If you had to replace your main phone, would you buy an Android phone or an iPhone? Why?

Also see and (and for reference)

I had to replace my main last year: a SPH-i500 phone, which I bought in 2003. I replaced it with an in preference to , because and the associated ecosystem is still a horrible mess because in order to drive adoption, isn't exercising enough control of the manufacturers (Samsung, , ) or the (, ), which leads to awfulness like this: http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support And then there's the whole data synchronization morass: pretty much Google says, "all your data are belong to us", that is, you seem to need to either set up Google's cloud services with copies of your contacts & calendars (which they get to paw through), or you have to buy third-party software to "solve" what should be a basic function of the phone OS built-in. With Apple , that stuff is built-in, though isn't perfect. Nota Bene: is going this way, too, with but at least you can opt-out ... for now.

iPhone right now. I'm quickly becoming concerned with carrier practices towards Android - using its "open" nature to disable features, force-load crapware, and change core UI. Likewise, since the handset makers have to write the middleware that sets between the raw hardware and the OS, we're seeing phones that should be able to run newer Android revisions unable to get it. It's a recipe for a return to carrier control and a heavily fragmented market, which will in turn make life less interesting for app developers. Ask a game dev which is easier - writing for a console (known platform, minimal OS variants) or a PC/Mac (divergent hardware, drivers, processors, video capability). Android's Q&A grid of handset makers, carriers, and OS variants is growing quickly - which makes it less, not more, attractive to developers. I'm technical 40-something (sorry to bust your bubble, Lee). But I'm not a developer, nor do I want to be. The best hardware in the world is useless without a good operating system, good driver support, and good apps. At the time being, Apple still has the best "combined score" for  hardware, OS, drivers, and apps - even if Android phones may exceed in one area or another. That may change. But until it does, I'm quite happy with my iPhone 4 and its excellent balance of hardware, software, and interoperability.

The Android phones from Samsung are phenomenal and have surpassed Apple's for practical functionality already...it simply does more. My take after using both and asking different age groups their opinions on phone technology: - iphone for the 30 somethings+ that aren't completely competent with technology or anyone who wants a very easy to use smartphone. - android(Samsung Galaxy S Series specifically) for the next generation who are comfortable with technology or those who are more competent using smartphones and who want more advanced technology and features from a smartphone. (sorry for the expression of ageism for the 30+ folks. I find that most over the age of 30 don't even know how to use T9 on candybar phones, whereas the generation who can't afford a smartphone yet  but love texting have no qualms with learning newer technologies and have no difficulty embracing/learning new technology once they can afford a smartphone.) Apple 4G Pros: - Ease of use (just works) out of the box (Android phones you need to configure to make efficient) - More PAY-FOR Applications. First app from more popular websites usually have iphone version 1st before Android. - Unified Platform of Hardware that ensures software compatibility for all handsets (android software does have more potential to crash because of the lack of the unified hardware platform) - Easy to purchase tons of music, video and apps - Easy to manage music if you already using itunes - Nice design (not innovative, but nice - aka stolen design from Nokia N78) - Front facing cam might make video chat more popular (this has existed in euro phones forever and never caught on.) Good though for girls to help put on their makeup - Excellent battery life (too bad you can still get battery anxiety by end of day and have to be tethered to wall) - Status symbol for some - Camera quality is great (though limited in manual controls) - Faster GPS locking times, high quality gyroscopes and accelerometers - Mature external peripheral/accessory support (speaker docking stations etc) Samsung Android Galaxy S Series Pros (International I9000, ATT Captivate, Tmobile Vibrant, Sprint Epic, Verizon Fascinate): - Larger screen with best in class saturation, color, black levels and contrast. better screen than iphone 4 IMO (some would argue for iphone with greater pixel density but that's like bragging for "reading at 4pt font size"-you don't even do that on your computer why would you do that on your phone. Ever wonder why ATT doesn't have iphone 4g directly next to competitors for direct comparison of screen? Put the 2 side by side, play a movie(not youtube video) and tell me which looks more stunning. I guarantee you'll choose the Samsung. - User interface details are faster and more efficient (one example of many: try going from page 1 of your apps on your iphone to page 10...do you really like flicking 10 times on the iphone) - Dashboards (that let you access information feeds, widgets and most used programs and people) vs static "iphone All Programs" area - the iphone apps may be more polished, but the android apps aren't that far behind and most are free - Free Google 3D Turn by Turn Navigation - Out-of-the box wifi hotspot access for your laptops through your phone (aka tethering) - Wireless media(music, movie) streaming to internet ready DLNA TV's, PS3's, xbox360 or other DLNA devices - built in FM radio because there are times you don't want to drain your battery or deal with spotty internet connections when using Pandora - Camera quality is great with full featured camera from a real camera manufacturer who gives you focus controls, metering, exposure, white balance control among other things - Facebook and Gmail Contacts integration so you can get all their phone numbers, addresses, status updates, profile pics and shared photos all from one spot in your phones Contact/Address Book - Front facing cam - Gtalk IM built into phone optimized for battery life - Poor battery considering how much more you'll use this phone, its features and screen [BUT has removable battery and they're cheap ($10 for 2 on Ebay) that are small and easy to fit in pocket...NO MORE BATTERY ANXIETY EVER!] - Swype text entry...consistent, easy one handed typing IF you know your QWERTY keyboard AND you learn how it works - Video Playback is phenomenal looking and easy to load, especially if you have huge digital video library of DIVX or MKV files. (iphone users have to spend hours converting to iphone specific format... meaning that you are unlikely to use as a video media player unless you like purchasing vids from itunes) - Available unlocked and ability to use a standard sized SIM. Useful when traveling internationally and wanting to purchase prepaid cellular SIMs. - More advanced features are builtin (ie tethering and external program installation) without doing jailbreaking and worrying about void of warranty or when Apple might defeat some counter-measure - You can find a version of this phone for ANY CARRIER - Removable memory expandable up to 32GB using SDMicro cards - Fastest 3d processor (as of this writing) for mobile phones - Relatively cheaper out-the-door cost

For me, Android, for several reasons over the iPhone: 1) Excellent notification system, I find myself annoyed by the iPhone's pop ups (sms, push, etc.) or lack of persistent (new email) notifications. 2) Ability to customize more. I use swype for instance, which is much better than either phones' default keyboards. 3) Excellent task switching. Based on videos I've seen, the new iPhone OS switching remains slower than Android (it doesn't look like apps are necessarily staying in memory when using the fast switcher); I might be wrong here though when the final comes out. 4) Guaranteed to work with linux For you, it comes down to what you want.  The iPhone has far more games.  Media syncing is better too. And it might be slightly simpler to use just basic functionality.  And most people seem to find its UI prettier. I don't care much about those things though, so Android is the easy pick for me.

Android for sure 1. No Swype. www.swype.com/‎ 2. BIG SCREEN Whatever others say, but BIG SCREEN is BETTER than small screen. 3. Iphone has no NFC 4. No flash transfer available Believe me once you use this you wont abuse android ever. :P http://killerdog.store.aptoide.com/app/market/cn.andouya/19/3151074/Flash%20Transfer 5. Variety of screen sizes and models available. unlike iPhone same age old model, you doesn't even feel anything new after paying 50,000 6. When you can better features for same price , do you wa nt to feel stupid for paying more for lesser features.

I did this in September when I preordered my . (I had an at the time) I was almost completely set on an upgrade with the iPhone, but it hinged on some things: Because I'm an Apple Developer, it makes sense to own an iPhone. I can put my alpha and beta apps on my device for testing in real-world scenarios, even when using cellular data connections which I couldn't do with a test model since I wouldn't bother paying monthly for a testing device. I am very familiar with , since I went from the to the to the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5 would be really easy to get started on since I could even use the backup from my current phone. I already have a lot of apps, including paid apps, and staying with an iPhone would let me keep using those apps. I can also get those apps on my iPhone and my , which is also very important. . I was totally prepared to buy the if the iPhone 5 didn't have LTE. I knew I could adapt rather quickly to if I needed to, although I really didn't want to. I knew I just wanted a new phone and I wanted it to have a fast data connection. For the record, if I was still using my old Samsung Alias I would choose an iPhone over any Android device. I was pretty much "I'll take anything but this Samsung piece of crap!" at that point. To this day, I would rather use a phone by , , , , or than anything by because I not only don't like their devices but I despise the way their company is run and the way it does its business. (Even if I didn't have anything to do with , I still wouldn't like Samsung... in fact, part of why I love Apple is the way their business is run) In case it helps to point it out, I have and I am sticking with them for my since-retired Unlimited Data plan and the way they do business.

After carrying on without a smartphone for seven whole years, I finally purchased one last year when my cherished Sony Ericsson Walkman series phone died. It may seem dated now, but IMO it was one of the most high quality mobile phones ever built, and to its credit sustained a lot of damage. In its heyday, I remember every other person at my high school owned one. Anyway, I replaced it with an , specifically, the - a recent model at the time- and the first phone developed via a partnership between Google and Samsung. The factor which influenced my decision most heavily was that I wanted to be able to program for Android, and the Nexus is renowned by open source advocates as having the most tweak-able OS.  An iPhone wasn't necessary to do iOS development owing to the expediency of XCode in compiling and simulation. In comparison, the Android emulator is extremely slow, and thus a real pain to test code in. It is far more convenient to connect your phone to the laptop instead. However, I think the Android was also preferable to me from a usability perspective, since the Android has the bigger screen (LIKE), very responsive to touch (sexy), the dazzling and absolutely brilliant display resolution (spiffy). My only qualm with it was the camera resolution (5.0 MP), which is considerably meagre for this day and time. Still, It's many other benefits make this flaw easy to overlook. The iPhone is a closed and safer system, and as an avid user of open source software, this just doesn't jibe with me. Of course, data security is important, and how much of it you are sacrificing when opting for an Android over the iPhone is a question of doing your own research and drawing conclusions.  Moreover, some might disagree, but the iPhone UI is so dated. It feels positively ancient because I have been looking at the same icons and interface design having used the iPod touch for half a decade. It seems boring. Samsung's phones have already outsold the iPhone in 2012, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this pattern continue. Finally, but Android users seem to be more tech-savvy, and it seems that being tech-savvy is the cool new thing. Appearances are important, and if Android has managed to convince the young adult population that iPhones are for parents (which is funny because my Dad got the S III, disliked it, and returned to iOS), it means trouble for Apple.

I live in NYC and had to give up on AT&T's awful service here, so I switched from an iPhone 3G to...a Palm Pre+ on Verizon!  I know crazy, right?  Actually, no.  From a usability standpoint, WebOS  exceeds Android.  It's such a pleasure to use.  Everything is gesture-based and just feels right.  I'm a big Quicksilver fan, so Palm's "Just Type" model to search anything...from my contacts to Google to IMDb...by just typing is natural. Yes there are a lot fewer apps, but I realized that even though I owned dozens of iPhone apps, I only truly used about one page on a regular basis.  WebOS has great options for my main mobile needs...Twitter, Facebook, a fantastic mail client, integrated IM, Evernote, RSS readers.  There are some great game options now, too...hell I'm in the middle of Angry Birds right now.  (Palm has made it extremely simple for iPhone devs to port games to WebOS, so there are a lot of choices from the big developer houses like EA and Gameloft.)  I've been a Mac user for a long time and never felt the need to switch to Windows due to its larger software market.  The signal-to-noise ratio of the App Store and Android Marketplace are so high that it's often difficult to find the best apps anyway. Finally let's not forget about WebOS's opennness.  It puts Anddoid to shame.  The OS is imminently and easily tweakable via an incredibly active homebrew scene, with which Palm is perfectly OK.  (No sketchy "rooting" of hardware by hackers.)  I'm even overclocking my CPU to 1ghz, so it's blazingly fast, and there's no appreciable battery life reduction. Beyond WebOS itself, the Verizon Pre+ acts as a wifi access point...and there is absolutely no charge for tethering data!  Plus the Touchstone inductive charger is amazing.  When people drop by my desk and see it for the first time they always gasp.  The biggest complaint I have, though, is the tiny screen.  The resolution is the same as an iPhone 3GS but physically smaller, so text can get quite small.  But of all the smartphones I've seen, the Pre's transflective display makes it the clear winner for outdoor use.