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Phone Agony

August 4th, 2010 No comments

A year ago I began the process of replacing my Palm Treo with something, well, not so ancient. The choice was simple, then. Palm had just released Palm Pre, with a brand new operating system that breathed innovation and promised the best developer experience.

The phone hadn’t been released in Sweden (or Europe) yet so I waited. And waited. Then Palm got financial troubles and was sold to HP, while I – loosing faith – entered into a state of irresolution.

That was until a friend of mine showed me an app he purchased for his iPhone. It enabled him to point his device towards the night sky and get information of the stars and planets in view. Fantastic. Breathtaking. I had to get myself an iPhone.

Of course, that was before Chad Fowler moved to Android. Now what am I to do? I guess I should try and make an informed decision.

The requirements:

  • UMTS capable
  • Starmap or equivalent application
  • Fun to develop for

iPhone seems to have the best user experience, and integrates beautifully with other devices from apple. On the flip side is the vendor lock-in.

Android has Google Sky Map, not as good looking as Starmap on iPhone but the important  functionality seems to be there.

Developing for Android gives you several alternatives. iPhone, on the other hand, has only one allowed option. I can’t decide if having to learn Objective-C should be considered an advantage or disadvantage for iPhone.

I can’t seem to make up my mind between iPhone and Android. I’ll probably end up flipping a coin, so any input that can help me choose is much appreciated.

Cheers!

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