My Return to the Darkside

This Tuesday, Apple should be sharing information about the next generation of the iPhone and with all of the buzz going around, I have to admit that I'm thinking about going back to the darkside known as Apple.

Prior to the iPhone 4 launch, I was in the market for a new phone but I became disenfranchised due to antenna gate and Steve Jobs half-assed approach to the debacle. I ended up jumping ship to Android and bought the HTC Aria.

Now, I've been happy with my Aria, but it could not replace my original iPhone. Sure, being able to root my phone and have more control over what I could do with it was a nice change, but I missed the bells and whistles that came with the iPhone. In the end, the Aria just couldn't compare.

Sure, I could upgrade to another Android handset, and I've been tempted by the Droid Incredible and other similar devices, but the sirens song coming from Cupertino may be too strong. I'll have to see what the new iPhone is all about first, and more than likely I will probably end up going with the iPhone 4 if the price is right, but going back feels kinda dirty.

There is another option which is to be happy with what I have, but for some reason that's not my style. Regardless of which route I take, I'm definitely interested to see what Apple has to say this Tuesday.

My New Toy: HTC Aria vs. iPhone 4, Rd. 2

For the last couple of months, I was going back and forth about which new smartphone I was going to purchase. In one corner was the iPhone 4 and in the other, AT&T's mid-range Android phone the HTC Aria.

I've owned the first-generation iPhone for three years, so I was originally going to go with the newest version, but I was so smitten by the Aria that it was no longer a no-brainer. I did tons of research, played with models in the AT&T store, and obsessed on the decision for weeks.

Last week I finally went with the Aria. The first couple of days with the phone were frustrating because I was trying to figure out the new Android OS, but the Aria has slowly been growing on me. Unfortunately, I'm still not 100% sold.

I still have a few more weeks to test out the Aria, or I can exchange it for the iPhone 4 with the promotional price. Right now, my inclination is to go back to Apple so I can have a phone I'm familiar with, but I don't want to short-change the Aria either. Plus, I know that I haven't used my HTC device to its full potential. Maybe I should have waited a little bit longer...ah well.

My Toughest Decision

Usually, I can make a snap decision, move forward, and not really give it a second thought. Apparently, I use take this approach when it comes to buying a new phone. I've been sharing my thoughts about the iPhone 4 and the HTC Aria, but some new players have entered the competition. Namely, the HTC Droid Incredible and the Samsung Galaxy S.

Now, you would think picking a phone really shouldn't be that big of a deal, but choosing something besides the iPhone or the Aria would mean I would have to change wireless carriers (Verizon for the Droid Incredible, Sprint or T-Mobile for the Galaxy S). Making that kind of change and commitment is not an easy decision.

I was with Sprint prior to moving to Cingular (now AT&T), and I didn't have a bad experience but I changed because I didn't like their phone selection. So far, I've been content with AT&T and wouldn't mind sticking around, but their new voice and data plans are kind of odd.

Verizon and the Droid Incredible started to take a slight lead, but apparently they're going to a similar model for their plans as well. I wouldn't mind going back to Sprint or moving over to T-Mobile if their phones are worth the hassle of changing carriers. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to play with the Samsung Epic (Sprint) and the Samsung Vibrant to help me with my decision.

Or I can just stick to my good ole first gen iPhone...

My Thoughts on Apple's Mea Culpa

So, Apple had an intimate press conference to address the antenna issue with the new iPhone 4. I didn't get to watch the conference, but I did read up on various web sites while they were live blogging/chatting about what Steve Jobs had to say.

In a nutshell, Apple admitted that the iPhone 4 glitch, but so do all smartphones. They threw out numbers to try and convince people that this issue is not a big deal, and to make customers happy they will be giving out free Bumpers/cases or refunds for those who already bought a Bumper.

As a potential buyer, this press conference didn't convince me to take the risk on the iPhone 4 just yet. I wanted to hear what Apple is planning on doing to fix the hardware problem, but the only solution I read was, "here's a free rubber band for your phone". That doesn't make me want an iPhone 4 any more than I did yesterday, and if anything I'm less likely to purchase one today.

The Bumper offer seems like a temporary fix rather than a real solution. If Jobs had said our new batch of iPhone 4's will have a new antenna design, then I'd be willing to be patient, but I didn't read anything coming close to that. Apple may have glossed over the idea by saying it will continue to think of fixes and yadda yadda yadda, but since they've known about this problem for a while now it shouldn't take that long to come up with a real solution. Heck, they should have been expecting this and been prepared, but apparently they didn't think it was going to be a big deal.

Also, the attitude of "every smartphone has issues" and "we painted a bulls-eye on ours" was kind of a cop-out, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I know you have to have an ego to lead such a large corporation, but using the excuse that this happens and it's just not us (I'll even show you how our competitors have the same problems) seems kind of cowardly. Jobs should have taken the hit, without pointing fingers at others, manned up and outlined a real solution rather than giving away a $30 rubber band-aid.

Did today's presser move me closer to Android? Not really. I still have a "devil you know" mentality, and so far I haven't read anything that has sold me on getting an Android phone (the HTC Aria in particular). It's not like I need a new phone now (although my 1st Gen iPhone did start acting funny when the new version came out), and I can wait a few more months to see if Apple starts acting right. The thing is, we shouldn't have to wait for a fix...

My New Toy: iPhone 4 vs. HTC Aria

A few days have gone by, and I'm still not sure if I want to take a risk on the iPhone 4. I still think a lot of the complaining about the glitches are being blown out of proportion, but I also don't want to drop a ton of cash on a product with known issues. Plus, Apple's response of "it happens and just hold it another way or buy one of our bumpers" was kind of off-putting.

I went to a Sprint store to check out the HTC EVO 4G, and man is that an ugly phone. I'm sure all of the Android nuts are wetting themselves with excitement, but to me the phone is way too big. A lot of people online are calling the EVO a mini-iPad because of its size. Once I actually had the chance to see and play with one, I was convinced that the EVO was not for me.

Then I went to an AT&T store to play with the iPhone 4, and the model I used didn't have any issues that I could tell, but I still wasn't sold. I meandered around the store and I stumbled across the HTC Aria, which is a mid-level Android phone for AT&T. I was immediately smitten with its hardware, and the interface seemed good but I'm far from an expert. Of course I had to go home to do some research on the Aria, and what I've found hasn't been really good or bad.

The experts online seem to think that the Aria is a serviceable Android phone, and while it's not as powerful as an EVO, Droid Incredible, or Droid X, it's still a decent little device. The only real bad thing I've read about the Aria is that it's not able to side-load non-market applications, but I have no idea what the means so I doubt that will factor in my decision. If I decided to switch from Apple to Android, Aria would be my starter phone. The thing I still don't know enough about Android or the Aria to be confident enough to make that kind of change.

Like I mentioned before, I've been committed to Apple and its iPhone for too long, and I don't have the patience to learn how to work a brand new type of phone (which is funny because that's the same reason why I haven't switched from PC to Mac). Plus, I started to pay attention to how I hold my iPhone, and with some minor modifications the snafu on the new phone really shouldn't affect me. It was fun playing the field for a little bit, but I think my heart belongs to iPhone 4...although I never say never.