I’m Switching to Android (Premium)

Tomorrow, Apple will announce new generation iPhones. So this is the ideal time to reveal that I'm switching to Android.

Granted, it's been a long time coming.

And to fair to Apple and the many avid fans of its products, it's not like I won't be getting a new iPhone: I still need to keep up on what Android's only competitor is doing. So I'll do what I've always done and keep two phones around, one Android and one iPhone.

The difference is that I'll be using Android day-to-day. And not the iPhone, as I've done for the past few years.

The "why" of this change isn't all that complex, but it is multi-layered.

As I wrote back in May, I've been warming to Android over the past three releases, Android M, N, and O. And alongside side, the available devices have gotten better and better. This year, we've hit an amazing apex, of sorts, from a design perspective, with Samsung's Galaxy S8+ leading the charge forward to bezel-less displays and new tall and thin form factors.

On the flipside, my iPhone experience has worsened over the past year.

For the first time, the latest iPhone, the iPhone 7 Plus, has delivered a worse camera experience than its predecessor, and I find the photos this device takes to be dull and lifeless. So when it comes time to capture memories I really care about, like on a vacation or other trip, I've turned to the Google Pixel XL, which delivers superior picture quality. But it's not just the Pixel XL: Many Android-based handsets now outperform the iPhone when it comes to photography.

I originally defended Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone. But this design has worn on me over time. I've never been stranded, headphone-less on a plane, so far. But many times, I've gotten in the car, or tried to use a speaker upstairs, and have been stymied by a missing dongle.

Worse, I just upgraded to the latest version of my cherished and highly-recommended Bose QuietComfort 20 noise-canceling headphones, which offer a few improvements over the initial version I'd be using. Bose offers two versions of these headphones, one for Apple devices and one for other devices, and I've always used the latter without any issues. But with the new version, a loud and repeating popping sound happens every time you connect them to the iPhone. You have to press and hold on the volume rocker to make it stop, so there's at least a workaround. But it is extremely annoying.

And then there is the Microsoft stuff.

As I've noted in the past, if you're concerned at all about using Microsoft technology on mobile, Android will always provide a better and more complete experience than iPhone. That's because Android is open and iPhone is not, and while Apple has done a decent job of closing the gap, it will never be the same. And if you care about the coming Windows 10 integration stuff in particular, as I do, then Android, again, is the place to be.

Somewhat related to mobile is a broader ecosystem issue. A...

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