Poll: What smartphone technology do you use?

Android v2.3.6 on Samsum Galaxy SII Skyrocket. Love this phone.

And in response to Lisa's answer - yes, I have already rooted it and flashed to a new version of Android. :) I view a phone just like any other computer, and I want to customize it to my preferences.

And like Andrew, I am very happy with Android. We can argue that Apple has way more apps than Android, and that the Android market is fragmented. But at the end of the day, can you really deal with 500,000 apps... At some point you just reach the point of diminishing returns.

A - I have an iPhone and am using Apple's iOS 5.

Important question to ask now that Android has been getting publicity for gaining market share recently.
A few months ago, I bought an iPhone, the first device I'd ever bought from Apple. I got it because my Android phone was slow, unreliable, and had terrible battery life. I've been really, really happy with iOS so far. No regrets!

I use Android. I have used iOS as well, but find Android offers greater configuration options, largely due to its open-source technology.

I have an Android... Really happy with its features set...

Lisa:

Spot on that the "why" ought to be the first question. The "which" should then become readily apparent for each user.

I find people fiercely recommend the phone they use, regardless. The following might help once the "why" is answered.

Apps: There are virtually no well developed productivity apps that do not exist on BOTH the Apple and Android platforms. Same is true for well developed entertainment apps. Neither platform has exclusivity. However Blackberry is starting to lag behind in App development as developers see it as a dying platform.

BOTH iPhone and Android are reasonably stable platforms, although BOTH will crash from time to time. The preventive measure of rebooting every few days applies to both.

Now that iPhone is no longer exclusive to AT&T, also being offered by Sprint and Verizon, you can expect to see plan pricing, hardware and app costs come down a bit, but Apple will ALWAYS be more expensive, for the very simple reason stated in the last paragraph below.

The primary difference between the iPhone and Android platforms is customization. iPhone versions of apps are by design "simple" to use. They do what they are supposed to do with a minimum of fuss and a very small array of settings. Android versions of apps, on the other hand, have more flexibility of settings and typically a few extra features as a result. The trade-off is, if you are not a tech geek, they may be a little more difficult to use.

Add to that the fact that Steve Jobs was a marketing genius. The primary reason to spend twice on an iPhone what comparable Androids cost is the fact that owning an Apple product WILL make you cool. The more you own, the cooler you will be. And the more you are seen actually using your Apple products in public, or at least pretending to, well... your coolness will grow exponentially. :P

Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com

Android on a Samsung (Verizon) Fascinate (Galaxy S). Overall, I'm happy, but even at just a year in, I'm longing for a new phone. Curse these two-year contracts! As a Mac user, I will likely move to an iPhone next, which I have avoided so far out of protest over the closed-system nature of the platform. But, what the heck, I have a job to do, and philosophical purity will have to take a back seat.

Android is highly functional, but I do worry about Google spying on me. My hope is that someone will take webOS or some flavor of Linux and build a truly platform-independent handset OS that simply serves its primary role (making the hardware reasonable and serving as a platform for apps), rather than acting as a marketing platform.

@Sandra I have an Android phone, only because I am not much of an Apple fan. Moreover, I'm glad there are several major platforms because I feel that we all benefit from having a choice. Also - it creates more jobs for programmers!

I own both iOS and Android devices. For family members, I have purchased several iPhone 4's and an iPad. For myself, I use Androids: currently, a Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone and Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tab.

In general, I prefer to use the same mobile OS for phone and tab to avoid switching between UIs and content synchronization methods. If you love your iPad, stick with iPhones so that you can use the same apps on both and (most of) the same accounts and interfaces. I have also owned Moto and HTC Android devices but use Samsung right now. I find choosing a phone and tab from the same manufacturer more helpful than I had expected, given Android as a common underlying OS, because manufacturers customize UIs and built-in apps.

When choosing that first mobile OS and device, I consider the individual's interest in and desire for customization, control, reliability, and security. When the user is not particularly "techie" and just wants a smooth experience, with little ability to control that experience, iOS seems a better fit. When the user may want to experiment with many different apps or widgets or screen layouts, Android offers more flexibility and device diversity. If the user cannot tolerate risk or crashing apps, iOS is currently more mature in those areas. If the user is willing to accept some risk and the occasional error, even reset-to-factory-default, in trade for flexibility, a broader set of devices to choose from, and more rapid innovation - then I recommend Android.

I use Android (v2.3.5) as my personal device. 2 years and counting.

I prefer the flexibility of Android over Apple, personally, but either will work. I'm very intrigued with Windows Phone (WP7) but will wait for my next phone upgrade in 18 months to consider it.

For, I'm very happy with Android.

-ASB: http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker

Nokia Lumia 800 - the beginning of something wonderful in the Windows world. Device for business but styled for the consumer. Very simple to use, reliable, whilst apps like SKYPE are still being developed its going to have a strong future. Nokia Lumia 800 brings Nokia desirability with Microsoft user-ability and value.

Love the camera, love it's integration with outlook and social networking services. I set it up within 5 minutes and it had intuitively collated all my sim contacts and merged with Facebook, linked in and twitter to link all my worlds.

With a few clicks I could access my Sky drive pics and documents,

If you love windows, you love reliability you'll love the Nokia Lumia.

So far so happy!