There’s been a lot of talk about how the ecosystem wars are heading up; walls are getting taller and moats are getting deeper, as both Apple and Google work to ensure you invest so heavily in their products and services that leaving becomes an overly-painful proposition. The question was posed on The Verge’s forums:
I’ve been an Apple guy thus far. But I am waiting to see what comes out of the Moto 360, Nexus 6 and Android Silver launch later this year. We all pretty much know what iPhone 6, iOS 8 and OSX is bringing to the table, so no mystery there.
If I don’t switch from Apple now, I am not sure I ever will, so I want to give Android a serious look before making the decision. I want to wait till December and see how things shake out in the platform wars.
Anybody else taking the wait and watch approach before making their next big tech purchase – smart phone, tablet, smart watch etc.?
With all of this going on, I’ve been pondering just how invested I am in my current daily driver setup. I know I have absolutely no desire to use anything but OS X on my primary computing device – everything else is certainly up for grabs, though. This year I’ll probably continue to coast with the Nexus 5 and 7, unless this year’s iPad refresh is truly remarkable. I love iPad hardware, and iOS is…fine, but I just can’t justify $400-500 for something that’s a luxury for me at best. I need a PC, and I need a smartphone…but my tablet use cases are generally limited to “electronic reader and light gaming machine”, and the Nexus 7 is perfectly adequate for that. Of course, I occasionally find myself tempted by the fairly impressive iPad-exclusive tablet game line-up, FTL being a high-profile example. Since price is my primary concern, maybe I’ll look into a used retina Mini at some point.
Phone-wise, I’m really reluctant to buy any more OEM or carrier phones, which at this point limits me to basically Nexus devices, an iPhone, or a Windows Phone. Only Nexus devices satisfy my desire to own a phone at a reasonable price, though; if I get an iPhone or a Windows Phone on contract, then I feel like I’m just renting my device from the carrier. Still, depending on how compelling 2015’s hardware is, I could certainly see myself moving off of Android.
That’s 2015, though – after my bump from an HTC One to a Nexus 5, this year is basically a mobile tech holding pattern, with the possible exception of the Moto 360 – which, of course, would further invest me in the Android world. Either way, the next couple of years are going to be pretty exciting, and there’s some small comfort in knowing that it’ll be pretty hard to go wrong, regardless of what side you end up coming down on.
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The devil’s in the details
I recently replied to this post on The Verge, and I think my response is worth sharing as it sums up my current view on status of mobile tech, at least as it pertains to Android and iOS.
I couldn’t agree more, especially with iOS8 bringing a lot of the features I’ve enjoyed on Android to the iPhone. It’s becoming less and less about what’s better, but about the small details and which of those details matters most to the individual user. For me, it’s come down to a few key things:
The thing is, none of these are deal breakers – they’re small details, but they’ve become important to me in a world where everything else is basically equal.