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Last week I made a big switch from an iPhone 3GS to an HTC Desire HD that runs on Android 2.2. The decision to switch was brought on by the fact that I needed to replace my iPhone. I need a device that can function as my primary content creation device in terms of camera and video, manage my podcast subscriptions, hold and play lots of music and handle lots of social networking applications like Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook.
A few years ago, I had an HTC Touch Diamond that was running the horror that was Microsoft Mobile Windows 6.5, or whatever it was called. At the time, the phone was somewhat marketed as an iPhone competitor but I have to say that it was terrible. I barely ever used Windows Mobile Office and it was confusing as to what was MSFT or HTC and what was Windows and what was the phone. Essentially the integration with HTC's Sense UI and Windows Mobile was terrible. Then Telus had a navigation application that didn't even work.
I eventually upgraded to my iPhone 3GS and was instantly in love. Everything worked and the mobile browsing experience was amazing. My fat fingers could type and select content through the browser and although I am not a fan of the "closed" Apple experience, I appreciated that apps and podcasts were easy to find and sync.
The experience of deciding between iPhone and Android was a tough one and I learned three important things:
1) Bad first experience are hard to overcome: sounds obvious but my previous experience which I have since learned were largely due to Windows Mobile 6.5 being a joke, really soured me on HTC. I know that they have started building great phones but I was really hesitant to go back down the HTC road.
2) Apple is winning the "ease of app" war: I like to keep my eyes and ears open to what is happening in mobile and I still found that my impressions of Android were tainted by the perception that whole application ecosystem was divided and not as convenient as iPhone. The reality is that there is an easy to use app "Market" and even better, people can email me apps and they are added to my phone in a matter of minutes. The Android app experience isn't much worse in reality but the perception is that it is.
Anyways, I'm loving my phone so far and will keep you updated on how things progress.
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