[Hero, G2 Touch General] TooSlo:
Honestly I'm not sure exactly what is causing me to write this thread, but I thought that I would share my experiences over the last 6 months while switching back and forth between devices. Hopefully someone will read this and feel like they have seen a very honest opinion about the epic David vs. Goliath battle of smartphones.

(Incoming wall of text)

My first "real" smartphone was a T-Mobile G1. I thought that it was a great phone out of the box, but then I caught the bug after visiting xda-developers and got into rooting and running different ROMs on an almost daily basis. A few months after this started, the whole debacle with Haykuro went down and then it felt like there was a very large shift in the way information was distributed. I didn't really like the way things had been going, so I hopped on board the first opportunity that I could to get out of my G1.

In June, I was offered the ability to combine my personal cell phone service into my company's plan where they would cover the cost since I have to use my phone for business purposes. This gave me a good reason to jump away from T-Mobile, as well as have my phone plan taken care of for me. Since they were on AT&T, I thought that I would give an iPhone a swing.

I will say that I adored my iPhone. Maybe a bit too much even. I felt more concerned about keeping it in immaculate condition than feeling like I could use it on a regular basis. The moment it came out of the box, a screen protector went on, as well as a case. I realized then, that my iPhone wasn't really an iPhone anymore. At least not in that sleek sexy way that they show them in the commercials. Undaunted, I dove into modding my iPhone after jailbreaking it, working on themes, playing with non-sanctioned apps and just about everything else you can do with an iPhone. It was at this moment that I realized that the iPhone was less of a well rounded business phone, but instead (for me personally) more of a portable gaming system that allowed me to use my email, text and make some phone calls.

Recently I decided that the iPhone community was frustrating me to no end. The zealots that preached "Mac is king" made me grow irritated to visit the forums that I had once posted all of my themes and tweaks. I realized that the community wasn't one that I was overtly welcomed to, no matter how polite or elegantly I made my points. Maybe I'd just forgotten to sip the kool-aid, but I realized I wasn't in love with my phone, and I wasn't as taken in by everything that these people thought it could do, or so kind as to overlook the iPhone's many glaring faults. I decided to trade my iPhone for an HTC Hero and some extra dough.

I got my Hero in the mail yesterday, and unfortunately the experience wasn't the greatest out of the box. I'd lost my touch with the Android devices, so it took me some time to get ADB up and running again on my work laptop and make sure that the drivers were all hunky-dory. I loaded the Modaco ROM and everything seems to have worked well so far. Looking through the apps available, I realized how pampered I was with my iPhone. There literally were apps for just about everything, as well as some that I absolutely didn't need. Seriously, who needs 25 different fart soundboard apps? I think the thing I'm a little let down with the most was the lack of decent games, even after almost 6 months away from the OS. I'm very pleased that UniWar has made it to the system, and in fact, was the final nail in the coffin of owning an iPhone.

Gaming aside, I'm hoping that I fall back in love with the Android OS. It's so much prettier than the iPhone counterpart. Even better is that I can tether over wifi and connect my iPod Touch and play the games that I'd lost with my iPhone. Sure I have two devices in my bag now, but I feel like I have a better phone, as well as a separate gaming device.

In the end, I think I'm happy so far, but only time will tell if this is just the bliss of a honeymoon that will fade to frustration. Knowing I can't have 3G speeds was a hard pill to swallow, and one that I didn't do the research beforehand. I learned my lesson, but still adore the little Hero sitting alongside me on my desk.

I think there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the iPhone, but I think I came to the party a little too late. With Apple tightening their grasp on owners of the 3GS with every patch, I have little doubt that Steve Jobs will eventually have his way, and the community of 2 million or more users who enjoy their jailbroken devices will move to another platform, possibly the Android. We can only hope that some of the fantastic developers eventually make their way to this side of the fence.