As a compulsive gadget hound, I have now owned and used mobile phones (and one tablet) running Android, WebOS, and iPhone OS/iOS. This is my brief and totally unscientific take on the strengths and weaknesses of each platform:
Android has an excellent mix of app availability, features, and flexibility. It also demolishes any other platform in terms of variety of available hardware; sadly, most of that hardware is crap that is hardly worth the “subsidized” carrier price.
I used an HTC G1 (for which I paid the full, no-contract price) as my primary phone for more than a year before finally getting tired of waiting for upgrades to make their way down the value chain to us early-adopters, and left the platform in a huff about six months ago.
I’ve been playing with the Nexus One handset I got at OSCON last week for a few days now, though, and have since discovered t that Android can deliver a quality user experience on sufficiently high-end hardware.
Prior to receiving the N1, I had switched to a Palm Pre Plus on Verizon’s CDMA network. I was lured over by the promise of a more reasonable UX than was available on Android, along with the quality of Verizon’s 3G coverable. (I was also swayed in large part by the offer of free WiFi tethering, which has proven useful and reliable, if a bit of a battery hog.)
Since then, I’ve been alternately thrilled and disappointed by the Pre. The overall design of the core OS and apps are excellent, and the hardware is a very satisfying size and shape, despite feeling somewhat plastic-y. Unfortunately, the few 3rd-party apps available tend to be buggy (I’m looking at you, Foursquare!) and the seemingly-contradictory pairing of horrid battery life and s-l-o-o-w performance have left me lukewarm-to-negative, about the whole experience.
Which leaves, of course, the 800 lb. gorilla that is the iOS ecosystem. I resisted ownership of any such device for many years, but finally caved when the iPad was released. Since then, I’ve clocked a fair number of hours (and spent quite a bit of cash on apps) to put the iPad through its paces. I rather like the hardware, love the handful of core apps (Instapaper, Reeder, Twitteriffic) that typify good mobile UI design, and still can’t help feeling dirty for being involved at all.
Even after developing an app or two, I can’t shake the sense that I’ve given up something truly precious in exchange for some shiny trinkets. That being said, Apple absolutely owns the market for mobile customers who will actually, y’know, pay for content and add-ons. Android has a ways to come in that respect, and neither HP/Palm, Microsoft, or RIM appear to be anywhere near a realistic app/media store solution.
In the near-term, I expect to shift over to the Nexus One as my default mobile handset, if only because it’s the newest and fastest hardware available to me. I also still believe strongly in the potential of WebOS, but only if HP gets off their respective asses and delivers some hardware that can deliver on the system’s potential.
It seems safe to predict that the iOS platform will be an important piece of the software ecosystem, especially for shops like mine, but I can’t say that I’m particularly excited about helping Apple continue to steamroll over the protests of developers. Dealing with their byzantine and controlling approach to software development and distribution in a professional capacity has made me seriously wistful about the good ol’ days of writing Ruby and administering Debian boxen.*
* – this should not be construed as dissatisfaction with my current job, or a criticism of our choice to publish on Apple’s platform. To the contrary, I lobbied for the latter out of my desire for the former to continue in a mutually-fruitful way for a long time to come. I don’t have to like Apple to do business with or through them.


