I’ve owned every version of the iPhone since the original launch in 2007, excluding the 4S. I still maintain that Apple revolutionised the mobile market as we know it, combining beautiful hardware design with simple software. Having invested heavily in apps and song purchases I’d be crazy to switch to another platform such as Windows Phone, right? Meet crazy.
The decision to jump ship wasn’t easy, I’ve always been impressed with each iPhone hardware and software update. The iPhone 4 is probably the nicest piece of hardware I’ll use on a day to day basis. I love the fact that for the most part, everything just “works”. With the introduction of iCloud it got even better. Nightly backups and photos synchronised between my iPhone and MacBook Air were two of the big pulls.
So why switch? A couple of weeks ago the earpiece on my iPhone suddenly stopped working. Despite my best efforts I was unable to revive the poor thing, a replacement was needed. The natural decision would be to opt for the iPhone 4S; after all, it’s an amazing device. However, other phones were available.
Rewind a couple of months and I was reading about the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone device. The much hyped device was supposed to bring about a much needed increase in popularity for Microsoft’s mobile operating system. I have always been a fan of the Windows Phone user interface. It appeals to the clean, minimalistic designer in me and I love the concept of “hubs” pulling data from multiple sources together. My issue was with the device manufacturers. Each new release seemed a bit half-assed, contained average hardware and so-so performance. With the launch of the Lumia 800 however, my hardware concerns had been quashed. It was on par with the iPhone 4 in terms of both build quality and capability. This was a big deal to me.
After a lot of deliberation, late last week I took the plunge and ordered a Nokia Lumia 800 in black, sim free. Even as a die hard iPhone supporter, I am genuinely excited to receive this device. I will be using this blog to document the process of leaving the comforts of the iOS ecosystem for the relatively unknown territory of Windows Phone.
At this time I have no idea how I will get on with this device and it’s operating system. I have no idea if I will switch permanently, or if I’ll come crawling back to iOS once the iPhone 5 has launched. Isn’t that all part of the fun, though?