone/carrier combo.

Here’s what I’m looking for in my next phone:

  • Seamless integration with Google (Gmail, Google Voice, Google Docs, Wave, etc)
  • Plan that includes ~700 minutes, unlimited messaging & data for under $80
  • Open platform for developers
  • Long battery life.  Like 2+ days without a charge

With that in mind, it appears my next phone will run Android.  And the two front runners are: Sprint’s HTC Hero and Verizon’s Droid, whenever it releases…

Verizon declares war on Apple’s iPhone and its silly poppy commercials:

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Satchell Drakes December 13, 2009 at 1:28 am

You indeed want the Google Phone releasing 1Q 2010 my friend. Estimated for release in January. Android 2.0, hardware and OS marked by Google. The phone will actually be distributed unlocked for all carriers and is slated to be the first all-VoIP phone (all calls will be over cellular data) so that means you *theoretically* should have infinite minutes. I’m not sure how the cellular industry will respond to this new freedom. My advice: get your hands on a Google Voice account.

I’ve been on the iPhone 2G for about two years now and I’m on the fence about a switch. The OS could be better, though I wouldn’t say that it didn’t deserve the hype that it has. Especially surrounding the multi-touch keyboard. Android definitely has it beat in a few areas (multiple-running applications, HTC Sense UI Widgets) and I’m contemplating a switch. Though one thing keeping me is the future of the App Store; The iPhone at this point is so ubiquitous, you can count on great services – secular as well as Christian – to provide application resources for *probably* the iPhone before anything else (i.e. Mars Hill iPhone App, Logos Software). Not that these are an absolute necessity. But the open source application store on Android, though giving plenty of power to the people, has it’s drawbacks. Apple, by nature, is extremely elitist, making only the best available for their customers (I guess you pay for the premium…), while with Android, you gotta do a bit of searching for the gems. Google never lets me down though. What has caught your attention about Android? Are you a graphic designer?

It’s late. I’m a geek. Somehow I found myself at a stranger’s blog. Please forgive me. But I rarely get to share these things with people without losing their attention.

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Taylor Brooks December 14, 2009 at 10:44 pm

Hey Satchell,

Thanks for the comment!

I think you’re right. I saw the TechCrunch article on the Google phone and my mouth started watering. I hope the hardware isn’t made by HTC, they feel cheap to me. As far as apps go, I can do without. The only apps I need are Google apps. Especially a full-featured version of Google Reader – the mobile version they have now is seriously lacking.

I’m not good enough to claim to be a graphic designer. I’m not sure what my title would be, front-end web developer/sales & marketing guy/wannabe Rails developer/I’m so full-of-it?!?

I checked out your site(s), you’re waaaay more talented than me. So tell me, what’s the last great book you’ve read? I mean really, really good book. We can move to email if you’d like -> tbrooks at gmail dot com

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