Guest Post: I Love My MacBook; My iPhone? Not So Much

We love guest posts here at the LOMAP Blog  . . . mostly because it means that I don’t have to write something . . . So, keep ‘em comin’.  We’re more than pleased, then, to relay the following post from Dylan Hayre.  Hayre, who is a lawyer for soliders, and has somehow also found the time to run for state senate.  You can learn more about Dylan at his website, particularly his bio page.  Heck, he’s such a nice guy, he’ll even help you if you’re not affiliated with the military.  Below, Dylan explains why, while he likes Apple, he won’t go all the way . . . and buy an iPhone.
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Let me preface everything I am about to write with this warning: I am not, in any way, a tech aficionado. I do not know how to ‘jailbreak‘ a cell phone, I could not write a computer program to save my life, and I definitely do not know what the ‘G’ in ‘4G’ stands for.  So, what am I good for?  Well, I can find my way around a computer pretty well, and I love the Android operating system on my current phone.  The interesting thing, at least to some people, is that the computer I can find my way around is a MacBook Pro.  That’s right . . . I love my MacBook Pro.  Before this, I had a black MacBook, and before that I had a small laptop running an early version of Windows Vista — which is what persuaded me to dive into the world of Mac.
In my humble, not-tech-savvy opinion, the MacBook Pro is an incredible machine — not just because it looks great and tends to be well-built, but because of Apple’s operating systems.  In my case, the OS (see, I know some jargon) is Mountain Lion.  And, boy, is this thing great.  The system is intuitive.  It is clean.  It can keep up with my frenetic work pace.  It is, in a word, brilliant.  I remember, several years ago, before I bought my first Mac, I asked a friend who owned one (sorry, Toyota, that slogan does work for other companies, as well) why he loved his Mac so much.  He said, ‘I can’t really explain it; but, trust me.  You will see if you get one.  When you use it, it just . . . it just makes sense.’  He was right.
I cannot explain it either.  But, there is something about the power and OS interface and design that makes using a MacBook a wonderful, hassle-free experience.  It really does ‘just make sense’.  It does what I want it to do.  It gives me the impression — false as it may be — that I really am in control of this machine, and that it really does work with me.  Most importantly, it places years of creative genius (here’s to you, Steve Jobs) into an astonishingly good-looking silver box that essentially runs my law practice, gives me my news, shows me funny videos of people falling off chairs, and provides endless reams of (electronic) paper for the thousands of novels that I will never write.
But, for me, the love for Apple ends there: because, I, unlike most everyone else in my life, have not ever purchased an iPhone, and I do not think that I ever will.  If you’re a practicing attorney, you can buy yourself a MacBook Pro, download some free office suite software (I use LibreOffice), get a DropBox account, and be halfway home.  This computer will do everything you need it to do and will do it fast.  But, if you ask me, you can do so much better for yourself than an iPhone.  Now, I know there are some people out there — a few of them are friends of mine — who are shocked (and, dare I say: disappointed) that I would not buy into Apple just a little bit more by getting an iPhone.  There is almost, for these folks, an expectation that, once I take a bite of the Apple, I am supposed to have the whole thing.  For me, that has just not been the case.
And, here are the three reasons I do not like the iPhone:
First, the screen size is too small.  Even with the upgrade on the latest iPhone model, the screen on my HTC Rezound is a lot bigger.  This means that I can actually use my smart phone to browse the web, read and compose emails, and watch videos, without sacrificing a lot of quality or comfort.  My screen is not as big as the new Samsung Galaxy Note‘s, but it is bigger than an iPhone screen.  Why is the screen on iPhones so small?  I’ve heard that it’s because iPhones are supposed to be small enough that you can use them with one hand.  Well, I prefer to use the two hands I have, if it means looking at a screen that does not require me to scroll back and forth all day just to read a sentence on a website.
Second, I do not see what an iPhone does that an Android phone cannot do.  And yet, the marketing behind iPhones seems to suggest that iPhones are uniquely qualified to be your phone of choice. There are literally dozens of applications for anything I could ever ask my Rezound to do.  And, all the major technology companies that I know of — including Evernote, Dropbox, Google (Drive), even the beloved Instagram — offer both iPhone and Android versions of their mobile applications.  In short, I do not understand what makes the iPhone so special, even as its being ‘special’ seems to be its only attraction.
Third, in my world, Google has taken over.  I use Google products for most aspects of my life and my law practice.  Blank fee agreements are in my Google Drive; appointments are listed on my Google Calendar; some client questions come to my GMail inbox; other client questions go to my Google Voice mailbox; and, all the news I read each day is accumulated in my Google Reader . . . or, was.  Why, then, would I buy a phone that does not offer built-in compatibility with Google?  Google, as software, far exceeds any of the hardware that the iPhone has to offer.  The Rezound’s processors, as well as the processors of a lot of modern Android phones, are as good, if not better, than the iPhone’s.  So, most Android phones can compete with the iPhone in terms of speed and reliability. But, the Android does do something that the iPhone does not: it syncs seamlessly with Google, no questions asked.  And I know from my experience with the MacBook, that not all Apple products work all that well with those of their primary competitor.
So, in short, I love my MacBook Pro. But, because my Android phone can do everything an iPhone can do, and does a lot of it better, it will remain my phone of choice, no matter what new edition of the iPhone is coming out next month.