And The Winner Is..

February 14 2011, 8:26 PM  by The Head

Well, today was the day. Today was the two year anniversary of me signing with Rogers and picking up my iPhone 3G. I have some nostalgic memories of first using that iPhone, my very first smartphone. She was a stellar little device that worked well, kept me connected, and provided me with a lot of fun. However, she was getting old and it really showed. iOS updates had not been kind to her, she slowed down to a crawl, and would often shut down applications as she ran out of memory. Towards the end, she simply stopped working. Lost calls, busted battery indicator, 3G troubles, and a lock switch that didn't like to lock or unlock the phone. So while it is a little bittersweet, it's time to retire the old iPhone 3G. 

As I was saying, 2 year anniversary. This of course means that today, I was eligible for my hardware upgrade. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted (feel free to read that here if you are so inclined), and rationalized my choice to the best of my ability.

When it was all said and I done, it really came down to two devices, the Palm Pre 2, and the Samsung Focus. Going into the store I wasn't really sure which one I would pick, but I was probably leaning 60% to 40% in favour of the Pre 2. Mostly, it came down to grabbing hold of the Pre 2 again, and seeing how the smallish phone fit inside my rather large hand. A last chance to play with the screen and type on the keyboard. Sure, it was small, but was it too small? Looking back at the Focus, it fit my hand much better, but what about the shortcomings of Windows Phone 7?

Well, there was a lot of internal back and forth going on. My wife was very helpful by simply helping me keep perspective. Simple points that I may have overlooked in my overzealousness and tech obsession.

In the end, I left the Rogers store the proud owner of a new Samsung Focus.

Ultimately, I found that the Pre 2 was just a little too small. The keyboard a little too cramped. The screen just a little too low res. I still think that WebOS is the best mobile operating system on the market, but this is simply a case of the hardware not being what I need it to be.

My final reasoning was fairly simple: Windows Phone 7 has flaws, yes. But many of those flaws can and will be fixed by software updates. Hell, Microsoft announced several of those updates (multitasking being the big one) today. The Pre 2's shortcomings are never going to change. The Pre 2 I buy today will have the same issues 2 years down the road. The Focus though, can have many of its issues fixed as time goes on. A bit of a gamble, perhaps, but I get the feeling that the hardware shortcomings of the Pre 2 would have irritated me far more than the software shortcomings of the Focus.

And honestly, after playing with the Focus for most of the day, it is a really sweet phone. The screen is gorgeous, and likely the perfect size for a smartphone. The UI is easily the slickest available on the market. It is smooth and transitions beautifully, and offers you a ton of useful information right at your fingertips. There is a bit of a learning curve, or rather I have to re-learn things from my iPhone entrenched point of view, but I really like how WP7 implements things. It is by no means perfect, but it is really, really interesting.

And in a slightly funny side note: My wife has been looking to upgrade her iPhone 3G lately, but was very keen on getting an iPhone 4. She's had no luck at all, as the thing was more or less sold out everywhere. The Rogers store near us had given her a different story every time we've been there. Today was no different. As I was getting my Focus, she inquired again, and was told that they still hadn't cleared their waiting list, and weren't adding any new names to it. She was slightly dejected, but honestly hadn't expected otherwise. 

Well, after leaving the Rogers store, I wanted to stop by Best Buy to pick up a micro SD card for my new phone. After arriving, she noticed that the folks in the cell phone area were doing inventory. She quickly inquired about the odds of picking up a new iPhone 4, only to have the guy literally hand her one. So on the very same day that I upgraded to a Samsung Focus, she is now the exceptionally happy owner of a brand spanking new iPhone 4.

The only problem now is that I really regret telling her, two years ago when I first got my iPhone, that those without iPhones should be openly mocked. Turns out she has managed to remember this little piece of information. Somehow I doubt she's going to go easy on me...