tampa tech solutions

For the uninitiated, "Fanboys" are all the rage now-a-days. Perpetuated by the irrational love of certain genres and even brands of technology ... they are much like rabid sports fans. Being from Philadelphia, I can equate the Fanboys' love of gadgets and tech to Eagles fans' undying love and devotion to their team. They're die-hard, take no prisoners, tattoo-on-their-arm kind of fans. You can find them on all sides of the latest tech debates - and they're hilarious.
 
Their debates have nothing to do with rational discourse and everything to do with their "team" winning. I think we all are guilty of this in some degree, shape or form. Fanboys take it to new heights and horizons, though. Some of the worst offenders are the participants of the smartphone wars - particularly the Apple iPhone vs. the Android Killer-Phone-of-the-Month.
 
I am definitely a fan of the Android product. Previously I owned an HTC Hero and felt the build quality was great, the OS has good UI, and the available apps are more than substantial. It's a great open-source alternative in the market place, and it's always nice to see open-source succeed in a world where it was previously unthinkable that a piece of open-source software could be popular and profitable. The Android platform has the severe market penetration it was looking for and, while a very nice product, it needs some refinement in order to become a polished market leader like Blackberry and iPhone.
 
Recently, I got an iPhone - and after using it for 30 days, I can't help but evaluate the two platforms (iOS and Android) based on their Functionality Quotient (FQ) instead of the usual Fanboy Quotient (FbQ). I am very platform agnostic and I don't try and defend any platform just because I use it and feel therefore it must be the best. I've been very reticent to post any pro-Apple opnions here for fear of being perceived as a "Fanboy", but now it is time.
 
The iPhone is, hands down, the single best piece of technology on the planet, in my humble opinion. The iPad is definitely a seriously useful and killer piece of hardware, but it's just not pocketable. The iPhone is not just pocketable, but also has the cellular data+phone functionality that has the smartphone category growing by leaps and bounds every month. 
 
(Steve Jobs says the iPad came before the iPhone - and owning both, I can see it. I actually have been quoted as saying that "the iPhone is a reasonable iPad alternative", as opposed to the chatter we heard pre-iPad launch that it was "nothing more than a big iPhone".)
 
Android has a great platform, they really do. Where they lose out to the iPhone is in the following categories:

• Battery Life
• Speed/Quickness
• UI
• "Pretty Factor"

 
That's right, I said "pretty", so what?
 
Fact is, the iPhone 4 is, hands down, the prettiest piece of pocketable hardware on the planet. It's light, thin, and DEAD SIMPLE. The battery life isn't stellar, but it easily meets (and usually exceeds) the battery life I got from my Hero. WOW (now say it backwards) is this phone FAST. Launching applications and switching between applications is quick, smooth and worry free. The UI takes a second to get used to, but once you do get used to it, there is zero learning curve for new apps. With a serious lack of buttons, the iPhone would be difficult to use if the soft buttons were not consistently placed as well as application settings. 
 
Android, on the other hand, is both suffering and benefitting from the decentralized model. The hardware is lacking on many models (Nexus S and a few others aside) and OS updates are not standardized between manufacturers, leading to some dissatisfaction among the legion of Android users out there. At the same time, the decentralized model helps by allowing for a virtual army of Android phones to be released into the wild to help foster quick adoption, and therefore quick development.
 
In short, having been a Blackberry user for MANY years in corporate america, then an Android user and now an iPhone user, I can tell you that I have not had a better experience with any device like I have had with the iPhone. It does what I expect it to do, when I expect it to do it. When I'm listening to Pandora and I get a phone call, the music fades, the call window comes forward allowing me to accept or deny the call. When I'm done talking, the music fades back in and Pandora again is front and center. No lag, no waiting, no phone lock ups in the middle of switching ... it just works.
 
And let's face it, I think all we can ever really expect from our technology is for it to WORK. Sure, we'd all like for it to be easy to learn - but if it just works, we're willing to withstand a lengthy learning curve to settle in to stability. Therein lies Apple's greatest strength. The learning curve is nearly non-existant, AND it's stable.
 
Say what you want about the closed nature of the iOS system, but it's that very system that allows them to have a stable and reliable product. Jobs is a design nut, but he's also a usability nut. New releases of iOS go through intense testing (as do App Store submissions) to ensure they're ready for prime time. Sure, Android does too, but their apps simply don't. Most apps on Android and iOS are crap, but the Android apps are SLOW crap. In fact, many of them simply don't work at all. The crap on the App Store is still pure junk, but it's FAST junk that, in all likelihood, will not crash your phone.
 
It's easy to now categorize me as a fanboy - and hell, perception is reality. However, the fact remains that if I found an Android phone that could match and beat the iPhone in every category, I would buy one. Android is making great strides (did I mention the Nexus S?) but with every stride, Apple makes their own. Problem is, Apple has a major head start and I don't see anyone catching up any time soon. It's not impossible, but definitely unlikely.