It Just Works

Earlier today while switching between a few apps on my iPhone 4 something dawned on me.  Something that had been lacking on all the previous smartphone platforms I've used (except maybe WebOS).  It just works.  Say what you will about the closed Apple ecosystem of controlling the hardware and operating systems with tight control over their App Store approval process:  at the end of the day what really matters to most folks is whether or not the expensive piece of shiny technology in their hand works or not.  Certainly that is the case with iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad.  In all fairness I have "complained" about this closed system at times in the past.  That was before purchasing an iPhone and using it daily.  Using an iPad for most of a year now really doesn't allow one to gauge how much this can impact a person, at least for me as the iPad serves as a consumption/gaming device and not as a utility device such as a cell phone.

In the past when I've been using other platforms I would expect a certain amount of lag or outright failure of programs running on them.  This was especially true with Windows Mobile 6!  That platform had more bugs in it than a cheap New York City hotel bed!  The Blackberry platform was stable but filled with so much lag as to be so annoying it holds a person record for me, shortest time used (I hated it so much I sold the phone to a friend at a serious loss just to get rid of it!).  I jumped on the WebOS bandwagon on day one with the original Palm Pre but was frustrated by the cheap construction of the device and lack of early support from developers for the platform.  I've owned two Android based phones, both by HTC with their Sense overlay, and was impressed at first with them but I noticed that they tended to have apps that would crash.  A lot.  That and poor support for upgrades to the operating system by bother carriers and manufacturers in what is clearly an effort to keep people buying up their newest devices which often times would have pretty much the same internal hardware with a new name and form factor.

The other problem with just about all those platforms would be syncing of data.  This includes contacts, calendar entries, photos, videos, and music.  When I was using Windows Mobile 6 it was simple to connect the phones to my PC running Windows and sync playlists from Windows Media Player but as far as other information it would sometimes become hinky.  With Blackberry I had to install their own sync software that was a hit or miss affair and beyond frustrating for music.  At first WebOS on the Palm Pre would sync with iTunes content.  At least until Apple put its foot down on that little idea and squashed it flat.  When Palm said that there were third party options available for this I was near the end of my rope with them.  With Android it got worse than all the others before it.  There simply wasn't a way to sync any of your content outside of third party add on software.  In all fairness HTC did include a simple sync program for contacts and such information.  With Android Google was pushing their cloud based services, which are nice for some things but not all.

All of that past experience brings me to the hear and now with my iPhone.  It just works.

I can set my iPhone into its dock and then sync all my information from my iMac to the phone in simple easy steps.  Music and videos?  Just fire up iTunes and start syncing playlists and videos.  Pictures?  Select any albums that i have inside of Aperture 3 (or iPhoto by default) and they are transferred over.  Import photos or videos?  Fire up Aperture for photos or iMovie for video shot on the iPhone.  Syncing information back and forth are so simple.  Have I mentioned that it just works?

With other platforms it would become necessary every few days to power cycle the device every few days to clear the memory and fight lag.  It's a tie on which was worse in this respect between Android and Windows Mobile.  Even the old Blackberry and Palm Pre needed a power cycle at least twice a week.  I've yet to have to power cycle my iPhone for any reason.  I did turn it completely off a couple of times when I was running the battery down while waiting in line for the iPad 2, not because of running out of running memory or locked up programs.  In a year of using iOS devices I've only had a low memory warning once and that was on the original iPad after running memory intensive programs over a period of a few days.

When it comes to third party apps written by developers for various platforms the iPhone comes out ahead once more.  I've yet to have an app crash on the iPhone or iPad.  Ever.  No other platform I've used can make that claim.  I also like the way there is a consistency to the UI of apps with iOS compared to other platforms as it makes using them that much easier.

Yes, there is an almost cult like following among many for Apple products, especially in the last ten years but there is a very good reason for this.  They produce products that just work.