I'm going to throw my opinion in here because I find a few real pain points that drove me to Android eventually:
1. If someone sends me a document or a file or something and I need to do something with it and send it back, it's hopeless. There isn't enough of a filesystem to do that sort of stuff with it. The whole WP isolated storage thing is painful and really ruins it for me. Not only that if someone sends me a media file or I download an mp3 for example I can only see it within scope of the app that received it and never can I add it to my music library without connecting it to a PC. I can't even play it without blocking the entire phone UI.
2. I really don't want to have to sign in at all and/or activate my phone as a developer device to deploy any apps or even a simple one shot custom app I've written for my own use. Occasionally, historically with WM6.5 and predecessors I've built the odd diagnostic tool that sits on the device. I can do the same in HTML on a web server somewhere but that relies on a network connection to be there, which even though I live in London isn't always the case. In fact it's pretty terrible in the suburbs. On basic GPRS WP is heading towards useless.
3. Android USB OTG is awesome. I can move stuff between USB sticks, plug keyboards in and all sorts. This has got me out of the crap a few times already and I've only had an Android handset for about a month now. The cable that enabled all this cost me (including delivery) £0.73.
4. Nokia made awesome hardware. Not joking it was the best stuff out there. Since the Lumia 820 though, it's turned to crap. I have repaired a number of handsets and they aren't designed with durability in mind any more and the parts are quite difficult to get hold of unless you're Nokia authorised service. Fortunately they still use standard screws (Torx TX4/5) but when you get inside, it's problematic.
In other words, you're basically saying that WP is even more locked-down than iOS?
I did a bit of research between iOS/WP/Android before buying my first smartphone and the openness and large choice of phones with Android is what ultimately made the decision for me. The ability to root and have full control, install (and develop - eventually, that is...) apps without needing the approval of anyone but yourself, custom ROMs, etc. I probably won't ever exercise all that control, but it's nice to know that I can if I want to in the future.
Had WP allowed more freedom, closer to that of desktop Windows, I might've chosen otherwise, since my main PC runs Windows and there's a lot less constraints on what I can do there.
No WP is not locked down more than iOS. I need iTunes to add something to an iOS device rather than just an MTP capable OS and it destroys the entire device's media collection if you move between machines. That's draconian to say the least.
In the locked down stakes I think it goes:
Android < WP < iOS
The openness of Android is what sold it for me as well though. I'm not sure Windows will remain open indefinitely. The current crop of "modern" or "universal" apps are a step towards a vaulted subsection of the operating system. That will be no banana for me then.
honest question from a non smartphone owner: isn't point 4 true for like > 90% of mobile hardware today? Just judging by the looks of the outside of it?
The outside is of little concern. I repair a lot of handsets (it's my sideline between contracts). There are three classes of handsets:
1. Glued together with proprietary screws and requires heat gun to get inside.
2. Screwed + taped together with Torx screws and requires no heat gun to get inside. Parts are heavily integrated.
3. Screwed together with any screws and requires no heat gun to get inside or any tape. Parts are loosely integrated and easy to replace.
iOS devices are all (1) and some Macs are now as well.
Nokia was a (3) but have moved to a (2) recently which is a step backwards in the war against throwing these things away every 5 minutes due to minor problems. I think that is my problem.
The size of the device is not affected by the above. Some of the smallest devices I've seen are perfectly servicable. It's all down to if they want it serviced or not.
Ultimately parts used to be really easy to get for everything. I'm even seeing shortages on iPhone 5S parts now.
+1 that is a nice classification, which goes for a lot of devices actually.
I also have a slight impression that 3 tends to come with higher reliability and quality in general? Maybe not for mobile phones and other things where fashion sometimes rules highly over function or is at least very important (like in, ugh those ugly screwholes on your phone), but definitely for tools, audio/video gear etc. E.g. my first rotary hammer was pretty much unmaintainable and died soon. The second, higher end one came with a complete parts list + schematics of every single bit in there + easy to get and complete service manual. Didn't need it yet though. And the same story goes for all kinds of devices ranging for walkmans to oscilloscopes I owned.
My (now backup) scope is a Telequipment D83. It was manufactured in 1976 in London in the UK. It is fully discrete (no integrated circuits), has a full service manual that comes with it, has not had a single part replaced in its lifetime and has never missed a calibration. After 38 years the tube is less bright but that's about it. One of these:
I can attest to Nokia's older smartphones being extremely easy to work on. I had a N8 till about 2 months ago. With 2 screwdrivers (Cant recall atm but it was either a t4 and t5 or a t5 and t6) I could completely tear it down and replace just about anything I wanted to in about 2 minutes. Charge port gone bad? No need to solder a new one in place just drop a new one in place. That phone was awesome to work on.
I have yet to dig into my 1020 seeing as it is still under warranty.
1. If someone sends me a document or a file or something and I need to do something with it and send it back, it's hopeless. There isn't enough of a filesystem to do that sort of stuff with it. The whole WP isolated storage thing is painful and really ruins it for me. Not only that if someone sends me a media file or I download an mp3 for example I can only see it within scope of the app that received it and never can I add it to my music library without connecting it to a PC. I can't even play it without blocking the entire phone UI.
2. I really don't want to have to sign in at all and/or activate my phone as a developer device to deploy any apps or even a simple one shot custom app I've written for my own use. Occasionally, historically with WM6.5 and predecessors I've built the odd diagnostic tool that sits on the device. I can do the same in HTML on a web server somewhere but that relies on a network connection to be there, which even though I live in London isn't always the case. In fact it's pretty terrible in the suburbs. On basic GPRS WP is heading towards useless.
3. Android USB OTG is awesome. I can move stuff between USB sticks, plug keyboards in and all sorts. This has got me out of the crap a few times already and I've only had an Android handset for about a month now. The cable that enabled all this cost me (including delivery) £0.73.
4. Nokia made awesome hardware. Not joking it was the best stuff out there. Since the Lumia 820 though, it's turned to crap. I have repaired a number of handsets and they aren't designed with durability in mind any more and the parts are quite difficult to get hold of unless you're Nokia authorised service. Fortunately they still use standard screws (Torx TX4/5) but when you get inside, it's problematic.