[shuzchen]

Here's what I can do in Android that I can't do in iOS:

* develop an app on my own machine - you can't develop iOS on anything but AAPL hardware, android dev can be done on the big 3.

* without having to pay anything - how much does dev license in iOS cost? don't need to pay for android SDK and tools

* without having to jump through any loops to distribute it - I can just pack up the .apk and email it to you, provide a dropbox public link (when I used to use k9mail, I got my updates at http://code.google.com/p/k9mail/downloads/list rather than the android app store), or put it up in my own app store for it (look at amazon app store, or http://f-droid.org/, or that adult themed one that came out some time ago).

[rbarooah]

None of this is in dispute - the point is that so far it hasn't resulted in end users being able to actually do more.

[dpritchett]

I've had my first Android for the better part of a year now (after two years with an iPhone 3G) and I have to agree with you. I was pretty excited to get into the "open" ecosystem but my ATT-locked Atrix is really not taking advantage of Android's supposed strengths. I'd probably like it more if I were developing mobile apps.

Right now the only thing I'd really miss if I went back to an iPhone is the navigation. The GMail integration is pretty sweet on the Android too, but maybe that's improved on iOS since I jumped ship last year.