Jini Computer

Oh yes, I finally gave up my iPhone 3G to upgrade, not to an Apple iPhone 4, but to a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 powered by Google’s Android, as far as I’m concerned, it’s an -almost- perfect smart phone beating the Apple’s offering in -almost- everything.

Notice I used the word -almost- twice, this doesn’t mean it can’t -become- perfect, the potential is definitely there.

Having an Apple MacBook Pro, an iPhone and iPod Touch, 1st Gen, 2nd Gen and  4th Gen in the household, oh and I almost forgot, an Apple iPod Shuffle as well, it would be natural to upgrade my iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4, specially after skipping the 3GS, that in itself required much patience from my side, nevertheless, I started researching, not underestimating devices running Palm WebOS, Windows Mobile 7, Blackberry, Nokia (Symbian) and of course the mighty Android.

I loved Palm, I used to have a Palm Treo 650 smart phone, so many apps available since the days of Palm Pilot in the 90s, but I think on a strategic front, Palm made too many bad decisions, now owned by HP, it remains to be seen how far WebOS will go. Nokia, Windows and Blackberry OSs though having their own app markets, I just don’t foresee that they’ll be anywhere near Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android in terms of software applications. Let’s face it, people are having much higher expectations of their smart phones.

I’ll write in more details about my choice in future articles, but before I do that, allow me to let you know where I got the best PAYG (Pay As You Go) deal for Samsung Galaxy S here in the UK. Just pop in to any 3 store and get one for less than £390.00, and as a bonus, you’ll also get a free 3 (Three) Sim card, opening the world of Skype on 3G at no extra cost for life.

As apposed to Apple’s iPhone iOS, RIM’s Blackberry and Nokia’s Symbian, Google’s Android OS can exist on many non-Google smart phones or tablets, currently it’s on handsets from HTC, Sony, LG and Samsung just to name a few. So if history is to repeat itself, this is very similar to when MSDOS and Windows came to the picture back in the 90s, this resulted into software developers wanting to write software for Windows in order to spread on as much hardware as possible.

What makes Android even more interesting is the fact that it’s based on open source Linux, which makes it even more desirable by developers as they can tweak the OS to their liking and come up with pretty creative solutions.

All that and the fact that it is Google who is behind Android OS, which should make many killer apps to make stand out from the crowd.

I think the only thing that’s holding Android from world domination is the number, and more importantly, the quality of it’s applications available, and I think it’s just a matter of a time, maybe early 2011 when we will see those quality killer apps running on very powerful smart phones.

I usually jump with joy when new technology arrives in shops, specially when it’s affordable, I just wouldn’t mind going for that impulsive adrenaline rush to go and buy the thing, well at least that’s how I think, but Apple’s iPad simply did not qualify for these feelings. I somehow decided to skip this wonderful yet magical and affordable device altogether.

Here are 10 reasons why I don’t an iPad:

1. I already own a MacBook Pro
2. I already own an iPhone 3G
3. Can’t use it for video calls
4. It’s a little heavy, accidents could happen
5. Wouldn’t feel safe using it in trains or buses
6. Can’t fully edit office documents which is a shame
7. Can’t expand the storage
8. Too large for navigation
9. Not as good display as e-ink based e-books
10. Finally, I think the competition will come up with much better solutions, and very soon.