Look guys, I understand the arguments that everyone is making for both sides of the coin. However, a little story for you...
I am a VERY tech savvy consumer, and a good portion of professional life is spent analyzing the smartphone industry and the different platforms, so I do have a pretty good basis for what I'm talking about. I've switched back and forth between Android and iOS over the years, always choosing which platform was best for me at the time. I'm now back on Android with the Galaxy S3 on Verizon. Why? Android allows background syncing and we use GOOD at work, which means all my email (roughly 150-200 per day) are always waiting for me vs the pull model on iOS for the same app that could take minutes to sync. Couldn't have been happier with the S3, until today that is...
Today I need to copy text from one email into another, but every time I tried, no matter which app I was in, that app would crash and I'd wind up back at the home screen. OK, I never panic with stuff like this and just assumed it was a glitch with Touchdown. However, I wanted to dot all my i's and cross all my t's before removing Touchdown so I searched these forums only to find that this is a widespread issue with the S3. Not only that, the issue first popped up in June and we're still without a fix from Samsung three months later. Finally I find a solution, either do a factory reset or root the phone. I've rooted in the past and would gladly do that, but can't now as GOOD won't function on a rooted device. Doing a factory reset is just a giant headache, even with the backup and syncing solutions available, and then would require me bothering my IT department for a new PIN for GOOD.
Needless to say, this is infuriating. Apple would never let a phone out into the wild with such an obvious software bug, and if they did, they'd issue a fix rapidly. Yes, I can hear the argument now...but it took Apple a whole product cycle to introduce copy/paste! Yes it did, but when they did it was perfect with no problems since. Yes, Apple is a money-printing machine, and too many of their customers are mindless drones, but that being said, I feel Samsung and too many Android manufacturers are just fine putting out problematic devices and either leaving consumers hanging until the next major software update (Jelly Bean in this case) or the next generation of device.
Guys, we might bemoan the stale state of iOS, the lack of NFC, strange decision regarding the screen, the abysmal software that is iTunes, a dock connector that will now force mass spending on replacements for accessories, or a decision not to go with a bigger battery for the sake of a millimeter of thickness, but now Samsung has driven this consumer to reconsider switching back to his iPhone 4s just to get the most simplistic and core functionality back. Is that good business? Does that inspire confidence in the future of the platform? Today, after being very happy for a month on the S3, I'm truly saddened by the state of the Android camp once again.
Sad but true.
