Monday, June 14, 2010

Why I Choose Android HTC EVO Over iPhone 4

I just agonized over my next smart phone decision and I thought I should share.  I am out of contract with AT&T on my iPhone 3G.  I had always intended to wait for the expected June announcement of the next generation iPhone, and so I did.  In the meantime, HTC/Sprint announced the new EVO.  Of course, right on schedule, Apple introduced the iPhone 4.

I agonized over the choice between the EVo and iPhone 4.  It came down to the following:
  • iPhone's lack of support for Google Services-In particular, the rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone really irked me last year.
  • The iPhone 4 just didn't wow me that much.  Yes, it is a snazzy piece of hardware, but I'm not swayed by sexy, because I know that today's sexy phone is tomorrow's clunky beast.
  • Sprint EVO's availability on a carrier other than AT&T
  • EVO equation: 4G+1GHz Snapdragon processor=FAST!
  • The Sprint EVO can serve as a WIFI hotspot (for an extra fee) for multiple devices.  That's awesome!  The next generation iPhone has tethering 'capability' for a single device but AT&T doesn't offer it yet.
  • I'm a tinkerer.  I don't mind messing around with a phone.  If I were recommending a smartphone to my wife or mother, I would tell them to stick with iPhone, with its "it just works" usability.  That sort of slickness is cool, but ultimately just not as important to me.
  • The only area where the iPhone seems to be superior is number of apps and games.  I researched the former, and all of my key apps are available now or in beta for android.  As for the latter, I don't really play games on my phone.
With all of those things in EVO's favor, it seems like it was a no brainer.  Still, it was a tough choice.  The deciding factor was