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Until Wednesday, I was on the fence about whether my next smartphone would be the latest iPhone, or Samsung’s Galaxy S III, which runs Android. As I wrote in this entry in July, Apple often falls behind Android hardware because it only releases iPhones annually, while new Android handsets are being released frequently by multiple vendors. That, along with some financial considerations, had me seriously considering switching platforms.
But yesterday, after Apple took the wraps off the iPhone 5, I made up my mind to stock with iOS. I’ll be ordering a white, 64-GB iPhone 5 when they become available early Friday morning. And yes, I’m going to get up at 2 a.m. to do it, because I want to be able to review the device as soon as possible (I’m not on Apple’s “A†list for iPhone review units, sadly).
At the time I wrote the blog post discussing a switch, I actually was leaning toward going Android. And at one point, I was pretty sure I was going to be picking up a Galaxy S III. I’ve been working with a review unit and really, really like that phone. It’s fast, nicely designed and has a gorgeous display. I particularly like watching video on it, thanks to its oversized, 4.8-inch screen.
But as the weeks went by, I also became annoyed with it.
There were a handful of apps that I use on the iPhone that aren’t available on for Android, such as Showtime Anywhere. And the inconsistency of menus and often kludgy app design bugged me as well.
But what really got to me was the overall size of the phone. I am very good at typing one-handed with my iPhone 4, but my thumb has a very hard time with the S III’s keyboard. I also grew very irritated at the stock keyboard’s predictive text feature, which works very differently from that of the iPhone. At one point, I turned off the predictive text and the results were even worse. In frustration, I tweeted this, just typing naturally:
Yes, I know that I could swap out keyboards on the S III â€" that’s one of the nice things about Android phones â€" and several folks on Twitter recommended SwiftKey. But the other issue is that, while the big screen makes for a great display, it’s lousy ergonomically.
And that’s why, as I was watching liveblog coverage of the iPhone 5 launch on Wednesday, I made the decision to stick with iOS.
Early in the demo, Apple marketing jefe Phil Schiller pointed out that enlarging the screen by making the iPhone 5 longer but not wider was better ergonomically. For me, he’s dead on â€" the iPhone just fits my hand better.
There are other reasons I’m staying, and they’re outlined in the original post. The most important ones: My family all uses iPhones, and there are interoperability benefits there; I’ve invested a lot of money in iOS applications; and iOS is updated frequently by Apple, with no delays imposed by carriers. Android fragmentation is a big concern for me, and it’s probably the second biggest reason why I’m not changing.
I have one other big decision to make: Which carrier to choose? As I wrote last month, I’m an AT&T user but am considering switching to Verizon. I’ll let you know on Friday which way I went after I order the iPhone 5.
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