Of Androids and Apples

I was an iPhone 3G user for 2 years, having switched from Verizon to AT&T after seeing a friend’s iPhone in action. I am not an Apple fan, by and large, but the iPhone is a great device: simple to use, simple to master, and a fun experience… so long as you can abide by Apple’s steady (or heavy, depending on your point of view) handed stewardship.

But the 3G model is no longer actively supported by Apple, and I made the mistake of updating the firmware to the crippled version of the iOS4 which made the 3G practically unusable as a phone due to agonizingly long task switching and load times. I was becoming frustrated with the experience, so I was pleased to realize that I was eligible for a handset upgrade. I headed down to the AT&T store to pick up a Samsung Captivate. The change between the two is…startling, in many regards.

Part of the problem with Android phones is that Android is an OS which is made by a single company, Google. They place no restrictions on who can create handsets, aside from some technical specs that probably have to be in place to actually run the thing. This means that a handset from Motorola won’t be the same as one from Samsung, both in form and in appearance of the display itself. It also means that finding and tracking information about your particular handset is an exercise in banging your head on the desk. In a scene where bigger-better-faster catches the headlines, as soon as your handset hit’s the street, it’s passé and unworthy of mention. Because the OS version differs, because the hardware differs, and because the capabilities of each device differ, it’s impossible to know when your handset is getting an update, or if an app being released and reviewed will actually work on your handset. This makes 90% of the news on Android themed sights basically useless. And I still haven’t found a decent, dedicated app-review website for Android apps.

There’s a lot of talk about how Android is more “open”, and I suppose the pure OS is. But since we the consumer aren’t building these phones ourselves, we still have to contend with the whims of the carriers. The Captivate, for example, doesn’t allow me to load apps that aren’t available from the Android Marketplace. I can root it, I know, but with all this talk of “openness” of the Android OS, I feel that I shouldn’t have to makes these end-runs around the carrier. So far, there are only a few irritations due to this – I can’t take advantage of beta software, or work with development tools like App Inventor the way they’re designed to work, but there’s a lot of apps on the sanctioned App Marketplace that I don’t feel like I’m totally missing out.

Speaking of the App Marketplace… I was originally against Apple’s “curated” App Store because Apple was putting their judgment ahead of mine by giving the thumbs up or thumbs down to all apps submitted for consideration. Naturally, the cynic in me believes that they’re rejecting apps in order to keep their dominance on the device, but now I realize that an uncurated marketplace is basically a dumping ground for absolute shit.

OK, that’s a bit harsh, so let me back up a bit. The Android Marketplace is to the Apple App Store as Wal-Mart is to…some high-end boutique department store. This is my biggest slam against Android in general. To be sure, there’s many a high-profile app in there, like Facebook, Dropbox and Pandora, but it’s obvious that A) the talent is still hitting iOS first, foremost and often times exclusively, and B) a lot of people are posting their “My First Java App” experiments (usually poor clones of iOS games, or lengthy series of super-simple apps on a theme, like jigsaw or moving block puzzles). On the other hand, the Android has a robust tools and utilities selection, including dashboard customization (pseudo shell replacements, or re-skinning) and apps which are better then the stock offerings (like Handcent for SMS and PlayerPro for multimedia).

One thing that really annoys me is the fast and loose ethos of the Android Marketplace – the grammar is atrocious, which I can only assume is due to the flood of apps from non-English speaking locations (which unfortunately and immediately brings to mind poorly worded phishing emails and scams), and there’s a disturbing lack of post-development support. A lot of comments on a lot of apps that I have seen focus on lack of updates and/or lack of response to technical issues. Also, there’s a noticeable void of simple documentation for some of the more complex apps. I’m not an idiot and can figure stuff out on my own, but sometimes I like to have a document which clues me in on features I might normally miss, or which aren’t stunningly obvious in their purpose. As a developer, I know how important it is to support your creation once it’s in the wild, and how adequate documentation can contribute to giving users a “warm and fuzzy” feeling about you and your product so that they want to come back the next time you release something. Right now, I have the bare minimum of apps on my phone because I am simply irritated with the quality of the marketplace, and don’t trust most of which I see.

Other then that, I have to say that the Captivate is a pretty good machine. It’s fast, being one of the most powerful handsets on the Android market at this time, and the screen is bright and clear. I am generally a fan of Samsung products (I have 2 TVs, a computer monitor and now a phone), but there’s a reported issue with the GPS on the Galaxy S class devices where the GPS has trouble locking in on satellites. Samsung is supposedly working on it, but from past experiences I know that this isn’t high on their priority meter, and a fix will probably never come about.

Finally, I want to slam AT&T, not only for locking down the OS, but for delaying the push of 2.2 (Froyo) to the Captivate. It can handle it, being as powerful as it is, but I’m sure that there’s another, more powerful handset in the wings that AT&T is secretly using as an excuse to not push out an update to existing users, instead holding it as bait for upgrades. Obviously, I do not trust the carriers to do right by their customers, and I find myself more supportive of Apple’s single-source approach of hardware, software and app store now more then ever. At least with Apple there’s a single source to rail against with certainty, rather then allowing several different players to point fingers at one another when something doesn’t happen.

But I wouldn’t go back to the iPhone. I’m tired of the hoopla surrounding Apple’s offerings, and the whole iPhone 4 reception issue denial-and-later-sort-of-not-really-here’s-a-free-rubber-bumper-now-go-away fiasco to me shows that Apple’s RDF doesn’t just emanate from Steve Jobs, but also infects Steve Jobs. The Android ecosystem is more focused on what matters: the hardware and software, and not any one person’s ego, or the cache that comes with being seen hefting an iOS device.

As a footnote, I want to mention that I struggled for a while over whether or not to stick it out with the 3G in order to pick up a Windows Phone 7 device, or to jump ship now and go Android. At the time, the decision to go Android was simple: WM7 will be a newly minted question mark, and chances are that the apps won’t be there for quite some time. However, with each passing day I’m seeing some regular and pretty attractive news about the OS and about apps that are currently being developed for it. The SDK is free and available, and Microsoft is apparently making a push to have their store stocked for launch. I am having small pangs of adopter remorse as times goes on, but it remains to be seen if it’s just the hype-interest or if it’s going to really be a contender.

After re-reading this post, I realize that it comes across that I’m disappointed with the Captivate. The opposite is true. I think that moving from the gimpy 3G to the fireball that is the Captivate is like breathing fresh air after being stuck on the freeway for days in rush hour traffic. I’ve come to the realization that this is, after all, a phone, and all of the fluff that Apple touts for their iPhone isn’t really necessary. I have the iPad for all of that. Instead, thinking of the Captivate as a very powerful mobile communication platform instead of a phone/handheld gaming device/media center/juicer shifts me to a more comfortable place where I can enjoy the device on my own terms.