UTTERMEDIA

Let’s get straight down to business. I found the iPhone very restrictive and bland. When you look beneath the beautiful HD graphics and the glossy icons, it’s a simple BIOS. The minimal information and media that Apple actually let you put into the device is filed away exactly where they want it and how they want it….

I can only compare it to a 50s telephone switchboard. There are many plugs and lines (apps) and there are various departments (screens). But they all work on a “one-in one-out” theory. To do one task, you have to stop another. Even with multi-tasking, you’re a caller being routed to-and-fro from one department to another. These departments are hostile to one-another. And if you’d like to speak to management (root) then you’re practically screwed.

Sure, you can jailbreak your device. That’s what I did for 3 years — purely to visually customise the phone and make it a little different to that “stock” look. But why should I have to do that? Was it too much to ask to be able to glance once at my phone to see my SMS, emails, missed calls, time, schedule and weather without pressing a button?

I began looking elsewhere. I figured I was a ‘tweaker’ who needed an open handset with options, customisations, multiple and wholly diverse home screens, and most importantly, choice.

My first hour using Android on the HTC Desire was spent scratching my head. Not in confusing or despair, but it amazement. Amazement that I was doing everything I wanted my iPhone to do — so easily. The multiple home screens are not just repeated grids of icons. They are whatever you would like them to be. For instance, my main screen is a large clock (with additional calendar and weather info), four icons, and my toolbar. If I swipe left, I have my Friend Stream which combines Facebook and Twitter. Swipe left again and I have a fully functioning calendar. Once more left I have a page of app icons, top-to-bottom. To swipe right from the main home screen I find a stack of my most recently taken photos/videos. Right-again I have a music player, and then right again I have a news feed from BBC, Gizmodo, The Guardian, etc. I can change any of this around to anything you can think of.

All of the above, without launching a single app. My toolbar at the bottom of the screen remains present wherever I swipe, giving me access to a full list of apps, my main menus and the phone dialer. Swiping down from the top of the screen brings up my latest system-wide notifications.

Looking back at my iPhone, I can simply see the time and “Slide To Unlock”. Once unlocked all I can see is how much money I’ve spent in the App Store.

Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone, and specifically the iPhone 4, is a revolutionary bit of kit. It brings HD video recording, movie editing, advanced gaming to anyone, anywhere. My Nan can use an iPhone and so can my youngest cousin. It’s simple in the way it does many things, but it would be brilliant if it could intertwine all of its actions without you left thinking “Ah, I can’t do that because of Apple, but it’s okay because it’s my cool iPhone”.

Apple are masters with their marketing, their after-care and their entire consumer experience. They make you feel very special and very gifted. It’s only when you ask for more than the basics from your handset that you start question whether it’s all worth it. They’re fighting for the cause though — multimedia content for everyone, easilly. They’re doing that right, but you just have to be willing to do it their way.

Unfortunately, because the handset is so simple and the software so stripped down, the moment that the average iPhone user runs into trouble, they’re stumped. Technical know-how or problem-solving isn’t their strong point, so they just make do.

Android challenges the user. You’re made to think a different way — you know that your phone can do what you want it to do, and you push it to do so, with ease. Before you know it, the handset and OS are crafted to suit your every need and suddenly you have a smartphone that is actually smart, intuitive and truly your own.

The iPhone is Kate Moss. Looks great, does exactly what it’s told - but underneath the surface, it’s so very facile.