There’s some VERY BASIC functionality iOS is missing as a PHONE and for that alone I won’t use it. For example – if you need to receive emergency calls when your phone is turned to silent mode – you can forget it. This is a hugely missing safety feature. What if you’re on away (or in a meeting/movie) and your wife/kids/elderly parent tries to reach in an emergency but you’ve turned your phone to silent mode? THEY SIMPLY CAN’T. And all because of Apple’s closed-Os mentality (or stupidity to be correct!). My 5 year old BB had this functionality and every Android phone can do this (with one free app). This is as BASIC as you can get about smartPHONE functionality and iOS just can’t deliver here. Total failure by Apple.

How about blocking annoying telemarketing calls? 1 free app on Android takes care of it. iOS=can’t be done (without jailbreaking).

How about using a swype or smart keyboard so you don’t have to type so much? Android = pick from over 10 top keyboards. iOS = 1 incompetent keyboard option!

The list continues and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Your statement about something that “just works” is shallow at best because your phone needs are minimal at best.

Don’t like the camera on your Android? first, you can chose another Android device (HTC reZound or Razr) or even better pick another camera app!

There’s several apps on the Android market that would play just about any video -  you just didn’t spend the time to look for them.

As to syncing my wife’s iPhone…..bah….I have no idea.  Since iTunes is the only way to get music onto the iPhone, I can only assume it’s iTunes.  And when it gives you no error messages, there’s no real way to identify the problem.  I mean, I highlight the songs I want, then drag them to the iPhone appearing in the menu on the left, and I get a red circle with a line through it.  That’s it.  No text, no explanation, so no way I can resolve it.  The *exact same process* with my own iPhone results in the music getting copied over.  Heck, because of this, and because songs purchased through iTunes are validated at the moment of purchase, and are not tied to your account (or were not, before iCloud), she’s lost the ability to use all the songs she bought on iTunes.  Oh, she can play them on her laptop….but not on her phone.

With my Android tablet, it’s literally a matter of plugging my tablet into my computer, highlight the songs I want in Windows Explorer, right click copy, left click paste on the tablet (it appears as another hard drive on the computer).  Done.  Takes me 5 seconds.  Way easier.  Or I just use Doubletwist to automate the process, and it takes everything in iTunes and syncs it over.  Again….simple.

I agree with Lane Miller below…the update process on Apple is a pain.  I have to put my password in to update?  And it times out?  Sometimes an app update fails, and I don’t realize for 10 minutes, so I come back to initiate it again, and I have to put my password in again.

Incidentally, why can’t iTunes stream to other devices like my XBox or PS3?  It’s a natural feature of a music program.

As to syncing my wife’s iPhone…..bah….I have no idea.  Since iTunes is the only way to get music onto the iPhone, I can only assume it’s iTunes.  And when it gives you no error messages, there’s no real way to identify the problem.  I mean, I highlight the songs I want, then drag them to the iPhone appearing in the menu on the left, and I get a red circle with a line through it.  That’s it.  No text, no explanation, so no way I can resolve it.  The *exact same process* with my own iPhone results in the music getting copied over.  Heck, because of this, and because songs purchased through iTunes are validated at the moment of purchase, and are not tied to your account (or were not, before iCloud), she’s lost the ability to use all the songs she bought on iTunes.  Oh, she can play them on her laptop….but not on her phone.

With my Android tablet, it’s literally a matter of plugging my tablet into my computer, highlight the songs I want in Windows Explorer, right click copy, left click paste on the tablet (it appears as another hard drive on the computer).  Done.  Takes me 5 seconds.  Way easier.  Or I just use Doubletwist to automate the process, and it takes everything in iTunes and syncs it over.  Again….simple.

I agree with Lane Miller below…the update process on Apple is a pain.  I have to put my password in to update?  And it times out?  Sometimes an app update fails, and I don’t realize for 10 minutes, so I come back to initiate it again, and I have to put my password in again.

Incidentally, why can’t iTunes stream to other devices like my XBox or PS3?  It’s a natural feature of a music program.

Ps. Two gripes I had about Android:

1. When I tell an app to stop, I want it to stop. Period. Android doesn’t do this. Multiple supported apps continued to sync in the background even though I stopped any syncing ability for that specific app.

2. Videos my friends took on their Android devices wouldn’t play on my Android device! Both the S2 and the Note would never play a video my friends would send me- some using LG devices, some HTC, and some Samsung. I even tried using third party video players- wouldn’t work. That is BASIC functionality. These types of things should be seamless and work without a hitch.

Better than Woz’s statement, I summarize my Android/Mac experience as such:
When I want something that “just works,” I choose Mac (Apple).

I know I’ll get flamed for liking Apple products and be claimed an Apple “fanboy”- whatever. I’m constantly in search for something better. I don’t care what OS it is or what device. I have been willing to get rid of iOS many times. I don’t carry any bias when I’m trying a different platform- but I don’t lie to myself either when it comes to the results I get. 

Ps. Two gripes I had about Android:

1. When I tell an app to stop, I want it to stop. Period. Android doesn’t do this. Multiple supported apps continued to sync in the background even though I stopped any syncing ability for that specific app.

2. Videos my friends took on their Android devices wouldn’t play on my Android device! Both the S2 and the Note would never play a video my friends would send me- some using LG devices, some HTC, and some Samsung. I even tried using third party video players- wouldn’t work. That is BASIC functionality. These types of things should be seamless and work without a hitch.

Better than Woz’s statement, I summarize my Android/Mac experience as such:
When I want something that “just works,” I choose Mac (Apple).

I know I’ll get flamed for liking Apple products and be claimed an Apple “fanboy”- whatever. I’m constantly in search for something better. I don’t care what OS it is or what device. I have been willing to get rid of iOS many times. I don’t carry any bias when I’m trying a different platform- but I don’t lie to myself either when it comes to the results I get. 

If you are not an average person, if you want to do some things in a different way, or just ask a little bit more, then iOS is not for you… 

If you are not an average person, if you want to do some things in a different way, or just ask a little bit more, then iOS is not for you… 

I had no bias or prejudice towards either product- the S2, Note, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4s- when I was using them. And I’m just telling you my real world results. I wanted to finally switch to Android but the hardware and software jut isn’t ready.

Moral of the story- don’t let your Android (or Samsung) bias keep you from experiencing other products like iOS, BB, WP7, etc. You don’t HAVE to take sides when it comes to which phone you carry. Politics? Sure. Phones? No.

I had no bias or prejudice towards either product- the S2, Note, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4s- when I was using them. And I’m just telling you my real world results. I wanted to finally switch to Android but the hardware and software jut isn’t ready.

Moral of the story- don’t let your Android (or Samsung) bias keep you from experiencing other products like iOS, BB, WP7, etc. You don’t HAVE to take sides when it comes to which phone you carry. Politics? Sure. Phones? No.

Android market has more FREE apps than Apple. However, in terms of QUALITY APPS
(utlitity, games, etc), Apple store blows Android. Posted is a wonderful app on Apple…nothing on Android.  Android market is full of
crappy (and sometimes, creepy, porno) apps. Sure, the apps in the Apple store cost
money (vs. free on Android), but the quality seems to be better. On
Apple, you get the latest games immediately. On Android, you need to wait months
if not longer to get the same games. And when you talk quality games, Apple has
them (e.g. Infinity Blade series, Madden NFL, etc.)…Android got nothing.  So,
given this current state b/w the stores, i prefer the quality (but more costly)
Apple store. YMMV.

Android market has more FREE apps than Apple. However, in terms of QUALITY APPS
(utlitity, games, etc), Apple store blows Android. Posted is a wonderful app on Apple…nothing on Android.  Android market is full of
crappy (and sometimes, creepy, porno) apps. Sure, the apps in the Apple store cost
money (vs. free on Android), but the quality seems to be better. On
Apple, you get the latest games immediately. On Android, you need to wait months
if not longer to get the same games. And when you talk quality games, Apple has
them (e.g. Infinity Blade series, Madden NFL, etc.)…Android got nothing.  So,
given this current state b/w the stores, i prefer the quality (but more costly)
Apple store. YMMV.

Android market has more FREE apps than Apple. However, in terms of QUALITY APPS
(utlitity, games, etc), Apple store blows Android. Posted is a wonderful app on Apple…nothing on Android.  Android market is full of
crappy (and sometimes, creepy, porno) apps. Sure, the apps in the Apple store cost
money (vs. free on Android), but the quality seems to be better. On
Apple, you get the latest games immediately. On Android, you need to wait months
if not longer to get the same games. And when you talk quality games, Apple has
them (e.g. Infinity Blade series, Madden NFL, etc.)…Android got nothing.  So,
given this current state b/w the stores, i prefer the quality (but more costly)
Apple store. YMMV.

Waze exists for Android, and historically the Android version was much better. It wasn’t until Waze revamped the iOS app recently that I didn’t mind using it on my iPhone.

Plenty of comparable (and better) video streaming apps for android as well, including better implementations of UPnP streaming as well as browsing through files in the device’s file system (and external/add-on storage) to play directly from the device.

HeyTell also exists for Android. As does comparable software for Hipstamatic lovers (such as Retroid or Vignette) that offers better control over the camera interface.

The music apps are where I’d have to agree with you. Android has a huge shortage of music and video editing apps, but this is largely due to there not even being an API for this until Gingerbread came along as far as I know.

I’d never use my iPhone for music generation however, due to the audio quality limit Apple has placed on the device. But there is a fantastic audio project currently in production for Android that will enable devices to communicate with a MIDI interface to other devices, I’m really looking forward to that (sorry I don’t recall the name of the project).

iTunes is the worse Windows program every created. That thing crashes all the time and screws up everything all the time.Even on brand new freshly installed machines.I think Apple does it on purpose so people get pissed off and buy a Mac.And I agree with the previous poster. Zune software is sooooo much more awesome. I love it, I love my Zune HD. iTunes is just horrible how it organizes your stuff, how it lists/displays your music. It’s just plain BAD. I can’t believe people like it or even use it to manage their music.. Ugh.