June 3, 2011

• And I finally decided - iPhone vs Android

  Months I've lamented over this.  MONTHS!  I even did a paper on it for my Decision Making class.  And I've finally started putting the wheels into motion.

  If the stars align and all goes according to plan, on June 20th, I will be the proud new owner of a Samsung Galaxy S Captivate which I should get for free.  I will have to add a $30/mth data plan to my phone and pay $40 activation fee ($35+tax) but I walk away with a "free" phone.  After a month of data, my plan is to cancel the data plan and pay the $100 early cancellation fee.  That means I would have effectively paid $186.45 for this phone and 1 month of data instead of $620 for the phone.  In my world, that's still a good deal.

  source: http://cdn3.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/
  uploads/2010/08/samsung-captivate.jpg

  In case you forgot (or just didn't know), I currently have an iPhone 2G.  Yes...the very first generation of iPhone.  I got it when it was only available in the US.  My friends unlocked a bunch of phones and we were running around town.  In my case, around the world -- with an unlocked iPhone using whatever SIM card I wanted.  When in Dubai, I use my du SIM...in Europe I use Virgin Mobile...and in good ole America, I'm on AT&T -- all of these are pay-as-you-go services.  Screw Rogers and their gawd forsaken roaming charges.

  My iPhone has been a very reliable and trusty companion these past 3.5 years (yes, we've been friends that long).  But it's on it's last legs.  There's something rattling inside whenever I shake it.  It's started crashing...not a lot...but noticeably more than before.  And it's all scuffed up to the point where I don't even bother with a case anymore.  Oh...and the growing row of dead pixels at the top and bottom of the screen is a pretty strong indicator of it's impending doom.  Did I mention the nasty key gash near the bottom of the screen?  Oh yeah...and the menu button doesn't always respond as well as it should.  Need I go on?

  
  source: http://www.ilikemyiphone.com/wp-content/uploads/6_20_07_iphone_dock_1.jpg
  

  So why, might you ask, am I switching to Android?  Well...to be honest, the main reason was price.  I just don't want to pay >$200 for a phone.  I know the iPhone interface is far superior to all the other smartphones on the market, but I just don't watch that much video on my phone.  And from an applications perspective, although the slick resolution is a nice to have, it certainly is not mandatory.  For comparison purposes, let's look at the iPhone 4 - 16 GB Black.  This, with all available promos would cost me $123.18 for the handset on top of the $186.45 for data, activation, and early cancellation of data.  That's a total of $310.

  
  source: http://iphonehelp.in/content/uploads/2011/05/iphone4_2.jpg
  

  The iPhone 4, however, is lacking in a few things that I feel are a must have.  It's failure in meeting these criteria make the price even harder to justify.

  First, it doesn't take the regular SIM card.  It only takes microSIM.  This alone was the deal breaker.  I wouldn't be able to put my international SIM cards in here.  I know people say you can cut your SIM for use as a microSIM, but I wasn't about to do that.  One false move and I'll be buying a new SIM card.

  Second, unlocking.  The iPhone is locked to the Rogers network.  Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to unlock?  If I could put my foreign SIMs into it, I would go to the trouble of unlocking & jailbreaking it.  But with the Android phone, the unlock codes are already ON the handheld...so I don't need to go to any trouble at all.  It's easy peasy to unlock.

  Third, Apple is continuing in their pissing match with Adobe.  So...iPhone 4 is not compatible with Flash.  Quite frankly, Flash is prevelant enough on the Internet that I expect to be able to view it on my phone.  If Apple's not going to make that happen, then I'm going to go with a product that can.  And yes, this is also why I'm not in the market for an iPad.

  Lots of people have given me the speech about how it'll be so hard to get used to an Android phone since I'm so accustomed to my iPhone but I've always been pretty tech savvy so I should be ok.  Besides, with the additional $123.18 I'd have to spend for the iPhone 4 (or more realistically $248, because I'd likely buy the 32 GB) I could have myself a nice dinner and premium bottle of wine at North 44 - more than once.

  And if I'm really suffering from Apple withdrawl...well... I'm trading in my old iPod Video 60 GB for a 10% discount off an iPod Touch (because what else am I doing to do with my dead iPod?).

  • 12:22 pm
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