[General Topics] 8525Smart:
Let me preface my argument with an introduction: Why did I buy an iPhone to begin with? Short answer: It was a reaction to Windows Phone 7.

Long answer: As a big fan of Windows Mobile, I was pretty much devastated to hear all the news about WP7 a while back, in particular the fact that it has no backwards compatibility. Much of XDA didn't seem to share my pessimism, but me? I was extremely upset. At the time, I had wanted to purchase an HD2 after using the Fuze for so long, but I did not want to upgrade to WP7. That would have been fine, but then many companies began to drop support for WM6.X left and right in favor of developing for WP7 (including a few I really wish hadn't). I was also afraid that, by sticking to WM6.5, I was going to get left behind with an abandoned OS, so I came to a conclusion: If I had to switch to an entirely new OS (which was what I considered WP7), then I might as well switch to an already established one.

A lot of choices (WebOS, Maemo, Android, and, of course, iPhone) popped into my head, but what ultimately made me head to the iPhone was my absolutely certainty in one thing: That without apps, even the most powerful and beautiful smartphone would be useless. Alternatively, with apps, even a poor smartphone becomes great. The second part of this belief is the reason why I had used Windows Mobile for so long and it is also a principle I apply greatly to the iPhone.

By coincidence, about the time I came to a decision, my contract was up, and I was allowed to upgrade. I chose the iPhone 3GS. Now, about a little over one month after I purchased it, I am glad to say that my 'absolute certainty' turned out to be proven correct (at least to me). The iPhone, in time and with the right apps, has now become far more important to me than my Windows Mobile phone has ever been.

Admittedly, at first, I was nervous that I made an error. The first two weeks after owning an iPhone was a terror; everything was so damn restrictive. The simplest things that WinMo would let me do easily (such as renaming my files) was forbidden on the iPhone; to do anything like it, I had to use iTunes (which I hated), and even that came with restrictions. However, over time and with the help of the massive iPhone app store, I began to overcome each problem. Even better, each solution the iPhone presented ended up being far, far superior to what I used on WinMo.

I liked using Twitter on WinMo? Twitterrific is not only faster than any Twitter app I've ever used on WinMo, but it comes with more features and has much better usability. I liked using Tomtom on WinMo? MapQuest/CoPilot Live offered free voice navigation (they are the *only* free navigation software I have ever accepted as reasonable substitutes for the paid GPS solutions) and, of course, Tomtom plus numerous others are also available any time I want them. I liked reading using Adobe Reader LE on WinMo? 'Stanza' on the iPhone has so many more features with such a better interface that it's almost difficult to put into words.

And things continued in such a manner. As I had thought prior to buying it, the iPhone was able to replace every app I ever used on Windows Mobile with an equal or superior version. To make things all the better, the iPhone is just a crazy amount faster than any other smartphone I've ever used before.

Enough of the compliments, though. Truthfully, there is still a few things that my Fuze could do that my iPhone can't. Some examples? Well, my Fuze can get a pretty decent alarm clock app. Additionally, it can also tether pretty well. Unfortunately (for my Fuze, that is), the former issue will be gone upon iPhone OS 4's release, and the latter will no longer be an issue once I jailbreak my iPhone. If nothing else, if there is any issue that I can claim about the iPhone that is simply not possible to get around, it is the dependence upon iTunes.

In a way, I feel almost foolish. I had spent a good amount of time despising the iPhone because it lacked the hardware features that so many other Android/WinMo/Symbian smartphones seem to be get. While a WinMo phone was announced with a massive, WVGA screen with a 5MP camera; an iPhone was announced with the ability to copy and paste. Meh, I guess I can be happy that I'm wrong.

To get to the point and summarized my entire argument: the iPhone comes with a lot of restrictions compared to what I'm normally used to with Windows Mobile, but it more than made up for it with it's amazing app selection, the incredible speed of its OS, and it's admittedly elegant (I somehow hate this word with Apple products) design.

I had kept my Fuze as a backup in case things did not work out, but now, I find it unimaginable for me to go back to what I used before.