Update – 4th March 2013 – I’ve since migrated to EE and have swapped the non-LTE enabled S3 for an iPhone 5. While the S3 was reasonable phone, I was not happy with the way T-Mobile locked down the firmware preventing non-over the air updates and a lengthy period of time to update to Jelly Bean. Add to the fact that few 3rd party apps can take advantage of the additional microSD storage and managing music from iTunes to S3 is a pain in the arse – going back to Apple’s ecosystem seemed the logical choice. I think Android needs to improve a bit more before I’m convinced to ditch Apple again.
Today I renewed my contract with T-Mobile for another 24 months.
I could have chosen an iPhone 4S 16Gb for the same tariff (albeit now “Full Monty”) and pay £49 for the 16Gb model, but no.
As I already have the iPhone 4 (32Gb model), I figured that with the improved 1080 HD video support and 8 mega-pixel camera of the 4S, 16Gb of storage is not much to work with for the two years commitment as well as paying £50 up front for the privilege. The iPhone 4S 32Gb (very limited stock, long waiting list) was priced at £200 and the 64Gb at £250 respectively. No thanks.
So I’ve gone with the Samsung Galaxy S3. It’s my first Android phone since the Google Nexus One (which I got free from Google for being a Top Contributor, but the experience with the Nexus One was horrific and put me off thinking about going back to Android for a very long time – hence why I’ve been using the iPhone 4 for the past two years).
I can only hope that Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung have dramatically improved the experience.
Having read reviews, however, it is almost universally well-liked and there have been very few bad things said about it. At least it comes with 16Gb of internal memory and can be expanded via microSD up to 64Gb. Much better. I can expand the storage as necessary and not limited by the hardware. It has a user replaceable battery too.
In terms of the patent infringements – no company is without sin. Perhaps if Apple spent some time encouraging the competition and working with open standards so that the basic UI stuff that’s practically become so common these days in all smartphones – can continued to be used by all (albeit with refinements and improvements unique to each manufacturer/device) rather than being all secretive and closing everything up to maintain a tight grip over everything and anything – none of these awful litigations would be needed. Apple’s recent behaviour has seen their products banned in other countries as well, you know.
Additionally, the very fact my company now has to pay Apple to have code signed just in order for their applications to run without inconvenience to the user is proving that Apple are becoming rather greedy. Yes, I can imagine that there is a cost involved with setting up the signing and distribution process, but it’s making the development of FOSS a thing of the past on the Apple platform. Apple wants absolute control and they want it all. To me Apple are fast becoming bunch of fat cats, and are resembling the Microsoft of old – a very bad thing to become.
So yes, I’m going Android.