Yeah at first I was contemplating getting an iPhone 4 (not because it's popular but because it has the edge in terms of app selection and commercial games. Android Market is pretty massive but I do find that a lot of websites tend to only have an iPhone app but no equivalent Android app and that irks me. So yeah, because Apple was in the game first and they have strong brand power, they tend to get first dibs and exclusives) but ultimately went with Android because it's more open, gives you more freedom, has grown so much and has even more potential for growth and because I hate Apple, Steve Jobs and his acolytes (lol). Only reason why iOS has more apps and games is because Apple entered the game first and has strong brand power. Whereas the Android brand strength doesn't quite correspond 1:1 with their market share (in US, Android OS Smartphone market share is at 36% while iPhone is at 26% http://www.betanews.com/article/Android-dominates-smartphone-market-but-consumes-tons-of-data/1306958465.) Mainly because when you buy an Android phone, it usually has a HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, etc. logo on the phone and doesn't say Android on it or have a little green robot on there (fair enough, that would be geeky). So it's hard for Android to gain brand recognition like that. My HTC Desire HD has a Google logo on the back. That's it.
And yeah I agree that software support is a bit of an issue with Android phones outside of the Nexus S. Given how companies like HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, etc. have such a hard-on for installing their own custom user interfaces and software on the phones instead of letting Google handle that shit. I'm still waiting on HTC to release HTC Sense with the Gingerbread 2.3 update. Apparently HTC was supposed to release the update in May but it got pushed back to June due to some bugs or some shit. I've seen people install custom Gingerbread 2.3.3 ROMS on their Desire but obviously this voids the HTC warranty. Meanwhile my buddy who bought a Samsung Nexus S got Gingerbread 2.3 out of the box and can get updates from Google directly in the future. And the phone comes unlocked and I think it has greater radio band support but I'm not sure (I think. He got it from Wind Mobile. The radios they put in those phones are different). The HTC Sense user interface isn't bad. I like the layout. And Friend Stream allows me to quickly check out what's going on with my Facebook friends. But HTC Sense gets in the way of doing what I want with my phone (ie. connecting my Wiimote to it via Bluetooth, getting Android updates in a timely manner, etc.) So I might root this thing. If it breaks (I have a screen protector and a protective rubberish shell but still) or the software gets screwy, I'm kinda fucked if I void my warranty though. Should have waited for Nexus S. lol. I had to have a smartphone right away because I was tired of using a numberpad for texting my friends.
