Why I love Android

Look, all these arguments over "open" versus "closed" and "polish" versus "customization" are, quite frankly, all bull shit. The only question you as either a first-time smartphone buyer or someone considering jumping platforms should consider is this one: On which platform will my needs be met and will I be most productive and happy?

For me, the choice is Android. For you, maybe it is iOS, or BlackBerry OS, or even Windows Phone 7. Heck, you might be a-OK with that RAZR you have had since 2005. As long as it suites your needs and makes you happy, don't listen to all this chatter from the fanboys and tech elite trying to convince you that one company or another is "good" or "evil." They have their heads too far up in the clouds to see that not everyone down below agrees with their opinion. Shocking, I know, but some people actually have different likes and interests!

Personally, I like flexibility. I like tinkering. I like making things do stuff that they probably shouldn't be doing. And, probably most of all, I don't like wasting time. I hate going through a million menus to find the button to turn off my WiFi (iOS and to a lesser extent Windows, that's looking at you). I hate being told my desktop or home screen must look a certain way. I cannot stand being told I can't do something on a device I purchased because it might "confuse" other users. Android lets me have complete control over my device and I love it.

With widgets (as shown in my super easy-to-get screen capture from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1), I can access the information I used most often - what is the time, what is the weather, and what is my schedule - without opening a single app. In 2 seconds I have all the information I need 80% of the time. Sure, I probably trade some battery life and perhaps get occasional lag, but overall I save a ton of time and I am happier because of it. With my WiFi on/off widget, it is literally ONE CLICK to toggle my WiFi. And you can do that for nearly any system setting - mobile data, Bluetooth, GPS, brightness.

Those are the kinds of things that are important to me as a user. Not having the sleekest transitions or the most mind-blowingly creative UI. But hey, you might disagree. Good thing not one company (*cough*Apple*cough*) dominates the smartphone market anymore so there is real choice for consumer. You don't like widgets, guess what, buy something else. I promise I won't flame you for it.

Half a million Android devices activated daily

Or, 3.5 million per week or 15 million per month. Absolute insanity when a year ago we were at 100,000 per day. 

Just wait until Android tablets (and maybe iPod Touch competitors?) hit their stride. 

[Twitter]

Half a million Android devices activated daily

Or, 3.5 million per week or 15 million per month. Absolute insanity when a year ago we were at 100,000 per day. 

Just wait until Android tablets (and maybe iPod Touch competitors?) hit their stride. 

How Samsung can beat Apple at their own game in the tablet market

Samsung dropped quite the little megaton on attendees of their press conference at CTIA today - the redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9. Taken together, they personify Android's core philosophy that openness drives down cost and drives up quality due to competition. Samsung knew back in the early part of this month that anything over $499 wasn't going to cut it for their entry-level device, and boy have they delivered. 

Rather than going over the specs, which can be read in full here straight from Samsung, let me compare the Galaxy Tab 10.1's specs to the iPad 2's-

• Same price
• Comparable processor (as Samsung makes the iPad 2's and iPhone 4's chips)
• Same memory (16GB for $499 model)
• microSD slot lets you add more memory for cheaper (16GB micoSD card costs ~$25)
• Thinner
• Lighter
• Higher-resolution screen. (Apparently screen resolution only matters to Apple when its the iPhone 4)
• Better front and rear cameras
• Full Flash support allows experiencing the full web as currently constructed (HTML 5 is the future, not the present)

Samsung is acutally one of the largest chip and memory manufacturers on the planet. And that isn't all, they also make the screens used in tons of mobile products. They can compete (and perhaps best) Apple on component price thanks to their vertically-integrated supply chain. Apple, for all of their engineering and design wizardry, still largely has to buy their components from 3rd parties (as do other competitors like RIM, HP, and Motorola). So, in a sense, Samsung wins no matter if you by an iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab or even an iPhone or a Nexus S. 

So, hardware is on the side of Samsung. But what about software? Well, for now the iPad 2 is the unquestioned winner in number of tablet-centric apps, but that will even out in time as more and more Android tablets hit the market and they start making a dent in Apple's marketshare. By this time next year I would expect Android tablets to be ahead in overall marketshare. Just look how far Android on phones has come since the launch of the OG DROID back in November 2009 and it doesn't sound so crazy. 

I've said how I was interested in the Xoom but for the mass consumer market, the iPad 2 was simply a much better value considering its $499 price point. But the Galaxy Tab 10.1, upon launch, will be the best tablet on the market in terms of specs and pricing. You simply get more for the same amount of money on the hardware side. Software is still in Apple's favor, but that lead will erode quickly. It is no longer a matter of "if" Android will become the dominant tablet OS, it is a question of "when." 

Oh, and if you do the math a 48GB Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB model plus 32GB microSD card) ends up being less than a 32GB iPad 2. So, so much win. 

The best feature of the iPad 2 is the most obvious - price

Apple today reviled the upcoming iPad 2, and it manages to improve in all the areas the average consumer cares about while ignoring the areas they don't. Front and rear cameras are both in, along with a dual-core processor all packed into a device 33% thinner than its predecessor. But the most impressive feature is that they managed all of these while keeping the $499 price point on the low end. Sure, you can drop $800 on a fully tricked out iPad 2 with 3G and tons of memory. but most people are just fine with the 16GB WiFi model. 

While thought by many at the original iPad's launch to be too high, $499 is a price point no competitor has been able to match in the 10-inch tablet space. And the fact that the device will be shipping to stores around the world on March 11th (just over a week away!) again shows that Apple is the best in the business with regards to their supply chain. So, what are their competitors left to do?

What if Apple sold a $399 iPad?

Right now, click this link and check the price of the iPhone 3GS on new contract.... $49. For the past couple iterations, Apple has consistently kept the past versions of the iPhone around as a low-end model when introducing their new iPhone. This allows them to maintain the industry-standard price point of $199 on new two-year contract with their new phone while having a device at the lucrative $99 price point to snag customers who don't need the latest and greatest hardware. There is no reason to suspect they won't continue this practice once the iPhone 5 rolls around this summer and offer the current iPhone 4 at that same $99 price point. 

So here is the million-dollar question: why can't Apple do the same thing with the iPad?