For me, the biggest thing that attracted me to the iPhone (the first one) was the browser. Previous smartphones at that point were just glorified PDAs with crappy internet support. PDA wise, I tried to integrate them into my life with a Palm III, Palm V, then an iPaq, and all eventually left my service after a short time. The biggest thing that I liked was that on the Palm V, I had a GPRS modem, giving me a very early taste of internet access on the road.

After owning the first iPhone, it was just natural to keep going with them. A year after launch and apps came in. That made it even more useful outside having a non crappy browser and decent e-mail support. Android is definitely picking up steam*, but all my previous experiences really just haven't given me a good feel for it. I have enough time to glance at the surface and see the rough edges, but not enough time to feel out how the OS would actually work in my life.

Beyond just the iPhone though, I have really come to appreciate Apple's approach to things. This started with my Windows to Mac transition back in 2001. OS X won me over by providing a good solid Unix core along with a good consistent and usable GUI. The hardware also one me over by paying attention to little details other manufacturers continued to ignore.

I could probably go on a while, but I've posted my feelings before in other threads. Ultimately I'm willing to give up a bit of openness to gain polish. Apple is good enough in following standards similar to the open side unlike Microsoft that I don't feel trapped. But now that I have grown used to the very high level of polish in both my hardware and software, I have a hard time looking at desktop Linux, Windows, Android, Dell, or whatever without seeing all the rough pointy bits.

At the same time, I want to be aware of what is out there, just to see if maybe if the little cuts I'll get from the rough edges are worth it for some particular feature or ability. The reason I'm shying away from just buying a Nexus One or some other phone though is due to a parallel experience in my car. I had the nice Apple level of quality with the empeg. It works well, had polish that no other product out there had, and was reliable. I gave up on that and tried the CarPC route for the past few years, and I absolutely hate it. There were some awesome features, but ultimately the lack of polish and refinement, along with stability issues killed it for me. I'm now debating sinking more money into the mess to rip it all out and install the empeg, or buying a new car to get the Ford Sync system.


*though it was only in second place in the US for one quarter as far as sales, the iPhone still has a commanding lead over Android devices both US and world wide market share wise. It will be really interesting to see where Android goes from here, as it is definitely strong enough already to be providing great competition that will ultimately benefit the entire market.