The network isn't the only reason to pick an Android phone, though AT&T's lack of coverage in my apt completely eliminated the iPhone for my consideration.
Android, as a platform, is less polished than the iphone. The UI guidelines and interaction patterns are less developed and therefore less consistent. The market is weaker and junk filled, so you have to get app suggestions from some external source.
The plus side is that the google stuff is really, really cool. If you use your phone to look stuff up, being able to long-hold the search button on the phone and say "Directions to 23rd and Broadway" and have it work is truly amazing. Getting a Google Voice account and using it for text messaging allows me to drop texting off my monthly bill. I've never been able to do the whole two thumbs virtual keyboard thing, so replacing the default system keyboard with a swipe keyboard (SlideIT in my case) gets me up to 30wpm from 5-10wpm. The news reader I use overrides the volume buttons on the phone so I have physical buttons to flip through the 400 news items I read every day. My phone automatically turns on/off the wifi and other radios and sets the ring depending on where I am and the time of day (e.g. wifi on, vibrate when I'm at work and silent between midnight and 9AM but only if I'm at home and my family isn't calling).
I started off thinking "yeah it might not be an iphone but at least I'll get coverage" to preferring the experience over the numerous iphones I've tried out. I just wish the apps were better but I'm hoping that's a problem that will solve itself over time.
He's right, I'm a Motorola droid owner; it's a fantastic phone first and a so-so "device" second. The Android market has lots...and lots of crap. The game selection is simply dreadful compared to the app store.
The signal to noise (decent apps to cookie-cutter garbage) in the Market is minimal at best.
The phone is absolutely reliable, the gps is fantastic. The app selection, unless you're some crazy who needs 12 apps to tell you about "stuff around you" or you want a puzzle of every pixar/disney movie ever made, is in need of some serious house cleaning.
Remember when Yahoo, with its tree structure of topics/directories, was the market leader (for "finding stuff")? Remember when an upstart Google came on the scene with unrestricted, algorithmically selected results?
It wouldn't be the first time Google's taken down a "walled garden" (being a bit unfair to Yahoo's state -- and attitude -- then, for the sake of the analogy).
However, it will depend upon whether Android evokes their serious, long term commitment. And someone will have to provide a better consumer support environment than either Google or the wireless carriers have provided up to this point, and a more open wireless marketplace than the carriers (I'm looking particularly at you, Verizon) have provided.
Android, as a platform, is less polished than the iphone. The UI guidelines and interaction patterns are less developed and therefore less consistent. The market is weaker and junk filled, so you have to get app suggestions from some external source.
The plus side is that the google stuff is really, really cool. If you use your phone to look stuff up, being able to long-hold the search button on the phone and say "Directions to 23rd and Broadway" and have it work is truly amazing. Getting a Google Voice account and using it for text messaging allows me to drop texting off my monthly bill. I've never been able to do the whole two thumbs virtual keyboard thing, so replacing the default system keyboard with a swipe keyboard (SlideIT in my case) gets me up to 30wpm from 5-10wpm. The news reader I use overrides the volume buttons on the phone so I have physical buttons to flip through the 400 news items I read every day. My phone automatically turns on/off the wifi and other radios and sets the ring depending on where I am and the time of day (e.g. wifi on, vibrate when I'm at work and silent between midnight and 9AM but only if I'm at home and my family isn't calling).
I started off thinking "yeah it might not be an iphone but at least I'll get coverage" to preferring the experience over the numerous iphones I've tried out. I just wish the apps were better but I'm hoping that's a problem that will solve itself over time.