Mobile Fixation

Among my current allotment of slight obsessions (Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the iPhone and an endless pursuit of well made and well fashioned shoes) is the Google phone, aka G1, available now through T-Mobile.


Last weekend I thought to compare the iphone to the G1 and finally make a decision on some new gadgetry. If only things were so simple. What these phones offer is quite similar- internet, touch screens, e-mail, movies, music, apps, wi-fi, etc. They do differ in service (tmobile vs att) and some functionality, such as the G1 gives you street level maps via google earth/maps and it reads bar codes to look up a better deal in the surrounding area or online, whereas the iphone is still the music king, far slimmer and more stylish. Additionally, the iphone runs a Mac OS which is solid and the G1 runs the open source Android. And therein lies my new quandary.



The Android OS is slick. No getting around it. And the possibility for apps is limitless, basically. The best part may be that it is such a good idea, such a good OS, that major cell phone manufacturers like Motorola, LG, Samsung and my personal fav Nokia can all use the OS in their phones. And apparently they all have big plans to. All the aforementioned companies as well as several others are setting target dates in 2009 (Q1-Q3) for release of new phones with Android as the OS.

The question is whether to get the iphone and easily love it for all it is or wait for new phones to come out in a few months (optimistically) with the new open source OS.

The iphone is probably like a BMW- it never really goes out of style. My four year old ipod is still kicking without a problem to speak of which is some testament to the construction of Apple products. The new Android system phones scheduled to come out could be a homogeneous lot, like every other flip phone, distinguishable only by case color. But I could be wrong. The Android OS functions almost too well to not be purchased in some form and is most likely worth the wait.

So, it seems, the future will find me waiting this one out, at least in the short term, to see what the manufacturers roll out after the first of the year. Now, as to what can I fill the obsession void with in the meantime- School work? Home remodeling? A truly kick-ass vegetarian chili?