So Apple are going to announce the new iPhone 5 today.
Too little, too late.
Ever since the patent war between Apple versus pretty much everybody else, I’ve grown tired of the arguments brought forth by Apple. Every bloomin’ flat screen TV I’ve seen looks the same, and pretty much operates the same. Same for most music centres too. Why should smartphones be any different?
The Galaxy S3 that I have does pretty much everything I want it to do and does it far better than the iPhone 4 ever could. The home key doesn’t look as though it’s going to wear out (whereas on the iPhone 4 it’s on it’s last legs). There’s touch sensitive keys (perhaps a bit TOO sensitive if grabbing the phone sideways, but works well enough in most situations) to go back a screen or to bring up additional menu options. I can slide to unlock in ANY direction. I can deploy different type of lock mechanisms (password, pattern or PIN). I can change a multitude of settings from the notification screen quickly and easily. The iPhone/iOS offers very limited functionality in that regard.
I could go on.
Where the S3 is perhaps not so great is the battery life – but then again this phone has a quad core processor, quad core graphics, can take additional microSD storage cards, and is so customisable (the SwiftKey 3 app is absolutely great – I can actually type faster and more accurately than I ever could on the iPhone). Android has come forward leap and bounds since I last used it back in 2008. I am VERY impressed. Very impressed indeed.
What’s the iPhone 5 going to have that Android and the hundreds of customisations that manufacturers have applied will not? Okay, a better battery life. Possibly better optics. Big deal. Apple is starting to lose it’s edge on the phone front (and possibly even on the tablet front too) and simply suing everybody left, right and centre is not going to do anybody any favours at all.
I’d be very happy to switch over to an Android tablet if it weren’t for the investment in magazines such as Empire, Writing Magazine and Mac User. And I’d much rather see an Android version of Final Draft Writer (since Android is much better at handling security and encryption than that of iOS) than the iOS version. If these publications moved over to Android, I’d happily ditch the iPad and get a Nexus 7 which is receiving very favourable reviews – and is so much cheaper than the iPad.
Viva La Android – big fat raspberry to Apple and iOS.
