5 Reasons why my Phone won't be an Apple Iphone

2009 has become the year of the Iphone in the world of mobile phones. Everywhere you look whether on the streets, on TV and in movies you see people using their Iphone's. Despite the Iphones popularity and its considerable feature set, I won't be getting one. Not now. Not ever. I'm perfectly happy with my current phone, the T-Mobile G1, but there are so many more reasons why I won't be on the first train to my local AT&T store. Here's 5 reason's why my phone won't be an Iphone.

1. The soft keyboard- I'm a person who likes to type emails and blog posts and using a soft keyboard isn't ideal for my needs. Since I use my phone to type a lot of words each day the physical keyboard on my G1 has been a life saver. With the Android 1.5 update that Google released a few months back, I now have the option of using the soft keyboard or the physical keyboard to complete my tasks. I almost always use the physical keyboard because of the comfort, accuracy, speed and ease of use. The soft keyboard is good for a quick text but it just does not allow you to type with the speed and precision of the physical keyboard. Another disadvantage to the soft keyboard is the multiple touches needed to add numbers or puntuaction. Having the choice of keyboard on the G1 is a real bonus and makes both quick and extensive typing easy. With the Iphone, you do not have the option to choose physical or soft and I'd have to use the soft keyboard all the time. Not happening. No matter how comfortable you get on a soft keyboard it won't ever be as smooth as typing on a physical keypad.

2. I don't need an App for that- Not only are the commercial's an exercise in smug, asshole advertising but the apps that they show as being useful are completely useless. I can download apps on my G1 and i've come to the conclusion that 95% of the apps available for phones are total wastes of valuable memory. If there is a valuable app then that company is going to release it on all of the mobile operating platforms such as Android, Windows Mobile, Palms WebOS, Symbian and Blackberry. I came to this conclusion after downloading an app that turned my phone into a metal detector. Sure my phone could detect metal but when I put the phone to my face the idiot siren starting going off too. Why would I need to have my phone be able to detect metal? It wasn't like this app could detect metal behind a wall or something. It had to be directly on it at which point you could use your eyes or maybe a finger to determine its elemental makeup. Now I love an app as much as the next guy but now that all other major platforms are also building app stores, Apple's biggest advertising point has become null. Now Apple's app store has over 65,000 useless apps just waiting for you to step up to the plate and try. I mean how many different tip and gas mileage calculators do you need? I can figure that out with the calculator that came with the phone. Maybe that's why I didn't have to buy an Iphone either.

3. Homepage Customization- Simply put, the Iphone lags behind the competition in this area. Samsung has released TouchWiz, HTC has the Sense Android overlay, Sony is going to have something called "Rachel" as an Android homescreen overlay and Blackberries allow the user to change the Theme of the entire interface. As more and more phones start to have widget based homescreen's, Apple's lack of customization will start to be seen as a bigger weakness. I currently can check the weather, do a Google search, read news, control the music player, check my calendar and control all of the volume settings from my homescreen. Now I'm sure Apple will have include updates to their homepage in due time but something can always be said for not being behind the times.  I think Apple is too busy focusing their efforts on the media and gaming aspect of the Iphone instead of updating their UI.  I, for one, am willing to pass on the possibility of having an app for bird watching to be able to use multiple widgets I currently have in place.  Besides, I can always use the Google Search widget on my homescreen to confirm if I saw a yellow-tailed warbler or not.

4. I'll always choose Google over Apple- As the mobile world gets more and more based on "cloud" systems that require the internet, i'm going to be more and more inclined to stick with Google products since they currently are the kings of the internet (or is it emperors?). Apple needs Google as a partner in order to be able to bring the best possible products to their Iphone and Mac customers. Google doesn't need Apple at all. Therefore, Android has the upper hand in being a web tool which bodes very well for the future. Another reason to choose Google over Apple is the speed at which Google updates Android as opposed to Apple's OS updates. Since Apple usually ties the software update into a hardware release they are limiting themselves with their flexibility. Google is constantly updating the software and is not held to any timetable. Android is planning to release "Donut" in the not too distant future, followed by "Eclair" which could be Android 2.0. Rumors have both of these being released by 2010.  Also the fact that Google is only involved in the software of the device and not the actual hardware itself, means that they can focus their efforts on making Android as powerful and user friendly as possible. 

5. I'm a nonconformist- OK, so this reason is not based on the hardware, software, name brand or any other tangible reason. This is strictly based on the fact that I do not want to follow the crowd. You can go ahead and take your Iphone, filled with your post-death downloaded Michael Jackson songs, your fart apps and your tip calculators and shove it directly up your ass. Wow. That felt really good.  Now that I got that weight off my chest I guess I'll go tackle some bigger issues like Gay Marriage and Health Care Reform.