Switching From IOS To Android: What To Do?

It’s happening soon. What’s happening? Well the Nexus S is coming to AT&T, and that opens up millions of US iPhone users to one of the best Android phones on the market. For a few months now, I’ve been looking to switch to Android.

I know. I admitted it. There’s nothing wrong with iOS, in fact, it’s one of the best mobile operating system on the planet. However, after a few years of having an iPhone, it’s starting to get a little old. It feels like I’m in a rut. Sort of like a mid-phone crisis.

But when I was looking at switching, I realized how deeply ingrained I am in iOS. I’ve got 101 apps on my iPhone. I’ve got around 500 songs and 12 videos. Most of the content I have was bought from iTunes – from books to movies.

Buying an Apple product is like walking directly into a black hole. Once you go in, it’s very difficult, close to impossible, to get out. Then you buy an iPad, a Mac, an Apple TV, and you end up in the situation I’m in now.

What phone would you get if you switched? For me, it would be the Nexus line. The Nexus line of smartphone’s is Google’s own. This means that the device runs stock Android.

To me, this is the best option from the Android line up. Why? It runs the OS as Google intended. It’s got all the features of Android and it’s always first to get updates. And there’s no skin clunking up the device; just beautiful, stock Android.

So what would an average user have to do to switch?

Apps

Like I said before, I have over 100 apps on my iPhone. Some of them have excellent Android counterparts, like Twitter, Facebook, and Angry Birds (which is a lot better then the Blackberry version).

But what about apps that are exclusive to the iPhone from the small devs? Are there replacements for them? Not to mention iOS has the largest selection of apps. Safe apps. Recently, the big news in the Android world has been that users have downloaded malware apps from the Android Market.

Again, some of this might have been the user’s fault, but it seems that the curated App Store is a winner when it comes to safety and selection.

Tunes

Let’s say I just bought a Nexus S. I’m at Starbucks and here an awesome song. Shazam is on my phone so I find the song. I want to buy it. How do I do that? Is there a link to the iTunes Store? Well, that’s kinda impossible.

There are alternatives to iTunes on Android like DoubleTwist which runs on Macs, PCs, and the smartphone itself; but I doubt it’ll offer features like AirPlay, HomeSharing, or any of the other features we iOS users have gotten accustomed to. Then again, Spotify just launched bringing unlimited streaming music for $10, that’d be another excellent (albeit paid) alternative.

Email/Web

I’m an avid user of Google’s online products. Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Reader, and they all work like a dream on my iPhone with a few modification and a Google web search.

However, I know if I bought an Android device, it would work even better with the Google services. There’s no real problem switching when it comes to my email and other services. The same also goes for the web. Why? Well Apple sponsored this one open source web browser toolkit called “Webkit”.

It’s what powers Safari, Chrome, Mobile Safari, and the Android browser. I could care less about Flash player. Almost every major website has a mobile version without Flash, so there’s no point in mucking up a new phone with Adobe’s PC software.

Updates/Jailbreaking

Google’s Nexus S is always first to get updates. It’s just like how Apple ships iOS to all devices at the same times (well, now that the iPad has caught up). On the jailbreaking side of things, there’s really no reason to “root” your device other then to install custom firmwares.

That sounds like a daunting task to me, just imagine how non-tech-nerd users would feel. If I want a new keyboard, I could go to the Android Market. On the customization size of things, Android wins.

On the other hand, there’s always that new excitement in switching. It’ll be a little nicer to have a few more options when it comes to screen sizes. Four inch screens would definitely be a welcomed addition to my phone.

What do you guys think? Would you ever switch to Android? Let us know in the comments or by sending me a tweet. Of course, you can voice your rage in the same way (just keep it clean).