Should I stay with iOS or shift to Android?

Let me start this article by giving you a brief background on how I started shifting from one mobile ecosystem to another. Like most people, my first love was with Nokia and its Symbian OS. Not because it is a revolutionary OS but primarily because I don’t really have any choice.

On the positive side you get to choose from a wide variety of cellphone models since Nokia led the mobile hardware race back then.

I’ve had four Nokia phones before with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic as the last one. It was also the device that introduced me to flashing custom ROMs, it was exciting. However, that excitement ran out when I had my first encounter with an Android phone. My then girlfriend (who’s now my wife) bought a Samsung Galaxy Spica running Android 2.1 Eclair.

I instantly fell in love with it but not because of the phone’s design or the widgets or the fluid interface. I fell in love with Android because of its threaded SMS system. If you’re an experienced Nokia user coming from the likes of 3210 then you’ll understand how wonderful threaded SMS is.

I immediately sold my 2 year old Nokia 5800 and planned to buy a Spica myself but for some reason I skimped and decided to wait for a better Android phone. I then had my sights on the HTC Hero until a friend came along with his iPod Touch 3rd Gen. I’ve seen the iPod Touch before and considered it as a great device. But I needed a phone, the iPod Touch is not a phone. And the iPhone 3G is too damn expensive at that time. I played with the iPod Touch and I fell in love again. This time because of the apps and the really neat UI. To cut things short, I went for the iPod Touch 3rd Gen and just used a really cheap “that-you-can-toss-it-around” Samsung phone that came as a freebie when my mom bought a refrigerator.

I was really satisfied with the iPod Touch and even went for the 4th Gen. If I have the resources I’d immediately buy the iPhone 4. All the while I kept in touch with Android with my wife’s Spica. I loved the idea on how you can customize Android in different levels – something that iOS cannot achieve even with a jailbreak. Like what I told a friend – “If you want elegant simplicity, go for iOS. But if you want complex badassery, go for Android.” I was lucky enough to play both worlds, until I bricked the Spica. Maybe I’m not badass enough.

And so I stuck with iOS and kept on tinkering with the jailbroken iPod Touch 4th Gen. Currently I have the iPhone 4S and things are great so far. I’ve jailbroken it and customized it to a point that it’s lagging and crashing. I was forced to restore it to its “pristine” state but decided not to completely go back. I want something better. I ended up updating from iOS 5.1.1 to iOS 6 beta 3. It’s neat, it has new features but I wasn’t completely satisfied. The geek inside me is screaming for something more difficult to tinker on. I flashed my wife’s Kindle Fire with a custom Android Jellybean and the voice subsided. What the fuck was that?? Is Android becoming the right kind of dealer for my needs?

I started comparing the philosophies behind iOS and Android. iOS is going for something that really works seamlessly but somewhat capped. Android, however, is accepted to be far from perfect but it is constantly evolving. A smartphone, in my opinion, is more than just a gadget. It’s an extension of who you are and its identity is how you want your life to work. As I remember holding the HTC One X on one hand and the Samsung Galaxy S3 on the other with my iPhone 4S in the middle, I just can’t reject the fact that I needed change. The question now is, it Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS that’s going to give me the satisfaction of change? Should I stay with iOS or shift to Android? To our dear readers, help me weigh in the options. Convince me, entice me, coax me. iOS or Android? Share your thoughts below.

Editor’s Note: At one time or another, we can all relate to this transition and have faced the same dillema. – Yuga