I also prefer writing software for Android; it feels less restrictive to me.

It will be interesting to see where the chips are stacked after a couple of years.

I only have an iPhone because of Apple's privacy stance. I hate every other element of the company.

I want the Google apps like Maps and Voice and Mail and really don't want to have Apple somehow deny me access to the partial access the iPhone has.

But also want things to just work and want apps to be curated. And I don't want to be stuck on a particular version of a platform just because the carrier won't let me upgrade.

So, thinking of the Nexus. I'm on Sprint and they're letting you switch to Google Voice w/o switching your number. Sort of waiting on that phone to be released.

But now I hear Android 3.0 got stability problems. Shades of things to come?

At the time I had a T-Mobile G2 which was approaching the end of its natural lifecycle, I was also dissatisfied with the software quality of android overall - at the time I was looking for another android phone running stock android with a keyboard (something that didnt exist effectively), because the android on screen keyboard at the time was so awful - so I started looking at the iPhone - at the time I expected the same difficulties with iOS that I had with android (android always felt like it was half-done, for example non-scrolling context menu's that scrolled off the screen) - but I found overall that the software quality was just better with iOS - and added benefit is, my iPhone largely 'just works' - I spend all day repairing and building technology, the last thing I want to do is have to invest cycles to keep my own kit working.

With iPhone when it doesn't work (or has an issue), I take it back to the 'fruit store', and they make it all better, without me having to be much involved in the process - however with iOS this has happened precisely twice (once for a software bug, the other for a hardware issue), versus in two Android phones, I was performing a factory reset of the device about once a year due to software bugs (text messaging DB, apps that wouldnt uninstall, having to perform space management with a SD card and internal storage, email that would just stop syncing randomly, digitizer would stop working, etc), as well as a lack of updates to still new-ish hardware. While I realize with Google I have much more control and flexibility with how I can use my device, for me at least this added control is largely unimportant for my use case - yes there have been a few cases I wish I could do things with my iPhone that it doesnt do, but these are mostly edge cases, when I want to use my phone in a non-typical use case.

In addition with Apple, I know what the product they're selling is - and its not me. With Google, I've got a sneaking suspicion that I'm the product - don't get me wrong, I use Google, I like Google, but the relationship between Apple and I is much more clear cut. I also trust Apple as more likely to keep my data secure, and to stand at my side if someone (specifically the government) wanted at it.

The two things which keep me from moving to Android are: 1) My ~$500 or so in purchased applications. Vendors should allow a one-time return of purchased apps on one platform to get them for the other, or just give both iOS and Android licenses for the same price if there's a way to prove the phone belongs to the same human. Admittedly 99% of what I really care about is free or <$100 total (Kindle, 1Password, Facebook, web, email, ssh pretty much cover my use).

2) Lack of hardware platform security features on most Android devices (semi-supported on the S3, apparently, but I'd only ever buy a Nexus device). If Google developed a Nexus 4+, 7+, 10+ with apple or blackberry level hw security, I'd probably switch, particularly if there were a way for an enterprise to essentially replicate the Google Apps management of devices with a simple self-hosted server (i.e. root of trust being enterprise, vs. Google or Apple).

I also can't install any apps on new devices without giving Apple an email and phone number, which is its own kind of bullshit.

i remarked to my wife last night that the biggest difference in the ux between the two was that my android was always a phone, and this iphone has become a platform/ux that's larger than a single device, a whole set of humanistic little devices -- airpods and the home ipad in my case. i'd always thought i couldn't switch because i use google services, but those are largely commodities now -- i've got a wide range of good enough options for photos/music/email/cal/etc. -- the google android apps are a little better, but not enough so to make a difference. even siri has been good enough so far, though my queries aren't especially complicated.

I hate that with Android I trust that Google will at some point succeed with a dark pattern in letting me agree to siphon my data without my real agreement.

a) Google managed to shove an update onto my phone even though I did not have wireless configured and had it set to not use cellular for data. I only used it as a phone.

b) after their imposed update, all kinds of shit broke. Speech to text became terrible. When viewing a photo, I couldn't zoom it: it would crash the photo app.

c) Google kept asking for permissions that didn't make sense to me.

I tried doing another update but things didn't improve. The phone was circa 2017 and I think they just don't test their software on older devices. I have up and switched to iPhone and have been very happy with it. The one thing I did like better about Android is putting one-touch phone numbers on the home screen. With iPhone I have to click the phone icon, Favorites, then the number. Maybe there's a way to put them on the the iPhone home screen, but for me, a phone is really just a phone, so I don't get all crazy with figuring out the features.

In iOS I can choose to use different providers for email, calendar, and password management or remove the apps (for the first two).

2) Long support which makes the price really reasonable. I've been using an iPhone 8 for a couple of years now, and still have the latest iOS version and the phone works good enough. If I would have bought an Android phone when I bought my iPhone I would have needed to replace it already, because of lack of updates.

I already have an iPad which is probably my favorite device to use. I might end up taking another look at Android when Google finally releases their Shortcuts clone.