OK, so this is the first blog I've ever written, so bear with me a while. My purpose in writing this is to let anyone who is considering switching from Android to iOS know my experiences and what my likes/dislikes are. I don't consider myself a fanboy of Android at all, although I like a lot of what the OS lets me do, as well as some of the hardware. The only Apple devices I own are an older 30GB classic ipod, and and iPad which is actually my wife's. Regarding the iPad, I like it, but don't love it. I primarily use it for watching Netflix, checking my twitter account (@realdurangojim), and surfing the web. That's about it. I think the build quality is very good, but think that my phone, a HTC Droid Incredible, does more, which I'll expand upon in a bit. I'm definitely addicted to tech and have had the Incredible for 9 months (which is an eternity in tech years) so it's time for an upgrade. I've looked at the new Android devices introduced at CES 2011 and only the Bionic really interests me. So I thought I'd go in a different direction and purchase the iPhone on Verizon. I refuse to leave Verizon because I'm a doctor and need to make sure I have reliable service, even in rural areas. I've had no problems with them and see no reason to leave.
OK, so why did I choose Android? Like many who are on Verizon, I wanted an iPhone, but it never would come, so I chose the next best thing -- the Droid. I bought it at Walmart the day before it officially was released and immediately fell in love with it. I thought the OS wasn't as polished as the iPhone's but once I signed up with a gmail account, I really began to dig the cloud thing. Gmail and maps were great, and I thought the widgets were pretty innovative. I almost never used the hardware keyboard, so I decided that if a comparable device came out without one, I'd sell the Droid and get that. I'm all about efficiency so I appreciated the ability to set shortcuts on the homescreen for direct texting or calling my most contacted people (this is something I'll miss in the iPhone). Additionally I really liked push gmail and quickly switched to using it as my main email address. I do quite a bit of traveling and Google Maps has been awesome, especially with the voice commands while driving, I find it indispensable.
After having the Droid for 6 months, I was tired of it and switched to the Incredible when it was first released. I really like this phone. It's quick, smooth, and does almost everything. I don't like the AMOLED display because I can see the sub pixels or the space between them which make the display look less sharp than the Droids. This was something that blew me away about the iPhone 4 -- that retina display. The Incredible lets me do almost everything I ever wanted to in a phone, except have good battery life. Aside from that it's been great. So why am I switching? Two reasons: 1. I dropped the Incredible and broke it's glass screen two weeks ago and don't want to pay $100 to get it fixed, it still works fine, just has cracked glass 2. I'm addicted to tech and want to change things up.
I figure that going to the iOS is about as big a change as I can make (aside from going back to BB which I will never do, or going to WP7 which I see no reason to do). So over the next couple of months I'll document my experiences with the iPhone on Verizon, what I think of it as a device and OS, and whether or not I'll stay with it or switch to the Droid Bionic or one of the other new Android devices that are guaranteed to come out over the next year. Thanks for reading feel free to ask any questions that you might have.
