grelmar - 10:57 pm on Dec 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

I have an iPhone, and I'm not in the U.S. so I don't have the complaints about the carrier that came with the phone (which is the same carrier I've been using for a decade without complaints).

And I have to say:

The iPhone is the single worst tech buying decision I've made in years.

It's so dang locked down, in so many ways, it just sucks. I had a w300i for a couple of years before my iPhone, and it doubled as a USB stick - I could plug it in to any computer, and without installing software, transfer files back and forth. With a 1gig micro-SD card it was somewhat limiting, but still pretty dang useful.

If I wanted to add music to it, I just had to copy MP3s into the appropriate folder. That was it. None of this farting around with that useless iTunes garbageware.

I could go on for days in the ways that the locked down architecture, and locked down philosophy that's at the core of everything Apple does tics me off, and the ways that it became represented in the iPhone. But why bother? There's a crowd out there in **luv** with their iPhones, and aren't likely to move away from them.

For the rest of the planet, Android is the future. It's open nature isn't just for geeks.

Android means you can use your phone as a USB stick (without paying for an app that partially lets you do this).

Android means you DO have access to the file system in meaningful ways. Which lets you just copy files into folders you organise in a way that makes sense to you (and don't underestimate the importance of this even to non-geeks).

Android means you can get apps from wherever you want to get apps from, not just from one store that arbitrates what you are and aren't allowed to run on your phone. And yes, that matters to non geeks too.

Android means you can install Flash, and be able to surf the web that IS, rather than surf the web that Apple wishes would be.

Android means you can run Java. Again, this allows you to surf the web that IS.

And those last two points are the most important, and the reason why Android will grind the iPhone into the dirty corner of a niche market in the long run.

What I'm amazed people here (especially here, of all places) fail to realize is that your cel phone is no longer a phone. It is becoming the "portable web". And THAT, my friends, is the ultimate killer app.

Why install an app when you can use your phone to surf to a web page that has a million and one free flash games designed for the small screen and touch interfaces? (Don't think for a second there aren't Flash programmers already working on this).

Why use a kludgy app to be able to see a tiny portion of YouTube that's been ported to Apple's custom codec when you can, well, surf to YouTube in all it's kitschy, low production video glory?

The iPhone/80's Apple vs Android/80's Microsoft comparison isn't the right comparison.

The right comparison is iPhone/AOL's closed garden vs. Android/The Whole Damn Internet in your pocket.

If you believe the iPhone is going to win, have fun with that. As soon as I can sneak an Android into the house without my wife complaining about the price... I already have the video planned out in my head... It involves a hockey stick, a brick wall, a slapshot, and an iPhone for a puck.