Apple & Android: Into the Foxholes They Go

Just upgraded my iPad to iOS5. Not sure what to think yet. I like that Apple has added an embedded ‘to do’ list. I have an app that does that well. The one Apple has added seems inherently easier. Plus, it’s built into the system. However, the upgrade disappeared four of my apps, including a golf game with an addicting ‘closest to the pin’ challenge. I’ll have to get those back. Apple TV has also updated. Did I mention I’m a big fan of Apple TV?

Moments like these, especially with the release of the iPhone 4S tomorrow, always make me cringe. Foot soldiers on both sides crawl into the virtual foxholes and begin firing round after round at one another. This is probably the product of good public relations work on both sides, however, there are enough polarized people with their own invented fury that don’t need prodding from PR laden info bombs and an Apple-biased big media machine. I suppose there’s money to be made doing this.

I owned an iPhone for two years. I loved it. However, for the last six months, I have used an Android-based phone, the HTC Desire HD. The phone itself is FANTASTIC and has a massive, beautiful screen. I love the camera. Accessories are hard to find. Still, a great phone. I switched because I wanted to try the Android experience. It’s been okay. Not fabulous. Just okay. It’s a bit disorganized, and the overall app quality leaves something to be desired. Android crashes more than iOS. There’s more upkeep required. I miss the ease of syncing music. Would I switch to 4S? Probably. It’s just not a part of my technology budget right now and, as mentioned, I do like the HTC phone.

About six months after I bought the Android phone, one of those people who is a bit too polarized against all things Apple asked me to write a review of my Android phone for his website. I declined. I didn’t want to “side” with one camp or the other — and that’s exactly what he wanted. In some circles, that’s called “propaganda.” Writing a review (which he probably wouldn’t have liked) would have done that. I’m a technology centrist and always have been. Plus, he wasn’t paying me.

All that said, to the people people choosing to polarize themselves and stand as rabid foot soldiers for either cause? Unless one or the other is paying you, go find something to do with hunger, disease, homelessness or some other cause that requires as great or more passion. Launch those tirades at real villains instead of fueling somebody else’s profit margin. Find a soup kitchen and dish up a few meals. Go hammer some nails into a habitat for humanity house. Write poetry. Read a child a book. Find a real cause that requires as much or more passion than this. Find something.

That other stuff is boring the rest of us.

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